Stellar Masses and Star Formation Rates of Lensed, Dusty, Star-forming Galaxies from the SPT Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Jingzhe; Gonzalez, Anthony. H.; Spilker, J. S.; Strandet, M.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Aravena, M.; Béthermin, M.; Bothwell, M. S.; de Breuck, C.; Brodwin, M.; Chapman, S. C.; Fassnacht, C. D.; Greve, T. R.; Gullberg, B.; Hezaveh, Y.; Malkan, M.; Marrone, D. P.; Saliwanchik, B. R.; Vieira, J. D.; Weiss, A.; Welikala, N.

2015-10-01

To understand cosmic mass assembly in the universe at early epochs, we primarily rely on measurements of the stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs) of distant galaxies. In this paper, we present stellar masses and SFRs of six high-redshift (2.8 ≤ z ≤ 5.7) dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) that are strongly gravitationally lensed by foreground galaxies. These sources were first discovered by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) at millimeter wavelengths and all have spectroscopic redshifts and robust lens models derived from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations. We have conducted follow-up observations to obtain multi-wavelength imaging data using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Spitzer, Herschel, and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment. We use the high-resolution HST/Wide Field Camera 3 images to disentangle the background source from the foreground lens in Spitzer/IRAC data. The detections and upper limits provide important constraints on the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for these DSFGs, yielding stellar masses, IR luminosities, and SFRs. The SED fits of six SPT sources show that the intrinsic stellar masses span a range more than one order of magnitude with a median value ˜5 ×1010 M⊙. The intrinsic IR luminosities range from 4 × 1012 L⊙ to 4 × 1013 L⊙. They all have prodigious intrinsic SFRs of 510-4800 M⊙ yr-1. Compared to the star-forming main sequence (MS), these six DSFGs have specific SFRs that all lie above the MS, including two galaxies that are a factor of 10 higher than the MS. Our results suggest that we are witnessing ongoing strong starburst events that may be driven by major mergers.

CI as a Tracer of Gas Mass in Star Forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourne, Nathan

2018-01-01

Research in galaxy evolution aims to understand the cosmic industry of converting gas into stars. While SFR and stellar mass evolution are well constrained by current data, our knowledge of gas in galaxies throughout cosmic time is comparatively lacking. Almost all high-redshift gas measurements to date rely on CO as a tracer, but this is subject to systematic uncertainties due to optically thick emission and poorly constrained dependences on gas density, distribution and metallicity. Recently, some attention has been given to dust continuum as an alternative gas tracer, which shows promise for large samples but still requires accurate calibration on a direct gas tracer at high redshift. The [CI] 492GHz emission line could overcome much of the systematic uncertainty, as it is optically thin and has similar excitation conditions to CO(1-0), but observational limitations have so far restricted CI measurements to very small samples. I will presen t some new data from ALMA, for the first time testing the CI/dust correlation in a representative sample of star-forming galaxies at z=1, and discuss how future observations could be designed to more widely exploit this independent gas tracer.

Dusty Star-forming Galaxies at High Redshift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Ting

2017-02-01

Star-forming galaxies, which convert large amounts of gas into stars at moderate or excessive rates, are a critical population for our understanding of galaxy evolution throughout the cosmic time. A small portion of the star-forming galaxies are defined as starburst galaxies because they have much greater star formation rates (a few hundred to a few thousand of solar masses per year), which are associate with high infrared luminosity. My thesis focuses on starburst galaxies in the intermediate/high redshift universe. In this study, I present various modeling methods of the infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) of starburst galaxies, including modified black-body models and empirical templates based on nearby galaxies. Then, I fit these models to two samples of sources to study galaxy properties and provide a comparison among different SED models. I present galaxy properties derived by the best-fit model -- a modified blackbody model with power-law temperature distribution. The first sample is nine candidate gravitationally-lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected at 218 GHz (1.4 mm) from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) equatorial survey, with multi-wavelength detections. Among the brightest ACT sources, these represent the subset of the total ACT sample lying in Herschel SPIRE fields, and all nine of the 218 GHz detections were found to have bright Herschel counterparts. We find the sample has a higher redshift distribution (z=4.1+1.1-1.0) than "classical" starburst galaxies, as expected for 218 GHz selection, and an apparent total infrared luminosity of log10(uL_IR/L_sun) = 13.86+0.33-0.30, which suggests that they are either strongly lensed sources or unresolved collections of unlensed DSFGs. The effective apparent diameter of the sample is ud = 4.2+1.7-1.0 kpc, further evidence of strong lensing or multiplicity, since the typical diameter of dusty star-forming galaxies is 1.0-2.5 kpc. We emphasize that the effective apparent diameter

New analytical solutions for chemical evolution models: characterizing the population of star-forming and passive galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spitoni, E.; Vincenzo, F.; Matteucci, F.

2017-03-01

Context. Analytical models of chemical evolution, including inflow and outflow of gas, are important tools for studying how the metal content in galaxies evolves as a function of time. Aims: We present new analytical solutions for the evolution of the gas mass, total mass, and metallicity of a galactic system when a decaying exponential infall rate of gas and galactic winds are assumed. We apply our model to characterize a sample of local star-forming and passive galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, with the aim of reproducing their observed mass-metallicity relation. Methods: We derived how the two populations of star-forming and passive galaxies differ in their particular distribution of ages, formation timescales, infall masses, and mass loading factors. Results: We find that the local passive galaxies are, on average, older and assembled on shorter typical timescales than the local star-forming galaxies; on the other hand, the star-forming galaxies with higher masses generally show older ages and longer typical formation timescales compared than star-forming galaxies with lower masses. The local star-forming galaxies experience stronger galactic winds than the passive galaxy population. Exploring the effect of assuming different initial mass functions in our model, we show that to reproduce the observed mass-metallicity relation, stronger winds are requested if the initial mass function is top-heavy. Finally, our analytical models predict the assumed sample of local galaxies to lie on a tight surface in the 3D space defined by stellar metallicity, star formation rate, and stellar mass, in agreement with the well-known fundamental relation from adopting gas-phase metallicity. Conclusions: By using a new analytical model of chemical evolution, we characterize an ensemble of SDSS galaxies in terms of their infall timescales, infall masses, and mass loading factors. Local passive galaxies are, on average, older and assembled on shorter typical

The missing mass in clusters of galaxies and elliptical galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mushotzky, Richard F.

1991-01-01

We review the available data for the existence of dark matter in clusters of galaxies and elliptical galaxies. While the amount of dark matter in clusters is not well determined, both the X-ray and optical data show that more than 50 percent of the total mass must be dark. There is in general fair agreement in the binding mass estimates between the X-ray and optical techniques, but there is not detailed agreement on the form of the potential or the distribution of dark matter. The X-ray spectral and spatial observations of elliptical galaxies demonstrate that dark matter is also required in these objects and that it must be considerably more extended than the stellar distribution.

Central Stellar Mass Deficits in the Bulges of Local Lenticular Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dullo, B. T.

2014-03-01

The centers of giant galaxies display stellar mass deficits (Mdef) which are thought to be a signature left by inspiraling supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries that are formed in post-merger galaxies. We quantify these deficits for a sample of five luminous lenticular galaxies with bulge magnitude MV ≲ -21 mag and find Mdef ≍ 0.5 - 2MBH (black hole mass). Contrary to the traditionally proposed lenticular galaxy formation mechanisms such as ram-pressure stripping and galaxy harassment, the mass deficits in these galaxies suggest a two stage inside-out process for their assembly. That is, their bulges may have formed through “dry” major-merger events involving SMBHs while their disk was subsequently built up via cold gas accretion scenarios. Interestingly, these bulges have sizes and mass densities comparable to the compact massive galaxies found at z ˜ 2.

AGN host galaxy mass function in COSMOS. Is AGN feedback responsible for the mass-quenching of galaxies?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bongiorno, A.; Schulze, A.; Merloni, A.; Zamorani, G.; Ilbert, O.; La Franca, F.; Peng, Y.; Piconcelli, E.; Mainieri, V.; Silverman, J. D.; Brusa, M.; Fiore, F.; Salvato, M.; Scoville, N.

2016-04-01

We investigate the role of supermassive black holes in the global context of galaxy evolution by measuring the host galaxy stellar mass function (HGMF) and the specific accretion rate, that is, λSAR, the distribution function (SARDF), up to z ~ 2.5 with ~1000 X-ray selected AGN from XMM-COSMOS. Using a maximum likelihood approach, we jointly fit the stellar mass function and specific accretion rate distribution function, with the X-ray luminosity function as an additional constraint. Our best-fit model characterizes the SARDF as a double power-law with mass-dependent but redshift-independent break, whose low λSAR slope flattens with increasing redshift while the normalization increases. This implies that for a given stellar mass, higher λSAR objects have a peak in their space density at earlier epoch than the lower λSAR objects, following and mimicking the well-known AGN cosmic downsizing as observed in the AGN luminosity function. The mass function of active galaxies is described by a Schechter function with an almost constant M∗⋆ and a low-mass slope α that flattens with redshift. Compared to the stellar mass function, we find that the HGMF has a similar shape and that up to log (M⋆/M⊙) ~ 11.5, the ratio of AGN host galaxies to star-forming galaxies is basically constant (~10%). Finally, the comparison of the AGN HGMF for different luminosity and specific accretion rate subclasses with a previously published phenomenological model prediction for the "transient" population, which are galaxies in the process of being mass-quenched, reveals that low-luminosity AGN do not appear to be able to contribute significantly to the quenching and that at least at high masses, that is, M⋆ > 1010.7 M⊙, feedback from luminous AGN (log Lbol ≳ 46 [erg/s]) may be responsible for the quenching of star formation in the host galaxy.

Central stellar mass deficits of early-type galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsige Dullo, Bililign; Graham, Alister

2016-01-01

The centers of giant galaxies display stellar mass deficits (Mdef) which are thought to be a signature left by inspiraling supermassive black holes (SMBHs) from pre-merged galaxies. We quantify these deficits using the core-Sérsic model for the largest ever sample of early-type galaxies and find Mdef ˜ 0.5 to 4 MBH (SMBH mass). We find that lenticular disc galaxies with bulge magnitudes MV ≤ -21.0 mag also have central stellar deficits, suggesting that their bulges may have formed from major merger events while their surroundingdisc was subsequently built up, perhaps via cold gas accretion scenarios. Interestingly, these bulges have sizes and mass densities comparable to the compact galaxies found at z ˜ 1.5 to 2.

The galaxy-wide initial mass function of dwarf late-type to massive early-type galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weidner, C.; Kroupa, P.; Pflamm-Altenburg, J.; Vazdekis, A.

2013-12-01

Observational studies are showing that the galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function (IMF) is top-heavy in galaxies with high star formation rates (SFRs). Calculating the integrated galactic stellar initial mass function (IGIMF) as a function of the SFR of a galaxy, it follows that galaxies which have or which formed with SFRs >10 M⊙ yr-1 would have a top-heavy IGIMF in excellent consistency with the observations. Consequently and in agreement with observations, elliptical galaxies would have higher mass-to-light ratios as a result of the overabundance of stellar remnants compared to a stellar population that formed with an invariant canonical stellar IMF. For the Milky Way, the IGIMF yields very good agreement with the disc- and the bulge IMF determinations. Our conclusions are that purely stochastic descriptions of star formation on the scales of a parsec and above are falsified. Instead, star formation follows the laws, stated here as axioms, which define the IGIMF theory. We also find evidence that the power-law index β of the embedded cluster mass function decreases with increasing SFR. We propose further tests of the IGIMF theory through counting massive stars in dwarf galaxies.

Leo P: A very low-mass, extremely metal-poor, star-forming galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McQuinn, Kristen B.; Leo P Team

2017-01-01

Leo P is a low-luminosity dwarf galaxy just outside the Local Group with properties that make it an ideal probe of galaxy evolution at the faint-end of the luminosity function. Using combined data from 2 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observing campaigns, the Very Large Array, the Spitzer Space telescope, as well as ground based data, we have constructed a robust evolutionary picture of Leo P. Leo P is one the most metal-poor, gas-rich galaxies ever discovered, has a stellar mass of a 5x105 Msun, comparable gas mass, and a single HII region. The star formation history reconstructed from the resolved stellar populations in Leo P shows it is unquenched, despite its very low mass. Based on the star formation history and metallicity measurements, the galaxy has lost 95% of its oxygen produced via nucleosynthesis, presumably to outflows. The neutral gas in the galaxy shows signs of rotation, although the velocity dispersion is comparable to the rotation velocity. Thus, Leo P bridges the gap between more massive dwarf irregular and less massive dwarf spheroidals on the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation. Furthermore, the galaxy hosts several, extremely dusty AGB candidates which will be probed with new HST and Spitzer observations. If confirmed as AGB stars, these may be our best local proxies for studying chemically unevolved star formation and subsequent dust production in metallicity environments comparable to the early universe.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): blue spheroids within 87 Mpc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahajan, Smriti; Drinkwater, Michael J.; Driver, S.; Hopkins, A. M.; Graham, Alister W.; Brough, S.; Brown, Michael J. I.; Holwerda, B. W.; Owers, Matt S.; Pimbblet, Kevin A.

2018-03-01

In this paper, we test if nearby blue spheroid (BSph) galaxies may become the progenitors of star-forming spiral galaxies or passively evolving elliptical galaxies. Our sample comprises 428 galaxies of various morphologies in the redshift range 0.002 < z < 0.02 (8-87 Mpc) with panchromatic data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that BSph galaxies are structurally (mean effective surface brightness, effective radius) very similar to their passively evolving red counterparts. However, their star formation and other properties such as colour, age, and metallicity are more like star-forming spirals than spheroids (ellipticals and lenticulars). We show that BSph galaxies are statistically distinguishable from other spheroids as well as spirals in the multidimensional space mapped by luminosity-weighted age, metallicity, dust mass, and specific star formation rate. We use H I data to reveal that some of the BSphs are (further) developing their discs, hence their blue colours. They may eventually become spiral galaxies - if sufficient gas accretion occurs - or more likely fade into low-mass red galaxies.

The mass-metallicity relations for gas and stars in star-forming galaxies: strong outflow versus variable IMF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lian, Jianhui; Thomas, Daniel; Maraston, Claudia; Goddard, Daniel; Comparat, Johan; Gonzalez-Perez, Violeta; Ventura, Paolo

2018-02-01

We investigate the mass-metallicity relations for the gaseous (MZRgas) and stellar components (MZRstar) of local star-forming galaxies based on a representative sample from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12. The mass-weighted average stellar metallicities are systematically lower than the gas metallicities. This difference in metallicity increases towards galaxies with lower masses and reaches 0.4-0.8 dex at 109 M⊙ (depending on the gas metallicity calibration). As a result, the MZRstar is much steeper than the MZRgas. The much lower metallicities in stars compared to the gas in low-mass galaxies imply dramatic metallicity evolution with suppressed metal enrichment at early times. The aim of this paper is to explain the observed large difference in gas and stellar metallicity and to infer the origin of the mass-metallicity relations. To this end we develop a galactic chemical evolution model accounting for star formation, gas inflow and outflow. By combining the observed mass-metallicity relation for both gas and stellar components to constrain the models, we find that only two scenarios are able to reproduce the observations. Either strong metal outflow or a steep initial mass function (IMF) slope at early epochs of galaxy evolution is needed. Based on these two scenarios, for the first time we successfully reproduce the observed MZRgas and MZRstar simultaneously, together with other independent observational constraints in the local Universe. Our model also naturally reproduces the flattening of the MZRgas at the high-mass end leaving the MZRstar intact, as seen in observational data.

Origin of the Galaxy Mass-Metallicity-Star Formation Relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harwit, Martin; Brisbin, Drew

2015-02-01

We describe an equilibrium model that links the metallicity of low-redshift galaxies to stellar evolution models. It enables the testing of different stellar initial mass functions and metal yields against observed galaxy metallicities. We show that the metallicities of more than 80,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies in the low-redshift range 0.07 <= z <= 0.3 considerably constrain stellar evolution models that simultaneously relate galaxy stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rates to the infall rate of low-metallicity extragalactic gas and outflow of enriched matter. A feature of our model is that it encompasses both the active star forming phases of a galaxy and epochs during which the same galaxy may lie fallow. We show that the galaxy mass-metallicity-star formation relation can be traced to infall of extragalactic gas mixing with native gas from host galaxies to form stars of observed metallicities, the most massive of which eject oxygen into extragalactic space. Most consequential among our findings is that, on average, extragalactic infall accounts for one half of the gas required for star formation, a ratio that is remarkably constant across galaxies with stellar masses ranging at least from M* = 2 × 109 to 6 × 1010 M ⊙. This leads us to propose that star formation is initiated when extragalactic infall roughly doubles the mass of marginally stable interstellar clouds. The processes described may also account quantitatively for the metallicity of extragalactic space, though to check this the fraction of extragalactic baryons will need to be more firmly established.

Stellar Population Synthesis of Star-forming Clumps in Galaxy Pairs and Non-interacting Spiral Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaragoza-Cardiel, Javier; Smith, Beverly J.; Rosado, Margarita; Beckman, John E.; Bitsakis, Theodoros; Camps-Fariña, Artemi; Font, Joan; Cox, Isaiah S.

2018-02-01

We have identified 1027 star-forming complexes in a sample of 46 galaxies from the Spirals, Bridges, and Tails (SB&T) sample of interacting galaxies, and 693 star-forming complexes in a sample of 38 non-interacting spiral (NIS) galaxies in 8 μm observations from the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera. We have used archival multi-wavelength UV-to IR observations to fit the observed spectral energy distribution of our clumps with the Code Investigating GALaxy Emission using a double exponentially declined star formation history. We derive the star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses, ages and fractions of the most recent burst, dust attenuation, and fractional emission due to an active galactic nucleus for these clumps. The resolved star formation main sequence holds on 2.5 kpc scales, although it does not hold on 1 kpc scales. We analyzed the relation between SFR, stellar mass, and age of the recent burst in the SB&T and NIS samples, and we found that the SFR per stellar mass is higher in the SB&T galaxies, and the clumps are younger in the galaxy pairs. We analyzed the SFR radial profile and found that the SFR is enhanced through the disk and in the tidal features relative to normal spirals.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): the star formation rate dependence of the stellar initial mass function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Hopkins, A. M.; Sharp, R. G.; Brough, S.; Taylor, E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Maraston, C.; Tuffs, R. J.; Popescu, C. C.; Wijesinghe, D.; Jones, D. H.; Croom, S.; Sadler, E.; Wilkins, S.; Driver, S. P.; Liske, J.; Norberg, P.; Baldry, I. K.; Bamford, S. P.; Loveday, J.; Peacock, J. A.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Zucker, D. B.; Parker, Q. A.; Conselice, C. J.; Cameron, E.; Frenk, C. S.; Hill, D. T.; Kelvin, L. S.; Kuijken, K.; Madore, B. F.; Nichol, B.; Parkinson, H. R.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Prescott, M.; Sutherland, W. J.; Thomas, D.; van Kampen, E.

