Eric Emsellem

The SAURON project --IX. A kinematic classification for early-type galaxies

Two-dimensional stellar kinematics of 48 representative elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies obtained with the SAURON integral-field spectrograph reveal that early-type galaxies appear in two broad flavours, depending on whether they exhibit clear large-scale rotation or not. We define a new parameter lambda(R) equivalent to / , which involves luminosity-weighted averages over the full two-dimensional kinematic field as a proxy to quantify the observed projected stellar angular momentum per unit mass. We use it as a basis for a new kinematic classification: early-type galaxies are separated into slow and fast rotators, depending on whether they have lambda(R) values within their effective radius R(e) below or above 0.1, respectively. Slow and fast rotators are shown to be physically distinct classes of galaxies, a result which cannot simply be the consequence of a biased viewing angle. Fast rotators tend to be relatively low-luminosity galaxies with M(B) greater than or similar to-20.5. Slow rotators tend to be brighter and more massive galaxies, but are still spread over a wide range of absolute magnitude. Three slow rotators of our sample, among the most massive ones, are consistent with zero rotation. Remarkably, all other slow rotators (besides the atypical case of NGC 4550) contain a large kpc-scale kinematically decoupled core (KDC). All fast rotators (except one galaxy with well-known irregular shells) show well-aligned photometric and kinemetric axes, and small velocity twists, in contrast with most slow rotators which exhibit significant misalignments and velocity twists. These results are supported by a supplement of 18 additional early-type galaxies observed with SAURON. In a companion paper (Paper X), we also show that fast and slow rotators are distinct classes in terms of their orbital distribution. We suggest that gas is a key ingredient in the formation and evolution of fast rotators, and that the slowest rotators are the extreme evolutionary end point reached deep in gravitational potential wells where dissipationless mergers had a major role in the evolution, and for which most of the baryonic angular momentum was expelled outwards. Detailed numerical simulations in a cosmological context are required to understand how to form large-scale KDCs within slow rotators, and more generally to explain the distribution of lambda(R) values within early-type galaxies and the distinction between fast and slow rotators.

Systematic variation of the stellar initial mass function in early-type galaxies

Much of our knowledge of galaxies comes from analysing the radiation emitted by their stars, which depends on the present number of each type of star in the galaxy. The present number depends on the stellar initial mass function (IMF), which describes the distribution of stellar masses when the population formed, and knowledge of it is critical to almost every aspect of galaxy evolution. More than 50 years after the first IMF determination, no consensus has emerged on whether it is universal among different types of galaxies. Previous studies indicated that the IMF and the dark matter fraction in galaxy centres cannot both be universal, but they could not convincingly discriminate between the two possibilities. Only recently were indications found that massive elliptical galaxies may not have the same IMF as the Milky Way. Here we report a study of the two-dimensional stellar kinematics for the large representative ATLAS3D sample of nearby early-type galaxies spanning two orders of magnitude in stellar mass, using detailed dynamical models. We find a strong systematic variation in IMF in early-type galaxies as a function of their stellar mass-to-light ratios, producing differences of a factor of up to three in galactic stellar mass. This implies that a galaxy’s IMF depends intimately on the galaxys formation history.

The SAURON project – II. Sample and early results

Early results are reported from the SAURON survey of the kinematics and stellar populations of a representative sample of nearby E, S0 and Sa galaxies. The survey is aimed at determining the intrinsic shape of the galaxies, their orbital structure, the mass-to-light ratio as a function of radius, the age and metallicity of the stellar populations, and the frequency of kinematically decoupled cores and nuclear black holes. The construction of the representative sample is described, and its properties are illustrated. A comparison with long-slit spectroscopic data establishes that the SAURON measurements are comparable to, or better than, the highest-quality determinations. Comparisons are presented for NGC 3384 and 4365, where stellar velocities and velocity dispersions are determined to a precision of 6 km s - 1 , and the h 3 and h 4 parameters of the line-of-sight velocity distribution to a precision of better than 0.02. Extraction of accurate gas emission-line intensities, velocities and linewidths from the data cubes is illustrated for NGC 5813. Comparisons with published line strengths for NGC 3384 and 5813 reveal uncertainties of 0.1 A on the measurements of the Hβ, Mg b and Fe5270 indices. Integral-field mapping uniquely connects measurements of the kinematics and stellar populations to the galaxy morphology. The maps presented here illustrate the rich stellar kinematics, gaseous kinematics, and line-strength distributions of early-type galaxies. The results include the discovery of a thin, edge-on, disc in NGC 3623, confirm the axisymmetric shape of the central region of M32, illustrate the LINER nucleus and surrounding counter-rotating star-forming ring in NGC 7742, and suggest a uniform stellar population in the decoupled core galaxy NGC 5813.

