Late-type Spirals Research Articles

Stars and dark matter in the spiral gravitational lens 2237+0305

We construct a mass model for the spiral lens galaxy 2237+0305, at redshift z_l=0.04, based on gravitational-lensing constraints, HI rotation, and new stellar-kinematic information, based on data taken with the ESI spectrograph on the 10m Keck-II Telescope. High resolution rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles along two perpendicular directions, close to the major and minor axes of the lens galaxy, were obtained by fitting the Mgb-Fe absorption line region. The stellar rotation curve rises slowly and flattens at r~1.5" (~1.1 kpc). The velocity dispersion profile is approximately flat. A combination of photometric, kinematic and lensing information is used to construct a mass model for the four major mass components of the system -- the dark matter halo, disc, bulge, and bar. The best-fitting solution has a dark matter halo with a logarithmic inner density slope of gamma=0.9+/-0.3 for rho_DM propto r^-gamma, a bulge with M/L_B=6.6+/-0.3 Upsilon_odot, and a disc with M/L_B =1.2+/-0.3 Upsilon_odot, in agreement with measurements of late-type spirals. The bulge dominates support in the inner regions where the multiple images are located and is therefore tightly constrained by the observations. The disc is sub-maximal and contributes 45+/-11 per cent of the rotational support of the galaxy at 2.2r_d. The halo mass is (2.0+/-0.6) x 10^12 M_odot, and the stellar to virial mass ratio is 7.0+/-2.3 per cent, consistent with typical galaxies of the same mass.

PLANETARY NEBULAE IN FACE-ON SPIRAL GALAXIES. III. PLANETARY NEBULA KINEMATICS AND DISK MASS

Much of our understanding of dark matter halos comes from the assumption that the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of spiral disks is constant. The best way to test this hypothesis is to measure the disk surface mass density directly via the kinematics of old disk stars. To this end, we have used planetary nebulae (PNe) as test particles and have measured the vertical velocity dispersion (sigma_z) throughout the disks of five nearby, low-inclination spiral galaxies: IC 342, M74 (NGC 628), M83 (NGC 5236), M94 (NGC 4736), and M101 (NGC 5457). By using HI to map galactic rotation and the epicyclic approximation to extract sigma_z from the line-of-sight dispersion, we find that, with the lone exception of M101, our disks do have a constant M/L out to ~3 optical scale lengths. However, once outside this radius, sigma_z stops declining and becomes flat with radius. Possible explanations for this behavior include an increase in the disk mass-to-light ratio, an increase in the importance of the thick disk, and heating of the thin disk by halo substructure. We also find that the disks of early type spirals have higher values of M/L and are closer to maximal than the disks of later-type spirals, and that the unseen inner halos of these systems are better fit by pseudo-isothermal laws than by NFW models.

NEARBY GALAXIES IN THE 2 μm ALL SKY SURVEY. I.K-BAND LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS

Differential Ks -band luminosity functions (LFs) are presented for a complete sample of 1613 nearby bright galaxies segregated by visible morphology. The LF for late-type spirals follows a power law that rises toward low luminosities whereas the LFs for ellipticals, lenticulars, and bulge-dominated spirals are peaked and decline toward both higher and lower luminosities. Each morphological type (E, S0, S0/a-Sab, Sb-Sbc, Sc-Scd) contributes approximately equally to the overall Ks -band luminosity density of galaxies in the local universe. Type averaged bulge/disk ratios are used to subtract the disk component leading to the prediction that the Ks -band LF for bulges is bimodal with ellipticals dominating the high luminosity peak, comprising 60% of the bulge luminosity density in the local universe with the remaining 40% contributed by lenticulars and the bulges of spirals. Overall, bulges contribute 30% of the galaxy luminosity density at Ks in the local universe with spiral disks making up the remainder. If bulge luminosities indicate central black hole (BH) masses, then our results predict that the BH mass function is also bimodal.

