We present deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging at the locations of four, potentially hostless, long-faded Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in low-redshift, rich galaxy clusters that were identified in the Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey. Assuming a stee
p faint-end slope for the galaxy cluster luminosity function ($alpha_d=-1.5$), our data includes all but $lesssim0.2%$ percent of the stellar mass in cluster galaxies ($lesssim0.005%$ with $alpha_d=-1.0$), a factor of 10 better than our ground-based imaging. Two of the four SNe Ia still have no possible host galaxy associated with them ($M_R>-9.2$), confirming that their progenitors belong to the intracluster stellar population. The third SNe Ia appears near a faint disk galaxy ($M_V=-12.2$) which has a relatively high probability of being a chance alignment. A faint, red, point source coincident with the fourth SN Ias explosion position ($M_V=-8.4$) may be either a globular cluster (GC) or faint dwarf galaxy. We estimate the local surface densities of GCs and dwarfs to show that a GC is more likely, due to the proximity of an elliptical galaxy, but neither can be ruled out. This faint host implies that the SN Ia rate in dwarfs or GCs may be enhanced, but remains within previous observational constraints. We demonstrate that our results do not preclude the use of SNe Ia as bright tracers of intracluster light at higher redshifts, but that it will be necessary to first refine the constraints on their rate in dwarfs and GCs with deep imaging for a larger sample of low-redshift, apparently hostless SNe Ia.
Using 3.6$mu$m images of 97 early-type galaxies, we develop and verify methodology to measure globular cluster populations from the S$^4$G survey images. We find that 1) the ratio, T$_{rm N}$, of the number of clusters, N$_{rm CL}$, to parent galaxy
stellar mass, M$_*$, rises weakly with M$_*$ for early-type galaxies with M$_* > 10^{10}$ M$_odot$ when we calculate galaxy masses using a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF), but that the dependence of T$_{rm N}$ on M$_*$ is removed entirely once we correct for the recently uncovered systematic variation of IMF with M$_*$, and 2) for M$_* < 10^{10}$ M$_odot$ there is no trend between N$_{rm CL}$ and M$_*$, the scatter in T$_{rm N}$ is significantly larger (approaching 2 orders of magnitude), and there is evidence to support a previous, independent suggestion of two families of galaxies. The behavior of N$_{rm CL}$ in the lower mass systems is more difficult to measure because these systems are inherently cluster poor, but our results may add to previous evidence that large variations in cluster formation and destruction efficiencies are to be found among low mass galaxies. The average fraction of stellar mass in clusters is $sim$ 0.0014 for M$_* > 10^{10}$ M$_odot$ and can be as large as $sim 0.02$ for less massive galaxies. These are the first results from the S$^4$G sample of galaxies, and will be enhanced by the sample of early-type galaxies now being added to S$^4$G and complemented by the study of later type galaxies within S$^4$G.
We extend our initial study of the connection between the UV colour of galaxies and both the inferred stellar mass-to-light ratio, $Upsilon_*$, and a mass-to-light ratio referenced to Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) models of the same age and me
tallicity, $Upsilon_*/Upsilon_{Sal}$, using new UV magnitude measurements for a much larger sample of early-type galaxies, ETGs, with dynamically determined mass-to-light ratios. We confirm the principal empirical finding of our first study, a strong correlation between the GALEX FUV-NUV colour and $Upsilon_*$. We show that this finding is not the result of spectral distortions limited to a single passband (eg. metallicity-dependent line-blanketing in the NUV band), or of the analysis methodology used to measure $Upsilon_*$, or of the inclusion or exclusion of the correction for stellar population effects as accounted for using $Upsilon_*/Upsilon_{Sal}$. The sense of the correlation is that galaxies with larger $Upsilon_*$, or larger $Upsilon_*/Upsilon_{Sal}$, are bluer in the UV. We conjecture that differences in the low mass end of the stellar initial mass function, IMF, are related to the nature of the extreme horizontal branch stars generally responsible for the UV flux in ETGs. If so, then UV color can be used to identify ETGs with particular IMF properties and to estimate $Upsilon_*$. We also demonstrate that UV colour can be used to decrease the scatter about the Fundamental Plane and Manifold, and to select peculiar galaxies for follow-up with which to further explore the cause of variations in $Upsilon_*$ and UV colour.
