arXiv subjects

W. J. G. de Blok

Publications and source records attributed to W. J. G. de Blok.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Dark and luminous matter in THINGS dwarf galaxies

We present mass models for the dark matter component of seven dwarf galaxies taken from "The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey" (THINGS) and compare these with those from numerical Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) simulations. The THINGS high-resolution data significantly reduce observational uncertainties and thus allow us to derive accurate dark matter distributions in these systems. We here use the bulk velocity fields when deriving the rotation curves of the galaxies. Compared to other types of velocity fields, the bulk velocity field minimizes the effect of small-scale random motions more effectively and traces the underlying kinematics of a galaxy more properly. The "Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey" (SINGS) 3.6 micron and ancillary optical data are used for separating the baryons from their total matter content in the galaxies. The sample dwarf galaxies are found to be dark matter dominated over most radii. We find discrepancies between the derived dark matter distributions of the galaxies and those of LCDM simulations, even after corrections for non-circular motions have been applied. The observed solid body-like rotation curves of the galaxies rise too slowly to reflect the cusp-like dark matter distribution in CDM halos. Instead, they are better described by core-like models such as pseudo-isothermal halo models dominated by a central constant-density core. The mean value of the logarithmic inner slopes of the mass density profiles is alpha = -0.29 +- 0.07. They are significantly different from the steep slope of ~ -1.0 inferred from previous dark-matter-only simulations, and are more consistent with shallower slopes found in recent LCDM simulations of dwarf galaxies in which the effects of baryonic feedback processes are included.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

The central slope of dark matter cores in dwarf galaxies: Simulations vs. THINGS

We make a direct comparison of the derived dark matter (DM) distributions between hydrodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxies assuming a LCDM cosmology and the observed dwarf galaxies sample from the THINGS survey in terms of (1) the rotation curve shape and (2) the logarithmic inner density slope alpha of mass density profiles. The simulations, which include the effect of baryonic feedback processes, such as gas cooling, star formation, cosmic UV background heating and most importantly physically motivated gas outflows driven by supernovae (SNe), form bulgeless galaxies with DM cores. We show that the stellar and baryonic mass is similar to that inferred from photometric and kinematic methods for galaxies of similar circular velocity. Analyzing the simulations in exactly the same way as the observational sample allows us to address directly the so-called "cusp/core" problem in the LCDM model. We show that the rotation curves of the simulated dwarf galaxies rise less steeply than CDM rotation curves and are consistent with those of the THINGS dwarf galaxies. The mean value of the logarithmic inner density slopes alpha of the simulated galaxies' dark matter density profiles is ~ -0.4 +- 0.1, which shows good agreement with α= -0.29 +- 0.07 of the THINGS dwarf galaxies. The effect of non-circular motions is not significant enough to affect the results. This confirms that the baryonic feedback processes included in the simulations are efficiently able to make the initial cusps with α~ -1.0 to -1.5 predicted by dark-matter-only simulations shallower, and induce DM halos with a central mass distribution similar to that observed in nearby dwarf galaxies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Three-dimensional modeling of the HI kinematics of NGC 2915

The nearby blue compact dwarf, NGC 2915, has its stellar disc embedded in a large, extended (~ 22 B-band scale-lengths) HI disc. New high-resolution HI synthesis observations of NGC 2915 have been obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. These observations provide evidence of extremely complex HI kinematics within the immediate vicinity of the galaxy's star-forming core. We identify and quantify double-peaked HI line profiles near the centre of the galaxy and show that the HI energetics can be accounted for by the mechanical energy output of the central high-mass stellar population within time-scales of 10^6-10^7 yr. Full three-dimensional models of the HI data cube are generated and compared to the observations to test various physical scenarios associated with the high-mass star-forming core of NGC 2915. Purely circular HI kinematics are ruled out together with the possibility of a high-velocity-dispersion inter-stellar medium at inner radii. Radial velocities of ~ 30 km/s are required to describe the central-most HI kinematics of the system. Our results lend themselves to the simple physical scenario in which the young stellar core of the galaxy expels the gas outwards from the centre of the disc, thereby creating a central HI under-density. These kinematics should be thought of as being linked to a central HI outflow rather than a large-scale galactic blow-out or wind.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

