arXiv subjects

Sidney van den Bergh

Publications and source records attributed to Sidney van den Bergh.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Were the LMC Globular Clusters Formed in a Disk?

The radial velocities of the 13 globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud have a dispersion of 28 km s$^{-1}$ relative to the HI rotation curve of the LMC, compared to a dispersion of 30 km s$^{-1}$ with regard to the mean globular cluster velocity. This shows that, contrary to a suggestion by Schommer et al. (1992), one cannot yet rule out the possibility that the LMC globular clusters formed in a pressure supported halo, rather than in rotating disk. The globular clusters in the LMC may therefore, after all, exhibit a relationship between age and kinematics that is similar to that of the clusters in M33.

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arXiv2003

Classifications of the Host Galaxies of Supernovae, Set II

Classifications on the DDO system are given for an additional 231 host galaxies of supernovae that have been discovered during the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT). This brings the total number of hosts of supernovae discovered (or independently rediscovered) by KAIT, which have so far been classified on a homogeneous system, to 408. The probability that SNe Ia and SNe II have a different distribution of host galaxy Hubble types is found to be 99.7%. A significant difference is also found between the distributions of the host galaxies of SNe Ia and of SNe Ibc (defined here to include SNe Ib, Ib/c, and Ic). However, no significant difference is detected between the frequency distributions of the host galaxies of SNe II and SNe IIn. This suggests that SNe IIn are generally not SNe Ia embedded in circumstellar material that are masquerading as SNe II. Furthermore, no significant difference is found between the distribution of the Hubble types of the hosts of SNe Ibc and of SNe II. Additionally, SNe II-P and SNe II-L are found to occur among similar stellar populations. The ratio of the number of SNe Ia-pec to normal SNe Ia appears to be higher in early-type galaxies than it is in galaxies of later morphological types. This suggests that the ancestors of SNe Ia-pec may differ systematically in age or composition from the progenitors of normal SNe Ia. Unexpectedly, five SNe of Types Ib/c, II, and IIn (all of which are thought to have massive progenitors) are found in host galaxies that are nominally classified as types E and S0. However, in each case the galaxy classification is uncertain, or newly inspected images show evidence suggesting a later classification (abridged) ...

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arXiv2003

The Formation and Evolution of Massive Star Clusters: Historical Overview

Some factors connecting the evolutionary histories of galaxies with the characteristics of their cluster systems are reviewed. Unanswered questions include: How is one to understand the observation that some globular cluster systems have disk kinematics whereas others do not? Why do some galaxies have cluster systems with unimodal metallicity distributions, whereas others have bimodal metallicity distributions? What caused the average ellipticity of individual clusters to differ from galaxy to galaxy?

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arXiv2003

History of the Local Group

It is suggested that M31 was created by the early merger, and subsequent violent relaxation, of two or more massive metal-rich ancestral galaxies within the core of the Andromeda subgroup of the Local Group. On the other hand the evolution of the main body of the Galaxy appears to have been dominated by the collapse of a single ancestral object, that subsequently evolved by capturing a halo of small metal-poor companions. It remains a mystery why the globular cluster systems surrounding galaxies like M33 and the LMC exhibit such striking differences in evolutionary history. It is argued that the first generation of globular clusters might have been formed nearly simultaneously in all environments by the strong pressure increase that accompanied cosmic reionization. On the other hand subsequent generations of globulars may have formed during starbursts that were triggered by collisions and mergers of gas rich galaxies.

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arXiv2003

Some Global Characteristics of the Galactic Globular Cluster System

The relations between the luminosities $M_{V}$, the metallicities $[Fe/H]$, the Galactocentric radii $R$, and the central concentration indices $c$ of Galactic globular clusters are discussed. It is found that the most luminous clusters rarely have collapsed cores. The reason for this might be that the core collapse time scales for such populous clusters are greater than the age of the Galaxy. Among those clusters, for which the structure has not been modified by core collapse, there is a correlation between central concentration and integrated luminosity, in the sense that the most luminous clusters have the strongest central concentration. The outermost region of the Galaxy with $R>10$ kpc was apparently not able to form metal-rich $([Fe/H]>-1.0)$ globular clusters, whereas such clusters (of which Ter 7 is the prototype) were able to form in some nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies. It is not yet clear how the popular hypothesis that globular clusters were initially formed with a single power law mass spectrum can be reconciled with the observation that both (1) Galactic globular clusters with $R>80$ kpc, and (2) the globulars associated with the Sagittarius dwarf, appear to have bi-modal luminosity functions.

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arXiv2003

A New Approach to Galaxy Morphology: I. Analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release

In this paper we present a new statistic for quantifying galaxy morphology based on measurements of the Gini coefficient of galaxy light distributions. This statistic is easy to measure and is commonly used in econometrics to measure how wealth is distributed in human populations. When applied to galaxy images, the Gini coefficient provides a quantitative measure of the inequality with which a galaxy's light is distributed amongst its constituent pixels. We measure the Gini coefficient of local galaxies in the Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and demonstrate that this quantity is closely correlated with measurements of central concentration, but with significant scatter. This scatter is almost entirely due to variations in the mean surface brightness of galaxies. By exploring the distribution of galaxies in the three-dimensional parameter space defined by the Gini coefficient, central concentration, and mean surface brightness, we show that all nearby galaxies lie on a well-defined two-dimensional surface (a slightly warped plane) embedded within a three-dimensional parameter space. By associating each galaxy sample with the equation of this plane, we can encode the morphological composition of the entire SDSS g-band sample using the following three numbers: 22.451, 5.366, 7.010. The i-band sample is encoded as: 22.149, 5.373, and 7.627.