We present new measurements of the velocity dispersions of eleven Local Group globular clusters using spatially integrated spectra, to expand our sample of clusters with precise integrated-light velocity dispersions to 29, over 4 different host galax
ies. This sample allows us to further our investigation of the stellar mass function among clusters, with a particular emphasis on a search for the driver of the apparent bimodal nature of the inferred stellar initial mass function. We confirm our previous result that clusters fall into two classes. If, as we argue, this behavior reflects a variation in the stellar initial mass function, the cause of that variation is not clear. The variations do not correlate with formation epoch as quantified by age, metallicity quantified by $[ {rm Fe/H}] $, host galaxy, or internal structure as quantified by velocity dispersion, physical size, relaxation time, or luminosity. The stellar mass-to-light ratios, $Upsilon_*$, of the high and low $Upsilon_*$ cluster populations are well-matched to those found in recent studies of early and late type galaxies, respectively.
We study the m=1 distortions (lopsidedness) in the stellar components of 167 nearby galaxies that span a wide range of morphologies and luminosities. We confirm the previous findings of 1) a high incidence of lopsidedness in the stellar distributions
, 2) increasing lopsidedness as a function of radius out to at least 3.5 exponential scale lengths, and 3) greater lopsidedness, over these radii, for galaxies of later type and lower surface brightness. Additionally, the magnitude of the lopsidedness 1) correlates with the character of the spiral arms (stronger arm patterns occur in galaxies with less lopsidedness), 2) is not correlated with the presence or absence of a bar, or the strength of the bar when one is present, 3) is inversely correlated to the stellar mass fraction, f_*, within one radial scale length, and 4) correlates directly with f_* measured within the radial range over which we measure lopsidedness. We interpret these findings to mean that lopsidedness is a generic feature of galaxies and does not, generally, depend on a rare event, such as a direct accretion of a satellite galaxy onto the disk of the parent galaxy. While lopsidedness may be caused by several phenomena, moderate lopsidedness (<A_1>_i + <A_1>_o)/2 < 0.3) is likely to reflect halo asymmetries to which the disk responds or a gravitationally self-generated mode . We hypothesize that the magnitude of the stellar response depends both on how centrally concentrated the stars are with respect to the dark matter and whether there are enough stars in the region of the lopsidedness that self-gravity is dynamically important.
In a sample of 54 galaxy clusters (0.04<z<0.15) containing 3551 early-type galaxies suitable for study, we identify those with tidal features both interactively and automatically. We find that ~3% have tidal features that can be detected with data th
at reaches a 3-sigma sensitivity limit of 26.5 mag arcsec^-2. Regardless of the method used to classify tidal features, or the fidelity imposed on such classifications, we find a deficit of tidally disturbed galaxies with decreasing clustercentric radius that is most pronounced inside of ~0.5R_200. We cannot distinguish whether the trend arises from an increasing likelihood of recent mergers with increasing clustercentric radius or a decrease in the lifetime of tidal features with decreasing clustercentric radius. We find no evidence for a relationship between local density and the incidence of tidal features, but our local density measure has large uncertainties. We find interesting behavior in the rate of tidal features among cluster early-types as a function of clustercentric radius and expect such results to provide constraints on the effect of the cluster environment on the structure of galaxy halos, the build-up of the red sequence of galaxies, and the origin of the intracluster stellar population.
We measure the gas-phase oxygen abundances of ~3000 star-forming galaxies at z=0.05-0.75 using optical spectrophotometry from the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES), a spectroscopic survey of I_AB<20.45 galaxies over 7.9 deg^2 in the NOAO Deep Wi
de Field Survey (NDWFS) Bootes field. We use state-of-the-art techniques to measure the nebular emission lines and stellar masses, and explore and quantify several potential sources of systematic error, including the choice of metallicity diagnostic, aperture bias, and contamination from unidentified active galactic nuclei (AGN). Combining volume-limited AGES samples in six independent redshift bins and ~75,000 star-forming galaxies with r_AB<17.6 at z=0.05-0.2 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) that we analyze in the identical manner, we measure the evolution of the stellar mass-metallicity (M-Z) between z=0.05 and z=0.75. We find that at fixed stellar mass galaxies at z~0.7 have just 30%-60% the metal content of galaxies at the present epoch, where the uncertainty is dominated by the strong-line method used to measure the metallicity. Moreover, we find no statistically significant evidence that the M-Z relation evolves in a mass-dependent way for M=10^9.8-10^11 Msun star-forming galaxies. Thus, for this range of redshifts and stellar masses the M-Z relation simply shifts toward lower metallicity with increasing redshift without changing its shape.
