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 Scale Heights of Non-Edge-on Spiral GalaxiesWe present a method of calculating the scale height of non-edge-onspiral galaxies, together with a formula for errors. The method is basedon solving Poisson's equation for a logarithmic disturbance of matterdensity in spiral galaxies. We show that the spiral arms can not extendto inside the forbidden radius'' r0, due to the effect ofthe finite thickness of the disk. The method is tested by re-calculatingthe scale heights of 71 northern spiral galaxies previously calculatedby Ma, Peng & Gu. Our results differ from theirs by less than 9%. Wealso present the scale heights of a further 23 non-edge-on spiralgalaxies. Constraining Dark Matter Halo Profiles and Galaxy Formation Models Using Spiral Arm Morphology. I. Method OutlineWe investigate the use of spiral arm pitch angles as a probe of diskgalaxy mass profiles. We confirm our previous result that spiral armpitch angles (P) are well correlated with the rate of shear (S) in diskgalaxy rotation curves by using a much larger sample (51 galaxies) thanused previously (17 galaxies). We use this correlation to argue thatimaging data alone can provide a powerful probe of galactic massdistributions out to large look-back times. In contrast to previouswork, we show that observed spiral arm pitch angles are similar whenmeasured in the optical (at 0.4 μm) and the near-infrared (at 2.1μm) with a mean difference of 2.3d+/-2.7d. This is then used tostrengthen the known correlation between P and S using B-band images. Wethen use two example galaxies to demonstrate how an inferred shear ratecoupled with a bulge-disk decomposition model and a Tully-Fisher-derivedvelocity normalization can be used to place constraints on a galaxy'sbaryon fraction and dark matter halo profile. We show that ESO 582-G12,a galaxy with a high shear rate (slightly declining rotation curve) at~10 kpc, favors an adiabatically contracted halo, with high initial NFWconcentration (cvir>16) and a high fraction of halobaryons in the form of stars (~15%-40%). In contrast, IC 2522 has a lowshear rate (rising rotation curve) at ~10 kpc and favorsnonadiabatically contracted models with low NFW concentrations(cvir~=2-8) and a low stellar baryon fraction <10%. Magnetic Fields in Starburst Galaxies and the Origin of the FIR-Radio CorrelationWe estimate minimum energy magnetic fields (Bmin) for asample of galaxies with measured gas surface densities, spanning morethan four orders of magnitude in surface density, from normal spirals toluminous starbursts. We show that the ratio of the minimum energymagnetic pressure to the total pressure in the ISM decreasessubstantially with increasing surface density. For the ultraluminousinfrared galaxy Arp 220, this ratio is ~10-4. Therefore, ifthe minimum energy estimate is applicable, magnetic fields in starburstsare dynamically weak compared to gravity, in contrast to normalstar-forming spiral galaxies. We argue, however, that rapid cooling ofrelativistic electrons in starbursts invalidates the minimum energyestimate. We assess a number of independent constraints on the magneticfield strength in starburst galaxies. In particular, we argue that theexistence of the FIR-radio correlation implies that the synchrotroncooling timescale for cosmic-ray electrons is much shorter than theirescape time from the galactic disk; this in turn implies that the truemagnetic field in starbursts is significantly larger thanBmin. The strongest argument against such large fields isthat one might expect starbursts to have steep radio spectra indicativeof strong synchrotron cooling, which is not observed. However, we showthat ionization and bremsstrahlung losses can flatten the nonthermalspectra of starburst galaxies even in the presence of rapid cooling,providing much better agreement with observed spectra. We furtherdemonstrate that ionization and bremsstrahlung losses are likely to beimportant in shaping the radio spectra of most starbursts at GHzfrequencies, thereby preserving the linearity of the FIR-radiocorrelation. We thus conclude that magnetic fields in starbursts aresignificantly larger than Bmin. We highlight severalobservations that can test this conclusion. Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black HolesCentral black hole masses for 117 spiral galaxies representingmorphological stages S0/a through Sc and taken from the largespectroscopic survey of Ho et al. are derived using Ks-banddata from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Black hole masses are foundusing a calibrated black hole-Ks bulge luminosity relation,while bulge luminosities are measured by means of a two-dimensionalbulge-disk decomposition routine. The black hole masses are correlatedagainst a variety of parameters representing properties of the nucleusand host galaxy. Nuclear properties such as line width (FWHM [N II]), aswell as emission-line ratios (e.g., [O III]/Hβ, [O I]/Hα, [NII]/Hα, and [S II]/Hα), show a very high degree ofcorrelation with black hole mass. The excellent correlation with linewidth supports the view that the emission-line gas is in virialequilibrium with either the black hole or bulge potential. The very goodemission-line ratio correlations may indicate a change in ionizingcontinuum shape with black hole mass in the sense that more massiveblack holes generate harder spectra. Apart from theinclination-corrected rotational velocity, no excellent correlations arefound between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Significantdifferences are found between the distributions of black hole masses inearly-, mid-, and late-type spiral galaxies (subsamples