No Arabic abstract
We investigate the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation out to z=1 with 137 emission-line galaxies in the field that display a regular rotation curve. They follow a linear trend with lookback time being on average brighter by 1.1Bmag and 60% smaller at z=1. For a subsample of 48 objects with very regular gas kinematics and stellar structure we derive a TF scatter of 1.15mag, which is two times larger than local samples exhibit. This is probably due to modest variations in their star formation history and chemical enrichment. In another study of 96 members of Abell 901/902 at z=0.17 and 86 field galaxies with similar redshifts we find a difference in the TFR of 0.42mag in the B-band but no significant difference in stellar mass. Comparing specifically red spirals with blue ones in the cluster, the former are fainter on average by 0.35Bmag and have 15% lower stellar masses. This is probably due to star formation quenching caused by ram-pressure in the cluster environment. Evidence for this scenario comes from strong distortions of the gas disk of red spirals that have at the same time a very regular stellar disk structure.
To understand the processes that build up galaxies we investigate the stellar structure and gas kinematics of spiral and irregular galaxies out to redshift 1. We target 92 galaxies in four cluster (z = 0.3 & 0.5) fields to study the environmental influence. Their stellar masses derived from multiband VLT/FORS photometry are distributed around but mostly below the characteristic Schechter-fit mass. From HST/ACS images we determine morphologies and structural parameters like disk length, position angle and ellipticity. Combining the spectra of three slit positions per galaxy using the MXU mode of VLT/FORS2 we construct the two-dimensional velocity field from gas emission lines for 16 cluster members and 33 field galaxies. The kinematic position angle and flatness are derived by a Fourier expansion of elliptical velocity profiles. To trace possible interaction processes, we define three irregularity indicators based on an identical analysis of local galaxies from the SINGS project. Our distant sample displays a higher fraction of disturbed velocity fields with varying percentages (10%, 30% and 70%) because they trace different features. While we find far fewer candidates for major mergers than the SINS sample at z~2, our data are sensitive enough to trace less violent processes. Most irregular signatures are related to star formation events and less massive disks are affected more than Milky-Way type objects. We detect similarly high fractions of irregular objects both for the distant field and cluster galaxies with similar distributions. We conclude that we may witness the building-up of disk galaxies still at redshifts z~0.5 via minor mergers and gas accretion, while some cluster members may additionally experience stripping, evaporation or harassment interactions.
We study the evolution of galactic magnetic fields using 3D smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD) simulations of galaxies with an imposed spiral potential. We consider the appearance of reversals of the field, and amplification of the field. We find magnetic field reversals occur when the velocity jump across the spiral shock is above $approx$20km s$^{-1}$, occurring where the velocity change is highest, typically at the inner Lindblad resonance (ILR) in our models. Reversals also occur at corotation, where the direction of the velocity field reverses in the co-rotating frame of a spiral arm. They occur earlier with a stronger amplitude spiral potential, and later or not at all with weaker or no spiral arms. The presence of a reversal at a radii of around 4--6 kpc in our fiducial model is consistent with a reversal identified in the Milky Way, though we caution that alternative Galaxy models could give a similar reversal. We find that relatively high resolution, a few million particles in SPMHD, is required to produce consistent behaviour of the magnetic field. Amplification of the magnetic field occurs in the models, and while some may be genuinely attributable to differential rotation or spiral arms, some may be a numerical artefact. We check our results using Athena, finding reversals but less amplification of the field, suggesting that some of the amplification of the field with SPMHD is numerical.