2011-08-01

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) describes the distribution in stellar masses produced from a burst of star formation. For more than 50 yr, the implicit assumption underpinning most areas of research involving the IMF has been that it is universal, regardless of time and environment. We measure the high-mass IMF slope for a sample of low-to-moderate redshift galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. The large range in luminosities and galaxy masses of the sample permits the exploration of underlying IMF dependencies. A strong IMF-star formation rate dependency is discovered, which shows that highly star-forming galaxies form proportionally more massive stars (they have IMFs with flatter power-law slopes) than galaxies with low star formation rates. This has a significant impact on a wide variety of galaxy evolution studies, all of which rely on assumptions about the slope of the IMF. Our result is supported by, and provides an explanation for, the results of numerous recent explorations suggesting a variation of or evolution in the IMF.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): galaxy close pairs, mergers and the future fate of stellar mass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robotham, A. S. G.; Driver, S. P.; Davies, L. J. M.; Hopkins, A. M.; Baldry, I. K.; Agius, N. K.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cluver, M.; De Propris, R.; Drinkwater, M. J.; Holwerda, B. W.; Kelvin, L. S.; Lara-Lopez, M. A.; Liske, J.; López-Sánchez, Á. R.; Loveday, J.; Mahajan, S.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Moffett, A.; Norberg, P.; Obreschkow, D.; Owers, M. S.; Penny, S. J.; Pimbblet, K.; Prescott, M.; Taylor, E. N.; van Kampen, E.; Wilkins, S. M.

2014-11-01

We use a highly complete subset of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly II (GAMA-II) redshift sample to fully describe the stellar mass dependence of close pairs and mergers between 108 and 1012 M⊙. Using the analytic form of this fit we investigate the total stellar mass accreting on to more massive galaxies across all mass ratios. Depending on how conservatively we select our robust merging systems, the fraction of mass merging on to more massive companions is 2.0-5.6 per cent. Using the GAMA-II data we see no significant evidence for a change in the close pair fraction between redshift z = 0.05 and 0.2. However, we find a systematically higher fraction of galaxies in similar mass close pairs compared to published results over a similar redshift baseline. Using a compendium of data and the function γM = A(1 + z)m to predict the major close pair fraction, we find fitting parameters of A = 0.021 ± 0.001 and m = 1.53 ± 0.08, which represents a higher low-redshift normalization and shallower power-law slope than recent literature values. We find that the relative importance of in situ star formation versus galaxy merging is inversely correlated, with star formation dominating the addition of stellar material below M^* and merger accretion events dominating beyond M^*. We find mergers have a measurable impact on the whole extent of the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF), manifest as a deepening of the `dip' in the GSMF over the next ˜Gyr and an increase in M^* by as much as 0.01-0.05 dex.

Connection between Stellar Mass Distributions within Galaxies and Quenching Since z = 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosleh, Moein; Tacchella, Sandro; Renzini, Alvio; Carollo, C. Marcella; Molaeinezhad, Alireza; Onodera, Masato; Khosroshahi, Habib G.; Lilly, Simon

2017-03-01

We study the history from z˜ 2 to z˜ 0 of the stellar mass assembly of quiescent and star-forming galaxies in a spatially resolved fashion. For this purpose, we use multi-wavelength imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) over the GOODS fields and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for the local population. We present the radial stellar mass surface density profiles of galaxies with {M}* > {10}10 {M}⊙ , corrected for mass-to-light ratio ({M}* /L) variations, and derive the half-mass-radius (R m ), central stellar mass surface density within 1 kpc ({{{Σ }}}1) and surface density at R m ({{{Σ }}}m) for star-forming and quiescent galaxies and study their evolution with redshift. At fixed stellar mass, the half-mass sizes of quiescent galaxies increase from z˜ 2 to z˜ 0 by a factor of ˜ 3-5, whereas the half-mass sizes of star-forming galaxies increase only slightly, by a factor of ˜2. The central densities {{{Σ }}}1 of quiescent galaxies decline slightly (by a factor of ≲ 1.7) from z˜ 2 to z˜ 0, while for star-forming galaxies {{{Σ }}}1 increases with time, at fixed mass. We show that the central density {{{Σ }}}1 has a tighter correlation with specific star-formation rate (sSFR) than {{{Σ }}}m and for all masses and redshifts galaxies with higher central density are more prone to be quenched. Reaching a high central density ({{{Σ }}}1≳ {10}10 {M}⊙ {{kpc}}2) seems to be a prerequisite for the cessation of star formation, though a causal link between high {{{Σ }}}1 and quenching is difficult to prove and their correlation can have a different origin.

Shocks and metallicity gradients in normal star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, I.-Ting

Gas flow is one of the most fundamental processes driving galaxy evolution. This thesis explores gas flows in local galaxies by studying metallicity gradients and galactic-scale outflows in normal star-forming galaxies. This is made possible by new integral field spectroscopy data that provide simultaneously spatial and spectral information of galaxies. First, I measure metallicity gradients in isolated disk galaxies and show that their metallicity gradients are remarkably simple and universal. When the metallicity gradients are normalized to galaxy sizes, all the 49 galaxies studied have virtually the same metallicity gradient. I model the common metallicity gradient using a simple chemical evolution model to understand its origin. The common metallicity gradient is a direct result of the coevolution of gas and stellar disk while galactic disks build up their masses from inside-out. Tight constraints on the mass outflow rates and inflow rates can be placed by the chemical evolution model. Second, I investigate galactic winds in normal star-forming galaxies using data from an integral field spectroscopy survey. I demonstrate how to search for galactic winds by probing emission line ratios, shocks, and gas kinematics. Galactic winds are found to be common even in normal star-forming galaxies that were not expected to host winds. By comparing galaxies with and without hosting winds, I show that galaxies with high star formation rate surface densities and bursty star formation histories are more likely to drive large-scale galactic winds. Finally, lzifu, a toolkit for fitting multiple emission lines simultaneously in integral field spectroscopy data, is developed in this thesis. I describe in detail the structure of the toolkit and demonstrate the capabilities of lzifu.

The galaxy-dark matter halo connection: which galaxy properties are correlated with the host halo mass?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Contreras, S.; Baugh, C. M.; Norberg, P.; Padilla, N.

2015-09-01

We demonstrate how the properties of a galaxy depend on the mass of its host dark matter subhalo, using two independent models of galaxy formation. For the cases of stellar mass and black hole mass, the median property value displays a monotonic dependence on subhalo mass. The slope of the relation changes for subhalo masses for which heating by active galactic nuclei becomes important. The median property values are predicted to be remarkably similar for central and satellite galaxies. The two models predict considerable scatter around the median property value, though the size of the scatter is model dependent. There is only modest evolution with redshift in the median galaxy property at a fixed subhalo mass. Properties such as cold gas mass and star formation rate, however, are predicted to have a complex dependence on subhalo mass. In these cases, subhalo mass is not a good indicator of the value of the galaxy property. We illustrate how the predictions in the galaxy property-subhalo mass plane differ from the assumptions made in some empirical models of galaxy clustering by reconstructing the model output using a basic subhalo abundance matching scheme. In its simplest form, abundance matching generally does not reproduce the clustering predicted by the models, typically resulting in an overprediction of the clustering signal. Using the predictions of the galaxy formation model for the correlations between pairs of galaxy properties, the basic abundance matching scheme can be extended to reproduce the model predictions more faithfully for a wider range of galaxy properties. Our results have implications for the analysis of galaxy clustering, particularly for low abundance samples.

"Missing Mass" Found in Recycled Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2007-05-01

Astronomers studying dwarf galaxies formed from the debris of a collision of larger galaxies found the dwarfs much more massive than expected, and think the additional material is "missing mass" that theorists said should not be present in this kind of dwarf galaxy. Multiwavelength Image of NGC 5291 Multiwavelength image of NGC 5291 and dwarf galaxies around it. CREDIT: P-A Duc, CEA-CNRS/NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA. Click on image for page of more graphics and full information The scientists used the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope to study a galaxy called NGC 5291, 200 million light-years from Earth. This galaxy collided with another 360 million years ago, and the collision shot streams of gas and stars outward. Later, the dwarf galaxies formed from the ejected debris. "Our detailed studies of three 'recycled' dwarf galaxies in this system showed that the dwarfs have twice as much unseen matter as visible matter. This was surprising, because they were expected to have very little unseen matter," said Frederic Bournaud, of the French astrophysics laboratory AIM of the French CEA and CNRS. Bournaud and his colleagues announced their discovery in the May 10 online issue of the journal Science. "Dark matter," which astronomers can detect only by its gravitational effects, comes, they believe, in two basic forms. One form is the familiar kind of matter seen in stars, planets, and humans -- called baryonic matter -- that does not emit much light or other type of radiation. The other form, called non-baryonic dark matter, comprises nearly a third of the Universe but its nature is unknown. The visible portion of spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, lies mostly in a flattened disk, usually with a bulge in the center. This visible portion, however, is surrounded by a much larger halo of dark matter. When spiral galaxies collide, the material expelled outward by the interaction comes from the galaxies' disks. For this reason, astronomers did

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The mechanisms for quiescent galaxy formation at z < 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowlands, K.; Wild, V.; Bourne, N.; Bremer, M.; Brough, S.; Driver, S. P.; Hopkins, A. M.; Owers, M. S.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K.; Sansom, A. E.; Wang, L.; Alpaslan, M.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Colless, M.; Holwerda, B. W.; Taylor, E. N.

2018-01-01

One key problem in astrophysics is understanding how and why galaxies switch off their star formation, building the quiescent population that we observe in the local Universe. From the Galaxy And Mass Assembly and VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph Public Extragalactic Redshift surveys, we use spectroscopic indices to select quiescent and candidate transition galaxies. We identify potentially rapidly transitioning post-starburst (PSB) galaxies and slower transitioning green-valley galaxies. Over the last 8 Gyr, the quiescent population has grown more slowly in number density at high masses ({M}_\\ast >10^{11}{M_{⊙}) than at intermediate masses ({M}_\\ast >10^{10.6}{M_{⊙}). There is evolution in both the PSB and green-valley stellar mass functions, consistent with higher mass galaxies quenching at earlier cosmic times. At intermediate masses ({M}_\\ast >10^{10.6}{M_{⊙}), we find a green-valley transition time-scale of 2.6 Gyr. Alternatively, at z ∼ 0.7, the entire growth rate could be explained by fast-quenching PSB galaxies, with a visibility time-scale of 0.5 Gyr. At lower redshift, the number density of PSBs is so low that an unphysically short visibility window would be required for them to contribute significantly to the quiescent population growth. The importance of the fast-quenching route may rapidly diminish at z < 1. However, at high masses ({M}_\\ast >10^{11}{M_{⊙}), there is tension between the large number of candidate transition galaxies compared to the slow growth of the quiescent population. This could be resolved if not all high-mass PSB and green-valley galaxies are transitioning from star forming to quiescent, for example if they rejuvenate out of the quiescent population following the accretion of gas and triggering of star formation, or if they fail to completely quench their star formation.

Why do Galaxies Stop Forming Stars? New Evidence for the Role of AGN-feedback in Driving Galaxy Bimodality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bluck, Asa; Teimoorinia, Hossen; Ellison, Sara L.; Mendel, Trevor

2018-01-01

One of the most striking features of the population of local galaxies is that the distributions of several key galaxy properties are highly bimodal (e.g. color and star formation rate). In general, high mass galaxies in dense environments, with bulge-dominated morphologies and pressure supported kinematics are more frequently passive (non-star forming) than lower mass galaxies in low density environments, with disc-dominated morphologies and rotationally supported kinematics. Understanding which, if any, of these correlations is causally related to the ‘quenching’ of star formation in galaxies remains an active and hotly debated area of investigation in modern astrophysics.Theoretically, a wealth of physical processes have been evoked to account for central galaxy quenching, including halo mass quenching from virial shocks, feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN; in either the quasar or radio mode), stabilizing torques from central mass concentrations, feedback from supernovae, or even magnetic fields interacting with the hot gas halo.I will present strong new statistical evidence which suggests that the quenched fraction of local central galaxies is primarily related to their central kinematics (Bluck et al. 2016; 2017 in prep.). I will show that this is broadly consistent with quenching from AGN feedback, through a detailed comparison with a semi-analytic model and a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation.Using a sample of over half a million local galaxies from the SDSS DR7, we go on to develop a number of sophisticated techniques, including machine learning with artificial neural networks, to rank the importance of galaxy properties to quenching (Teimoorinia, Bluck & Ellison 2016). We find that properties closely correlated with the central supermassive black hole are highly favoured statistically to predict whether a galaxy will be star forming or not. Perhaps surprisingly, stellar mass and halo mass have no impact on star formation activity in central

The cosmic baryon cycle and galaxy mass assembly in the FIRE simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Hopkins, Philip F.; Quataert, Eliot; Murray, Norman

2017-10-01

We use cosmological simulations from the FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments) project to study the baryon cycle and galaxy mass assembly for central galaxies in the halo mass range Mhalo ˜ 1010-1013 M⊙. By tracing cosmic inflows, galactic outflows, gas recycling and merger histories, we quantify the contribution of physically distinct sources of material to galaxy growth. We show that in situ star formation fuelled by fresh accretion dominates the early growth of galaxies of all masses, while the re-accretion of gas previously ejected in galactic winds often dominates the gas supply for a large portion of every galaxy's evolution. Externally processed material contributes increasingly to the growth of central galaxies at lower redshifts. This includes stars formed ex situ and gas delivered by mergers, as well as smooth intergalactic transfer of gas from other galaxies, an important but previously underappreciated growth mode. By z = 0, wind transfer, I.e. the exchange of gas between galaxies via winds, can dominate gas accretion on to ˜L* galaxies over fresh accretion and standard wind recycling. Galaxies of all masses re-accrete ≳50 per cent of the gas ejected in winds and recurrent recycling is common. The total mass deposited in the intergalactic medium per unit stellar mass formed increases in lower mass galaxies. Re-accretion of wind ejecta occurs over a broad range of time-scales, with median recycling times (˜100-350 Myr) shorter than previously found. Wind recycling typically occurs at the scale radius of the halo, independent of halo mass and redshift, suggesting a characteristic recycling zone around galaxies that scales with the size of the inner halo and the galaxy's stellar component.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): a deeper view of the mass, metallicity and SFR relationships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lara-López, M. A.; Hopkins, A. M.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Brough, S.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Colless, M.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Cluver, M.; Driver, S.; Foster, C.; Kelvin, L. S.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Owers, M. S.; Ponman, T. J.; Sharp, R. G.; Steele, O.; Taylor, E. N.; Thomas, D.

2013-09-01

A full appreciation of the role played by gas metallicity (Z), star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M*) is fundamental to understanding how galaxies form and evolve. The connections between these three parameters at different redshifts significantly affect galaxy evolution, and thus provide important constraints for galaxy evolution models. Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-Data Release 7 (SDSS-DR7) and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) surveys, we study the relationships and dependences between SFR, Z and M*, as well as the Fundamental Plane for star-forming galaxies. We combine both surveys using volume-limited samples up to a redshift of z ≈ 0.36. The GAMA and SDSS surveys complement each other when analysing the relationships between SFR, M* and Z. We present evidence for SFR and metallicity evolution to z ˜ 0.2. We study the dependences between SFR, M*, Z and specific SFR (SSFR) on the M*-Z, M*-SFR, M*-SSFR, Z-SFR and Z-SSFR relations, finding strong correlations between all. Based on those dependences, we propose a simple model that allows us to explain the different behaviour observed between low- and high-mass galaxies. Finally, our analysis allows us to confirm the existence of a Fundamental Plane, for which M* = f(Z, SFR) in star-forming galaxies.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly: resolving the role of environment in galaxy evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brough, S.; Croom, S.; Sharp, R.; Hopkins, A. M.; Taylor, E. N.; Baldry, I. K.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Liske, J.; Norberg, P.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Colless, M.; Foster, C.; Kelvin, L. S.; Lara-Lopez, M. A.; López-Sánchez, Á. R.; Loveday, J.; Owers, M.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Prescott, M.

2013-11-01

We present observations of 18 galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey made with the SPIRAL optical integral field unit (IFU) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. The galaxies are selected to have a narrow range in stellar mass (6 × 109 < M* < 2 × 1010 M⊙) in order to focus on the effects of environment. Local galaxy environments are measured quantitatively using fifth nearest neighbour surface densities. We find that the total star formation rates (SFR) measured from the IFU data are consistent with total SFRs measured from aperture correcting either GAMA or Sloan Digital Sky Survey single-fibre observations. The mean differences are SFRGAMA/SFRIFU = 1.26 ± 0.23, σ = 0.90 and for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey we similarly find SFRBrinchmann/SFRIFU = 1.34 ± 0.17, σ = 0.67. Examining the relationships with environment, we find that off-centre and clumpy Hα emission is not significantly dependent on environment, being present in 2/7 (29^{+20}_{-11} per cent) galaxies in high-density environments (>0.77 Mpc-2), and 5/11 (45^{+15}_{-13} per cent) galaxies in low-density environments (<0.77 Mpc-2). We find a weak but not significant relationship of the total SFRs of star-forming galaxies with environment. Due to the size of our sample and the scatter observed we do not draw a definitive conclusion about a possible SFR dependence on environment. Examining the spatial distribution of the Hα emission, we find no evidence for a change in shape or amplitude of the radial profile of star-forming galaxies with environment. If these observations are borne out in larger samples, this would infer that any environment-driven star formation suppression must either act very rapidly (the `infall-and-quench' model) or that galaxies must evolve in a density-dependent manner (an `in situ evolution' model).

Forming Disk Galaxies Early in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2015-08-01

What were galaxies like in the first 500 million years of the universe? According to simulations by Yu Feng (UC Berkeley) and collaborators, the earliest massive galaxies to form were mostly disk-shaped, rather than the compact clumps previously predicted. Early-Galaxy Models. Current models for galaxy formation predict that small perturbations in the distribution of matter in the early universe collapsed to form very compact, irregular, clumpy first galaxies. Observations support this: the furthest out that we've spotted disk-shaped galaxies is at z=3, whereas the galaxies we've observed from earlier times -- up to redshifts of z=8-10 -- are very compact. But could this be a selection effect, arising from the rarity of large galaxies in the early universe? Current surveys at high redshift have thus far only covered relatively small volumes of space, so it's not necessarily surprising that we haven't yet spotted any large disk galaxies. Similarly, numerical simulations of galaxy formation are limited in the size of the volume they can evolve, so resulting models of early galaxy formation also tend to favor compact clumpy galaxies over large disks. An Enormous Simulation. Pushing at these limitations, Feng and his collaborators used the Blue Waters supercomputer to carry out an enormous cosmological hydrodynamic simulation called BlueTides. In this simulation, they track 700 billion particles as they evolve in a volume of 400 comoving Mpc/h -- 40 times the volume of the largest previous simulation and 300 times the volume of the largest observational survey at these redshifts. What they find is that by z=8, a whopping 70% of the most massive galaxies (over 7 billion solar masses each) were disk-shaped, though they are more compact, gas-rich, and turbulent than present-day disk galaxies like the Milky Way. The way the most massive galaxies formed in the simulation also wasn't expected: rather than resulting from major mergers, they were built from smooth accretion

The Universe's Most Extreme Star-forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, Caitlin

2017-06-01

Dusty star-forming galaxies host the most intense stellar nurseries in the Universe. Their unusual characteristics (SFRs=200-2000Msun/yr, Mstar>1010 Msun) pose a unique challenge for cosmological simulations and galaxy formation theory, particularly at early times. Although rare today, they were factors of 1000 times more prevalent at z~2-5, contributing significantly to the buildup of the Universe's stellar mass and the formation of high-mass galaxies. At even earlier times (within 1Gyr post Big Bang) they could have played a pivotal role in enriching the IGM. However, an ongoing debate lingers as to their evolutionary origins at high-redshift, whether or not they are triggered by major mergers of gas-rich disk galaxies, or if they are solitary galaxies continually fed pristine gas from the intergalactic medium. Furthermore, their presence in early protoclusters, only revealed quite recently, pose intriguing questions regarding the collapse of large scale structure. I will discuss some of the latest observational programs dedicated to understanding dust-obscuration in and gas content of the early Universe, their context in the cosmic web, and future long-term observing campaigns that may reveal their relationship to `normal’ galaxies, thus teaching us valuable lessons on the physical mechanisms of galaxy growth and the collapse of large scale structure in an evolving Universe.

