I begin by summarizing the evidence that there is a close relationship between the evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. They evidently share a common fuel source, and feedback from the black hole may be needed to suppress over-cooling in massive galaxies. I then review what we know about the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes in the modern universe (z < 1). We now have a good documentation of which black holes are growing (the lower mass ones), where they are growing (in the less massive early-type galaxies), and how this growth is related in a statistical sense to star formation in the central region of the galaxy. The opportunity in the next decade will be to use the new observatories to undertake ambitious programs of 3-D imaging spectroscopy of the stars and gas in order to understand the actual astrophysical processes that produce the demographics we observe. At high redshift (z > 2), the most massive black holes and the progenitors of the most massive galaxies are forming. Here, we currently have a tantalizing but fragmented view of their co-evolution. In the next decade, the huge increase in sensitivity and discovery power of our observatories will enable us to analyze the large, complete samples we need to achieve robust and clear results.

The members of Commission 28 on Galaxies were very busy during this General Assembly, with the Commission involved in two Symposia (IAU Symposium No. 235 Galaxy Evolution across the Hubble Time, IAU Symposium No. 238 Black Holes: from Stars to Galaxies), and two Joint Discussions (JD07 The Universe at z > 6, JD15 New Cosmology Results from the Spitzer Space Telescope). Therefore, the Business Meeting was combined with the Division VIII Business Meeting, which included a short information session on the new Commission 28 Organizing Committee. The triennial report of the Commission for 2003-2005 was also distributed, and is available on the Commission 28 web site.

We use VO facilities to study AGNs with X-ray emission. We present a sample of 1744 of Type 1 AGNs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS DR4) spectroscopic catalog with X-ray counterparts in the White-Giommi-Angelini catalogue (WGACAT) of ROSAT-pspc pointed observations. Of 1744 X-ray sources, 1410 (80.9%) are new AGN identifications. Of 4,574 SDSS DR4 AGNs for which we found radio matches in the catalogue of radio sources from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty (FIRST) cm survey, 224 turned up in our sample of SDSS X-ray AGN.

The spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are being used to construct a catalogue of QSO absorption lines, for use in studies of abundances, relevant radiation fields, number counts as a function of redshift, and other matters, including the evolution of these parameters. The catalogue includes intervening, associated, and BAL absorbers, in order to allow a clearer definition of the relationships between these three classes. We describe the motivation for and the data products of the project to build the SDSS QSO absorption line catalogue.

The emission line spectra of active galactic nuclei fall into three main categories: star formation nuclei (or HII regions), Seyfert nuclei and LINERs (low ionization narrow emission-line regions). A subset of these galactic nuclei has intermediate characteristics between LINERs and HII regions. These so-called transition objects were the subject of numerous studies in the past, but their true nature has remained elusive. It's almost impossible to explain these objects with models that take into account only one ionization mechanism, being it stars, an AGN or shocks. We show how the use of a set of elaborated photoionization models, that account consistently for these parameters (ionization by stars, shocks and/or AGN and dust), constrained by a detailed study of the stellar population properties, can help us understand the nature of these transition objects.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

We present an analysis of the Chandra observations of two dwarf starburst, Wolf-Rayet galaxies (NGC 4449 and NGC 5253). We have identified at least three different classes of objects within the X-ray point source populations, and we have found the diffuse emission, resulting from the stellar winds and supernova explosions of massive stars, to have a complex morphology and to consist of several components. Comparison with the Hα emission suggests the presence of ~ kpc-scale wind-blown bubbles and ruptured superbubbles.

We present results from a Chandra X-ray observation of the dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4214, a galaxy containing several young star forming regions. Starburst regions are known to be associated with diffuse X-ray emission, and in this case X-ray emission from the galaxy shows an interesting morphological structure with a bright X-ray ring of emission within the galaxy.

In this contribution we present a few selected examples of how the latest generation of space-based instrumentation — NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) — are finally answering old questions about the influence of massive star feedback on the warm and hot phases of the ISM and IGM. In particular, we discuss the physical origin of the soft thermal X-ray emission in the halos of star-forming and starburst galaxies, its relationship to extra-planar Hα emission, and plasma diagnostics using FUSE observations of O vi absorption and emission.

We have generated far-UV stellar libraries using spectra of hot stars in the Galaxy and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These libraries were implemented into the stellar population synthesis codes starburst99 and lavalsb and used to compute synthetic spectra of star-forming galaxies. Model spectra for galaxies are presented and variations of the hot star photospheric and wind profiles are discussed. This poster summarizes the work of Robert et al. (2002).

We report preliminary results from high-resolution UV spectroscopy of the super star cluster 1 in the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 1705, using HST-stis. These new observations can help us to quantify accurately the stellar content in this super cluster. Together with high quality spectra from SMC stars and the evolutionary synthesis code starburst99, we estimate an age for this cluster of 12±3 Myr, in agreement with previous studies. The measured dynamical mass and the theoretical L/M ratio suggest a normal IMF down to the hydrogen-burning limit.

