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Gas Disks and Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Radio Galaxies

Gas Disks and Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Radio Galaxies

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5.2.1 Effects of <strong>in</strong>cl<strong>in</strong>ation<br />

We use the dust disk axis ratio (b/a) or dust lane width : length ratio as an <strong>in</strong>dicator<br />

of the <strong>in</strong>cl<strong>in</strong>ation of the nuclear gas <strong>and</strong> dust. In Figures 5.1, 5.2 <strong>and</strong> 5.3 we plot<br />

∆100, σ100 <strong>and</strong> ɛ100 respectively aga<strong>in</strong>st this dust axis ratio parameter. This leads<br />

naturally to the most edge on systems be<strong>in</strong>g plotted at the left (where the galaxies<br />

with dust lanes are found) to face on systems at the right (which <strong>in</strong>clude face on<br />

disks where we are unable to pick up the rotation profile). The fact that systems<br />

with dust lanes <strong>and</strong> dust disks form a cont<strong>in</strong>uum <strong>in</strong> all of these parameters suggests<br />

that the lanes observed may be the edges of highly <strong>in</strong>cl<strong>in</strong>ed dust disks rather than<br />

be<strong>in</strong>g physically dist<strong>in</strong>ct types of systems. Verdoes Kleijn et al. (1999) found that dust<br />

lanes <strong>and</strong> disks may represent dist<strong>in</strong>ct physical systems, primarily based on <strong>in</strong>creased<br />

irregular structure observed <strong>in</strong> lane systems <strong>and</strong> misalignments with the major axes.<br />

It is possible that if the dust is <strong>in</strong>deed <strong>in</strong> two dist<strong>in</strong>ct morphological types, that the<br />

gas forms <strong>in</strong>to a k<strong>in</strong>ematically similar system <strong>in</strong> either case. In the light of evidence<br />

relat<strong>in</strong>g to the settl<strong>in</strong>g of the gas perpendicular to the disk presented below, it is<br />

also possible that the observed irregularities <strong>in</strong> dust lane systems orig<strong>in</strong>ate from less<br />

settled motions out of the plane of the disk.<br />

238<br />

In Figure 5.1 it is possible to see a decreas<strong>in</strong>g upper envelope to the value of ∆100

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