Galaxy morphology has many structures that are suggestive of various processes or stages of secular evolution. Internal perturbations such as bars can drive secular evolution through gravity torques that move gas into the central regions and build up
a flattened, disk-like central bulge, or which may convert an open spiral pseudoring into a more closed ring. Interaction between individual components of a galaxy, such as between a bar and a dark halo, a bar and a central mass concentration, or between a perturbation and the basic state of a stellar disk, can also drive secular transformations. In this series of lectures, I review many aspects of galaxy morphology with a view to delineating some of the possible evolutionary pathways between different galaxy types.
Galaxy morphology is a product of how galaxies formed, how they interacted with their environment, how they were influenced by internal perturbations, AGN, and dark matter, and of their varied star formation histories. This article reviews the phenom
enology of galaxy morphology and classification with a view to delineating as many types as possible and how they relate to physical interpretations. The old classification systems are refined, and new types introduced, as the explosion in available morphological data has modified our views on the structure and evolution of galaxies.
We present high sensitivity radio polarimetric (VLA) observations of a galaxy with strong orbital resonances - NGC4736. The total radio intensity at 8.4GHz covers smoothly the whole galaxy bulge and reveals a distinct ring of radio emission closely r
elated to the ring morphology visible in infrared, CO and Halpha emission. However, the magnetic field reveals a very coherent spiral pattern. The magnetic field vectors are crossing the inner starbursting ring, the dust lanes within the ring and other rather circularly shaped features visible in other gas traces. Either the magnetic field uncovers the pattern of gas motions not seen in other spectral ranges, or the spiral magnetic field is of a pure dynamo origin, ignoring the ringed morphology of the galaxy.
We report the discovery of a coherent magnetic spiral structure within the nearby ringed Sab galaxy NGC 4736. High sensitivity radio polarimetric data obtained with the VLA at 8.46GHz and 4.86GHz show a distinct ring of total radio emission precisely
corresponding to the bright inner pseudoring visible in other wavelengths. However, unlike the total radio emission, the polarized radio emission reveals a clear pattern of ordered magnetic field of spiral shape, emerging from the galactic centre. The magnetic vectors do not follow the tightly-wrapped spiral arms that characterize the inner pseudoring, but instead cross the ring with a constant and large pitch angle of about 35deg. The ordered field is thus not local adjusted to the pattern of star-formation activity, unlike what is usually observed in grand-design spirals. The observed asymmetric distribution of Faraday rotation suggests the possible action of a large-scale MHD dynamo. The strong magnetic total and regular field within the ring (up to 30microG and 13microG, respectively) indicates that a highly efficient process of magnetic field amplification is under way, probably related to secular evolutionary processes in the galaxy.
