arXiv subjects

J. J. Dalcanton

Publications and source records attributed to J. J. Dalcanton.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

The Spitzer Local Volume Legacy: Survey Description and Infrared Photometry

The survey description and the near-, mid-, and far-infrared flux properties are presented for the 258 galaxies in the Local Volume Legacy (LVL). LVL is a Spitzer Space Telescope legacy program that surveys the local universe out to 11 Mpc, built upon a foundation of ultraviolet, H-alpha, and HST imaging from 11HUGS (11 Mpc H-alpha and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey) and ANGST (ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury). LVL covers an unbiased, representative, and statistically robust sample of nearby star-forming galaxies, exploiting the highest extragalactic spatial resolution achievable with Spitzer. As a result of its approximately volume-limited nature, LVL augments previous Spitzer observations of present-day galaxies with improved sampling of the low-luminosity galaxy population. The collection of LVL galaxies shows a large spread in mid-infrared colors, likely due to the conspicuous deficiency of 8um PAH emission from low-metallicity, low-luminosity galaxies. Conversely, the far-infrared emission tightly tracks the total infrared emission, with a dispersion in their flux ratio of only 0.1 dex. In terms of the relation between infrared-to-ultraviolet ratio and ultraviolet spectral slope, the LVL sample shows redder colors and/or lower infrared-to-ultraviolet ratios than starburst galaxies, suggesting that reprocessing by dust is less important in the lower mass systems that dominate the LVL sample. Comparisons with theoretical models suggest that the amplitude of deviations from the relation found for starburst galaxies correlates with the age of the stellar populations that dominate the ultraviolet/optical luminosities.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Galaxies appear simpler than expected

Galaxies are complex systems the evolution of which apparently results from the interplay of dynamics, star formation, chemical enrichment, and feedback from supernova explosions and supermassive black holes. The hierarchical theory of galaxy formation holds that galaxies are assembled from smaller pieces, through numerous mergers of cold dark matter. The properties of an individual galaxy should be controlled by six independent parameters including mass, angular-momentum, baryon-fraction, age and size, as well as by the accidents of its recent haphazard merger history. Here we report that a sample of galaxies that were first detected through their neutral hydrogen radio-frequency emission, and are thus free of optical selection effects, shows five independent correlations among six independent observables, despite having a wide range of properties. This implies that the structure of these galaxies must be controlled by a single parameter, although we cannot identify this parameter from our dataset. Such a degree of organisation appears to be at odds with hierarchical galaxy formation, a central tenet of the cold dark matter paradigm in cosmology.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

An extended dust disk in a spiral galaxy; An occulting galaxy pair in ANGST

We present an analysis of an occulting galaxy pair, serendipitously discovered in ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) observations of NGC 253 taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Survey in F475W, F606W$ and F814W (SDSS-g, broad V and I). The foreground disk system (at z < 0.06) shows a dusty disk much more extended than the starlight, with spiral lanes seen in extinction out to 1.5 R\_25, approximately six half-light radii. This pair is the first where extinction can be mapped reliably out to this distance from the center. The spiral arms of the extended dust disk show typical extinction values of A\_F475W ~ 0.25, A\_F606W ~ 0.25, and A\_F814W ~ 0.15. The extinction law inferred from these measures is similar to the local Milky Way one, and we show that the smoothing effects of sampling at limited spatial resolution (<57 pc, in these data) flattens the observed function through mixing of regions with different extinction. This galaxy illustrates the diversity of dust distributions in spirals, and the limitations of adopting a single dust model for optically similar galaxies. The ideal geometry of this pair of overlapping galaxies and the high sampling of HST data make this dataset ideal to analyze this pair with three separate approaches to overlapping galaxies: (A) a combined fit, rotating copies of both galaxies, (B) a simple flip of the background image and (C) an estimate of the original fluxes for the individual galaxies based on reconstructions of their proper isophotes. We conclude that in the case of high quality data such as these, isophotal models are to be preferred.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Spitzer's View of Edge-on Spirals

