Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Oct 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001phdt.........3k&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PhD). HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 62/04, p. 1903, Oct 2001, 180 pages.
Mathematics
Logic
6
Scientific paper
This work investigates clues to galaxy evolution in the internal gas and stellar kinematics of ~200 nearby galaxies, representing all morphological types and spanning luminosities from MB = -23 to -15. The frequency and morphology distribution of galaxies with counterrotating gas and stars provides fossil evidence for past interactions and mergers in the E/S0 galaxy population. The abundance of faint S0 counterrotators and the possible detection of a Magellanic irregular counterrotator suggest that disk galaxies may sometimes arise from mergers between dwarf galaxies. Large rotation curve asymmetries are also common for dwarf E/S0 and dwarf late-type galaxies. Both gas-stellar counterrotation and large rotation curve asymmetries are rare for spiral galaxies. Residuals from the Tully-Fisher (TF) relation in optical wavelength bands correlate with the evolutionary states of galaxies. For spirals brighter than MiR = -18, strong correlations between TF residuals and both B - R color and Hα emission line strength make it possible to reduce the scatter in the TF relation to approximately the level of measurement errors. Sa galaxies and spirals with morphological peculiarities drive the extremes of these correlations, although they are continuous for all spirals. The slope of the color-TF residual correlation is steeper than expected from quiescently evolving disk galaxy models, which may indicate that large starbursts, e.g. those driven by interactions or minor mergers, play a significant role in the star formation histories of some spiral galaxies. Dwarf galaxies do not follow the same TF residual correlations. However, dwarfs with positive and negative TF residuals have distinct physical properties. Relatively overluminous dwarfs appear disturbed, with high rotation curve asymmetry and short gas consumption timescale, while underluminous dwarfs appear to be passively evolving. Due to this split in properties, the slope of the TF relation at low luminosities varies as a function of sample selection and environment. Finally, a recalibration of the intermediate-redshift Tully-Fisher relation indicates only modest, if any, luminosity evolution relative to the present epoch. A better analysis will require a statistically representative intermediate-redshift sample analogous to the low-redshift survey presented here.
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