Determination of the Pattern Speed of Barred Spiral Galaxies

We evaluated the availability of a method proposed by Kuno et al. (2000, PASJ, 52, 775) for measuring the pattern speed of barred galaxies, and applied it to observational data. We made error estimations using a hydrodynamical galaxy model to test the validity of the method. Error estimations suggest that the method is able to determine the pattern speed within an error of 10%–20%. The method was applied to $^{12}$CO (1–0) data of three late-type barred galaxies: NGC 2903, M 83, and NGC 3627. The derived pattern speed was 40 kms$^{-1}$kpc$^{-1}$ for NGC 2903, 57 kms$^{-1}$kpc$^{-1}$ for M 83, 39 kms$^{-1}$kpc$^{-1}$ for NGC 3627, respectively. For the sake of a comparison with measurements in other galaxies, we used the distance-independent value $\cal{R}$ ($\equiv$$R_{\rm {CR}}/R_{\rm {bar}}$), and found that bars in the three late-type spirals are “slow” ($\cal{R} \gt$ 1.4). Our results support recent claims that bars are not always “fast” ($\cal{R}$$\le$ 1.4), at least for late-type spiral galaxies.

A CENSUS OF X-RAY NUCLEAR ACTIVITY IN NEARBY GALAXIES

We have studied the X-ray nuclear activity of 187 nearby (distance < 15 Mpc) galaxies observed with Chandra/ACIS. We found that 86 of them have a point-like X-ray core, consistent with an accreting black hole (BH). We argue that the majority of them are nuclear BHs, rather than X-ray binaries. The fraction of galaxies with an X-ray detected nuclear BH is higher (~60 per cent) for ellipticals and early-type spirals (E to Sb), and lower (~30 per cent) for late-type spirals (Sc to Sm). There is no preferential association of X-ray cores with a large-scale bar; in fact, strongly barred galaxies appear to have slightly lower detection fraction and luminosity for their nuclear X-ray sources, compared with non-barred or weakly barred galaxies of similar Hubble types. The cumulative luminosity distribution of the nuclear sources in the 0.3-8 keV band is a power-law with slope ~-0.5, from ~2 x 10^{38} erg/s to ~10^{42} erg/s. The Eddington ratio is lower for ellipticals (L_{X}/L_{Edd} ~ 10^{-8}) and higher for late-type spirals (up to L_{X}/L_{Edd} ~ 10^{-4}), but in all cases, the accretion rate is low enough to be in the radiatively-inefficient regime. The intrinsic NH is generally low, especially for the less luminous sources: there appear to be no Type-2 nuclear BHs at luminosities <~ 10^{39} erg/s. The lack of a dusty torus or of other sources of intrinsic absorption (e.g., an optically-thick disk wind) may be directly related to the lack of a standard accretion disk around those faint nuclear BHs. The fraction of obscured sources increases with the nuclear BH luminosity: 2/3 of the sources with L_{X} > 10^{40} erg/s have a fitted NH > 10^{22} cm^{-2}. This is contrary to the declining trend of the obscured fraction with increasing luminosities, observed in more luminous AGN and quasars.

The nature of late-type spiral galaxies: structural parameters, optical and near-infrared colour profiles and dust extinction

