arXiv subjects

Santiago Erroz-Ferrer

Publications and source records attributed to Santiago Erroz-Ferrer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

The MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD): Ionized gas kinematic maps and an application to Diffuse Ionized Gas

We have obtained data for 41 star forming galaxies in the MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD) survey with VLT/MUSE. These data allow us, at high resolution of a few 100 pc, to extract ionized gas kinematics ($V, σ$) of the centers of nearby star forming galaxies spanning 3 dex in stellar mass. This paper outlines the methodology for measuring the ionized gas kinematics, which we will use in subsequent papers of this survey. We also show how the maps can be used to study the kinematics of diffuse ionized gas for galaxies of various inclinations and masses. Using two different methods to identify the diffuse ionized gas, we measure rotation velocities of this gas for a subsample of 6 galaxies. We find that the diffuse ionized gas rotates on average slower than the star forming gas with lags of 0-10 km/s while also having higher velocity dispersion. The magnitude of these lags is on average 5 km/s lower than observed velocity lags between ionized and molecular gas. Using Jeans models to interpret the lags in rotation velocity and the increase in velocity dispersion we show that most of the diffuse ionized gas kinematics are consistent with its emission originating from a somewhat thicker layer than the star forming gas, with a scale height that is lower than that of the stellar disk.

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arXiv2019

The MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD): Resolving Star Formation Rates and Gas Metallicities on < 100pc Scales

We study the physical properties of the ionized gas in local disks using the sample of 38 nearby $\sim10^{8.5-11.2}$M$_\odot$ Star-Forming Main Sequence (SFMS) galaxies observed so far as part of the MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD). Specifically, we use all strong emission lines in the MUSE wavelength range 4650-9300 Å to investigate the resolved ionized gas properties on $\sim$100 pc scales. This spatial resolution enables us to disentangle HII regions from the Diffuse Ionized Gas (DIG) in the computation of gas metallicities and Star Formation Rates (SFRs) of star forming regions. The gas metallicities generally decrease with radius. The metallicity of the HII regions is on average $\sim$0.1 dex higher than that of the DIG, but the metallicity radial gradient in both components is similar. The mean metallicities within the inner galaxy cores correlate with the total stellar mass of the galaxies. On our <100 pc scales, we find two correlations previously reported at kpc scales: a spatially resolved Mass-Metallicity Relation (RMZR) and a spatially resolved SFMS (RSFMS). We find no secondary dependency of the RMZR with the SFR density. We find that both resolved relations have a local origin, as they do not depend on the total stellar mass. The observational results of this paper are consistent with the inside-out scenario for the growth of galactic disks.

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arXiv2017

On the Origin of Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Antennae Galaxy

The "Antennae Galaxy" (NGC 4038/39) is the closest major interacting galaxy system and therefore often taken as merger prototype. We present the first comprehensive integral field spectroscopic dataset of this system, observed with the MUSE instrument at the ESO VLT. We cover the two regions in this system which exhibit recent star-formation: the central galaxy interaction and a region near the tip of the southern tidal tail. In these fields, we detect HII regions and diffuse ionized gas to unprecedented depth. About 15% of the ionized gas was undetected by previous observing campaigns. This newly detected faint ionized gas is visible everywhere around the central merger, and shows filamentary structure. We estimate diffuse gas fractions of about 60% in the central field and 10% in the southern region. We are able to show that the southern region contains a significantly different population of HII regions, showing fainter luminosities. By comparing HII region luminosities with the HST catalog of young star clusters in the central field, we estimate that there is enough Lyman-continuum leakage in the merger to explain the amount of diffuse ionized gas that we detect. We compare the Lyman-continuum escape fraction of each HII region against ionization-parameter sensitive emission line ratios. While we find no systematic trend between these properties, the most extreme line ratios seem to be strong indicators of density bounded ionization. Extrapolating the Lyman-continuum escape fractions to the southern region, we conclude that just from the comparison of the young stellar populations to the ionized gas there is no need to invoke other ionization mechanisms than Lyman-continuum leaking HII regions for the diffuse ionized gas in the Antennae.