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arXiv2002

Evolution of Galaxy Morphology

A strictly empirical review is given of presently available data on the evolution of galaxy morphology. From HST observations of distant galaxies and ground-based observations of nearby ones observed at the same rest-frame wavelength it is found that late-type (Sbc-Sc) galaxies evolve more rapidly with increasing redshift than do early-type (E-Sa-Sab) galaxies. Furthermore the fraction of peculiar objects, that cannot be shoehorned into the Hubble tuning fork classification scheme, increases rapidly with redshift. Unexpectedly it is found that, over a wide range of densities, the fraction of barred galaxies is independent of environment. However, this fraction of barred galaxies appears to decline rapidly with increasing redshift.

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arXiv2002

Bar Galaxies and their Environments

The prints of the Palomar Sky Survey, luminosity classificaiton and radial velocities were used to assign all northern Shapley-Ames galaxies to either (1) field, (2) group, or (3) cluster environments. This information for 930 galaxies shows no evidence for a dependence of bar frequency on galaxy environment. This suggests that the formation of a bar in a dish galaxy is mainly determined by the properties of the parent galaxy, rather than by the characteristics of its environment.

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arXiv2002

Spiral Structure and Galaxy Environment

Among 330 normal spirals of types Sa-Sc the fraction of objects exhibiting ``ring'', ``intermediate'' and ``spiral'' arm varieties does not correlated with environment. A similar conclusion appears to apply to the arm varieties of 123 barred spirals of types SBa-SBc. It is concluded that, among the northern Shapley-Ames galaxies, the distinction between the spiral and ring varieties of spiral arms is, within the accuracy of presently available data, independent of galaxy environment. This result suggests that the detailed morphology of spiral arms depends primarily on parent galaxy characteristics, rather than on the galactic environment.

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arXiv2002

Ten Billion Years of Galaxy Evolution

Observations in the Hubble Deep Fields have been used to study the evolution of galaxy morphology over time. The majority of galaxies with z < 1 are seen to be disk like, whereas most objects with z > 2 appear to be either chaotic or centrally concentrated ``blobs''. Such blobs might be the ancestral objects of ellipticals or of galaxy bulges. About 1/3 of objects with z > 2 appear to be in the process of merging. The region with 1 < z < 2 marks an important transition in the global history of star formation from a merger dominated regime at z > 2, to one at z < 1 in which most star formation takes place in galactic disks. It is speculated that the break in the Madau plot at z sim 1.5 might be related to the transition from merger-dominated star formation at z > 2 to disk-dominated star formation at at z < 1.

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arXiv2002

Classifications of the Host Galaxies of Supernovae

Classifications on the DDO system are given for the host galaxies of 177 supernovae (SNe) that have been discovered since 1997 during the course of the Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope. Whereas SNe Ia occur in all galaxy types, it is found, at a high level of statistical confidence, that SNe Ib, Ic, and II are strongly concentrated in late-type galaxies. However, attention is drawn to a possible exception provided by SN 2001I. This SN IIn occurred in the E2 galaxy UGC 2836, which was not expected to harbor a massive young supernova progenitor.

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arXiv2002

Observations of Disk Galaxy Evolution

The morphologies of disk galaxies begin to deviate systematically from those of nearby galaxies at surprisingly low redshifts, possibly as low as z=0.3. This corresponds to a time ~3.5 Gyr in the past, which is only one quarter of the present age of the Universe. Beyond z = 0.5 (a look-back time of 5 Gyr) the effects of evolution on spiral structure are rather obvious: spiral arms are less well-developed and more chaotic, and barred spiral galaxies seem rarer. By z=1, around 30% of the galaxy population is sufficiently peculiar that classification on Hubble's traditional tuning fork system is meaningless. On the other hand, the co-moving space density and the sizes of luminous disks have not changed significantly since z=1. Tully-Fisher measurements indicate that the dynamical state and luminosities of large disk systems are also consistent with passive evolution out to a redshift of unity. We conclude that the general appearance of luminous disk galaxies has continuously changed with cosmic epoch, but their overall numbers have been conserved since z=1, and the bulk of the stars in these systems probably formed at z>1.

