SKY-MAP.ORG
 Home Getting Started To Survive in the Universe News@Sky Astro Photo The Collection Forum Blog New! FAQ Press Login

# NGC 2708

Contents

### Images

DSS Images   Other Images

### Related articles

 Rotational Widths for Use in the Tully-Fisher Relation. I. Long-Slit Spectroscopic DataWe present new long-slit Hα spectroscopy for 403 noninteractingspiral galaxies, obtained at the Palomar Observatory 5 m Hale telescope,which is used to derive well-sampled optical rotation curves. Becausemany of the galaxies show optical emission features that aresignificantly extended along the spectrograph slit, a technique wasdevised to separate and subtract the night sky lines from the galaxyemission. We exploit a functional fit to the rotation curve to identifyits center of symmetry; this method minimizes the asymmetry in thefinal, folded rotation curve. We derive rotational widths using bothvelocity histograms and the Polyex model fit. The final rotational widthis measured at a radius containing 83% of the total light as derivedfrom I-band images. In addition to presenting the new data, we use alarge sample of 742 galaxies for which both optical long-slit and radioH I line spectroscopy are available to investigate the relation betweenthe H I content of the disks and the extent of their rotation curves.Our results show that the correlation between those quantities, which iswell established in the case of H I-poor galaxies in clusters, ispresent also in H I-normal objects: for a given optical size, starformation can be traced farther out in the disks of galaxies with largerH I mass. Ionized gas and stellar kinematics of seventeen nearby spiral galaxiesIonized gas and stellar kinematics have been measured along the majoraxes of seventeen nearby spiral galaxies of intermediate to latemorphological type. We discuss the properties of each sample galaxy,distinguishing between those characterized by regular or peculiarkinematics. In most of the observed galaxies, ionized gas rotates morerapidly than stars and has a lower velocity dispersion, as is to beexpected if the gas is confined in the disc and supported by rotationwhile the stars are mostly supported by dynamical pressure. In a fewobjects, gas and stars show almost the same rotational velocity and lowvelocity dispersion, suggesting that their motion is dominated byrotation. Incorporating the spiral galaxies studied by Bertola et al.(\cite{Bertola1996}), Corsini et al. (\cite{Corsini1999},\cite{Corsini2003}) and Vega Beltrán et al. (\cite{Vega2001}) wehave compiled a sample of 50 S0/a-Scd galaxies, for which the major-axiskinematics of the ionized gas and stars have been obtained with the samespatial (≈1'') and spectral (≈50 km;s-1) resolution,and measured with the same analysis techniques. This allowed us toaddress the frequency of counter-rotation in spiral galaxies. It turnsout that less than 12% and less than 8% (at the 95% confidence level) ofthe sample galaxies host a counter-rotating gaseous and stellar disc,respectively. The comparison with S0 galaxies suggests that theretrograde acquisition of small amounts of external gas gives rise tocounter-rotating gaseous discs only in gas-poor S0s, while in gas-richspirals the newly acquired gas is swept away by the pre-existing gas.Counter-rotating gaseous and stellar discs in spirals are formed onlyfrom the retrograde acquisition of large amounts of gas exceeding thatof pre-existing gas, and subsequent star formation, respectively.Based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatory,La Silla (Chile) (ESO 56.A-0684 and 57.A-0569).Tables 3 and 4 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/424/447Full Fig. \ref{fig:kinematics} and Figs. \ref{fig:gascomparison} and\ref{fig:starcomparison} are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org The State of Galaxy Formation in the Local UniverseWe present the analysis of the H I survey of isolated galaxies describedin the first two papers in this series. This survey found 13 gas-richcompanions around 10 of the 41 galaxies observed. In this paper, wepresent numerous pieces of evidence that the number of companionsdetected is less than expected by cold dark matter models of galaxyformation or H I observations of the population of galaxies in thefield. We discuss the implications of these data for galaxy formationand the evolution of the properties of these companions. A statisticalanalysis of the observed distribution of the ensemble of companions withrespect to the primary galaxies implies