A, B, and C) inthe sense that early-type galaxies have preferentially larger centralblack holes, consistent with observations that Seyfert galaxies arefound preferentially in early-type systems. The line width distributionsshow a marked difference among subsamples A, B, and C in the sense thatearlier type galaxies have larger line widths. There are also cleardifferences in line ratios between subsamples A+B and C that likely arerelated to the level of ionization in the gas. Finally, aKs-band Simien & de Vaucouleurs diagram shows excellentagreement with the original B-band relation, although there is a largedispersion at a given morphological stage. The Distribution of Bar and Spiral Arm Strengths in Disk GalaxiesThe distribution of bar strengths in disk galaxies is a fundamentalproperty of the galaxy population that has only begun to be explored. Wehave applied the bar-spiral separation method of Buta and coworkers toderive the distribution of maximum relative gravitational bar torques,Qb, for 147 spiral galaxies in the statistically well-definedOhio State University Bright Galaxy Survey (OSUBGS) sample. Our goal isto examine the properties of bars as independently as possible of theirassociated spirals. We find that the distribution of bar strengthdeclines smoothly with increasing Qb, with more than 40% ofthe sample having Qb<=0.1. In the context of recurrent barformation, this suggests that strongly barred states are relativelyshort-lived compared to weakly barred or nonbarred states. We do notfind compelling evidence for a bimodal distribution of bar strengths.Instead, the distribution is fairly smooth in the range0.0<=Qb<0.8. Our analysis also provides a first look atspiral strengths Qs in the OSUBGS sample, based on the sametorque indicator. We are able to verify a possible weak correlationbetween Qs and Qb, in the sense that galaxies withthe strongest bars tend to also have strong spirals. Bar-induced perturbation strengths of the galaxies in the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey - IBar-induced perturbation strengths are calculated for a well-definedmagnitude-limited sample of 180 spiral galaxies, based on the Ohio StateUniversity Bright Galaxy Survey. We use a gravitational torque method,the ratio of the maximal tangential force to the mean axisymmetricradial force, as a quantitative measure of the bar strength. Thegravitational potential is inferred from an H-band light distribution byassuming that the M/L ratio is constant throughout the disc. Galaxiesare deprojected using orientation parameters based on B-band images. Inorder to eliminate artificial stretching of the bulge, two-dimensionalbar-bulge-disc decomposition has been used to derive a reliable bulgemodel. This bulge model is subtracted from an image, the disc isdeprojected assuming it is thin, and then the bulge is added back byassuming that its mass distribution is spherically symmetric. We findthat removing the artificial bulge stretch is important especially forgalaxies having bars inside large bulges. We also find that the massesof the bulges can be significantly overestimated if bars are not takeninto account in the decomposition.Bars are identified using Fourier methods by requiring that the phasesof the main modes (m= 2, m= 4) are maintained nearly constant in the barregion. With such methods, bars are found in 65 per cent of the galaxiesin our sample, most of them being classified as SB-type systems in thenear-infrared by Eskridge and co-workers. We also suggest that as muchas ~70 per cent of the galaxies classified as SAB-types in thenear-infrared might actually be non-barred systems, many of them havingcentral ovals. It is also possible that a small fraction of the SAB-typegalaxies have weak non-classical bars with spiral-like morphologies. Inner-truncated Disks in GalaxiesWe present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral andlenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit innertruncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends oftruncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barredsystems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However,not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not allinner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent areal dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifactof our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration bydust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are wellrepresented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncateddisks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematicallydifferent slopes and central surface brightness parameters for theirdisk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear tocorrelate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. Thissuggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing fromthe inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population.Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sampleindicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply beenredistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of thebrightness truncations and their locations with respect to othergalactic structures suggest that resonances associated with diskkinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might beresponsible for this phenomenon. The Distribution of Maximum Relative Gravitational Torques in Disk GalaxiesThe maximum value of the ratio of the tangential force to the meanbackground radial force is a useful quantitative measure of the strengthof nonaxisymmetric perturbations in disk galaxies. Here we consider thedistribution of this ratio, called Qg, for a statisticallywell-defined sample of 180 spiral galaxies from the Ohio StateUniversity Bright Galaxy Survey and the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Theratio Qg can be interpreted as the maximum gravitationaltorque per unit mass per unit square of the circular speed and isderived from gravitational potentials inferred from near-infrared imagesunder the assumptions of a constant mass-to-light ratio and anexponential vertical density law. In order to derive the most reliablemaximum relative torques, orientation parameters based on blue-lightisophotes are used to deproject the galaxies, and the more sphericalshapes of bulges are taken into account using two-dimensionaldecompositions that allow for analytical fits to bulges, disks, andbars. Also, vertical scale heights hz are derived by scalingthe radial scale lengths hR from the two-dimensionaldecompositions, allowing for the type dependence ofhR/hz indicated by optical and near-infraredstudies of edge-on spiral galaxies. The impact of dark matter isassessed using a universal rotation curve'' parameterization and isfound to be relatively insignificant for our sample. In agreement with aprevious study by Block et al., the distribution of maximum relativegravitational torques is asymmetric toward large values and shows adeficiency of low-Qg galaxies. However, because of the aboverefinements, our distribution shows more low-Qg galaxies thanthat of Block et al. We also find a significant type dependence inmaximum relative gravitational torques, in the sense that Qgis lower on average in early-type spirals than in late-type spirals. Theeffect persists even when the sample is separated into bar-dominated andspiral-dominated subsamples and also when near-infrared types are used,as opposed to optical types. Deprojecting spiral galaxies using Fourier analysis. Application to the Ohio sampleWe use two new methods developed recently (Barberàet al.\cite{bar03}, A&A, 415, 849), as well as information obtained fromthe literature, to calculate the orientation parameters of the spiralgalaxies in the Ohio State University Bright Galaxy Survey. We comparethe results of these methods with data from the literature, and find ingeneral good agreement. We provide a homogeneous set of mean orientationparameters which can be used to approximately deproject the disks of thegalaxies and facilitate a number of statistical studies of galaxyproperties.Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/421/595 Properties of isolated disk galaxiesWe present a new sample of northern isolated galaxies, which are definedby the physical criterion that they were not affected by other galaxiesin their evolution during the last few Gyr. To find them we used thelogarithmic ratio, f, between inner and tidal forces acting upon thecandidate galaxy by a possible perturber. The analysis of thedistribution of the f-values for the galaxies in the Coma cluster leadus to adopt the criterion f ≤ -4.5 for isolated galaxies. Thecandidates were chosen from the CfA catalog of galaxies within thevolume defined by cz ≤5000 km s-1, galactic latitudehigher than 40o and declination ≥-2.5o. Theselection of the sample, based on redshift values (when available),magnitudes and sizes of the candidate galaxies and possible perturberspresent in the same field is discussed. The final list of selectedisolated galaxies includes 203 objects from the initial 1706. The listcontains only truly isolated galaxies in the sense defined, but it is byno means complete, since all the galaxies with possible companions underthe f-criterion but with unknown redshift were discarded. We alsoselected a sample of perturbed galaxies comprised of all the diskgalaxies from the initial list with companions (with known redshift)satisfying f ≥ -2 and \Delta(cz) ≤500 km s-1; a totalof 130 objects. The statistical comparison of both samples showssignificant differences in morphology, sizes, masses, luminosities andcolor indices. Confirming previous results, we found that late spiral,Sc-type galaxies are, in particular, more frequent among isolatedgalaxies, whereas Lenticular galaxies are more abundant among perturbedgalaxies. Isolated systems appear to be smaller, less luminous and bluerthan interacting objects. We also found that bars are twice as frequentamong perturbed galaxies compared to isolated galaxies, in particularfor early Spirals and Lenticulars. The perturbed galaxies have higherLFIR/LB and Mmol/LB ratios,but the atomic gas content is similar for the two samples. The analysisof the luminosity-size and mass-luminosity relations shows similartrends for both families, the main difference being the almost totalabsence of big, bright and massive galaxies among the family of isolatedsystems, together with the almost total absence of small, faint and lowmass galaxies among the perturbed systems. All these aspects indicatethat the evolution induced by interactions with neighbors would proceedfrom late, small, faint and low mass Spirals to earlier, bigger, moreluminous and more massive spiral and lenticular galaxies, producing atthe same time a larger fraction of barred galaxies but preserving thesame relations between global parameters. The properties we found forour sample of isolated galaxies appear similar to those of high redshiftgalaxies, suggesting that the present-day isolated galaxies could bequietly evolved, unused building blocks surviving in low densityenvironments.Tables \ref{t1} and \ref{t2} are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxiesWe have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of normality''. Thedefinition of a normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5 