Prompted by the possibility that we have observed star formation triggered by globular cluster and dwarf spheroidal transits through galactic disks, we have examined kinematic evidence as to whether the superstar clusters in the Galactic bulge could have been formed from such transits. From their trajectores, we cannot exclude such a possibility. We note also that the high frequency of these transits may have generated rapid star formation at early times, and that remnant cluster cores may themselves nucleate further star formation.

The global colors and structure of galaxies have recently been shown to follow bimodal distributions. Galaxies separate into a “red sequence”, populated prototypically by early-type galaxies, and a “blue cloud”, whose typical objects are late-type disk galaxies. Intermediate-type (Sa-Sbc) galaxies populate both regions. It has been suggested that this bimodality reflects the two-component nature of disk-bulge galaxies. However, it has now been established that there are two types of bulges: “classical bulges” that are dynamically hot systems resembling (little) ellipticals, and “pseudobulges”, dynamically cold, flattened, disk-like structures that could not have formed via violent relaxation. Alas, given the different formation mechanisms of these bulges, the question is whether at types Sa-Sbc, where both bulge types are found, the red-blue dichotomy separates galaxies at some value of disk-to-bulge ratio, B/T, or, whether it separates galaxies of different bulge type, irrespective of their B/T. In this paper, we identify classical bulges and pseudobulges morphologically with HST images in a sample of nearby galaxies. Detailed surface photometry reveals that: (1) The red – blue dichotomy is a function of bulge type: at the same B/T, pseudobulges are in globally blue galaxies and classical bulges are in globally red galaxies. (2) Bulge type also predicts where the galaxy lies in other (bimodal) global structural parameters: global Sérsic index and central surface brightness. Hence, the red – blue dichotomy is not due to decreasing bulge prominence alone, and the bulge type of a galaxy carries significance for the galaxy's evolutionary history.

The growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) appears to be closely linked with the formation of spheroids. There is a pressing need to acquire better statistics on SMBH masses, since the existing samples are preferentially weighted toward early-type galaxies with very massive SMBHs. With this motivation we started a project aimed at measuring upper limits on the mass of the SMBHs that can be present in the center of all the nearby galaxies (D < 100 Mpc) for which STIS/G750M spectra are available in the HST archive. These upper limits will be derived by modeling the central emission-line widths ([N II] λλ6548, 6583, Hα and [S II] λλ6716, 6731) observed over an aperture of ~01 (R < 50 pc). Here we present our preliminary results for a subsample of 76 bulges.

Three new and still on-going surveys that combine the power of spectroscopy or adaptive optics from the Keck Telescopes with HST images are DEEP, AEGIS, and CATS. The advantages of each for the study of distant bulges are accompanied by a few highlights. We find that the vast fraction of luminous distant bulges appear very red, independent of the bulge luminosity, bulge fraction, disk color, and environment. Yet early-type galaxies appear to be relatively young at redshifts z ~ 1, are less numerous then, host many X-ray AGN's with some that are highly obscured, and have low but increasing dry-dry and dry-wet merger rates over time.

We present recent results showing that a large fraction of red sequence galaxies contain ionized gas with LINER-like optical emission line ratios. This emission is more frequently found in galaxies with lower central velocity dispersion (σ) and these galaxies typically have younger mean ages than galaxies at the same σ which do not host emission. We suggest that the presence of LINER-like emission may be determined by the quantity of interstellar material in these galaxies and may be associated with the recent accretion of a gas-rich satellite galaxy or alternatively with stellar mass loss that declines as the galaxy stellar population ages.

Pseudobulges form from unstable disks, while classical bulges form in violent episodes of star formation when a merger sweeps cold gas to a galactic centre. It seems unlikely that smashed disks contribute much to classical bulges. During mergers central black holes make cusps shallower and inflate kinematically decoupled cores. The abundance of galaxies with no detected classical bulge can perhaps be understood if galaxies exchange gas with the IGM more freely than is often supposed.

