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Register a new userThe Color-Dependent Frequency of XUV Disks In Low-Mass E/S0s
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Amanda J. Moffett
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We identify a high frequency of Type 1 XUV disks, reflecting recent outer disk star formation, in a sample of 31 E/S0s with stellar masses primarily below M_* ~ 4 x 10^10 M_sun. Our ~40% identification rate is roughly twice the 20% fraction reported for late-type galaxies. Intriguingly, in the dwarf mass regime (below M_* ~ 5 x 10^9 M_sun) where gas fractions clearly rise, Type 1 XUV disks occur in ~70% of red-sequence E/S0s but only ~20% of blue-sequence E/S0s, a population recently linked to active disk rebuilding, especially in the dwarf regime. Our statistics are preliminary, but could indicate that for dwarf E/S0s Type 1 XUV disks are primarily related to weak or inefficient outer-disk star formation rather than to star formation capable of driving substantial disk growth. Substantial growth may instead be associated with populations that have low XUV-disk frequency, possibly explaining the similar ~20% frequencies for normal late types and low-mass blue-sequence E/S0s.
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We have identified 15 XUV disks in a largely field sample of 38 E/S0 galaxies with stellar masses primarily below ~4 x 10^10 M_sun and comparable numbers on the red and blue sequences. We use a new purely quantitative XUV disk definition requiring UV extension relative to a UV-defined star formation threshold radius. The 39(+-9)% XUV-disk frequency for these E/S0s is roughly twice the ~20% reported for late types, possibly indicating that XUV disks are associated with galaxies experiencing weak or inefficient star formation. Consistent with this interpretation, the XUV disks in our sample do not correlate with enhanced outer-disk star formation as traced by blue optical outer-disk colors. However, UV-Bright (UV-B) disk galaxies with blue UV colors outside their optical 50% light radii do display enhanced optical outer-disk star formation as well as enhanced atomic gas content. UV-B disks occur with a 42(+9/-8)% frequency, and the combined XUV/UV-B frequency is 61(+-9)%. For both types, UV colors typically imply <1 Gyr ages. XUV disks occur over the full sample mass range and on both sequences, suggesting an association with galaxy interactions or another general evolutionary process. In contrast, UV-B disks favor the blue sequence and may also prefer low masses, perhaps reflecting the onset of cold-mode accretion or another mass-dependent evolutionary process. Virtually all blue E/S0s in the gas-rich regime below stellar mass M_t ~ 5 x 10^9 M_sun (the gas-richness threshold mass) display UV-B disks. [abridged]
We report deep Subaru Halpha observations of the XUV disk of M83. These new observations enable the first complete census of very young stellar clusters over the entire XUV disk. Combining Subaru and GALEX data with a stellar population synthesis model, we find that (1) the standard, but stochastically-sampled, initial mass function (IMF) is preferred over the truncated IMF, because there are low mass stellar clusters (10^{2-3}Msun) that host massive O-type stars; that (2) the standard Salpeter IMF and a simple aging effect explain the counts of FUV-bright and Halpha-bright clusters with masses >10^3Msun; and that (3) the Halpha to FUV flux ratio over the XUV disk supports the standard IMF. The Subaru Prime Focus Camera (Suprime-Cam) covers a large area even outside the XUV disk -- far beyond the detection limit of the HI gas. This enables us to statistically separate the stellar clusters in the disk from background contamination. The new data, model, and previous spectroscopic studies provide overall consistent results with respect to the internal dust extinction (Av~0.1 mag) and low metallicity (~0.2Zsun) using the dust extinction curve of SMC.
Grain surface chemistry is key to the composition of protoplanetary disks around young stars. The temperature of grains depends on their size. We evaluate the impact of this temperature dependence on the disk chemistry. We model a moderately massive disk with 16 different grain sizes. We use POLARIS to calculate the dust grain temperatures and the local UV flux. We model the chemistry using the 3-phase astrochemical code NAUTILUS. Photoprocesses are handled using frequency-dependent cross-sections, and a new method to account for self and mutual shielding. The multi-grain model outputs are compared to those of single-grain size models (0.1 $mu$m), with two different assumptions for their equivalent temperature. We find that the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) mechanism at equilibrium temperature is not efficient to form H$_2$ at 3-4 scale heights ($H$), and adopt a parametric fit to a stochastic method to model H$_2$ formation instead. We find the molecular layer composition (1-3 $H$) to depend on the amount of remaining H atoms. Differences in molecular surface densities between single and multi-grain models are mostly due to what occurs above 1.5 $H$. At 100 au, models with colder grains produce H$_2$O and CH$_4$ ices in the midplane, and warmer ones produce more CO$_2$ ices, both allowing efficient depletion of C and O as soon as CO sticks on grain surfaces. Complex organic molecules (COMs) production is enhanced by the presence of warmer grains in the multi-grain models. Using a single grain model mimicking grain growth and dust settling fails to reproduce the complexity of gas-grain chemistry. Chemical models with a single grain size are sensitive to the adopted grain temperature, and cannot account for all expected effects. A spatial spread of the snowlines is expected to result from the ranges in grain temperature. The amplitude of the effects will depend on the dust disk mass.
We investigate the radial color gradients of galactic disks using a sample of about 20,000 face-on spiral galaxies selected from the fourth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR4). We combine galaxies with similar concentration, size and luminosity to construct composite galaxies, and then measure their color profiles by stacking the azimuthally averaged radial color profiles of all the member galaxies. Except for the smallest galaxies (R_{50}<3 kpc), almost all galaxies show negative disk color gradients with mean g-r gradient G_{gr}=-0.006 mag kpc^{-1} and r-z gradient G_{rz}=-0.018 mag kpc^{-1}. The disk color gradients are independent of the morphological types of galaxies and strongly dependent on the disk surface brightness mu_{d}, with lower surface brightness galactic disks having steeper color gradients. We quantify the intrinsic correlation between color gradients and surface brightness as G_{gr}=-0.011mu_{d}+0.233 and G_{rz}=-0.015mu_{d}+0.324. These quantified correlations provide tight observational constraints on the formation and evolution models of spiral galaxies.
We present results of the first unbiased search for extended UV (XUV)-disk galaxies undertaken to determine the space density of such galaxies. Our sample contains 561 local (0.001 < z < 0.05) galaxies that lie in the intersection of available GALEX deep imaging (exposure time > 1.5 x 10^4 s) and SDSS DR7 footprints. We explore modifications to the standard classification scheme for our sample that includes both disk- and bulge-dominated galaxies. Visual classification of each galaxy in the sample reveals an XUV-disk frequency of up to 20% for the most nearby portion of our sample. On average over the entire sample (out to z=0.05) the frequency ranges from a hard limit of 4% to 14%. The GALEX imaging allows us to detect XUV-disks beyond 100 Mpc. The XUV regions around XUV-disk galaxies are consistently bluer than the main bodies. We find a surprisingly high frequency of XUV emission around luminous red (NUV-r > 5) and green valley (3 < NUV-r < 5) galaxies. The XUV-disk space density in the local universe is > 1.5-4.2 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3. Using the XUV emission as an indicator of recent gas accretion, we estimate that the cold gas accretion rate onto these galaxies is > 1.7-4.6 x 10^-3 Msun Mpc^-3 yr^-1. The number of XUV-disks in the green valley and the estimated accretion rate onto such galaxies points to the intriguing possibility that 7%-18% of galaxies in this population are transitioning away from the red sequence.
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