No Arabic abstract
Aims:We have studied the bulge and the disk kinematics of the giant low surface brightness galaxy ESO 323-G064 in order to investigate its dynamical properties and the radial mass profile of the dark matter (DM) halo. Methods:We observed the galaxy with integral field spectroscopy (VLT/VIMOS, in IFU configuration), measured the positions of the ionized gas by fitting Gaussian functions to the O[III] and Hbeta emission lines, and fit stellar templates to the galaxy spectra to determine velocity and velocity dispersions. We modeled the stellar kinematics in the bulge with spherical isotropic Jeans models and explored the implications of self consistent and dark matter scenarios for NFW and pseudo isothermal halos. Results:In the bulge-dominated region, r<5, the emission lines show multi-peaked profiles. The disk dominated region of the galaxy, 13<r<30, exhibits regular rotation, with a flat rotation curve that reaches 248 +/- 6 km/sec. From this we estimate the total barionic mass to be M_bar ~ 1.9 10^11 M_sun and the total DM halo mass to be M_DM ~ 4.8 10^12 M_sun. The stellar velocity and velocity dispersion have been measured only in the innermost ~5 of the bulge, and reveal a regular rotation with an observed amplitude of 140 km/sec and a central dispersion of sigma=180 km/sec. Our simple Jeans modeling shows that dark matter is needed in the central 5 to explain the kinematics of the bulge, for which we estimate a mass of (7 +/- 3) 10^10 M_sun. However, we are not able to disentangle different DM scenarios. The computed central mass density of the bulge of ESO 323-G064 resembles the central mass density of some high surface brightness galaxies, rather than that of low surface brightness galaxies.
We present a high resolution, SparsePak two-dimensional velocity field for the center of the low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy DDO 39. These data are a significant improvement on previous HI or Halpha long slit data, yet the inner rotation curve is still uncertain due to significant noncircular and random motions. These intrinsic uncertainties, probably present in other LSB galaxies too, result in a wide range of inner slopes being consistent with the data, including those expected in cold dark matter (CDM) simulations. The halo concentration parameter provides a more useful test of cosmological models than the inner slope as it is more tightly constrained by observations. DDO 39s concentration parameter is consistent with, but on the low end of the distribution predicted by CDM.
Systematic effects on HI and Halpha long-slit observations make a measurement of the inner slope of the dark matter density distribution difficult to determine. Halos with constant density cores and ones with r^-1 profiles both appear consistent with the data, although constant density cores generally provide better fits. High-resolution, two-dimensional velocity fields remove most of the systematic effects, yet as a result of noncircular and random motions the inner slopes still cannot be accurately measured. Halo concentration parameters provide a more useful test of cosmological models because they are more tightly constrained by observations. The concentration parameters for LSB galaxies appear consistent with, but on the low end of the distribution predicted by CDM.
We report the detection of a thick disk in the edge-on, low surface brightness (LSB), late-type spiral ESO 342-G017, based on ultra-deep images in the V and R bands obtained with the VLT Test Camera during Science Verification on UT1. All steps in the reduction procedure are fully described, which, together with an extensive analysis of systematic and statistic uncertainties, has resulted in surface brightness photometry that is reliable for the detection of faint extended structure to a level of V = 27.5 and R = 28.5 mag/square arcsec. The faint light apparent in these deep images is well-modeled by a thick exponential disk with an intrinsic scale height about 2.5 times that of the thin disk, and a comparable or somewhat larger scale length. Deprojection including the effects of inclination and convolution with the PSF allow us to estimate that the thick disk contributes 20-40% of the total (old) stellar disk luminosity of ESO 342-G017. To our knowledge, this is the first detection of a thick disk in an LSB galaxy, which are generally thought to be rather unevolved compared to higher surface brightness galaxies.
Giant Low Surface Brightness (GLSB) galaxies are amongst the most massive spiral galaxies that we know of in our Universe. Although they fall in the class of late type spiral galaxies, their properties are far more extreme. They have very faint stellar disks that are extremely rich in neutral hydrogen gas but low in star formation and hence low in surface brightness. They often have bright bulges that are similar to those found in early type galaxies. The bulges can host low luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) that have relatively low mass black holes. GLSB galaxies are usually isolated systems and are rarely found to be interacting with other galaxies. In fact many GLSB galaxies are found under dense regions close to the edges of voids. These galaxies have very massive dark matter halos that also contribute to their stability and lack of evolution. In this paper we briefly review the properties of this unique class of galaxies and conclude that both their isolation and their massive dark matter halos have led to the low star formation rates and the slower rate of evolution in these galaxies.
We present HI observations of four giant low surface brightness (GLSB) galaxies UGC 1378, UGC 1922, UGC 4422 and UM 163 using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). We include HI results on UGC 2936, UGC 6614 and Malin 2 from literature. HI is detected from all the galaxies and the extent is roughly twice the optical size; in UM 163, HI is detected along a broken disk encircling the optical galaxy. We combine our results with those in literature to further understand these systems. The main results are the following: (1) The peak HI surface densities in GLSB galaxies are several times 10^21 cm^{-2} . The HI mass is between 0.3 - 4 x 10^10 M_Sun/yr, dynamical mass ranges from a few times 10^11 M_Sun/yr to a few times 10^12 M_Sun/yr. (2) The rotation curves of GLSB galaxies are flat to the outermost measured point with rotation velocities of the seven GLSB galaxies being between 225 and 432 km s^{-1}. (3) Recent star formation traced by near-ultraviolet emission in five GLSB galaxies in our sample appears to be located in rings around the galaxy centre. We suggest that this could be due to a stochastic burst of star formation at one location in the galaxy being propagated along a ring over a rotation period. (4) The Hi is correlated with recent star formation in five of the seven GLSB galaxies.