Edge-on spiral galaxies offer a unique perspective on disks. One can accurately determine the height distribution of stars and ISM and the line-of-sight integration allows for the study of faint structures. The Spitzer IRAC camera is an ideal instrument to study both the ISM and stellar structure in nearby galaxies; two of its channels trace the old stellar disk with little extinction and the 8 micron channel is dominated by the smallest dust grains (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, PAHs). Dalcanton et al. (2004) probed the link between the appearance of dust lanes and the disk stability. In a sample of bulge-less disks they show how in massive disks the ISM collapses into the characteristic thin dust lane. Less massive disks are gravitationally stable and their dust morphology is fractured. The transition occurs at 120 km/s for bulgeless disks. Here we report on our results of our Spitzer/IRAC survey of nearby edge-on spirals and its first results on the NIR Tully-Fischer relation, and ISM disk stability.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Spitzer's View of Edge-on Spirals

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Stellar populations across the NGC4244 truncated galactic disk

We use HST/ACS to study the resolved stellar populations of the nearby, nearly edge-on galaxy NGC4244 across its outer disk surface density break. The stellar photometry allows us to study the distribution of different stellar populations and reach very low equivalent surface brightnesses. We find that the break occurs at the same radius for young, intermediate age, and old stars. The stellar density beyond the break drops sharply by a factor of at least 600 in 5 kpc. The break occurs at the same radius independent of height above the disk, but is sharpest in the midplane and nearly disappears at large heights. These results make it unlikely that truncations are caused by a star formation threshold alone: the threshold would have to keep the same radial position from less than 100 Myr to 10 Gyr ago, in spite of potential disturbances such as infall and redistribution of gas by internal processes. A dynamical interpretation of truncation formation is more likely such as due to angular momentum redistribution by bars or density waves, or heating and stripping of stars caused by the bombardment of dark matter sub-halos. The latter explanation is also in quantitative agreement with the small diffuse component we see around the galaxy.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Breathing in Low Mass Galaxies: A Study of Episodic Star Formation

We simulate the collapse of isolated dwarf galaxies using SPH + N-Body simulations including a physically motivated description of the effects of supernova feedback. As the gas collapses and stars form, the supernova feedback disrupts enough gas to temporarily quench star formation. The gas flows outward into a hot halo, where it cools until star formation can continue once more and the cycle repeats. The star formation histories of isolated Local Group dwarf galaxies exhibit similar episodic bursts of star formation. We examine the mass dependence of the stellar velocity dispersions and find that they are no less than half the velocity of the halos measured at the virial radius.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

GHOSTS: The Resolved Stellar Outskirts of Massive Disk Galaxies

We show initial results from our ongoing HST GHOSTS survey of the resolved stellar envelopes of 14 nearby, massive disk galaxies. In hierarchical galaxy formation the stellar halos and thick disks of galaxies are formed by accretion of minor satellites and therefore contain valuable information about the (early) assembly process of galaxies. We detect for the first time the very small halo of NGC4244, a low mass edge-on galaxy. We find that massive galaxies have very extended halos, with equivalent surface brightnesses of 28-29 V-mag/arcsec^2 at 20-30 kpc from the disk. The old RGB stars of the thick disk in the NGC891 and NGC4244 edge-on galaxies truncate at the same radius as the young thin disk stars, providing insights into the formation of both disk truncations and thick disks. We furthermore present the stellar populations of a very low surface brightness stream around M83, the first such a stream resolved into stars beyond those of the Milky Way and M31.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