that, in general, thesecompanions are on circular orbits and not eccentric orbits. Whileindividual companions may be on eccentric orbits, the majority of theorbits are circular and, therefore, fairly stable. In fact, on the basisof the observed separations, both spatial and in velocity space, onlythose companions currently interacting with the galaxy they orbit shouldbe accreted in the next few Gyr, and only half of the companies will beaccreted in less than a Hubble time. Of the close companions, only UGC260A and UGC 11152A appear to be significantly affecting the morphologyof the primary galaxy. The remaining companions have too little mass andare too far away from the main galaxies to have any current effect ontheir morphology. None of these companions are massive enough to destroythe disk of the isolated galaxy when they are accreted, but instead willrepresent a minor merger that will supply a large amount of H I to fuelfuture star formation in these galaxies and produce small effects on themorphology. All of which implies that we are seeing nothing more thanthe tail end of the galaxy formation process. We have also compared thecumulative velocity distribution function of our companions with thepredictions of cold dark matter and other galaxy formation models. Ourdata are only consistent with cold dark matter models when generous, butnot unreasonable, correction factors are applied for nondetections ofgas-poor galaxies. Models that suppress observable satellite galaxies,such as warm dark matter models or those that prevent neutral gas fromaccumulating in dark matter halos, would better explain our observedpopulation of companions. Finally, we compare the H I mass function (MF)for companions to isolated galaxies with the H I MF from the work ofothers. Our H I MF is consistent with a variety of faint-end slopes upto α~-1.3. Such a slope argues against the Blitz et al. model forhigh-velocity clouds. The Role of Interactions in the Evolution of Highly Star-forming Early-Type (Sa-Sab) Spiral GalaxiesWe present a search for the signatures of galaxy-galaxy interactions inthe neutral gas of early-type spirals. New neutral hydrogen observationsfor four highly star-forming early-type spirals are presented here,along with H I data for three additional galaxies from other sources. HI maps of six of seven galaxies reveal unambiguous signs of a recentencounter, via tidal tails and H I bridges. Most of these galaxiesappear undisturbed in the optical, and these interactions probably wouldhave gone unnoticed without H I mapping. Such high rates of interactionsuggest that galactic encounters may play an important role in theevolution of early-type spiral galaxies. An H I/Optical Atlas of Isolated GalaxiesWe present an H I and optical survey of 41 extremely isolated galaxiesin an attempt to search for the gaseous remnants of the galaxy formationprocess, predicted to exist by hierarchical models of galaxy formation.By observing extremely isolated, quiescent, nonpeculiar galaxies weminimize the chances that any extragalactic H I found will be anothergalaxy, tidal debris, or ejecta from a galactic fountain or superwind.We have obtained new and archival data from the VLA and ATCA in a searchfor H I clouds down to MHI~107 Msolararound these galaxies. We found 13 H I-rich companions around 10 of the41 galaxies surveyed. Optical imaging finds spatially coincident starsassociated with all 13 companions. We find that the isolated galaxieshave properties fairly similar to those of field galaxies, while thecompanions are similar to dwarf irregular galaxies. The presence ofstars in all 13 companions suggests that H I clouds without starsdiscovered by other authors around field galaxies are not primordial andmost likely have either a tidal or ejecta origin. Local velocity field from sosie galaxies. I. The Peebles' modelPratton et al. (1997) showed that the velocity field around clusterscould generate an apparent distortion that appears as tangentialstructures or radial filaments. In the present paper we determine theparameters of the Peebles' model (1976) describing infall of galaxiesonto clusters with the aim of testing quantitatively the amplitude ofthis distortion. The distances are determined from the concept of sosiegalaxies (Paturel 1984) using 21 calibrators for which the distanceswere recently calculated from two independent Cepheid calibrations. Weuse both B and I-band magnitudes. The Spaenhauer diagram method is usedto correct for the Malmquist bias. We give the equations for