The SAURON project – VIII. OASIS/CFHT integral‐field spectroscopy of elliptical and lenticular galaxy centres

We present high spatial resolution integral-field spectros copy of 28 elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies from the SAURON representative survey obtained with the OASIS spectrograph during its operation at the CFHT. These seeing-limited observations explore the central 8 ′′ ×10 ′′ (typically one kiloparsec diameter) regions of these galax ies using a spatial sampling four times higher than SAURON (0. 27 vs. 0. 94 spatial elements), resulting in almost a factor of two improvement in the median PSF. These data allow accurate study of the central regions to complement the large-scale view provided by SAURON. Here we present the stellar and gas kinematics, stellar absorption-line strengths and neb ular emission-line strengths for this sample. We also characterise the stellar velocity maps using the ‘kinemetry’ technique, and derive maps of the luminosity-weighted stellar age, metallicity and abundance ratio via stellar population models. We give a brief review of the structures found in our maps, linking also to larger-scale structures measured with SAURON. We present two previously unreported kinematically-decoupled components (KDCs) in the centres of NGC 3032 and NGC 4382. We compare the intrinsic size and luminosity-weighted stellar age of all the visible KDCs in the full SAURON sample, and find two types of components: kiloparsec-scale K DCs, which are older than 8 Gyr, and are found in galaxies with little net rot ation; and compact KDCs, which have intrinsic diameters of less than a few hundred parsec, show a range of stellar ages from 0.5 - 15 Gyr (with 5/6 younger than 5 Gyr), are found exclusively in fast-rotating galaxies, and are close to counter-rotating around the same axis as their host. Of the 7 galaxies in the SAURON sample with integrated luminosity-weighted ages less than 5 Gyr, 5 show such compact KDCs, suggesting a link between counter-rotation and recent star-formation. We show that this may be due to a combination of small sample size at young ages, and an observational bias, since young KDCs are easier to detect than their older and/or co-rotating counterparts.

The SAURON project – XII. Kinematic substructures in early-type galaxies: evidence for discs in fast rotators

We analysed two-dimensional maps of 48 early-type galaxies obtained with the SAURON and OASIS integral-field spectrographs using kinemetry, a gene ralisation of surface photometry to the higher order moments of the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD). The maps analysed include: reconstructed image, mean velocity, velocity dispersion, h3 and h4 GaussHermite moments. Kinemetry is a good method to recognise structures otherwise missed by using surface photometry, such as embedded disks and kinematic sub-components. In the SAURON sample, we find that 31% of early-type galaxies are sin gle component systems. 91% of the multi-components systems have two kinematic subcomponents, the rest having three. In addition, 29% of galaxies have kinematically decoupled components, nuclear components with significant kinematic twists. We differentiate betwee n slow and fast rotators using velocity maps only and find that fast rotating galaxies contain disks with a large range in mass fractions to the main body. Specifically, we find that the velo city maps of fast rotators closely resemble those of inclined disks, except in the transition r egions between kinematic subcomponents. This deviation is measured with the kinemetric k5/k1 ratio, which is large and noisy in slow rotators and about 2% in fast rotators. In terms of E/S0 classification, this means that 74% of Es and 92% of S0s have components with disk-like kinematics. We suggest that differences in k5/k1 values for the fast and slow rotators arise from their differ ent intrinsic structure which is reflected on the velocity maps. For the majority of fa st rotators, the kinematic axial ratios are equal to or less than their photometric axial rati os, contrary to what is predicted with isotropic Jeans models viewed at different inclinations. T he position angles of fast rotators are constant, while they vary abruptly in slow rotators. Velocity dispersion maps of face-on galaxies have shapes similar to the distribution of light. Veloci ty dispersion maps of the edge-on fast rotators and all slow rotators show differences which can only be partially explained with isotropic models and, in the case of fast rotators, often req uire additional cold components. We constructed local (bin-by-bin) h3 V/σ and h4 V/σ diagrams from SAURON observations. We confirm the classical anti-correlation of h3 and V/σ, but we also find that h3 is almost zero in some objects or even weakly correlated with V/σ. The distribution of h4 for fast and slow rotators is mildly positive on average. In general, fast rot ators contain flattened components characterised by a disk-like rotation. The difference betw een slow and fast rotators is traceable throughout all moments of the LOSVD, with evidence for different intrinsic shapes and orbital contents and, hence, likely different evolutionary paths.

