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 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 structure of galactic disks. Studying late-type spiral galaxies using SDSSUsing imaging data from the SDSS survey, we present the g' and r' radialstellar light distribution of a complete sample of ~90 face-on tointermediate inclined, nearby, late-type (Sb-Sdm) spiral galaxies. Thesurface brightness profiles are reliable (1 σ uncertainty lessthan 0.2 mag) down to μ27 mag/''. Only ~10% of all galaxies havea normal/standard purely exponential disk down to our noise limit. Thesurface brightness distribution of the rest of the galaxies is betterdescribed as a broken exponential. About 60% of the galaxies have abreak in the exponential profile between  1.5-4.5 times thescalelength followed by a downbending, steeper outer region. Another~30% shows also a clear break between  4.0-6.0 times thescalelength but followed by an upbending, shallower outer region. A fewgalaxies have even a more complex surface brightness distribution. Theshape of the profiles correlates with Hubble type. Downbending breaksare more frequent in later Hubble types while the fraction of upbendingbreaks rises towards earlier types. No clear relation is found betweenthe environment, as characterised by the number of neighbours, and theshape of the profiles of the galaxies. Structure and kinematics of edge-on galaxy discs - V. The dynamics of stellar discsIn earlier papers in this series we determined the intrinsic stellardisc kinematics of 15 intermediate- to late-type edge-on spiral galaxiesusing a dynamical modelling technique. The sample covers a substantialrange in maximum rotation velocity and deprojected face-on surfacebrightness, and contains seven spirals with either a boxy orpeanut-shaped bulge. Here we discuss the structural, kinematical anddynamical properties. From the photometry we find that intrinsicallymore flattened discs tend to have a lower face-on central surfacebrightness and a larger dynamical mass-to-light ratio. This observationsuggests that, at a constant maximum rotational velocity, lower surfacebrightness discs have smaller vertical stellar velocity dispersions.Although the individual uncertainties are large, we find from thedynamical modelling that at least 12 discs are submaximal. The averagedisc contributes 53 +/- 4 per cent to the observed rotation at 2.2 discscalelengths (hR), with a 1σ scatter of 15 per cent.This percentage becomes somewhat lower when effects of finite discflattening and gravity by the dark halo and the gas are taken intoaccount. Since boxy and peanut-shaped bulges are probably associatedwith bars, the result suggests that at 2.2hR the submaximalnature of discs is independent of barredness. The possibility remainsthat very high surface brightness discs are maximal, as these discs areunderrepresented in our sample. We confirm that the radial stellar discvelocity dispersion is related to the galaxy maximum rotationalvelocity. The scatter in this σ versus vmax relationappears to correlate with the disc flattening, face-on central surfacebrightness and dynamical mass-to-light ratio. Low surface brightnessdiscs tend to be more flattened and have smaller stellar velocitydispersions. The findings are consistent with the observed correlationbetween disc flattening and dynamical mass-to-light ratio and cangenerally be reproduced by the simple collapse theory for disc galaxyformation. Finally, the disc mass Tully-Fisher relation is offset fromthe maximum-disc scaled stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation of the UrsaMajor cluster. This offset, -0.3 dex in mass, is naturally explained ifthe discs of the Ursa Major cluster spirals are submaximal. The Pattern Speeds of 38 Barred GalaxiesWe estimate the pattern speeds of 38 barred galaxies by simulationmodeling. We construct the gravitational potentials of the galaxies fromnear-IR photometry by assuming that the mass-to-light ratio (M/L) isconstant in the H band and a single pattern speed dominates in thestellar disk. We use the response of gaseous and stellar particle disksto a rigidly rotating potential to determine the pattern speed. If ourassumptions are correct, then the pattern speed depends on themorphological type: the average value of the ratio of the corotationresonance radius to the bar radius, ℛ, increases from about 1.1 intype SB0/a to 1.4 in SBb and 1.7 in SBc. Within the error estimates, allthe bars in galaxies of type SBab or earlier are fast rotators, havingℛ<=1.4, whereas late-type galaxies include both fast and slowrotators. NGC 300: An Extremely Faint, Outer Stellar Disk Observed to 10 Scale LengthsWe have used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the GeminiSouth 8 m telescope in exceptional conditions (0.6" FWHM seeing) toobserve the outer stellar disk of the Sculptor Group galaxy NGC 300 attwo locations. At our point-source detection threshold