OPTICAL IMAGING OF ULTRALUMINOUS IRAS GALAXIES - HOW MANY ARE MERGERS

Citation
Dl. Clements et al., OPTICAL IMAGING OF ULTRALUMINOUS IRAS GALAXIES - HOW MANY ARE MERGERS, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 279(2), 1996, pp. 477-497
Citations number
22
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics
ISSN journal
00358711
Volume
279
Issue
2
Year of publication
1996
Pages
477 - 497
Database
ISI
SICI code
0035-8711(1996)279:2<477:OIOUIG>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
We present the results of R-band imaging observations of a sample of 6 0 ultraluminous IRAS galaxies (ULIRGs). All the objects are taken from our ULIRG survey. The bulk of these objects are in a magnitude-limite d subsample of this survey with B-J < 19.5, consisting of 56 objects. We find that 51 of the 56 main-sample objects (91 per cent) are mergin g and/or disturbed systems, whilst four of the remaining five have clo se, usually disturbed, companions. Only one of the main sample of obje cts is isolated and quiescent. The result that almost all of these ULI RGs are disturbed systems contradicts some of the earlier observations . We consider possible origins for this discrepancy, and conclude that deeper images of isolated and quiescent ULIRGs may well reveal previo usly undetected signs of disturbance.