Stellar velocity profiles and line strengths out to four effective radii in the early-type galaxies NGC 3379 and 821

We use the integral-field spectrograph SAURON to measure the stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution and absorption line strengths out to four effective radii (Re) in the early-type galaxies NGC 3379 and NGC 821. With our newly developed observing technique we can now probe these faint regions in galaxies that were previously not accessible with traditional long-slit spectroscopy. We make optimal use of the large field-of-view and high throughput of the spectrograph: by adding the signal of all �1400 lenslets into one spectrum, we obtain sufficient signal-to-noise in a few hours of observing time to reliably measure the absorption line kinematics and line strengths out to large radius. We find that the line strength gradients previously observed within 1 Re remain constant out to at least 4 Re, which puts constraints on the merger histories of these galaxies. The stellar halo populations are old and metal-poor. By constructing orbitbased Schwarzschild dynamical models we find that dark matter is necessary to explain the observed kinematics in NGC 3379 and NGC 821, with 30 - 50 per cent of the total matter being dark within 4 Re. The radial anisotropy in our best-fit halo models is less than in our models without halo, due to differences in orbital structure. The halo also has an effect on the Mg b - Vesc relation: its slope is steeper when a dark matter halo is added to the model.

High-resolution simulations of galaxy mergers: resolving globular cluster formation

Massive star clusters observed in galaxy mergers are often suggested to be progenitors of globular clusters. To study this hypothesis, we performed the highest resolution simulation of a gas-rich galaxy merger so far. The formation of massive star clusters of 10 5 to 10 7 M⊙, triggered by the galaxy interaction, is directly resolved in this model. We show that these clusters are tightly bound structures with little net rotation, due to evolve into compact long-lived stellar systems. Massive clusters formed in galaxy mergers are thus robust candidates for progenitors of long-lived globular clusters. The simulated cluster mass spectrum is consistent with theory and observations. Tidal dwarf galaxies of 10 8 9 M ⊙ can form at the same time, and appear to be part of a different class of objects, being more extended and rotating.

The ATLAS3D project XVII: linking photometric and kinematic signatures of stellar discs in early-type galaxies

We analyse the morphological structures in galaxies of the ATLAS(3D) sample by fitting a single Sersic profile and decomposing all non-barred objects (180 of 260 objects) in two components parametrized by an exponential and a general Sersic function. The aim of this analysis is to look for signatures of discs in light distributions of nearby early-type galaxies and compare them to kinematic properties. Using Sersic index from single-component fits for a distinction between slow and fast rotators, or even late- and early-type galaxies, is not recommended. Assuming that objects with n > 3 are slow rotators (or ellipticals), there is only a 22 per cent probability to correctly classify objects as slow rotators (or 37 per cent of previously classified as ellipticals). We show that exponential sub-components, as well as light profiles fitted with only a single component of a low Sersic index, can be linked with the kinematic evidence for discs in early-type galaxies. The median disc-to-total light ratio for fast and slow rotators is 0.41 and 0.0, respectively. Similarly, the median Sersic indices of the bulge (general Sersic component) are 1.7 and 4.8 for fast and slow rotators, respectively. Overall, discs or disc-like structures are present in 83 per cent of early-type galaxies which do not have bars, and they show a full range of disc-to-total light ratios. Discs in early-type galaxies contribute with about 40 per cent to the total mass of the analysed (non-barred) objects. The decomposition into discs and bulges can be used as a rough approximation for the separation between fast and slow rotators, but it is not a substitute, as there is only a 59 per cent probability to correctly recognize slow rotators. We find trends between the angular momentum and the disc-to-total light ratios and the Sersic index of the bulge, in the sense that high angular momentum galaxies have large disc-to-total light ratios and small bulge indices, but there is none between the angular momentum and the global Sersic index. We investigate the inclination effects on the decomposition results and confirm that strong exponential profiles can be distinguished even at low inclinations, but medium-size discs are difficult to quantify using photometry alone at inclinations lower than similar to 50 degrees. Kinematics (i.e. projected angular momentum) remains the best approach to mitigate the influence of the inclination effects. We also find weak trends with mass and environmental density, where disc-dominated galaxies are typically less massive and found at all densities, including the densest region sampled by the ATLAS(3D) sample.