QUIESCENCE CORRELATES STRONGLY WITH DIRECTLY MEASURED BLACK HOLE MASS IN CENTRAL GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Terrazas, Bryan A.; Bell, Eric F.; Henriques, Bruno M. B.

Roughly half of all stars reside in galaxies without significant ongoing star formation. However, galaxy formation models indicate that it is energetically challenging to suppress the cooling of gas and the formation of stars in galaxies that lie at the centers of their dark matter halos. In this Letter, we show that the dependence of quiescence on black hole and stellar mass is a powerful discriminant between differing models for the mechanisms that suppress star formation. Using observations of 91 star-forming and quiescent central galaxies with directly measured black hole masses, we find that quiescent galaxies host more massive blackmore » holes than star-forming galaxies with similar stellar masses. This observational result is in qualitative agreement with models that assume that effective, more-or-less continuous active galactic nucleus feedback suppresses star formation, strongly suggesting the importance of the black hole in producing quiescence in central galaxies.« less

Cosmological implications of a stellar initial mass function that varies with the Jeans mass in galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narayanan, Desika; Davé, Romeel

2012-07-01

Observations of star-forming galaxies at high z have suggested discrepancies in the inferred star formation rates (SFRs) either between data and models or between complementary measures of the SFR. These putative discrepancies could all be alleviated if the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is systematically weighted towards more high-mass star formation in rapidly star-forming galaxies. Here, we explore how the IMF might vary under the central assumption that the turnover mass in the IMF, ?, scales with the Jeans mass in giant molecular clouds (GMCs), ?. We employ hydrodynamic simulations of galaxies coupled with radiative transfer models to predict how the typical GMC Jeans mass, and hence the IMF, varies with galaxy properties. We then study the impact of such an IMF on the star formation law, the SFR-M* relation, sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) and the cosmic SFR density. Our main results are: the H2 mass-weighted Jeans mass in a galaxy scales well with the SFR when the SFR is greater than a few M⊙ yr-1. Stellar population synthesis modelling shows that this results in a non-linear relation between SFR and Lbol, such that SFR ?. Using this model relation, the inferred SFR of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies decreases by a factor of ˜2, and that of high-z SMGs decreases by a factor of ˜3-5. At z˜ 2, this results in a lowered normalization of the SFR-M* relation in better agreement with models, a reduced discrepancy between the observed cosmic SFR density and stellar mass density evolution, and SMG SFRs that are easier to accommodate in current hierarchical structure formation models. It further results in a Kennicutt-Schmidt star formation law with a slope of ˜1.6 when utilizing a physically motivated form for the CO-H2 conversion factor that varies with galaxy physical property. While each of the discrepancies considered here could be alleviated without appealing to a varying IMF, the modest variation implied by assuming ? is a plausible solution

Star-forming galaxies are predicted to lie on a fundamental plane of mass, star formation rate and α-enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthee, Jorryt; Schaye, Joop

2018-05-01

Observations show that star-forming galaxies reside on a tight three-dimensional plane between mass, gas-phase metallicity and star formation rate (SFR), which can be explained by the interplay between metal-poor gas inflows, SFR and outflows. However, different metals are released on different time-scales, which may affect the slope of this relation. Here, we use central, star-forming galaxies with Mstar = 109.0 - 10.5 M⊙ from the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulation to examine three-dimensional relations between mass, SFR and chemical enrichment using absolute and relative C, N, O and Fe abundances. We show that the scatter is smaller when gas-phase α-enhancement is used rather than metallicity. A similar plane also exists for stellar α-enhancement, implying that present-day specific SFRs are correlated with long time-scale star formation histories. Between z = 0 and 1, the α-enhancement plane is even more insensitive to redshift than the plane using metallicity. However, it evolves at z > 1 due to lagging iron yields. At fixed mass, galaxies with higher SFRs have star formation histories shifted toward late times, are more α-enhanced and this α-enhancement increases with redshift as observed. These findings suggest that relations between physical properties inferred from observations may be affected by systematic variations in α-enhancements.

Stellar mass and velocity functions of galaxies. Backward evolution and the fate of Milky Way siblings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boissier, S.; Buat, V.; Ilbert, O.

2010-11-01

Context. In recent years, stellar mass functions of both star-forming and quiescent galaxies have been observed at different redshifts in various fields. In addition, star formation rate (SFR) distributions (e.g. in the form of far infrared luminosity functions) were also obtained. Taken together, they offer complementary pieces of information concerning the evolution of galaxies. Aims: We attempt in this paper to check the consistency of the observed stellar mass functions, SFR functions, and the cosmic SFR density with simple backward evolutionary models. Methods: Starting from observed stellar mass functions for star-forming galaxies, we use backwards models to predict the evolution of a number of quantities, such as the SFR function, the cosmic SFR density and the velocity function. Because the velocity is a parameter attached to a galaxy during its history (contrary to the stellar mass), this approach allows us to quantify the number density evolution of galaxies of a given velocity, e.g. of the Milky Way siblings. Results: Observations suggest that the stellar mass function of star-forming galaxies is constant between redshift 0 and 1. To reproduce this result, we must quench star formation in a number of star-forming galaxies. The stellar mass function of these “quenched” galaxies is consistent with available data concerning the increase in the population of quiescent galaxies in the same redshift interval. The stellar mass function of quiescent galaxies is then mainly determined by the distribution of active galaxies that must stop star formation, with a modest mass redistribution during mergers. The cosmic SFR density and the evolution of the SFR functions are recovered relatively well, although they provide some clues to a minor evolution of the stellar mass function of star forming galaxies at the lowest redshifts. We thus consider that we have obtained in a simple way a relatively consistent picture of the evolution of galaxies at intermediate

Structural analysis of star-forming blue early-type galaxies. Merger-driven star formation in elliptical galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, Koshy

2017-02-01

Context. Star-forming blue early-type galaxies at low redshift can give insight to the stellar mass growth of L⋆ elliptical galaxies in the local Universe. Aims: We wish to understand the reason for star formation in these otherwise passively evolving red and dead stellar systems. The fuel for star formation can be acquired through recent accretion events such as mergers or flyby. The signatures of such events should be evident from a structural analysis of the galaxy image. Methods: We carried out structural analysis on SDSS r-band imaging data of 55 star-forming blue elliptical galaxies, derived the structural parameters, analysed the residuals from best-fit to surface brightness distribution, and constructed the galaxy scaling relations. Results: We found that star-forming blue early-type galaxies are bulge-dominated systems with axial ratio >0.5 and surface brightness profiles fitted by Sérsic profiles with index (n) mostly >2. Twenty-three galaxies are found to have n< 2; these could be hosting a disc component. The residual images of the 32 galaxy surface brightness profile fits show structural features indicative of recent interactions. The star-forming blue elliptical galaxies follow the Kormendy relation and show the characteristics of normal elliptical galaxies as far as structural analysis is concerned. There is a general trend for high-luminosity galaxies to display interaction signatures and high star formation rates. Conclusions: The star-forming population of blue early-type galaxies at low redshifts could be normal ellipticals that might have undergone a recent gas-rich minor merger event. The star formation in these galaxies will shut down once the recently acquired fuel is consumed, following which the galaxy will evolve to a normal early-type galaxy.

Star formation and mass assembly in high redshift galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santini, P.; Fontana, A.; Grazian, A.; Salimbeni, S.; Fiore, F.; Fontanot, F.; Boutsia, K.; Castellano, M.; Cristiani, S.; de Santis, C.; Gallozzi, S.; Giallongo, E.; Menci, N.; Nonino, M.; Paris, D.; Pentericci, L.; Vanzella, E.

2009-09-01

Aims: The goal of this work is to infer the star formation properties and the mass assembly process of high redshift (0.3 ≤ z < 2.5) galaxies from their IR emission using the 24 μm band of MIPS-Spitzer. Methods: We used an updated version of the GOODS-MUSIC catalog, which has multiwavelength coverage from 0.3 to 24 μm and either spectroscopic or accurate photometric redshifts. We describe how the catalog has been extended by the addition of mid-IR fluxes derived from the MIPS 24 μm image. We compared two different estimators of the star formation rate (SFR hereafter). One is the total infrared emission derived from 24 μm, estimated using both synthetic and empirical IR templates. The other one is a multiwavelength fit to the full galaxy SED, which automatically accounts for dust reddening and age-star formation activity degeneracies. For both estimates, we computed the SFR density and the specific SFR. Results: We show that the two SFR indicators are roughly consistent, once the uncertainties involved are taken into account. However, they show a systematic trend, IR-based estimates exceeding the fit-based ones as the star formation rate increases. With this new catalog, we show that: a) at z>0.3, the star formation rate is correlated well with stellar mass, and this relationship seems to steepen with redshift if one relies on IR-based estimates of the SFR; b) the contribution to the global SFRD by massive galaxies increases with redshift up to ≃ 2.5, more rapidly than for galaxies of lower mass, but appears to flatten at higher z; c) despite this increase, the most important contributors to the SFRD at any z are galaxies of about, or immediately lower than, the characteristic stellar mass; d) at z≃ 2, massive galaxies are actively star-forming, with a median {SFR} ≃ 300 M_⊙ yr-1. During this epoch, our targeted galaxies assemble a substantial part of their final stellar mass; e) the specific SFR (SSFR) shows a clear bimodal distribution. Conclusions

The rapid assembly of an elliptical galaxy of 400 billion solar masses at a redshift of 2.3.

PubMed

Fu, Hai; Cooray, Asantha; Feruglio, C; Ivison, R J; Riechers, D A; Gurwell, M; Bussmann, R S; Harris, A I; Altieri, B; Aussel, H; Baker, A J; Bock, J; Boylan-Kolchin, M; Bridge, C; Calanog, J A; Casey, C M; Cava, A; Chapman, S C; Clements, D L; Conley, A; Cox, P; Farrah, D; Frayer, D; Hopwood, R; Jia, J; Magdis, G; Marsden, G; Martínez-Navajas, P; Negrello, M; Neri, R; Oliver, S J; Omont, A; Page, M J; Pérez-Fournon, I; Schulz, B; Scott, D; Smith, A; Vaccari, M; Valtchanov, I; Vieira, J D; Viero, M; Wang, L; Wardlow, J L; Zemcov, M

2013-06-20

Stellar archaeology shows that massive elliptical galaxies formed rapidly about ten billion years ago with star-formation rates of above several hundred solar masses per year. Their progenitors are probably the submillimetre bright galaxies at redshifts z greater than 2. Although the mean molecular gas mass (5 × 10(10) solar masses) of the submillimetre bright galaxies can explain the formation of typical elliptical galaxies, it is inadequate to form elliptical galaxies that already have stellar masses above 2 × 10(11) solar masses at z ≈ 2. Here we report multi-wavelength high-resolution observations of a rare merger of two massive submillimetre bright galaxies at z = 2.3. The system is seen to be forming stars at a rate of 2,000 solar masses per year. The star-formation efficiency is an order of magnitude greater than that of normal galaxies, so the gas reservoir will be exhausted and star formation will be quenched in only around 200 million years. At a projected separation of 19 kiloparsecs, the two massive starbursts are about to merge and form a passive elliptical galaxy with a stellar mass of about 4 × 10(11) solar masses. We conclude that gas-rich major galaxy mergers with intense star formation can form the most massive elliptical galaxies by z ≈ 1.5.

Feedback in low-mass galaxies in the early Universe.

PubMed

Erb, Dawn K

2015-07-09

The formation, evolution and death of massive stars release large quantities of energy and momentum into the gas surrounding the sites of star formation. This process, generically termed 'feedback', inhibits further star formation either by removing gas from the galaxy, or by heating it to temperatures that are too high to form new stars. Observations reveal feedback in the form of galactic-scale outflows of gas in galaxies with high rates of star formation, especially in the early Universe. Feedback in faint, low-mass galaxies probably facilitated the escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies when the Universe was about 500 million years old, so that the hydrogen between galaxies changed from neutral to ionized-the last major phase transition in the Universe.

A relationship of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon features with galaxy merger in star-forming galaxies at z < 0.2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murata, Katsuhiro L.; Yamada, Rika; Oyabu, Shinki; Kaneda, Hidehiro; Ishihara, Daisuke; Yamagishi, Mitsuyoshi; Kokusho, Takuma; Takeuchi, Tsutomu T.

2017-11-01

Using the AKARI, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, we investigated the relation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mass (MPAH), very small grain mass (MVSG), big grain mass (MBG) and stellar mass (Mstar) with galaxy merger for 55 star-forming galaxies at redshift z < 0.2. Using the SDSS image at z < 0.1 and the HST image at z > 0.1, we divided the galaxies into merger galaxies and non-merger galaxies with the morphological parameter asymmetry A, and quantified merging stages of galaxies based on the morphological indicators, the second-order momentum of the brightest 20 per cent region M20 and the Gini coefficient. We find that MPAH/MBG of merger galaxies tend to be lower than that of non-merger galaxies and there are no systematic differences of MVSG/MBG and MBG/Mstar between merger galaxies and non-merger galaxies. We find that galaxies with very low MPAH/MBG seem to be merger galaxies at late stages. These results suggest that PAHs are partly destroyed at late stages of merging processes. Furthermore, we investigated MPAH/MBG variations in radiation field intensity strength G0 and the emission line ratio of [O I] λ 6300/Hα that is a shock tracer for merger galaxies and find that MPAH/MBG decreases with increasing both G0 and [O I]/Hα. PAH destruction is likely to be caused by two processes: strong radiation fields and large-scale shocks during merging processes of galaxies.

The ages and baryonic masses of clumps in turbulent, clumpy disk galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, David

2017-08-01

We propose to measure the stellar populations and masses of massive star forming clumps at the resolution of the Jeans' length in a sample of massive, turbulent disk galaxies. Massive star-forming clumps are a critical component of the morphogical transformation of galaxies and the build-up of bulges. If, however, clumps dissipate quickly bulges may not form through clump phase, then clumps would build thick disks. Different feedback prescriptions have drastically different effects on clumps. Some feedback models (e.g. Hopkins et al 2012, FIRE simulations) completely destroy clumps whereas other feedback models allow clumps to persist (e.g. Bournaud et al. 2014). Therefore, to build accurate models of galaxy evolution we must know how long the lives of clumps are. The problem is that both due to resolution and available wavelength coverage it is impossible to precisely measure the ages and stellar masses of individual clumps in high-z galaxies. We have discovered a sample of extremely rare galaxies at z 0.1 that are extremely gas rich, turbulent and have a clumpy distribution of ionized gas. In all ways they are identical to those of the high-redshift Universe. We propose to employ UV-optical-near IR imaging with WFC3 to measure the stellar masses and mean ages of a set of 6 clumpy galaxies, containing 80 giant star forming clumps. This data complements our ALMA CO(1-0) maps of the same targets, and we will thus make the first maps of the full baryonic mass in turbulent disk galaxies. This work builds on our previous HST Halpha imaging program, and validates massive investments of HST time on high-z surveys of galaxies.

Mass and Environment as Drivers of Galaxy Evolution: Simplicity and its Consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Yingjie

2012-01-01

The galaxy population appears to be composed of infinitely complex different types and properties at first sight, however, when large samples of galaxies are studied, it appears that the vast majority of galaxies just follow simple scaling relations and similar evolutional modes while the outliers represent some minority. The underlying simplicities of the interrelationships among stellar mass, star formation rate and environment are seen in SDSS and zCOSMOS. We demonstrate that the differential effects of mass and environment are completely separable to z 1, indicating that two distinct physical processes are operating, namely the "mass quenching" and "environment quenching". These two simple quenching processes, plus some additional quenching due to merging, then naturally produce the Schechter form of the galaxy stellar mass functions and make quantitative predictions for the inter-relationships between the Schechter parameters of star-forming and passive galaxies in different environments. All of these detailed quantitative relationships are indeed seen, to very high precision, in SDSS, lending strong support to our simple empirically-based model. The model also offers qualitative explanations for the "anti-hierarchical" age-mass relation and the alpha-enrichment patterns for passive galaxies and makes some other testable predictions such as the mass function of the population of transitory objects that are in the process of being quenched, the galaxy major- and minor-merger rates, the galaxy stellar mass assembly history, star formation history and etc. Although still purely phenomenological, the model makes clear what the evolutionary characteristics of the relevant physical processes must in fact be.

CANDELS Sheds Light on the Environmental Quenching of Low-mass Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yicheng; Bell, Eric F.; Lu, Yu; Koo, David C.; Faber, Sandra M.; CANDELS

2018-01-01

We investigate the environmental quenching of galaxies, especially those with stellar masses (M*) smaller than 10^9.5 M⊙, beyond the local universe. Essentially all local low-mass quenched galaxies (QGs) are believed to live close to massive central galaxies, which is a demonstration of environmental quenching. We use CANDELS data to test whether or not such a dwarf QG--massive central galaxy connection exists beyond the local universe. For this purpose, we only need a statistically representative, rather than a complete, sample of low-mass galaxies, which enables our study out to z > 1.5. For each low-mass galaxy, we measure the projected distance (dproj) to its nearest massive (M* > 10^10.5 M⊙) neighbor within a redshift range. At a given z and M*, the environmental quenching effect is considered to be observed if the dproj distribution of QGs is significantly skewed toward lower values than that of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). For galaxies with 10^8 M⊙ < M* < 10^10 M⊙, such a difference between the dproj distributions of quenched and star-forming populations is detected up to z ˜ 1. Also, about 10% of the quenched galaxies in our sample are located between two and four virial radii (R_Vir) of the massive halos. The median projected distance from low-mass QGs to their massive neighbors (dproj/R_Vir) decreases with satellite M* at M* < 10^9.5 M⊙, but increases with satellite M* at M* > 10^9.5 M⊙. This trend suggests a smooth, if any, transition of the quenching timescale around M* of 10^9.5 M⊙ at 0.5 < z < 1.0.

NUCLEAR ACTIVITY IS MORE PREVALENT IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosario, D. J.; Lutz, D.; Berta, S.