We analyse V- and H-band surface photometry of a sample of 18 Sb–Sd galaxies. Combining high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images with ground-based near-infrared observations, we extract photometric profiles, which cover the whole disc and provide the highest possible resolution. This is the first photometric study of late-type spirals for which the stellar kinematics have been measured. For 10 out of the 18 galaxies, HST data in both F160W (H) and F606W (V) are available, and, for those, we present colour maps and radial colour profiles at the resolution of the HST. Colours vary significantly from galaxy to galaxy, but tend to be highly homogeneous within each galaxy, with smooth and flat colour profiles. Some of the colour maps show jumps in the inner regions, likely due to dust. We determine extinction maps in an almost model-independent way using the V−H colour map and the SAURON Mgb absorption line map of Ganda et al. The maps show that AV ranges from 0 to 2 mag, in the centre from 0 to 1.5 mag, in agreement with the models of Tuffs et al. We describe the surface brightness profiles as the superposition of an exponential disc and a Sérsic bulge. The bulges are small (0.1–2.5 kpc), and show a shape parameter n ranging from ≈0.7 to 3, with a mean value smaller than two: well below the value for the classical de Vaucouleurs bulges. Most galaxies (16 out of 18) show a central light excess above the Sérsic fit to the bulge, which can be interpreted as a nuclear cluster, as shown by previous studies. We provide zero-order estimates for the magnitude of these components. We discuss the correlations among the structural galaxy parameters and with other relevant quantities, such as Hubble type and stellar velocity dispersion. We compare these results with a recent paper by Graham & Worley, who present a summary of most of the NIR surface photometry of spirals in the literature. For both early- and late-type spirals, bulge luminosity strongly correlates with central velocity dispersion; at constant velocity dispersion, later type bulges are larger and less dense, and have lower Sérsic n-values.

GLOBULAR CLUSTER POPULATIONS IN FOUR EARLY-TYPE POSTSTARBURST GALAXIES

We present a study of the globular cluster (GC) systems of four early-type poststarburst galaxies using deep g- and I-band images from the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. All the galaxies feature shells distributed around their main bodies and are thus likely merger remnants. The color distribution of the GCs in all four galaxies shows a broad peak centered on g − I ≈ 1.4, while PGC 6240 and PGC 42871 show a significant number of GCs with g − I ≈ 1.0. The latter GCs are interpreted as being of age ∼500 Myr and likely having been formed in the merger. The color of the redder peak is consistent with that expected for an old metal-poor population that is very commonly found around normal galaxies. However, all galaxies except PGC 10922 contain several GCs that are significantly brighter than the maximum luminosity expected of a single old metal-poor population. To test for multiple-age populations of overlapping g − I color, we model the luminosity functions of the GCs as composites of an old metal-poor subpopulation with a range of plausible specific frequencies and an intermediate-age subpopulation of solar metallicity. We find that three of the four sample galaxies show evidence for the presence of an intermediate-age (∼1 Gyr) GC population, in addition to the old metal-poor GC population seen in normal early-type galaxies. None of the galaxies show a significant population of clusters consistent with an old, metal-rich red cluster population that is typically seen in early-type galaxies. The presence of a substantial number of intermediate-age clusters and the absence of old, metal-rich clusters indicate that the progenitor galaxies which formed the resulting shell galaxy were gas rich and did not host significant bulges. Late-type spirals seem to be the most plausible progenitors. These results lend credence to the "merger scenario" in which the red, metal-rich GCs observed in normal ellipticals are formed during a dissipative merger event that also forms the elliptical itself.

DYNAMICAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE MASSES OF THE NUCLEAR STAR CLUSTER AND BLACK HOLE IN THE LATE-TYPE SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 3621

NGC 3621 is a late-type (Sd) spiral galaxy with an active nucleus, previously detected through mid-infrared [Ne V] line emission. Archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images reveal that the galaxy contains a bright and compact nuclear star cluster. We present a new high-resolution optical spectrum of this nuclear cluster, obtained with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager at the Keck Observatory. The nucleus has a Seyfert 2 emission-line spectrum at optical wavelengths, supporting the hypothesis that a black hole (BH) is present. The line-of-sight stellar velocity dispersion of the cluster is σ = 43 ± 3 km s–1, one of the largest dispersions measured for any nuclear cluster in a late-type spiral galaxy. Combining this measurement with structural parameters measured from archival HST images, we carry out dynamical modeling based on the Jeans equation for a spherical star cluster containing a central point mass. The maximum BH mass consistent with the measured stellar velocity dispersion is 3 × 106 M☉. If the BH mass is small compared with the cluster's stellar mass, then the dynamical models imply a total stellar mass of ~1 × 107 M☉, which is consistent with rough estimates of the stellar mass based on photometric measurements from HST images. From the structural decomposition of Two Micron All Sky Survey images, we find no clear evidence for a bulge in NGC 3621; the galaxy contains at most a very faint and inconspicuous pseudobulge component (MK –17.6 mag). NGC 3621 provides one of the best demonstrations that very late-type spirals can host both active nuclei and nuclear star clusters, and that low-mass BHs can occur in disk galaxies even in the absence of a substantial bulge.