theconstruction of this diagram. We analyze the apparent Hubble constant indifferent regions around Virgo and obtain simultaneously the Local Groupinfall and the unperturbed Hubble constant. We found:[VLG-infall = 208 ± 9 km s-1] [\log H =1.82 ± 0.04 (H ≈ 66 ± 6 km s-1Mpc-1).] The front side and backside infalls can be seenaround Virgo and Fornax. In the direction of Virgo the comparison ismade with the Peebles' model. We obtain: [vinfall} =CVirgo/r0.9 ± 0.2] withCVirgo=2800 for Virgo and CFornax=1350 for Fornax,with the adopted units (km s-1 and Mpc). We obtain thefollowing mean distance moduli: [μVirgo=31.3 ± 0.2(r=18 Mpc )] [μFornax=31.7 ± 0.3 (r=22 Mpc). ] Allthese quantities form an accurate and coherent system. Full Table 2 isonly available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/393/57 Nearby Optical Galaxies: Selection of the Sample and Identification of GroupsIn this paper we describe the Nearby Optical Galaxy (NOG) sample, whichis a complete, distance-limited (cz<=6000 km s-1) andmagnitude-limited (B<=14) sample of ~7000 optical galaxies. Thesample covers 2/3 (8.27 sr) of the sky (|b|>20deg) andappears to have a good completeness in redshift (97%). We select thesample on the basis of homogenized corrected total blue magnitudes inorder to minimize systematic effects in galaxy sampling. We identify thegroups in this sample by means of both the hierarchical and thepercolation friends-of-friends'' methods. The resulting catalogs ofloose groups appear to be similar and are among the largest catalogs ofgroups currently available. Most of the NOG galaxies (~60%) are found tobe members of galaxy pairs (~580 pairs for a total of ~15% of objects)or groups with at least three members (~500 groups for a total of ~45%of objects). About 40% of galaxies are left ungrouped (field galaxies).We illustrate the main features of the NOG galaxy distribution. Comparedto previous optical and IRAS galaxy samples, the NOG provides a densersampling of the galaxy distribution in the nearby universe. Given itslarge sky coverage, the identification of groups, and its high-densitysampling, the NOG is suited to the analysis of the galaxy density fieldof the nearby universe, especially on small scales. A Dynamical Study of Galaxies in the Hickson Compact GroupsTo investigate dynamical properties of spiral galaxies in the Hicksoncompact groups (HCGs), we present rotation curves of 30 galaxies in 20HCGs. We found as follows: (1) There is no significant relation betweendynamical peculiarity and morphological peculiarity in HCG spiralgalaxies. (2) There is no significant relation between the dynamicalproperties and the frequency distribution of nuclear activities in HCGspiral galaxies. (3) There are no significant correlations between thedynamical properties of HCG spiral galaxies and any group properties(i.e., size, velocity dispersion, galaxy number density, and crossingtime). (4) Asymmetric and peculiar rotation curves are more frequentlyseen in the HCG spiral galaxies than in field spiral galaxies or incluster ones. However, this tendency is more obviously seen in late-typeHCG spiral galaxies. These results suggest that the dynamical propertiesof HCG spiral galaxies do not strongly correlate with the morphology,the nuclear activity, and the group properties. Our results also suggestthat more frequent galaxy collisions occur in the HCGs than in the fieldand in the clusters. Central Rotation Curves of Spiral GalaxiesWe present high-resolution central-to-outer rotation curves for Sb, SBb,Sc, and SBc galaxies. We discuss their general characteristics,particularly their central behavior, as well as dependencies onmorphological types, activity, and peculiarity. The rotation curvesgenerally show a steep nuclear rise and high-velocity central rotation,followed by a broad maximum in the disk and then a flat rotation due tothe massive halo. Since the central high velocity and steep rise arecommon to all massive galaxies, they cannot be due to noncircularmotions. Disk rotation curves of barred galaxies show larger dispersionthan those of normal galaxies, probably because of noncircular motions.Interacting galaxies often show perturbed outer rotation curves, whiletheir central rotation shows no particular peculiarity. In addition,central activities, such as starbursts and active galactic nuclei,appear to show no particular correlation with the property of rotationcurves. This would suggest that the central activities are triggered bya more local effect than the global dynamical