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We present parsec-scale kinematics of 11 nearby galactic nuclei, derived from adaptive-optics assisted integral-field spectroscopy at (near-infrared) CO band-head wavelengths. We focus our analysis on the balance between ordered rotation and random motions, which can provide insights into the dominant formation mechanism of nuclear star clusters (NSCs). We divide our target sample into late- and early-type galaxies, and discuss the nuclear kinematics of the two subsamples, aiming at probing any link between NSC formation and host galaxy evolution. The results suggest that the dominant formation mechanism of NSCs is indeed affected by the different evolutionary paths of their hosts across the Hubble sequence. More specifically, nuclear regions in late-type galaxies are on average more rotation dominated, and the formation of nuclear stellar structures is potentially linked to the presence of gas funneled to the center. Early-type galaxies, in contrast, tend to display slowly rotating NSCs with lower ellipticity. However, some exceptions suggest that in specific cases, early-type hosts can form NSCs in a way similar to spirals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a dynamical model of the Milky Way disk from a data set that combines Gaia EDR3 and APOGEE data throughout galactocentric radii in the range 5.0 kpc ≤ R ≤ 19.5 kpc. We make use of the spherically aligned Jeans anisotropic method to model the stellar velocities and their velocity dispersions. Building upon our previous work, our model is now fitted to kinematic maps that have been extended to larger galactocentric radii due to the expansion of our data set, probing the outer regions of the Galactic disk. Our best-fitting dynamical model suggests a logarithmic density slope of αDM = −1.602 ± 0.079syst for the dark matter halo and a dark matter density of ρDM(R⊙) = (8.92 ± 0.56syst) × 10−3M⊙ pc−3 (0.339 ± 0.022syst GeV cm3). We estimate a circular velocity at the solar radius of vcirc = (234.7 ± 1.7syst) km s−1 with a decline toward larger radii. The total mass density is ρtot(R⊙) = (0.0672 ± 0.0015syst) M⊙ pc−3 with a slope of αtot = −2.367 ± 0.047syst for 5 kpc ≤ R ≤ 19.5 kpc, and the total surface density is Σ(R⊙, ∣z∣ ≤ 1.1 kpc) = (55.5 ± 1.7syst) M⊙ pc−2. While the statistical errors are small, the error budget of the derived quantities is dominated by the three to seven times larger systematic uncertainties. These values are consistent with our previous determination, but the systematic uncertainties are reduced due to the extended data set covering a larger spatial extent of the Milky Way disk. Furthermore, we test the influence of nonaxisymmetric features on our resulting model and analyze how a flaring disk model would change our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the statistical power of the MaNGA integral-field spectroscopic galaxy survey to improve the definition of strong line diagnostic boundaries used to classify gas ionization properties in galaxies. We detect line emission from 3.6 million spaxels distributed across 7400 individual galaxies spanning a wide range of stellar masses, star formation rates, and morphological types, and find that the gas-phase velocity dispersion σHα correlates strongly with traditional optical emission-line ratios such as [S ii ]/Hα, [N ii ]/Hα, [O i ]/Hα, and [O iii ]/Hβ. Spaxels whose line ratios are most consistent with ionization by galactic H ii regions exhibit a narrow range of dynamically cold line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) peaked around 25 km s−1 corresponding to a galactic thin disk, while those consistent with ionization by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and low-ionization emission-line regions (LI(N)ERs) have significantly broader LOSVDs extending to 200 km s−1. Star-forming, AGN, and LI(N)ER regions are additionally well separated from each other in terms of their stellar velocity dispersion, stellar population age, Hα equivalent width, and typical radius within a given galaxy. We use our observations to revise the traditional emission-line diagnostic classifications so that they reliably identify distinct dynamical samples both in two-dimensional representations of the diagnostic line ratio space and in a multidimensional space that accounts for the complex folding of the star-forming model surface. By comparing the MaNGA observations to the SDSS single-fiber galaxy sample, we note that the latter is systematically biased against young, low-metallicity star-forming regions that lie outside of the 3″ fiber footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first asymmetric drift (AD) measurements for unresolved stellar populations of different characteristic ages above and below 1.5 Gyr. These measurements sample the age–velocity relation in galaxy disks. In this first paper, we develop two efficient algorithms to extract AD on a spaxel-by-spaxel basis from optical integral-field spectroscopic data cubes. The algorithms apply different spectral templates, one using simple stellar populations and the other a stellar library; their comparison allows us to assess systematic errors in derived multicomponent velocities, such as template mismatch. We test algorithm reliability using mock spectra and Monte Carlo Markov Chains on real data from the MaNGA survey in Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV. We quantify random and systematic errors in AD as a function of signal-to-noise and stellar population properties with the aim of applying this technique to large subsets of the MaNGA galaxy sample. As a demonstration of our methods, we apply them to an initial sample of seven galaxies with comparable stellar mass and color to the Milky Way. We find a wide range of distinct AD radial profiles for young and old stellar populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new Spectrographic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae (SAURON) integral-field spectroscopy and Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) observations of molecular outflow host galaxy NGC 1266 that indicate NGC 1266 has experienced a rapid cessation of star formation. Both the SAURON maps of stellar population age and the Swift UVOT observations demonstrate the presence of young (<1 Gyr) stellar populations within the central 1 kpc, while existing Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy CO(1-0) maps indicate that the sites of current star formation are constrained to only the inner few hundred parsecs of the galaxy. The optical spectrum of NGC 1266 from Moustakas & Kennicutt reveal a characteristic poststarburst (K+A) stellar population, and Davis et al. confirm that ionized gas emission in the system originate from a shock. Galaxies with K+A spectra and shock-like ionized gas line ratios may comprise an important, overlooked segment of the poststarburst population, containing exactly those objects in which the active galactic nucleus (AGN) is actively expelling the star-forming material. While AGN activity is not the likely driver of the poststarburst event that occurred 500 Myr ago, the faint spiral structure seen in the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-field Camera 3 Y-, J- and H-band imaging seems to point to the possibility of gravitational torques being the culprit. If the molecular gas were driven into the center at the same time as the larger scale galaxy disk underwent quenching, the AGN might be able to sustain the presence of molecular gas for ≳ 1 Gyr by cyclically injecting turbulent energy into the dense molecular gas via a radio jet, inhibiting star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]