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arXiv2002

The Visibility of Galactic Bars and Spiral Structure At High Redshifts

We investigate the visibility of galactic bars and spiral structure in the distant Universe by artificially redshifting 101 B-band CCD images of local spiral galaxies from the Ohio State University Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey. Our artificially redshifted images correspond to Hubble Space Telescope I-band observations of the local galaxy sample seen at z=0.7, with integration times matching those of both the very deep Northern Hubble Deep Field data, and the much shallower Flanking Field observations. The expected visibility of galactic bars is probed in two ways: (1) using traditional visual classification, and (2) by charting the changing shape of the galaxy distribution in "Hubble space", a quantitative two-parameter description of galactic structure that maps closely on to Hubble's original tuning fork. Both analyses suggest that over 2/3 of strongly barred luminous local spirals i.e. objects classified as SB in the Third Reference Catalog) would still be classified as strongly barred at z=0.7 in the Hubble Deep Field data. Under the same conditions, most weakly barred spirals (classified SAB in the Third Reference Catalog) would be classified as regular spirals. The corresponding visibility of spiral structure is assessed visually, by comparing luminosity classifications for the artificially redshifted sample with the corresponding luminosity classifications from the Revised Shapley Ames Catalog. We find that for exposures times similar to that of the Hubble Deep Field spiral structure should be detectable in most luminous low-inclination spiral galaxies at z=0.7 in which it is present. [ABRIDGED]

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arXiv2002

The Light Curve of S Andromedae

Historical observations of S And, in combination with the color versus rate-of-decline relationship for well-observed SN 1991bg-like supernovae, are used to estimate a rate of decline Delta m15 (B) = 2.21 and an intrinsic color at maximum [B(0) - V(0)]o = 1.32 for SN 1885A.

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arXiv2001

The Morphological Evolution of Galaxies

Many galaxies appear to have taken on their familiar appearance relatively recently. In the distant Universe, galaxy morphology started to deviate significantly (and systematically) from that of nearby galaxies at redshifts, z, as low as z = 0.3. This corresponds to a time ~3.5 Gyr in the past, which is only ~25% of the present age of the Universe. Beyond z = 0.5 (5 Gyr in the past) spiral arms are less well-developed and more chaotic, and barred spiral galaxies may become rarer. By z = 1, around 30% of the galaxy population is sufficiently peculiar that classification on Hubble's traditional tuning fork system is meaningless. On the other hand, some characteristics of galaxies do not seem to have changed much over time. The co-moving space density of luminous disk galaxies has not changed significantly since z = 1, indicating that while the general appearance of these objects has continuously changed with cosmic epoch, their overall numbers have been conserved. Attempts to explain these results with hierarchical models for the formation of galaxies have met with mixed success.

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arXiv2001

How Did Globular Clusters Form?

It is suggested that there have been at least two physically distinct epochs of massive cluster formation. The first generation of globular clusters may have formed as halo gas was compressed by shocks driven inward by ionization fronts generated during cosmic reionization at z ~ 6. On the other hand a second generation of massive clusters might have been formed at later times by compression, and subsequent collapse, of giant molecular clouds. In some cases this compression may have been triggered by heating of the interstellar medium via collisions between gas-rich disk galaxies. It is also suggested that the present specific globular cluster frequency in galaxies was mainly determined by the peak rate of star creation, with elevated peak rates of star formation per unit area resulting in high present specific globular cluster frequencies.

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arXiv2001

Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Imaging of Cassiopeia A

The young SNR Cassiopeia A was imaged with WFPC-2 through four filters selected to capture the complete velocity range of the remnant's main shell in several important emission lines. Primary lines detected were [O III] 4959,5007, [N II] 6583, [S II] 6716,6731 + [O II] 7319,7330 + [O I] 6300,6364, and [S III] 9069,9532. About 3/4th of the remnant's main shell was imaged in all four filters. Considerable detail is observed in the reverse-shocked ejecta with typical knot scale lengths of 0.2"-0.4" (1 - 2 x 10^16 cm). Both bright and faint emission features appear highly clumped. Large differences in [S III] and [O III] line intensities indicating chemical abundance differences are also seen, particularly in knots located along the bright northern limb and near the base of the northeast jet. A line of curved overlapping filament in the remnant's northwestern rim appears to mark the location of the remnant's reverse shock front in this region. Finger-like ejecta structures elsewhere suggest cases where the reverse shock front is encountering the remnant's clumped ejecta. Narrow-band [N II] images of the remnant's circumstellar knots ("QSFs") reveal them to be 0.1"-0.6" thick knots and filaments, often with diffuse edges facing away from the center of expansion. Three color composite images of the whole remnant and certain sections along with individual filter enlargements of selected regions of the bright optical shell are presented and discussed.

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arXiv2001

The Evolution of Galaxy Morphology for Galaxies in the Canada-France Redshift Survey

The images of 229 galaxies in the Canada France Redshift Survey have been classified on the DDO system. These observations were combined with previous classifications of galaxies with known redshifts in the Hubble Deep Field. The combined sample provides homogeneous morphological classifications for 425 galaxies of known redshift. The fraction of all galaxies that are of types E + S0 + E/S0 appears to remain approximately constant at ~17% over the redshift range 0.25 < z < 1.2. Over the same range the fraction of irregular (Ir) galaxies increases from ~5% to ~12%. Part of this increase may be due to mild luminosity evolution of Ir galaxies. The frequency of mergers is found to rise by a factor of two or three over the redshift range covered by the present survey.

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