E+A Galaxies in the near-IR: Field and Clusters

The ENEAR project is an all-sky survey of nearby early-type galaxies. About 2200 new spectra and R-band images of over 1500 galaxies together with published data were assembled into a large catalog containing over 2000 objects with cz, sigma, photometric data, and line strengths on a uniform system. From this extensive database a magnitude-limited sample has been drawn comprising ~ 1400 galaxies brighter than m_B = 14.5, cz < 7000 km/s, and type T -2 or less with measured dis...

We report on our observing program to obtain integrated spectrophotometry, intermediate and high resolution major axis spectra, and U,B,R surface photo- metry of a representative sample of ~200 galaxies in the nearby field. The main goal of this program is to provide a comparison sample for high redshift studies and to study the variation in star formation rates (SFR), star forma- tion history (SFH), excitation, metallicity, and internal kinematics over a large range in galax...

Approximately half of the nearby E+A galaxies followed up with 21-cm observations have detectable HI emission. The optical spectra of these galaxies show strong post-starburst stellar populations but no optical emission lines implying star-formation is not ongoing despite the presence of significant gas reservoirs. We have obtained integral field spectroscopic follow up observations of the two brightest, and nearest, of the six E+A galaxies with HI 21-cm emission in the recen...

We present the results of HI line and radio continuum observations of five nearby E+A galaxies. These galaxies have spectra that are dominated by a young stellar component but lack the emission lines characteristic of significant, on-going star formation. They are selected from a unique sample of 21 E+A's identified by Zabludoff et al.(1996) in their spectroscopic search for E+A galaxies using the Las Campanas Redshift Survey, where over 11,000 nearby galaxies were examined. ...

In this article I review recent developments in near-infrared emission line searches for star-forming galaxies at high redshift. Using the J-, H- & K-bands we can potentially chart the history of star formation over the range 1<z<5 using the prominent rest-optical nebular emission lines alone, filling in the "redshift desert" at z~1-3 where most common emission lines lie outside the optical bands. Studying the rest-frame optical at z~2 also allows a fair comparison to be made...

We present a multicolour catalogue of faint galaxies situated close to bright stars, V<15, with the aim of identifying high-redshift galaxies suitable for study with adaptive optics-equipped near-infrared imagers and spectrographs. The catalogue is constructed from archival calibration observations of UKIRT Faint Standard stars with the UFTI camera on UKIRT. We have analysed the deepest 16 fields from the archive to provide a catalogue of galaxies brighter than K~20.3 lying w...

Narrow band multifilter photometry of the galaxy populations of four galaxy clusters at z=0.4-0.5 has provided us with a sample of 73 E+A galaxies which are secure cluster members. For 34 of them HST images are available (WFPC2). We have determined surface brigthness profiles and by means of an exponential or r^1/4 law fit we have classified the galaxies on the basis of their bulge to disk ratio. We have found that most of these galaxies are disk systems judging from the expo...

At z=2.39, the cluster around 53W002 is one of the most distant groups or clusters of galaxies known to date. At this redshift the 4000A-break falls between the J and H bands, thus our infrared observations are designed to identify cluster members by a red J-H colour. Out of the 42 objects we have detected in the field, we find ten galaxies with J-H>1.0 and K>18.8, redder and fainter than the radio galaxy, and consistent with the presence of a 4000A-break at the cluster redsh...

We investigated the radial colour gradient and two-dimensional (2D) colour properties of 22 E+A galaxies with 5.5 < Hdelta equivalent width(EW) < 8.5\AA and 49 normal early-type galaxies as a control sample at a redshift of <0.2 in the Second Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We found that a substantial number of E+A galaxies exhibit positive slopes of radial colour gradient (bluer gradients toward the centre) which are seldom seen in normal early-type galaxies. W...

This paper presents data on the ENEARc subsample of the larger ENEAR survey of the nearby early-type galaxies. The ENEARc galaxies belong to clusters and were specifically chosen to be used for the construction of a D_n-sigma template. The ENEARc sample includes new measurements of spectroscopic and photometric parameters (redshift, velocity dispersion, line index Mg_2, and the angular diameter d_n) as well as data from the literature. New spectroscopic data are given for 229...