No Arabic abstract
We present a detailed analysis of the properties of warps and tidally-triggered perturbations perpendicular to the plane of 47 interacting/merging edge-on spiral galaxies. The derived parameters are compared with those obtained for a sample of 61 non-interacting edge-on spirals. The entire optical (R-band) sample used for this study was presented in two previous papers. We find that the scale height of disks in the interacting/merging sample is characterized by perturbations on both large (~disk cut-off radius) and short (~z0) scales, with amplitudes of the order of 280pc and 130pc on average, respectively. The size of these large (short) -scale instabilities corresponds to 14% (6%) of the mean disk scale height. This is a factor of 2 (1.5) larger than the value found for non-interacting galaxies. A hallmark of nearly all tidally distorted disks is a scale height that increases systematically with radial distance. The frequent occurrence and the significantly larger size of these gradients indicate that disk asymmetries on large scales are a common and persistent phenomenon, while local disturbances and bending instabilities decline on shorter timescales. Nearly all (93%) of the interacting/merging and 45% of the non-interacting galaxies studied are noticeably warped. Warps of interacting/merging galaxies are ~2.5 times larger on average than those observed in the non-interacting sample, with sizes of the order of 340pc and 140pc, respectively. This indicates that tidal distortions do considerably contribute to the formation and size of warps. However, they cannot entirely explain the frequent occurrence of warped disks.
We analyze new optical spectra of a sample of 502 galaxies in close pairs and n-tuples, separated by <= 50/h kpc. We extracted the sample objectively from the CfA2 redshift survey, without regard to the surroundings of the tight systems. We probe the relationship between star formation and the dynamics of the systems of galaxies. The equivalent widths of Halpha (EW(Halpha) and other emission lines anti-correlate strongly with pair spatial separation (Delta D) and velocity separation. We use the measured EW(Halpha) and the starburst models of Leitherer et al. to estimate the time since the most recent burst of star for- mation began for each galaxy. In the absence of a large contribution from an old stellar population to the continuum around Halpha, the observed Delta D -- EW(Halpha) correlation signifies that starbursts with larger separations on the sky are, on average, older. By matching the dynamical timescale to the burst timescale, we show that the data support a simple picture in which a close pass initiates a starburst; EW(Halpha) decreases with time as the pair separation increases, accounting for the anti-correlation. This picture leads to a method for measuring the duration and the initial mass function of interaction-induced starbursts: our data are compatible with the starburst and orbit models in many respects, as long as the starburst lasts longer than sim10^8 years and the delay between the close pass and the initiation of the starburst is less than a few times 10^7 years. If there is no large contribution from an old stellar population to the continuum around Halpha the Miller-Scalo and cutoff (M <= 30 M_sun) Salpeter initial mass functions fit the data much better than a standard Salpeter IMF. (Abridged.)
We investigate the possibility of discriminating between Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) and Newtonian gravity with dark matter, by studying the vertical dynamics of disk galaxies. We consider models with the same circular velocity in the equatorial plane (purely baryonic disks in MOND and the same disks in Newtonian gravity embedded in spherical dark matter haloes), and we construct their intrinsic and projected kinematical fields by solving the Jeans equations under the assumption of a two-integral distribution function. We found that the vertical velocity dispersion of deep-MOND disks can be much larger than in the equivalent spherical Newtonian models. However, in the more realistic case of high-surface density disks this effect is significantly reduced, casting doubts on the possibility of discriminating between MOND and Newtonian gravity with dark matter by using current observations.
Understanding of massive cluster formation is one of the important issues of astronomy. By analyzing the HI data, we have identified that the two HI velocity components (L- and D-components) are colliding toward the HI Ridge, in the southeastern end of the LMC, which hosts the young massive cluster R136 and $sim$400 O/WR stars (Doran et al. 2013) including the progenitor of SN1987A. The collision is possibly evidenced by bridge features connecting the two HI components and complementary distributions between them. We frame a hypothesis that the collision triggered the formation of R136 and the surrounding high-mass stars as well as the HI & Molecular Ridge. Fujimoto & Noguchi (1990) advocated that the last tidal interaction between the LMC and the SMC about 0.2 Gyr ago induced collision of the L- and D-components. This model is consistent with numerical simulations (Bekki & Chiba 2007b). We suggest that a dense HI partly CO cloud of 10$^{6}$ $M_{odot}$, a precursor of R136, was formed at the shock-compressed interface between the colliding L- and D-components. We suggest that part of the low-metalicity gas from the SMC was mixed in the tidal interaction based on the $Planck/IRAS$ data of dust optical depth (Planck Collaboration et al. 2014).
An oscillating vertical displacement of the Milky Way, with a wavelength of about 8 kpc and and amplitude of about 100 pc (increasing with distance from the Galactic center) is observed towards the Galactic anticenter. These oscillations are thought to be the result of disk perturbations from dwarf satellites of the Milky Way. They explain the Monoceros Ring and could be related to Milky Way spiral structure.
We report measurements of parallax and proper motion for four 22 GHz water maser sources as part of VERA Outer Rotation Curve project. All sources show Galactic latitudes of $>$ 2$^{circ}$ and Galactocentric distances of $>$ 11 kpc at the Galactic longitude range of 95$^{circ}$ $< l <$ 126$^{circ}$. The sources trace the Galactic warp reaching to 200$sim$400 pc, and indicate the signature of the warp to 600 pc toward the north Galactic pole. The new results along with previous results in the literature show the maximum height of the Galactic warp is increased with Galactocentric distance. Also, we examined velocities perpendicular to the disk for the sample, and found an oscillatory behavior between the vertical velocities and Galactic heights. This behavior suggests the existence of the bending (vertical density) waves, possibly induced by a perturbing satellite (e.g. passage of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy).