No Arabic abstract
We have derived disk scale lengths for 30374 non-interacting disk galaxies in all five SDSS bands. Virtual Observatory methods and tools were used to define, retrieve, and analyse the images for this unprecedentedly large sample classified as disk/spiral galaxies in the LEDA catalogue. Cross correlation of the SDSS sample with the LEDA catalogue allowed us to investigate the variation of the scale lengths for different types of disk/spiral galaxies. We further investigat asymmetry, concentration, and central velocity dispersion as indicators of morphological type, and are able to assess how the scale length varies with respect to galaxy type. We note however, that the concentration and asymmetry parameters have to be used with caution when investigating type dependence of structural parameters in galaxies. Here, we present the scale length derivation method and numerous tests that we have carried out to investigate the reliability of our results. The average r-band disk scale length is 3.79 kpc, with an RMS dispersion of 2.05 kpc, and this is a typical value irrespective of passband and galaxy morphology, concentration, and asymmetry. The derived scale lengths presented here are representative for a typical galaxy mass of $10^{10.8pm 0.54} rm{M}_odot$, and the RMS dispersion is larger for more massive galaxies. Distributions and typical trends of scale lengths have also been derived in all the other SDSS bands with linear relations that indicate the relation that connect scale lengths in one passband to another. Such transformations could be used to test the results of forthcoming cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution of the Hubble sequence.
Testing theories of angular-momentum acquisition of rotationally supported disc galaxies is the key to understand the formation of this type of galaxies. The tidal-torque theory tries to explain this acquisition process in a cosmological framework and predicts positive autocorrelations of angular-momentum orientation and spiral-arm handedness on distances of 1Mpc/h. This disc alignment can also cause systematic effects in weak-lensing measurements. Previous observations claimed discovering such correlations but did not account for errors in redshift, ellipticity and morphological classifications. We explain how to rigorously propagate all important errors. Analysing disc galaxies in the SDSS database, we find that positive autocorrelations of spiral-arm handedness and angular-momentum orientations on distances of 1Mpc/h are plausible but not statistically significant. This result agrees with a simple hypothesis test in the Local Group, where we find no evidence for disc alignment. Moreover, we demonstrate that ellipticity estimates based on second moments are strongly biased by galactic bulges, thereby corrupting correlation estimates and overestimating the impact of disc alignment on weak-lensing studies. Finally, we discuss the potential of future sky surveys. We argue that photometric redshifts have too large errors, i.e., PanSTARRS and LSST cannot be used. We also discuss potentials and problems of front-edge classifications of galaxy discs in order to improve estimates of angular-momentum orientation.
We present the first results of a pilot study aimed at understanding the influence of bars on the evolution of galaxy discs through the study of their stellar content. We examine here the kinematics, star formation history, mass-weighted, luminosity-weighted, and single stellar population (SSP) equivalent ages and metallicities for four galaxies ranging from lenticulars to late-type spirals. The data employed extends to 2-3 disc scalelengths, with S/N(A)>50. Several techniques are explored to derive star formation histories and SSP-equivalent parameters, each of which are shown to be compatible. We demostrate that the age-metallicity degeneracy is highly reduced by using spectral fitting techniques --instead of indices-- to derive these parameters. We found that the majority of the stellar mass in our sample is composed of old (~10 Gyr) stars. This is true in the bulge and the disc region, even beyond two disc scalelengths. In the bulge region, we find that the young, dynamically cold, structures produced by the presence of the bar (e.g., nuclear discs or rings) are responsible for shaping the bulges age and metallicity gradients. In the disc region, a larger fraction of young stars is present in the external parts of the disc compared with the inner disc. The disc growth is, therefore, compatible with a moderate inside-out formation scenario, where the luminosity weighted age changes from ~10 Gyrs in the centre, to ~4 Gyrs at two disc scalelengths, depending upon the galaxy. For two galaxies, we compare the metallicity and age gradients of the disc major axis with that of the bar, finding very important differences. In particular, the stellar population of the bar is more similar to the bulge than to the disc, indicating that, at least in those two galaxies, bars formed long ago and have survived to the present day. (abridged)
Taking advantage of the ultra-deep near-infrared imaging obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, we detect and explore for the first time the properties of the stellar haloes of two Milky Way-like galaxies at z~1. We find that the structural properties of those haloes (size and shape) are similar to the ones found in the local universe. However, these high-z stellar haloes are approximately three magnitudes brighter and exhibit bluer colours ((g-r)<0.3 mag) than their local counterparts. The stellar populations of z~1 stellar haloes are compatible with having ages <1 Gyr. This implies that the stars in those haloes were formed basically at 1<z<2. This result matches very well the theoretical predictions that locate most of the formation of the stellar haloes at those early epochs. A pure passive evolutionary scenario, where the stellar populations of our high-z haloes simply fade to match the stellar halo properties found in the local universe, is consistent with our data.
High-quality velocity maps of galaxies frequently exhibit signatures of non-circular streaming motions. We here apply the software tool, velfit recently proposed by Spekkens & Sellwood, to five representative galaxies from the THINGS sample. We describe the strengths and weaknesses of the tool, and show that it is both more powerful and yields results that are more easily interpreted than the commonly used procedure. We demonstrate that it can estimate the magnitudes of forced non-circular motions over a broad range of bar strengths from a strongly barred galaxy, through cases of mild bar-like distortions to placing bounds on the shapes of halos in galaxies having extended rotation curves. We identify mild oval distortions in the inner parts of two dwarf galaxies, NGC 2976 and NGC 7793, and show that the true strength of the non-axisymmetric gas flow in the strongly barred galaxy NGC 2903 is revealed more clearly in our fit to an optical Halpha map than to the neutral hydrogen data. The method can also yield a direct estimate of the ellipticity of a slowly-rotating potential distortion in the flat part of a rotation curve, and we use our results to place tight bounds on the possible ellipticity of the outer halos of NGC 3198 and NGC 2403.
Combining Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations and accurate 2D bulge/disc decompositions, we present a new study to investigate the effects of dust attenuation on the apparent structural properties of the disc and bulge of spiral galaxies. We find that dust affects the results from such decompositions in ways which cannot be identified when one studies dust effects on bulge and disc components separately. In particular, the effects of dust in galaxies hosting pseudo-bulges might be different from those in galaxies hosting classical bulges, even if their dust content is identical. Confirming previous results, we find that disc scale lengths are overestimated when dust effects are important. In addition, we also find that bulge effective radii and Sersic indices are underestimated. Furthermore, the apparent attenuation of the integrated disc light is underestimated, whereas the corresponding attenuation of bulge light is overestimated. Dust effects are more significant for the bulge parameters, and, combined, they lead to a strong underestimation of the bulge-to-disc ratio, which can reach a factor of two in the V band, even at relatively low galaxy inclinations and dust opacities. Nevertheless, it never reaches factors larger than about three, which corresponds to a factor of two in bulge-to-total ratio. Such effect can have an impact on studies of the black hole/bulge scaling relations.