The Variation of Galaxy Morphological Type with Environmental Shear

Recent N-body simulations indicate that the assembly history of galactic halos depends on the density of the large-scale environment. This implies that galaxy properties such as age and size of the bulge may also vary with the surrounding large-scale structures, which are characterized by tidal shear as well as density. Using a sample of 15,882 well-resolved nearby galaxies from the Tully catalog and the real-space tidal field reconstructed from the 2MASS Redshift Survey, we investigate the dependence of galaxy morphological type on the shear of the large-scale environment in which they are embedded. We first calculate the large-scale dimensionless overdensities (δ) and ellipticities (e) of the regions where the galaxies are located, classify them according to morphological type, and create subsamples selected at similar δ-values but spanning different ranges in e. We calculate the mean ellipticity, e, averaged over each subsample and find a signal of variation of e with morphological type: for 0.5 ≤ δ ≤ 1.0, elliptical galaxies are preferentially located in regions with low ellipticity; for –0.3 ≤ δ ≤ 0.1, the latest-type spirals are preferentially located in regions with high ellipticity. The null hypothesis that the mean ellipticities of the regions where the ellipticals and the latest-type spirals are located are the same as the global mean ellipticity averaged over all types is rejected at the 3 σ level when –0.3 ≤ δ ≤ 0.1. Yet, no signal of a galaxy-shear correlation is found in highly overdense or underdense regions. The observed trend suggests that the formation epochs of galactic halos might be a function of not only halo mass and large-scale density but also large-scale shear. Since the statistical significance of the overall trend is low, a sample of at least 100,000 galaxies is required to verify this correlation.

The origin of the $\langle\mu_{\mathsf e}\rangle$-MB and Kormendy relations in dwarf elliptical galaxies

Aims. The present work is aimed at studying the distribution of galaxies of different types and luminosities along different structural scaling relations to see whether massive and dwarf ellipticals have been shaped by the same formation process. Methods. This exercise is done by comparing the distribution of Virgo cluster massive and dwarf ellipticals and star forming galaxies along the B band effective surface brightness and effective radius vs. absolute magnitude relations and the Kormendy relation to the predictions of models tracing the effects of ram-pressure stripping on disc galaxies entering the cluster environment and galaxy harassment. Results. Dwarf ellipticals might have been formed from low luminosity, late-type spirals that recently entered into the cluster and lost their gas because of a ram-pressure stripping event, stopping their star formation. The perturbations induced by the abrupt decrease of the star formation activity are sufficient to modify the structural properties of disc galaxies into those of dwarf ellipticals. Galaxy harassment induces a truncation of the disc and generally an increase of the effective surface brightness of the perturbed galaxies. The lack of dynamical simulations of perturbed galaxies spanning a wide range in luminosity prevents us from deriving any firm conclusion on a possible harassment-induced origin of the low surface brightness dwarf elliptical galaxy population inhabiting the Virgo cluster. Conclusions. Although the observed scaling relations are consistent with the idea that the distribution of elliptical galaxies along the mentioned scaling relation is due to a gradual variation with luminosity of the Sersic index n, the comparison with models indicates that dwarf ellipticals might have been formed by a totally different process to giant ellipticals.

