Open AccessOrigin of disc lopsidedness in the Eridanus group of galaxies
Author(s) -
Angiras R. A.,
Jog C. J.,
Omar A.,
Dwarakanath K. S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10418.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , galaxy , disc , radius , astronomy , elliptical galaxy , computer security , computer science
The H i surface density maps for a sample of 18 galaxies in the Eridanus group are Fourier analysed. This analysis gives the radial variation of the lopsidedness in the H i spatial distribution. The lopsidedness is quantified by the Fourier amplitude A 1 of the m = 1 component normalized to the average value. It is also shown that in the radial region where the stellar disc and H i overlap, their A 1 coefficients are comparable. All the galaxies studied show significant lopsidedness in H i . The mean value of A 1 in the inner regions of the galaxies (1.5–2.5 scalelengths) is ≥ 0.2. This value of A 1 is twice the average value seen in the field galaxies. Also, the lopsidedness is found to be smaller for late‐type galaxies; this is opposite to the trend seen in the field galaxies. These two results indicate a different physical origin for disc lopsidedness in galaxies in a group environment compared to the field galaxies. Further, a large fraction (∼30 per cent) shows a higher degree of lopsidedness ( A 1 ≥ 0.3). It is also seen that the disc lopsidedness increases with the radius as demonstrated in earlier studies, but over a radial range that is two times larger than done in the previous studies. The average lopsidedness of the halo potential is estimated to be ∼10 per cent, assuming that the lopsidedness in H i disc is due to its response to the halo asymmetry.