The quiet solar chromosphere in regions with negligible magnetic field is believed to be heated by acoustic waves. But their energy flux, measured in the upper photosphere with the Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE), has been found to be insufficient to account for the radiative emission from the chromosphere. Wedemeyer-Böhm et al. (2007) and Cuntz et al. (2007), employing a 3D hydrodynamical model by Wedemeyer et al. (2004), have proposed that the spatial resolution of TRACE is inadequate to resolve intensity fluctuations that occur on small spatial scales. This paper accepts the principle of spatial averaging by TRACE as a qualitative explanation for the low acoustic flux but finds that the hydrodynamical model is too much simplified in the treatment of radiative energy exchange to provide a quantitative measure of the suppression of the fluctuations. The heating mechanism of the chromosphere thus remains an open question.

We present the 2D kinematics of the nuclear region of the double-nucleated low-luminosity elliptical galaxy IC 225. Observations with the GMOS-N IFU at Gemini Observatory show a large amount of metal-rich gas coincident with the off-center nucleus. However, preliminary kinematics analysis indicates that the velocity of the stars in the off-center nucleus is distinct from that of the gas at the same position. Therefore, this is an intriguing example of how the formation of a nucleus or bulge may be occurring in a low-luminosity elliptical galaxy.

A proper motion study of a field of 20′ × 20′ inside Plaut's low extinction window (l,b)=(0o, −8o), has been completed. Relative proper motions and photographic BV photometry have been derived for ~ 21,000 stars reaching to V ~ 20.5 mag, based on the astrometric reduction of 43 photographic plates, spanning over 21 years of epoch difference. Proper motion errors are typically 1 mas yr−1. Cross-referencing with the 2MASS catalog yielded a sample of ~ 8700 stars, from which predominantly disk and bulge subsamples were selected photometrically from the JH color-magnitude diagram. The two samples exhibited different proper-motion distributions, with the disk displaying the expected reflex solar motion. Galactic rotation was also detected for stars between ~2 and ~3 kpc from us. The bulge sample, represented by red giants, has an intrinsic proper motion dispersion of (σl, σb) = (3.39, 2.91)±(0.11, 0.09) mas yr−1, which is in good agreement with previous results. A mean distance of kpc has been estimated for the bulge sample, based on the observed K magnitude of the horizontal branch red clump. The metallicity [M/H] distribution was also obtained for a subsample of 60 bulge giants stars, based on calibrated photometric indices. The observed [M/H] shows a peak value at [M/H] ~ −0.1 with an extended metal poor tail and around 30% of the stars with supersolar metallicity. No change in proper motion dispersion was observed as a function of [M/H]. We are currently in the process of obtaining CCD UBV RI photometry for the entire proper-motion sample of ~ 21,000 stars.

The 6dF Galaxy Survey provides a very large sample of galaxies with reliable measurements of Lick line indices and velocity dispersions. This sample can be used to explore the correlations between mass and stellar population parameters such as age, metallicity and [α/Fe]. Preliminary results from such an analysis are presented here, and show that age and metallicity are significantly anti-correlated for both passive and star-forming galaxies. Passive galaxies have strong correlations between mass and metallicity and between age and α-element over-abundance, which combine to produce a downsizing relation between age and mass. For old passive galaxies, the different trends of M/L with mass and luminosity in different passbands result from the differential effect of the mass–metallicity relation on the luminosities in each passband. Future work with this sample will examine the Fundamental Plane of bulge-dominated galaxies and the influence of environment on relations between stellar population parameters and mass.

We discuss some recent integral field spectroscopy using the SAURON instrument of a sample consisting of 24 early-type spirals, part of the SAURON Survey, and 18 late-type spirals. Using 2-dimensional maps of their stellar radial velocity, velocity dispersion, and absorption line strength, it is now much easier to understand the nature of nearby galactic bulges. We discuss a few highlights of this work, and point out some new ideas about the formation of galactic bulges.