property. Nuclear-to-Disk Rotation Curves of Galaxies in the Hα and [N {II}] Emission LinesWe have obtained optical CCD spectroscopy along the major axes of 22nearby spiral galaxies of Sb and Sc types in order to analyze theirrotation curves. By subtracting the stellar continuum emission, we haveobtained position--velocity (PV) diagrams of the Hα and [N II]lines. We point out that the Hα line is often superposed by a broadstellar absorption feature (Balmer wing) in the nuclear regions, and,therefore, the [N II] line is a better tracer of kinematics in thecentral few hundred parsec regions. By applying the envelope-tracingtechnique to the Hα and [N II] PV diagrams, we have derivednucleus-to-disk rotation curves of the observed galaxies. The rotationcurves rise steeply within the central few hundred parsecs, indicating arapidly rotating nuclear disk and mass concentration near the nucleus. Total magnitude, radius, colour indices, colour gradients and photometric type of galaxiesWe present a catalogue of aperture photometry of galaxies, in UBVRI,assembled from three different origins: (i) an update of the catalogueof Buta et al. (1995) (ii) published photometric profiles and (iii)aperture photometry performed on CCD images. We explored different setsof growth curves to fit these data: (i) The Sersic law, (ii) The net ofgrowth curves used for the preparation of the RC3 and (iii) A linearinterpolation between the de Vaucouleurs (r(1/4) ) and exponential laws.Finally we adopted the latter solution. Fitting these growth curves, wederive (1) the total magnitude, (2) the effective radius, (3) the colourindices and (4) gradients and (5) the photometric type of 5169 galaxies.The photometric type is defined to statistically match the revisedmorphologic type and parametrizes the shape of the growth curve. It iscoded from -9, for very concentrated galaxies, to +10, for diffusegalaxies. Based in part on observations collected at the Haute-ProvenceObservatory. A catalogue of spatially resolved kinematics of galaxies: BibliographyWe present a catalogue of galaxies for which spatially resolved data ontheir internal kinematics have been published; there is no a priorirestriction regarding their morphological type. The catalogue lists thereferences to the articles where the data are published, as well as acoded description of these data: observed emission or absorption lines,velocity or velocity dispersion, radial profile or 2D field, positionangle. Tables 1, 2, and 3 are proposed in electronic form only, and areavailable from the CDS, via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (to130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html Hubble constant from sosie galaxies and HIPPARCOS geometrical calibrationNew distances, larger than previous ones, have been obtained for M 31and M 81 based on the geometrical zero-point of the CepheidPeriod-luminosity relation provided by the HIPPARCOS satellite. Bycombining them with independent determinations we define reasonableranges for the distances of these important calibrating galaxies. Onthis basis, we determine the Hubble constant from the method of sosies(look-alike) galaxies, galaxies having the same characteristics than thecalibrators. The method is quite secure because it is purelydifferential and it does not depend on any assumption (apart from thenatural one that two sosies galaxies have similar absoluteluminosities). Nevertheless, the Malmquist bias has to be taken intoaccount. The observations behave exactly as predicted from theanalytical formulation of the bias. Thus, rejecting galaxies which areaffected by the Malmquist bias we derive the Hubble constant: H_o = 60+/- 10 (external) km.s^{-1}.Mpc^{-1} If we strictly use the calibrationobtained with HIPPARCOS and if the bias found in the Period-LuminosityRelation is considered, the Hubble constant is smaller than this (~ 55km.s(-1}.Mpc({-1)) ). This gives arguments in favour of thelong-distance scale. We briefly discuss possible improvements aiming atstill reducing the uncertainty. Photoelectric UBV Photometry of 179 Bright GalaxiesThis paper presents photoelectric UBV multiaperture photometry of 179bright galaxies that was used to compute total magnitudes and colorindices published in the Third Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies(RC3). The observations were made at the McDonald Observatory from 1983December to 1986 September with an Amperex 56-DVP photometer attached tothe 0.76 and 0.91 m telescopes. The observations can also be used tocalibrate CCD images. 