Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1107.4827

Hubble Space Telescope Pixel Analysis of the Interacting Face-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 5194 (M51A)

Joon Hyeop Lee·Sang Chul Kim·Hong Soo Park·Chang Hee Ree·Jaemann Kyeong·Jiwon Chung
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

A pixel analysis is carried out on the interacting face-on spiral galaxy NGC 5194 (M51A), using the HST/ACS images in the F435W, F555W and F814W (BVI) bands. After 4x4 binning of the HST/ACS images to secure a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio for each pixel, we derive several quantities describing the pixel color-magnitude diagram (pCMD) of NGC 5194: blue/red color cut, red pixel sequence parameters, blue pixel sequence parameters and blue-to-red pixel ratio. The red sequence pixels are mostly older than 1 Gyr, while the blue sequence pixels are mostly younger than 1 Gyr, in their luminosity-weighted mean stellar ages. The color variation in the red pixel sequence from V = 20 mag arcsec^(-2) to V = 17 mag arcsec^(-2) corresponds to a metallicity variation of Δ[Fe/H] ~ 2 or an optical depth variation of Δτ_V ~ 4 by dust, but the actual sequence is thought to originate from the combination of those two effects. At V < 20 mag arcsec^(-2), the color variation in the blue pixel sequence corresponds to an age variation from 5 Myr to 300 Myr under the assumption of solar metallicity and τ_V = 1. To investigate the spatial distributions of stellar populations, we divide pixel stellar populations using the pixel color-color diagram and population synthesis models. As a result, we find that the pixel population distributions across the spiral arms agree with a compressing process by spiral density waves: dense dust \rightarrow newly-formed stars. The tidal interaction between NGC 5194 and NGC 5195 appears to enhance the star formation at the tidal bridge connecting the two galaxies. We find that the pixels corresponding to the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) area of NGC 5194 show a tight sequence at the bright-end of the pCMD, which are in the region of R ~ 100 pc and may be a photometric indicator of AGN properties.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph.CO

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Joon Hyeop Lee, Sang Chul Kim, Hong Soo Park, Chang Hee Ree, Jaemann Kyeong, Jiwon Chung. 2011-07-27. Hubble Space Telescope Pixel Analysis of the Interacting Face-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 5194 (M51A). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x%2F740%2F1%2F42

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Primordial black hole clustering from spectator fields for interpreting the JWST observations

The observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed unexpectedly massive galaxy candidates at high redshifts, posing a significant challenge to the $Λ$CDM model. In this work, we investigate whether primordial black holes (PBHs) with spatial clustering, generated by a light spectator field during inflation, can accelerate early structure formation. We adopt the galaxy candidates with inferred stellar mass $10^9\,M_\odot\leq M_*^{\rm obs}\leq10^{11}\,M_\odot$ at redshift $7 \leq z \leq 10$ reported by the CEERS program as a benchmark. Two different mechanisms are considered, through which PBH clustering can influence structure formation: the PBH-induced isocurvature perturbations that enhance the matter power spectrum on linear scales, and the localized seed formation and accretion by compact PBH clusters on nonlinear scales. We find that, when adopting the cosmic microwave background (CMB) isocurvature constraint $β_{\rm iso}<0.035$ at the benchmark pivot scale $k_*=0.002\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, PBH clustering can produce a cumulative stellar mass density consistent with the JWST observations while satisfying the relevant isocurvature constraint. However, the allowed enhancement of structure formation is strongly suppressed when the constraint at $k_*=0.1\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ is imposed, indicating a significant dependence on the choice of the pivot scale. In contrast, the localized seed effect of compact PBH clusters is strongly constrained by the CMB isocurvature bounds, while isolated supermassive PBHs produce stellar mass densities far below those inferred from the JWST observations. Our results show that PBH clustering induced by a spectator field can substantially accelerate early structure formation, but whether it can fully account for the JWST-inferred stellar mass density depends sensitively on the pivot scale adopted for the CMB isocurvature constraint.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2026

Probing memory-burdened Primordial Black Holes with global 21 cm signal

We investigate the imprints of memory-burdened primordial black holes (PBH) on the global 21 cm signal during the cosmic dawn. Recent studies reopened the possibility of a mass window of PBHs as a compelling candidate for dark matter, particularly in low-mass regimes ($M_{\text {PBH}}< 10^{15}$ g) where conventional constraints from evaporation are being revisited in light of quantum gravitational effects. One such effect, the \textit{memory burden effect}, slows down black hole evaporation by incorporating the backreaction of radiation on the black hole microstates, substantially extending the lifetime of light PBHs and thus modifying their late-time emission spectra. This prolonged emission can dramatically alter the energy injection history in the early universe. By computing the modified energy injection rates into the intergalactic medium and incorporating them into the thermal and ionization evolution of neutral hydrogen, we obtain projected constraints on the fraction of dark matter. The bounds are obtained from the fact that these low mass PBHs, which were thought otherwise evaporated, can modify the absorption amplitude in the global 21-cm signal at redshift $z\approx17$. Considering the two viable scenarios of transition to the memory-burden phase: fast (or instantaneous) and slow (transition with a finite width), we show how the 21 cm bounds are sensitive to different mass ranges. For a broad transition with $δ=10^{-2}$ we find that PBHs in the mass range $M_{\rm PBH}\simeq10^{8}$-$10^{13}$g are excluded at the level of $f_{\rm PBH}\gtrsim10^{-8}$. In contrast, for a fast-transition case with the lowest suppression exponent $k=1$, the evaporation is suppressed so efficiently that no meaningful 21\,cm constraint remains for $M_{\rm PBH}\gtrsim10^{7}$g.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2026

Axion Inflation with a Massive Abelian Gauge Field

An axial coupling between an inflaton and an Abelian gauge field can trigger the tachyonic amplification of one gauge-field helicity. For a massless vector, modes with physical momentum $k/a\sim |ξ|H$ are enhanced by approximately $\exp(π|ξ|)$, and sufficiently efficient production can provide substantial friction for the homogeneous inflaton. We extend this mechanism to a vector of mass $m$. The instability is present only for $|ξ|>\bar m\equiv m/H$, and in the heavy regime the mode amplitude scales as $\exp[π(|ξ|-\bar m)]$. Because the amplified modes remain well inside the Hubble radius when $\bar m\gg1$, their contribution to long-wavelength curvature perturbations $ζ$ is power-law suppressed at fixed background backreaction. In the weak-backreaction regime we obtain a spectrum ${\cal P}^{\rm id}_ζ \propto \bar m^{-w}$, with $w \sim 2$, while including the gauge-induced friction of scalar perturbations gives the scaling ${\cal P}^{\rm id}_ζ\propto \bar{m}^{-s}$, with $s$ between three and four. These estimates indicate that ${\cal P}^{\rm id}_ζ\lesssim 10^{-9}$ on CMB scales should be compatible with gauge field backreaction for $\bar{m}$ larger than order a few hundred. We test the analytical mode functions and backreaction estimates with the first lattice simulations based on a massive-vector extension of the \texttt{Pencil Code}, including simulations in the strongly backreacting regime.

astro-ph.CO↗