We computed the chemical evolution of Seyfert galaxies, residing in spiral bulges, based on an updated model for the Milky Way bulge with updated calculations of the Galactic potential and of the feedback from the central supermassive black hole (BH) in a spherical approximation. We followed the evolution of bulges of masses 2 × 109 − 1011M⊙ by scaling the star-formation efficiency and the bulge scalelenght as in the inverse-wind scenario for ellipticals. We successfully reproduced the observed relation between the BH mass and that of the host bulge, and the observed peak nuclear bolometric luminosity. The observed metal overabundances are easily achieved, as well as the constancy of chemical abundances with the redshift.

Compact star clusters are commonly found in the centers of galaxies and may foster formation of intermediate-mass “seed” black holes that facilitate the growth of supermassive black holes in galaxy nuclei. Such star clusters can be studied with minimal background starlight contamination in bulgeless galaxies. We present new results that point to the presence of an accreting black hole associated with the central star cluster in the Sd galaxy NGC 1042, and discuss implications for the bulge-black hole connection.

A set of bi-orthogonal potential-density basis functions is introduced to model the density and its associated gravitational field of three dimensional stellar systems. Radial components of our basis functions are weighted integral forms of spherical Bessel functions. We discuss on the properties of our basis functions and demonstrate their shapes for the latitudinal Fourier number l = 2.

We report the progress in our measurement of the 3-D kinematics in several low foreground extinction windows of the Galactic Bulge. In order to complete the 3-D kinematics of as many stars as possible, proper motions and radial velocities have been obtained using HST WFPC2-ACS and VLT VIMOS respectively. Our preliminary results for fields close to the galactic minor axis show a significant vertex deviation, which can be directly related to a signature of triaxility. This is one of the strongest proofs to date of the presence of the stellar bar in the galactic bulge.

We have attempted to overcome the incompleteness of spectroscopic survey and found galaxy clusters by measuring the spectro-photometric density of galaxies.

We introduce a Japanese space astrometry project which is called JASMINE. JASMINE (Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration) will measure distances and tangential motions of stars in the Galactic bulge with yet unprecedented precision. JASMINE will operate in z-band whose central wavelength is 0.9 micron. It will measure parallaxes, positions with accuracy of about 10 micro-arcsec and proper motions with accuracy of about 10 micro- arcsec/year for the stars brighter than z=14 mag. The number of stars observed by JASMINE with high accuracy of parallaxes in the Galactic bulge is much larger than that observed in other space astrometry projects operating in optical bands. With the completely new “map of the Galactic bulge” including motions of bulge stars, we expect that many new exciting scientific results will be obtained in studies of the Galactic bulge. One of them is the construction of the dynamical structure of the Galactic bulge. Kinematics and distance data given by JASMINE are the closest approach to a view of the exact dynamical structure of the Galactic bulge.

Presently, JASMINE is in a development phase, with a target launch date around 2016. We comment on the outline of JASMINE mission, scientific targets and a preliminary design of JASMINE in this paper.

We combine deep UBV RIzJK photometry from the MUSYC survey with redshifts from the COMBO-17 survey to study the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) properties of 674 high-redshift (0.5 < z < 1) early-type galaxies, drawn from the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (E-CDFS). Galaxy morphologies are determined through visual inspection of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images taken from the GEMS survey. We harness the sensitivity of the UV to young (<1 Gyrs old) stars to quantify the recent star formation history of the early-type population. We find compelling evidence that early-types of all luminosities form stars over the lifetime of the Universe, although the bulk of their star formation is already complete at high redshift. Luminous (−23 < M(V) < −20.5) early-types form 10-15 percent of their mass after z = 1, while their less luminous (M(V) > −20.5) counterparts form 30-60 percent of their mass in the same redshift range.

We report on a new study aimed at understanding the diversity and evolutionary properties of distant galactic bulges in the context of well-established trends for pure spheroidal galaxies. Bulges have been isolated for a sample of 137 spiral galaxies in the GOODS fields within the redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.2. Using proven photometric techniques we determine for each galaxy the characteristic parameters (size, surface brightness, profile shape) in the 4 GOODS-ACS imaging bands of both the disk and bulge components. Using the DEIMOS spectrograph on Keck, precision stellar velocity dispersions were secured for a sizeable fraction of the bulges. This has enabled us to compare the Fundamental Plane of our distant bulges with that of field spheroidal galaxies in a similar redshift range. Bulges in spiral galaxies with a bulge-to-total luminosity ratio (B/T) > 0.2 show very similar patterns of evolution to those seen for low luminosity spheroidals. To first order, their recent mass assembly histories are equivalent.