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 comparative study of morphological classifications of APM galaxiesWe investigate the consistency of visual morphological classificationsof galaxies by comparing classifications for 831 galaxies from sixindependent observers. The galaxies were classified on laser print copyimages or on computer screen using scans made with the Automated PlateMeasuring (APM) machine. Classifications are compared using the RevisedHubble numerical type index T. We find that individual observers agreewith one another with rms combined dispersions of between 1.3 and 2.3type units, typically about 1.8 units. The dispersions tend to decreaseslightly with increasing angular diameter and, in some cases, withincreasing axial ratio (b/a). The agreement between independentobservers is reasonably good but the scatter is non-negligible. In spiteof the scatter, the Revised Hubble T system can be used to train anautomated galaxy classifier, e.g. an artificial neural network, tohandle the large number of galaxy images that are being compiled in theAPM and other surveys. Integrated photoelectric magnitudes and color indices of bright galaxies in the Johnson UBV systemThe photoelectric total magnitudes and color indices published in theThird Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RC3) are based on ananalysis of approximately equals 26,000 B, 25,000 B-V, and 17,000 U-Bmultiaperture measurements available up to mid 1987 from nearly 350sources. This paper provides the full details of the analysis andestimates of internal and external errors in the parameters. Thederivation of the parameters is based on techniques described by theVaucouleurs & Corwin (1977) whereby photoelectric multiaperture dataare fitted by mean Hubble-type-dependent curves which describe theintegral of the B-band flux and the typical B-V and U-B integrated colorgradients. A sophisticated analysis of the residuals of thesemeasurements from the curves was made to allow for the random andsystematic errors that effect such data. The result is a homogeneous setof total magnitudes BTA total colors(B-V)T and (U-B)T, and effective colors(B-V)e and (U-B)e for more than 3000 brightgalaxies in RC3. An alternative view of flat rotation curves. II. The observations.Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1994RMxAA..28...35S&db_key=AST Exponential bulges in late-type spirals: an improved description of the light distributionIn many cases the modeling of spiral galaxies by an exponential disc andan R1/4-law bulge does not satisfactorily describe the meanradial distribution of light. This is most evident in non-linearleast-squares fitting techniques in which the resulting effective radiusand surface brightness of the bulge are characterized by largeuncertainties and are scattered over large ranges, in sharp contrast totheir disc counterparts. We attempt to decompose the major-axis profilesof 34 late-type spirals in terms of an alternative model consisting ofan exponential disc and an exponential bulge, using seeing-convolvedmodels. The results of this decomposition show that this model issuperior in the statistical aspects of the fitting procedure, in thesense that the various goodness-of-fit indicators are better and theresiduals are smaller. The fact that it also confines the parameters ofthe bulge to a range whose narrowness is comparable to that of theparameters of the disc indicates that this model has the potential togive a better and more consistent description of the bulges of late-typespirals. The nuclear 10 micron emission of spiral galaxiesWe examine the 10 micrometer(s) emission of the central regions of 281spiral galaxies, after having compiled all ground-based, small-aperture(approximately 5 sec) broad-band photometric observations at lambdaapproximately 10 micrometer(s) (N magnitudes) published in theliterature. We evaluate the compactness of the approximately 10micrometer(s) emission of galaxy nuclei by comparing these small-beammeasures with the large-beam IRAS 12 micrometer(s) fluxes. In theanalysis of different subsets of objects, we apply survival analysistechniques in order to exploit the information contained in 'censored'data (i.e., upper limits on the fluxes). Seyfert galaxies are found tocontain the most powerful nuclear sources of mid-infrared emission,which in approximately one-third of the cases provide the bulk of theemission of the entire galaxy; thus, mid-infrared emission in the outerdisk regions is not uncommon