Composite bulges – II. Classical bulges and nuclear discs in barred galaxies: the contrasting cases of NGC 4608 and NGC 4643

ABSTRACT We present detailed morphological, photometric, and stellar-kinematic analyses of the central regions of two massive, early-type barred galaxies with nearly identical large-scale morphologies. Both have large, strong bars with prominent inner photometric excesses that we associate with boxy/peanut-shaped (B/P) bulges; the latter constitute ∼30 per cent of the galaxy light. Inside its B/P bulge, NGC 4608 has a compact, almost circular structure (half-light radius Re ≈ 310 pc, Sérsic n = 2.2) we identify as a classical bulge, amounting to 12.1 per cent of the total light, along with a nuclear star cluster (Re ∼ 4 pc). NGC 4643, in contrast, has a nuclear disc with an unusual broken-exponential surface-brightness profile (13.2 per cent of the light), and a very small spheroidal component (Re ≈ 35 pc, n = 1.6; 0.5 per cent of the light). IFU stellar kinematics support this picture, with NGC 4608’s classical bulge slowly rotating and dominated by high velocity dispersion, while NGC 4643’s nuclear disc shows a drop to lower dispersion, rapid rotation, V–h3 anticorrelation, and elevated h4. Both galaxies show at least some evidence for V–h3correlation in the bar (outside the respective classical bulge and nuclear disc), in agreement with model predictions. Standard two-component (bulge/disc) decompositions yield B/T ∼ 0.5–0.7 (and bulge n > 2) for both galaxies. This overestimates the true ‘spheroid’ components by factors of 4 (NGC 4608) and over 100 (NGC 4643), illustrating the perils of naive bulge-disc decompositions applied to massive barred galaxies.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Calibrating the lithium–age relation with open clusters and associations

Context. Previous studies of open clusters have shown that lithium depletion is not only strongly age dependent but also shows a complex pattern with other parameters that is not yet understood. For pre- and main-sequence late-type stars, these parameters include metallicity, mixing mechanisms, convection structure, rotation, and magnetic activity. Aims. We perform a thorough membership analysis for a large number of stars observed within the Gaia-ESO survey (GES) in the field of 20 open clusters, ranging in age from young clusters and associations, to intermediate-age and old open clusters. Methods. Based on the parameters derived from the GES spectroscopic observations, we obtained lists of candidate members for each of the clusters in the sample by deriving radial velocity distributions and studying the position of the kinematic selections in the EW(Li)-versus-Teff plane to obtain lithium members. We used gravity indicators to discard field contaminants and studied [Fe/H] metallicity to further confirm the membership of the candidates. We also made use of studies using recent data from the Gaia DR1 and DR2 releases to assess our member selections. Results. We identified likely member candidates for the sample of 20 clusters observed in GES (iDR4) with UVES and GIRAFFE, and conducted a comparative study that allowed us to characterize the properties of these members as well as identify field contaminant stars, both lithium-rich giants and non-giant outliers. Conclusions. This work is the first step towards the calibration of the lithium–age relation and its dependence on other GES parameters. During this project we aim to use this relation to infer the ages of GES field stars, and identify their potential membership to young associations and stellar kinematic groups of different ages.

Revealing the intermediate-mass black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy NGC 404 with sub-parsec resolution ALMA observations

ABSTRACT We estimate the mass of the intermediate-mass black hole at the heart of the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 404 using Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) observations of the molecular interstellar medium at an unprecedented linear resolution of ≈0.5 pc, in combination with existing stellar kinematic information. These ALMA observations reveal a central disc/torus of molecular gas clearly rotating around the black hole. This disc is surrounded by a morphologically and kinematically complex flocculent distribution of molecular clouds, that we resolve in detail. Continuum emission is detected from the central parts of NGC 404, likely arising from the Rayleigh–Jeans tail of emission from dust around the nucleus, and potentially from dusty massive star-forming clumps at discrete locations in the disc. Several dynamical measurements of the black hole mass in this system have been made in the past, but they do not agree. We show here that both the observed molecular gas and stellar kinematics independently require a ≈5 × 105 M⊙ black hole once we include the contribution of the molecular gas to the potential. Our best estimate comes from the high-resolution molecular gas kinematics, suggesting the black hole mass of this system is 5.5$^{+4.1}_{-3.8}\times 10^5$ M⊙ (at the 99 per cent confidence level), in good agreement with our revised stellar kinematic measurement and broadly consistent with extrapolations from the black hole mass–velocity dispersion and black hole mass–bulge mass relations. This highlights the need to accurately determine the mass and distribution of each dynamically important component around intermediate-mass black holes when attempting to estimate their masses.