Specific angular momentum of disc merger remnants and the λR-parameter

We use two-dimensional kinematic maps of simulated binary disc mergers to investigate the λ R -parameter, which is a luminosity-weighted measure of projected angular momentum per unit mass. This parameter was introduced to subdivide the SAURON sample of early-type galaxies in so-called fast λ R > 0.1 and slow rotators λ R < 0.1. Tests on merger remnants reveal that λ R is a robust indicator of the true angular momentum content in elliptical galaxies. We find the same range of λ R values in our merger remnants as in the SAURON galaxies. The merger mass ratio is decisive in transforming fast rotators into slow rotators in a single binary merger, the latter being created mostly in an equal-mass merger. Slow rotators have a λ R which does not vary with projection. The confusion rate with face-on fast rotators is very small. Mergers with a gas component form slow rotators with smaller ellipticities than collisionless merger remnants have, and are in much better agreement with the SAURON slow rotators. Remergers of merger remnants are slow rotators, but tend to have too high ellipticities. Fast rotators maintain the angular momentum content from the progenitor disc galaxy if merger mass ratio is high. Some SAURON galaxies have values of λ R as high as our progenitor disc galaxies.

The SAURON project - XI. Stellar Populations from Absorption Line Strength Maps of 24 Early-Type Spirals

We present absorption line strength maps of a sample of 24 representative early-type spiral galaxies, mostly of type Sa, obtained as part of the SAURON survey of nearby galaxies using our custom-built integral-field spectrograph. Using high- quality spectra, spatially binned to a constant signal-to-noise, we measure several key age, metallicity and abundance ratio sensitive indices from the Lick/IDS system over a contiguous two-dimensional field including bulge and inner disc. We present maps of Hβ, Fe 5015, and Mgb, for each galaxy. We find that Sa galaxies on the average have slightly smaller Mg b and Fe 5015 line strengths than ellipticals and S0s, and higher Hβ values, but with a much larger scatter. The absorption line maps show that many galaxies contain some younger populations (6 1 Gyr), distributed in small or large inner discs, or in circu mnuclear star forming rings. In many cases these young stars are formed in circumnuclear mini-starbursts, which are dominating the light in the centres of some of the early-type spir als. These mini-starburst cause a considerable scatter in index-index diagrams such as Mg b ‐ Hβ and Mgb ‐ Fe 5015, more than is measured for early-type galaxies. We find that the cen tral regions of Sa galaxies display a wide range in ages, even within the galaxies. We find that the central regions of early-type spirals are often dusty, with a good correlation between the presence of young central stellar populations and a significant amount of dust extinction. 50% of the sample show velocity dispersion drops in their centres. All of the galaxies of our sample lie on or below the Mg b ‐ σ relation for elliptical galaxies in the Coma cluster, and above the Hβ absorption line ‐ σ relation for elliptical galaxies. If those relations are considered to be relations for the oldest local galaxies we see that our sample of spirals has a considerable scatter in age, with the largest scatter at the lowest σ. This is in disagreement with highly inclined samples, in which generally only old stellar populations are found in the central regions. The discrepancy between our sample and highly inclined samples, and the presence of so many stellar velocity dispersion dips, i.e., so-called σ-drops, in these spiral galaxies with large bulges (type Sa) can be understood if the central regions of Sa galaxies contain at least 2 components: a thin, disc-like component, often containing recent star formation, and another, elliptical-like component, consisting of old stars and rot ating more slowly, dominating the light above the plane. These components together form the photometrically defined bulge, in the same way as the thin and the thick disc co-exist in the solar neighbourhood. In this picture, consistent with the current literature, part of the bulge, t he thicker component, formed a very long time ago. Later, stars continued to form in the central r egions of the disc, rejuvenating in this way the bulge through dynamical processes. This picture is able to explain in a natural way the heterogeneous stellar populations and star formation characteristics that we are seeing in detailed observations of early-type spiral galaxies.