A Constant Molecular Gas Depletion Time in Nearby Disk Galaxies

We combine new sensitive, wide-field CO data from the HERACLES survey with ultraviolet and infrared data from GALEX and Spitzer to compare the surface densities of H2, Sigma_H2, and recent star formation rate, Sigma_SFR, over many thousands of positions in 30 nearby disk galaxies. We more than quadruple the size of the galaxy sample compared to previous work and include targets with a wide range of galaxy properties. Even though the disk galaxies in this study span a wide range of properties, we find a strong and approximately linear correlation between Sigma_SFR and Sigma_H2 at our common resolution of 1kpc. This implies a roughly constant median H2 consumption time, tau_H2 = Sigma_H2 / Sigma_SFR, of ~2.35Gyr (including heavy elements) across our sample. At 1kpc resolution, there is only a weak correlation between Sigma_H2 and tau_H2 over the range Sigma_H2~5-100M_sun/pc^2, which is probed by our data. We compile a broad set of literature measurements that have been obtained using a variety of star formation tracers, sampling schemes and physical scales and show that overall, these data yield almost exactly the same results, although with more scatter. We interpret these results as strong, albeit indirect evidence that star formation proceeds in a uniform way in giant molecular clouds in the disks of spiral galaxies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

The VMC Survey - I. Strategy and First Data

The new VISual and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has started operations. Over its first five years it will be collecting data for six public surveys, one of these is the near-infrared YJKsVISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC). This survey comprises the LMC, the SMC, the Bridge connecting the two galaxies and two fields in the Stream. This paper provides an overview of the VMC survey strategy and presents first science results. The main goals of the VMC survey are the determination of the spatially resolved SFH and 3D structure of the Magellanic system. Therefore, the VMC survey is designed to reach stars as faint as the oldest main sequence turn-off point and to constrain the mean magnitude of pulsating variable stars such as RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids. This paper focuses on observations of VMC fields in the LMC obtained between November 2009 and March 2010. These observations correspond to a 7% completeness of the LMC fields. The VMC observations consist of multi-epoch measurements organised following a specific structure. The data were reduced using the VISTA Data Flow System pipeline whose source catalogues were produced and made available via the VISTA Science Archive. The analysis of the data shows that the sensitivity in each wave band agrees with expectations. Uncertainties and completeness of the data are also derived. The first science results, aimed at assessing the science quality of the VMC data, include an overview of the distribution of stars in colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams, the detection of planetary nebulae and of stellar clusters, and the Ks band light-curve of variable stars. The VMC survey represents a tremendous improvement, in spatial resolution and sensitivity, on previous panoramic observations of the Magellanic system in the near-infrared and complements nicely the deep observations at other wavelengths. (Abridged)

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

THINGS about MOND

We present the analysis of 12 high-resolution galactic rotation curves from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) in the context of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). These rotation curves were selected to be the most reliable for mass modelling, and they are the highest quality rotation curves currently available for a sample of galaxies spanning a wide range of luminosities. We fit the rotation curves with the "simple" and "standard" interpolating functions of MOND, and we find that the "simple" function yields better results. We also redetermine the value of a0, and find a median value very close to the one determined in previous studies, a0 = (1.22 +- 0.33) x 10^{-8} cm/s^2. Leaving the distance as a free parameter within the uncertainty of its best independently determined value leads to excellent quality fits for 75% of the sample. Among the three exceptions, two are also known to give relatively poor fits also in Newtonian dynamics plus dark matter. The remaining case (NGC 3198), presents some tension between the observations and the MOND fit, which might however be explained by the presence of non-circular motions, by a small distance, or by a value of a0 at the lower end of our best-fit interval, 0.9 x 10^{-8} cm/s^2. The best-fit stellar M/L ratios are generally in remarkable agreement with the predictions of stellar population synthesis models. We also show that the narrow range of gravitational accelerations found to be generated by dark matter in galaxies is consistent with the narrow range of additional gravity predicted by MOND.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Hierarchical Stellar Structures in the Local Group Dwarf Galaxy NGC 6822