Recovering λR and V/σ from seeing-dominated IFS data

ABSTRACT Observers experience a series of limitations when measuring galaxy kinematics, such as variable seeing conditions and aperture size. These effects can be reduced using empirical corrections, but these equations are usually applicable within a restrictive set of boundary conditions (e.g. Sérsic indices within a given range) that can lead to biases when trying to compare measurements made across a full kinematic survey. In this work, we present new corrections for two widely used kinematic parameters, λR and V/σ, that are applicable across a broad range of galaxy shapes, measurement radii, and ellipticities. We take a series of mock observations of N-body galaxy models and use these to quantify the relationship between the observed kinematic parameters, structural properties, and different seeing conditions. Derived corrections are then tested using the full catalogue of galaxies, including hydrodynamic models from the eagle simulation. Our correction is most effective for regularly rotating systems, yet the kinematic parameters of all galaxies – fast, slow, and irregularly rotating systems – are recovered successfully. We find that λR is more easily corrected than V/σ, with relative deviations of 0.02 and 0.06 dex, respectively. The relationship between λR and V/σ, as described by the parameter κ, also has a minor dependence on seeing conditions. These corrections will be particularly useful for stellar kinematic measurements in current and future integral field spectroscopic surveys of galaxies.

Kinematic study of the association Cyg OB3 with Gaia DR2

ABSTRACT We study the stellar kinematic properties and spatial distribution of the association Cyg OB3 using precise astrometric data from Gaia DR2. All known O- and B-type stars in Cyg OB3 region with positions, parallaxes, and proper motions available are included, comprising a total of 41 stars. The majority of stars are found to be concentrated at a heliocentric distance of 2.0 ± 0.3 kpc. The mean peculiar velocity of the sample after removing Galactic rotation and solar motion is ∼22 km s−1, dominated by the velocity component towards the Galactic centre. The relative position and velocity of the black hole X-ray binary Cyg X-1 with respect to the association suggest that Cyg OB3 is most likely its parent association. The peculiar kinematic properties of some of the stars are revealed and are suggestive of past stellar encounters. The sample includes a previously known runaway star HD 227018, and its high peculiar velocity of ∼50 km s−1 is confirmed with Gaia. We estimated the velocities of stars relative to the association and the star HD 225577 exhibits peculiar velocity smaller than its velocity relative to the association. The star has lower value of proper motion than the rest of the sample. The results suggest a slowly expanding nature of the association, which is supported by the small relative speeds (<20 km s−1) with respect to the association for a majority of the sample stars.

Revealing the tidal scars of the Small Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT Due to their close proximity, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC) provide natural laboratories for understanding how galaxies form and evolve. With the goal of determining the structure and dynamical state of the SMC, we present new spectroscopic data for ∼3000 SMC red giant branch stars observed using the AAOmega spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We complement our data with further spectroscopic measurements from previous studies that used the same instrumental configuration as well as proper motions from the Gaia Data Release 2 catalogue. Analysing the photometric and stellar kinematic data, we find that the SMC centre of mass presents a conspicuous offset from the velocity centre of its associated H i gas, suggesting that the SMC gas is likely to be far from dynamical equilibrium. Furthermore, we find evidence that the SMC is currently undergoing tidal disruption by the LMC within 2 kpc of the centre of the SMC, and possibly all the way into the very core. This is revealed by a net outward motion of stars from the SMC centre along the direction towards the LMC and an apparent tangential anisotropy at all radii. The latter is expected if the SMC is undergoing significant tidal stripping, as we demonstrate using a suite of N-body simulations of the SMC/LMC system disrupting around the Milky Way. Our results suggest that dynamical models for the SMC that assume a steady state will need to be revisited.

