RADIO AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF DOUBLE GALAXIES Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Stocke, John T. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 19:19:08 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289608 INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. 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If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation. Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered at additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced. 5. PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR 77-24,943 * STOCKE, John Thomas, 1946- RADIO AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF DOUBLE GALAXIES. The University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1977 Physics, astronomy and astrophysics Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 RADIO AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF DOUBLE GALAXIES by John Thomas Stocke A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 7 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA. GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by JOHN THOMAS STOCKE entitled RADIO AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF DOUBLE GALAXIES be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dissertation Director As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read this dissertation and agree that it may be presented for final defense. I'itJJ. - - -- i5" Mmy /97*7 l<fTJ Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense thereof at the final oral examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor­ rowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re­ production of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the in­ terests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Professionally I would like to thank my advisors, Bill Tifft (official) and Andre Pacholczyk (unofficial) for all their support and for leaving me pretty much alone to do this work. I would also like to thank the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Steward Observatory for generous allocations of telescope time. Specifically at N.R.A.O. I thank Pat Crane, Larry Rudnick, Betty Stobie, Elaine Litman, Richard Porcas, Martha Haynes, and Tom Cram for invaluable help. At Steward I thank Eric Jensen, Gary Coleman, Bill Romanishin, and Maxine Howlett. I also appreciate the initial interest of May Kaftan-Kassim in this project. My non-professional debts are much vaster in number because the majority of my time the last five years has not involved astronomical research. The love and support of these many good friends has made my path clearer to me. It is a tribute to them that I have not strayed too far afield during these difficult and wonderful years. To them, Namaste. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES ^ . viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. A RADIO CONTINUUM SURVEY OF ISOLATED PAIRS OF GALAXIES . 5 2.1. The Observational Sample 8 2.2. The Observational Technique 14 2.2.1. The Eleven Centimeter Survey 14 2.2.2. The Six Centimeter Follow-Up Observa­ tions 17 2.2.3. Limited Baseline Interferometry .... 18 2.3. Observational Results 20 2.3.1. The "Dumbbell" Galaxies 22 2.3.2. Borderline Spiral/Elliptical Sources . 31 2.3.3. Galaxies with Large Halo Sources .... 34 3. DO CLOSE PAIRS OF GALAXIES SHOW AN EXCESS OF RADIO EMISSION? 40 3.1. Comparison with Other Surveys 42 3.2. Internal Statistics 52 3.3. Further Tests of the Separation-Radio Detection Relation 60 3.4. Evidence from Other Sources '67 4. CONCLUSION 76 4.1. General Classes of Explanations for These Observations 78 4.2. Recommendations for Future Work 83 APPENDIX A: DETAILS CONCERNING THE OBSERVATIONAL SAMPLE 86 iv V TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued Page APPENDIX B: CALIBRATION AND REDUCTION PROCEDURE 94 APPENDIX C: TABLES OF OBSERVATIONAL RESULTS 103 APPENDIX D: COMPARISON OF DETECTION PROBABILITIES FOR TWO DIFFERENT SAMPLES OF GALAXIES 136 REFERENCES 143 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. A summary of the interaction classification scheme used by Karachentsev in the CPG 13 2. The radio luminosity versus distance plot for the CPG detections 21 3. Photographs of dumbbell and related galaxies 24 4. Photographs of borderline spiral/elliptical sources ... 32 5. Photographs of spiral galaxies with large halo sources . 36 6. Histograms of the radio luminosity distribution for spirals and ellipticals in the CPG and in the sample of Sramek (1975) 44 7. Histograms of the optical luminosity distribution of the CPG galaxies and the Sramek (1975) galaxies 45 8. The distribution of spectral indices in the CPG detections for all sources, spirals only, and ellipticals only ... 47 • / * 9. Detection percentage versus corrected apparent magnitude for the CPG and Sramek (1975) 49 10. Detection percentage versus corrected apparent magnitude for CPG subclasses 53 11. Detection percentage versus physical separation (part a) and separation index (part b) 54 12. The absolute optical luminosity distributions of the CPG galaxies evenly divided in terms of separation index ... 58 13. A histogram of the radio powers for the CPG detections evenly divided by separation index 59 14. The optical luminosity distributions of the CPG galaxies divided by isolation class 64 vi vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS—Continued Figure Page 15. Detection percentages of isolated galaxies compared to the full Sramek (1975) sample 69 16. Detection percentages of CPG galaxies versus Roche separation parameter (s/r) 82 17. Aperture efficiency curve for the 11 centimeter receiver on the NRAO 91 meter telescope 97 18. Association determination plot from Wright (1974a) with all CPG detections plotted on it 131 19. Detection percentage versus corrected apparent magnitude for the samples of Sramek (1975) and Wright (1974a) 138 20. Corrected detection percentage versus corrected apparent magnitude for the Wright (1974a) and Sulentic (1976a) samples 141 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Dumbbell and related galaxies 23 2. Galaxies with halo sources 35 3. Detection percentages of CPG subclasses 55 4. Isolation class statistics 63 5. Isolated galaxy radio data 68 6. Burns and Owen 3CR field radio sources 73 7." De Young's out-of-cluster list 75 8. Pairs with large velocity differences 89 9. <V/V > estimator for the CPG 93 max 10. Minimum detection limits for galaxies at high declinations 99 11. Single dish detections with confirming interferometry . 104 12. Detected pairs with no confirming interferometry 110 13. Single dish detections near galaxy pairs Ill 14. Sources less than full sample detection limit 113 15. Sources detected only in other surveys 114 16. Basic interferometry data for sources in Table 11 .... 115 17. Basic interferometry data for sources near galaxy pairs . 119 18. Optical data for detected galaxies 121 19. Detection percentages of galaxy surveys 139 viii ABSTRACT This dissertation is an empirical study of the basic radio and optical properties of a large, well-defined, complete sample of isolated pairs of galaxies. The selection criterion for this sample requires that these galaxies are in some of the sparsest regions of space. Because such representatives of the "field" population have recently been shown to be exceedingly rare, a survey of these galaxies allows a comprehensive study of the radio source phenomenon in regions of galaxy density as different from rich clusters as possible.