The case is outlined for a new galaxy survey, including spectroscopy with AAOmega and sub-arcsecond multi-band imaging, that bridges a crucial gap between the SDSS and VVDS surveys. The science focus is to study structure and the relationship between matter and light on kpc-to-Mpc scales. The range of scales probed will enable direct constraints on the Cold Dark Matter model by: (1) measuring the halo mass function down to and its evolution to z ~ 0.4; (2) measuring the galaxy stellar mass function to very low mass limits of constraining baryonic feedback processes; and (3) quantifying the environment-dependent merger rate since z ~ 0.4. Here, we highlight the fact that the high-resolution imaging will enable the bulge-disk decomposition of ~200000 galaxies in u–K, providing a valuable resource for statistical studies of bulge properties.

To study the distribution of star formation and dust emission within nearby galaxies, we measured five morphological parameters in the 24 μm wave band for 73 galaxies observed as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey. The morphological parameters demonstrate strong variations along the Hubble sequence, including statistically significant differences between S0/a-Sab and Sc-Sd galaxies. Early-type spiral galaxies are generally found to be compact, centralized, symmetric sources in the 24 μm band, whereas late-type spiral galaxies are generally found to be extended, asymmetric 24 μm sources. These results suggest that processes that increase the real or apparent sizes of galaxies' bulges also lead to more centralized 24 μm emission.

High-resolution seeing limited and adaptive optics near-infrared imaging observations of the stellar cluster within about one parsec of the massive black hole Sagittarius A* allow us to obtain a detailed picture of the structure of the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way. We find that the stellar number counts and the diffuse light of the unresolved stellar population can be described very well by a stellar density function in the form of a broken-power law. This agrees well with theoretical predictions on the structure of a dynamically relaxed star cluster around a massive black hole. However, the cusp slope is found to be too shallow, which may be related to mixing of different stellar populations and continuous star formation, phenomena that are not taken into account by current theory. Mass densities larger than 107 solar masses per pc3 are reached within 0.1 pc of the central black hole. Intriguingly, up to several tens of percent of the total cluster mass in the central parsec may be in the form of dark stellar remnants.

We present a study of the structure of the Galactic Bulge in the region −6° < b < 3°,−17° < l < 17° using 2MASS archive data. More than 100 fields are used. We make use of the red clump method to derive the distance of the Bulge in the studied regions. We derive a position angle of the Galactic Bulge going from 42° ± 11 to 35° ± 10 depending on the adopted bulge mass distribution.

We present extensive photometric and spectroscopic study to give a new insight in the bulge stellar population. Super-solar α/Fe and its constant value along the radial profile, in most of the galaxies, suggest that the star formation in these objects has been fast and occurred at the same time in the whole bulge.

The dynamics of a barred galaxy depends on the pattern speed of its bar. The only direct method for measuring the pattern speed of a bar is the Tremaine-Weinberg technique. This method is best suited to the analysis of the distribution and dynamics of the stellar component. Therefore it has been mostly used for early-type barred galaxies. Most of them host a classical bulge. On the other hand, a variety of indirect methods, which are based on the analysis of the distribution and dynamics of the gaseous component, has been used to measure the bar pattern speed in late-type barred galaxies. Nearly all the measured bars are as rapidly rotating as they can be. By comparing this result with high-resolution numerical simulations of bars in dark matter halos, it is possible to conclude that these bars reside in maximal disks.

In order to investigate how the growth of galactic bulges is accompanied with the growth of central black holes (BHs), we observed molecular gas (fuel for the coming star formation) in possibly young active galaxies, narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). We present the results of pilot observations of 12CO (1→0) line using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array for two FIR-bright NLS1s, ending in the first detection of their CO emission. Corresponding molecular-gas masses M(H2) of (1−3)×109M⊙ are the 2nd and 4th largest ones among NLS1s. Together with CO data for other NLS1s (including our sub-kpc observations) and for broad-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (BLS1s), we found that NLS1s and BLS1s contain a similar amount of molecular–gas. We do not see a significant difference in M(H2)/MBH ratios and in M(H2)/Mbulge ratios between NLS1s and BLS1s. The lack of a clear difference in M(H2) between them indicates either that bulge and BH growth phases are not overlapped or that the duration of star formation is much longer than that of active galaxies.