Colors and Mass-to-Light Ratios of Bulges and Disks of Nearby Spiral Galaxies

Abstract We investigated the colors and mass-to-light ($M/L$) ratios of bulges and disks for 28 nearby spiral galaxies with various morphological types of Sab-Scd, using images in optical and near-infrared ($V$, $I$, and $J$) bands as well as published rotation curves. It is shown that the observed colors and $M/L$ values generally agree with the galaxy-formation model with an exponentially declining star-formation rate and a shallow slope initial mass function (e.g., Scalo IMF) for both the bulges and the disks. We find that the bulge $M/L$ is generally higher than the disk $M/L$, and that the galaxies with a larger bulge-to-total luminosity ($B/T$) ratio tend to have a smaller bulge $M/L$. This fact indicates that the luminosity-weighted average age of bulges for early-type spirals is younger than that for later-type spirals. These results support a formation scenario that the bulges of middle-type and early-type spirals produce young stars.

Connecting Far‐Infrared and Radio Morphologies of Disk Galaxies: Cosmic‐Ray Electron Diffusion After Star Formation Episodes

We present results on the ISM properties of 29 galaxies based on a comparison of Spitzer far-infrared and Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope radio continuum imagery. Of these 29 galaxies, 18 are close enough to resolve at ≲1 kpc scales at 70 μm and 22 cm. We extend the approach of our earlier work of smoothing infrared images to approximate cosmic-ray (CR) electron spreading and thus largely reproduce the appearance of radio images. Using a wavelet analysis, we decompose each 70 μm image into one component containing the star-forming structures and a second one for the diffuse disk. The components are smoothed separately, and their combination compared to a free-free corrected 22 cm radio image; the scale lengths are then varied to best match the radio and smoothed infrared images. We find that late-type spirals having high amounts of ongoing star formation benefit most from the two-component method. We also find that the disk component dominates for galaxies having low star formation activity, whereas the structure component dominates at high star formation activity. We propose that this result arises from an age effect rather than from differences in CR electron diffusion due to varying ISM parameters. The bulk of the CR electron population in actively star-forming galaxies is significantly younger than that in less active galaxies due to recent episodes of enhanced star formation; these galaxies are observed within ~108 yr since the onset of the most recent star formation episode. The sample irregulars have anomalously low best-fit scale lengths for their surface brightnesses compared to the rest of the sample spirals, which we attribute to enhanced CR electron escape.

The Coincidence of Nuclear Star Clusters and Active Galactic Nuclei

We study galaxies that host both nuclear star clusters and active galactic nuclei (AGN) implying the presence of a massive black hole. We select a sample of 176 galaxies with previously detected nuclear star clusters that range from ellipticals to late-type spirals. We search for AGN in this sample using optical spectroscopy and archival radio and X-ray data. We find galaxies of all Hubble types and with a wide range of masses (10^9-11 solar masses) hosting both AGN and nuclear star clusters. From the optical spectra, we classify 10% of the galaxies as AGN and an additional 15% as composite, indicating a mix of AGN and star-formation spectra. The fraction of nucleated galaxies with AGN increases strongly as a function of galaxy and nuclear star cluster mass. For galaxies with both a NC and a black hole, we find that the masses of these two objects are quite similar. However, non-detections of black holes in Local Group nuclear star clusters show that not all clusters host black holes of similar masses. We discuss the implications of our results for the formation of nuclear star clusters and massive black holes.