Bar strengths in spiral galaxies estimated from 2MASS imagesNon-axisymmetric forces are presented for a sample of 107 spiralgalaxies, of which 31 are barred (SB) and 53 show nuclear activity. As adata base we use JHK images from the 2 Micron All-sky Survey, and thenon-axisymmetries are characterized by the ratio of the tangential forceto the mean axisymmetric radial force field, following Buta & Block.Bar strengths have an important role in many extragalactic problems andtherefore it is important to verify that the different numerical methodsapplied for calculating the forces give mutually consistent results. Weapply both direct Cartesian integration and a polar grid integrationutilizing a limited number of azimuthal Fourier components of density.We find that the bar strength is independent of the method used toevaluate the gravitational potential. However, because of thedistance-dependent smoothing by Fourier decomposition, the polar methodis more suitable for weak and noisy images. The largest source ofuncertainty in the derived bar strength appears to be the uncertainty inthe vertical scaleheight, which is difficult to measure directly formost galaxies. On the other hand, the derived bar strength is ratherinsensitive to the possible gradient in the vertical scaleheight of thedisc or to the exact model of the vertical density distribution,provided that the same effective vertical dispersion is assumed in allmodels. In comparison with the pioneering study by Buta & Block, thebar strength estimate is improved here by taking into account thedependence of the vertical scaleheight on the Hubble type: we find thatfor thin discs bar strengths are stronger than for thick discs by anamount that may correspond to as much as one bar strength class. Weconfirm the previous result by Buta and co-workers showing that thedispersion in bar strength is large among all the de Vaucouleurs opticalbar classes. In the near-infrared 40 per cent of the galaxies in oursample have bars (showing constant phases in the m= 2 Fourier amplitudesin the bar region), while in the optical band one-third of these barsare obscured by dust. Significant non-axisymmetric forces can also beinduced by the spiral arms, generally in the outer parts of the galacticdiscs, which may have important implications on galaxy evolution.Possible biases of the selected sample are also studied: we find thatthe number of bars identified drops rapidly when the inclination of thegalactic disc is larger than 50°. A similar bias is found in theThird Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies, which might be of interestwhen comparing bar frequencies at high and low redshifts. The faint end of the galaxy luminosity functionWe present and discuss optical measurements of the faint end of thegalaxy luminosity function down to MR=-10 in five differentlocal environments of varying galaxy density and morphological content.The environments we studied, in order of decreasing galaxy density, arethe Virgo Cluster, the NGC 1407 Group, the Coma I Group, the Leo Groupand the NGC 1023 Group. Our results come from a deep wide-angle surveywith the National Astronomical Observatories of Japan Subaru 8-mTelescope on Mauna Kea and are sensitive down to very faintsurface-brightness levels. Galaxies were identified as group or clustermembers on the basis of their surface brightness and morphology. Thefaintest galaxies in our sample have R~ 22.5. There were thousands offainter galaxies but we cannot distinguish cluster members frombackground galaxies at these faint limits so do not attempt to determinea luminosity function fainter than MR=-1010. In all cases,there are far fewer dwarfs than the numbers of low-mass haloesanticipated by cold dark matter theory. The mean logarithmic slope ofthe luminosity function between MR=-1018 andMR=-1010 is α~=-1.2, far shallower than the cold darkmatter mass function slope of α~=-1.8. We would therefore need tobe missing about 90 per cent of the dwarfs at the faint end of oursample in all the environments we study to achieve consistency with CDMtheory. It is unlikely that such large numbers of dwarfs are missedbecause (i) the data are deep enough that we are sensitive to very lowsurface brightness galaxies, and (ii) the seeing is good enough that wecan have some confidence in our ability to distinguish high surfacebrightness dwarfs from background galaxies brighter than R= 22.5. Onecaveat is that we miss compact members taken to be background galaxies,but such objects (like M32) are thought to be rare. A Search for Active Galactic Nuclei in Sc Galaxies with H II SpectraWe have searched for nuclear radio emission from a statisticallycomplete sample of 40 Sc galaxies within 30 Mpc that are opticallyclassified as star-forming objects, in order to determine whether weakactive galactic nuclei might be present. Only three nuclear radiosources were detected, in NGC 864, NGC 4123, and NGC 4535. Thesegalaxies have peak 6 cm radio powers of ~1020 WHz-1 at arcsecond resolution, while upper limits of thenondetected galaxies typically range from 1018.4 to1020 W Hz-1. The three nuclear radio sources areall resolved and appear to have diffuse morphologies, with linear sizesof ~300 pc. This strongly indicates that circumnuclear star formationhas been detected in these three H II galaxies. Comparisons withprevious 20 cm Very Large Array (VLA) results for the detected galaxiesshow that the extended nuclear radio emission has a flat spectrum in twoobjects and is almost certainly generated by thermal emission from gasionized by young stars in the centers of those galaxies. The 6 cm radiopowers are comparable to predictions for thermal emission