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We present surface photometry and stellar kinematics of NGC 4264, a barred lenticular galaxy in the region of the Virgo Cluster undergoing a tidal interaction with one of its neighbours, NGC 4261. We measured the bar radius (a bar = 3.2 ± 0.5 kpc) and strength (S bar = 0.31 ± 0.04) of NGC 4264 from Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and its bar pattern speed (Ωbar = 71 ± 4 km s−1 kpc−1) using the Tremaine–Weinberg method with stellar-absorption integral-field spectroscopy performed with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer at the Very Large Telescope. We derived the circular velocity (V circ = 189 ± 10 km s−1) by correcting the stellar streaming velocity for asymmetric drift and calculated the corotation radius (R cor = 2.8 ± 0.2 kpc) from the bar pattern speed. Finally, we estimated the bar rotation rate (R cor/ a bar = 0.88 ± 0.23). We find that NGC 4264 hosts a strong and large bar extending out to the corotation radius. This means that the bar is rotating as fast as it can like nearly all the other bars measured so far even when the systematic error due to the uncertainty on the disc position angle is taken into account. The accurate measurement of the bar rotation rate allows us to infer that the formation of the bar of NGC 4264 was due to self-generated internal processes and not triggered by the ongoing interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct Schwarzschild orbit-based models of NGC 7457, known as a peculiar low-mass lenticular galaxy. Our best-fitting model successfully retrieves most of the unusual kinematics behaviours of this galaxy, in which, the orbital distribution of stars is dominated by warm and hot orbits. The reconstructed surface brightness of the hot component matches fairly well the photometric bulge and the reconstructed LOSVD map of this component shows clear rotation around the major photometric axis of the galaxy. In the absence of a dominant cold component, the outer part of our model is dominated by warm orbits, representing an exponential thick disc. Our orbital analysis also confirms the existence of a counter-rotating orbital substructure in the very centre, reported in previous observational studies. By comparing our model with a variety of simulation studies, and considering the stellar kinematics and populations properties of this galaxy, we suggest that the thick disc is most likely a dynamically heated structure, formed through the interactions and accretion of satellite(s) with near-polar initial inclination. We also suggest a merger-driven process as the most plausible scenario to explain the observed and dynamically modelled properties of the bulge of NGC 7457. We conclude that both the high level of cylindrical rotation and unusually low velocity dispersion reported for the NGC 7457 have most likely external origins. Therefore, NGC 7457 could be considered as a candidate for merger-driven cylindrical rotation in the absence of a strong bar in disc galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double bars are thought to be important features for secular evolution in the central regions of galaxies. However, observational evidence about their origin and evolution is still scarce. We report on the discovery of the first Box/Peanut (B/P) structure in an inner bar detected in the face-on galaxy NGC 1291. We use the integral field data obtained from the MUSE spectrograph within the TIMER project. The B/P structure is detected as bi-symmetric minima of the h 4 moment of the line-of-sight velocity distribution along the major axis of the inner bar, as expected from numerical simulations. Our observations demonstrate that inner bars can follow a similar evolutionary path as outer bars, undergoing buckling instabilities. They also suggest that inner bars are long-lived structures, thus imposing tight constraints to their possible formation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim is to understand the role of the environment in the quenching of star formation of galaxies located in the infall cluster region of Abell 85 (A85). This is achieved by studying the post-starburst galaxy population as tracer of recent quenching. By measuring the equivalent width (EW) of the [O ii] and Hδ spectral lines, we classify the galaxies into three groups: passive (PAS), emission line (EL), and post-starburst (PSB) galaxies. The PSB galaxy population represents ${\sim } 4.5\hbox{ per cent}$ of the full sample. Dwarf galaxies (Mr > −18.0) account for ${\sim } 70 {\rm -} 80\hbox{ per cent}$ of PSBs, which indicates that most of the galaxies undergoing recent quenching are low-mass objects. Independently of the environment, PSB galaxies are disc-like objects with g − r colour between the blue ELs and the red PAS ones. The PSB and EL galaxies in low-density environments show similar luminosities and local galaxy densities. The dynamics and local galaxy density of the PSB population in high-density environments are shared with PAS galaxies. However, PSB galaxies inside A85 are at shorter clustercentric radius than PAS and EL ones. The value of the EW(Hδ) is larger for those PSBs closer to the cluster