Spitzer's View of Edge-on Spirals

TL;DR

This paper uses Spitzer IRAC observations of edge-on spiral galaxies to study their stellar and ISM structures, dust lane formation, and the NIR Tully-Fisher relation, revealing links between galaxy mass, disk stability, and dust morphology.

Contribution

It presents new observational results from a Spitzer survey on the relationship between galaxy mass, disk stability, and dust lane appearance in edge-on spirals.

Findings

Massive disks show thin dust lanes due to ISM collapse.

Less massive disks have fractured dust morphology and are more stable.

Initial results on the NIR Tully-Fisher relation support the link between mass and disk properties.

Abstract

Edge-on spiral galaxies offer a unique perspective on disks. One can accurately determine the height distribution of stars and ISM and the line-of-sight integration allows for the study of faint structures. The Spitzer IRAC camera is an ideal instrument to study both the ISM and stellar structure in nearby galaxies; two of its channels trace the old stellar disk with little extinction and the 8 micron channel is dominated by the smallest dust grains (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, PAHs). Dalcanton et al. (2004) probed the link between the appearance of dust lanes and the disk stability. In a sample of bulge-less disks they show how in massive disks the ISM collapses into the characteristic thin dust lane. Less massive disks are gravitationally stable and their dust morphology is fractured. The transition occurs at 120 km/s for bulgeless disks. Here we report on our results of our Spitzer/IRAC survey of nearby edge-on spirals and its first results on the NIR Tully-Fischer relation, and ISM disk stability.