Astronomy
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Item A Study of Cold Gas and Star Formation in Low-Mass Blue-Sequence E/S0s(2010) Wei, Hsin-Han Lisa; Vogel, Stuart N; Astronomy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)We present a study of cold gas and star formation in low-mass blue-sequence E/S0 galaxies — a population that is morphologically early-type, but resides on the blue sequence in color vs. stellar mass space alongside spirals. A subset of these blue-sequence E/S0s may provide an evolutionary link between traditional red and dead early-type galaxies and star-forming spirals via disk (re)growth. In this dissertation, we use data from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) to examine the potential for morphological transformation of low-mass blue-sequence E/S0s. In considering the HI content of these galaxies, we find that, normalized to stellar mass, the atomic gas masses for 12 of the 14 blue-sequence E/S0s range from 0.1 to ≥1.0. These gas-to-stellar mass ratios are comparable to those of spiral and irregular galaxies, and have a similar dependence on stellar mass. Assuming that the HI is accessible for star formation, we find that 9 of 14 blue-sequence E/S0s can increase in stellar mass by 10–60% in 3 Gyr with current HI reservoirs alone. We present evidence that star formation in these galaxies is bursty and likely involves externally triggered gas inflows. For a sub-sample of eight E/S0s (four blue-, two mid-, and two red-sequence) whose CARMA CO(1–0), Spitzer MIPS 24μm, and GALEX FUV emission distributions are spatially resolved on a 750pc scale, we find roughly linear relationships between molecular-gas and star-formation surface densities within all galaxies, with power law indices N = 0.6–1.9 (median 1.2). Adding 11 more blue-sequence E/S0s whose CO(1–0) emission is not as well resolved, we find that most of our E/S0s have 1–8 kpc aperture-averaged molecular-gas surface densities overlapping the range spanned by the disks and centers of spiral galaxies. While many of our E/S0s fall on the same Schmidt-Kennicutt relation as local spirals, ∼80% are offset towards apparently higher molecular-gas star formation efficiency. We discuss possible interpretations of the apparently elevated efficiencies. We examine star formation in blue- and red-sequence E/S0s as traced by the 8μm PAH emission. We find the 8μm PAH/3.6μm emission ratios for most of our blue-sequence E/S0s to be similar to those of local spirals. Ratio images of the two tracers reveal ring-like and non-axisymmetric structures in some of our E/S0s, suggestive of internally and/or externally triggered gas inflow and centrally concentrated star formation. Comparison between the CO(1–0) and 8μm PAH emission distributions shows good agreement globally, although the 8μm PAH/3.6μm emission ratio appears to better trace non-axisymmetric structures observed in CO. Similar to CO observations of spiral galaxies, we find detectable CO emission in our E/S0s to be centrally concentrated, ranging from 0.1&ndash0.6r25 (median 0.3r25). We also find that the aperture-averaged 8μm PAH to 3.6μm stellar emission ratio correlates with the atomic and molecular gas mass fractions.Item The Tully-Fisher Relation for Low Surface Brightness Galaxies - Implications for Galaxy Evolution(Blackwell, 1995) Zwaan, M. A.; van der Hulst, J. M.; de Blok, W. J. G.; McGaugh, S. S.Item HI Observations of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies: Probing Low Density Galaxies(Blackwell, 1996) de Blok, W.J.G.; McGaugh, S.S.; van der Hulst, J.M.We present Very Large Array (vla) and Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (wsrt) 21-cm Hi observations of 19 late-type low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. Our main findings are that these galaxies, as well as having low surface brightnesses, have low Hi surface densities, about a factor of ~ 3 lower than in normal late-type galaxies. We show that LSB galaxies in some respects resemble the outer parts of late-type normal galaxies, but may be less evolved. LSB galaxies are more gas-rich than their high surface brightness counterparts. The rotation curves of LSB galaxies rise more slowly than those of HSB galaxies of the same luminosity, with amplitudes between 50 and 120 km s−1, and are often still increasing at the outermost measured point. The shape of the rotation curves suggests that LSB galaxies have low matter surface densities. We use the average total mass surface density of a galaxy as a measure for the evolutionary state, and show that LSB galaxies are among the least compact, least evolved galaxies. We show that both MHI/LB and Mdyn/LB depend strongly on central surface brightness, consistent with the surface brightness–mass-to-light ratio relation required by the Tully-Fisher relation. LSB galaxies are therefore slowly evolving galaxies, and may well be low surface density systems in all respects.