ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

MUSE tells the story of NGC 4371: The dawning of secular evolution

136   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Dimitri Alexei Gadotti
 تاريخ النشر 2015
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

We use data from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), recently commissioned at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), to study the kinematics and stellar population content of NGC 4371, an early-type massive barred galaxy in the core of the Virgo cluster. We integrate this study with a detailed structural analysis using imaging data from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, which allows us to perform a thorough investigation of the physical properties of the galaxy. We show that the rotationally supported inner components in NGC 4371, an inner disc and a nuclear ring - which, according to the predominant scenario, are built with stars formed from gas brought to the inner region by the bar - are vastly dominated by stars older than 10 Gyr. Our results thus indicate that the formation of the bar occurred at a redshift of about $z=1.8^{+0.5}_{-0.4}$ (error bars are derived from 100 Monte Carlo realisations). NGC 4371 thus testifies to the robustness of bars. In addition, the mean stellar age of the fraction of the major disc of the galaxy covered by our MUSE data is above 7 Gyr, with a small contribution from younger stars. This suggests that the quenching of star formation in NGC 4371, likely due to environmental effects, was already effective at a redshift of about $z=0.8^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$. Our results point out that bar-driven secular evolution processes may have an extended impact in the evolution of galaxies, and thus on the properties of galaxies as observed today, not necessarily restricted to more recent cosmic epochs.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

The MUSE TIMER Survey has obtained high signal and high spatial resolution integral-field spectroscopy data of the inner $sim6times6$ kpc of 21 nearby massive disc galaxies. This allows studies of the stellar kinematics of the central regions of mass ive disc galaxies that are unprecedented in spatial resolution. We confirm previous predictions from numerical and hydrodynamical simulations of the effects of bars and inner bars on stellar and gaseous kinematics, and also identify box/peanuts via kinematical signatures in mildly and moderately inclined galaxies, including a box/peanut in a face-on inner bar. In 20/21 galaxies we find inner discs and show that their properties are fully consistent with the bar-driven secular evolution picture for their formation. In addition, we show that these inner discs have, in the region where they dominate, larger rotational support than the main galaxy disc, and discuss how their stellar population properties can be used to estimate when in cosmic history the main bar formed. Our results are compared with photometric studies in the context of the nature of galaxy bulges and we show that inner discs are identified in image decompositions as photometric bulges with exponential profiles (i.e., Sersic indices near unity).
We present MUSE observations in the core of the HFF galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223, where the first magnified and spatially-resolved multiple images of SN Refsdal at redshift 1.489 were detected. Thanks to a DDT program with the VLT and the extraor dinary efficiency of MUSE, we measure 117 secure redshifts with just 4.8 hours of total integration time on a single target pointing. We spectroscopically confirm 68 galaxy cluster members, with redshift values ranging from 0.5272 to 0.5660, and 18 multiple images belonging to 7 background, lensed sources distributed in redshifts between 1.240 and 3.703. Starting from the combination of our catalog with those obtained from extensive spectroscopic and photometric campaigns using the HST, we select a sample of 300 (164 spectroscopic and 136 photometric) cluster members, within approximately 500 kpc from the BCG, and a set of 88 reliable multiple images associated to 10 different background source galaxies and 18 distinct knots in the spiral galaxy hosting SN Refsdal. We exploit this valuable information to build 6 detailed strong lensing models, the best of which reproduces the observed positions of the multiple images with a rms offset of only 0.26. We use these models to quantify the statistical and systematic errors on the predicted values of magnification and time delay of the next emerging image of SN Refsdal. We find that its peak luminosity should should occur between March and June 2016, and should be approximately 20% fainter than the dimmest (S4) of the previously detected images but above the detection limit of the planned HST/WFC3 follow-up. We present our two-dimensional reconstruction of the cluster mass density distribution and of the SN Refsdal host galaxy surface brightness distribution. We outline the roadmap towards even better strong lensing models with a synergetic MUSE and HST effort.
The central regions of disc galaxies hold clues to the processes that dominate their formation and evolution. The TIMER project has obtained high signal-to-noise and spatial resolution integral-field spectroscopy data of the inner few kpc of 21 nearb y massive barred galaxies, allowing studies of the stellar kinematics with unprecedented spatial resolution. We confirm theoretical predictions of the effects of bars on stellar kinematics, and identify box/peanuts through kinematic signatures in mildly and moderately inclined galaxies, finding a lower limit to the fraction of massive barred galaxies with box/peanuts at ~62%. Further, we provide kinematic evidence of the connection between barlenses, box/peanuts and bars. We establish the presence of nuclear discs in 19 galaxies and show that their kinematics are characterised by near-circular orbits with low pressure support, and are consistent with the bar-driven secular evolution picture for their formation. In fact, we show that these nuclear discs have, in the region where they dominate, larger rotational support than the underlying main galaxy disc. We define a kinematic radius for the nuclear discs and show that it relates to bar radius, ellipticity and strength, and bar-to-total ratio. Comparing our results with photometric studies, we find that state-of-the-art galaxy image decompositions are able to discern nuclear discs from classical bulges, if the images employed have enough physical spatial resolution. In fact, we show that nuclear discs are typically identified in such image decompositions as photometric bulges with (near-)exponential profiles. However, we find that the presence of composite bulges (galaxies hosting both a classical bulge and a nuclear disc) can often be unnoticed in studies based on photometry alone, and suggest a more stringent threshold to the Sersic index to identify galaxies with pure classical bulges.
175 - F. Combes 2009
Bulges are of different types, morphologies and kinematics, from pseudo-bulges, close to disk properties (Sersic index, rotation fraction, flatenning), to classical de Vaucouleurs bulges, close to elliptical galaxies. Secular evolution and bar develo pment can give rise to pseudo-bulges. To ensure prolonged secular evolution, gas flows are required along the galaxy life-time. There is growing evidence for cold gas accretion around spiral galaxies. This can explain the bar cycle of destruction and reformation, together with pseudo-bulge formation. However, bulges can also be formed through major mergers, minor mergers, and massive clumps early in the galaxy evolution. Bulge formation is so efficient that it is difficult to explain the presence of bulgeless galaxies today.
We identify a new, nearby (0.5 < d < 10 kpc) stream in data from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE). As the majority of stars in the stream lie in the constellation of Aquarius we name it the Aquarius Stream. We identify 15 members of the stream l ying between 30 < l < 75 and -70< b <-50, with heliocentric line-of-sight velocities V_los~-200 km/s. The members are outliers in the radial velocity distribution, and the overdensity is statistically significant when compared to mock samples created with both the Besanc{c}on Galaxy model and newly-developed code Galaxia. The metallicity distribution function and isochrone fit in the log g - T_eff plane suggest the stream consists of a 10 Gyr old population with [m/H]~-1.0. We explore relations to other streams and substructures, finding the stream cannot be identified with known structures: it is a new, nearby substructure in the Galaxys halo. Using a simple dynamical model of a dissolving satellite galaxy we account for the localization of the stream. We find that the stream is dynamically young and therefore likely the debris of a recently disrupted dwarf galaxy or globular cluster. The Aquarius stream is thus a specimen of ongoing hierarchical Galaxy formation, rare for being right in the solar suburb.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا