arXiv subjects

S. De Rijcke

Publications and source records attributed to S. De Rijcke.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Euclid: Early Release Observations -- The formation of peanutty dwarf galaxies in Perseus

Dwarf galaxies in dense cluster environments are susceptible to tidal interactions that can alter their morphology and kinematics. Boxy isophotes are well studied in massive galaxies but remain poorly understood in dwarfs. We aim to identify and characterise boxy/peanutty dwarf galaxies in the Perseus cluster and determine the origin of their isophotal shapes. Using Euclid Early Release Observations of the Perseus cluster, we present a cumulative light fraction method for robustly measuring the isophotal shape parameter $c_4$, particularly suited to low surface brightness regimes. From ~1100 cataloged dwarfs, we select a clean sample of ~190 early-type systems with reliable $c_4$ measurement. Observed trends are interpreted through comparison with mock Euclid observations of $N$-body simulations of tidally transformed dwarfs. We identify 13 dwarfs with significantly boxy isophotes ($c_4 < -0.0175$). These galaxies lack visible thin disks, lie on the cluster red sequence, and show no preferential spatial concentration within Perseus. We find a significant anticorrelation between $c_4$ and effective radius: larger galaxies exhibit more boxy isophotes. An analogous size-shape anticorrelation is recovered in the simulations, where inner regions are dominated by box orbits associated with a triaxial peanut structure and outer regions by short-axis tube orbits. The boxy dwarfs in Perseus are tidally transformed remnants of moderately rotating progenitors, with boxy isophotes tracing inner box-orbit-dominated peanut structures. The size-shape correlation arises from viewing geometry: face-on orientations reveal the rectangular profile of the elongated triaxial structure (large and boxy), while edge-on views yield rounder, compact morphologies. Our sample represents an orientation-selected subset of tidally transformed, peanutty dwarfs in the cluster.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

On the origin of bursts in blue compact dwarf galaxies: clues from kinematics and stellar populations

Blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) form stars at, for their sizes, extraordinarily high rates. In this paper, we study what triggers this starburst and what is the fate of the galaxy once its gas fuel is exhausted. We select four BCDs with smooth outer regions, indicating them as possible progenitors of dwarf elliptical galaxies. We have obtained photometric and spectroscopic data with the FORS and ISAAC instruments on the VLT. We analyse their infra-red spectra using a full spectrum fitting technique which yields the kinematics of their stars and ionized gas together with their stellar population characteristics. We find that the_stellar_ velocity to velocity dispersion ratio (v/sigma) of our BCDs is of the order of 1.5, similar to that of dwarf elliptical galaxies. Thus, those objects do not require significant (if any) loss of angular momentum to fade into early type dwarfs. This finding is in discordance with previous studies, which however compared the stellar kinematics of dwarf elliptical galaxies with the gaseous kinematics of star forming dwarfs. The stellar velocity fields of our objects are very disturbed and the star-formation regions are often kinematically decoupled from the rest of the galaxy. These regions can be more or less metal rich with respect to the galactic body, and sometimes they are long lived. These characteristics prevent us from pinpointing a unique trigger of the star formation, even within the same galaxy. Gas impacts, mergers, and in-spiraling gas clumps are all possible star-formation ignitors for our targets.