The Morphological Content of Ten EDisCS Clusters at 0.5 < z < 0.8

We describe Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of 10 of the 20 ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) fields. Each ~40 square arcminute field was imaged in the F814W filter with the Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Camera. Based on these data, we present visual morphological classifications for the ~920 sources per field that are brighter than I_auto=23 mag. We use these classifications to quantify the morphological content of 10 intermediate-redshift (0.5 < z < 0.8) galaxy clusters within the HST survey region. The EDisCS results, combined with previously published data from seven higher redshift clusters, show no statistically significant evidence for evolution in the mean fractions of elliptical, S0, and late-type (Sp+Irr) galaxies in clusters over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 1.2. In contrast, existing studies of lower redshift clusters have revealed a factor of ~2 increase in the typical S0 fraction between z=0.4 and z=0, accompanied by a commensurate decrease in the Sp+Irr fraction and no evolution in the elliptical fraction. The EDisCS clusters demonstrate that cluster morphological fractions plateau beyond z ~ 0.4. They also exhibit a mild correlation between morphological content and cluster velocity dispersion, highlighting the importance of careful sample selection in evaluating evolution. We discuss these findings in the context of a recently proposed scenario in which the fractions of passive (E,S0) and star-forming (Sp,Irr) galaxies are determined primarily by the growth history of clusters.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

The Metallicity of Galaxy Disks: Infall versus Outflow

Both gas accretion (infall) and winds (outflow) change a galaxy's metallicity and gas fraction, lowering the effective yield. Low effective yields in galaxies with rotation speeds < 120 km/s have been widely interpreted as the onset of SN-driven winds below a characteristic galaxy mass, but gas accretion is also a viable explanation. However, calculations presented here prove: (1) that metal-enriched outflows are the only mechanism that can significantly reduce the effective yield, but only for gas-rich systems; (2) that it is nearly impossible to reduce the effective yield of a gas-poor system, no matter how much gas is lost or accreted; and (3) that any subsequent star formation drives the effective yield back to the closed-box value. Thus, only gas-rich systems with low star formation rates (such as dwarf irregulars) can produce and maintain low effective yields, while massive gas-poor galaxies can never show low effective yields, even after experiencing substantial infall and/or outflow. The drop in effective yield seen in low mass galaxies is therefore less likely to be due to the onset of SN-driven winds than to the galaxies' surface densities falling entirely below the Kennicutt SF threshold. Additional calculations confirm that the fraction of baryonic mass lost through winds varies only weakly with galaxy mass, shows no sharp upturn at any mass scale, and does not require that >15% of baryons have been lost by galaxies of any mass. SN feedback is therefore unlikely to be effective for removing large amounts of gas from low mass disk galaxies. In addition, the dependence between metal-loss and galaxy mass is sufficiently weak that massive galaxies dominate metal enrichment of the IGM. The calculations in this paper provide limiting cases for any arbitrary chemical evolution history, as proven in an Appendix.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Scalelengths in Dark Matter Halos

We investigate a hypothesis regarding the origin of the scalelength in halos formed in cosmological N-body simulations. This hypothesis can be viewed as an extension of an earlier idea put forth by Merritt and Aguilar. Our findings suggest that a phenomenon related to the radial orbit instability is present in such halos and is responsible for density profile shapes. This instability sets a scalelength at which the velocity dispersion distribution changes rapidly from isotropic to radially anisotropic. This scalelength is reflected in the density distribution as the radius at which the density profile changes slope. We have tested the idea that radially dependent velocity dispersion anisotropy leads to a break in density profile shape by manipulating the input of a semi-analytic model to imitate the velocity structure imposed by the radial orbit instability. Without such manipulation, halos formed are approximated by single power-law density profiles and isotropic velocity distributions. Halos formed with altered inputs display density distributions featuring scalelengths and anisotropy profiles similar to those seen in cosmological N-body simulations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Spectroscopy of clusters in the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS)