ofr'=27.0 (3 σ) mag, we trace the stellar disk out to aradius of 24', or 2.2R25, where R25 is the 25 magarcsec-2 isophotal radius. This corresponds to about 10 scalelengths in this low-luminosity spiral galaxy (MB=-18.6), orabout 14.4 kpc at a Cepheid distance of 2.0+/-0.07 Mpc. The backgroundgalaxy counts are derived in the outermost field, and these are within10% of the mean survey counts from both Hubble Deep Fields. Theluminosity profile is well described by a nucleus plus a simpleexponential profile out to 10 optical scale lengths. We reach aneffective surface brightness of μr'=30.5 magarcsec-2 (2 σ) at 55% completeness, which doubles theknown radial extent of the optical disk. These levels are exceedinglyfaint in the sense that the equivalent surface brightness in B or V isabout 32 mag arcsec-2. We find no evidence for truncation ofthe stellar disk. Only star counts can be used to reliably trace thedisk to such faint levels, since surface photometry is ultimatelylimited by nonstellar sources of radiation. In the Appendix, we derivethe expected surface brightness of one such source: dust scattering ofstarlight in the outer disk. 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. Structure and star formation in disk galaxies. III. Nuclear and circumnuclear Hα emissionFrom Hα images of a carefully selected sample of 57 relativelylarge, Northern spiral galaxies with low inclination, we study thedistribution of the Hα emission in the circumnuclear and nuclearregions. At a resolution of around 100 parsec, we find that the nuclearHα emission in the sample galaxies is often peaked, andsignificantly more often so among AGN host galaxies. The circumnuclearHα emission, within a radius of two kpc, is often patchy inlate-type, and absent or in the form of a nuclear ring in early-typegalaxies. There is no clear correlation of nuclear or circumnuclearHα morphology with the presence or absence of a bar in the hostgalaxy, except for the nuclear rings which occur in barred hosts. Thepresence or absence of close bright companion galaxies does not affectthe circumnuclear Hα morphology, but their presence does correlatewith a higher fraction of nuclear Hα peaks. Nuclear rings occur inat least 21% (±5%) of spiral galaxies, and occur predominantly ingalaxies also hosting an AGN. Only two of our 12 nuclear rings occur ina galaxy which is neither an AGN nor a starburst host. We confirm thatweaker bars host larger nuclear rings. The implications of these resultson our understanding of the occurrence and morphology of massive starformation, as well as non-stellar activity, in the central regions ofgalaxies are discussed. 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. On the alignment between binary spiral galaxiesWe show some significance against the null hypothesis of randominteractions of binary spiral galaxies, and in favour of the alternativethat more interactions than expected occur for axes either nearlyparallel (spins being parallel or anti-parallel) or nearly orthogonal.We discuss this in the context of similar prior studies, using adifferent statistical focus in such a way that we are able toincorporate additional data. The dark matter density problem in massive disk galaxiesWe discuss measurements of disk mass from non-circular streaming motionsof gas in the barred galaxies NGC 3095 and NGC 4123. In these galaxieswith strong shocks and non-circular motions, the inner regions must bedisk-dominated to reproduce the shocks. This requires dark matter halosof low central density and low concentration, compared to LCDM halopredictions. In addition, the baryonic collapse to a disk should havecompressed the halo and increased the dark matter density, whichsharpens the disagreement. One possible resolution is a substantialamount of angular momentum transfer from disk to halo, but this is notparticularly attractive nor elegant. Dark Matter in Galaxies: Observational overviewI review the observational side of the present state of the debate aboutthe dark matter in galaxies, with emphasis on the core/cusp problem inlow surface brightness galaxies, and the question of maximum /sub-maximum disks in spiral galaxies. Some remarks are made about thedwarf spheroidals around the Milky Way, and about elliptical galaxies. Fabry-Perot Absorption-Line Spectroscopy of NGC 7079: Kinematics and Bar Pattern SpeedWe present Fabry-Perot absorption-line spectroscopy of the SB0 galaxyNGC 7079. This is the first use of Fabry-Perot techniques to measure thetwo-dimensional stellar kinematics of an early-type disk galaxy. We scanthe infrared Ca II line using the Rutgers Fabry-Perot (RFP), to obtainkinematic data extending to I-band surface brightnessμI~=21 mag arcsec-2, in a field of radius ~40".The kinematic data, consisting of line-of-sight velocities and velocitydispersions, are in good agreement with data obtained along the majoraxis of the disk with standard slit