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arXiv2012

Lensing degeneracies and mass substructure

The inversion of gravitational lens systems is hindered by the fact that multiple mass distributions are often equally compatible with the observed properties of the images. Besides using clear examples to illustrate the effect of the so-called monopole and mass sheet degeneracies, this article introduces the most general form of said mass sheet degeneracy. While the well known version of this degeneracy rescales a single source plane, this generalization allows any number of sources to be rescaled. Furthermore, it shows how it is possible to rescale each of those sources with a different scale factor. Apart from illustrating that the mass sheet degeneracy is not broken by the presence of multiple sources at different redshifts, it will become apparent that the newly constructed mass distribution necessarily alters the existing mass density precisely at the locations of the images in the lens system, and that this change in mass density is linked to the factors with which the sources were rescaled. Combined with the fact that the monopole degeneracy introduces a large amount of uncertainty about the density in between the images, this means that both degeneracies are in fact closely related to substructure in the mass distribution. An example simulated lensing situation based on an elliptical version of a Navarro-Frenk-White profile explicitly shows that such degeneracies are not easily broken by observational constraints, even when multiple sources are present. Instead, the fact that each lens inversion method makes certain assumptions, implicit or explicit, about the smoothness of the mass distribution means that in practice the degeneracies are broken in an artificial manner rather than by observed properties of the lens system.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Spectroscopic ages and metallicities of galaxies

Dwarf galaxies are generally faint. To derive their age and metallicity distributions, it is critical to optimize the use of any collected photon. Koleva et al., using full spectrum fitting, have found strong population gradients in some dwarf elliptical galaxies. Here, we show that the population profiles derived with this method are consistent and more precise than those obtained with spectrophotometric indices. This allows studying fainter objects in less telescope time.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Peanut-shaped bulges in face-on disk galaxies

We present high resolution absorption-line spectroscopy of 3 face-on galaxies, NGC 98, NGC 600, and NGC 1703 with the aim of searching for box/peanut (B/P)-shaped bulges. These observations test and confirm the prediction of Debattista et al. (2005) that face-on B/P-shaped bulges can be recognized by a double minimum in the profile of the fourth-order Gauss-Hermite moment h_4. In NGC 1703, which is an unbarred control galaxy, we found no evidence of a B/P bulge. In NGC 98, a clear double minimum in h_4 is present along the major axis of the bar and before the end of the bar, as predicted. In contrast, in NGC 600, which is also a barred galaxy but lacks a substantial bulge, we do not find a significant B/P shape.

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arXiv2009

Metallicity Gradients - Mass Dependency in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies

The formation and evolution of galaxies is imprinted on their stellar population radial gradients. Two recent articles present conflicting results concerning the mass dependence of the metallicity gradients for early-type dwarf galaxies. On one side, Spolaor et al. show a tight positive correlation between the total metallicity, Z/H and the mass. On the other side, in a distinct sample, we do not find any trend involving Fe/H (Koleva et al.). In order to investigate the origin of the discrepancy, we examine various factors that may affect the determination of the gradients: namely the sky subtraction and the signal-to-noise ratio. We conclude that our detection of gradients are well above the possible analysis biases. Then, we measured the Mg/Fe relative abundance profile and found moderate gradients. The derived Z/H gradients scatter around -0.4 dex/r_e. The two samples contain the same types of objects and the reason of the disagreement is still not understood. Based on observations made with ESO telescopes at La Silla Paranal observatory under program ID076.B-0196.

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arXiv2009

Non-parametric strong lens inversion of SDSS J1004+4112

In this article we study the well-known strong lensing system SDSS J1004+4112. Not only does it host a large-separation lensed quasar with measured time-delay information, but several other lensed galaxies have been identified as well. A previously developed strong lens inversion procedure that is designed to handle a wide variety of constraints, is applied to this lensing system and compared to results reported in other works. Without the inclusion of a tentative central image of one of the galaxies as a constraint, we find that the model recovered by the other constraints indeed predicts an image at that location. An inversion which includes the central image provides tighter constraints on the shape of the central part of the mass map. The resulting model also predicts a central image of a second galaxy where indeed an object is visible in the available ACS images. We find masses of 2.5x10^13 M_O and 6.1x10^13 M_O within a radius of 60 kpc and 110 kpc respectively, confirming the results from other authors. The resulting mass map is compatible with an elliptical generalization of a projected NFW profile, with r_s = 58_{-13}^{+21} arcsec and c_vir = 3.91 +/- 0.74. The orientation of the elliptical NFW profile follows closely the orientation of the central cluster galaxy and the overall distribution of cluster members.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Internal Kinematics and Stellar Populations of the Poststarburst+AGN Galaxy SDSS J230743.41+152558.4

