The mechanisms giving rise to diffuse radio emission in galaxy clusters, and in particular their connection with cluster mergers, are still debated. We seek to explore the internal dynamics of the cluster Abell 2294, which has been shown to host a radio halo. Our analysis is mainly based on redshift data for 88 galaxies acquired at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We combine galaxy velocities and positions to select 78 cluster galaxies and analyze its internal dynamics. We also use both photometric data acquired at the Isaac Newton Telescope and X-ray data from the Chandra archive.
We present evidence for a ring of stars in the plane of the Milky Way, extending at least from l=180{deg} to 227{deg} with turnoff magnitude g~19.5; the ring could encircle the Galaxy. We infer that the low Galactic latitude structure is at a fairly constant distance of R=18+/-2kpc from the Galactic center above the Galactic plane and has R=20+/-2kpc in the region sampled below the Galactic plane. The evidence includes 500 Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopic radial velocities of stars within 30{deg} of the plane. The velocity dispersion of the stars associated with this structure is found to be 27km/s at (l, b)=(198, -27), 22km/s at (l, b)=(225, 28), 30km/s at (l, b)=(188, 24), and 30km/s at (l, b)=(182, 27). The structure rotates in the same prograde direction as the Galactic disk stars but with a circular velocity of 110+/-25km/s. The narrow measured velocity dispersion is inconsistent with power-law spheroid or thick-disk populations.
We have spectroscopically identified 77 new members of the Cygnus A cluster, bringing to 118 the total number of galaxies consistent with cluster membership.
We analyze orbital solutions for 48 massive multiple-star systems in the Cygnus OB2 association, 23 of which are newly presented here, to find that the observed distribution of orbital periods is approximately uniform in log P for P<45days, but it is not scale-free. Inflections in the cumulative distribution near 6days, 14days, and 45days suggest key physical scales of =~0.2, =~0.4, and =~1A.U. where yet-to-be-identified phenomena create distinct features. No single power law provides a statistically compelling prescription, but if features are ignored, a power law with exponent {beta}=~-0.22 provides a crude approximation over P=1.4-2000days, as does a piece-wise linear function with a break near 45days. The cumulative period distribution flattens at P>45days, even after correction for completeness, indicating either a lower binary fraction or a shift toward low-mass companions. A high degree of similarity (91% likelihood) between the Cyg OB2 period distribution and that of other surveys suggests that the binary properties at P<~25days are determined by local physics of disk/clump fragmentation and are relatively insensitive to environmental and evolutionary factors. Fully 30% of the unbiased parent sample is a binary with period P<45days. Completeness corrections imply a binary fraction near 55% for P<5000days. The observed distribution of mass ratios 0.2<q<1 is consistent with uniform, while the observed distribution of eccentricities 0.1<e<0.6 is consistent with uniform plus an excess of e=~0 systems. We identify six stars, all supergiants, that exhibit aperiodic velocity variations of ~30km/s attributed to atmospheric fluctuations.
The nearby open cluster Blanco 1 is of considerable astrophysical interest for formation and evolution studies of open clusters because it is the third highest Galactic latitude cluster known. It has been observed often, but so far no definitive and comprehensive membership determination is readily available. An observing programme was carried out to study the stellar population of Blanco 1, and especially the membership and binary frequency of the F5-K0 dwarfs. We obtained radial-velocities with the CORAVEL spectrograph in the field of Blanco 1 for a sample of 148 F-G-K candidate stars in the magnitude range 10<V<14. New proper motions and UBVI CCD photometric data from two extensive surveys were obtained independently and are used to establish reliable cluster membership assignments in concert with radial-velocity data. The membership of 68 stars is confirmed on the basis of proper motion, radial velocity, and photometric criteria. Fourteen spectroscopic- and suspected binaries (2 SB2s, 9 SB1s, 3SB?) have been discovered among the confirmed members. Thirteen additional stars are located above the main sequence or close to the binary ridge, with radial velocities and proper motions supporting their membership. These are probable binaries with wide separations. Nine binaries (7 SB1 and 2 SB2) were detected among the field stars. The spectroscopic binary frequency among members is 20% (14/68); however, the overall binary rate reaches 40% (27/68) if one includes the photometric binaries. The cluster mean heliocentric radial velocity is +5.53+/-0.11km/s based on the most reliable 49 members. The Vsini distribution is similar to that of the Pleiades, confirming the age similarities between the two clusters.