that are basedon the nuclear Hα luminosities and imply nuclear star formationrates of 0.08-0.8 Msolar yr-1, while thelow-resolution NRAO VLA Sky Survey implies galaxy-wide star formationrates of 0.3-1.0 Msolar yr-1 in stars above 5Msolar. In a few of the undetected galaxies, the upper limitsto the radio power are lower than predicted from the Hαluminosity, possibly because of overresolution of central star-formingregions. Although the presence of active nuclei powered by massive blackholes cannot be definitively ruled out, the present results suggest thatthey are likely to be rare in these late-type galaxies with H IIspectra. Bar Galaxies and Their EnvironmentsThe prints of the Palomar Sky Survey, luminosity classifications, andradial velocities were used to assign all northern Shapley-Ames galaxiesto either (1) field, (2) group, or (3) cluster environments. Thisinformation for 930 galaxies shows no evidence for a dependence of barfrequency on galaxy environment. This suggests that the formation of abar in a disk galaxy is mainly determined by the properties of theparent galaxy, rather than by the characteristics of its environment. The Visibility of Galactic Bars and Spiral Structure at High RedshiftsWe investigate the visibility of galactic bars and spiral structure inthe distant universe by artificially redshifting 101 B-band CCD imagesof local spiral galaxies from the Ohio State University Bright SpiralGalaxy Survey. These local galaxy images represent a much fairerstatistical baseline than the galaxy atlas images presented by Frei etal. in 1995, the most commonly used calibration sample for morphologicalwork at high redshifts. Our artificially redshifted images correspond toHubble Space Telescope I814-band observations of the localgalaxy sample seen at z=0.7, with integration times matching those ofboth the very deep northern Hubble Deep Field (HDF) data and the muchshallower HDF flanking field observations. The expected visibility ofgalactic bars is probed in two ways: (1) using traditional visualclassification and (2) by charting the changing shape of the galaxydistribution in Hubble space,'' a quantitative two-parameterdescription of galactic structure that maps closely onto Hubble'soriginal tuning fork. Both analyses suggest that over two-thirds ofstrongly barred luminous local spirals (i.e., objects classified as SBin the Third Reference Catalogue) would still be classified as stronglybarred at z=0.7 in the HDF data. Under the same conditions, most weaklybarred spirals (classified SAB in the Third Reference Catalogue) wouldbe classified as regular spirals. The corresponding visibility of spiralstructure is assessed visually, by comparing luminosity classificationsfor the artificially redshifted sample with the corresponding luminosityclassifications from the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog. We find that forexposure times similar to that of the HDF, spiral structure should bedetectable in most luminous (MB~M*) low-inclination spiralgalaxies at z=0.7 in which it is present. However, obvious spiralstructure is only detectable in ~30% of comparable galaxies in the HDFflanking field data using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Our studyof artificially redshifted local galaxy images suggests that, whenviewed at similar resolution, noise level, and redshift-correctedwavelength, barred spirals are less common at z~0.7 than they are atz=0.0, although more data are needed to definitively rule out thepossibility that cosmic variance is responsible for much of this effect. The Frequency of Active and Quiescent Galaxies with Companions: Implications for the Feeding of the NucleusWe analyze the idea that nuclear activity, either active galactic nuclei(AGNs) or star formation, can be triggered by interactions by studyingthe percentage of active, H II, and quiescent galaxies with companions.Our sample was selected from the Palomar survey and avoids selectionbiases faced by previous studies. This sample was split into fivedifferent groups, Seyfert galaxies, LINERs, transition galaxies, H IIgalaxies, and absorption-line galaxies. The comparison between the localgalaxy density distributions of the different groups showed that in mostcases there is no statistically significant difference among galaxies ofdifferent activity types, with the exception that absorption-linegalaxies are seen in higher density environments, since most of them arein the Virgo Cluster. The comparison of the percentage of galaxies withnearby companions showed that there is a higher percentage of LINERs,transition galaxies, and absorption-line galaxies with companions thanSeyfert and H II galaxies. However, we find that when we consider onlygalaxies of similar morphological types (elliptical or spiral), there isno difference in the percentage of galaxies with companions amongdifferent activity types, indicating that the former result was due tothe morphology-density effect. In addition, only small differences arefound when we consider galaxies with similar Hα luminosities. Thecomparison between H II galaxies of different Hα luminositiesshows that there is a significantly higher percentage of galaxies withcompanions among H II galaxies with L(Hα)>1039 ergss-1 than among those with L(Hα)<=1039ergs s-1, indicating that interactions increase the amount ofcircumnuclear star formation, in agreement with previous results. Thefact that we find that galaxies of different activity types have thesame percentage of companions suggests that interactions betweengalaxies is not a necessary condition to trigger the nuclear activity inAGNs. We compare our results with previous ones and discuss theirimplications. Surface