The intricate link between galaxy dynamics and intrinsic shape (or why so-called prolate rotation is a misnomer)

Many recent integral field spectroscopy (IFS) survey teams have used stellar kinematic maps combined with imaging to statistically infer the underlying distributions of galaxy intrinsic shapes. With now several IFS samples at our disposal, the method, which was originally proposed by M. Franx and collaborators in 1991, is gaining in popularity, having been so far applied to ATLAS3D, SAMI, MANGA and MASSIVE. We present results showing that a commonly assumed relationship between dynamical and intrinsic shape alignment does not hold in Illustris, affecting our ability to recover accurate intrinsic shape distributions. A further implication is that so-called “prolate rotation”, where the bulk of stars in prolate galaxies are thought to rotate around the projected major axis, is a misnomer.

Gaia stellar kinematics in the head of the Orion A cloud: runaway stellar groups and gravitational infall

ABSTRACT This work extends previous kinematic studies of young stars in the head of the Orion A cloud (OMC-1/2/3/4/5). It is based on large samples of infrared, optical, and X-ray selected pre-main-sequence stars with reliable radial velocities and Gaia-derived parallaxes and proper motions. Stellar kinematic groups are identified assuming they mimic the motion of their parental gas. Several groups are found to have peculiar kinematics: the NGC 1977 cluster and two stellar groups in the extended Orion nebula (EON) cavity are caught in the act of departing their birthplaces. The abnormal motion of NGC 1977 may have been caused by a global hierarchical cloud collapse, feedback by massive Ori OB1ab stars, supersonic turbulence, cloud–cloud collision, and/or slingshot effect; the former two models are favoured by us. EON groups might have inherited anomalous motions of their parental cloudlets due to small-scale ‘rocket effects’ from nearby OB stars. We also identify sparse stellar groups to the east and west of Orion A that are drifting from the central region, possibly a slowly expanding halo of the Orion nebula cluster. We confirm previously reported findings of varying line-of-sight distances to different parts of the cloud’s Head with associated differences in gas velocity. 3D movies of star kinematics show contraction of the groups of stars in OMC-1 and global contraction of OMC-123 stars. Overall, the head of Orion A region exhibits complex motions consistent with theoretical models involving hierarchical gravitational collapse in (possibly turbulent) clouds with OB stellar feedback.

Three dynamically distinct stellar populations in the halo of M49

Context. M49 (NGC 4472) is the dominant galaxy in subcluster B of the Virgo Cluster, and a benchmark for studying the build-up of the extended halos of brightest group galaxies in the outskirts of galaxy clusters. Aims. We investigate the kinematics in the outer halo of M49, look for substructures, and describe the transition to the surrounding intra-group light. Methods. As kinematic tracers, we use planetary nebulae (PNe), combining kinematics from the extended Planetary Nebula Spectrograph (PN.S) early-type galaxy survey with our recent deep photometric sample. We study the position-velocity-plane for bright and faint PN populations out to 95 kpc radius, and employ a multi-Gaussian model for the velocity distribution to identify stellar populations with distinct kinematics and histories. Results. We report the detection of stellar-kinematic substructure associated with the interaction of M49 with the dwarf irregular galaxy VCC 1249. We find two kinematically distinct PN populations associated with the main M49 halo and the extended intra-group light (IGL). These have velocity dispersions σhalo ≃ 170 km s−1 and σIGL ≃ 400 km s−1 at 10–80 kpc radii. The overall luminosity profile and velocity dispersion at ~80 kpc are consistent with a flat circular velocity curve extrapolated from X-ray observations. The dispersion of the PNe associated with the IGL joins onto that of the satellite galaxies in subcluster B at ~100 kpc radius. This is the first time that the transition from halo to IGL is observed based on the velocities of individual stars. Conclusions. Therefore the halo of M49, consisting of at least three distinct components, has undergone an extended accretion history within its parent group potential. The blue colours of the IGL component are consistent with a population of stars formed in low-mass galaxies at redshift ~0.5 that has since evolved passively, as suggested by other data.