centre. We propose two different physical mechanisms producing PSB galaxies depending on the environment. In low-density environments, gas-rich minor mergers or accretions could produce the PSB galaxies. For high-density environments like A85, PSBs would be produced by the removal of the gas reservoirs of EL galaxies by ram-pressure stripping when they pass near the cluster centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stellar velocity ellipsoid (SVE) in galaxies can provide important information on the processes that participate in the dynamical heating of their disc components (e.g. giant molecular clouds, mergers, spiral density waves, and bars). Earlier findings suggested a strong relation between the shape of the disc SVE and Hubble type, with later-type galaxies displaying more anisotropic ellipsoids and early types being more isotropic. In this paper, we revisit the strength of this relation using an exhaustive compilation of observational results from the literature on this issue. We find no clear correlation between the shape of the disc SVE and morphological type, and show that galaxies with the same Hubble type display a wide range of vertical-toradial velocity dispersion ratios. The points are distributed around a mean value and scatter of σz/σ R =0.7±0.2.With the aid of numerical simulations, we argue that different mechanisms might influence the shape of the SVE in the same manner and that the same process (e.g. mergers) does not have the same impact in all the galaxies. The complexity of the observational picture is confirmed by these simulations, which suggest that the vertical-to-radial axis ratio of the SVE is not a good indicator of the main source of disc heating. Our analysis of those simulations also indicates that the observed shape of the disc SVE may be affected by several processes simultaneously and that the signatures of some of them (e.g. mergers) fade over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a galaxy classification system for 238 (E1.Sdm) CALIFA (Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area) galaxies based on the shapes and amplitudes of their circular velocity curves (CVCs). We infer the CVCs from the de-projected surface brightness of the galaxies, after scaling by a constant mass-to-light ratio based on stellar dynamics - solving axisymmetric Jeans equations via fitting the second velocity moment Vrms = √V² + σ² of the stellar kinematics. We use principal component analysis (PCA) applied to the CVC shapes to find characteristic features and use a k-means classifier to separate circular curves into classes. This objective classification method identifies four different classes, which we name slow-rising (SR), flat (FL), round-peaked (RP) and sharp-peaked (SP) circular curves. SR are typical for low-mass, late-type (Sb.Sdm), young, faint, metal-poor and disc-dominated galaxies. SP are typical for high-mass, early-type (E1-E7), old, bright, metal-rich and bulge-dominated galaxies. FL and RP appear presented by galaxies with intermediate mass, age, luminosity, metallicity, bulge-to-disc ratio and morphologies (E4-S0a, Sa-Sbc). The discrepancy mass factor, fd = 1 - M*/Mdyn, have the largest value for SR and SP classes (~ 74 per cent and ~ 71 per cent, respectively) in contrast to the FL and RP classes (with ~ 59 per cent and ~ 61 per cent, respectively). Circular curve classification presents an alternative to typical morphological classification and appears more tightly linked to galaxy evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: About 20% of low-redshift galaxies are late-type spirals with a small or no bulge component. Although they are the simplest disk galaxies in terms of structure and dynamics, the role of the different physical processes driving their formation and evolution is not yet fully understood. Aims: We investigated whether small bulges of late-type spirals follow the same scaling relations traced by ellipticals and large bulges and if small bulges are disk-like or classical bulges. Methods: We derived the photometric and kinematic properties of nine nearby late-type spirals. To this aim, we analyzed the surface-brightness distribution from the i-band images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and obtained the structural parameters of the galaxies from a two-dimensional photometric decomposition. We found a bulge component in seven galaxies of the sample, while the remaining two resulted in pure disk galaxies. We measured the line-of-sight stellar velocity distribution within the bulge effective radius from the long-slit spectra taken with high spectral resolution at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We used the photometric and kinematic properties of the sample bulges to study their location in the fundamental plane, Kormendy, and Faber-Jackson relations defined for ellipticals and large bulges. Results: We found that our bulges satisfy some of the photometric and kinematic prescriptions for being considered disk-like bulges, such as small sizes and masses with nearly exponential light profiles, small bulge-to-total luminosity ratios, low stellar velocity dispersions, and ongoing star formation. However, each