I review the evidence for a possible connection between AGN and starbursts and assess the energetic role of massive stars in the AGN phenomenon. My particular focus is on UV spectroscopy, since this is the energetically dominant spectral regime for the hot high-mass stars that power starbursts, and contains a wealth of spectral features for diagnosing the presence of such stars. I also review the non-stellar sources of UV line and continuum emission in AGN, including scattered or reprocessed light from the ‘central engine’. Spectroscopy directly shows that hot stars provide most of the UV light in about half of the brightest type 2 Seyfert nuclei and UV-bright LINERS. The population of hot stars in these AGN is typically heavily extinct and reddened by dust with A(1600Å) ≃ 2–4 mag. The implied intrinsic UV luminosities of the starburst range from 108 to 109 L⊙ in the LINERS to 1010 to 1011 L⊙ in the type 2 Seyferts. Massive stars play an energetically significant role in many AGN, but the causal or evolution connection between starbursts and AGN is unclear. I also consider the energetics of massive stars and accreting supermassive black holes from a global, cosmic perspective. Recent inventories in the local universe of the cumulative effect of nuclear burning (metal production) and of AGN-fueling (compact dark objects in galactic nuclei) imply that accretion onto supermassive black holes may have produced as much radiant energy as massive stars over the history of the universe.

The idea that interactions between galaxies can lead to enhanced galactic activity has a long and noble lineage. Since the early days of Baade and Minkowski (1954), through the seminal paper of Toomre and Toomre (1977) with its “stoking the furnace” imagery, to the similarly colorful and influential “feeding the monster” paper of Gunn (1979), and the landmark work by Larson and Tinsley (1978), this idea was elaborated upon and generalized. The pace of development of this hypothesis has accelerated greatly on both the observational and theoretical fronts during the 1980’s, due in part to a growing perception that the AGN phenomenon could only be understood when the role of the environment in triggering or nurturing the activity was understood (cf. Balick and Heckman 1982). In recent years, the impact of the extragalactic IRAS database (on the observational side) and of the new generation of supercomputers and innovative software (on the numerical side) have led to an almost explosive growth in the number of papers written about this subject.

We discuss our program of narrow-band (Hα + [Nil]) imaging of a sample of 30 powerful far-infrared galaxies (FIRG’s) chosen to have far-infrared spectral energy distributions similar to the prototype FIRG’s Arp 220, NGC 3690, NGC 6240, and M82. The emission-line nebulae of these IR color-selected sample (ICSS) galaxies as a class are both impressively large (mean half light radius, r ~1.3 Kpc, and mean diameter, D ~16 Kpc) and luminous (LTOT ~108 Lo; uncorrected for internal extinction). The mean total Hα + [Nil] luminosity of the FIRG’s is comparable to that found for pairs of optically selected interacting galaxies (Bushouse, Lamb, and Werner 1988), but is a factor of ~5 greater than that of isolated spirals (Kennicutt and Kent 1983). Only ~25% of the nearby (z ≤ 0.10) FIRG’s have morphologies suggesting that large HII~regions contribuí significantly to their emission-line appearance. The broad-band morphologies of our IR color-selected galaxies fall into three major categories. Nearly 75% are single galaxy systems, with the remaining FIRG’s being either multiple nuclei systems, or members of interacting pairs. Since we see few (10%) currently interacting FIRG’s, yet many (80%) with highly distorted continuum morphologies, our IR color criteria may be preferentially selecting galaxies that have undergone highly inelastic, rapidly merging interactions.

We present data for Seyfert and normal galaxies in the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog. The type 2 Seyferts are stronger CO and Far-IR emitters (by factors of 2–4) than either normal galaxies or type 1 Seyferts. The Seyfert CO line-widths correlate with both the 21cm HI and [OIII]5007 line-widths. Interferometer maps show that in many Seyferts the CO emission is strongly concentrated within radii of 100–1000pc of the nucleus. The implications of these results are briefly discussed.

It has been known since the IRAS mission that there exist galaxies with far-infrared luminosities of 1011–1012Lo, and LFTR/LB = 10–100. Through extensive modelling and observations of HII-region/molecular cloud complexes in the Galaxy, this infrared radiation is believed to be thermal emission from heated dust grains (c.f. review by Stein and Soifer 1983). While starburst models are consistent with the data over a large range in wavelength, direct evidence for sizeable populations of young stars is scarce, and in many cases the presence of an active nucleus either cannot be ruled out, or is required on the basis of energy considerations. In order to better understand the energy source responsible for heating the dust, we have undertaken a spectroscopic survey of galaxies chosen to have far-infrared spectral energy distributions similar to the prototypical class members Arp 220, NGC 6240, NGC 3690, and Mrk 231. It was required that between 25μ and 60μ, α ≤ −1.5, and that between 60μ and 100μ, α ≥ −0.5, where Sv α vα.

LINER's (Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Regions) are found in the majority of early-type (Sb or earlier) galaxies, and in some late-type and peculiar galaxies as well. Because they are so common but are not energized by normal stars, their nature is critical to our understanding of both the active galactic nucleus phenomenon and the evolution of normal galactic nuclei. After briefly reviewing the spectroscopic basis of the LINER classification, I summarize four alternative models for LINER's: 1) LINER's as “mini-Seyferts” in which the emission-line gas is photoionized by a more dilute version of the high-energy nonstellar continuum found in Seyfert nuclei. 2) LINER's as accretion flows of cooling gas originating in the halos of galaxies and/or in the intra-cluster medium. 3) LINER's as starburst-driven winds. 4) LINER's as colliding, shock-heated galaxies. After reviewing the evidence, I conclude that it is very likely that several (and possibly all) of the above models are needed to account for the diverse properties of LINER's. While LINER's would then not have a single unified explanation, they would have a direct bearing on many issues in extragalactic astronomy.