We report about the fact that the stellar population that is born in the gas inflowing towards the central regions can be vertically unstable leading to a B/PS feature remarkably bluer that the surrounding bulge. Using new chemodynamical simulations we show that this young population does not remain as flat as the gaseous nuclear disc and buckles out of the plane to form a new boxy bulge. We show that such a young B/PS bulge can be detected in colour maps.

We present near-infrared (H- and K-band) SINFONI integral-field observations of the circumnuclear star formation rings in five nearby spiral galaxies. We made use of the relative intensities of different emission lines (i.e. [FeII], HeI, Brγ) to age date the stellar clusters present along the rings. This qualitative, yet robust, method allows us to discriminate between two distinct scenarios that describe how star formation progresses along the rings. Our findings favour a model where star formation is triggered predominantly at the intersection between the bar major axis and the inner Lindblad resonance and then passively evolves as the clusters rotate around the ring (‘Pearls on a string’ scenario), although models of stochastically distributed star formation (‘Popcorn’ model) cannot be completely ruled out.

We study the pairing of massive black holes embedded in a massive circum–nuclear, rotationally supported disc, until they form a close binary. Using high resolution SPH simulations, we follow the black hole dynamics, and in particular the eccentricity evolution, as a function of the composition in stars and gas of the disc. Binary–disc interaction always leads to orbital decay and, in case of co–rotating black holes, to orbit circularization. We present also a higher resolution simulation performed using the particle–splitting technique showing that the binary orbital decay is efficient down to a separation of ~ 0.1 pc, comparable to our new resolution limit. We detail the gaseous mass profile bound to each black hole. Double nuclear activity is expected to occur on an estimated timescale of ≲ 10 Myrs.

We evaluate the nature of bulges in the Hubble sequence, based on an analysis of 216 disk galaxies of all morphological types (S0-Sd). For this purpose we collect our various analysis made separately for early and late-type galaxies, published in a series of papers. Using the criteria by Kormendy & Kennicutt we find strong evidence of pseudobulges in all Hubble types, including S0s. However, due to the relatively massive bulges in S0-S0/a galaxies it is not probable that the (pseudo)bulges in these galaxies were formed in a similar manner as in spirals. More likely, pseudobulges particularly in strongly barred early-type disk galaxies are suggested to be a combination of star formation and the nearly exponential central components of bars.

NMAGIC is a parallel implementation of our made-to-measure (χ2M2M) algorithm for constructing N-particle models of stellar systems from observational data, which extends earlier ideas by Syer & Tremaine (1996). The χ2M2M algorithm properly accounts for observational errors, is flexible, and can be applied to various systems and geometries. We show its ability to reproduce the internal dynamics of an oblate isotropic rotator model and report on the modeling of the dark matter (DM) halo of NGC 3379 combining SAURON and PN.S kinematic data. The χ2M2M algorithm is practical, reliable and can be applied to various dynamical systems without symmetry restrictions. We conclude that χ2M2M holds great promise for unraveling the internal dynamics of bulges.

We explore the connection between the central supermassive blackholes (SMBH) in galaxies and the dark matter halo through the relation between the masses of the SMBHs and the maximum circular velocities of their host galaxies, as well as the relationship between stellar velocity dispersion of the spheroidal component and the circular velocity. We rely on a heterogeneous sample containing galaxies of all types. The only requirement is that the galaxy has direct measurements of its SMBH mass, MBH, circular velocity, vc, and velocity dispersion, σ. We present a direct observational MBH − vc relation.

Using the gravitational torque indicator Qb, we derive the distribution of bar strengths for a sample of early-type disk galaxies. The sample is part of the Near-Infrared S0 Survey (NIRS0S), designed to examine the properties of bars, bulges, and disks in galaxies classified as types S0− to Sa. Although the survey is only partly finished, we find that the distribution of bar strengths in S0 galaxies differs from that in spirals by lacking an extended tail to high values of Qb. No S0 in our current sample has Qb > 0.25, while spirals extend to Qb ≈ 0.7. Bars having Qb > 0.25 first appear among S0/a to Sa galaxies.