photometry of spiral galaxies in NIR: Structural parameters of disks and bulgesA sample of 40 bright spiral galaxies (BT < 12) with lowinclination and without bar was observed with JHK filters. For thispurpose the MAGIC NICMOS3 camera at the 2.2 m telescope of the CalarAlto observatory, Spain was used. With a newly developed 2-dimensionalalgorithm the distribution of the surface brightness was fittedsimultaneously by corresponding functions for the disk- andbulge-structure. While the disk was fitted with an exponential function,the bulge profile was fitted with a generalized de VaucouleursRbeta law, with the concentration parameter beta = 1/n as afurther fit variable. The correlation of the resulting structuralparameters of disks and bulges lead to some interesting relations: 1.The use of a variable exponent beta is necessary for a realisticdescription of the bulge structure; 2. Disks and bulges show similarcorrelations between effective radius, effective surface brightness andluminosity; 3. They populate a common strip in the fundamental plane; 4.From the correlations between beta and Hubble type some conclusionsabout the formation and evolution of spiral galaxies can be drawn. The formation of galaxy bulges: Spectrophotometric constraintsWe have measured Mg2, Fe 5270 and Fe 5335 spectrophotometricindices (LICK system) in the bulge of 89 galaxies, mostly spirals fromthe Héraudeau (\cite{her96}) sample. The indices are reduced to anull velocity dispersion and normalized to an aperture of 0.2h-1 kpc. The mean errors are 0.009 mag on Mg2, and0.3 Å on the iron indices. These measurements almost double theamount of similar data already available on spiral galaxies. Our dataconfirm the existence of the relation between Mg2, andsigma0, the central stellar velocity dispersion; we find aneven tighter relation between Mg2, andVmrot, the maximum rotational velocity of thegalaxy, deduced from HI observations. For the most massive bulges, thesecorrelations may be interpreted as a mass-metallicity relation. However,the presence of young stellar populations, traced by the detection of[OIII] lambda 5007 Å, emission, provides clear evidence that ageeffects do play a role. Since the contribution of the young populationis anti-correlated to the mass of the galaxy, it continues theMg2, vs. sigma0 , relation toward thelow-sigma0, region and globally increases its slope. We alsopresent evidence for a new positive correlation between Fe indices andsigma0, and for a significant correlation between theline-strength indices and the total or disk luminosity. We propose tomodel the whole sequence of bulges within the folowing framework: bulgesare composed of a primary population formed prior to the disk, duringthe initial collapse, and of a secondary population formed during itsevolution. The whole family of bulges can be classified into threeclasses: (A) the bulges dominated by young populations are generallysmall, have ionized gas, low velocity dispersion and low line strengths;(B) the bulges dominated by the primary population lie along themass-metallicity sequence defined for elliptical galaxies; and (C) thebulges where the secondary population is significant are lessMg-over-abundant than (B)-type bulges and deviate from theMg2, vs. sigma0, relation of elliptical galaxies.Based on observations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence.Table 3 is presented in electronic form only at the CDS. Tables 1 and 2are also available form at the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/366/68 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. Investigations of the Local Supercluster velocity field. III. Tracing the backside infall with distance moduli from the direct Tully-Fisher relationWe have extended the discussion of Paper II (Ekholm et al.\cite{Ekholm99a}) to cover also the backside of the Local Supercluster(LSC) by using 96 galaxies within Theta <30degr from the adoptedcentre of LSC and with distance moduli from the direct B-bandTully-Fisher relation. In order to minimize the influence of theMalmquist bias we required log Vmax>2.1 and sigmaB_T<0.2mag. We found out that ifRVirgo<20 Mpc this sample fails to follow the expecteddynamical pattern from the Tolman-Bondi (TB) model. When we compared ourresults with the Virgo core galaxies given by Federspiel et al.(\cite{Federspiel98}) we were able to constrain the distance to Virgo:RVirgo=20-24 Mpc. When analyzing the TB-behaviour of thesample as seen from the origin of the metric as well as that withdistances from the extragalactic Cepheid PL-relation we found additionalsupport to the estimate RVirgo= 21 Mpc given in Paper II.Using a two-component mass-model we found a Virgo mass estimateMVirgo=(1.5 - 2)x Mvirial, whereMvirial=9.375*E14Msun forRVirgo= 21 Mpc. This estimate agrees with the conclusion inPaper I (Teerikorpi et al. \cite{Teerikorpi92}). Our results indicatethat the density distribution of luminous matter is shallower than thatof the total gravitating matter when q0<= 0.5. Thepreferred exponent in the density power law, alpha ~2.5, agrees withrecent theoretical work on the universal density profile of dark matterclustering in an Einstein-deSitter universe (Tittley & Couchman\cite{Tittley99}). The QDOT all-sky IRAS galaxy redshift surveyWe describe the construction of the QDOT survey, which is publiclyavailable from an anonymous FTP account. The catalogue consists ofinfrared properties and redshifts of an all-sky sample of 2387 IRASgalaxies brighter than the IRAS PSC 60-μm completeness limit(S_60>0.6Jy), sparsely sampled at a rate of one-in-six. At |b|>10deg, after removing a small number of Galactic sources, the redshiftcompleteness