A long-term monitoring of solar-type dwarfs in 13 nearby open clusters, d<500pc, was conducted during 19 years, but most individual radial velocities were not published, with the exception of a small number of spectroscopic binaries. The program was designed to study the membership, the duplicity, and to search for new members. We obtained 6070 radial velocities during 19 years at the Haute-Provence Observatory (France) and 1130 during 13 years at ESO La Silla (Chile) for 1253 stars in the field of 13 open clusters. The zero point of the CORAVEL radial velocity system has been improved and the new values supersede those published previously. The membership and binarity of solar-type stars in NGC 1976 (Orion), IC 2602, NGC 7092, and NGC 2682 are briefly discussed. For the whole sample, we confirm the membership of 894 stars and discovered 150 new spectroscopic binaries among them. Added to those already known in the Hyades and Coma Berenices, the number of member spectroscopic binaries amounts to 188. The overall binary frequency is 30% (188/618) for stars with at least 2 measurements. IC 2602 may represent an exception because no spectroscopic binaries were found among the 26 members. New orbital elements were computed with the updated values of the radial velocities for 66 systems, representing 55 members and 11 non-members. This paper is the last one from our team reporting CORAVEL radial velocities of solar-type dwarfs in nearby open clusters. All CORAVEL observations for dwarfs and red giants in open clusters are now available in electronic form.
We present extended stellar kinematics for a sample of elliptical galaxies in the Fornax cluster. Out of the 13 galaxies presented here, five (FCC 119, FCC 136, NGC 1373, NGC 1428, FCC 335) have no previously published kinematical data. Major-axis velocity dispersion profiles (VDPs) and rotation curves (RCs) are given for 12 of the galaxies. A major feature of this data is the spatial extension: for 8 galaxies the data extends beyond 1R_e_, and for 5 it extends beyond 2R_e_. Compared to the previously available data, this corresponds to an increase in spatial coverage by a factor from 1 to 5. The present sample represents 86% of the ellipticals in Fornax brighter than B_T_=15mag.
In this paper, we investigate some chemokinematical properties of the Milky Way disk, by using a sample composed by 424 late-type dwarfs. We show that the velocity dispersion of a stellar group increases steadily the age of the stellar group, according to a disk heating law proportional to t^0.26^, where t is the age of the stellar group. The temporal evolution of the vertex deviation is considered in detail. It is shown that the vertex deviation does not follow a smooth variation with time. Previous studies in the literature seem to not have found it due to the use of statistical ages for stellar groups, rather than individual ages. The possibility to use the orbital parameters of a star to derive information about its birthplace is investigated, and we show that the mean galactocentric radius is likely to be the most reliable stellar birthplace indicator. However, this information cannot be used presently to derive radial evolutionary constraints, due to an intrinsic bias present in all samples constructed from nearby stars.
To conduct an intensive study of the rich, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster Abell 773 at z=0.22 containing a diffuse radio halo to determine its dynamical status. Our analysis is based on new spectroscopic data obtained at the TNG telescope for 107 galaxies, 37 spectra recovered from the CFHT archive and new photometric data obtained at the Isaac Newton Telescope. We use statistical tools to select 100 cluster members (out to ~1.8h^-1^_70_ from the cluster centre), to analyse the kinematics of cluster galaxies and to determine the cluster structure. Our analysis is also performed by using X-ray data stored in the Chandra archive.
The connection of cluster mergers with the presence of extended, diffuse radio sources in galaxy clusters is still debated. An interesting case is the rich, merging cluster Abell 520, containing a radio halo. A recent gravitational analysis has shown in this cluster the presence of a massive dark core suggested to be a possible problem for the current cold dark matter paradigm. We aim to obtain new insights into the internal dynamics of Abell 520 analyzing velocities and positions of member galaxies. Our analysis is based on redshift data for 293 galaxies in the cluster field obtained combining new redshift data for 8 galaxies acquired at the TNG with data obtained by CNOC team and other few data from the literature. We also use new photometric data obtained at the INT telescope. We combine galaxy velocities and positions to select 167 cluster members around z~0.201. We analyze the cluster structure using the weighted gap analysis, the KMM method, the Dressler-Shectman statistics and the analysis of the velocity dispersion profiles. We compare our results with those from X-ray, radio and gravitational lensing analyses.
