The central region of spiral galaxies as seen by Herschel. M 81, M 99, and M 100

Sauvage, M.; Sacchi, N.; Bendo, G. J.; Boselli, A.; Pohlen, M.; Wilson, C. D.; Auld, R.; Baes, M.; Barlow, M. J.; Bock, J. J.; Bradford, M.; Buat, V.; Castro-Rodríguez, N.; Chanial, P.; Charlot, S.; Ciesla, L.; Clements, D. L.; Cooray, A.; Cormier, D.; Cortese, L.; Davies, J. I.; Dwek, E.; Eales, S. A.; Elbaz, D.; Galametz, M.; Galliano, F.; Gear, W. K.; Glenn, J.; Gomez, H. L.; Griffin, M.; Hony, S.; Isaak, K. G.; Levenson, L. R.; Lu, N.; Madden, S. C.; O'Halloran, B.; Okumura, K.; Oliver, S.; Page, M. J.; Panuzzo, P.; Papageorgiou, A.; Parkin, T. J.; Pérez-Fournon, I.; Rangwala, N.; Rigby, E. E.; Roussel, H.; Rykala, A.; Schulz, B.; Schirm, M. R. P.; Smith, M. W. L.; Spinoglio, L.; Stevens, J. A.; Srinivasan, S.; Symeonidis, M.; Trichas, M.; Vaccari, M.; Vigroux, L.; Wozniak, H.; Wright, G. S.; Zeilinger, W. W.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 518, id.L64

Advertised on:
7
2010
Number of authors
60
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
15
Refereed citations
13
Description
With appropriate spatial resolution, images of spiral galaxies in thermal infrared (~10 μm and beyond) often reveal a bright central component, distinct from the stellar bulge, superimposed on a disk with prominent spiral arms. ISO and Spitzer studies have shown that much of the scatter in the mid-infrared colors of spiral galaxies is related to changes in the relative importance of these two components, rather than to other modifications, such as the morphological type or star formation rate, that affect the properties of the galaxy as a whole. With the Herschel imaging capability from 70 to 500 μm, we revisit this two-component approach at longer wavelengths, to see if it still provides a working description of the brightness distribution of galaxies, and to determine its implications on the interpretation of global far-infrared properties of galaxies. We quantify the luminosity of the central component by both a decomposition of the radial surface brightness profile and a direct extraction in 2D. We find the central component contribution is variable within the three galaxies in our sample, possibly connected more directly to the presence of a bar than to the morphological type. The central component's relative contribution is at its maximum in the mid-infrared range and drops around 160 μm to reach a constant value beyond 200 μm. The central component contains a greater fraction of hot dust than the disk component, and while the colors of the central components are scattered, colors of the disk components are more homogenous from one galaxy to the next. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with significant participation from NASA.
Related projects
Project Image
Formation and Evolution of Galaxies: Observations in Infrared and other Wavelengths
This IAC research group carries out several extragalactic projects in different spectral ranges, using space as well as ground-based telescopes, to study the cosmological evolution of galaxies and the origin of nuclear activity in active galaxies. The group is a member of the international consortium which built the SPIRE instrument for the
Ismael
Pérez Fournon