In 2004 the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS) project undertook a very deep ACS/WFC exposure-set of the Sgr-I low-reddening window in the Galactic Bulge, with repeat observations 2.04 years later. The combination of superb first-epoch sampling, wide field of view and high PSF stability of ACS/WFC on Hubble allows proper motions to be extracted for more than 137,000 objects, over 85,000 to accuracy better than 0.3 mas yr−1. We present these proper motions and outline some of the uses to which they have been put, including the separation of a pure-Bulge sample and the inner Galactic rotation curve.

In this work, using the database of the university of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory (UMRAO), we determined the brightness temperatures, TB for a sample of 167 radio sources. The value of TB is in a range of log TB(K) = 10.46 to 20.08, which suggested that the boosting factors are in a range of δ = 0.41 to 41.26.

Recently a new approach was presented where astronomical objects as galaxies and clusters are idealized as self-gravitating systems living in a universe endowed with more than 3+1 dimensions. A such paradigm, named GEDi (Gravitation with Extra Dimensions), may solve exactly the missing mass problem for rotation curves of galaxies or gravitational lensing of clusters with no dark matter particles. Here we present an introductory discussion about the construction of a real galaxy using a Miyamoto-Nagai solution for isotropical coordinates to mimic spiral galaxies with bulges.

High redshift galaxies play a key role in our developing understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. Since such galaxies are being studied within a Gyr of the big bang, they provide a unique probe of the physics of one of the first generations of large-scale star-formation. We have performed a complete statistical study of the physical properties of a robust sample of z~5 UV luminous galaxies selected using the Lyman-break technique. The characteristic properties of this sample differ from LBGs at z~3 of comparable luminosity in that they are a factor of ten less massive (~few×109 M⊙) and the majority (~70%) are considerably younger (<100Myr). Our results support no more than a modest decline in the global star formation rate density at high redshifts and suggest that ~1% of the stellar mass density of the universe had already assembled at z~5. The constraint derived for the latter is affected by their young ages and short duty cycles which imply existing z~5 LBG samples may be highly incomplete. These intense starbursts have high unobscured star formation rate surface densities (~100s M⊙ yr−1 kpc−2), suggesting they drive outflows and winds that enrich the intra- and inter-galactic media with metals. These properties imply that the majority of z~5 LBGs are in formation meaning that most of their star-formation has likely occurred during the last few crossing times. They are experiencing their first (few) generations of large-scale star formation and are accumulating their first significant stellar mass. As such, z~5 LBGs are the likely progenitors of the spheroidal components of present-day massive galaxies (supported by their high stellar mass surface densities and their core phase-space densities).

Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for Infrared Exploration (JASMINE) aims to construct a map of the Galactic bulge with 10 μ arc sec accuracy. We use z-band CCD for avoiding dust absorption, and observe about 10 × 20 degrees area around the Galactic bulge region. Because the stellar density is very high, each FOVs can be combined with high accuracy. With 5 years observation, we will construct 10 μ arc sec accurate map.

In this poster, I will show the observation strategy, design of JASMINE hardware, reduction scheme, and error budget. We also construct simulation software named JASMINE Simulator. We also show the simulation results and design of software.

The core structure of early-type galaxies is revisited in light of recent results from the ACS Virgo and Fornax Cluster Surveys. These surveys are comprised of HST/ACS g, z band images for a representative sample of 143 early-type galaxies, spanning a factor 720 in B-band luminosity. The data indicates a clear transition in the core structure going from the brightest to the faintest galaxies. In contrast to previous claims, however, this transition is found to be a continuous function of galaxy magnitude. We characterize the core structure in terms of deviations of the observed surface brightness profile – measured within ~ 2% of the galaxy effective radius – relative to the inner extrapolation of the Sérsic law that best fits the profiles on larger scales. Virtually all galaxies fainter than MB ~ −20 mag contain distinct stellar nuclei, and are described by surface brightness profiles that lie above the Sérsic extrapolation, while the reverse is true for brighter galaxies. The latter are also known to host supermassive black holes. A relation between SBHs and stellar nuclei is suggested by the fact that both types of “central massive objects” contain the same fraction, 0.2% of the total mass of the host galaxy.

We present discovery of compact elliptical galaxies in the centres of clusters and briefly discuss their evolution.