We present a comprehensive study of the star cluster population and the hierarchical structure in the clustering of blue stars with ages <~ 500 Myr in the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. Our observational material comprises the most complete optical stellar catalog of the galaxy from imaging with the Suprime-Cam at the 8.2-m SUBARU Telescope. We identify 47 distinct star clusters with the application of the nearest-neighbor density method to this catalog for a detection threshold of 3sigma above the average stellar density. The size distribution of the detected clusters can be very well approximated by a Gaussian with a peak at ~ 68 pc. Their cluster mass function is fitted very well by a power-law with index alpha ~ 1.5 +/- 0.7, consistent with other Local Group galaxies and the cluster initial mass function. The application of the nearest-neighbor density method for various density thresholds, other than 3sigma, enabled the identification of stellar concentrations in various length-scales. The stellar density maps constructed with this technique provide a direct proof of hierarchically structured stellar concentrations in NGC 6822. We illustrate this hierarchy by the so-called "dendrogram" of the detected stellar structures, which demonstrates that most of the detected structures split up into several substructures over at least three levels. We quantify the hierarchy of these structures with the use of the minimum spanning tree method. The morphological hierarchy in stellar clustering, which we observe in NGC 6822 resembles that of the turbulent interstellar matter, suggesting that turbulence on pc- and kpc-scales has been probably the major agent that regulated clustered star formation in NGC 6822.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2010

A search for non-circular flows in the extended HI disc of NGC 2915

NGC 2915 is a nearby blue compact dwarf with a differentially rotating HI disc extending out to ~ 5 R-band R_{25} radii. This disc serves as an ideal tracer of the system's gravitational potential in regions of the galaxy that are dominated by dark matter. We use new HI synthesis observations of NGC 2915, obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, to search for non-circular flows within the outer HI disc. Two independent methods are used, and the results of each interpreted in the context of relevant axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric perturbations of the potential. We find evidence for: (1) elliptical streaming associated with the spiral structure of the HI disc and the central bar-like feature in the mass distribution, (2) a spherical dark matter halo, and (3) an axisymmetric radial outflow of ~ 5-17 km/s (~ 6-20 percent of the circular speed). A possible bar-like perturbation of the potential hinders attempts to unambiguously detect kinematic signatures of radial flows in the HI velocity field. The radial outflows are inconsistent with the plausible disc formation scenario in which gas from the surrounding inter-galactic medium is deposited on the outer HI disc and then transported towards the centre of the galaxy. They are, however, consistent with the possibility of some material being re-distributed towards the outer disc in order to conserve angular momentum as material flows inwards along a bar.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The Fine-Scale Structure of the neutral Interstellar Medium in nearby Galaxies

We present an analysis of the properties of HI holes detected in 20 galaxies that are part of "The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey" (THINGS). We detected more than 1000 holes in total in the sampled galaxies. Where they can be measured, their sizes range from about 100 pc (our resolution limit) to about 2 kpc, their expansion velocities range from 4 to 36 km/s, and their ages are estimated to range between 3 and 150 Myr. The holes are found throughout the disks of the galaxies, out to the edge of the HI; 23% of the holes fall outside R25. We find that shear limits the age of holes in spirals (shear is less important in dwarf galaxies) which explains why HI holes in dwarfs are rounder, on average than in spirals. Shear, which is particularly strong in the inner part of spiral galaxies, also explains why we find that holes outside R25 are larger and older. We derive the scale height of the HI disk as a function of galactocentric radius and find that the disk flares up in all galaxies. We proceed to derive the surface and volume porosity (Q2D and Q3D) and find that this correlates with the type of the host galaxy: later Hubble types tend to be more porous. The size distribution of the holes in our sample follows a power law with a slope of a ~ -2.9. Assuming that the holes are the result of massive star formation, we derive values for the supernova rate (SNR) and star formation rate (SFR) which scales with the SFR derived based on other tracers. If we extrapolate the observed number of holes to include those that fall below our resolution limit, down to holes created by a single supernova, we find that our results are compatible with the hypothesis that HI holes result from star formation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Extremely Inefficient Star Formation in the Outer Disks of Nearby Galaxies