spectroscopy. Comparison of theexposure times required for slit and RFP spectroscopy to reach the samelimiting magnitude shows that the RFP is significantly more efficientfor mapping absorption-line galaxy kinematics. We use the velocity data,together with our own deep broadband photometry, to measure the barpattern speed, Ωp, of NGC 7079 with themodel-independent Tremaine-Weinberg (TW) method. We findΩp=8.4+/-0.2 km s-1 arcsec-1 thisis the best-constrained pattern speed ever measured for a bar using theTW method. From the rotation curve, corrected for asymmetric drift, wecalculate the corotation radius and find that the bar ends just insidethis radius. The two-dimensional character of these data allow us toshow that the TW method is sensitive to errors in the position angle(P.A.) of the disk. For example, a P.A. error of 2° can give errors~+/-25% in Ωp.Based in part on observations carried out at the European SouthernObservatory (Prop. B-0329). Spectrophotometry of Star-forming Regions in H II GalaxiesWe present spectrophotometric observations of 111 H II galaxies selectedfrom various surveys. Apart from the integrated spectra, we presentemission-line fluxes and equivalent widths of different star-formingknots for 33 galaxies for which the spatial distribution of physicalproperties can be assessed. Most of the objects have been observedpreviously. We reobserved these galaxies with uniform instrumentation,and data reduction was performed with homogeneous methods. Our analysisof the quality of the data indicates that our observations reach goodsignal-to-noise ratio over the whole spectral range, allowing themeasurement of-and the inclusion of additional-low-intensity emissionlines.Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory,Chile, under an agreement between the Observatório Nacional,Brazil, and the ESO. A New Nonparametric Approach to Galaxy Morphological ClassificationWe present two new nonparametric methods for quantifying galaxymorphology: the relative distribution of the galaxy pixel flux values(the Gini coefficient or G) and the second-order moment of the brightest20% of the galaxy's flux (M20). We test the robustness of Gand M20 to decreasing signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and spatialresolution and find that both measures are reliable to within 10% forimages with average S/N per pixel greater than 2 and resolutions betterthan 1000 and 500 pc, respectively. We have measured G andM20, as well as concentration (C), asymmetry (A), andclumpiness (S) in the rest-frame near-ultraviolet/optical wavelengthsfor 148 bright local normal'' Hubble-type galaxies (E-Sd) galaxies, 22dwarf irregulars, and 73 0.05 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. Gas flow and dark matter in the inner parts of early-type barred galaxies. I. SPH simulations and comparison with the observed kinematicsThis paper presents the dynamical simulations run in the potentialderived from the light distribution of 5 late-type barred spiralgalaxies (IC 5186, NGC 5728,NGC 7267, NGC 7483 and NGC 5505). The aim is to determine whether the massdistribution together with the hydrodynamical simulations can reproducethe observed line-of-sight velocity curves and the gas morphology in theinner regions of these barred galaxies. The light distribution isobtained from the H-band and the I-band combined. The M/L is determinedusing population synthesis models. The observations and the methodologyof the mass distribution modelling are presented in a companion paper.The SPH models using the stellar mass models obtained directly from theH-band light distributions give a good representation of the gasdistribution and dynamics of the modelled galaxies, supporting themaximum disk assumption. This result indicates that the gravitationalfield in the inner region is mostly provided by the stellar luminouscomponent. When 40% of the total mass is transferred to an axisymmetricdark halo, the modelled kinematics clearly depart from the observedkinematics, whereas the departures are negligible for dark mass halos of5% and 20% of the total mass. This result sets a lower limit for thecontribution of the luminous component of about 80%, which is inagreement with the maximum disk definition of the stellar masscontribution to the rotation curve (about 85% ± 10). This resultis in agreement with the results found by \citet{weiner01} forNGC 4123 using a similar methodology. For twogalaxies, NGC 7483 and IC 5186, a very good agreement with the observeddata is found. In these cases the non-circular motions can help to breakthe disk-halo degeneracy. For the other three galaxies (NGC 5728, NGC7267 and NGC 5505) no definite results are found: for NGC 7267 and NGC5505 no steady state is reached in the simulations and for NGC 5728there is no good agreement with the observed kinematics, possibly due tothe presence of a secondary bar decoupled from the primary. However, forthis latter