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Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Nearby Galaxies from ROSAT High Resolution Imager Observations I. Data Analysis
X-ray observations have revealed in other galaxies a class ofextranuclear X-ray point sources with X-ray luminosities of1039-1041 ergs s-1, exceeding theEddington luminosity for stellar mass X-ray binaries. Theseultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) may be powered by intermediate-massblack holes of a few thousand Msolar or stellar mass blackholes with special radiation processes. In this paper, we present asurvey of ULXs in 313 nearby galaxies withD25>1' within 40 Mpc with 467 ROSAT HighResolution Imager (HRI) archival observations. The HRI observations arereduced with uniform procedures, refined by simulations that help definethe point source detection algorithm employed in this survey. A sampleof 562 extragalactic X-ray point sources withLX=1038-1043 ergs s-1 isextracted from 173 survey galaxies, including 106 ULX candidates withinthe D25 isophotes of 63 galaxies and 110 ULX candidatesbetween 1D25 and 2D25 of 64 galaxies, from which aclean sample of 109 ULXs is constructed to minimize the contaminationfrom foreground or background objects. The strong connection betweenULXs and star formation is confirmed based on the striking preference ofULXs to occur in late-type galaxies, especially in star-forming regionssuch as spiral arms. ULXs are variable on timescales over days to yearsand exhibit a variety of long term variability patterns. Theidentifications of ULXs in the clean sample show some ULXs identified assupernovae (remnants), H II regions/nebulae, or young massive stars instar-forming regions, and a few other ULXs identified as old globularclusters. In a subsequent paper, the statistic properties of the surveywill be studied to calculate the occurrence frequencies and luminosityfunctions for ULXs in different types of galaxies to shed light on thenature of these enigmatic sources.
| The Southern Sky Redshift Survey
We report redshifts, magnitudes, and morphological classifications for5369 galaxies with m_B <= 15.5 and for 57 galaxies fainter than thislimit, in two regions covering a total of 1.70 sr in the southerncelestial hemisphere. The galaxy catalog is drawn primarily from thelist of nonstellar objects identified in the Hubble Space TelescopeGuide Star Catalog (GSC). The galaxies have positions accurate to ~1"and magnitudes with an rms scatter of ~0.3 mag. We compute magnitudes(m_SSRS2) from the relation between instrumental GSC magnitudes and thephotometry by Lauberts & Valentijn. From a comparison with CCDphotometry, we find that our system is homogeneous across the sky andcorresponds to magnitudes measured at the isophotal level ~26 magarcsec^-2. The precision of the radial velocities is ~40 km s^-1, andthe redshift survey is more than 99% complete to the m_SSRS2 = 15.5 maglimit. This sample is in the direction opposite that of the CfA2; incombination the two surveys provide an important database for studies ofthe properties of galaxies and their large-scale distribution in thenearby universe. Based on observations obtained at Cerro TololoInter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatories,operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation;Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between theConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas de laRepública Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata,Córdoba, and San Juan; the European Southern Observatory, LaSilla, Chile, partially under the bilateral ESO-ObservatórioNacional agreement; Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory;Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, Brazil; and the SouthAfrican Astronomical Observatory.
| The RSA survey of dwarf galaxies, 1: Optical photometry
We present detailed surface photometry, based on broad B-band chargecoupled device (CCD) images, of about 80 dwarf galaxies. Our samplerepresents approximately 10% of all dwarf galaxies identified in thevicinity of Revised Shapley-Ames (RSA) galaxies on high resolution bluephotographic plates, referred to as the RSA survey of dwarf galaxies. Wederive global properties and radial surface brightness profiles, andexamine the morphologies. The radial surface brightness profiles ofdwarf galaxies, whether early or late type, display the same varietiesin shape and complexity as those of classical giant galaxies. Only a feware well described by a pure r1/4 law. Exponential profilesprevail. Features typical of giant disk galaxies, such as exponentialprofiles with a central depression, lenses, and even, in one case (IC2041), a relatively prominent bulge are also found in dwarf galaxies.Our data suggest that the central region evolves from being bulge-like,with an r1/4 law profile, in bright galaxies to a lens-likestructure in dwarf galaxies. We prove detailed surface photometry to bea helpful if not always sufficient tool in investigating the structureof dwarf galaxies. In many cases kinematic information is needed tocomplete the picture. We find the shapes of the surface brightnessprofiles to be loosely associated with morphological type. Our samplecontains several new galaxies with properties intermediate between thoseof giant and dwarf ellipticals (but no M32-like objects). This showsthat such intermediate galaxies exist so that at least a fraction ofearly-type dwarf ellipticals is structurally related to early-typegiants instead of belonging to a totally unrelated, disjunct family.This supports an origin of early-type dwarf galaxies as originally moremassive systems that acquired their current morphology as a result ofsubstantial, presumable supernova-driven, mass loss. On the other hand,several early-type dwarfs in our sample are merger candidates. Mergerevents may lead to anisotropic velocity distributions in systems of anyluminosity, including dwarfs. The RSA sample of dwarf galaxies is morelikely to contain mergers because, in contrast to earlier dwarf galaxysurveys that have focused on clusters and rich groups of galaxies, theRSA dwarfs are typically located in low density environments. Theoccurrence of mergers among dwarf galaxies is of interest in connectionwith the rapid evolution of faint blue galaxy counts at redshift z lessthan 1 which suggests that dwarf galaxies were about five times morenumerous in the recent past.
| General study of group membership. II - Determination of nearby groups
We present a whole sky catalog of nearby groups of galaxies taken fromthe Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database. From the 78,000 objects in thedatabase, we extracted a sample of 6392 galaxies, complete up to thelimiting apparent magnitude B0 = 14.0. Moreover, in order to considersolely the galaxies of the local universe, all the selected galaxieshave a known recession velocity smaller than 5500 km/s. Two methods wereused in group construction: a Huchra-Geller (1982) derived percolationmethod and a Tully (1980) derived hierarchical method. Each method gaveus one catalog. These were then compared and synthesized to obtain asingle catalog containing the most reliable groups. There are 485 groupsof a least three members in the final catalog.
| Southern Galaxy Catalogue.
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| Redshifts of galaxies in the Fornax cluster
Among the accurate radial velocities presented for 51 galaxies in theFornax cluster, 17 redshifts have been determined for the first time. Across-comparison with prevous data indicates that the quoted mean errorsare truly external ones, with the average mean error for these radialvelocities being 27 km/sec. This accuracy demonstrates the potential forredshift determinations based on use of the ESO's Boller and Chivensspectrographs, together with the IDS.
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