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Evolution of Star-forming and Active Galaxies in Nearby Clusters
We have used optical spectroscopy to investigate the active galaxypopulations in a sample of 20 nearby Abell clusters. The targets wereidentified on the basis of 1.4 GHz radio emission, which identifies themas either active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or galaxies forming stars atrates comparable to or greater than that of the Milky Way. The spectrawere used to characterize the galaxies via their emission and absorptionfeatures. The spectroscopy results reveal a significant population ofstar-forming galaxies with large amounts of nuclear dust extinction.This extinction eliminates bluer emission lines such as [O II] from thespectra of these galaxies, meaning their star formation could easily beoverlooked in studies that focus on such features. Around 20% of thecluster star-forming galaxies have spectra of this type. The radialdistributions of active galaxies in clusters show a strong segregationbetween star-forming galaxies and AGNs, with star-forming galaxiesbroadly distributed and AGNs preferentially in the cluster cores. Theradial distribution of the dusty star-forming galaxies is more centrallyconcentrated than the star-forming galaxies in general, which arguesthat they are a consequence of some cluster environmental effect.Furthermore, we note that such galaxies may be identified using their4000 Å break strengths. We find that discrepancies in reportedradio luminosity functions for AGNs are likely the result ofclassification differences. There exists a large population of clustergalaxies whose radio fluxes, far-infrared fluxes, and optical magnitudessuggest their radio emission may be powered by stars yet whose spectralack emission lines. Understanding the nature of these galaxies iscritical to assessing the importance of AGNs in the radio luminosityfunction at low luminosities. We also find that regardless of thispopulation, the crossover point where the radio luminosity function iscomposed equally of star-forming galaxies and AGNs occurs at lowerluminosities in clusters than in the field. This is likely a simpleconsequence of the reduction in star formation in cluster galaxies andthe morphological mix in clusters compared with the field.Based in part on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory(APO) 3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by the AstrophysicalResearch Consortium.
| Large-scale asymmetry of rotation curves in lopsided spiral galaxies
Many spiral galaxies show a large-scale asymmetry with a cos phidependence in their rotation curves as well as in their morphology, suchas M 101 and NGC 628. We show that both these features can be explainedby the response of a galactic disk to an imposed lopsided halopotential. A perturbation potential of 5% is deduced for themorphologically lopsided galaxies in the Rix & Zaritsky(\cite{Rix95}) sample. This is shown to result in a difference of 10 %or >=20-30 km s-1 in the rotation velocity on the twosides of the major axis. Interestingly, the observed isophotal asymmetryin a typical spiral galaxy is not much smaller and it results in avelocity asymmetry of 7 % or ~ 14-21 km s-1. Hence, wepredict that most spiral galaxies show a fairly significant rotationalasymmetry. The rotation velocity is shown to be maximum along theelongated isophote - in agreement with the observations along the SW inM 101, while it is minimum along the opposite direction. This resultleads to the distinctive asymmetric shape of the rotation curve whichrises more steeply in one half of the galaxy than the other, as observedby Swaters et al. (\cite{Swae99}). This shape is shown to be a robustfeature and would result for any centrally concentrated disk. The netdisk lopsidedness and hence the asymmetry in the rotation curve ispredicted to increase with radius and hence can be best studied using HIgas as the tracer.
| Galaxies with Rows
The results of a search for galaxies with straight structural elements,usually spiral-arm rows (“rows” in the terminology ofVorontsov-Vel'yaminov), are reported. The list of galaxies that possess(or probably possess) such rows includes about 200 objects, of whichabout 70% are brighter than 14m. On the whole, galaxies with rows makeup 6 8% of all spiral galaxies with well-developed spiral patterns. Mostgalaxies with rows are gas-rich Sbc-Scd spirals. The fraction ofinteracting galaxies among them is appreciably higher than amonggalaxies without rows. Earlier conclusions that, as a rule, the lengthsof rows are similar to their galactocentric distances and that theangles between adjacent rows are concentrated near 120° areconfirmed. It is concluded that the rows must be transient hydrodynamicstructures that develop in normal galaxies.
| The Radio Galaxy Populations of Nearby Northern Abell Clusters
We report on the use of the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) to identify radiogalaxies in 18 nearby Abell clusters. The listings extend from the coresof the clusters out to radii of 3 h-175 Mpc, whichcorresponds to 1.5 Abell radii and approximately 4 orders of magnitudein galaxy density. To create a truly useful catalog, we have collectedoptical spectra for nearly all of the galaxies lacking public velocitymeasurements. Consequently, we are able to discriminate between thoseradio galaxies seen in projection on the cluster and those that are inactuality cluster members. The resulting catalog consists of 329 clusterradio galaxies plus 138 galaxies deemed foreground or backgroundobjects, and new velocity measurements are reported for 273 of theseradio galaxies. The motivation for the catalog is the study of galaxyevolution in the cluster environment. The radio luminosity function is apowerful tool in the identification of active galaxies, as it isdominated by star-forming galaxies at intermediate luminosities andactive galactic nuclei (AGNs) at higher luminosities. The flux limit ofthe NVSS allows us to identify AGNs and star-forming galaxies down tostar formation rates less than 1 Msolar yr-1. Thissensitivity, coupled with the all-sky nature of the NVSS, allows us toproduce a catalog of considerable depth and breadth. In addition tothese data, we report detected infrared fluxes and upper limits obtainedfrom IRAS data. It is hoped that this database will prove useful in anumber of potential studies of the effect of environment on galaxyevolution. Based in part on observations obtained with the Apache PointObservatory 3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by theAstrophysical Research Consortium (ARC).