galaxy the M/L ratio used gives the right amplitude of therotation curve, in further support of the M/L calculation method usedthroughout this work. Fast bars give the best fit to the observedkinematics for NGC 7483 and IC 5186 with corotation at the end of thebar for NGC 7483 and at 1.4× Rbar for IC 5186. For NGC5505 for which no steady state configuration is found, the addition of arigid halo stabilises the gas flows but the derived kinematics does notfit well the observations.Figures \ref{fig:vel1}-\ref{fig:Lz_IC5186}, \ref{fig:mask_height},\ref{fig:height_rc}, \ref{fig:rc_NGC5728}, \ref{fig:pv_NGC7483},\ref{fig:substract_NGC7483}, \ref{fig:mask_dm}, \ref{fig:dm_rc} and\ref{fig:ngc5505_dm_rc} are only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org} Stellar populations in HII galaxiesWe analyse the stellar content of a large number of HII galaxies fromthe continua and absorption features of their spectra using populationsynthesis methods, in order to gain information about the star formationhistories of these objects.We find that all galaxies of our sample contain an old stellarpopulation (≥1 Gyr) that dominates the stellar mass, and in amajority of these we also found evidence for an intermediate-agepopulation ≥50 Myr apart from the presently bursting, ionizing younggeneration ≤107 yr.Appendix A is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org 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 Starbursts in barred spiral galaxies. VI. HI observations and the K-band Tully-Fisher relationThis paper reports a study of the effect of a bar on the neutralhydrogen (HI) content of starburst and Seyfert galaxies. We also makecomparisons with a sample of normal'' galaxies and investigate howwell starburst and Seyfert galaxies follow the fundamental scalingTully-Fisher (TF) relation defined for normal galaxies. 111 Markarian(Mrk) IRAS galaxies were observed with the Nançay radiotelescope,and HI data were obtained for 80 galaxies, of which 64 are newdetections. We determined the (20 and 50%) linewidths, the maximumvelocity of rotation and total HI flux for each galaxy. Thesemeasurements are complemented by data from the literature to form asample of Mrk IRAS (74% starburst, 23% Seyfert and 3% unknown) galaxiescontaining 105 unbarred and 113 barred ones. Barred galaxies have lowertotal and bias-corrected HI masses than unbarred galaxies, and this istrue for both Mrk IRAS and normal galaxies. This robust result suggeststhat bars funnel the HI gas toward the center of the galaxy where itbecomes molecular before forming new stars. The Mrk IRAS galaxies havehigher bias-corrected HI masses than normal galaxies. They also showsignificant departures from the TF relation, both in the B and K bands.The most deviant points from the TF relation tend to have a strongfar-infrared luminosity and a low oxygen abundance. These resultssuggest that a fraction of our Mrk IRAS galaxies are still in theprocess of formation, and that their neutral HI gas, partly of externalorigin, has not yet reached a stationary state.Based on observations obtained at the large radiotelescope ofObservatoire de Nançay, operated by Observatoire de Paris.Tables 5 and 6 are only (and Table 4 also) available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/416/515 Deprojecting spiral galaxies using Fourier analysis. Application to the Frei sampleWe present two methods that can be used to deproject spirals, based onFourier analysis of their images, and discuss their potential andrestrictions. Our methods perform particularly well for galaxies moreinclined than 50° or for non-barred galaxies moreinclined than 35°. They are fast and straightforward touse, and thus ideal for large samples of galaxies. Moreover, they arevery robust for low resolutions and thus are appropriate for samples ofcosmological interest. The relevant software is available from us uponrequest. We use these methods to determine the values of the positionand inclination angles for a sample of 79 spiral galaxies contained inthe Frei et al. (\cite{frei96}) sample. We compare our results with thevalues found in the literature, based on other methods. We findstatistically very good agreementTable 7 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/415/849 Mid-infrared emission of galactic nuclei. TIMMI2 versus ISO observations and modelsWe investigate the mid-infrared radiation of galaxies that are poweredby a starburst or by an AGN. For this end, we compare the spectraobtained at different spatial scales in a sample of infrared brightgalaxies. ISO observations which include emission of the nucleus as wellas most of the host galaxy are compared with TIMMI2 spectra of thenuclear region. We find that ISO spectra are generally dominated bystrong PAH bands. However, this is no longer true when inspecting themid-infrared emission of the pure nucleus. Here PAH emission is detectedin starbursts whereas it is significantly