We present spectroscopic observations of galaxies in 4 clusters at z = 0.7-0.8 and in one cluster at z~0.5 obtained with the FORS2 spectrograph on the VLT as part of the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS), a photometric and spectroscopic survey of 20 intermediate to high redshift clusters. We describe our target selection, mask design, observation and data reduction procedures, using these first 5 clusters to demonstrate how our strategies maximise the number of cluster members for which we obtain spectroscopy. We present catalogues containing positions, I-band magnitudes and spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies in the fields of our 5 clusters. These contain 236 cluster members, with the number of members per cluster ranging from 30 to 67. Our spectroscopic success rate, i.e. the fraction of spectroscopic targets which are cluster members, averages 50% and ranges from 30% to 75%. We use a robust biweight estimator to measure cluster velocity dispersions from our spectroscopic redshift samples. We also make a first assessment of substructure within our clusters. The velocity dispersions range from 400 to 1100 km s-1. Some of the redshift distributions are significantly non-Gaussian and we find evidence for significant substructure in two clusters, one at z~0.79 and the other at z~0.54. Both have velocity dispersions exceeding 1000 km s-1 but are clearly not fully virialised; their velocity dispersions may thus be a poor indicator of their masses. The properties of these first 5 EDisCS clusters span a wide range in redshift, velocity dispersion, richness and substructure, but are representative of the sample as a whole. Spectroscopy for the full dataset will allow a comprehensive study of galaxy evolution as a function of cluster environment and redshift.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

The Observed and Predicted Spatial Distribution of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

We review evidence that the census of Milky Way satellites similar to those known may be incomplete at low latitude due to obscuration and in the outer halo due to a decreasing sensitivity to dwarf satellites with distance. We evaluate the possible impact that incompleteness has on comparisons with substructure models by estimating corrections to the known number of dwarfs using empirical and theoretical models. If we assume that the true distribution of Milky Way satellites is uniform with latitude, then we estimate a 33% incompleteness in the total number of dwarfs due to obscuration at low latitude. Similarly, if we suppose that the radial distribution of Milky Way satellites matches that of M31, or that of the oldest sub-halos or the most massive sub-halos in a simulation, we estimate a total number of Milky Way dwarfs ranging from 1 -- 3 times the known population. Although the true level of incompleteness is quite uncertain, the fact that our extrapolations yield average total numbers of MW dwarfs that are realistically 1.5 -- 2 times the known population, shows that incompleteness needs to be taken seriously when comparing to models of dwarf galaxy formation. Interestingly, the radial distribution of the oldest sub-halos in a Lambda+CDM simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy possess a close match to the observed distribution of M31's satellites, which suggests that reionization may be an important factor controlling the observability of sub-halos. We also assess the prospects for a new SDSS search for Milky Way satellites to constrain the possible incompleteness in the outer halo.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

The Cluster Galaxy Circular Velocity Function

We present galaxy circular velocity functions (GCVFs) for 34 low redshift (z < 0.15) clusters identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), for fifteen clusters drawn from dark matter simulations of hierarchical structure growth in a LambdaCDM cosmology, and for ~29,000 SDSS field galaxies. We find that the observed and simulated cluster GCVFs take the form of a power law. The cumulative GCVFs of the simulated clusters are very similar across a wide range of cluster masses, provided individual subhalo circular velocities are scaled by the circular velocities of the parent cluster. Once all sources of error are accounted for, the intrinsic scatter in the cumulative, scaled observed cluster GCVF is consistent with the simulations. The slope of the observed cluster GCVF is -2.5, independent of cluster velocity dispersion. The average slope of the simulated GCVFs is somewhat steeper, although formally consistent given the errors. Using our highest resolution cluster, we find that the effects of baryons on galaxy rotation curves is to flatten the simulated cluster GCVF into better agreement with observations. Finally, we find that the field GCVF deviates significantly from a power law, being flatter than the cluster GCVF at circular velocities less than 200 km/s, and steeper at circular velocities greater than 200 km/s.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Galaxy Dynamics from Edge-On Late-type Galaxies

