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Dust Extinction (dust + extinction)
Selected AbstractsIonized gas in E/S0 galaxies with dust lanesMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2010Ido Finkelman ABSTRACT We report the results of multicolour observations of 30 E/S0 galaxies with dust lanes. For each galaxy we obtained broad-band images and narrow-band images using interference filters isolating the H,+[N ii] emission lines to derive the amount and morphology of dust and ionized gas. To improve the wavelength coverage we retrieved data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Two Micron All Sky Survey and combined these with our data. Ionized gas is detected in 25 galaxies and shows in most cases a smooth morphology, although knots and filamentary structure are also observed in some objects. The extended gas distribution closely follows the dust structure, with a clear correlation between the mass of both components. An extinction law by the extragalactic dust in the dark lanes is derived and is used to estimate the dust content of the galaxies. The derived extinction law is used to correct the measured colours for intrinsic dust extinction and the data are fitted with a stellar population synthesis model. We find that the H, emission and colours of most objects are consistent with the presence of an ,old' stellar population (,10 Gyr) and a small fraction of a ,young' population (, 10,100 Myr). To check this we closely examine NGC 5363, for which archival Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera and Galaxy Evolution Explorer data are available, as a representative dust-lane E/S0 galaxy of the sample. [source] An optimized H, index for disentangling stellar population agesMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2009J. L. Cervantes ABSTRACT We have defined a new H, absorption index definition, H,o, which has been optimized as an age indicator for old and intermediate age stellar populations. Rather than using stellar spectra, we employed for this purpose a library of stellar population spectral energy distributions of different ages and metallicities at moderately high resolution. H,o provides us with improved abilities for lifting the age,metallicity degeneracy affecting the standard H, Lick index definition. The new index, which has also been optimized against photon noise and velocity dispersion, is fully characterized with wavelength shift, spectrum shape, dust extinction and [,/Fe] abundance ratio effects. H,o requires spectra of similar qualities as those commonly used for measuring the standard H, Lick index definition. Aiming at illustrating the use and capabilities of H,o as an age indicator we apply it to Milky Way globular clusters and to a well selected sample of early-type galaxies covering a wide range in mass. The results shown here are particularly useful for applying this index and understand the involved uncertainties. [source] The host galaxies of Type Ia supernovae at z= 0.6MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2002D. Farrah ABSTRACT We examine the host galaxies of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using archival I - and R -band data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The SNe Ia host galaxies show a wide variety of morphologies, including undisturbed ellipticals, spirals and disturbed systems. SNe Ia are also found over a wide range of projected distances from the host galaxy centres, ranging from 3 kpc to ,30 kpc. For a sample of 22 SNe Ia at ,z,= 0.6, ,70 per cent are found in spiral galaxies and ,30 per cent are found in elliptical systems, similar to the proportions observed locally. Including data from Ellis & Sullivan (2001), we find no significant difference in the average light-curve shape-corrected MBpeak for high- z SNe Ia between spirals and ellipticals. These results are consistent with predictions based on the locally derived understanding of SNe Ia physics and the influence of progenitor mass and metallicity. We also construct colour maps for two host galaxies and find that both show a non-uniform colour structure with typical variations of rest-frame B,V, 0.5. This is most plausibly attributed to the presence of, and variation in, dust extinction in these galaxies. Moreover, we find no evidence that the SNe Ia are preferentially found in outer regions (> 10 kpc) of the host galaxies where extinction would be low. This suggests that the range of host galaxy extinctions of SNe Ia at z, 0.6 should be comparable to those of local SNe Ia. Although observational bias cannot be completely ruled out, this appears to be in conflict with the finding of low extinction for SNe Ia found in the high- z supernova search studies. [source] The nature of high-redshift galaxiesMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2001Rachel S. Somerville Using semi-analytic models of galaxy formation set within the cold dark matter (CDM) merging hierarchy, we investigate several scenarios for the nature of the high-redshift ) Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs). We consider a ,collisional starburst' model in which bursts of star formation are triggered by galaxy,galaxy mergers, and find that a significant fraction of LBGs are predicted to be starbursts. This model reproduces the observed comoving number density of bright LBGs as a function of redshift and the observed luminosity function at and with a reasonable amount of dust extinction. Model galaxies at have star formation rates, half-light radii, colours and internal velocity dispersions that are in good agreement with the data. Global quantities such as the star formation rate density and cold gas and metal content of the Universe as a function of redshift also agree well. Two ,quiescent' models without starbursts are also investigated. In one, the star formation efficiency in galaxies remains constant with redshift, while in the other, it scales inversely with disc dynamical time, and thus increases rapidly with redshift. The first quiescent model is strongly ruled out, as it does not produce enough high-redshift galaxies once realistic dust extinction is accounted for. The second quiescent model fits marginally, but underproduces cold gas and very bright galaxies at high redshift. A general conclusion is that star formation at high redshift must be more efficient than locally. The collisional starburst model appears to accomplish this naturally without violating other observational constraints. [source] Integral field spectrophotometry of gravitationally lensed QSOs with PMASASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 2 2004L. Wisotzki Abstract We present spatially resolved spectrophotometric observations of multiply imaged QSOs, using the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS), with the intention to search for spectral differences between components indicative of either microlensing or dust extinction. For the quadruple QSO HE 0435,1223 we find that the continuum shapes are indistinguishable, therefore differential extinction is negligible. The equivalent widths of the broad emission lines are however significantly different, and we argue that this is most likely due to microlensing. Contrariwise, the two components of the well-known object UM 673 have virtually identical emission line properties, but the continuum slopes differ significantly and indicate different dust extinction along both lines of sight. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] | ||||||||||