No Arabic abstract
We study the velocity distribution of Milky Way disk stars in a kiloparsec-sized region around the Sun, based on ~ 2 million M-type stars from DR7 of SDSS, which have newly re-calibrated absolute proper motions from combining SDSS positions with the USNO-B catalogue. We estimate photometric distances to all stars, accurate to ~ 20 %, and combine them with the proper motions to derive tangential velocities for this kinematically unbiased sample of stars. Based on a statistical de-projection method we then derive the vertical profiles (to heights of Z = 800 pc above the disk plane) for the first and second moments of the three dimensional stellar velocity distribution. We find that <W> = -7 +/- 1 km/s and <U> = -9 +/- 1 km/s, independent of height above the mid-plane, reflecting the Suns motion with respect to the local standard of rest. In contrast, <V> changes distinctly from -20 +/- 2 km/s in the mid-plane to <V> = -32 km/s at Z = 800 pc, reflecting an asymmetric drift of the stellar mean velocity that increases with height. All three components of the M-star velocity dispersion show a strong linear rise away from the mid-plane, most notably sigma_{ZZ}, which grows from 18 km/s (Z = 0) to 40 km/s (at Z = 800 pc). We determine the orientation of the velocity ellipsoid, and find a significant vertex deviation of 20 to 25 degrees, which decreases only slightly to heights of Z = 800 pc. Away from the mid-plane, our sample exhibits a remarkably large tilt of the velocity ellipsoid towards the Galactic plane, which reaches 20 deg. at Z = 800 pc and which is not easily explained. Finally, we determine the ratio sigma^2_{phiphi}/sigma^2_{RR} near the mid-plane, which in the epicyclic approximation implies an almost perfectly flat rotation curve at the Solar radius.
The frequency of maximum oscillation power measured in dwarfs and giants exhibiting solar-like pulsations provides a precise, and potentially accurate, inference of the stellar surface gravity. An extensive comparison for about 40 well-studied pulsating stars with gravities derived using classical methods (ionisation balance, pressure-sensitive spectral features or location with respect to evolutionary tracks) supports the validity of this technique and reveals an overall remarkable agreement with mean differences not exceeding 0.05 dex (although with a dispersion of up to ~0.2 dex). It is argued that interpolation in theoretical isochrones may be the most precise way of estimating the gravity by traditional means in nearby dwarfs. Attention is drawn to the usefulness of seismic targets as benchmarks in the context of large-scale surveys.
We present an empirical method to measure the halo mass function (HMF) of galaxies. We determine the relation between the hi line-width from single-dish observations and the dark matter halo mass ($M_{200}$) inferred from rotation curve fits in the SPARC database, then we apply this relation to galaxies from the hi Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) to derive the HMF. This empirical HMF is well fit by a Schecther function, and matches that expected in $Lambda$CDM over the range $10^{10.5} < M_{200} < 10^{12};mathrm{M}_{odot}$. More massive halos must be poor in neutral gas to maintain consistency with the power law predicted by $Lambda$CDM. We detect no discrepancy at low masses. The lowest halo mass probed by HIPASS, however, is just greater than the mass scale where the Local Group missing satellite problem sets in. The integrated mass density associated with the dark matter halos of hi-detected galaxies sums to $Omega_{rm m,gal} approx 0.03$ over the probed mass range.
It has been often suggested that a tangible relation exists between relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the morphology of their host galaxies. In particular, relativistic jets may commonly be related to merging events. Here we present for the first time a detailed spectroscopic and morphological analysis of a Seyfert galaxy, SDSS J211852.96-073227.5, at $z = 0.26$. This source has previously been classified as a gamma-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy. We re-observed it with the 6.5m Clay Telescope and these new, high-quality spectroscopic data have revealed that it is actually an intermediate-type Seyfert galaxy. Furthermore, the results of modelling the $Ks$-band near-infrared images obtained with the 6.5m Baade Telescope indicate that the AGN is hosted by a late-type galaxy in an interacting system, strengthening the suggested connection between galaxy interactions and relativistic jets.
We report on the first asteroseismic analysis of solar-type stars observed by Kepler. Observations of three G-type stars, made at one-minute cadence during the first 33.5d of science operations, reveal high signal-to-noise solar-like oscillation spectra in all three stars: About 20 modes of oscillation can clearly be distinguished in each star. We discuss the appearance of the oscillation spectra, including the presence of a possible signature of faculae, and the presence of mixed modes in one of the three stars.
We derive ages, metallicities, and individual element abundances of early- and late-type galaxies (ETGs and LTGs) out to 1.5 R$_e$. We study a large sample of 1900 galaxies spanning $8.6 - 11.3 log M/M_{odot}$ in stellar mass, through key absorption features in stacked spectra from the SDSS-IV/MaNGA survey. We use mock galaxy spectra with extended star formation histories to validate our method for LTGs and use corrections to convert the derived ages into luminosity- and mass-weighted quantities. We find flat age and negative metallicity gradients for ETGs and negative age and negative metallicity gradients for LTGs. Age gradients in LTGs steepen with increasing galaxy mass, from $-0.05pm0.11~log$ Gyr/R$_e$ for the lowest mass galaxies to $-0.82pm0.08~log$ Gyr/R$_e$ for the highest mass ones. This strong gradient-mass relation has a slope of $-0.70pm0.18$. Comparing local age and metallicity gradients with the velocity dispersion $sigma$ within galaxies against the global relation with $sigma$ shows that internal processes regulate metallicity in ETGs but not age, and vice versa for LTGs. We further find that metallicity gradients with respect to local $sigma$ show a much stronger dependence on galaxy mass than radial metallicity gradients. Both galaxy types display flat [C/Fe] and [Mg/Fe], and negative [Na/Fe] gradients, whereas only LTGs display gradients in [Ca/Fe] and [Ti/Fe]. ETGs have increasingly steep [Na/Fe] gradients with local $sigma$ reaching $6.50pm0.78$ dex/$log$ km/s for the highest masses. [Na/Fe] ratios are correlated with metallicity for both galaxy types across the entire mass range in our sample, providing support for metallicity dependent supernova yields.