2013-07-01

We explore the question of whether low and moderate luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are preferentially found in galaxies that are undergoing a transition from active star formation (SF) to quiescence. This notion has been suggested by studies of the UV-optical colors of AGN hosts, which find them to be common among galaxies in the so-called Green Valley, a region of galaxy color space believed to be composed mostly of galaxies undergoing SF quenching. Combining the deepest current X-ray and Herschel/PACS far-infrared (FIR) observations of the two Chandra Deep Fields with redshifts, stellar masses, and rest-frame photometry derived from themore » extensive and uniform multi-wavelength data in these fields, we compare the rest-frame U - V color distributions and star formation rate distributions of AGNs and carefully constructed samples of inactive control galaxies. The UV-to-optical colors of AGNs are consistent with equally massive inactive galaxies at redshifts out to z {approx} 2, but we show that such colors are poor tracers of SF. While the FIR distributions of both star-forming AGNs and star-forming inactive galaxies are statistically similar, we show that AGNs are preferentially found in star-forming host galaxies, or, in other words, AGNs are less likely to be found in weakly star-forming or quenched galaxies. We postulate that, among X-ray-selected AGNs of low and moderate accretion luminosities, the supply of cold gas primarily determines the accretion rate distribution of the nuclear black holes.« less

Surface density: a new parameter in the fundamental metallicity relation of star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashimoto, Tetsuya; Goto, Tomotsugu; Momose, Rieko

2018-04-01

Star-forming galaxies display a close relation among stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rate (or molecular-gas mass). This is known as the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) (or molecular-gas FMR), and it has a profound implication on models of galaxy evolution. However, there still remains a significant residual scatter around the FMR. We show here that a fourth parameter, the surface density of stellar mass, reduces the dispersion around the molecular-gas FMR. In a principal component analysis of 29 physical parameters of 41 338 star-forming galaxies, the surface density of stellar mass is found to be the fourth most important parameter. The new 4D fundamental relation forms a tighter hypersurface that reduces the metallicity dispersion to 50 per cent of that of the molecular-gas FMR. We suggest that future analyses and models of galaxy evolution should consider the FMR in a 4D space that includes surface density. The dilution time-scale of gas inflow and the star-formation efficiency could explain the observational dependence on surface density of stellar mass.

A Stellar Mass Threshold for Quenching of Field Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geha, M.; Blanton, M. R.; Yan, R.; Tinker, J. L.

2012-09-01

We demonstrate that dwarf galaxies (107 < M stellar < 109 M ⊙, -12 > Mr > -18) with no active star formation are extremely rare (<0.06%) in the field. Our sample is based on the NASA-Sloan Atlas which is a reanalysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8. We examine the relative number of quenched versus star-forming dwarf galaxies, defining quenched galaxies as having no Hα emission (EWHα < 2 Å) and a strong 4000 Å break. The fraction of quenched dwarf galaxies decreases rapidly with increasing distance from a massive host, leveling off for distances beyond 1.5 Mpc. We define galaxies beyond 1.5 Mpc of a massive host galaxy to be in the field. We demonstrate that there is a stellar mass threshold of M stellar < 1.0 × 109 M ⊙ below which quenched galaxies do not exist in the field. Below this threshold, we find that none of the 2951 field dwarf galaxies are quenched; all field dwarf galaxies show evidence for recent star formation. Correcting for volume effects, this corresponds to a 1σ upper limit on the quenched fraction of 0.06%. In more dense environments, quenched galaxies account for 23% of the dwarf population over the same stellar mass range. The majority of quenched dwarf galaxies (often classified as dwarf elliptical galaxies) are within 2 virial radii of a massive galaxy, and only a few percent of quenched dwarf galaxies exist beyond 4 virial radii. Thus, for galaxies with stellar mass less than 1.0 × 109 M ⊙, ending star formation requires the presence of a more massive neighbor, providing a stringent constraint on models of star formation feedback.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the connection between metals, specific SFR and H I gas in galaxies: the Z-SSFR relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lara-López, M. A.; Hopkins, A. M.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Brough, S.; Colless, M.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Driver, S.; Foster, C.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Sharp, R. G.; Steele, O.; Taylor, E. N.

2013-06-01

We study the interplay between gas phase metallicity (Z), specific star formation rate (SSFR) and neutral hydrogen gas (H I) for galaxies of different stellar masses. Our study uses spectroscopic data from Galaxy and Mass Assembly and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, as well as H I detection from the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) and Galex Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) public catalogues. We present a model based on the Z-SSFR relation that shows that at a given stellar mass, depending on the amount of gas, galaxies will follow opposite behaviours. Low-mass galaxies with a large amount of gas will show high SSFR and low metallicities, while low-mass galaxies with small amounts of gas will show lower SSFR and high metallicities. In contrast, massive galaxies with a large amount of gas will show moderate SSFR and high metallicities, while massive galaxies with small amounts of gas will show low SSFR and low metallicities. Using ALFALFA and GASS counterparts, we find that the amount of gas is related to those drastic differences in Z and SSFR for galaxies of a similar stellar mass.

GALAXY EVOLUTION. An over-massive black hole in a typical star-forming galaxy, 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Urry, C Megan; Civano, Francesca; Rosario, David J; Elvis, Martin; Schawinski, Kevin; Suh, Hyewon; Bongiorno, Angela; Simmons, Brooke D

2015-07-10

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies are generally thought to coevolve, so that the SMBH achieves up to about 0.2 to 0.5% of the host galaxy mass in the present day. The radiation emitted from the growing SMBH is expected to affect star formation throughout the host galaxy. The relevance of this scenario at early cosmic epochs is not yet established. We present spectroscopic observations of a galaxy at redshift z = 3.328, which hosts an actively accreting, extremely massive BH, in its final stages of growth. The SMBH mass is roughly one-tenth the mass of the entire host galaxy, suggesting that it has grown much more efficiently than the host, contrary to models of synchronized coevolution. The host galaxy is forming stars at an intense rate, despite the presence of a SMBH-driven gas outflow. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Stellar Absorption Line Analysis of Local Star-forming Galaxies: The Relation between Stellar Mass, Metallicity, Dust Attenuation, and Star Formation Rate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jabran Zahid, H.; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Ho, I-Ting

We analyze the optical continuum of star-forming galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by fitting stacked spectra with stellar population synthesis models to investigate the relation between stellar mass, stellar metallicity, dust attenuation, and star formation rate. We fit models calculated with star formation and chemical evolution histories that are derived empirically from multi-epoch observations of the stellar mass–star formation rate and the stellar mass–gas-phase metallicity relations, respectively. We also fit linear combinations of single-burst models with a range of metallicities and ages. Star formation and chemical evolution histories are unconstrained for these models. The stellar mass–stellar metallicity relationsmore » obtained from the two methods agree with the relation measured from individual supergiant stars in nearby galaxies. These relations are also consistent with the relation obtained from emission-line analysis of gas-phase metallicity after accounting for systematic offsets in the gas-phase metallicity. We measure dust attenuation of the stellar continuum and show that its dependence on stellar mass and star formation rate is consistent with previously reported results derived from nebular emission lines. However, stellar continuum attenuation is smaller than nebular emission line attenuation. The continuum-to-nebular attenuation ratio depends on stellar mass and is smaller in more massive galaxies. Our consistent analysis of stellar continuum and nebular emission lines paves the way for a comprehensive investigation of stellar metallicities of star-forming and quiescent galaxies.« less

A STELLAR MASS THRESHOLD FOR QUENCHING OF FIELD GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geha, M.; Blanton, M. R.; Yan, R.

2012-09-20

We demonstrate that dwarf galaxies (10{sup 7} < M{sub stellar} < 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }, -12 > M{sub r} > -18) with no active star formation are extremely rare (<0.06%) in the field. Our sample is based on the NASA-Sloan Atlas which is a reanalysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8. We examine the relative number of quenched versus star-forming dwarf galaxies, defining quenched galaxies as having no H{alpha} emission (EW{sub H{alpha}} < 2 A) and a strong 4000 A break. The fraction of quenched dwarf galaxies decreases rapidly with increasing distance from a massive host,more » leveling off for distances beyond 1.5 Mpc. We define galaxies beyond 1.5 Mpc of a massive host galaxy to be in the field. We demonstrate that there is a stellar mass threshold of M{sub stellar} < 1.0 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun} below which quenched galaxies do not exist in the field. Below this threshold, we find that none of the 2951 field dwarf galaxies are quenched; all field dwarf galaxies show evidence for recent star formation. Correcting for volume effects, this corresponds to a 1{sigma} upper limit on the quenched fraction of 0.06%. In more dense environments, quenched galaxies account for 23% of the dwarf population over the same stellar mass range. The majority of quenched dwarf galaxies (often classified as dwarf elliptical galaxies) are within 2 virial radii of a massive galaxy, and only a few percent of quenched dwarf galaxies exist beyond 4 virial radii. Thus, for galaxies with stellar mass less than 1.0 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun }, ending star formation requires the presence of a more massive neighbor, providing a stringent constraint on models of star formation feedback.« less

The KMOS Deep Survey: Dynamical Measurements of Star-Forming Galaxies at z 3.5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Owen; Cirasuolo, Michele; Harrison, Chris; McLure, Ross; Dunlop, James; Swinbank, Mark; Johnson, Helen; Sobral, David; Matthee, Jorryt; Sharples, Ray

2017-07-01

This poster present dynamical measurements from the KMOS (K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph) Deep Survey (KDS), which is comprised of 78 typical star-forming galaxies at z = 3.5 in the mass range 9.0 < log(M*) < 10.5. We fit spatially and spectrally convolved mock datacubes to the observed data, in order to make beam-smearing corrected measurements of the intrinsic velocity dispersions and rotation velocities of 33 galaxies in the sample classed as spatially resolved and isolated. The results suggest that the rotation-dominated galaxies in the sample are offset to lower velocities at fixed stellar mass and have higher velocity dispersions than star-forming galaxies in the local and intermediate redshift universe. Only 1/3 of the galaxies in the sample are dominated by rotation, which hints that random motions are playing an increasingly significant role in supporting the dynamical mass in the systems. When searching for evolution in scaling relations, such as the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation, it is important to take these random motions into account.

Stellar Initial Mass Function: Trends With Galaxy Mass And Radius

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parikh, Taniya

2017-06-01

There is currently no consensus about the exact shape and, in particular, the universality of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). For massive galaxies, it has been found that near-infrared (NIR) absorption features, which are sensitive to the ratio of dwarf to giant stars, deviate from a Milky Way-like IMF; their modelling seems to require a larger fraction of low mass stars. There are now increasing results looking at whether the IMF varies not only with galaxy mass, but also radially within galaxies. The SDSS-IV/MaNGA integral-field survey will provide spatially resolved spectroscopy for 10,000 galaxies at R 2000 from 360-1000nm. Spectra of early-type galaxies were stacked to achieve high S/N which is particularly important for features in the NIR. Trends with galaxy radius and mass were compared to stellar population models for a range of absorption features in order to separate degeneracies due to changes in stellar population parameters, such as age, metallicity and element abundances, with potential changes in the IMF. Results for 611 galaxies show that we do not require an IMF steeper than Kroupa as a function of galaxy mass or radius based on the NaI index. The Wing-Ford band hints towards a steeper IMF at large radii however we do not have reliable measurements for the most massive galaxies.

Dust-obscured star-forming galaxies in the early universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkins, Stephen M.; Feng, Yu; Di Matteo, Tiziana; Croft, Rupert; Lovell, Christopher C.; Thomas, Peter

2018-02-01

Motivated by recent observational constraints on dust reprocessed emission in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 6 and above, we use the very large cosmological hydrodynamical simulation BLUETIDES to explore predictions for the amount of dust-obscured star formation in the early Universe (z > 8). BLUETIDES matches current observational constraints on both the UV luminosity function and galaxy stellar mass function and predicts that approximately 90 per cent of the star formation in high-mass (M* > 1010 M⊙) galaxies at z = 8 is already obscured by dust. The relationship between dust attenuation and stellar mass predicted by BLUETIDES is consistent with that observed at lower redshift. However, observations of several individual objects at z > 6 are discrepant with the predictions, though it is possible that their uncertainties may have been underestimated. We find that the predicted surface density of z ≥ 8 submm sources is below that accessible to current Herschel, SCUBA-2 and Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) submm surveys. However, as ALMA continues to accrue an additional surface area the population of z > 8 dust-obscured galaxies may become accessible in the near future.

What Turns Galaxies Off? the Different Morphologies of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies Since z Approximates 2 from CANDELS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, Eric F.; VanDerWel, Arjen; Papovich, Casey; Kocevski, Dale; Lotz, Jennifer; McIntosh, Daniel H.; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan; Faber, S. M.; Ferguson, Harry; Koekemoer, Anton;

Blueberry Galaxies: The Lowest Mass Young Starbursts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Huan; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Rhoads, James E.; Wang, Junxian

2017-09-01

Searching for extreme emission line galaxies allows us to find low-mass metal-poor galaxies that are good analogs of high redshift Lyα emitting galaxies. These low-mass extreme emission line galaxies are also potential Lyman-continuum leakers. Finding them at very low redshifts (z≲ 0.05) allows us to be sensitive to even lower stellar masses and metallicities. We report on a sample of extreme emission line galaxies at z≲ 0.05 (blueberry galaxies). We selected them from SDSS broadband images on the basis of their broadband colors and studied their properties with MMT spectroscopy. From the entire SDSS DR12 photometric catalog, we found 51 photometric candidates. We spectroscopically confirm 40 as blueberry galaxies. (An additional seven candidates are contaminants, and four remain without spectra.) These blueberries are dwarf starburst galaxies with very small sizes (<1 kpc) and very high ionization ([O III]/[O II] ˜ 10-60). They also have some of the lowest stellar masses ({log}(M/{M}⊙ )˜ 6.5{--}7.5) and lowest metallicities (7.1< 12+{log}({{O}}/{{H}})< 7.8) of starburst galaxies. Thus, they are small counterparts to green pea galaxies and high redshift Lyα emitting galaxies.

Systematic variation of the stellar initial mass function in early-type galaxies.

PubMed

Cappellari, Michele; McDermid, Richard M; Alatalo, Katherine; Blitz, Leo; Bois, Maxime; Bournaud, Frédéric; Bureau, M; Crocker, Alison F; Davies, Roger L; Davis, Timothy A; de Zeeuw, P T; Duc, Pierre-Alain; Emsellem, Eric; Khochfar, Sadegh; Krajnović, Davor; Kuntschner, Harald; Lablanche, Pierre-Yves; Morganti, Raffaella; Naab, Thorsten; Oosterloo, Tom; Sarzi, Marc; Scott, Nicholas; Serra, Paolo; Weijmans, Anne-Marie; Young, Lisa M

2012-04-25

Much of our knowledge of galaxies comes from analysing the radiation emitted by their stars, which depends on the present number of each type of star in the galaxy. The present number depends on the stellar initial mass function (IMF), which describes the distribution of stellar masses when the population formed, and knowledge of it is critical to almost every aspect of galaxy evolution. More than 50 years after the first IMF determination, no consensus has emerged on whether it is universal among different types of galaxies. Previous studies indicated that the IMF and the dark matter fraction in galaxy centres cannot both be universal, but they could not convincingly discriminate between the two possibilities. Only recently were indications found that massive elliptical galaxies may not have the same IMF as the Milky Way. Here we report a study of the two-dimensional stellar kinematics for the large representative ATLAS(3D) sample of nearby early-type galaxies spanning two orders of magnitude in stellar mass, using detailed dynamical models. We find a strong systematic variation in IMF in early-type galaxies as a function of their stellar mass-to-light ratios, producing differences of a factor of up to three in galactic stellar mass. This implies that a galaxy's IMF depends intimately on the galaxy's formation history.

The Metallicity Evolution of Low Mass Galaxies: New Contraints at Intermediate Redshift

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Henry, Alaina; Martin, Crystal L.; Finlator, Kristian; Dressler, Alan

2013-01-01

We present abundance measurements from 26 emission-line-selected galaxies at z approx. 0.6-0.7. By reaching stellar masses as low as 10(exp 8) M stellar mass, these observations provide the first measurement of the intermediate-redshift mass-metallicity (MZ) relation below 10(exp 9)M stellar mass. For the portion of our sample above M is greater than 10(exp 9)M (8/26 galaxies), we find good agreement with previous measurements of the intermediate-redshift MZ relation. Compared to the local relation, we measure an evolution that corresponds to a 0.12 dex decrease in oxygen abundances at intermediate redshifts. This result confirms the trend that metallicity evolution becomes more significant toward lower stellar masses, in keeping with a downsizing scenario where low-mass galaxies evolve onto the local MZ relation at later cosmic times. We show that these galaxies follow the local fundamental metallicity relation, where objects with higher specific (mass-normalized) star formation rates (SFRs) have lower metallicities. Furthermore, we show that the galaxies in our sample lie on an extrapolation of the SFR-M* relation (the star-forming main sequence). Leveraging the MZ relation and star-forming main sequence (and combining our data with higher-mass measurements from the literature), we test models that assume an equilibrium between mass inflow, outflow, and star formation.We find that outflows are required to describe the data. By comparing different outflow prescriptions, we show that momentum, driven winds can describe the MZ relation; however, this model underpredicts the amount of star formation in low-mass galaxies. This disagreement may indicate that preventive feedback from gas heating has been overestimated, or it may signify a more fundamental deviation from the equilibrium assumption.

Gravitational detection of a low-mass dark satellite galaxy at cosmological distance.

PubMed

Vegetti, S; Lagattuta, D J; McKean, J P; Auger, M W; Fassnacht, C D; Koopmans, L V E

2012-01-18

The mass function of dwarf satellite galaxies that are observed around Local Group galaxies differs substantially from simulations based on cold dark matter: the simulations predict many more dwarf galaxies than are seen. The Local Group, however, may be anomalous in this regard. A massive dark satellite in an early-type lens galaxy at a redshift of 0.222 was recently found using a method based on gravitational lensing, suggesting that the mass fraction contained in substructure could be higher than is predicted from simulations. The lack of very low-mass detections, however, prohibited any constraint on their mass function. Here we report the presence of a (1.9 ± 0.1) × 10(8) M dark satellite galaxy in the Einstein ring system JVAS B1938+666 (ref. 11) at a redshift of 0.881, where M denotes the solar mass. This satellite galaxy has a mass similar to that of the Sagittarius galaxy, which is a satellite of the Milky Way. We determine the logarithmic slope of the mass function for substructure beyond the local Universe to be 1.1(+0.6)(-0.4), with an average mass fraction of 3.3(+3.6)(-1.8) per cent, by combining data on both of these recently discovered galaxies. Our results are consistent with the predictions from cold dark matter simulations at the 95 per cent confidence level, and therefore agree with the view that galaxies formed hierarchically in a Universe composed of cold dark matter.

Eight per cent leakage of Lyman continuum photons from a compact, star-forming dwarf galaxy.

PubMed

Izotov, Y I; Orlitová, I; Schaerer, D; Thuan, T X; Verhamme, A; Guseva, N G; Worseck, G

2016-01-14

One of the key questions in observational cosmology is the identification of the sources responsible for ionization of the Universe after the cosmic 'Dark Ages', when the baryonic matter was neutral. The currently identified distant galaxies are insufficient to fully reionize the Universe by redshift z ≈ 6 (refs 1-3), but low-mass, star-forming galaxies are thought to be responsible for the bulk of the ionizing radiation. As direct observations at high redshift are difficult for a variety of reasons, one solution is to identify local proxies of this galaxy population. Starburst galaxies at low redshifts, however, generally are opaque to Lyman continuum photons. Small escape fractions of about 1 to 3 per cent, insufficient to ionize much surrounding gas, have been detected only in three low-redshift galaxies. Here we report far-ultraviolet observations of the nearby low-mass star-forming galaxy J0925+1403. The galaxy is leaking ionizing radiation with an escape fraction of about 8 per cent. The total number of photons emitted during the starburst phase is sufficient to ionize intergalactic medium material that is about 40 times as massive as the stellar mass of the galaxy.

