The thick disk in the galaxy NGC 4244 from S^(4)G imaging

If thick disks are ubiquitous and a natural product of disk galaxy formation and/or evolution processes, all undisturbed galaxies that have evolved during a significant fraction of a Hubble time should have a thick disk. The late-type spiral galaxy NGC 4244 has been reported as the only nearby edge-...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gil De Paz, Armando, Muñoz Mateos, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/44880
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44880
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:52
On spiral galaxies
Telescope advanced camera
Dark-matter universe
Space-telescope
Surface-photometry
Galactic disks
H-alpha
High-redshift
Evolution
Emission
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
Descripción
Sumario:If thick disks are ubiquitous and a natural product of disk galaxy formation and/or evolution processes, all undisturbed galaxies that have evolved during a significant fraction of a Hubble time should have a thick disk. The late-type spiral galaxy NGC 4244 has been reported as the only nearby edge-on galaxy without a confirmed thick disk. Using data from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S^(4)G) we have identified signs of two disk components in this galaxy. The asymmetries between the light profiles on both sides of the mid-plane of NGC 4244 can be explained by a combination of the galaxy not being perfectly edge-on and a certain degree of opacity of the thin disk. We argue that the subtlety of the thick disk is a consequence of either a limited secular evolution in NGC 4244, a small fraction of stellar material in the fragments which built the galaxy, or a high amount of gaseous accretion after the formation of the galaxy.