of these bulges follows the same scaling relations of ellipticals, massive bulges, and compact early-type galaxies so they cannot be classified as disk-like systems. Conclusions: We find a single population of galaxy spheroids that follow the same scaling relations, where the mass seems to lead to a smooth transition in the photometric and kinematic properties from less massive bulges to more massive bulges and ellipticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the properties of the stellar populations in the discs of a sample of 10 spiral galaxies. Our analysis focused on the galaxy region where the disc contributes more than 95 per cent of total surface brightness in order to minimize the contamination of the bulge and bar. The luminosity-weighted age and metallicity were obtained by fitting the galaxy spectra with a linear combination of stellar population synthesis models, while the total overabundance of α-elements over iron was derived by measuring the line-strength indices. Most of the sample discs display a bimodal age distribution and they are characterized by a total [α/Fe] enhancement ranging from solar and supersolar. We interpreted the age bimodality as due to the simultaneous presence of both a young (Age ≤ 4 Gyr) and an old (Age > 4 Gyr) stellar population. The old stellar component usually dominates the disc surface brightness and its light contribution is almost constant within the observed radial range. For this reason, no age gradient is observed in half of the sample galaxies. The old component is slightly more metal poor than the young one. The metallicity gradient is negative and slightly positive in the old and young components, respectively. These results are in agreement with an inside-out scenario of disc formation and suggest a reduced impact of the radial migration on the stellar populations of the disc. The young component could be the result of a second burst of star formation in gas captured from the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CALIFA team has recently found that the stellar angular momentum and concentration of late-type spiral galaxies are incompatible with those of lenticular galaxies (S0s), concluding that fading alone cannot satisfactorily explain the evolution from spirals into S0s. Here we explore whether major mergers can provide an alternative way to transform spirals into S0s by analysing the spiral-spiral major mergers from the GalMer database that lead to realistic, relaxed S0-like galaxies. We find that the change in stellar angular momentum and concentration can explain the differences in the λRe-R90/R50 plane found by the CALIFA team. Major mergers thus offer a feasible explanation for the transformation of spirals into S0s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Ionized gas kinematics provide important clues to the dynamical structure of galaxies and hold constraints to the processes driving their evolution. Aims. The motivation of this work is to provide an overall characterization of the kinematic behavior of the ionized gas of the galaxies included in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral field Area (CALIFA), offering kinematic clues to potential users of the CALIFA survey for including kinematical criteria in their selection of targets for specific studies. From the first 200 galaxies observed by CALIFA survey in its two configurations, we present the two-dimensional kinematic view of the 177 galaxies satisfaying a gas content/detection threshold. Methods. After removing the stellar contribution, we used the cross-correlation technique to obtain the radial velocity of the dominant gaseous component for each spectrum in the CALIFA data cubes for different emission lines (namely, [O ii] λλ3726, 3729, [OIII] λλ4959, 5007, Hα+[N II] λλ6548, 6584, and [SII]λλ6716, 6730). The main kinematic parameters measured on the plane of the sky were directly derived from the radial velocities with no assumptions on the internal prevailing motions. Evidence of the presence of several gaseous components with different kinematics were detected by using [OIII] λλ4959, 5007 emission line profiles. Results. At the velocity resolution of CALIFA, most objects in the sample show regular velocity fields, although the ionized-gas kinematics are rarely consistent with simple coplanar circular motions. Thirty-five percent of the objects present evidence of a displacement between the photometric and kinematic centers larger than the original spaxel radii. Only 17% of the objects in the sample exhibit kinematic lopsidedness when comparing receding and approaching sides of the velocity fields, but most of them are interacting galaxies exhibiting nuclear activity (AGN or LINER). Early-type (E+S0) galaxies in the sample present clear photometric-kinematic misaligments. There is evidence of asymmetries in the emission line profiles in 117 out of the 177 analyzed galaxies, suggesting the presence of kinematically distinct gaseous components located at different distances from the optical nucleus. The kinematic decoupling between the dominant and secondary component/s suggested by the observed asymmetries in the profiles can be characterized by a limited set