THE XMM CLUSTER SURVEY: THE STELLAR MASS ASSEMBLY OF FOSSIL GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harrison, Craig D.; Miller, Christopher J.; Richards, Joseph W.

This paper presents both the result of a search for fossil systems (FSs) within the XMM Cluster Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the results of a study of the stellar mass assembly and stellar populations of their fossil galaxies. In total, 17 groups and clusters are identified at z < 0.25 with large magnitude gaps between the first and fourth brightest galaxies. All the information necessary to classify these systems as fossils is provided. For both groups and clusters, the total and fractional luminosity of the brightest galaxy is positively correlated with the magnitude gap. The brightestmore » galaxies in FSs (called fossil galaxies) have stellar populations and star formation histories which are similar to normal brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). However, at fixed group/cluster mass, the stellar masses of the fossil galaxies are larger compared to normal BCGs, a fact that holds true over a wide range of group/cluster masses. Moreover, the fossil galaxies are found to contain a significant fraction of the total optical luminosity of the group/cluster within 0.5 R{sub 200}, as much as 85%, compared to the non-fossils, which can have as little as 10%. Our results suggest that FSs formed early and in the highest density regions of the universe and that fossil galaxies represent the end products of galaxy mergers in groups and clusters.« less

Generalizing MOND to explain the missing mass in galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodson, Alistair O.; Zhao, Hongsheng

2017-02-01

Context. MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is a gravitational framework designed to explain the astronomical observations in the Universe without the inclusion of particle dark matter. MOND, in its current form, cannot explain the missing mass in galaxy clusters without the inclusion of some extra mass, be it in the form of neutrinos or non-luminous baryonic matter. We investigate whether the MOND framework can be generalized to account for the missing mass in galaxy clusters by boosting gravity in high gravitational potential regions. We examine and review Extended MOND (EMOND), which was designed to increase the MOND scale acceleration in high potential regions, thereby boosting the gravity in clusters. Aims: We seek to investigate galaxy cluster mass profiles in the context of MOND with the primary aim at explaining the missing mass problem fully without the need for dark matter. Methods: Using the assumption that the clusters are in hydrostatic equilibrium, we can compute the dynamical mass of each cluster and compare the result to the predicted mass of the EMOND formalism. Results: We find that EMOND has some success in fitting some clusters, but overall has issues when trying to explain the mass deficit fully. We also investigate an empirical relation to solve the cluster problem, which is found by analysing the cluster data and is based on the MOND paradigm. We discuss the limitations in the text.

The large, oxygen-rich halos of star-forming galaxies are a major reservoir of galactic metals.

PubMed

Tumlinson, J; Thom, C; Werk, J K; Prochaska, J X; Tripp, T M; Weinberg, D H; Peeples, M S; O'Meara, J M; Oppenheimer, B D; Meiring, J D; Katz, N S; Davé, R; Ford, A B; Sembach, K R

2011-11-18

The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is fed by galaxy outflows and accretion of intergalactic gas, but its mass, heavy element enrichment, and relation to galaxy properties are poorly constrained by observations. In a survey of the outskirts of 42 galaxies with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we detected ubiquitous, large (150-kiloparsec) halos of ionized oxygen surrounding star-forming galaxies; we found much less ionized oxygen around galaxies with little or no star formation. This ionized CGM contains a substantial mass of heavy elements and gas, perhaps far exceeding the reservoirs of gas in the galaxies themselves. Our data indicate that it is a basic component of nearly all star-forming galaxies that is removed or transformed during the quenching of star formation and the transition to passive evolution.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): gas fuelling of spiral galaxies in the local Universe II. - direct measurement of the dependencies on redshift and host halo mass of stellar mass growth in central disc galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grootes, M. W.; Dvornik, A.; Laureijs, R. J.; Tuffs, R. J.; Popescu, C. C.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Liske, J.; Brown, M. J. I.; Holwerda, B. W.; Wang, L.

2018-06-01

We present a detailed analysis of the specific star formation rate-stellar mass (sSFR-M*) of z ≤ 0.13 disc central galaxies using a morphologically selected mass-complete sample (M* ≥ 109.5 M⊙). Considering samples of grouped and ungrouped galaxies, we find the sSFR-M* relations of disc-dominated central galaxies to have no detectable dependence on host dark-matter halo (DMH) mass, even where weak-lensing measurements indicate a difference in halo mass of a factor ≳ 5. We further detect a gradual evolution of the sSFR-M* relation of non-grouped (field) central disc galaxies with redshift, even over a Δz ≈ 0.04 (≈5 × 108 yr) interval, while the scatter remains constant. This evolution is consistent with extrapolation of the `main sequence of star-forming-galaxies' from previous literature that uses larger redshift baselines and coarser sampling. Taken together, our results present new constraints on the paradigm under which the SFR of galaxies is determined by a self-regulated balance between gas inflows and outflows, and consumption of gas by star formation in discs, with the inflow being determined by the product of the cosmological accretion rate and a fuelling efficiency - \\dot{M}_{b,halo}ζ. In particular, maintaining the paradigm requires \\dot{M}_{b,halo}ζ to be independent of the mass Mhalo of the host DMH. Furthermore, it requires the fuelling efficiency ζ to have a strong redshift dependence (∝(1 + z)2.7 for M* = 1010.3 M⊙ over z = 0-0.13), even though no morphological transformation to spheroids can be invoked to explain this in our disc-dominated sample. The physical mechanisms capable of giving rise to such dependencies of ζ on Mhalo and z for discs are unclear.

Glimpsing the imprint of local environment on the galaxy stellar mass function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomczak, Adam R.; Lemaux, Brian C.; Lubin, Lori M.; Gal, Roy R.; Wu, Po-Feng; Holden, Bradford; Kocevski, Dale D.; Mei, Simona; Pelliccia, Debora; Rumbaugh, Nicholas; Shen, Lu

2017-12-01

We investigate the impact of local environment on the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) spanning a wide range of galaxy densities from the field up to dense cores of massive galaxy clusters. Data are drawn from a sample of eight fields from the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large-Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey. Deep photometry allow us to select mass-complete samples of galaxies down to 109 M⊙. Taking advantage of >4000 secure spectroscopic redshifts from ORELSE and precise photometric redshifts, we construct three-dimensional density maps between 0.55 < z < 1.3 using a Voronoi tessellation approach. We find that the shape of the SMF depends strongly on local environment exhibited by a smooth, continual increase in the relative numbers of high- to low-mass galaxies towards denser environments. A straightforward implication is that local environment proportionally increases the efficiency of (a) destroying lower mass galaxies and/or (b) growth of higher mass galaxies. We also find a presence of this environmental dependence in the SMFs of star-forming and quiescent galaxies, although not quite as strongly for the quiescent subsample. To characterize the connection between the SMF of field galaxies and that of denser environments, we devise a simple semi-empirical model. The model begins with a sample of ≈106 galaxies at zstart = 5 with stellar masses distributed according to the field. Simulated galaxies then evolve down to zfinal = 0.8 following empirical prescriptions for star-formation, quenching and galaxy-galaxy merging. We run the simulation multiple times, testing a variety of scenarios with differing overall amounts of merging. Our model suggests that a large number of mergers are required to reproduce the SMF in dense environments. Additionally, a large majority of these mergers would have to occur in intermediate density environments (e.g. galaxy groups).

Mass Distribution in Galaxy Cluster Cores

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hogan, M. T.; McNamara, B. R.; Pulido, F.

Many processes within galaxy clusters, such as those believed to govern the onset of thermally unstable cooling and active galactic nucleus feedback, are dependent upon local dynamical timescales. However, accurate mapping of the mass distribution within individual clusters is challenging, particularly toward cluster centers where the total mass budget has substantial radially dependent contributions from the stellar ( M {sub *}), gas ( M {sub gas}), and dark matter ( M {sub DM}) components. In this paper we use a small sample of galaxy clusters with deep Chandra observations and good ancillary tracers of their gravitating mass at both largemore » and small radii to develop a method for determining mass profiles that span a wide radial range and extend down into the central galaxy. We also consider potential observational pitfalls in understanding cooling in hot cluster atmospheres, and find tentative evidence for a relationship between the radial extent of cooling X-ray gas and nebular H α emission in cool-core clusters. At large radii the entropy profiles of our clusters agree with the baseline power law of K ∝ r {sup 1.1} expected from gravity alone. At smaller radii our entropy profiles become shallower but continue with a power law of the form K ∝ r {sup 0.67} down to our resolution limit. Among this small sample of cool-core clusters we therefore find no support for the existence of a central flat “entropy floor.”.« less

An extremely young massive clump forming by gravitational collapse in a primordial galaxy.

PubMed

Zanella, A; Daddi, E; Le Floc'h, E; Bournaud, F; Gobat, R; Valentino, F; Strazzullo, V; Cibinel, A; Onodera, M; Perret, V; Renaud, F; Vignali, C

2015-05-07

When cosmic star formation history reaches a peak (at about redshift z ≈ 2), galaxies vigorously fed by cosmic reservoirs are dominated by gas and contain massive star-forming clumps, which are thought to form by violent gravitational instabilities in highly turbulent gas-rich disks. However, a clump formation event has not yet been observed, and it is debated whether clumps can survive energetic feedback from young stars, and afterwards migrate inwards to form galaxy bulges. Here we report the spatially resolved spectroscopy of a bright off-nuclear emission line region in a galaxy at z = 1.987. Although this region dominates star formation in the galaxy disk, its stellar continuum remains undetected in deep imaging, revealing an extremely young (less than ten million years old) massive clump, forming through the gravitational collapse of more than one billion solar masses of gas. Gas consumption in this young clump is more than tenfold faster than in the host galaxy, displaying high star-formation efficiency during this phase, in agreement with our hydrodynamic simulations. The frequency of older clumps with similar masses, coupled with our initial estimate of their formation rate (about 2.5 per billion years), supports long lifetimes (about 500 million years), favouring models in which clumps survive feedback and grow the bulges of present-day galaxies.

The dependence of halo mass on galaxy size at fixed stellar mass using weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charlton, Paul J. L.; Hudson, Michael J.; Balogh, Michael L.; Khatri, Sumeet

2017-12-01

Stellar mass has been shown to correlate with halo mass, with non-negligible scatter. The stellar mass-size and luminosity-size relationships of galaxies also show significant scatter in galaxy size at fixed stellar mass. It is possible that, at fixed stellar mass and galaxy colour, the halo mass is correlated with galaxy size. Galaxy-galaxy lensing allows us to measure the mean masses of dark matter haloes for stacked samples of galaxies. We extend the analysis of the galaxies in the CFHTLenS catalogue by fitting single Sérsic surface brightness profiles to the lens galaxies in order to recover half-light radius values, allowing us to determine halo masses for lenses according to their size. Comparing our halo masses and sizes to baselines for that stellar mass yields a differential measurement of the halo mass-galaxy size relationship at fixed stellar mass, defined as Mh(M_{*}) ∝ r_{eff}^{η }(M_{*}). We find that, on average, our lens galaxies have an η = 0.42 ± 0.12, i.e. larger galaxies live in more massive dark matter haloes. The η is strongest for high-mass luminous red galaxies. Investigation of this relationship in hydrodynamical simulations suggests that, at a fixed M*, satellite galaxies have a larger η and greater scatter in the Mh and reff relationship compared to central galaxies.

Spitzer Imaging of Strongly lensed Herschel-selected Dusty Star-forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Brian; Cooray, Asantha; Calanog, J. A.; Nayyeri, H.; Timmons, N.; Casey, C.; Baes, M.; Chapman, S.; Dannerbauer, H.; da Cunha, E.; De Zotti, G.; Dunne, L.; Farrah, D.; Fu, Hai; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.; Magdis, G.; Michałowski, M. J.; Oteo, I.; Riechers, D. A.; Scott, D.; Smith, M. W. L.; Wang, L.; Wardlow, J.; Vaccari, M.; Viaene, S.; Vieira, J. D.

2015-11-01

We present the rest-frame optical spectral energy distribution (SED) and stellar masses of six Herschel-selected gravitationally lensed dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at 1 < z < 3. These galaxies were first identified with Herschel/SPIRE imaging data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) and the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES). The targets were observed with Spitzer/IRAC at 3.6 and 4.5 μm. Due to the spatial resolution of the IRAC observations at the level of 2″, the lensing features of a background DSFG in the near-infrared are blended with the flux from the foreground lensing galaxy in the IRAC imaging data. We make use of higher resolution Hubble/WFC3 or Keck/NIRC2 Adaptive Optics imaging data to fit light profiles of the foreground lensing galaxy (or galaxies) as a way to model the foreground components, in order to successfully disentangle the foreground lens and background source flux densities in the IRAC images. The flux density measurements at 3.6 and 4.5 μm, once combined with Hubble/WFC3 and Keck/NIRC2 data, provide important constraints on the rest-frame optical SED of the Herschel-selected lensed DSFGs. We model the combined UV- to millimeter-wavelength SEDs to establish the stellar mass, dust mass, star formation rate, visual extinction, and other parameters for each of these Herschel-selected DSFGs. These systems have inferred stellar masses in the range 8 × 1010-4 × 1011 M⊙ and star formation rates of around 100 M⊙ yr-1. This puts these lensed submillimeter systems well above the SFR-M* relation observed for normal star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts. The high values of SFR inferred for these systems are consistent with a major merger-driven scenario for star formation.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): probing the merger histories of massive galaxies via stellar populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreras, I.; Hopkins, A. M.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Sansom, A. E.; Owers, M. S.; Driver, S.; Davies, L.; Robotham, A.; Taylor, E. N.; Konstantopoulos, I.; Brough, S.; Norberg, P.; Croom, S.; Loveday, J.; Wang, L.; Bremer, M.

2017-06-01

The merging history of galaxies can be traced with studies of dynamically close pairs. These consist of a massive primary galaxy and a less massive secondary (or satellite) galaxy. The study of the stellar populations of secondary (lower mass) galaxies in close pairs provides a way to understand galaxy growth by mergers. Here we focus on systems involving at least one massive galaxy - with stellar mass above 1011M⊙ in the highly complete Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Our working sample comprises 2692 satellite galaxy spectra (0.1 ≤ z ≤ 0.3). These spectra are combined into high S/N stacks, and binned according to both an 'internal' parameter, the stellar mass of the satellite galaxy (I.e. the secondary), and an 'external' parameter, selecting either the mass of the primary in the pair, or the mass of the corresponding dark matter halo. We find significant variations in the age of the populations with respect to environment. At fixed mass, satellites around the most massive galaxies are older and possibly more metal-rich, with age differences ˜1-2 Gyr within the subset of lower mass satellites (˜1010 M⊙). These variations are similar when stacking with respect to the halo mass of the group where the pair is embedded. The population trends in the lower mass satellites are consistent with the old stellar ages found in the outer regions of massive galaxies.

A New Probe of Dust Attenuation in Star-Forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitherer, Claus

2017-08-01

We propose to develop, calibrate and test a new technique to measure dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies. The technique utilizes the strong stellar-wind emission lines in Wolf-Rayet stars, which are routinely observed in galaxy spectra locally and up to redshift 3. The He II 1640 and 4686 features are recombination lines whose intrinsic ratio is almost exclusively determined by atomic physics. Therefore it can serve as a stellar dust probe in the same way as the nebular hydrogen-line ratio can be used to measure the reddening of the gas phase. Archival spectra of Wolf-Rayet stars will be analyzed to calibrate the method, and panchromatic FOS and STIS spectra of nearby star-forming galaxies will be used as a first application. The new technique allows us to study stellar and nebular attenuation in galaxies separately and to test its effects at different stellar age and mass regimes.

The Galaxy mass function up to z =4 in the GOODS-MUSIC sample: into the epoch of formation of massive galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fontana, A.; Salimbeni, S.; Grazian, A.; Giallongo, E.; Pentericci, L.; Nonino, M.; Fontanot, F.; Menci, N.; Monaco, P.; Cristiani, S.; Vanzella, E.; de Santis, C.; Gallozzi, S.

2006-12-01

Aims.The goal of this work is to measure the evolution of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function and of the resulting Stellar Mass Density up to redshift ≃4, in order to study the assembly of massive galaxies in the high redshift Universe. Methods: .We have used the GOODS-MUSIC catalog, containing 3000 Ks-selected galaxies with multi-wavelength coverage extending from the U band to the Spitzer 8 μm band, of which 27% have spectroscopic redshifts and the remaining fraction have accurate photometric redshifts. On this sample we have applied a standard fitting procedure to measure stellar masses. We compute the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function and the resulting Stellar Mass Density up to redshift ≃4, taking into proper account the biases and incompleteness effects. Results: .Within the well known trend of global decline of the Stellar Mass Density with redshift, we show that the decline of the more massive galaxies may be described by an exponential timescale of ≃6 Gyr up to z≃ 1.5, and proceeds much faster thereafter, with an exponential timescale of ≃0.6 Gyr. We also show that there is some evidence for a differential evolution of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function, with low mass galaxies evolving faster than more massive ones up to z≃ 1{-}1.5 and that the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function remains remarkably flat (i.e. with a slope close to the local one) up to z≃ 1{-}1.3. Conclusions: .The observed behaviour of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function is consistent with a scenario where about 50% of present-day massive galaxies formed at a vigorous rate in the epoch between redshift 4 and 1.5, followed by a milder evolution until the present-day epoch.

The Mass Distribution in Disk Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Courteau, Stéphane; Dutton, Aaron A.

We present the relative fraction of baryons and dark matter at various radii in galaxies. For spiral galaxies, this fraction measured in a galaxy's inner parts is typically baryon-dominated (maximal) and dark-matter dominated (sub-maximal) in the outskirts. The transition from maximal to sub-maximal baryons occurs within the inner parts of low-mass disk galaxies (with V tot <= 200 km s-1) and in the outer disk for more massive systems. The mean mass fractions for late- and early-type galaxies vary significantly at the same fiducial radius and circular velocity, suggesting a range of galaxy formation mechanisms. A more detailed discussion, and resolution of the so-called ``maximal disk problem'', is presented in Courteau & Dutton, ApJL, 801, 20.