in Seyfert galaxies. The 10 micrometer(s)emission of Seyfert galaxies appears to be unrelated to their X-rayemission. H II region-like nuclei are stronger mid-infrared sources thannormal nuclei and LINER nuclei (whose level of emission is notdistinguishable form that of normal nuclei). Interacting objects have,on average, greater 10 micrometer(s) luminosities than noninteractingones and exhibit more compact emission. Early-type spirals have strongerand more compact 10 micrometer(s) emisison than late-type ones. Barredspirals are brighter at approximately 10 micrometer(s) than unbarredsystems, essentially because they more frequently contain H IIretion-like nuclei. The results of our detailed comparison between thebehavior of various categories of objects stress that the 10micrometer(s) emission of spiral nuclei is closely linked to the(predominantly nonthermal synchrotron) radio emission. CCD calibration of the magnitude scale for the SSRS2 sample: The equatorial regionIn this paper we continue our investigation on the isophotal nature,accuracy, and uniformity of the magnitude system adopted in the SouthernSky Redshift Survey extension (SSRS2). Extending our earlier work, weexamine galaxies in the equatorial region, primarily in the declinationrange delta greater than or equal to -17.5 deg and less than or equal to0 deg, over a large range of right ascension, covering the southern andnorthern Galactic caps. For this purpose, we have obtained CCD isophotalmagnitudes in the B and R bands for 265 galaxies of differentmorphological types. Using the larger sample we confirm our earlierclaim that the mSSRS2 magnitudes are very nearly themagnitude measured within the isophote muB = 26 mag/sqarcsec, with a dispersion of about 0.30 mag. The relative zero-pointoffset between our mSSRS2 magnitudes and the CCD photometryis -0.02 mag from all data we have obtained. However, we detect avariation of the zero-point across different regions of the sky of +/-0.10 mag for regions at large angular separations. We also estimate thatthe zero-point offset between the mSSRS2 and Zwicky systemsis relatively small (approximately 0.10 mag), which should allow us tocombine the data from the SSRS2 and the CfA2 Redshift Survey. General study of group membership. II - Determination of nearby groupsWe present a whole sky catalog of nearby groups of galaxies taken fromthe Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database. From the 78,000 objects in thedatabase, we extracted a sample of 6392 galaxies, complete up to thelimiting apparent magnitude B0 = 14.0. Moreover, in order to considersolely the galaxies of the local universe, all the selected galaxieshave a known recession velocity smaller than 5500 km/s. Two methods wereused in group construction: a Huchra-Geller (1982) derived percolationmethod and a Tully (1980) derived hierarchical method. Each method gaveus one catalog. These were then compared and synthesized to obtain asingle catalog containing the most reliable groups. There are 485 groupsof a least three members in the final catalog. The V-R Diagram - a Diagnostic Tool for the Dynamical Classification of Spiral GalaxiesThe relations between the angular momentum (J) and the mass (M) for asample of spiral galaxies are discussed for galaxies distributed in therotational velocity (V) - size (R) plane. It is found that, for a givenmass, Sc galaxies have larger angular momentum (~20%) than Sa. Theabsence of segregation in the angular momentum (J) - mass (M) plane isexplained in terms of observational errors, which are greater than theexpected differences in J between galaxies of equal mass and differenttype. The distribution of lenticular and irregular galaxies in the V-Rplane is also discussed. The mass-to-light ratio in spiral galaxiesThe galactocentric variation of the dynamical mass-to-light ratio for alarge sample of field and Hickson compact group spirals has beenexamined in a systematic way. The majority of galaxies in this sample donot have a constant M/LR, but rather one that increases with radius. Thegradient in M/LR between 0.2 and 0.6 R25 is correlated with totalluminosity, in that faint galaxies have a higher proportion of darkmatter at large radii. The absolute value of M/LR at 0.5 R25 isconsistent with early type spirals having more dark matter. Highermetallicity gas is found in galaxies with a deeper gravitationalpotential. Dark-to-luminous mass ratio in spiral galaxiesWe have calculated the mass-to-light ratios of spiral galaxies in theblue band and the H-band