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arXiv2017

The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey: V. Spatially resolved stellar kinematics of galaxies at redshift $0.2\lesssim z \lesssim 0.8$

We present spatially resolved stellar kinematic maps, for the first time, for a sample of 17 intermediate redshift galaxies (0.2 < z < 0.8). We used deep MUSE/VLT integral field spectroscopic observations in the Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS) and Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), resulting from ~30h integration time per field, each covering 1'x1' field of view, with ~0.65" spatial resolution. We selected all galaxies brighter than 25mag in the I band and for which the stellar continuum is detected over an area that is at least two times larger than the spatial resolution. The resulting sample contains mostly late-type disk, main-sequence star-forming galaxies with 10^8.5 - 10^10.5 Msun. Using a full-spectrum fitting technique, we derive two-dimensional maps of the stellar and gas kinematics, including the radial velocity V and velocity dispersion sigma. We find that most galaxies in the sample are consistent with having rotating stellar disks with roughly constant velocity dispersions and that the Vrms=sqrt{V^2+sigma^2} of the gas and stars, a scaling proxy for the galaxy gravitational potential, compare well to each other. These spatially resolved observations of intermediate redshift galaxies suggest that the regular stellar kinematics of disk galaxies that is observed in the local Universe was already in place 4 - 7 Gyr ago and that their gas kinematics traces the gravitational potential of the galaxy, thus is not dominated by shocks and turbulent motions. Finally, we build dynamical axisymmetric Jeans models constrained by the derived stellar kinematics for two specific galaxies and derive their dynamical masses. These are in good agreement (within 25%) with those derived from simple exponential disk models based on the gas kinematics. The obtained mass-to-light ratios hint towards dark matter dominated systems within a few effective radii.

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arXiv2017

Inferring gas-phase metallicity gradients of galaxies at the seeing limit: A forward modelling approach

We present a method to recover the gas-phase metallicity gradients from integral field spectroscopic (IFS) observations of barely resolved galaxies. We take a forward modelling approach and compare our models to the observed spatial distribution of emission line fluxes, accounting for the degrading effects of seeing and spatial binning. The method is flexible and is not limited to particular emission lines or instruments. We test the model through comparison to synthetic observations and use downgraded observations of nearby galaxies to validate this work. As a proof of concept we also apply the model to real IFS observations of high-redshift galaxies. From our testing we show that the inferred metallicity gradients and central metallicities are fairly insensitive to the assumptions made in the model and that they are reliably recovered for galaxies with sizes approximately equal to the half width at half maximum of the point-spread function. However, we also find that the presence of star forming clumps can significantly complicate the interpretation of metallicity gradients in moderately resolved high-redshift galaxies. Therefore we emphasize that care should be taken when comparing nearby well-resolved observations to high-redshift observations of partially resolved galaxies.

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arXiv2017

Galactic Winds with MUSE: A Direct Detection of FeII* Emission from a z = 1.29 Galaxy

Emission signatures from galactic winds provide an opportunity to directly map the outflowing gas, but this is traditionally challenging because of the low surface brightness. Using deep observations (27 hours) of the Hubble Deep Field South from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument, we identify signatures of an outflow in both emission and absorption from a spatially resolved galaxy at z = 1.29 with a stellar mass M* = 8 x 10^9 Msun, star formation rate SFR = 77 Msun/yr, and star formation rate surface brightness 1.6 Msun/kpc^2 within the [OII] half-light radius R_1/2,[OII] = 2.76 +- 0.17 kpc. From a component of the strong resonant MgII and FeII absorptions at -350 km/s, we infer a mass outflow rate that is comparable to the star formation rate. We detect non-resonant FeII* emission, at lambda 2626, 2612, 2396, and 2365, at 1.2-2.4-1.5-2.7 x 10^-18 egs s-1 cm-2 respectively. These flux ratios are consistent with the expectations for optically thick gas. By combining the four non-resonant FeII* emission lines, we spatially map the FeII* emission from an individual galaxy for the first time. The FeII* emission has an elliptical morphology that is roughly aligned with the galaxy minor kinematic axis, and its integrated half-light radius R_1/2,FeII* = 4.1 +- 0.4 kpc is 50% larger than the stellar continuum (R_1/2,* = 2.34 +- 0.17 kpc) or the [OII] nebular line. Moreover, the FeII* emission shows a blue wing extending up to -400 km/s, which is more pronounced along the galaxy minor kinematic axis and reveals a C-shaped pattern in a p-v diagram along that axis. These features are consistent with a bi-conical outflow.