The Maximum Flux of Star-Forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crocker, Roland M.; Krumholz, Mark R.; Thompson, Todd A.; Clutterbuck, Julie

2018-04-01

The importance of radiation pressure feedback in galaxy formation has been extensively debated over the last decade. The regime of greatest uncertainty is in the most actively star-forming galaxies, where large dust columns can potentially produce a dust-reprocessed infrared radiation field with enough pressure to drive turbulence or eject material. Here we derive the conditions under which a self-gravitating, mixed gas-star disc can remain hydrostatic despite trapped radiation pressure. Consistently taking into account the self-gravity of the medium, the star- and dust-to-gas ratios, and the effects of turbulent motions not driven by radiation, we show that galaxies can achieve a maximum Eddington-limited star formation rate per unit area \\dot{Σ }_*,crit ˜ 10^3 M_{⊙} pc-2 Myr-1, corresponding to a critical flux of F*, crit ˜ 1013L⊙ kpc-2 similar to previous estimates; higher fluxes eject mass in bulk, halting further star formation. Conversely, we show that in galaxies below this limit, our one-dimensional models imply simple vertical hydrostatic equilibrium and that radiation pressure is ineffective at driving turbulence or ejecting matter. Because the vast majority of star-forming galaxies lie below the maximum limit for typical dust-to-gas ratios, we conclude that infrared radiation pressure is likely unimportant for all but the most extreme systems on galaxy-wide scales. Thus, while radiation pressure does not explain the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, it does impose an upper truncation on it. Our predicted truncation is in good agreement with the highest observed gas and star formation rate surface densities found both locally and at high redshift.

The maximum flux of star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crocker, Roland M.; Krumholz, Mark R.; Thompson, Todd A.; Clutterbuck, Julie

2018-07-01

The importance of radiation pressure feedback in galaxy formation has been extensively debated over the last decade. The regime of greatest uncertainty is in the most actively star-forming galaxies, where large dust columns can potentially produce a dust-reprocessed infrared radiation field with enough pressure to drive turbulence or eject material. Here, we derive the conditions under which a self-gravitating mixed gas-star disc can remain hydrostatic despite trapped radiation pressure. Consistently, taking into account the self-gravity of the medium, the star- and dust-to-gas ratios, and the effects of turbulent motions not driven by radiation, we show that galaxies can achieve a maximum Eddington-limited star formation rate per unit area \\dot{Σ }_*,crit ˜ 10^3 M_{⊙} pc-2 Myr-1, corresponding to a critical flux of F*,crit ˜ 1013 L⊙ kpc-2 similar to previous estimates; higher fluxes eject mass in bulk, halting further star formation. Conversely, we show that in galaxies below this limit, our 1D models imply simple vertical hydrostatic equilibrium and that radiation pressure is ineffective at driving turbulence or ejecting matter. Because the vast majority of star-forming galaxies lie below the maximum limit for typical dust-to-gas ratios, we conclude that infrared radiation pressure is likely unimportant for all but the most extreme systems on galaxy-wide scales. Thus, while radiation pressure does not explain the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, it does impose an upper truncation on it. Our predicted truncation is in good agreement with the highest observed gas and star formation rate surface densities found both locally and at high redshift.

THE STAR FORMATION HISTORY OF MASS-SELECTED GALAXIES IN THE COSMOS FIELD

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karim, A.; Schinnerer, E.; Sargent, M. T.

2011-04-01

We explore the redshift evolution of the specific star formation rate (SSFR) for galaxies of different stellar mass by drawing on a deep 3.6 {mu}m selected sample of >10{sup 5} galaxies in the 2 deg{sup 2} COSMOS field. The average star formation rate (SFR) for subsets of these galaxies is estimated with stacked 1.4 GHz radio continuum emission. We separately consider the total sample and a subset of galaxies that shows evidence for substantive recent star formation in the rest-frame optical spectral energy distributions. At redshifts 0.2 < z < 3 both populations show a strong and mass-independent decrease inmore » their SSFR toward the present epoch. It is best described by a power law (1 + z) {sup n}, where n {approx} 4.3 for all galaxies and n {approx} 3.5 for star-forming (SF) sources. The decrease appears to have started at z>2, at least for high-mass (M{sub *} {approx}> 4 x 10{sup 10} M{sub sun}) systems where our conclusions are most robust. Our data show that there is a tight correlation with power-law dependence, SSFR {proportional_to} M{sub *} {sup {beta},} between SSFR and stellar mass at all epochs. The relation tends to flatten below M{sub *} {approx} 10{sup 10} M{sub sun} if quiescent galaxies are included; if they are excluded from the analysis a shallow index {beta}{sub SFG} {approx} -0.4 fits the correlation. On average, higher mass objects always have lower SSFRs, also among SF galaxies. At z>1.5 there is tentative evidence for an upper threshold in SSFR that an average galaxy cannot exceed, possibly due to gravitationally limited molecular gas accretion. It is suggested by a flattening of the SSFR-M{sub *} relation (also for SF sources), but affects massive (>10{sup 10} M{sub sun}) galaxies only at the highest redshifts. Since z = 1.5 there thus is no direct evidence that galaxies of higher mass experience a more rapid waning of their SSFR than lower mass SF systems. In this sense, the data rule out any strong 'downsizing' in the SSFR. We

CANDELS Sheds Light on the Environmental Quenching of Low-mass Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yicheng; Bell, Eric F.; Lu, Yu; Koo, David C.; Faber, S. M.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Kurczynski, Peter; Lee, Seong-Kook; Papovich, Casey; Chen, Zhu; Dekel, Avishai; Ferguson, Henry C.; Fontana, Adriano; Giavalisco, Mauro; Kocevski, Dale D.; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Pérez-González, Pablo G.; Pforr, Janine; Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo; Santini, Paola

2017-06-01

We investigate the environmental quenching of galaxies, especially those with stellar masses (M *) < 109.5 M ⊙, beyond the local universe. Essentially all local low-mass quenched galaxies (QGs) are believed to live close to massive central galaxies, which is a demonstration of environmental quenching. We use CANDELS data to test whether or not such a dwarf QG-massive central galaxy connection exists beyond the local universe. For this purpose, we only need a statistically representative, rather than complete, sample of low-mass galaxies, which enables our study to z ≳ 1.5. For each low-mass galaxy, we measure the projected distance (d proj) to its nearest massive neighbor (M * > 1010.5 M ⊙) within a redshift range. At a given z and M *, the environmental quenching effect is considered to be observed if the d proj distribution of QGs ({d}{proj}Q) is significantly skewed toward lower values than that of star-forming galaxies ({d}{proj}{SF}). For galaxies with 108 M ⊙ < M * < 1010 M ⊙, such a difference between {d}{proj}Q and {d}{proj}{SF} is detected up to z ˜ 1. Also, about 10% of the quenched galaxies in our sample are located between two and four virial radii (R Vir) of the massive halos. The median projected distance from low-mass QGs to their massive neighbors, {d}{proj}Q/{R}{Vir}, decreases with satellite M * at M * ≲ 109.5 M ⊙, but increases with satellite M * at M * ≳ 109.5 M ⊙. This trend suggests a smooth, if any, transition of the quenching timescale around M * ˜ 109.5 M ⊙ at 0.5 < z < 1.0.

The Properties of the Massive Star-forming Galaxies with an Outside-in Assembly Mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Enci; Kong, Xu; Wang, Huiyuan; Wang, Lixin; Lin, Lin; Gao, Yulong; Liu, Qing

2017-08-01

Previous findings show that massive ({M}* > {10}10 {M}⊙ ) star-forming (SF) galaxies usually have an “inside-out” stellar mass assembly mode. In this paper, we have for the first time selected a sample of 77 massive SF galaxies with an “outside-in” assembly mode (called the “targeted sample”) from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. For comparison, two control samples are constructed from the MaNGA sample matched in stellar mass: a sample of 154 normal SF galaxies and a sample of 62 quiescent galaxies. In contrast to normal SF galaxies, the targeted galaxies appear to be smoother and more bulge-dominated and have a smaller size and higher concentration, star formation rate, and gas-phase metallicity as a whole. However, they have a larger size and lower concentration than quiescent galaxies. Unlike the normal SF sample, the targeted sample exhibits a slightly positive gradient of the 4000 Å break and a pronounced negative gradient of Hα equivalent width. Furthermore, the median surface mass density profile is between those of the normal SF and quiescent samples, indicating that the gas accretion of quiescent galaxies is not likely to be the main approach for the outside-in assembly mode. Our results suggest that the targeted galaxies are likely in the transitional phase from normal SF galaxies to quiescent galaxies, with rapid ongoing central stellar mass assembly (or bulge growth). We discuss several possible formation mechanisms for the outside-in mass assembly mode.

Scaling Stellar Mass Estimates of Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Brandon Michael; McQuinn, Kristen B.; Cannon, John M.; Dalcanton, Julianne; Dolphin, Andrew E.; Skillman, Evan D.; Williams, Benjamin F.; van Zee, Liese

2017-01-01

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical imaging of resolved stellar populations has been used to constrain the star formation history (SFH) and chemical evolution of many nearby dwarf galaxies. However, even for dwarf galaxies, the angle subtended by nearby systems can be greater than the HST field of view. Thus, estimates of stellar mass from the HST footprint do not accurately represent the total mass of the system, impacting how SFH results can be used in holistic comparisons of galaxy properties. Here, we use the SFHs of dwarfs combined with stellar population synthesis models to determine mass-to-light ratios for individual galaxies, and compare these values with measured infrared luminosities from Spitzer IRAC data. In this way, we determine what fraction of mass is not included in the HST field of view. To test our methodology, we focus on dwarfs whose stellar disks are contained within the HST observations. Then, we also apply this method to galaxies with larger angular sizes to scale the stellar masses accordingly.

SDSS IV MaNGA: the global and local stellar mass assemby histories of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibarra-Medel, Héctor J.; Sánchez, Sebastián F.; Avila-Reese, Vladimir; Hernández-Toledo, Héctor M.; González, J. Jesús; Drory, Niv; Bundy, Kevin; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Cano-Díaz, Mariana; Malanushenko, Elena; Pan, Kaike; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Thomas, Daniel

2016-12-01

Using the fossil record method implemented through Pipe3D, we reconstruct the global and radial stellar mass growth histories (MGHs) of a large sample of galaxies, ranging from dwarf to giant objects, from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. We confirm that the main driver of the global MGHs is mass, with more massive galaxies assembling earlier (downsizing), though for a given mass, the global MGHs segregate by colour, specific star formation rate and morphological type. From the inferred radial mean MGHs, we find that at fractions of assembled mass larger than ˜80 per cent, the innermost regions formed stars, on average, in the inside-out mode. At earlier epochs, when the age estimation of the method becomes poor, the MGHs seem to be spatially homogeneous or even in the outside-in mode, especially for the red/quiescent/early-type galaxies. The innermost MGHs are, in general, less scattered around the mean than the outermost MGHs. For dwarf and low-mass galaxies, we do not find evidence of an outside-in formation mode; instead, their radial MGHs are very diverse most of the time, with periods of outside-in and inside-out modes (or strong radial migration), suggesting this is an episodic star formation history. Blue/star-forming/late-type galaxies present, on average, a significantly more pronounced inside-out formation mode than red/quiescent/early-type galaxies, independently of mass. We discuss our results in the light of the processes of galaxy formation, quenching and radial migration. We also discuss the uncertainties and biases of the fossil record method and how these could affect our results.

SIDM on FIRE: hydrodynamical self-interacting dark matter simulations of low-mass dwarf galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robles, Victor H.; Bullock, James S.; Elbert, Oliver D.; Fitts, Alex; González-Samaniego, Alejandro; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Hopkins, Philip F.; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Hayward, Christopher C.

2017-12-01

We compare a suite of four simulated dwarf galaxies formed in 1010 M⊙ haloes of collisionless cold dark matter (CDM) with galaxies simulated in the same haloes with an identical galaxy formation model but a non-zero cross-section for DM self-interactions. These cosmological zoom-in simulations are part of the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project and utilize the FIRE-2 model for hydrodynamics and galaxy formation physics. We find the stellar masses of the galaxies formed in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with σ/m = 1 cm2 g-1 are very similar to those in CDM (spanning M⋆ ≈ 105.7-7.0M⊙) and all runs lie on a similar stellar mass-size relation. The logarithmic DM density slope (α = d log ρ/d log r) in the central 250-500 pc remains steeper than α = -0.8 for the CDM-Hydro simulations with stellar mass M⋆ ∼ 106.6 M⊙ and core-like in the most massive galaxy. In contrast, every SIDM hydrodynamic simulation yields a flatter profile, with α > -0.4. Moreover, the central density profiles predicted in SIDM runs without baryons are similar to the SIDM runs that include FIRE-2 baryonic physics. Thus, SIDM appears to be much more robust to the inclusion of (potentially uncertain) baryonic physics than CDM on this mass scale, suggesting that SIDM will be easier to falsify than CDM using low-mass galaxies. Our FIRE simulations predict that galaxies less massive than M⋆ ≲ 3 × 106 M⊙ provide potentially ideal targets for discriminating models, with SIDM producing substantial cores in such tiny galaxies and CDM producing cusps.

Finite length-scale anti-gravity and observations of mass discrepancies in galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanders, R. H.

1986-01-01

The modification of Newtonian attraction suggested by Sanders (1984) contains a repulsive Yukawa component which is characterised by two physical parameters: a coupling constant, α, and a length scale, r0. Although this form of the gravitational potential can result in flat rotation curves for a galaxy (or a point mass) it is not obvious that any modification of gravity associated with a definite length scale can reproduce the observed rotation curves of galaxies covering a wide range of mass and size. Here it is shown that the rotation curves of galaxies ranging in size from 5 to 40 kpc can be reproduced by this modified potential. Moreover, the implied mass-to-light ratios for a larger sample of galaxies are reasonable (one to three) and show no systematic trend with the size of the galaxy. The observed infrared Tully-Fisher law is shown to be consistent with the prediction of this revised gravity. The modified potential permits the X-ray emitting halos observed around elliptical galaxies to be bound without the addition of dark matter.

Stellar-to-halo mass relation of cluster galaxies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Niemiec, Anna; Jullo, Eric; Limousin, Marceau

In the formation of galaxy groups and clusters, the dark matter haloes containing satellite galaxies are expected to be tidally stripped in gravitational interactions with the host. We use galaxy-galaxy weak lensing to measure the average mass of dark matter haloes of satellite galaxies as a function of projected distance to the centre of the host, since stripping is expected to be greater for satellites closer to the centre of the cluster. We further classify the satellites according to their stellar mass: assuming that the stellar component of the galaxy is less disrupted by tidal stripping, stellar mass can bemore » used as a proxy of the infall mass. We study the stellar to halo mass relation of satellites as a function of the cluster-centric distance to measure tidal stripping. We use the shear catalogues of the DES science veri cation archive, the CFHTLenS and the CFHT Stripe 82 surveys, and we select satellites from the redMaPPer catalogue of clusters. For galaxies located in the outskirts of clusters, we nd a stellar to halo mass relation in good agreement with the theoretical expectations from Moster, Naab & White (2013) for central galaxies. In the centre of the cluster, we nd that this relation is shifted to smaller halo mass for a given stellar mass. We interpret this nding as further evidence for tidal stripping of dark matter haloes in high density environments.« less

Stellar-to-halo mass relation of cluster galaxies

DOE PAGES

Niemiec, Anna; Jullo, Eric; Limousin, Marceau; ...

2017-07-04

In the formation of galaxy groups and clusters, the dark matter haloes containing satellite galaxies are expected to be tidally stripped in gravitational interactions with the host. We use galaxy-galaxy weak lensing to measure the average mass of dark matter haloes of satellite galaxies as a function of projected distance to the centre of the host, since stripping is expected to be greater for satellites closer to the centre of the cluster. We further classify the satellites according to their stellar mass: assuming that the stellar component of the galaxy is less disrupted by tidal stripping, stellar mass can bemore » used as a proxy of the infall mass. We study the stellar to halo mass relation of satellites as a function of the cluster-centric distance to measure tidal stripping. We use the shear catalogues of the DES science veri cation archive, the CFHTLenS and the CFHT Stripe 82 surveys, and we select satellites from the redMaPPer catalogue of clusters. For galaxies located in the outskirts of clusters, we nd a stellar to halo mass relation in good agreement with the theoretical expectations from Moster, Naab & White (2013) for central galaxies. In the centre of the cluster, we nd that this relation is shifted to smaller halo mass for a given stellar mass. We interpret this nding as further evidence for tidal stripping of dark matter haloes in high density environments.« less

Aperture-free star formation rate of SDSS star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte Puertas, S.; Vilchez, J. M.; Iglesias-Páramo, J.; Kehrig, C.; Pérez-Montero, E.; Rosales-Ortega, F. F.

2017-03-01

Large area surveys with a high number of galaxies observed have undoubtedly marked a milestone in the understanding of several properties of galaxies, such as star-formation history, morphology, and metallicity. However, in many cases, these surveys provide fluxes from fixed small apertures (e.g. fibre), which cover a scant fraction of the galaxy, compelling us to use aperture corrections to study the global properties of galaxies. In this work, we derive the current total star formation rate (SFR) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, using an empirically based aperture correction of the measured Hα flux for the first time, thus minimising the uncertainties associated with reduced apertures. All the Hα fluxes have been extinction-corrected using the Hα/ Hβ ratio free from aperture effects. The total SFR for 210 000 SDSS star-forming galaxies has been derived applying pure empirical Hα and Hα/ Hβ aperture corrections based on the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. We find that, on average, the aperture-corrected SFR is 0.65 dex higher than the SDSS fibre-based SFR. The relation between the SFR and stellar mass for SDSS star-forming galaxies (SFR-M⋆) has been obtained, together with its dependence on extinction and Hα equivalent width. We compare our results with those obtained in previous works and examine the behaviour of the derived SFR in six redshift bins, over the redshift range 0.005 ≤ z ≤ 0.22. The SFR-M⋆ sequence derived here is in agreement with selected observational studies based on integral field spectroscopy of individual galaxies as well as with the predictions of recent theoretical models of disc galaxies. A table of the aperture-corrected fluxes and SFR for 210 000 SDSS star-forming galaxies and related relevant data is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/599/A71 Warning, no authors

Reconciling Dwarf Galaxies with ΛCDM Cosmology: Simulating a Realistic Population of Satellites around a Milky Way-mass Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wetzel, Andrew R.; Hopkins, Philip F.; Kim, Ji-hoon; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Quataert, Eliot

2016-08-01

Low-mass “dwarf” galaxies represent the most significant challenges to the cold dark matter (CDM) model of cosmological structure formation. Because these faint galaxies are (best) observed within the Local Group (LG) of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31), understanding their formation in such an environment is critical. We present first results from the Latte Project: the Milky Way on Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE). This simulation models the formation of an MW-mass galaxy to z=0 within ΛCDM cosmology, including dark matter, gas, and stars at unprecedented resolution: baryon particle mass of 7070 {M}⊙ with gas kernel/softening that adapts down to 1 {pc} (with a median of 25{--}60 {pc} at z=0). Latte was simulated using the GIZMO code with a mesh-free method for accurate hydrodynamics and the FIRE-2 model for star formation and explicit feedback within a multi-phase interstellar medium. For the first time, Latte self-consistently resolves the spatial scales corresponding to half-light radii of dwarf galaxies that form around an MW-mass host down to {M}{star}≳ {10}5 {M}⊙ . Latte’s population of dwarf galaxies agrees with the LG across a broad range of properties: (1) distributions of stellar masses and stellar velocity dispersions (dynamical masses), including their joint relation; (2) the mass-metallicity relation; and (3) diverse range of star formation histories, including their mass dependence. Thus, Latte produces a realistic population of dwarf galaxies at {M}{star}≳ {10}5 {M}⊙ that does not suffer from the “missing satellites” or “too big to fail” problems of small-scale structure formation. We conclude that baryonic physics can reconcile observed dwarf galaxies with standard ΛCDM cosmology.