We present first results of a program to study the dynamics of undisturbed bulgeless, low surface density disk galaxies in order to probe the underlying structure of dark matter halos. High resolution H-alpha rotation curves are combined with optical and infrared imaging to place strong limits on the halo profiles. We find noticable variation in the shapes of the rotation curves, in contrast to previous claims. The implied density profiles are still significantly more shallow than profiles derived from most N-body simulations; unlike previous HI observations, beam-smearing cannot significantly affect this result. Based upon stellar mass profiles derived from K' band observations, we derive the angular momentum distribution of the stellar disk and find it to be broader than that of a uniformly rotating solid-body sphere, but remarkably consistent from galaxy-to-galaxy. Finally, based upon K' band surface brightness profiles, we find that low surface density disks must be significantly sub-maximal. Furthermore, maximal disk fits based upon Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) have maximum mass-to-light ratios which are too small to be consistent with stellar population models; without the ability to significantly adjust inclination angles or infrared mass-to-light ratios, this sample presents great difficulties for MOND.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Integrated Stellar Populations of Bulges: First Results

We present first results from an on-going survey of the stellar populations of the bulges and inner disks of spirals at various points along the Hubble sequence. In particular, we are investigating the hypotheses that bulges of early-type spirals are akin to (and may in fact originally have been) intermediate-luminosity ellipticals while bulges of late-type spirals are formed from dynamical instabilities in their disks. Absorption-line spectroscopy of the central regions of Sa--Sd spirals is combined with stellar population models to determine integrated mean ages and metallicities. These ages and metallicities are used to investigate stellar population differences both between the bulges and inner disks of these spirals and between bulges and ellipticals in an attempt to place observational constraints on the formation mechanisms of spiral bulges.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1997

The nature of the new Local Group Galaxy Antlia

The recently discovered Antlia dwarf galaxy in analyzed using VI photometry. The galaxy is resolved into a large number of stars and although the galaxy is intrinsically faint and low surface brightness, its stellar populations reveal characteristics more typical of faint star-forming dIrs rather than dEs. Significant star formation is currently going on in the central part of Antlia, although little or no star formation is taking place in the outer regions. The distance of Antlia is 1.32 Mpc. It is a close companion of the larger dIr NGC 3109, although gravitational bounding between both galaxies is not clear. The SFR is estimated for the last 1 Gyr and for the entire galaxy life. The mass locked into stars and stellar remnants, the gas mass and the total mass are estimated.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1997

The Number Density of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies with 23<mu_0<25 V-mag/sqr-arcsecond

We present results of a large area CCD survey for low surface brightness galaxies (LSBs) that reaches central surface brightnesses of mu_0=25 mag/sqr-" in V. We have analyzed 17.5 degrees of transit scan data, and identified a statistical subset of 7 pure disk LSB's with mu_0 fainter than 23V-mag/sqr-" and with angular exponential scale lengths larger than alpha=2.5". The LSB detection is entirely automated, and the selection efficiency of the survey is well-quantified. After correcting for the selection efficiency, we find a surface density of 4.1^{+2.6}_{-2.1} galaxies/deg^2 for LSBs in the considered range of mu_0 and alpha (90% confidence levels). The final sample of LSBs are at distances comparable to those probed by large galaxy catalogs, and have intrinsic scale lengths of 1.7-3.6 kpc (H=50km/s/Mpc), based upon optical redshifts. We use the redshifts and the selection efficiency to calculate the number density in LSBs with 23<mu_0<25V-mag/sqr-" and find N = 0.01^{+0.006}_{-0.005} galaxies/Mpc^3, with 90% confidence. The measurement of N probably represents a lower limit, due to very strong biases against LSBs with bulges or edge-on LSBs in our sample. Comparing the LSB number density to the number density of normal galaxies with either similar scale lengths or similar luminosities, we find that the number density of LSBs with 23<mu_0<25V-mag/sqr-" is comparable to or greater than the number density of normal galaxies. The luminosity density in LSBs is comparable to the luminosity density of normal galaxies with similar luminosities, but is a factor of 3-10 smaller than the luminosity density of normal galaxies with similar scale lengths (ABRIDGED).

astro-ph↗