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arXiv2016

Halpha Kinematics of S4G Spiral Galaxies - III. Inner rotation curves

We present a detailed study of the shape of the innermost part of the rotation curves of a sample of 29 nearby spiral galaxies, based on high angular and spectral resolution kinematic Halpha Fabry-Perot observations. In particular, we quantify the steepness of the rotation curve by measuring its slope dRvc(0). We explore the relationship between the inner slope and several galaxy parameters, such as stellar mass, maximum rotational velocity, central surface brightness (μ0), bar strength and bulge-to-total ratio. Even with our limited dynamical range, we find a trend for low-mass galaxies to exhibit shallower rotation curve inner slopes than high-mass galaxies, whereas steep inner slopes are found exclusively in high-mass galaxies. This trend may arise from the relationship between the total stellar mass and the mass of the bulge, which are correlated among them. We find a correlation between the inner slope of the rotation curve and the morphological T-type, complementary to the scaling relation between dRvc(0) and μ0 previously reported in the literature. Although we find that the inner slope increases with the Fourier amplitude A2 and decreases with the bar torque Qb, this may arise from the presence of the bulge implicit in both A2 and Qb. As previously noted in the literature, the more compact the mass in the central parts of a galaxy (more concretely, the presence of a bulge), the steeper the inner slopes. We conclude that the baryonic matter dominates the dynamics in the central parts of our sample galaxies.

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arXiv2015

Globular Cluster Populations: Results Including S$^4$G Late-Type Galaxies

Using 3.6 and 4.5$μ$m images of 73 late-type, edge-on galaxies from the S$^4$G survey, we compare the richness of the globular cluster populations of these galaxies to those of early type galaxies that we measured previously. In general, the galaxies presented here fill in the distribution for galaxies with lower stellar mass, M$_*$, specifically $\log({\rm M}_*/{\rm M}_\odot) < 10$, overlap the results for early-type galaxies of similar masses, and, by doing so, strengthen the case for a dependence of the number of globular clusters per $10^9\ {\rm M}_\odot$ of galaxy stellar mass, T$_{\rm N}$, on M$_*$. For $8.5 < \log ({\rm M}_*/{\rm M}_\odot) < 10.5$ we find the relationship can be satisfactorily described as T$_{\rm N} = ({\rm M}_*/10^{6.7})^{-0.56}$ when M$_*$ is expressed in solar masses. The functional form of the relationship is only weakly constrained and extrapolation outside this range is not advised. Our late-type galaxies, in contrast to our early-types, do not show the tendency for low mass galaxies to split into two T$_{\rm N}$ families. Using these results and a galaxy stellar mass function from the literature, we calculate that in a volume limited, local Universe sample, clusters are most likely to be found around fairly massive galaxies (M$_* \sim 10^{10.8}$ M$_\odot$) and present a fitting function for the volume number density of clusters as a function of parent galaxy stellar mass. We find no correlation between T$_{\rm N}$ and large-scale environment, but do find a tendency for galaxies of fixed M$_*$ to have larger T$_{\rm N}$ if they have converted a larger proportion of their baryons into stars.