is better than 98per cent (2086/2127). New redshifts for1401 IRAS sources were obtained to complete the catalogue; themeasurement and reduction of these are described, and the new redshiftstabulated here. We also tabulate all sources at |b|>10 deg with noredshift so far, and sources with conflicting alternative redshiftseither from our own work, or from published velocities. A list of 95ultraluminous galaxies (i.e. with L_60μm>10^12 L_solar) is alsoprovided. Of these, ~20per cent are AGN of some kind; the broad-lineobjects typically show strong Feii emission. Since the publication ofthe first QDOT papers, there have been several hundred velocity changes:some velocities are new, some QDOT velocities have been replaced by moreaccurate values, and some errors have been corrected. We also present anew analysis of the accuracy and linearity of IRAS 60-μm fluxes. Wefind that the flux uncertainties are well described by a combination of0.05-Jy fixed size uncertainty and 8per cent fractional uncertainty.This is not enough to cause the large Malmquist-type errors in the rateof evolution postulated by Fisher et al. We do, however, find marginalevidence for non-linearity in the PSC 60-μm flux scale, in the sensethat faint sources may have fluxes overestimated by about 5per centcompared with bright sources. We update some of the previous scientificanalyses to assess the changes. The main new results are as follows. (1)The luminosity function is very well determined overall but is uncertainby a factor of several at the very highest luminosities(L_60μm>5x10^12L_solar), as this is where the remainingunidentified objects are almost certainly concentrated. (2) Thebest-fitting rate of evolution is somewhat lower than our previousestimate; expressed as pure density evolution with density varying as(1+z)^p, we find p=5.6+/-2.3. Making a rough correction for the possible(but very uncertain) non-linearity of fluxes, we find p=4.5+/-2.3. (3)The dipole amplitude decreases a little, and the implied value of thedensity parameter, assuming that IRAS galaxies trace the mass, isΩ=0.9(+0.45, -0.25). (4) Finally, the estimate of density varianceon large scales changes negligibly, still indicating a significantdiscrepancy from the predictions of simple cold dark matter cosmogonies. Arcsecond Positions of UGC GalaxiesWe 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. Cosmic Masks Still DanceThe Hubble classification scheme of galaxies is based on their opticalappearance or masks'. As one goes from early to late type spirals, bothbarred and unbarred, the optical appearance will be dominated more andmore by the young Population I, i.e., blue stars and dust. Atlasesreveal the rich variety of responses of the Population I component ofgas and dust (the mask) to the underlying, older, stellar population.However, the gaseous Population I component, may only constitute 5percent of the dynamical mass of the galaxy. Masks of negligible massmay conceal the human face - and that of galaxy. In the near-infrared,the morphology of older star-dominated disk indicates a simpleclassification scheme: the dominant Fourier m-mode in the dustpenetrated regime, and the associated pitch angle. A ubiquity of low m=1and m=2 modes is confirmed. On the basis of deprojected H (1.65 μm)and K' (2.1μm) images, we propose that the evolved stellar disks maybe grouped into three principal dust penetrated archetypes: those withtightly wound stellar arms characterised by pitch angles at K' of ~10^° (the α class), an intermediate group with pitch angles of~ 25^° (the β class) and thirdly, those with open spiralsdemarcated by pitch angles at K' of ~ 40^° (the γ bin). Flator falling rotation curves give rise to the tightly wound α class;rising rotation curves are associated with the open γ class. Theobserved dust penetrated classes are inextricably related to the rate ofshear in the stellar disk, as determined by A/ω. Here A is thefirst Oort constant andω denotes the angular velocity. There is nocorrelation between our dust penetrated classes and optical Hubblebinning; the Hubble tuning fork does not constrain the morphology of theold stellar Population II disks. NGC 3223 and NGC 7083 (both SbI-II andalmost the same absolute blue magnitude) have identical Hubble types andidentical luminosity classes; the dust penetrated disk of NGC 3223 hastightly wrapped arms of class α, whereas the near-infrared disk ofNGC 7083 has open arms of class γ. This is in turn associated withtheir very different rotation curve shapes yielding different rates ofshear A/ω in their stellar disks. Any specific dust penetratedarchetype may be the resident disk of both an early or late type galaxy.The number of arms and the pitch angle of the arms at K' of theearly-type a' spiral NGC 718 are almost identical to those for thelate-type `c' spiral NGC 309. We demonstrate that galaxies on oppositeends of the tuning fork can display remarkably similar evolved diskmorphologies and belong to the same dust penetrated class. In thissense, there is no differentiation between an early and late typegalaxy: the Hubble tuning fork becomes a circle. Furthermore, aprototypically flocculent galaxy such as NGC 5055 (Elmegreen arm class3) can have an evolved disk morphology almost identical to that of NGC5861, characterised in the optical as having one of the most regularspiral patterns known and of Elmegreen class 12. Both opticallyflocculent or grand design galaxies can reside within the same dustpenetrated morphological bin. As was suggested by Block et al. (1994a),it is the gas dominated Population I component which determines theoptical types (a, b, c). This may be partially or even fully decoupledfrom