Estimating precise metallicity and stellar mass evolution of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosby, Gregory

2018-01-01

The evolution of galaxies can be conveniently broken down into the evolution of their contents. The changing dust, gas, and stellar content in addition to the changing dark matter potential and periodic feedback from a super-massive blackhole are some of the key ingredients. We focus on the stellar content that can be observed, as the stars reflect information about the galaxy when they were formed. We approximate the stellar content and star formation histories of unresolved galaxies using stellar population modeling. Though simplistic, this approach allows us to reconstruct the star formation histories of galaxies that can be used to test models of galaxy formation and evolution. These models, however, suffer from degeneracies at large lookback times (t > 1 Gyr) as red, low luminosity stars begin to dominate a galaxy’s spectrum. Additionally, degeneracies between stellar populations at different ages and metallicities often make stellar population modeling less precise. The machine learning technique diffusion k-means has been shown to increase the precision in stellar population modeling using a mono-metallicity basis set. However, as galaxies evolve, we expect the metallicity of stellar populations to vary. We use diffusion k-means to generate a multi-metallicity basis set to estimate the stellar mass and chemical evolution of unresolved galaxies. Two basis sets are formed from the Bruzual & Charlot 2003 and MILES stellar population models. We then compare the accuracy and precision of these models in recovering complete (stellar mass and metallicity) histories of mock data. Similarities in the groupings of stellar population spectra in the diffusion maps for each metallicity hint at fundamental age transitions common to both basis sets that can be used to identify stellar populations in a given age range.

The Metallicity Evolution of Low-mass Galaxies: New Constraints at Intermediate Redshift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henry, Alaina; Martin, Crystal L.; Finlator, Kristian; Dressler, Alan

2013-06-01

We present abundance measurements from 26 emission-line-selected galaxies at z ~ 0.6-0.7. By reaching stellar masses as low as 108 M ⊙, these observations provide the first measurement of the intermediate-redshift mass-metallicity (MZ) relation below 109 M ⊙. For the portion of our sample above M > 109 M ⊙ (8/26 galaxies), we find good agreement with previous measurements of the intermediate-redshift MZ relation. Compared to the local relation, we measure an evolution that corresponds to a 0.12 dex decrease in oxygen abundances at intermediate redshifts. This result confirms the trend that metallicity evolution becomes more significant toward lower stellar masses, in keeping with a downsizing scenario where low-mass galaxies evolve onto the local MZ relation at later cosmic times. We show that these galaxies follow the local fundamental metallicity relation, where objects with higher specific (mass-normalized) star formation rates (SFRs) have lower metallicities. Furthermore, we show that the galaxies in our sample lie on an extrapolation of the SFR-M * relation (the star-forming main sequence). Leveraging the MZ relation and star-forming main sequence (and combining our data with higher-mass measurements from the literature), we test models that assume an equilibrium between mass inflow, outflow, and star formation. We find that outflows are required to describe the data. By comparing different outflow prescriptions, we show that momentum, driven winds can describe the MZ relation; however, this model underpredicts the amount of star formation in low-mass galaxies. This disagreement may indicate that preventive feedback from gas heating has been overestimated, or it may signify a more fundamental deviation from the equilibrium assumption. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): spectroscopic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopkins, A. M.; Driver, S. P.; Brough, S.; Owers, M. S.; Bauer, A. E.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Cluver, M. E.; Colless, M.; Foster, C.; Lara-López, M. A.; Roseboom, I.; Sharp, R.; Steele, O.; Thomas, D.; Baldry, I. K.; Brown, M. J. I.; Liske, J.; Norberg, P.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Bamford, S.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Drinkwater, M. J.; Loveday, J.; Meyer, M.; Peacock, J. A.; Tuffs, R.; Agius, N.; Alpaslan, M.; Andrae, E.; Cameron, E.; Cole, S.; Ching, J. H. Y.; Christodoulou, L.; Conselice, C.; Croom, S.; Cross, N. J. G.; De Propris, R.; Delhaize, J.; Dunne, L.; Eales, S.; Ellis, S.; Frenk, C. S.; Graham, Alister W.; Grootes, M. W.; Häußler, B.; Heymans, C.; Hill, D.; Hoyle, B.; Hudson, M.; Jarvis, M.; Johansson, J.; Jones, D. H.; van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Kuijken, K.; López-Sánchez, Á.; Maddox, S.; Madore, B.; Maraston, C.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Nichol, R. C.; Oliver, S.; Parkinson, H.; Penny, S.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Ponman, T.; Popescu, C. C.; Prescott, M.; Proctor, R.; Sadler, E. M.; Sansom, A. E.; Seibert, M.; Staveley-Smith, L.; Sutherland, W.; Taylor, E.; Van Waerbeke, L.; Vázquez-Mata, J. A.; Warren, S.; Wijesinghe, D. B.; Wild, V.; Wilkins, S.

2013-04-01

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey is a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey, using the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain spectra for up to ˜300 000 galaxies over 280 deg2, to a limiting magnitude of rpet < 19.8 mag. The target galaxies are distributed over 0 < z ≲ 0.5 with a median redshift of z ≈ 0.2, although the redshift distribution includes a small number of systems, primarily quasars, at higher redshifts, up to and beyond z = 1. The redshift accuracy ranges from σv ≈ 50 km s-1 to σv ≈ 100 km s-1 depending on the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum. Here we describe the GAMA spectroscopic reduction and analysis pipeline. We present the steps involved in taking the raw two-dimensional spectroscopic images through to flux-calibrated one-dimensional spectra. The resulting GAMA spectra cover an observed wavelength range of 3750 ≲ λ ≲ 8850 Å at a resolution of R ≈ 1300. The final flux calibration is typically accurate to 10-20 per cent, although the reliability is worse at the extreme wavelength ends, and poorer in the blue than the red. We present details of the measurement of emission and absorption features in the GAMA spectra. These measurements are characterized through a variety of quality control analyses detailing the robustness and reliability of the measurements. We illustrate the quality of the measurements with a brief exploration of elementary emission line properties of the galaxies in the GAMA sample. We demonstrate the luminosity dependence of the Balmer decrement, consistent with previously published results, and explore further how Balmer decrement varies with galaxy mass and redshift. We also investigate the mass and redshift dependencies of the [N II]/Hα versus [O III]/Hβ spectral diagnostic diagram, commonly used to discriminate between star forming and nuclear activity in galaxies.

No Assembly Required: Mergers are Mostly Irrelevant for the Growth of Low-mass Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitts, Alex; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Bullock, James S.; Weisz, Daniel R.; El-Badry, Kareem; Wheeler, Coral; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Quataert, Eliot; Hopkins, Philip F.; Kereš, Dušan; Wetzel, Andrew; Hayward, Christopher C.

2018-06-01

We investigate the merger histories of isolated dwarf galaxies based on a suite of 15 high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations, all with masses of Mhalo ≈ 1010 M⊙ (and M⋆ ˜ 105 - 107 M⊙) at z = 0, from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. The stellar populations of these dwarf galaxies at z = 0 are formed essentially entirely "in situ": over 90% of the stellar mass is formed in the main progenitor in all but two cases, and all 15 of the galaxies have >70% of their stellar mass formed in situ. Virtually all galaxy mergers occur prior to z ˜ 3, meaning that accreted stellar populations are ancient. On average, our simulated dwarfs undergo 5 galaxy mergers in their lifetimes, with typical pre-merger galaxy mass ratios that are less than 1:10. This merger frequency is generally comparable to what has been found in dissipationless simulations when coupled with abundance matching. Two of the simulated dwarfs have a luminous satellite companion at z = 0. These ultra-faint dwarfs lie at or below current detectability thresholds but are intriguing targets for next-generation facilities. The small contribution of accreted stars make it extremely difficult to discern the effects of mergers in the vast majority of dwarfs either photometrically or using resolved-star color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). The important implication for near-field cosmology is that star formation histories of comparably massive galaxies derived from resolved CMDs should trace the build-up of stellar mass in one main system across cosmic time as opposed to reflecting the contributions of many individual star formation histories of merged dwarfs.

Relationships between HI Gas Mass, Stellar Mass and Star Formation Rate of HICAT+WISE Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parkash, Vaishali; Brown, Michael J. I.

2018-01-01

Galaxies grow via a combination of star formation and mergers. In this thesis, I have studied what drives star formation in nearby galaxies. Using archival WISE, Galex, 21-cm data and new IFU observations, I examine the HI content, Hα emission, stellar kinematics, and gas kinematics of three sub-classes of galaxies: spiral galaxies, shell galaxies and HI galaxies with unusually low star formation rates (SFR). In this dissertation talk, I will focus on the scaling relations between atomic (HI) gas, stellar mass and SFR of spiral galaxies. Star formation is fuelled by HI and molecular hydrogen, therefore we expect correlations between HI mass, stellar mass and SFR. However, the measured scaling relationships vary in the prior literature due to sample selection or low completeness. I will discuss new scaling relationships determined using HI Parkes All Sky-Survey Catalogue (HICAT) and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The combination of the local HICAT survey with sensitive WISE mid-infrared imaging improves the stellar masses, SFRs and completeness relative to previous literature. Of the 3,513 HICAT sources, we find 3.4 μm counterparts for 2,824 sources (80%), and provide new WISE matched aperture photometry for these galaxies. For a stellar mass selected sample of z ≤ 0.01 spiral galaxies, we find HI detections for 94% of the galaxies, enabling us to accurately measure HI mass as a function of stellar mass. In contrast to HI-selected galaxy samples, we find that star formation efficiency of spiral galaxies is constant at 10-9.5 yr‑1 with a scatter of 0.5 dex for stellar masses above 109.5 solar masses. We find HI mass increases with stellar mass for spiral galaxies, but the scatter is 1.7 dex for all spiral galaxies and 0.6 dex for galaxies with the T-type 5 to 7. We find an upper limit on HI mass that depends on stellar mass, which is consistent with this limit being dictated by the halo spin parameter.

Red Misfits in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: properties of star-forming red galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Fraser A.; Parker, Laura C.; Roberts, Ian D.

2018-06-01

We study Red Misfits, a population of red, star-forming galaxies in the local Universe. We classify galaxies based on inclination-corrected optical colours and specific star formation rates derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Although the majority of blue galaxies are star-forming and most red galaxies exhibit little to no ongoing star formation, a small but significant population of galaxies (˜11 per cent at all stellar masses) are classified as red in colour yet actively star-forming. We explore a number of properties of these galaxies and demonstrate that Red Misfits are not simply dusty or highly inclined blue cloud galaxies or quiescent red galaxies with poorly constrained star formation. The proportion of Red Misfits is nearly independent of environment, and this population exhibits both intermediate morphologies and an enhanced likelihood of hosting an active galactic nucleus. We conclude that Red Misfits are a transition population, gradually quenching on their way to the red sequence and this quenching is dominated by internal processes rather than environmentally driven processes. We discuss the connection between Red Misfits and other transition galaxy populations, namely S0s, red spirals, and green valley galaxies.

Mass and size growth of early-type galaxies by dry mergers in cluster environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oogi, Taira; Habe, Asao; Ishiyama, Tomoaki

2016-02-01

We perform dry merger simulations to investigate the role of dry mergers in the size growth of early-type galaxies in high-density environments. We replace the virialized dark matter haloes obtained by a large cosmological N-body simulation with N-body galaxy models consisting of two components, a stellar bulge and a dark matter halo, which have higher mass resolution than the cosmological simulation. We then resimulate nine cluster-forming regions, whose masses range from 1 × 1014 to 5 × 1014 M⊙. Masses and sizes of stellar bulges are also assumed to satisfy the stellar mass-size relation of high-z compact massive early-type galaxies. We find that dry major mergers considerably contribute to the mass and size growth of central massive galaxies. One or two dry major mergers double the average stellar mass and quadruple the average size between z = 2 and 0. These growths favourably agree with observations. Moreover, the density distributions of our simulated central massive galaxies grow from the inside-out, which is consistent with recent observations. The mass-size evolution is approximated as R∝ M_{{ast }}^{α }, with α ˜ 2.24. Most of our simulated galaxies are efficiently grown by dry mergers, and their stellar mass-size relations match the ones observed in the local Universe. Our results show that the central galaxies in the cluster haloes are potential descendants of high-z (z ˜ 2-3) compact massive early-type galaxies. This conclusion is consistent with previous numerical studies which investigate the formation and evolution of compact massive early-type galaxies.

Dwarf galaxy mass estimators versus cosmological simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Samaniego, Alejandro; Bullock, James S.; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Fitts, Alex; Elbert, Oliver D.; Hopkins, Philip F.; Kereš, Dušan; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André

2017-12-01

We use a suite of high-resolution cosmological dwarf galaxy simulations to test the accuracy of commonly used mass estimators from Walker et al. (2009) and Wolf et al. (2010), both of which depend on the observed line-of-sight velocity dispersion and the 2D half-light radius of the galaxy, Re. The simulations are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project and include 12 systems with stellar masses spanning 105-107 M⊙ that have structural and kinematic properties similar to those of observed dispersion-supported dwarfs. Both estimators are found to be quite accurate: M_Wolf/M_true = 0.98^{+0.19}_{-0.12} and M_Walker/M_true =1.07^{+0.21}_{-0.15}, with errors reflecting the 68 per cent range over all simulations. The excellent performance of these estimators is remarkable given that they each assume spherical symmetry, a supposition that is broken in our simulated galaxies. Though our dwarfs have negligible rotation support, their 3D stellar distributions are flattened, with short-to-long axis ratios c/a ≃ 0.4-0.7. The median accuracy of the estimators shows no trend with asphericity. Our simulated galaxies have sphericalized stellar profiles in 3D that follow a nearly universal form, one that transitions from a core at small radius to a steep fall-off ∝r-4.2 at large r; they are well fit by Sérsic profiles in projection. We find that the most important empirical quantity affecting mass estimator accuracy is Re. Determining Re by an analytic fit to the surface density profile produces a better estimated mass than if the half-light radius is determined via direct summation.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the galaxy stellar mass function at z < 0.06

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldry, I. K.; Driver, S. P.; Loveday, J.; Taylor, E. N.; Kelvin, L. S.; Liske, J.; Norberg, P.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Brough, S.; Hopkins, A. M.; Bamford, S. P.; Peacock, J. A.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Conselice, C. J.; Croom, S. M.; Jones, D. H.; Parkinson, H. R.; Popescu, C. C.; Prescott, M.; Sharp, R. G.; Tuffs, R. J.

2012-03-01

We determine the low-redshift field galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) using an area of 143 deg2 from the first three years of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The magnitude limits of this redshift survey are r < 19.4 mag over two-thirds and 19.8 mag over one-third of the area. The GSMF is determined from a sample of 5210 galaxies using a density-corrected maximum volume method. This efficiently overcomes the issue of fluctuations in the number density versus redshift. With H0= 70 km s-1 Mpc-1, the GSMF is well described between 108 and 1011.5 M⊙ using a double Schechter function with ?, ?, α1=-0.35, ? and α2=-1.47. This result is more robust to uncertainties in the flow-model corrected redshifts than from the shallower Sloan Digital Sky Survey main sample (r < 17.8 mag). The upturn in the GSMF is also seen directly in the i-band and K-band galaxy luminosity functions. Accurately measuring the GSMF below 108 M⊙ is possible within the GAMA survey volume but as expected requires deeper imaging data to address the contribution from low surface-brightness galaxies.

Color-size Relations of Disc Galaxies with Similar Stellar Masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, W.; Chang, R. X.; Shen, S. Y.; Zhang, B.

2011-01-01

To investigate the correlations between colors and sizes of disc galaxies with similar stellar masses, a sample of 7959 local face-on disc galaxies is collected from the main galaxy sample of the Seventh Data Release of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR7). Our results show that, under the condition that the stellar masses of disc galaxies are similar, the relation between u-r and size is weak, while g-r, r-i and r-z colors decrease with disk size. This means that the color-size relations of disc galaxies with similar stellar masses do exist, i.e., the more extended disc galaxies with similar stellar masses tend to have bluer colors. An artificial sample is constructed to confirm that this correlation is not driven by the color-stellar mass relations and size-stellar mass relation of disc galaxies. Our results suggest that the mass distribution of disk galaxies may have an important influence on their stellar formation history, i.e., the galaxies with more extended mass distribution evolve more slowly.

THE OBSERVED RELATION BETWEEN STELLAR MASS, DUST EXTINCTION, AND STAR FORMATION RATE IN LOCAL GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zahid, H. J.; Kewley, L. J.; Kudritzki, R. P.

In this study, we investigate the relation between stellar mass, dust extinction, and star formation rate (SFR) using {approx}150,000 star-forming galaxies from SDSS DR7. We show that the relation between dust extinction and SFR changes with stellar mass. For galaxies at the same stellar mass, dust extinction is anti-correlated with the SFR at stellar masses <10{sup 10} M {sub Sun }. There is a sharp transition in the relation at a stellar mass of 10{sup 10} M {sub Sun }. At larger stellar masses, dust extinction is positively correlated with the SFR for galaxies at the same stellar mass. Themore » observed relation between stellar mass, dust extinction, and SFR presented in this study helps to confirm similar trends observed in the relation between stellar mass, metallicity, and SFR. The relation reported in this study provides important new constraints on the physical processes governing the chemical evolution of galaxies. The correlation between SFR and dust extinction for galaxies with stellar masses >10{sup 10} M {sub Sun} is shown to extend to the population of quiescent galaxies suggesting that the physical processes responsible for the observed relation between stellar mass, dust extinction, and SFR may be related to the processes leading to the shutdown of star formation in galaxies.« less

Spatially unresolved SED fitting can underestimate galaxy masses: a solution to the missing mass problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorba, Robert; Sawicki, Marcin

2018-05-01

We perform spatially resolved, pixel-by-pixel Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fitting on galaxies up to z ˜ 2.5 in the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF). Comparing stellar mass estimates from spatially resolved and spatially unresolved photometry we find that unresolved masses can be systematically underestimated by factors of up to 5. The ratio of the unresolved to resolved mass measurement depends on the galaxy's specific star formation rate (sSFR): at low sSFRs the bias is small, but above sSFR ˜ 10-9.5 yr-1 the discrepancy increases rapidly such that galaxies with sSFRs ˜ 10-8 yr-1 have unresolved mass estimates of only one-half to one-fifth of the resolved value. This result indicates that stellar masses estimated from spatially unresolved data sets need to be systematically corrected, in some cases by large amounts, and we provide an analytic prescription for applying this correction. We show that correcting stellar mass measurements for this bias changes the normalization and slope of the star-forming main sequence and reduces its intrinsic width; most dramatically, correcting for the mass bias increases the stellar mass density of the Universe at high redshift and can resolve the long-standing discrepancy between the directly measured cosmic SFR density at z ≳ 1 and that inferred from stellar mass densities (`the missing mass problem').