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arXiv2015

The Odd Offset between the Galactic Disk and Its Bar in NGC 3906

We use mid-infrared 3.6 and 4.5microns imaging of NGC 3906 from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G) to understand the nature of an unusual offset between its stellar bar and the photometric center of an otherwise regular, circular outer stellar disk. We measure an offset of ~720 pc between the center of the stellar bar and photometric center of the stellar disk; the bar center coincides with the kinematic center of the disk determined from previous HI observations. Although the undisturbed shape of the disk suggests that NGC 3906 has not undergone a significant merger event in its recent history, the most plausible explanation for the observed offset is an interaction. Given the relatively isolated nature of NGC 3906 this interaction could be with dark matter sub structure in the galaxy's halo or from a recent interaction with a fast moving neighbor which remains to be identified. Simulations aimed at reproducing the observed offset between the stellar bar / kinematic center of the system and the photometric center of the disk are necessary to confirm this hypothesis and constrain the interaction history of the galaxy.

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arXiv2015

The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G): Stellar Masses, Sizes and Radial Profiles for 2352 Nearby Galaxies

The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G) is a volume, magnitude, and size-limited survey of 2352 nearby galaxies with deep imaging at 3.6 and 4.5um. In this paper we describe our surface photometry pipeline and showcase the associated data products that we have released to the community. We also identify the physical mechanisms leading to different levels of central stellar mass concentration for galaxies with the same total stellar mass. Finally, we derive the local stellar mass-size relation at 3.6um for galaxies of different morphologies. Our radial profiles reach stellar mass surface densities below 1 Msun pc-2. Given the negligible impact of dust and the almost constant mass-to-light ratio at these wavelengths, these profiles constitute an accurate inventory of the radial distribution of stellar mass in nearby galaxies. From these profiles we have also derived global properties such as asymptotic magnitudes (and the corresponding stellar masses), isophotal sizes and shapes, and concentration indices. These and other data products from our various pipelines (science-ready mosaics, object masks, 2D image decompositions, and stellar mass maps), can be publicly accessed at IRSA (http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/S4G/).

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arXiv2015

Comparative internal kinematics of the HII regions in interacting and isolated galaxies: implications for massive star formation modes

We have observed 10 interacting galaxy pairs using the Fabry-Perot interferometer GH$α$FaS (Galaxy H$α$ Fabry-Perot system) on the $4.2\rm{m}$ William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma. We present here the H$α$ surface brightness, velocity and velocity dispersion maps for the 10 systems we have not previously observed using this technique, as well as the physical properties (sizes, H$α$ luminosities and velocity dispersion) of 1259 HII regions from the full sample. We also derive the physical properties of 1054 HII regions in a sample of 28 isolated galaxies observed with the same instrument in order to compare the two populations of HII regions. We find a population of the brightest HII regions for which the scaling relations, for example the relation between the H$α$ luminosity and the radius, are clearly distinct from the relations for the regions of lower luminosity. The regions in this bright population are more frequent in the interacting galaxies. We find that the turbulence, and also the star formation rate, are enhanced in the HII regions in the interacting galaxies. We have also extracted the H$α$ equivalent widths for the HII regions of both samples, and we have found that the distribution of HII region ages coincides for the two samples of galaxies. We suggest that the SFR enhancement is brought about by gas flows induced by the interactions, which give rise to gravitationally bound gas clouds which grow further by accretion from the flowing gas, producing conditions favourable to star formation.

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arXiv2015

H-alpha kinematics of S4G spiral galaxies-II. Data description and non-circular motions

We present a kinematical study of 29 spiral galaxies included in the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies, using Halpha Fabry-Perot data obtained with the Galaxy Halpha Fabry-Perot System instrument at the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma, complemented with images in the R-band and in Halpha. The primary goal is to study the evolution and properties of the main structural components of galaxies through the kinematical analysis of the FP data, complemented with studies of morphology, star formation and mass distribution. In this paper we describe how the FP data have been obtained, processed and analysed. We present the resulting moment maps, rotation curves, velocity model maps and residual maps. Images are available in FITS format through the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database and the Centre de Données Stellaires. With these data products we study the non-circular motions, in particular those found along the bars and spiral arms. The data indicate that the amplitude of the non-circular motions created by the bar does not correlate with the bar strength indicators. The amplitude of those non-circular motions in the spiral arms does not correlate with either arm class or star formation rate along the spiral arms. This implies that the presence and the magnitude of the streaming motions in the arms is a local phenomenon.

