Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies

Details Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies

2001-02-16

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102292v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

17 pages, including 10 figures & 7 tables, to be published in the Astronomical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1086/321072

We examine the dust properties of a nearby distance-limited sample of early type galaxies using the WFPC2 of the Hubble Space Telescope. Dust is detected in 29 out of 67 galaxies (43%), including 12 with small nuclear dusty disks. In a separate sample of 40 galaxies biased for the detection of dust by virtue of their detection in the IRAS 100 micron band, dust is found in ~78% of the galaxies, 15 of which contain dusty disks. In those galaxies with detectable dust, the apparent mass of the dust correlates with radio and far infrared luminosity, becoming more significant for systems with filamentary dust. A majority of IRAS and radio detections are also associated with dusty galaxies rather than dustless galaxies. This indicates that thermal emission from clumpy, filamentary dust is the main source of the far-IR radiation in early type galaxies. Dust in small disk-like morphology tends to be well aligned with the major axis of the host galaxies, while filamentary dust appears to be more randomly distributed with no preference for alignment with any major galactic structure. This suggests that, if the dusty disks and filaments have a common origin, the dust originates externally and requires time to dynamically relax and settle in the galaxy potential in the form of compact disks. More galaxies with visible dust than without dust display emission lines, indicative of ionized gas, although such nuclear activity does not show a preference for dusty disk over filamentary dust. There appears to be a weak relationship between the mass of the dusty disks and central velocity dispersion of the galaxy, suggesting a connection with a similar recently recognized relationship between the latter and the black hole mass.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dusty Nuclear Disks and Filaments in Early Type Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-133593