The Origin of Dwarf Ellipticals in the Virgo Cluster

We study the evolution of dwarf (L_H < 10^{9.6} L_Ho) star forming and quiescent galaxies in the Virgo cluster by comparing their UV to radio centimetric properties to the predictions of multizone chemo-spectrophotometric models of galaxy evolution especially tuned to take into account the perturbations induced by the interaction with the cluster intergalactic medium. Our models simulate one or multiple ram pressure stripping events and galaxy starvation. Models predict that all star forming dwarf galaxies entering the cluster for the first time loose most, if not all, of their atomic gas content, quenching on short time scales (< 150 Myr) their activity of star formation. These dwarf galaxies soon become red and quiescent, gas metal-rich objects with spectrophotometric and structural properties similar to those of dwarf ellipticals. Young, low luminosity, high surface brightness star forming galaxies such as late-type spirals and BCDs are probably the progenitors of relatively massive dwarf ellipticals, while it is likely that low surface brightness magellanic irregulars evolve into very low surface brightness quiescent objects hardly detectable in ground based imaging surveys. The small number of dwarf galaxies with physical properties intermediate between those of star forming and quiescent systems is consistent with a rapid (< 1 Gyr) transitional phase between the two dwarf galaxies populations. These results, combined with statistical considerations, are consistent with the idea that most of the dwarf ellipticals dominating the faint end of the Virgo luminosity function were initially star forming systems, accreted by the cluster and stripped of their gas by one or subsequent ram pressure stripping events.

A Search for Extended Ultraviolet Disk (XUV‐Disk) Galaxies in the Local Universe

We have initiated a search for extended ultraviolet disk (XUV-disk) galaxies in the local universe. Here we compare GALEX UV and visible-NIR images of 189 nearby (D < 40 Mpc) S0-Sm galaxies included in the GALEX Atlas of Nearby Galaxies and present the first catalog of XUV-disk galaxies. We find that XUV-disk galaxies are surprisingly common but have varied relative (UV/optical) extent and morphology. Type 1 objects (≳20% incidence) have structured, UV-bright/optically faint emission features in the outer disk, beyond the traditional star formation threshold. Type 2 XUV-disk galaxies (~10% incidence) exhibit an exceptionally large, UV-bright/optically low surface brightness (LSB) zone having blue UV-K_s outside the effective extent of the inner, older stellar population, but not reaching extreme galactocentric distance. If the activity occurring in XUV-disks is episodic, a higher fraction of present-day spirals could be influenced by such outer disk star formation. Type 1 disks are associated with spirals of all types, whereas Type 2 XUV-disks are predominantly found in late-type spirals. Type 2 XUV-disks are forming stars quickly enough to double their (currently low) stellar mass in the next Gyr (assuming a constant star formation rate). XUV-disk galaxies of both types are systematically more gas-rich than the general galaxy population. Minor external perturbation may stimulate XUV-disk incidence, at least for Type 1 objects. XUV-disks are the most actively evolving galaxies growing via inside-out disk formation in the current epoch, and may constitute a segment of the galaxy population experiencing significant, continued gas accretion from the intergalactic medium or neighboring objects.

The high-mass end of the Tully-Fisher relation

We study the location of massive disk galaxies on the Tully-Fisher relation. Using a combination of K-band photometry and high-quality rotation curves, we show that in traditional formulations of the TF relation (using the width of the global HI profile or the maximum rotation velocity), galaxies with rotation velocities larger than 200 km/s lie systematically to the right of the relation defined by less massive systems, causing a characteristic `kink' in the relations. Massive, early-type disk galaxies in particular have a large offset, up to 1.5 magnitudes, from the main relation defined by less massive and later-type spirals. The presence of a change in slope at the high-mass end of the Tully-Fisher relation has important consequences for the use of the Tully-Fisher relation as a tool for estimating distances to galaxies or for probing galaxy evolution. In particular, the luminosity evolution of massive galaxies since z = 1 may have been significantly larger than estimated in several recent studies. We also show that many of the galaxies with the largest offsets have declining rotation curves and that the change in slope largely disappears when we use the asymptotic rotation velocity as kinematic parameter. The remaining deviations from linearity can be removed when we simultaneously use the total baryonic mass (stars + gas) instead of the optical or near-infrared luminosity. Our results strengthen the view that the Tully-Fisher relation fundamentally links the mass of dark matter haloes with the total baryonic mass embedded in them.