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arXiv2015

Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S$^4$G). The Pipeline 4: Multi-component decomposition strategies and data release

The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S$^4$G, Sheth et. al. 2010) is a deep 3.6 and 4.5 $μ$m imaging survey of 2352 nearby ($< 40$ Mpc) galaxies. We describe the S$^4$G data analysis pipeline 4, which is dedicated to 2-dimensional structural surface brightness decompositions of 3.6 $μ$m images, using GALFIT3.0 \citep{peng2010}. Besides automatic 1-component Sérsic fits, and 2-component Sérsic bulge + exponential disk fits, we present human supervised multi-component decompositions, which include, when judged appropriate, a central point source, bulge, disk, and bar components. Comparison of the fitted parameters indicates that multi-component models are needed to obtain reliable estimates for the bulge Sérsic index and bulge-to-total light ratio ($B/T$), confirming earlier results \citep{laurikainen2007, gadotti2008, weinzirl2009}. In this first paper, we describe the preparations of input data done for decompositions, give examples of our decomposition strategy, and describe the data products released via IRSA and via our web page ({\bf \tt www.oulu.fi/astronomy/S4G\_PIPELINE4/MAIN}). These products include all the input data and decomposition files in electronic form, making it easy to extend the decompositions to suit specific science purposes. We also provide our IDL-based visualization tools (GALFIDL) developed for displaying/running GALFIT-decompositions, as well as our mask editing procedure (MASK\_EDIT) used in data preparation. In the second paper we will present a detailed analysis of the bulge, disk, and bar parameter derived from multi-component decompositions.

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arXiv2014

BUBBLY: A method for detecting and characterizing interstellar bubbles using Fabry-Perot spectroscopy

We present a new method for the detection and characterization of expansion in galaxy discs based on Hα Fabry-Perot spectroscopy, taking advantage of the high spatial and velocity resolution of our instrument (GHαFaS). The method analyses multi-peaked emission line profiles to find expansion along the line of sight on a point-by-point basis. At this stage we have centred our attention on the large scale structures of expanding gas associated with HII regions which show a characteristic pattern of expansion velocities, of order 100 km/s, as a result of both bubble shape and projection effects. We show an example of the expansion map obtained with our method from a superbubble detected in the Antennae galaxies. We use the information obtained from the method to measure the relevant physical parameters of the superbubbles, including their ages which can be used to date young star clusters.

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arXiv2014

The Mass Profile and Shape of Bars in the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G): Search for an Age Indicator for Bars

We have measured the radial light profiles and global shapes of bars using two-dimensional 3.6 $μm $ image decompositions for 144 face-on barred galaxies from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G). The bar surface brightness profile is correlated with the stellar mass and bulge-to-total (B/T) ratio of their host galaxies. Bars in massive and bulge-dominated galaxies (B/T$>$0.2) show a flat profile, while bars in less massive, disk-dominated galaxies (B/T$\sim$0) show an exponential, disk-like profile with a wider spread in the radial profile than in the bulge-dominated galaxies. The global two-dimensional shapes of bars, however, are rectangular/boxy, independent of the bulge or disk properties. We speculate that because bars are formed out of disk, bars initially have an exponential (disk-like) profile which evolves over time, trapping more stars into the boxy bar orbits. This leads bars to become stronger and have flatter profiles. The narrow spread of bar radial profiles in more massive disks suggests that these bars formed earlier (z$>$1), while the disk-like profiles and a larger spread in the radial profile in less massive systems imply a later and more gradual evolution, consistent with the cosmological evolution of bars inferred from observational studies. Therefore, we expect that the flatness of the bar profile can be used as a dynamical age indicator of the bar to measure the time elapsed since the bar formation. We argue that cosmic gas accretion is required to explain our results on bar profile and the presence of gas within the bar region.