reduced or completely absentin AGNs. A physical explanation of these new observational results ispresented by examining the temperature fluctuation of a PAH afterinteraction with a photon. It turns out that the hardness of theradiation field is a key parameter for quantifying the photo-destructionof small grains. Our theoretical study predicts PAH evaporation in softX-ray environments. Radiative transfer calculations of clumpy starburstsand AGN corroborate the observational fact that PAH emission isconnected to starburst activity whereas PAHs are destroyed near an AGN.The radiative transfer models predict for starbursts a much largermid-infrared size than for AGN. This is confirmed by our TIMMI2acquisition images: We find that the mid-infrared emission of Seyfertsis dominated by a compact core while most of the starbursts arespatially resolved.Based on ESO: 68.B-0066(A) and observations with ISO, an ESA projectwith instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PIcountries: France, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK) with theparticipation of ISAS and NASA.} The evolution of stars and gas in starburst galaxiesIn systems undergoing starbursts the evolution of the young stellarpopulation is expected to drive changes in the emission-line properties.This evolution is usually studied theoretically, with a combination ofevolutionary synthesis models for the spectral energy distribution ofstarbursts and photoionization calculations. In this paper we present amore empirical approach to this issue. We apply empirical populationsynthesis techniques to samples of starburst and HII galaxies in orderto measure their evolutionary state and correlate the results with theiremission-line properties. A couple of useful tools are introduced thatgreatly facilitate the interpretation of the synthesis: (1) anevolutionary diagram, the axes of which are the strengths of the young,intermediate age and old components of the stellar population mix; and(2) the mean age of stars associated with the starburst, . These toolsare tested with grids of theoretical galaxy spectra and found to workvery well even when only a small number of observed properties(absorption-line equivalent widths and continuum colours) is used in thesynthesis.Starburst nuclei and HII galaxies are found to lie on a well-definedsequence in the evolutionary diagram. Using the empirically defined meanstarburst age in conjunction with emission-line data, we have verifiedthat the equivalent widths of Hβ and [OIII] decrease for increasing. The same evolutionary trend was identified for line ratios indicativeof the gas excitation, although no clear trend was identified formetal-rich systems. All these results are in excellent agreement withlong-known, but little tested, theoretical expectations. Structure and star formation in disc galaxies - I. Sample selection and near-infrared imagingWe present near-infrared imaging of a sample of 57 relatively large,northern spiral galaxies with low inclination. After describing theselection criteria and some of the basic properties of the sample, wegive a detailed description of the data collection and reductionprocedures. The Ksλ= 2.2-μm images cover most ofthe disc for all galaxies, with a field of view of at least 4.2 arcmin.The spatial resolution is better than 1 arcsec for most images. We fitbulge and exponential disc components to radial profiles of the lightdistribution. We then derive the basic parameters of these components,and the bulge/disc ratio, and explore correlations of these parameterswith several galaxy parameters. The PDS versus Markarian starburst galaxies: comparing strong and weak IRAS emitter at 12 and 25 μm in the nearby UniverseThe characteristics of the starburst galaxies from the Pico dos Diassurvey (PDS) are compared with those of the nearby ultraviolet (UV)bright Markarian starburst galaxies, having the same limit in redshift(vh < 7500 km s-1) and absolute B magnitude(MB < -18). An important difference is found: theMarkarian galaxies are generally undetected at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS.This is consistent with the UV excess shown by these galaxies andsuggests that the youngest star-forming regions dominating thesegalaxies are relatively free of dust.The far-infrared selection criteria for the PDS are shown to introduce astrong bias towards massive (luminous) and large size late-type spiralgalaxies. This is contrary to the Markarian galaxies, which are found tobe remarkably rich in smaller size early-type galaxies. These resultssuggest that only late-type spirals with a large and massive disc arestrong emitters at 12 and 25 μm in IRAS in the nearby Universe.The Markarian and PDS starburst galaxies are shown to share the sameenvironment. This rules out an explanation of the differences observedin terms of external parameters. These differences may be explained byassuming two different levels