| An Hα survey of eight Abell clusters: the dependence of tidally induced star formation on cluster density
We have undertaken a survey of Hα emission in a substantiallycomplete sample of CGCG galaxies of types Sa and later within 1.5 Abellradii of the centres of eight low-redshift Abell clusters (Abell 262,347, 400, 426, 569, 779, 1367 and 1656). Some 320 galaxies weresurveyed, of which 116 were detected in emission (39 per cent ofspirals, 75 per cent of peculiars). Here we present previouslyunpublished data for 243 galaxies in seven clusters. Detected emissionis classified as `compact' or `diffuse'. From an analysis of the fullsurvey sample, we confirm our previous identification of compact anddiffuse emission with circumnuclear starburst and disc emissionrespectively. The circumnuclear emission is associated either with thepresence of a bar, or with a disturbed galaxy morphology indicative ofongoing tidal interactions (whether galaxy-galaxy, galaxy-group, orgalaxy-cluster). The frequency of such tidally induced (circumnuclear)starburst emission in spirals increases from regions of lower to higherlocal galaxy surface density, and from clusters with lower to highercentral galaxy space density. The percentages of spirals classed asdisturbed and of galaxies classified as peculiar show a similar trend.These results suggest that tidal interactions for spirals are morefrequent in regions of higher local density and for clusters with highercentral galaxy density. The prevalence of such tidal interactions inclusters is expected from recent theoretical modelling of clusters witha non-static potential undergoing collapse and infall. Furthermore, inaccord with this picture, we suggest that peculiar galaxies arepredominantly ongoing mergers. We conclude that tidal interactions arelikely to be the main mechanism for the transformation of spirals to S0sin clusters. This mechanism operates more efficiently in higher densityenvironments, as is required by the morphological type-local surfacedensity (T-Σ) relation for galaxies in clusters. For regions ofcomparable local density, the frequency of tidally induced starburstemission is greater in clusters with higher central galaxy density. Thisimplies that, for a given local density, morphological transformation ofdisc galaxies proceeds more rapidly in clusters of higher central galaxydensity. This effect is considered to be the result of subclustermerging, and could account for the previously considered anomalousabsence of a significant T-Σ relation for irregular clusters atintermediate redshift.
| Arcsecond Positions of UGC Galaxies
We present accurate B1950 and J2000 positions for all confirmed galaxiesin the Uppsala General Catalog (UGC). The positions were measuredvisually from Digitized Sky Survey images with rms uncertaintiesσ<=[(1.2")2+(θ/100)2]1/2,where θ is the major-axis diameter. We compared each galaxymeasured with the original UGC description to ensure high reliability.The full position list is available in the electronic version only.
| A Photometric Method for Quantifying Asymmetries in Disk Galaxies
A photometric method for quantifying deviations from axisymmetry inoptical images of disk galaxies is applied to a sample of 32 face-on andnearly face-on spirals. The method involves comparing the relativefluxes contained within trapezoidal sectors arranged symmetrically aboutthe galaxy center of light, excluding the bulge and/or barred regions.Such a method has several advantages over others, especially whenquantifying asymmetry in flocculent galaxies. Specifically, theaveraging of large regions improves the signal-to-noise in themeasurements; the method is not strongly affected by the presence ofspiral arms; and it identifies the kinds of asymmetry that are likely tobe dynamically important. Application of this ``method of sectors'' toR-band images of 32 disk galaxies indicates that about 30% of spiralsshow deviations from axisymmetry at the 5 sigma level.
| An image database. II. Catalogue between δ=-30deg and δ=70deg.
A preliminary list of 68.040 galaxies was built from extraction of35.841 digitized images of the Palomar Sky Survey (Paper I). For eachgalaxy, the basic parameters are obtained: coordinates, diameter, axisratio, total magnitude, position angle. On this preliminary list, weapply severe selection rules to get a catalog of 28.000 galaxies, wellidentified and well documented. For each parameter, a comparison is madewith standard measurements. The accuracy of the raw photometricparameters is quite good despite of the simplicity of the method.Without any local correction, the standard error on the total magnitudeis about 0.5 magnitude up to a total magnitude of B_T_=17. Significantsecondary effects are detected concerning the magnitudes: distance toplate center effect and air-mass effect.
| A dynamical analysis of twelve clusters of galaxies
Four-hundred-twenty-eight new redshift measurements for galaxies in thevicinity of 12 Abell clusters are presented. The data are supplementedby previously published data with 3 deg of each cluster center. Thecluster selection, the variety of telescopes and instrumentation used toobtain the galaxy redshifts, and the available X-ray observations arediscussed. Each cluster is exmained in some detail, with the emphasisplaced on the nature of the observed velocity distributions. Robust andresistant estimators of the velocity location and scale are applied inorder to quantify these distributions. The offset in velocity space ofthe dominant galaxy in each cluster or subcluster is considered withrespect to the central location in the velocity space of the cluster asa whole, and the physical implications of significant offsets found inseveral clusters are discussed. Dynamical estimates of the masses ofclusters and/or subclusters are obtained; for clearly bimodal systems,two-body models are employed to specify their likely dynamical state.
| Properties of the redshift. I - Data and calibrations
Data at 21 cm are presented for 100 galaxies intended to be used forsystem comparisons between the NRAO 140 and 300 foot telescope and the100 m Effelsberg telescope. Data from the 300 foot telescope are alsogiven for galaxies selected for overlap comparisons with older studies.Flux calibrations and measurement uncertainties in flux, redshifts,profile width, and profile shape are discussed.
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