We present the stellar and ionized gas kinematics of 13 bright peculiar Virgo cluster galaxies observed with the DensePak Integral Field Unit at the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope, to seek kinematic evidence that these galaxies have experienced gravitational interactions or gas stripping. 2-Dimensional maps of the stellar velocity $V$, and stellar velocity dispersion $sigma$ and the ionized gas velocity (H$beta$ and/or [ion{O}{3}]) are presented for galaxies in the sample. The stellar rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles are determined for 13 galaxies, and the ionized gas rotation curves are determined for 6 galaxies. Misalignments between the optical and kinematical major axis are found in several galaxies. While in some cases this is due to a bar, in other cases it seems associated with a gravitational interaction or ongoing ram pressure stripping. Non-circular gas motions are found in nine galaxies, with various causes including bars, nuclear outflows, or gravitational disturbances. Several galaxies have signatures of kinematically distinct stellar components, which are likely signatures of accretion or mergers. We compute for all galaxies the angular momentum parameter $lambda_{rm R}$. An evaluation of the galaxies in the $lambda_{rm R}$-ellipticity plane shows that all but 2 of the galaxies have significant support from random stellar motions, and have likely experienced gravitational interactions. This includes some galaxies with very small bulges and truncated/compact H$alpha$ morphologies, indicating that such galaxies cannot be fully explained by simple ram pressure stripping, but must have had significant gravitational encounters. Most of the sample galaxies show evidence for ICM-ISM stripping as well as gravitational interactions, indicating that the evolution of a significant fraction of cluster galaxies is likely strongly impacted by both effects.
We present a detailed study of the colours in late-type galaxy discs for ten of the EDisCS galaxy clusters with 0.5 < z < 0.8. Our cluster sample contains 172 spiral galaxies, and our control sample is composed of 96 field disc galaxies. We deconvolve their ground-based V and I images obtained with FORS2 at the VLT with initial spatial resolutions between 0.4 and 0.8 arcsec to achieve a final resolution of 0.1 arcsec with 0.05 arcsec pixels, which is close to the resolution of the ACS at the HST. After removing the central region of each galaxy to avoid pollution by the bulges, we measured the V-I colours of the discs. We find that 50% of cluster spiral galaxies have disc V-I colours redder by more than 1 sigma of the mean colours of their field counterparts. This is well above the 16% expected for a normal distribution centred on the field disc properties. The prominence of galaxies with red discs depends neither on the mass of their parent cluster nor on the distance of the galaxies to the cluster cores. Passive spiral galaxies constitute 20% of our sample. These systems are not abnormally dusty. They are are made of old stars and are located on the cluster red sequences. Another 24% of our sample is composed of galaxies that are still active and star forming, but less so than galaxies with similar morphologies in the field. These galaxies are naturally located in the blue sequence of their parent cluster colour-magnitude diagrams. The reddest of the discs in clusters must have stopped forming stars more than ~5 Gyr ago. Some of them are found among infalling galaxies, suggesting preprocessing. Our results confirm that galaxies are able to continue forming stars for some significant period of time after being accreted into clusters, and suggest that star formation can decline on seemingly long (1 to 5 Gyr) timescales.
(Abridged) We present mass models of a sample of 14 spiral and 14 S0 galaxies that constrain their stellar and dark matter content. For each galaxy we derive the stellar mass distribution from near-infrared photometry under the assumptions of axisymmetry and a constant Ks-band stellar mass-to-light ratio, (M/L)_Ks. To this we add a dark halo assumed to follow a spherically symmetric NFW profile and a correlation between concentration and dark mass within the virial radius, M_DM. We solve the Jeans equations for the corresponding potential under the assumption of constant anisotropy in the meridional plane, beta_z. By comparing the predicted second velocity moment to observed long-slit stellar kinematics, we determine the three best-fitting parameters of the model: (M/L)_Ks, M_DM and beta_z. These simple axisymmetric Jeans models are able to accurately reproduce the wide range of observed stellar kinematics, which typically extend to ~2-3 Re or, equivalently, ~0.5-1 R_25. We find a median stellar mass-to-light ratio at Ks-band of 1.09 (solar units) with an rms scatter of 0.31. We present preliminary comparisons between this large sample of dynamically determined stellar mass-to-light ratios and the predictions of stellar population models. The stellar population models predict slightly lower mass-to-light ratios than we measure. The mass models contain a median of 15 per cent dark matter by mass within an effective radius Re, and 49 per cent within the optical radius R_25. Dark and stellar matter contribute equally to the mass within a sphere of radius 4.1 Re or 1.0 R_25. There is no evidence of any significant difference in the dark matter content of the spirals and S0s in our sample.