Thomas Boch

Scalelength of disc galaxies

We have derived disc scalelengths for 30 374 non-interacting disc galaxies in all five Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) bands. Virtual Observatory methods and tools were used to define, retrieve and analyse the images for this unprecedentedly large sample classified as disc/spiral galaxies in the LEDA catalogue. Cross-correlation of the SDSS sample with the LEDA catalogue allowed us to investigate the variation of the scalelengths for different types of disc/spiral galaxies. We further investigate asymmetry, concentration and central velocity dispersion as indicators of morphological type, and are able to assess how the scalelength varies with respect to galaxy type. We note, however, that the concentration and asymmetry parameters have to be used with caution when investigating type dependence of structural parameters in galaxies. Here, we present the scalelength derivation method and numerous tests that we have carried out to investigate the reliability of our results. The average r-band disc scalelength is 3.79 kpc, with an rms dispersion of 2.05 kpc, and this is a typical value irrespective of passband and galaxy morphology, concentration and asymmetry. The derived scalelengths presented here are representative for a typical galaxy mass of 1010.8 +/- 0.54 M(circle dot), and the rms dispersion is larger for more massive galaxies. Separating the derived scalelengths for different galaxy masses, the r-band scalelength is 1.52 +/- 0.65 kpc for galaxies with total stellar mass 109-1010 M(circle dot) and 5.73 +/- 1.94 kpc for galaxies with total stellar mass between 1011 and 1012 M(circle dot). Distributions and typical trends of scalelengths have also been derived in all the other SDSS bands with linear relations that indicate the relation that connect scalelengths in one passband to another. Such transformations could be used to test the results of forthcoming cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution of the Hubble sequence.

The SPECFIND V2.0 catalogue of radio cross-identifications and spectra - SPECFIND meets the Virtual Observatory

The new release of the SPECFIND radio cross-identification catalogue, SPECFIND V2.0, is presented. It contains 107488 cross-identified objects with at least three radio sources observed at three independent frequencies. Compared to the previous release the number of entry radio catalogues is increased from 20 to 97 containing 115 tables. This large increase was only made possible by the development of four tools at CDS which use the standards and infrastructure of the Virtual Observatory (VO). This was done in the framework of the VO-TECH European Design Study of the Sixth Framework Program. We give an overview of the different classes of radio sources that a user can encounter. Due to the increase of frequency coverage of the input radio catalogues, this release demonstrates that the SPECFIND algorithm is able to detect spectral breaks around a frequency of ~1 GHz.

Virtual observatory standards in action

Interoperability in Virtual Observatories is based on standards for interchange formats, and protocols. Using real science cases, we present example VO tools based on the AVO prototypes and the CDS services, which implement the new and emerging VO standards. We discuss how these standards, such as VOTable, UCDs and data models enable interoperability between software components, and provide efficient and flexible means for data access. We show how UCDs are used in catalogue filtering and selection of relevant columns. We also demonstrate a simple yet powerful method for accessing data from image archives, customized data sets and local data within a single environment.