of evolution, the Markarian being lessevolved than the PDS galaxies. This interpretation is fully consistentwith the disc formation hypothesis proposed by Coziol et al. to explainthe special properties of the Markarian SBNG. The Relationship between Stellar Light Distributions of Galaxies and Their Formation HistoriesA major problem in extragalactic astronomy is the inability todistinguish in a robust, physical, and model-independent way how galaxypopulations are physically related to each other and to their formationhistories. A similar, but distinct, and also long-standing question iswhether the structural appearances of galaxies, as seen through theirstellar light distributions, contain enough physical information tooffer this classification. We argue through the use of 240 images ofnearby galaxies that three model-independent parameters measured on asingle galaxy image reveal its major ongoing and past formation modesand can be used as a robust classification system. These parametersquantitatively measure: the concentration (C), asymmetry (A), andclumpiness (S) of a galaxy's stellar light distribution. When combinedinto a three-dimensional CAS'' volume all major classes of galaxies invarious phases of evolution are cleanly distinguished. We argue thatthese three parameters correlate with important modes of galaxyevolution: star formation and major merging activity. This is arguedthrough the strong correlation of Hα equivalent width andbroadband colors with the clumpiness parameter S, the uniquely largeasymmetries of 66 galaxies undergoing mergers, and the correlation ofbulge to total light ratios, and stellar masses, with the concentrationindex. As an obvious goal is to use this system at high redshifts totrace evolution, we demonstrate that these parameters can be measured,within a reasonable and quantifiable uncertainty with available data outto z~3 using the Hubble Space Telescope GOODS ACS and Hubble Deep Fieldimages. Dark Matter within High Surface Brightness Spiral GalaxiesWe present results from a detailed dynamical analysis of five highsurface brightness, late-type spiral galaxies, NGC 3810, NGC 3893, NGC4254, NGC 5676, and NGC 6643, which were studied with the aim ofquantifying the luminous-to-dark matter ratio inside their opticalradii. The galaxies' stellar light distribution and gas kinematics havebeen observed and compared to hydrodynamic gas simulations that predictthe gasdynamics arising in response to empirical gravitationalpotentials, which are combinations of differing stellar disk and darkhalo contributions. The gravitational potential of the stellar disk wasderived from near-infrared photometry, color corrected to yield aconstant stellar mass-to-light ratio (M/L); for the dark halo, the massdensity distribution of an axisymmetric isothermal sphere with a corewas chosen. Hydrodynamic gas simulations were performed for each galaxyfor a sequence of five different mass fractions of the stellar disk andfor a wide range of spiral pattern speeds. These two parameters mainlydetermine the modeled gas distribution and kinematics. The agreementbetween the simulated and observed gas kinematics permitted us toconclude that the galaxies with the highest rotation velocities tend topossess very massive stellar disks that dominate the gasdynamics withinthe optical radius. In less massive galaxies, with a maximal rotationvelocity of less than 200 km s-1, the mass of the dark haloat least equals the stellar mass within 2-3 disk scale lengths. Themaximal disk stellar mass-to-light ratio in the K band was found to lieat about M/LK~0.6. Furthermore, the gasdynamic simulationsprovide a powerful tool for accurately determining the dominant spiralpattern speed for galaxies, independent of a specific density wavetheory. It was found that the location of the corotation resonance fallsinto a narrow range of around three exponential disk scale lengths forall galaxies from the sample. The corotation resonance encloses thestrong part of the stellar spiral in all cases. Based on the experiencegained from this project, the use of a color correction to account forlocal stellar population differences is strongly encouraged whenproperties of galactic disks are studied that rely on their stellar massdistributions. The Central Mass Distribution in Dwarf and Low Surface Brightness GalaxiesWe present high-resolution Hα rotation curves for a sample of 15dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies. From these we derive limitson the slopes of the central mass distributions, using both a directinversion of the rotation curves and detailed mass models. Assuming thatthe density distributions of dark matter halos follow a power law atsmall radii, ρ(r)~r-α, we find inner slopes in therange 0<~α<~1 for most galaxies. Thus, even with therelatively high spatial resolution of the Hα rotation curvespresented here, the inner slopes are poorly constrained. In