We present the first 3D spectroscopic observations of a nearby HI detected poststarburst, or E+A, galaxy, SDSS J230743.41+152558.4, obtained with the VIMOS IFU spectrograph at ESO VLT. Using the NBursts full spectral fitting technique, we derive maps of stellar kinematics, age, and metallicity out to 2-3 half-light radii. Our analysis reveals a large-scale rapidly rotating disc (v_circ = 300km/s) with a positive age gradient (0.6 to 1.5 Gyr), and a very metal-rich central region ([Fe/H]=+0.25 dex). If a merger or interaction is responsible for triggering the starburst, the presence of this undisturbed disc suggests a minor merger with a gas-rich satellite as the most plausible option, rather than a disruptive major merger. We find spectroscopic evidence for the presence of a LINER or AGN. This is an important clue to the feedback mechanism that truncated the starburst. The presently observed quiescent phase may well be a temporary episode in the galaxy's life. SDSS J230743.41+152558.4 is gas-rich and may restart forming stars, again becoming blue before finally settling at the red sequence.

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arXiv2008

Hubble Space Telescope Survey of the Perseus Cluster: II. Photometric scaling relations in different environments

We investigate the global photometric scaling relations traced by early-type galaxies in different environments, ranging from dwarf spheroidals, over dwarf elliptical galaxies, up to giant ellipticals (-8 mag > M_V > -24 mag). These results are based in part on our new HST/ACS F555W and F814W imagery of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Perseus Cluster. These scaling relations are almost independent of environment, with Local Group and cluster galaxies coinciding in the various diagrams. We show that at M_V ~ -14 mag, the slopes of the photometric scaling relations involving the Sersic parameters change significantly. We argue that these changes in slope reflect the different physical processes that dominate the evolution of early-type galaxies in different mass regimes. As such, these scaling relations contain a wealth of information that can be used to test models for the formation of early-type galaxies.

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arXiv2008

Hubble Space Telescope survey of the Perseus Cluster - I: The structure and dark matter content of cluster dwarf spheroidals

We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) study of dwarf galaxies in the core of the rich nearby Perseus Cluster, down to M_V=-12. We identify 29 dwarfs as cluster members, 17 of which are previously unstudied. All the dwarfs we examine are remarkably smooth in appearance, and lack internal features. Based on these observations, and the sizes of these dwarfs, we argue that some of the dwarfs in our sample must have a large dark matter content to prevent disruption by the cluster potential. We derive a new method, independent of kinematics, for measuring the dark matter content of dEs, based on the radius of the dwarf, the projected distance of the dwarf from the cluster centre, and the total mass of the cluster interior to it. We find that the mass-to-light ratios of these dwarfs are comparable to those of the Local Group dSphs, ranging between 1 and 120.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Simulations of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies

We present new fully self-consistent models of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies. We have used the publicly available N-body/SPH code HYDRA, to which we have added a set of star formation criteria, and prescriptions for chemical enrichment (taking into account contributions from both SNIa and SNII), supernova feedback, and gas cooling. The models follow the evolution of an initially homogeneous gas cloud collapsing in a pre-existing dark-matter halo. These simplified initial conditions are supported by the merger trees of isolated dwarf galaxies extracted from the milli-Millennium Simulation. The star-formation histories of the model galaxies exhibit burst-like behaviour. These bursts are a consequence of the blow-out and subsequent in-fall of gas. The amount of gas that leaves the galaxy for good is found to be small, in absolute numbers, ranging between 3x10^7 Msol and 6x10^7 Msol . For the least massive models, however, this is over 80 per cent of their initial gas mass. The local fluctuations in gas density are strong enough to trigger star-bursts in the massive models, or to inhibit anything more than small residual star formation for the less massive models. Between these star-bursts there can be time intervals of several Gyrs. We have compared model predictions with available data for the relations between luminosity and surface brightness profile, half-light radius, central velocity dispersion, broad band colour (B-V) and metallicity, as well as the location relative to the fundamental plane. The properties of the model dwarf galaxies agree quite well with those of observed dwarf galaxies.