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arXiv2014

Globular Cluster Populations: First Results from S$^4$G Early-Type Galaxies

Using 3.6$μ$m images of 97 early-type galaxies, we develop and verify methodology to measure globular cluster populations from the S$^4$G survey images. We find that 1) the ratio, T$_{\rm N}$, of the number of clusters, N$_{\rm CL}$, to parent galaxy stellar mass, M$_*$, rises weakly with M$_*$ for early-type galaxies with M$_* > 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ when we calculate galaxy masses using a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF), but that the dependence of T$_{\rm N}$ on M$_*$ is removed entirely once we correct for the recently uncovered systematic variation of IMF with M$_*$, and 2) for M$_* < 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ there is no trend between N$_{\rm CL}$ and M$_*$, the scatter in T$_{\rm N}$ is significantly larger (approaching 2 orders of magnitude), and there is evidence to support a previous, independent suggestion of two families of galaxies. The behavior of N$_{\rm CL}$ in the lower mass systems is more difficult to measure because these systems are inherently cluster poor, but our results may add to previous evidence that large variations in cluster formation and destruction efficiencies are to be found among low mass galaxies. The average fraction of stellar mass in clusters is $\sim$ 0.0014 for M$_* > 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ and can be as large as $\sim 0.02$ for less massive galaxies. These are the first results from the S$^4$G sample of galaxies, and will be enhanced by the sample of early-type galaxies now being added to S$^4$G and complemented by the study of later type galaxies within S$^4$G.

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arXiv2014

Two physical regimes for the Giant HII Regions and Giant Molecular Clouds in the Antennae Galaxies

We have combined observations of the Antennae galaxies from the radio interferometer ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) and from the optical interferometer GH$α$FaS (Galaxy H$α$ Fabry-Perot System). The two sets of observations have comparable angular and spectral resolutions, enabling us to identify 142 giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and 303 HII regions. We have measured, and compared, their basic physical properties (radius, velocity dispersion, luminosity). For the HII regions, we find two physical regimes, one for masses $>10^{5.4} \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ of ionized gas, where the gas density increases with gas mass, the other for masses $<10^{5.4} \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ of ionized gas, where the gas density decreases with gas mass. For the GMCs, we find, in contrast to previous studies in other galaxies over a generally lower mass range of clouds, that the gas surface density increases with the radius, hinting at two regimes for these clouds if we consider both sources of data. We also find that the GMC mass function has a break at $10^{6.7}\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$. Using the velocity dispersion measurements, we claim that the difference between the regimes is the nature of the dominant binding force. For the regions in the lower mass range, the dominant force is the external pressure, while in the higher mass range it is the internal gravity of the clouds. In the regime where gravity is dominant, the star formation rate, derived from the dust-corrected H$α$ luminosity, increases super-linearly with the velocity dispersion, and the gas density increases with the gas mass.

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arXiv2014

IRAC Near-Infrared Features in the Outer Parts of S4G Galaxies

We present a catalogue and images of visually detected features, such as asymmetries, extensions, warps, shells, tidal tails, polar rings, and obvious signs of mergers or interactions, in the faint outer regions (at and outside of R_25) of nearby galaxies. This catalogue can be used in future quantitative studies that examine galaxy evolution due to internal and external factors. We are able to reliably detect outer region features down to a brightness level of 0.03 MJy/sr per pixel at 3.6 microns in the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G). We also tabulate companion galaxies. We find asymmetries in the outer isophotes in 22+/-1 per cent of the sample. The asymmetry fraction does not correlate with galaxy classification as an interacting galaxy or merger remnant, or with the presence of companions. We also compare the detected features to similar features in galaxies taken from cosmological zoom re-simulations. The simulated images have a higher fraction (33 per cent) of outer disc asymmetries, which may be due to selection effects and an uncertain star formation threshold in the models. The asymmetries may have either an internal (e.g., lopsidedness due to dark halo asymmetry) or external origin.

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