eprintid: 27417
rev_number: 11
eprint_status: archive
userid: 4810
dir: disk0/00/02/74/17
datestamp: 2019-11-25 10:57:12
lastmod: 2019-12-19 12:22:53
status_changed: 2019-11-25 10:57:12
type: doctoralThesis
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Shabani, Faiezeh
title: A Study of Spiral Structures and Lopsidedness in LEGUS Disk Galaxies
divisions: i-130001
adv_faculty: af-13
abstract: We present a detailed study of spiral structure and lopsidedness in four LEGUS disk galaxies. We
first search for a possible age gradient of star clusters across the spiral arms, as predicted by the
spiral density wave theory. We find a clear age sequence across the grand-design arms of NGC 1566,
indicating that the density wave theory is the primary mechanism for the formation of spiral arms
in this galaxy. In contrast, we find no offset in the location of star clusters with different ages in
M51a and NGC 628, suggesting that tidal interactions and swing amplification theory might be the
dominant scenarios to generate spiral patterns in these galaxies, respectively.
Later, we search for a link between the asymmetric distribution of the star clusters along the spiral
arms and the physical properties of NGC 3344, NGC 1566, NGC 628, and M51a. For this purpose, we
construct 2D spatially resolved stellar mass and SFR surface density maps of the galaxies applying a
pixel-by-pixel spectral energy distribution fitting technique. We do not observe any lopsidedness in the
distribution of stellar mass surface density of the two arms in our target galaxies. On the contrary, our
derived resolved SFR surface density maps of NGC 3344, NGC 1566, and the inner regions of M51a
confirm the presence of lopsidedness between the two arms in a similar fashion to the distribution
of the young star clusters. In the case of NGC 628, we do not observe any correlation between the
lopsidedness in the distribution of star clusters and its SFR surface density
date: 2019
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00027417
ppn_swb: 1684359236
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-274178
date_accepted: 2019-11-12
advisor: HASH(0x55fc36cea1b0)
language: eng
bibsort: SHABANIFAIASTUDYOFSP2019
full_text_status: public
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
citation:   Shabani, Faiezeh  (2019) A Study of Spiral Structures and Lopsidedness in LEGUS Disk Galaxies.  [Dissertation]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/27417/1/Faiezeh%20Shabani.pdf