the Population II disk. Those L=lopsided galaxies (where m=1 is adominant mode) are designated Lα, Lβ and Lγ accordingto the dust penetrated pitch angle; E=evensided galaxies (where m=2 isthe dominant Fourier mode) are classified into classes Eα, Eβand Eγ, according to our three principal dust penetratedarchetypes. The L and E modes are the most common morphologies in oursample, which spans a range of Hubble types from early (a) to late(irregular). Stellar kinematic data for the central region of spiral galaxies. II.We present a second dataset of absorption spectroscopy on the innerregion of spiral galaxies. We have determined the central velocitydispersion for 42 Sa-Sc objects and, for 32 of them, stellar rotationcurves and velocity-dispersion profiles. Some of these profiles arelimited to the bulge, some others do reach a region dominated by theluminosity of the disk. These data are intended to provide basicmaterial for the study of the mass distribution and dynamical status inthe central regions of spiral galaxies. Although no elaboratebulge-and-disk photometric decomposition is performed, we estimate theeffects of limited resolution and contamination by disk light on thecentral velocity dispersion of the bulge. All the material presented inthis paper, in particular the spectra, is available on-line. Based onobservations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Tables 2and 3 are presented in electronic form only; Tables 1 through 3 areavailable from the CDS, Strasbourg, via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html The Global Schmidt Law in Star-forming GalaxiesMeasurements of H alpha , H I, and CO distributions in 61 normal spiralgalaxies are combined with published far-infrared and CO observations of36 infrared-selected starburst galaxies, in order to study the form ofthe global star formation law over the full range of gas densities andstar formation rates (SFRs) observed in galaxies. The disk-averaged SFRsand gas densities for the combined sample are well represented by aSchmidt law with index N = 1.4 +/- 0.15. The Schmidt law provides asurprisingly tight parametrization of the global star formation law,extending over several orders of magnitude in SFR and gas density. Analternative formulation of the star formation law, in which the SFR ispresumed to scale with the ratio of the gas density to the averageorbital timescale, also fits the data very well. Both descriptionsprovide potentially useful "recipes" for modeling the SFR in numericalsimulations of galaxy formation and evolution. Groups of galaxies. III. Some empirical characteristics.Not Available Bulge-Disk Decomposition of 659 Spiral and Lenticular Galaxy Brightness ProfilesWe present one of the largest homogeneous sets of spiral and lenticulargalaxy brightness profile decompositions completed to date. The 659galaxies in our sample have been fitted with a de Vaucouleurs law forthe bulge component and an inner-truncated exponential for the diskcomponent. Of the 659 galaxies in the sample, 620 were successfullyfitted with the chosen fitting functions. The fits are generally welldefined, with more than 90% having rms deviations from the observedprofile of less than 0.35 mag. We find no correlations of fittingquality, as measured by these rms residuals, with either morphologicaltype or inclination. Similarly, the estimated errors of the fittedcoefficients show no significant trends with type or inclination. Thesedecompositions form a useful basis for the study of the lightdistributions of spiral and lenticular galaxies. The object base issufficiently large that well-defined samples of galaxies can be selectedfrom it. Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. II. Analysis of the dataWe use some of the maps of the catalogue presented in Paper I to providesome evidence for global conditions that must be fulfilled by thegalaxies to have extended hydrogen. For this purpose, we tried to findpossible connections between the HI gas extension and other propertiesof the galaxies (morphological type, surface brightness, gas density,etc.). With isophotal hydrogen diameters of a large sample, we couldobserve that optically smaller galaxies seem to have greater relative HIextensions. By means of the relation with the apparent HI surfacedensity, we found an expression that should provide a rough estimate ofthe gas extension. With respect to the dependence on morphological type,we could not find any significant correlation either for the real HIsurface density or the relative gas extension. Nevertheless, whereas forspiral and irregular galaxies the real HI surface density exhibits abroad range of values, the values are rather lower for elliptical and S0galaxies. Table 1 is also available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html Catalogue of HI maps of galaxies. I.A catalogue is presented of galaxies having large-scale observations inthe HI line. This catalogue collects from the literature the informationthat characterizes the observations in the 21-cm line and the way thatthese data were presented by means of maps, graphics and tables, forshowing the distribution and kinematics of the gas. It containsfurthermore a measure of the HI extension that is detected at the levelof the maximum sensitivity reached in the observations. This catalogueis intended as a guide for references on the HI maps published in theliterature from 1953 to 1995 and is the basis for the analysis of thedata presented in Paper II. The catalogue is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp 130.79.128.5 orhttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
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