We analyze GALEX UV data for a system of four gravitationally-bound groups at z=0.37, SG1120, which is destined to merge into a Coma-mass cluster by z=0, to study how galaxy properties may change during cluster assembly. Of the 38 visually-classified
S0 galaxies, with masses ranging from log(M_*)~10-11, we detect only one in the NUV channel, a strongly star-forming S0 that is the brightest UV source with a measured redshift placing it in SG1120. Stacking the undetected S0 galaxies (which generally lie on or near the optical red-sequence of SG1120) still results in no NUV/FUV detection (<2 sigma). Using our limit in the NUV band, we conclude that for a rapidly truncating star formation rate, star formation ceased *at least* ~0.1 to 0.7 Gyr ago, depending on the strength of the starburst prior to truncation. With an exponentially declining star-formation history over a range of time-scales, we rule out recent star-formation over a wide range of ages. We conclude that if S0 formation involves significant star formation, it occurred well before the groups were in this current pre-assembly phase. As such, it seems that S0 formation is even more likely to be predominantly occurring outside of the cluster environment.
We present an analysis of the stellar kinematics of the Large Magellanic Cloud based on ~5900 new and existing velocities of massive red supergiants, oxygen-rich and carbon-rich AGB stars, and other giants. After correcting the line-of-sight velociti
es for the LMCs space motion and accounting for asymmetric drift in the AGB population, we derive a rotation curve that is consistent with all of the tracers used, as well as that of published HI data. The amplitude of the rotation curve is v_0=87+/-5 km s^-1 beyond a radius R_0=2.4+/-0.1 kpc, and has a position angle of the kinematic line of nodes of theta=142 degrees +/-5 degrees. By examining the outliers from our fits, we identify a population of 376 stars, or >~5% of our sample, that have line-of-sight velocities that apparently oppose the sense of rotation of the LMC disk. We find that these kinematically distinct stars are either counter-rotating in a plane closely aligned with the LMC disk, or rotating in the same sense as the LMC disk, but in a plane that is inclined by 54 degrees +/- 2 degrees to the LMC. Their kinematics clearly link them to two known HI arms, which have previously been interpreted as being pulled out from the LMC. We measure metallicities from the Ca triplet lines of ~1000 LMC field stars and 30 stars in the kinematically distinct population. For the LMC field, we find a median [Fe/H]=-0.56 +/- 0.02 with dispersion of 0.5 dex, while for the kinematically distinct stars the median [Fe/H] is -1.25 +/- 0.13 with a dispersion of 0.7 dex. The metallicity differences provide strong evidence that the kinematically distinct population originated in the SMC. This interpretation has the consequence that the HI arms kinematically associated with the stars are likely falling into the LMC, instead of being pulled out.
We use published reconstructions of the star formation history (SFH) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), Small Magellanic Cloud, and NGC 300 from the analysis of resolved stellar populations to investigate where such galaxies might land on well-know
n extragalactic diagnostic plots over the galaxies lifetime (assuming that nothing other than their stellar populations change). For example, we find that the evolution of these galaxies implies a complex evolution in the Tully-Fisher relation with lookback time and that the observed scatter is consistent with excursions these galaxies take as their stellar populations evolve. We find that the growth of stellar mass is weighted to early times, despite the strongly star-forming current nature of the three systems. Lastly, we find that these galaxies can take circuitous paths across the color-magnitude diagram. For example, it is possible, within the constraints provided by the current determination of its SFH, that the LMC reached the red sequence at intermediate age prior to ending back up on the blue cloud at the current time. Unfortunately, this behavior happens at sufficiently early times that our resolved SFH is crude and insufficiently constraining to convincingly demonstrate that this was the actual evolutionary path. The limited sample size precludes any general conclusions, but we present these as examples how we can bridge the study of resolved populations and the more distant universe.