of parameters. Conclusions. This work constitutes the first determination of the ionized gas kinematics of the galaxies observed in the CALIFA survey. The derived velocity fields, the reported kinematic distortions/peculiarities and the identification of the presence of several gaseous components in different regions of the objects might be used as additional criteria for selecting galaxies for specific studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tadpole galaxies, with a bright peripheral clump on a faint tail, are morphological types unusual in the nearby universe but very common early on. Low mass local tadpoles were identified and studied photometrically in a previous work, which we complete here analyzing their chemical and dynamical properties. We measure Hα velocity curves of seven local tadpoles, representing 50% of the initial sample. Five of them show evidence for rotation (~70%), and a sixth target hints at it. Often the center of rotation is spatially offset with respect to the tadpole head (three out of five cases). The size and velocity dispersion of the heads are typical of giant Hii regions, and three of them yield dynamical masses in fair agreement with their stellar masses as inferred from photometry. In four cases the velocity dispersion at the head is reduced with respect to its immediate surroundings. The oxygen metallicity estimated from [N II] λ6583/Hα often shows significant spatial variations across the galaxies (~0.5 dex), being smallest at the head and larger elsewhere. The resulting chemical abundance gradients are opposite to the ones observed in local spirals, but agrees with disk galaxies at high redshift. We interpret the metallicity variation as a sign of external gas accretion (cold-flows) onto the head of the tadpole. The galaxies are low-metallicity outliers of the mass-metallicity relationship. In particular, two of the tadpole heads are extremely metal poor, with a metallicity smaller than a tenth of the solar value. These two targets are also very young (ages smaller than 5 Myr). All these results combined are consistent with the local tadpole galaxies being disks in early stages of assembling, with their star formation sustained by accretion of external metal-poor gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We present the radial profiles of the Hβ, Mg and Fe line-strength indices for a sample of eight spiral galaxies with a low-surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The correlations between the central values of the line-strength indices and velocity dispersion are consistent with those known for early-type galaxies and bulges of high-surface-brightness galaxies. The age, metallicity and α/Fe enhancement of the stellar populations in the bulge-dominated region are obtained using stellar population models with variable element abundance ratios. Almost all the sample bulges are characterized by a young stellar population, ongoing star formation and a solar α/Fe enhancement. Their metallicity spans from high to subsolar values. No significant gradient in age and α/Fe enhancement is measured, whereas a negative metallicity gradient is found only in a few cases. These properties suggest that a pure dissipative collapse cannot explain the formation of all the sample bulges and that other phenomena, such as mergers or acquisition events, need to be invoked. Such a picture is also supported by the lack of a correlation between the central value and the gradient of the metallicity in bulges with very low metallicity. The stellar populations of the bulges hosted by low-surface-brightness discs share many properties with those of high-surface-brightness galaxies. Therefore, they are likely to have common formation scenarios and evolution histories. A strong interplay between bulges and discs is ruled out by the fact that, in spite of being hosted by discs with extremely different properties, the bulges of low- and high-surface-brightness discs are remarkably similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photometry and long-slit spectroscopy are presented for 14 S0 and spiral galaxies of the Fornax, Eridanus and Pegasus cluster, and NGC 7582 group. The structural parameters of the galaxies are derived from the R-band images by performing a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of the surface brightness distribution. This is assumed to be the sum of the contribution of a bulge and disc component characterized by elliptical and concentric isophotes with constant (but possibly different) ellipticity and position angles. The rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles are measured from the spectra obtained along the major axis of galaxies. The radial profiles of the Hβ, Mg and Fe line-strength indices are presented too. Correlations between the central values of and σ are found. The age, metallicity and α/Fe enhancement of the stellar population in the centre and at the radius where bulge and disc give the same contribution to the total surface brightness are obtained using stellar population models with variable element abundance ratios. Three classes of bulges are identified. The youngest bulges (∼2 Gyr) with ongoing star