by using a chemical and photometric evolutionmodel with a two-component bulge-disc system. The slopes of thetheoretical M/L(b) vs. (B-V) and M/L(h) vs. (B-H) relations are muchsmaller than those of Larson and Tinsley (1978), which were adopted inprevious studies. The model predictions agree with the data of Rubin etal. (1982, 1985) and Burstein et al. (1982); the masses referred to arethose within a radius corresponding to the isophotal level of surfacebrightness at 25th B mag/sq arcsec. We find no evidence which supportsthe previous claims that bluer galaxies have relatively more massivedark halos. We conclude that the ratio of dark-to-luminous mass isuniform among spiral galaxies, contrary to the conventional view. The dark matter content of spiral galaxiesA novel technique for calculating the fraction of dark material withinthe optical radius of spiral galaxies is presented. Disk luminositiesare converted to disk masses, and the latter are compared to dynamicalmasses. The method employs the well-established observational resultthat spiral galaxies have similar central surface brightnesses, as wellas published stellar-synthesis evolutionary models, color-magnituderelations, and optical rotation curves. No assumptions about the darkmatter distribution are necessary. It is found that the ratio ofdisk-to-dynamical mass within the optical radius increases roughly asLB exp 0.4. This is in good agreement with the results ofPersic and Salucci (1991) which are derived from independentconsiderations. Correlation functions of matter from galaxy rotation curvesBased on the disk-halo decomposition method introduced by Persic andSalucci (1988, 1990), 58 spiral rotation curves are used to measure thegalaxy-background correlation function in the range 3-350 kpc for H(0) =50 km/s per Mpc. It is found that (1) the two-point function is zeta(r)equal to about (r0/r) exp 1.76, with r(0) equal to about 7 Mpc (forOmega 0 = 1), and (2) higher order correlation functions are detected upto the sixth order and are found to fit the hierarchical expression. The universal galaxy rotation curveThe correlation between the shape of the rotation curves and theluminosity is considered, and it is found that for a given luminositythe rotation curves within the optical radius are a universal function.This result implies strong systematic variations of the amplitude andthe profile of the circular velocity with luminosity. Faint galaxieshave low velocities and steep velocity gradients and bright galaxieshave high velocities and shallow velocity gradients. Because luminousdisks are self-similar, the observed progression of the shape ofrotation curves with luminosity suggests that the dark-to-visibleinterplay varies with luminosity. Kinematical observations of ordinary spiral galaxies - A bibliographical compilationData extracted from 280 papers reporting observations of the kinematicsof 245 nonbarred spiral galaxies are presented. Information is providedon the type of observations (instruments, spectral lines used, etc.) andthe derived geometrical and kinematical parameters of the galaxies(major axis position angle, inclination, heliocentric systemic velocity,maximum extension of the kinematical measurements, etc.). In addition,whenever possible, a 'mean' rotation curve has been considered, fromwhich the maximum rotational velocity of the galaxy and a parameterdescribing the essential shape of the rotation curve within r25 havebeen derived. Histograms illustrating the distribution of morphologicaltypes, inclinations, extensions of the kinematical measurements, andmaximum rotational velocities account for the statistical properties ofthis sample of spiral galaxies. The Disc Contribution to Rotation Curves of Spiral GalaxiesWe formulate analytically the maximum disc hypothesis (MDH) in theframework of a disc/halo mass decomposition, and apply it to a sample ofsuitably selected optical rotation curves. We find that the resultingdisc-to-total mass ratios show a definite trend of increasingdark-to-luminous mass ratio with decreasing luminosity, in very goodagreement with our previous results obtained by means of differentdecomposition techniques (Persic & Salucci). The same trend is alsoclearly discernible when the mass ratios (at the same radius in disclength-scale units) obtained from published MDH models are correlatedwith luminosity. We discuss possible reasons why previous studies whichhave assumed a similar framework have missed this fundamentalsystematics of dark matter.
Submit a new article