(Abridged) We combine data from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey and the GALEX Nearby Galaxy Survey to study the relationship between atomic hydrogen (HI) and far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission outside the optical radius (r25) in 17 spiral and 5 dwarf galaxies. In this regime, HI is likely to represent most of the ISM and FUV emission to trace recent star formation with little bias due to extinction, so that the two quantities closely trace the underlying relationship between gas and star formation rate (SFR). The azimuthally averaged HI and FUV intensities both decline with increasing radius in this regime, with the scale length of the FUV profile typically half that of the HI profile. Despite the mismatch in profiles, there is a significant spatial correlation (at 15" resolution) between local FUV and HI intensities; near r25 this correlation is quite strong, in fact stronger than anywhere inside r25, and shows a decline towards larger radii. The star formation efficiency (SFE) - defined as the ratio of FUV/HI and thus the inverse of the gas depletion time - decreases with galactocentric radius across the outer disks, though much shallower than across the optical disks. On average, we find the gas depletion times to be well above a Hubble time (~10^11 yr). We observe a clear relationship between FUV/HI and HI column in the outer disks, with the SFE increasing with increasing HI column. Despite observing systematic variations in FUV/HI, we find no clear evidence for step-function type star formation thresholds. When compared with results from inside r25, we find outer disk star formation to be distinct in several ways: it is extremely inefficient (depletion times of many Hubble times) with column densities and SFRs lower than found anywhere inside the optical disks. It appears that the HI column is one of, perhaps even the key environmental factor in setting the SFR in outer galaxy disks.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The dark matter content of the blue compact dwarf NGC 2915

NGC 2915 is a nearby blue compact dwarf with the HI properties of a late-type spiral. Its large, rotating HI disk (extending out to R ~ 22 B-band scale lengths) and apparent lack of stars in the outer HI disk make it a useful candidate for dark matter studies. New HI synthesis observations of NGC 2915 have been obtained using the Australian Telescope Compact Array. These data are combined with high-quality 3.6 $μ$m imaging from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey. The central regions of the HI disk are shown to consist of two distinct HI concentrations with significantly non-Gaussian line profiles. We fit a tilted ring model to the HI velocity field to derive a rotation curve. This is used as input for mass models that determine the contributions from the stellar and gas disks as well as the dark matter halo. The galaxy is dark-matter-dominated at nearly all radii. At the last measured point of the rotation curve, the total mass to blue light ratio is ~ 140 times solar, making NGC 2915 one of the darkest galaxies known. We show that the stellar disk cannot account for the steeply-rising portion of the observed rotation curve. The best-fitting dark matter halo is a pseudo-isothermal sphere with a core density $ρ_0\sim 0.17 \pm 0.03$ \msun pc$^{-3}$ and a core radius $r_c\sim 0.9 \pm 0.1$ kpc.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

The Baryon Content of Cosmic Structures

We make an inventory of the baryonic and gravitating mass in structures ranging from the smallest galaxies to rich clusters of galaxies. We find that the fraction of baryons converted to stars reaches a maximum between M500 = 1E12 and 1E13 Msun, suggesting that star formation is most efficient in bright galaxies in groups. The fraction of baryons detected in all forms deviates monotonically from the cosmic baryon fraction as a function of mass. On the largest scales of clusters, most of the expected baryons are detected, while in the smallest dwarf galaxies, fewer than 1% are detected. Where these missing baryons reside is unclear.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Our changing view of the blue compact dwarf NGC 2915

Results from new HI synthesis observations of the nearby blue compact dwarf galaxy, NGC 2915, carried out on the Australian Telescope Compact Array are presented. High resolution HI moment maps for the galaxy reveal complex HI distributions and kinematics. The presence of large non-circular velocity components within the gas at inner radii is revealed. The central gas dynamics are consistent with the simple scenario in which winds from high-mass stars are expelling the gas outwards from the centre of the galaxy. A model in which the central region is treated as a rotating, expanding gas torus is able to reproduce the inner HI morphology and kinematics of NGC 2915. We also find intriguing evidence for a gas infall event which, if confirmed, would be the first such evidence for a low-mass system.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

The Core-Cusp Problem

This paper gives an overview of the attempts to determine the distribution of dark matter in low surface brightness disk and gas-rich dwarf galaxies, both through observations and computer simulations. Observations seem to indicate an approximately constant dark matter density in the inner parts of galaxies, while cosmological computer simulations indicate a steep power-law-like behaviour. This difference has become known as the "core/cusp problem", and remains one of the unsolved problems in small-scale cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