formation, intermediate-age bulges (4–8 Gyr) have solar metallicity, and old bulges (∼10 Gyr) have high metallicity. Most of the sample bulges display solar α/Fe enhancement, no gradient in age and a negative gradient of metallicity. The presence of negative gradient in the metallicity radial profile favours a scenario with bulge formation via dissipative collapse. This implies strong inside-out formation that should give rise to a negative gradient in the α/Fe enhancement too. But, no gradient is measured in the [α/Fe] radial profiles for all the galaxies, except for NGC 1366. In this galaxy there is a kinematically decoupled component, which is younger than the rest of host bulge. It possibly formed by enriched material probably acquired via interaction or minor merging. The bulge of NGC 1292 is the most reliable pseudo-bulge of our sample. The properties of its stellar population are consistent with a slow build-up within a scenario of secular evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photometry and long-slit spectroscopy are presented for a sample of six galaxies with a low surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The characterizing parameters of the bulge and disc components were derived by means of a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of the images of the sample galaxies. Their surface-brightness distribution was assumed to be the sum of the contribution of a Sérsic bulge and an exponential disc, with each component being described by elliptical and concentric isophotes of constant ellipticity and position angle. The stellar and ionized-gas kinematics were measured along the major and minor axes in half of the sample galaxies, whereas the other half was observed only along two diagonal axes. Spectra along two diagonal axes were obtained also for one of the objects with major and minor axis spectra. The kinematic measurements extend in the disc region out to a surface-brightness level mag arcsec−2, reaching in all cases the flat part of the rotation curve. The stellar kinematics turns out to be more regular and symmetric than the ionized-gas kinematics, which often shows the presence of non-circular, off-plane and non-ordered motions. This raises the question about the reliability of the use of the ionized gas as the tracer of the circular velocity in the modelling of the mass distribution, in particular in the central regions of low surface-brightness galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the Galaxy IFU Spectroscopy Tool (GIST), a convenient, all-in-one and multi-purpose tool for the analysis and visualisation of already reduced (integral-field) spectroscopic data. In particular, the pipeline performs all steps from read-in and preparation of data to its scientific analysis and visualisation in publication-quality plots. The code measures stellar kinematics and non-parametric star formation histories using the pPXF routine (Cappellari & Emsellem 2004; Cappellari 2017), performs an emission-line analysis with the GandALF procedure (Sarzi et al. 2006; Falcón-Barroso et al. 2006), and determines absorption line-strength indices and their corresponding single stellar population equivalent population properties (Kuntschner et al.2006; Martín-Navarro et al. 2018). The dedicated visualisation routine Mapviewer facilitates the access of all data products in a sophisticated graphical user interface with fully interactive plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We present the radial profiles of the Hβ, Mg and Fe line-strength indices for a sample of eight spiral galaxies with a low-surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The correlations between the central values of the line-strength indices and velocity dispersion are consistent with those known for early-type galaxies and bulges of high-surface-brightness galaxies. The age, metallicity and α/Fe enhancement of the stellar populations in the bulge-dominated region are obtained using stellar population models with variable element abundance ratios. Almost all the sample bulges are characterized by a young stellar population, ongoing star formation and a solar α/Fe enhancement. Their metallicity spans from high to subsolar values. No significant gradient in age and α/Fe enhancement is measured, whereas a negative metallicity gradient is found only in a few cases. These properties suggest that a pure dissipative collapse cannot explain the formation of all the sample bulges and that other phenomena, such as mergers or acquisition events, need to be invoked. Such a picture is also supported by the lack of a correlation between the central value and the gradient of the metallicity in bulges with very low metallicity. The stellar populations of the bulges hosted by low-surface-brightness discs share many properties with those of high-surface-brightness galaxies. Therefore, they are likely to have common formation scenarios and evolution histories. A strong interplay between bulges and discs is ruled out by the fact that, in spite of being hosted by discs with extremely different properties, the bulges of low- and high-surface-brightness discs are remarkably similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]