Star formation in M 33: Spitzer photometry of discrete sources

Aims. Combining the relative vicinity of the Local Group spiral galaxy M 33 with the Spitzer images, we investigate the properties of infrared (IR) emission sites and assess the reliability of the IR emission as a star formation tracer. Methods. The mid- and far-IR emission of M 33 was obtained from IRAC and MIPS images from the Spitzer archive. We compared the photometric results for several samples of three known types of discrete sources (Hll regions, supernovae remnants and planetary nebulae) with theoretical diagnostic diagrams, and derived the spectral energy distribution (from 3.6 to 24 μm) of each type of object. Moreover, we generated a catalogue of 24 μm sources and inferred their nature from the observed and theoretical colours of the known type sources. We estimated the star formation rate in M 33 both globally and locally, from the IR emission and from the Ha emission line. Results. The colours of the typical IR emissions of HII regions, supernovae remnants and planetary nebulae are continuous among the different samples, with overlapping regions in the diagnostic diagrams. The comparison between the model results and the colours of HII regions indicates a dusty envelope at relatively high temperatures ∼600 K, and moderate extinction A v ≤ 10. The 24 μm sources IR colours follow the regions observationally defined by the three classes of known objects but the majority of them represent HII regions. The derived total IR luminosity function is in fact very similar to the HII luminosity function observed in the Milky Way and in other late type spirals. Even though our completeness limit is 5 ×10 37 erg s -1 , in low density regions we are able to detect sources five times fainter than this, corresponding to the faintest possible HII region. The 8 and 24 μm luminosities within the central 5 kpc of M 33 are comparable and of order 4 ×10 28 erg s -1 Hz -1 (vL v (8) = 1.5 x 10 42 and vL v (24) = 4.4 x 10 41 erg s -1 ). We estimate the total IR emission in the same region of M 33 to be 10 9 L ⊙ . The discrete sources account for about one third of the 24 μm emission while the rest is diffuse. From the IR emission, we derive a star formation rate for the inner disk equal to 0.2 M⊙ yr -1 , consistent with the star formation rate obtained from the Her emission.

Stellar populations in late-type spirals observed with SAURON

AbstractWe present results on the stellar populations of a sample of 18 late-type spirals, based on data acquired with the integral-field spectrograph SAURON at the WHT. We present the two-dimensional line-strength maps, the central line indices, and estimate the star formation time-scale. In an exponentially declining SFR scenario, we find a trend between the time-scale τ and the central velocity dispersion: more massive galaxies show shorter burst durations. A detailed study on these data is published by Ganda et al. (2007).

Spiral galaxies in the SAURON survey

AbstractWe discuss some recent integral field spectroscopy using the SAURON instrument of a sample consisting of 24 early-type spirals, part of the SAURON Survey, and 18 late-type spirals. Using 2-dimensional maps of their stellar radial velocity, velocity dispersion, and absorption line strength, it is now much easier to understand the nature of nearby galactic bulges. We discuss a few highlights of this work, and point out some new ideas about the formation of galactic bulges.

Discovery of a Transient X‐Ray Source in the Compact Stellar Nucleus of NGC 2403

We report the discovery of an X-ray source coincident with the nuclear star cluster at the dynamical center of the nearby late-type spiral galaxy NGC 2403. The X-ray luminosity of this source varies from below detection levels, ~1e35 erg/s in the 0.5-8.0 keV band, to 7e38 erg/s on timescales between observations of less than 2 months. The X-ray spectrum is well-fit by an accretion disk model consisting of multiple blackbody components and corresponding physically to a compact object mass of greater than approximately 5 solar masses. No pulsations nor aperiodic behavior is evident in its X-ray light curve on the short timescales of the individual observations. The X-ray properties of the source are more similar to those of the nuclear source X-8 in M33, believed to be a low-mass X-ray binary, then to those of the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus in NGC 4395. The brightness of the nuclear star cluster, M_I ~ -11.8 mag, is typical of clusters in late-type spirals but its effective radius, r_e \~ 12 pc, is several times larger than average indicating a relatively relaxed cluster and a low probability of a central massive object. The cluster has a mass 3e6 solar masses and an age of 1.4 Gyr estimating from its observed colors and brightness.