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arXiv2008

Non-parametric strong lens inversion of Cl~0024+1654: illustrating the monopole degeneracy

The cluster lens Cl 0024+1654 is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful examples of strong gravitational lensing, providing five large images of a single source with well-resolved substructure. Using the information contained in the positions and the shapes of the images, combined with the null space information, a non-parametric technique is used to infer the strong lensing mass map of the central region of this cluster. This yields a strong lensing mass of 1.60x10^14 M_O within a 0.5' radius around the cluster center. This mass distribution is then used as a case study of the monopole degeneracy, which may be one of the most important degeneracies in gravitational lensing studies and which is extremely hard to break. We illustrate the monopole degeneracy by adding circularly symmetric density distributions with zero total mass to the original mass map of Cl 0024+1654. These redistribute mass in certain areas of the mass map without affecting the observed images in any way. We show that the monopole degeneracy and the mass-sheet degeneracy together lie at the heart of the discrepancies between different gravitational lens reconstructions that can be found in the literature for a given object, and that many images/sources, with an overall high image density in the lens plane, are required to construct an accurate, high-resolution mass map based on strong-lensing data.

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arXiv2008

Confirmation of a Kinematic Diagnostic for Face-On B/P Bulges

We present the results of high resolution absorption-line spectroscopy of 3 face-on galaxies, NGC 98, NGC 600, and NGC 1703 with the aim of searching for box/peanut (B/P)-shaped bulges. These observations test and confirm, for the first, time the prediction that face-on B/P-shaped bulges can be recognized by two minima in the profile along the bar's major axis of the fourth Gauss-Hermite moment h_4 of the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD). In NGC 98, a clear double minimum in h_4 is present along the major axis of the bar and before the end of the bar, as predicted. In contrast, in NGC 600, which is also a barred galaxy but lacks a substantial bulge, we do not find any significant kinematic signature for a B/P-shaped bulge. In NGC 1703, which is an unbarred control galaxy, we found no evidence of a B/P bulge. We also show directly that the LOSVD is broader at the location of the h_4 minimum in NGC 98 than elsewhere. This more direct method avoids possible artifacts associated with the degeneracy between the measurement of line-of-sight velocity dispersion and h_4.

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arXiv2008

Global m=1 instabilities and lopsidedness in disc galaxies

Lopsidedness is common in spiral galaxies. Often, there is no obvious external cause, such as an interaction with a nearby galaxy, for such features. Alternatively, the lopsidedness may have an internal cause, such as a dynamical instability. In order to explore this idea, we have developed a computer code that searches for self-consistent perturbations in razor-thin disc galaxies and performed a thorough mode-analysis of a suite of dynamical models for disc galaxies embedded in an inert dark-matter halo with varying amounts of rotation and radial anisotropy. Models with two equal-mass counter-rotating discs and fully rotating models both show growing lopsided modes. For the counter-rotating models, this is the well-known counter-rotating instability, becoming weaker as the net rotation increases. The m=1 mode of the maximally rotating models, on the other hand, becomes stronger with increasing net rotation. This rotating m=1 mode is reminiscent of the eccentricity instability in near-Keplerian discs. To unravel the physical origin of these two different m=1 instabilities, we studied the individual stellar orbits in the perturbed potential and found that the presence of the perturbation gives rise to a very rich orbital behaviour. In the linear regime, both instabilities are supported by aligned loop orbits. In the non-linear regime, other orbit families exist that can help support the modes. In terms of density waves, the counter-rotating m=1 mode is due to a purely growing Jeans-type instability. The rotating m=1 mode, on the other hand, grows as a result of the swing amplifier working inside the resonance cavity that extends from the disc center out to the radius where non-rotating waves are stabilized by the model's outwardly rising Q-profile.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

