GRAND DESIGN AND FLOCCULENT SPIRALS IN THE SPITZER SURVEY OF STELLAR STRUCTURE IN GALAXIES (S{sup 4}G)

Journal Article · Wed Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/737/1/32· OSTI ID:21579991

Elmegreen, Debra Meloy; Yau, Andrew ^[1]; Elmegreen, Bruce G ^[2]; Athanassoula, E; Bosma, Albert ^[3]; Buta, Ronald J ^[4]; Helou, George; Sheth, Kartik ^[5]; Ho, Luis C; Madore, Barry F; Menendez-Delmestre, KarIn ^[6]; Gadotti, Dimitri A ^[7]; Knapen, Johan H ^[8]; Laurikainen, Eija; Salo, Heikki ^[9]; Masters, Karen L ^[10]; Meidt, Sharon E ^[11]; Regan, Michael W ^[12]; Zaritsky, Dennis ^[13]; Aravena, Manuel ^[14]

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1. Vassar College, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604 (United States)
2. IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (United States)
3. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), UMR6110, Universite de Provence/CNRS, Technopole de Marseille Etoile, 38 rue Frederic Joliot Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 20 (France)
4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Box 870324, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States)
5. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
6. The Observatories, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
7. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching bei Munchen (Germany)
8. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna (Spain)
9. Department of Physical Sciences/Astronomy Division, University of Oulu, FIN 90014 (Finland)
10. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 2EH (United Kingdom)
11. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Konigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
12. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
13. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
14. National Radio Astronomy Observatory/NAASC, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States)

Spiral arm properties of 46 galaxies in the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S{sup 4}G) were measured at 3.6 {mu}m, where extinction is small and the old stars dominate. The sample includes flocculent, multiple arm, and grand design types with a wide range of Hubble and bar types. We find that most optically flocculent galaxies are also flocculent in the mid-IR because of star formation uncorrelated with stellar density waves, whereas multiple arm and grand design galaxies have underlying stellar waves. Arm-interarm contrasts increase from flocculent to multiple arm to grand design galaxies and with later Hubble types. Structure can be traced further out in the disk than in previous surveys. Some spirals peak at mid-radius while others continuously rise or fall, depending on Hubble and bar type. We find evidence for regular and symmetric modulations of the arm strength in NGC 4321. Bars tend to be long, high amplitude, and flat-profiled in early-type spirals, with arm contrasts that decrease with radius beyond the end of the bar, and they tend to be short, low amplitude, and exponential-profiled in late Hubble types, with arm contrasts that are constant or increase with radius. Longer bars tend to have larger amplitudes and stronger arms.

• OSTI ID: 21579991
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 737, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/737/1/32; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
GALAXIES
PHOTOMETRY
STARS