MeerKAT Key Project Science, Specifications, and Proposals

We present the specifications of the MeerKAT Karoo Array Telescope, the South African Square Kilometre Array Precursor. Some of the key science for MeerKAT is described in this document. We invite the community to submit proposals for Large Key Projects.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2009

Quantified Morphology of HI Disks in the Universe

he upcoming new perspective of the high redshift Universe in the 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen opens possibilities to explore topics of spiral disk evolution, hitherto reserved for the optical regime. The growth of spiral gas disks over Cosmic time can be explored with the new generation of radio telescopes, notably the SKA, and its precursors, as accurately as with the Hubble Space Telescope for stellar disks. Since the atomic hydrogen gas is the building block of these disks, it should trace their formation accurately. Morphology of HI disks can now equally be quantified over Cosmic time. In studies of HST deep fields, the optical or UV morphology of high-redshift galaxy disks have been characterized using a few quantities: concentration (C), asymmetry (A), smoothness (S), second-order-moment (M20), the GINI coefficient (G), and Ellipticity (E). We have applied these parameters across wavelengths and compared them to the HI morphology over the THINGS sample. NGC 3184, an unperturbed disk, and NGC 5194, the canonical 3:1 interaction, serve as examples for quantified morphology. We find that morphology parameters determined in HI are as good or better a tracer of interaction compared to those in any other wavelength, notably in Asymmetry, Gini and M20. This opens the possibility of using them in the parameterization pipeline for SKA precursor catalogues to select interacting or harassed galaxies from their HI morphology. Asymmetry, Gini and M20 may be redefined for use on data-cubes rather than HI column density image.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation and its implication for dark matter halos

The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTF) is a fundamental relation between baryonic mass and maximum rotation velocity. It can be used to estimate distances, as well as to constrain the properties of dark matter and its relation with the visible matter. In this paper, we explore if extremely low-mass dwarf galaxies follow the same BTF relation as high-mass galaxies. We quantify the scatter in the BTF relation and use this to constrain the allowed elongations of dark matter halo potentials. We obtained HI synthesis data of 11 dwarf galaxies and derive several independent estimates for the maximum rotation velocity. Constructing a BTF relation using data from the literature for the high-mass end, and galaxies with detected rotation from our sample for the low-mass end results in a BTF with a scatter of 0.33 mag. This scatter constrains the ellipticities of the potentials in the plane of the disks of the galaxies to an upper limit of 0-0.06 indicating that dwarf galaxies are at most only mildly tri-axial. Our results indicate that the BTF relation is a fundamental relation which all rotationally dominated galaxies seem to follow.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

HERACLES: The HERA CO-Line Extragalactic Survey

We present the HERA CO-Line Extragalactic Survey (HERACLES), an atlas of CO emission from 18 nearby galaxies that are also part of The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) and the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS). We used the HERA multi-pixel receiver on the IRAM 30-m telescope to map the CO J=2-1 line over the full optical disk (defined by the isophotal radius r_25) of each target, at 13" angular resolution and 2.6 km/s velocity resolution. Here we describe the observations and reduction of the data and show channel maps, azimuthally averaged profiles, integrated intensity maps, and peak intensity maps. The implied H2 masses range from 7 \times 10^6 to 6 \times 10^9 M_sun, with four low metallicity dwarf irregular galaxies yielding only upper limits. In the cases where CO is detected, the integrated H2-to-HI ratios range from 0.02 - 1.13 and H2-to-stellar mass ratios from 0.01 to 0.25. Exponential scale lengths of the CO emission for our targets are in the range 0.8 - 3.2 kpc, or 0.2 \pm 0.05 r_25. The intensity-weighted mean velocity of CO matches that of HI very well, with a 1σscatter of only 6 km/s. The CO J=2-1 / J=1-0 line ratio varies over a range similar to that found in the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies, \sim 0.6 - 1.0, with higher values found in the centers of galaxies. The typical line ratio, \sim 0.8, could be produced by optically thick gas with an excitation temperature of \sim 10 K.

astro-ph.CO↗