Disk Scaling Relations and their Application as Distance Indicators

星系和盘的形成过程似乎经过了足够的微调，可以产生符合简单标度定律的最终构型。这些关系可以用来探索支配银河系结构和演化的过程，以及提供一条确定与红移无关的距离的途径。这项研究建立在以前关于Tully-Fisher关系及其作为距离指示器的使用的工作的基础上，开发了现已接近完成的数据库。这样一个具有统一特征的详细数字数据的丰富数据库将允许在星系和盘形成的模型中全面探索Tully-Fisher关系的基础，以及表征任何偏差、修正和误差的来源和大小。一个新的特殊速度样本将允许推导出局部超星系团内部和周围的整体流场，从而测量局部星系和宇宙的质量密度，这对统计研究环境对附近星系的影响至关重要。数据库将公开可用，因此将对其他工作人员提供宝贵的参考，并对创建公共外展展示有相当大的帮助。研究生和本科生都将参与分析，追随之前的研究生、夏季REU和与调查人员合作的本科生的脚步。

AST-0307396HaynesThe process of galaxy and disk formation appears to be sufficiently fine-tuned as to produce final configurations that obey simple scaling laws. These relations can be used to probe the processes that govern the structure and evolution of galactic systems, as well as providing a route to the determination of redshift-independent distances. This research builds on previous work on the Tully-Fisher relation and its use as a distance indicator, by exploiting the database now almost completed. Such a rich database of detailed digital data with uniform characteristics will allow a comprehensive exploration of the basis for the Tully-Fisher relation within models of galaxy and disk formation, as well as characterizing the origins and magnitudes of any biases, corrections, and errors. A new peculiar velocity sample will permit the derivation of the bulk flow field in and around the Local Supercluster, and thus a measurement of the local galaxy and mass density of the Universe, crucial to statistical studies of the influence of environment on the properties of nearby galaxies.The database will be made publicly available and as such will be a valuable reference for other workers, and of considerable use for creating public outreach displays. Students at both the graduate and undergraduate level will participate in the analysis, following in the footsteps of previous graduate, summer REU and undergraduate students who have worked with the investigators.