A generalisation of the mass-sheet degeneracy producing ring-like artefacts in the lens mass distribution

The inversion of a gravitational lens system is, as is well known, plagued by the so-called mass-sheet degeneracy: one can always rescale the density distribution of the lens and add a constant-density mass-sheet such that the, also properly rescaled, source plane is projected onto the same observed images. For strong lensing systems, it is often claimed that this degeneracy is broken as soon as two or more sources at different redshifts are available. This is definitely true in the strict sense that it is then impossible to add a constant-density mass-sheet to the rescaled density of the lens without affecting the resulting images. However, often one can easily construct a more general mass distribution -- instead of a constant-density sheet of mass -- which gives rise to the same effect: a uniform scaling of the sources involved without affecting the observed images. We show that this can be achieved by adding one or more circularly symmetric mass distributions, each with its own center of symmetry, to the rescaled mass distribution of the original lens. As it uses circularly symmetric distributions, this procedure can lead to the introduction of ring shaped features in the mass distribution of the lens. In this paper, we show explicitly how degenerate inversions for a given strong lensing system can be constructed. It then becomes clear that many constraints are needed to effectively break this degeneracy.

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arXiv2007

Non-parametric inversion of gravitational lensing systems with few images using a multi-objective genetic algorithm

Galaxies acting as gravitational lenses are surrounded by, at most, a handful of images. This apparent paucity of information forces one to make the best possible use of what information is available to invert the lens system. In this paper, we explore the use of a genetic algorithm to invert in a non-parametric way strong lensing systems containing only a small number of images. Perhaps the most important conclusion of this paper is that it is possible to infer the mass distribution of such gravitational lens systems using a non-parametric technique. We show that including information about the null space (i.e. the region where no images are found) is prerequisite to avoid the prediction of a large number of spurious images, and to reliably reconstruct the lens mass density. While the total mass of the lens is usually constrained within a few percent, the fidelity of the reconstruction of the lens mass distribution depends on the number and position of the images. The technique employed to include null space information can be extended in a straightforward way to add additional constraints, such as weak lensing data or time delay information.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Radial stability of a family of anisotropic Hernquist models with and without a supermassive black hole

We present a method to investigate the radial stability of a spherical anisotropic system that hosts a central supermassive black hole (SBH). Such systems have never been tested before for stability, although high anisotropies have been considered in the dynamical models that were used to estimate the masses of the central putative supermassive black holes. A family of analytical anisotropic spherical Hernquist models with and without a black hole were investigated by means of N-body simulations. A clear trend emerges that the supermassive black hole has a significant effect on the overall stability of the system, i.e. an SBH with a mass of a few percent of the total mass of the galaxy can prevent or reduce the bar instabilities in anisotropic systems. Its mass not only determines the strength of the instability reduction, but also the time in which this occurs. These effects are most significant for models with strong radial anisotropies. Furthermore, our analysis shows that unstable systems with similar SBH but with different anisotropy radii evolve differently: highly radial systems become oblate, while more isotropic models tend to form into prolate structures. In addition to this study, we also present a Monte-Carlo algorithm to generate particles in spherical anisotropic systems.

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arXiv2006

APEX CO(3-2) observations of NGC6822

We observed the CO(3-2) emission of the emission-line regions HubbleI, HubbleV, HubbleX, Holmberg 18, and the stellar emission-line object S28 in NGC6822 with the ESO Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12m telescope as part of its science verification. The very low system temperature of 130-180K enabled us to achieve detections in 4 single pointings and in a high spatial resolution 70''x70'' map of HubbleV. We compare the spectra with HI observations, obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, of the same regions. In combination with previous multi-line CO observations, we perform a preliminary investigation of the physical conditions in HubbleV using a simple LTE model. We estimate the mass of the HubbleV region and the H_2/I_CO(3-2) conversion factor. Also, we show that HubbleV is located very near the line-width versus size relation traced by the Milky Way and LMC molecular clouds.

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