generalhalos with constant density cores (α=0) provide somewhat betterfits, but the majority of our galaxies (~75%) are also consistent withα=1, as long as the R-band stellar mass-to-light ratios aresmaller than about 2. Halos with α=1.5, however, are ruled out invirtually every case. In order to investigate the robustness of theseresults we discuss and model several possible causes of systematicerrors, including noncircular motions, galaxy inclination, slit width,seeing, and slit alignment errors. Taking the associated uncertaintiesinto account, we conclude that even for the ~25% of the cases whereα=1 seems inconsistent with the rotation curves, we cannot ruleout cusp slopes this steep. Inclusion of literature samples similar tothe one presented here leads to the same conclusion when the possibilityof systematic errors is taken into account. In the ongoing debate onwhether the rotation curves of dwarf and low surface brightness galaxiesare consistent with predictions for a cold dark matter universe, weargue that our sample and the literature samples discussed in this paperprovide insufficient evidence to rule out halos with α=1. At thesame time, we note that none of the galaxies in these samples requirehalos with steep cusps, as most are equally well or better explained byhalos with constant density cores. Companions of Bright Barred Shapley-Ames GalaxiesCompanion galaxy environment for a subset of 78 bright and nearby barredgalaxies from the Shapley-Ames Catalog is presented. Among the spiralbarred galaxies, there are Seyfert galaxies, galaxies with circumnuclearstructures, galaxies not associated with any large-scale galaxy cloudstructure, galaxies with peculiar disk morphology (crooked arms), andgalaxies with normal disk morphology; the list includes all Hubbletypes. The companion galaxy list includes the number of companiongalaxies within 20 diameters, their Hubble type, and projectedseparation distance. In addition, the companion environment was searchedfor four known active spiral galaxies, three of them are Seyfertgalaxies, namely, NGC 1068, NGC 1097, and NGC 5548, and one is astarburst galaxy, M82. Among the results obtained, it is noted that theonly spiral barred galaxy classified as Seyfert 1 in our list has nocompanions within a projected distance of 20 diameters; six out of 10Seyfert 2 bar galaxies have no companions within 10 diameters, six outof 10 Seyfert 2 galaxies have one or more companions at projectedseparation distances between 10 and 20 diameters; six out of 12 galaxieswith circumnuclear structures have two or more companions within 20diameters. The IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy SampleIRAS flux densities, redshifts, and infrared luminosities are reportedfor all sources identified in the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample(RBGS), a complete flux-limited survey of all extragalactic objects withtotal 60 μm flux density greater than 5.24 Jy, covering the entiresky surveyed by IRAS at Galactic latitudes |b|>5°. The RBGS includes629 objects, with median and mean sample redshifts of 0.0082 and 0.0126,respectively, and a maximum redshift of 0.0876. The RBGS supersedes theprevious two-part IRAS Bright Galaxy Samples(BGS1+BGS2), which were compiled before the final(Pass 3) calibration of the IRAS Level 1 Archive in 1990 May. The RBGSalso makes use of more accurate and consistent automated methods tomeasure the flux of objects with extended emission. The RBGS contains 39objects that were not present in the BGS1+BGS2,and 28 objects from the BGS1+BGS2 have beendropped from RBGS because their revised 60 μm flux densities are notgreater than 5.24 Jy. Comparison of revised flux measurements forsources in both surveys shows that most flux differences are in therange ~5%-25%, although some faint sources at 12 and 25 μm differ byas much as a factor of 2. Basic properties of the RBGS sources aresummarized, including estimated total infrared luminosities, as well asupdates to cross identifications with sources from optical galaxycatalogs established using the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Inaddition, an atlas of images from the Digitized Sky Survey with overlaysof the IRAS position uncertainty ellipse and annotated scale bars isprovided for ease in visualizing the optical morphology in context withthe angular and metric size of each object. The revised bolometricinfrared luminosity function, φ(Lir), forinfrared-bright galaxies in the local universe remains best fit by adouble power law, φ(L)~Lα, withα=-0.6(+/-0.1) and α=-2.2(+/-0.1) below and above thecharacteristic'' infrared luminosityL*ir~1010.5Lsolar,respectively. A companion paper provides IRAS High Resolution (HIRES)processing of over 100 RBGS sources where improved spatial resolutionoften provides better IRAS source positions or allows for deconvolutionof close galaxy pairs.
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