The Low-Mass Stellar Initial Mass Function: Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Platais, Imants

2017-08-01

The stellar Initial Mass Function plays a critical role in the evolution of the baryonic content of the Universe. The form of the low-mass IMF - stars of mass less than the solar mass - determines the fraction of baryons locked up for a Hubble time, and thus indicates how gas and metals are cycled through galaxies. Inferences from resolved stellar populations, where the low-mass luminosity function and associated IMF can be derived from direct star counts, generally favor an invariant and universal IMF. However, a recent study of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Hercules and Leo IV indicates a bottom-lite IMF, over a narrow range of stellar mass (only 0.55-0.75 M_sun), correlated with the internal velocity dispersion and/or metallicity. We propose to obtain ultra-deep imaging for a significantly closer ultra-faint dwarf, Bootes I, which will allow us to construct the luminosity function down to M_v=+10 (equivalent to 0.35 solar mass). We will also re-analyze the HST archival observations for the Hercules and Leo IV dwarfs using the same updated techniques as for Bootes I. The combined datasets should provide a reliable answer to the question of how variable is the low-mass stellar IMF.

LEO P: AN UNQUENCHED VERY LOW-MASS GALAXY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McQuinn, Kristen B. W.; Skillman, Evan D.; Berg, Danielle

Leo P is a low-luminosity dwarf galaxy discovered through the blind H i Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. The H i and follow-up optical observations have shown that Leo P is a gas-rich dwarf galaxy with active star formation, an underlying older population, and an extremely low oxygen abundance. We have obtained optical imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope to two magnitudes below the red clump in order to study the evolution of Leo P. We refine the distance measurement to Leo P to be 1.62 ± 0.15 Mpc, based on the luminosity of the horizontal branch stars and 10more » newly identified RR Lyrae candidates. This places the galaxy at the edge of the Local Group, ∼0.4 Mpc from Sextans B, the nearest galaxy in the NGC 3109 association of dwarf galaxies of which Leo P is clearly a member. The star responsible for ionizing the H ii region is most likely an O7V or O8V spectral type, with a stellar mass ≳25 M{sub ⊙}. The presence of this star provides observational evidence that massive stars at the upper end of the initial mass function are capable of being formed at star formation rates as low as ∼10{sup −5} M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}. The best-fitting star formation history (SFH) derived from the resolved stellar populations of Leo P using the latest PARSEC models shows a relatively constant star formation rate over the lifetime of the galaxy. The modeled luminosity characteristics of Leo P at early times are consistent with low-luminosity dSph Milky Way satellites, suggesting that Leo P is what a low-mass dSph would look like if it evolved in isolation and retained its gas. Despite the very low mass of Leo P, the imprint of reionization on its SFH is subtle at best, and consistent with being totally negligible. The isolation of Leo P, and the total quenching of star formation of Milky Way satellites of similar mass, implies that the local environment dominates the quenching of the Milky Way satellites.« less

Submillimetre flux as a probe of molecular ISM mass in high-z galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Lichen; Feldmann, Robert; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Hopkins, Philip F.; Hayward, Christopher C.; Quataert, Eliot; Scoville, Nick Z.

2018-07-01

Recent long-wavelength observations on the thermal dust continuum suggest that the Rayleigh-Jeans tail can be used as a time-efficient quantitative probe of the dust and interstellar medium (ISM) mass in high-z galaxies. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE) project to analyse the dust emission of M* ≳ 1010 M⊙ galaxies at z= 2-4. Our simulations (MASSIVEFIRE) explicitly include various forms of stellar feedback, and they produce the stellar masses and star formation rates of high-z galaxies in agreement with observations. Using radiative transfer modelling, we show that sub-millimetre (sub-mm) luminosity and molecular ISM mass are tightly correlated and that the overall normalization is in quantitative agreement with observations. Notably, sub-mm luminosity traces molecular ISM mass even during starburst episodes as dust mass and mass-weighted temperature evolve only moderately between z = 4 and z = 2, including during starbursts. Our finding supports the empirical approach of using broadband sub-mm flux as a proxy for molecular gas content in high-z galaxies. We thus expect single-band sub-mm observations with ALMA to dramatically increase the sample size of high-z galaxies with reliable ISM masses in the near future.

Submillimeter flux as a probe of molecular ISM mass in high-z galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Lichen; Feldmann, Robert; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Hopkins, Philip F.; Hayward, Christopher C.; Quataert, Eliot; Scoville, Nick Z.

2018-04-01

Recent long wavelength observations on the thermal dust continuum suggest that the Rayleigh-Jeans (RJ) tail can be used as a time-efficient quantitative probe of the dust and ISM mass in high-z galaxies. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE) project to analyze the dust emission of M* ≳ 1010M⊙ galaxies at z = 2 - 4. Our simulations (MassiveFIRE) explicitly include various forms of stellar feedback, and they produce the stellar masses and star formation rates of high-z galaxies in agreement with observations. Using radiative transfer modelling, we show that sub-millimeter (sub-mm) luminosity and molecular ISM mass are tightly correlated and that the overall normalization is in quantitative agreement with observations. Notably, sub-mm luminosity traces molecular ISM mass even during starburst episodes as dust mass and mass-weighted temperature evolve only moderately between z = 4 and z = 2, including during starbursts. Our finding supports the empirical approach of using broadband sub-mm flux as a proxy for molecular gas content in high-z galaxies. We thus expect single-band sub-mm observations with ALMA to dramatically increase the sample size of high-z galaxies with reliable ISM masses in the near future.

The Large Local Hole in the Galaxy Distribution: The 2MASS Galaxy Angular Power Spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frith, W. J.; Outram, P. J.; Shanks, T.

2005-06-01

We present new evidence for a large deficiency in the local galaxy distribution situated in the ˜4000 deg2 APM survey area. We use models guided by the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) n(z) as a probe of the underlying large-scale structure. We first check the usefulness of this technique by comparing the 2dFGRS n(z) model prediction with the K-band and B-band number counts extracted from the 2MASS and 2dFGRS parent catalogues over the 2dFGRS Northern and Southern declination strips, before turning to a comparison with the APM counts. We find that the APM counts in both the B and K-bands indicate a deficiency in the local galaxy distribution of ˜30% to z ≈ 0.1 over the entire APM survey area. We examine the implied significance of such a large local hole, considering several possible forms for the real-space correlation function. We find that such a deficiency in the APM survey area indicates an excess of power at large scales over what is expected from the correlation function observed in 2dFGRS correlation function or predicted from ΛCDM Hubble Volume mock catalogues. In order to check further the clustering at large scales in the 2MASS data, we have calculated the angular power spectrum for 2MASS galaxies. Although in the linear regime (l<30), ΛCDM models can give a good fit to the 2MASS angular power spectrum, over a wider range (l<100) the power spectrum from Hubble Volume mock catalogues suggests that scale-dependent bias may be needed for ΛCDM to fit. However, the modest increase in large-scale power observed in the 2MASS angular power spectrum is still not enough to explain the local hole. If the APM survey area really is 25% deficient in galaxies out to z≈0.1, explanations for the disagreement with observed galaxy clustering statistics include the possibilities that the galaxy clustering is non-Gaussian on large scales or that the 2MASS volume is still too small to represent a `fair sample' of the Universe. Extending the 2dFGRS redshift survey

Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): the consistency of GAMA and WISE derived mass-to-light ratios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kettlety, T.; Hesling, J.; Phillipps, S.; Bremer, M. N.; Cluver, M. E.; Taylor, E. N.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; De Propris, R.; Driver, S. P.; Holwerda, B. W.; Kelvin, L. S.; Sutherland, W.; Wright, A. H.

2018-01-01

Recent work has suggested that mid-IR wavelengths are optimal for estimating the mass-to-light ratios of stellar populations and hence the stellar masses of galaxies. We compare stellar masses deduced from spectral energy distribution (SED) models, fitted to multiwavelength optical-NIR photometry, to luminosities derived from WISE photometry in the W1 and W2 bands at 3.6 and 4.5 μm for non-star forming galaxies. The SED-derived masses for a carefully selected sample of low-redshift (z ≤ 0.15) passive galaxies agree with the prediction from stellar population synthesis models such that M*/LW1 ≃ 0.6 for all such galaxies, independent of other stellar population parameters. The small scatter between masses predicted from the optical SED and from the WISE measurements implies that random errors (as opposed to systematic ones such as the use of different initial mass functions) are smaller than previous, deliberately conservative, estimates for the SED fits. This test is subtly different from simultaneously fitting at a wide range of optical and mid-IR wavelengths, which may just generate a compromised fit: we are directly checking that the best-fitting model to the optical data generates an SED whose M*/LW1 is also consistent with separate mid-IR data. We confirm that for passive low-redshift galaxies a fixed M*/LW1 = 0.65 can generate masses at least as accurate as those obtained from more complex methods. Going beyond the mean value, in agreement with expectations from the models, we see a modest change in M*/LW1 with SED fitted stellar population age but an insignificant one with metallicity.

Chandra Sees Wealth Of Black Holes In Star-Forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2001-06-01

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found new populations of suspected mid-mass black holes in several starburst galaxies, where stars form and explode at an unusually high rate. Although a few of these objects had been found previously, this is the first time they have been detected in such large numbers and could help explain their relationship to star formation and the production of even more massive black holes. At the 198th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California, three independent teams of scientists reported finding dozens of X-ray sources in galaxies aglow with star formation. These X-ray objects appear point-like and are ten to a thousand times more luminous in X-rays than similar sources found in our Milky Way and the M81 galaxy. "Chandra gives us the ability to study the populations of individual bright X-ray sources in nearby galaxies in extraordinary detail," said Andreas Zezas, lead author from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics team that observed The Antennae, a pair of colliding galaxies, and M82, a well-known starburst galaxy. "This allows us to build on earlier detections of these objects and better understand their relationship to starburst galaxies." Antennae-True Color Image True Color Image of Antennae Credit: NASA/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al. Press Image and Caption Kimberly Weaver, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, lead scientist of the team that studied the starburst galaxy NGC 253, discussed the importance of the unusual concentration of these very luminous X-ray sources near the center of that galaxy. Four sources, which are tens to thousands of times more massive than the Sun, are located within 3,000 light years of the galaxy core. "This may imply that these black holes are gravitating toward the center of the galaxy where they could coalesce to form a single supermassive black hole," Weaver suggested. "It could be that this starburst galaxy is transforming itself into a quasar

Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): dust obscuration in galaxies and their recent star formation histories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijesinghe, D. B.; Hopkins, A. M.; Sharp, R.; Gunawardhana, M.; Brough, S.; Sadler, E. M.; Driver, S.; Baldry, I.; Bamford, S.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Norberg, P.; Peacock, J.; Popescu, C. C.; Tuffs, R. J.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Cameron, E.; Croom, S.; Frenk, C.; Hill, D.; Jones, D. H.; van Kampen, E.; Kelvin, L.; Kuijken, K.; Madore, B.; Nichol, B.; Parkinson, H.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Prescott, M.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Seibert, M.; Simmat, E.; Sutherland, W.; Taylor, E.; Thomas, D.

2011-02-01

We present self-consistent star formation rates derived through pan-spectral analysis of galaxies drawn from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We determine the most appropriate form of dust obscuration correction via application of a range of extinction laws drawn from the literature as applied to Hα, [O II] and UV luminosities. These corrections are applied to a sample of 31 508 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z < 0.35. We consider several different obscuration curves, including those of Milky Way, Calzetti and Fischera & Dopita curves and their effects on the observed luminosities. At the core of this technique is the observed Balmer decrement, and we provide a prescription to apply optimal obscuration corrections using the Balmer decrement. We carry out an analysis of the star formation history (SFH) using stellar population synthesis tools to investigate the evolutionary history of our sample of galaxies as well as to understand the effects of variation in the initial mass function (IMF) and the effects this has on the evolutionary history of galaxies. We find that the Fischera & Dopita obscuration curve with an Rv value of 4.5 gives the best agreement between the different SFR indicators. The 2200 Å feature needed to be removed from this curve to obtain complete consistency between all SFR indicators suggesting that this feature may not be common in the average integrated attenuation of galaxy emission. We also find that the UV dust obscuration is strongly dependent on the SFR.

Stellar Mass Function of Active and Quiescent Galaxies via the Continuity Equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapi, A.; Mancuso, C.; Bressan, A.; Danese, L.

2017-09-01

The continuity equation is developed for the stellar mass content of galaxies and exploited to derive the stellar mass function of active and quiescent galaxies over the redshift range z˜ 0{--}8. The continuity equation requires two specific inputs gauged from observations: (I) the star formation rate functions determined on the basis of the latest UV+far-IR/submillimeter/radio measurements and (II) average star formation histories for individual galaxies, with different prescriptions for disks and spheroids. The continuity equation also includes a source term taking into account (dry) mergers, based on recent numerical simulations and consistent with observations. The stellar mass function derived from the continuity equation is coupled with the halo mass function and with the SFR functions to derive the star formation efficiency and the main sequence of star-forming galaxies via the abundance-matching technique. A remarkable agreement of the resulting stellar mass functions for active and quiescent galaxies of the galaxy main sequence, and of the star formation efficiency with current observations is found; the comparison with data also allows the characteristic timescales for star formation and quiescence of massive galaxies, the star formation history of their progenitors, and the amount of stellar mass added by in situ star formation versus that contributed by external merger events to be robustly constrained. The continuity equation is shown to yield quantitative outcomes that detailed physical models must comply with, that can provide a basis for improving the (subgrid) physical recipes implemented in theoretical approaches and numerical simulations, and that can offer a benchmark for forecasts on future observations with multiband coverage, as will become routinely achievable in the era of JWST.

Evidence for AGN feedback in low-mass galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masters, Karen; Penny, Sam; Smethurst, Rebecca; Krawczyk, Coleman; Nichol, Bob; SDSS-IV MaNGA

2018-01-01

Despite being the dominant galaxy population by number in groups and clusters, the formation and quenching mechanism of dwarf galaxies remains unknown. We present evidence for AGN feedback in a subset of 69 quenched low-mass galaxies (M* less than 5e9 Msun, fainter than Mr = -19) selected from the first two years of the MaNGA survey. The majority (85 per cent) of these quenched galaxies appear to reside in a group environment. We find 6 galaxies in our sample that appear to have an active AGN that is preventing on-going star-formation; this is the first time such a feedback mechanism has been observed in this mass range. Interestingly, five of these six galaxies have an ionised gas component that is kinematically offset from their stellar component, suggesting the gas is either recently accreted or outflowing. We hypothesise these six galaxies are low-mass equivalents to the “red geysers” observed in more massive galaxies. Of the other 62 galaxies in the sample, we find 8 do appear to have some low-level, residual star formation, or emission from hot, evolved stars. The remaining galaxies in our sample have no detectable ionised gas emission throughout their structures, consistent with them being quenched. I will show that despite being the "simplest" galaxies in our current models of galaxy formation, these quenched dwarf galaxies are a diverse population.

EXPLAINING THE OBSERVED VELOCITY DISPERSION OF DWARF GALAXIES BY BARYONIC MASS LOSS DURING THE FIRST COLLAPSE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gritschneder, Matthias; Lin, Douglas N. C., E-mail: gritschneder@ucolick.org

2013-03-01

In the widely adopted {Lambda} cold dark matter ({Lambda}CDM) scenario for galaxy formation, dwarf galaxies are the building blocks of larger galaxies. Since they formed at relatively early epochs when the background density was relatively high, they are expected to retain their integrity as satellite galaxies when they merge to form larger entities. Although many dwarf spheroidal galaxies are found in the galactic halo around the Milky Way, their phase-space density (or velocity dispersion) appears to be significantly smaller than that expected for satellite dwarf galaxies in the {Lambda}CDM scenario. In order to account for this discrepancy, we consider themore » possibility that they may have lost a significant fraction of their baryonic matter content during the first infall at the Hubble expansion turnaround. Such mass loss arises naturally due to the feedback by relatively massive stars that formed in their centers briefly before the maximum contraction. Through a series of N-body simulations, we show that the timely loss of a significant fraction of the dSphs initial baryonic matter content can have profound effects on their asymptotic half-mass radius, velocity dispersion, phase-space density, and the mass fraction between residual baryonic and dark matter.« less

High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star-forming galaxies in the young Universe.

PubMed

Tacconi, L J; Genzel, R; Neri, R; Cox, P; Cooper, M C; Shapiro, K; Bolatto, A; Bouché, N; Bournaud, F; Burkert, A; Combes, F; Comerford, J; Davis, M; Schreiber, N M Förster; Garcia-Burillo, S; Gracia-Carpio, J; Lutz, D; Naab, T; Omont, A; Shapley, A; Sternberg, A; Weiner, B

2010-02-11

Stars form from cold molecular interstellar gas. As this is relatively rare in the local Universe, galaxies like the Milky Way form only a few new stars per year. Typical massive galaxies in the distant Universe formed stars an order of magnitude more rapidly. Unless star formation was significantly more efficient, this difference suggests that young galaxies were much more molecular-gas rich. Molecular gas observations in the distant Universe have so far largely been restricted to very luminous, rare objects, including mergers and quasars, and accordingly we do not yet have a clear idea about the gas content of more normal (albeit massive) galaxies. Here we report the results of a survey of molecular gas in samples of typical massive-star-forming galaxies at mean redshifts of about 1.2 and 2.3, when the Universe was respectively 40% and 24% of its current age. Our measurements reveal that distant star forming galaxies were indeed gas rich, and that the star formation efficiency is not strongly dependent on cosmic epoch. The average fraction of cold gas relative to total galaxy baryonic mass at z = 2.3 and z = 1.2 is respectively about 44% and 34%, three to ten times higher than in today's massive spiral galaxies. The slow decrease between z approximately 2 and z approximately 1 probably requires a mechanism of semi-continuous replenishment of fresh gas to the young galaxies.

Semi-Analytic Galaxies - I. Synthesis of environmental and star-forming regulation mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cora, Sofía A.; Vega-Martínez, Cristian A.; Hough, Tomás; Ruiz, Andrés N.; Orsi, Álvaro; Muñoz Arancibia, Alejandra M.; Gargiulo, Ignacio D.; Collacchioni, Florencia; Padilla, Nelson D.; Gottlöber, Stefan; Yepes, Gustavo

2018-05-01

We present results from the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation SAG applied on the MULTIDARK simulation MDPL2. SAG features an updated supernova (SN) feedback scheme and a robust modelling of the environmental effects on satellite galaxies. This incorporates a gradual starvation of the hot gas halo driven by the action of ram pressure stripping (RPS), that can affect the cold gas disc, and tidal stripping (TS), which can act on all baryonic components. Galaxy orbits of orphan satellites are integrated providing adequate positions and velocities for the estimation of RPS and TS. The star formation history and stellar mass assembly of galaxies are sensitive to the redshift dependence implemented in the SN feedback model. We discuss a variant of our model that allows to reconcile the predicted star formation rate density at z ≳ 3 with the observed one, at the expense of an excess in the faint end of the stellar mass function at z = 2. The fractions of passive galaxies as a function of stellar mass, halo mass and the halo-centric distances are consistent with observational measurements. The model also reproduces the evolution of the main sequence of star forming central and satellite galaxies. The similarity between them is a result of the gradual starvation of the hot gas halo suffered by satellites, in which RPS plays a dominant role. RPS of the cold gas does not affect the fraction of quenched satellites but it contributes to reach the right atomic hydrogen gas content for more massive satellites (M⋆ ≳ 1010 M⊙).

Infrared Properties of Star Forming Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaduvescu, Ovidiu

2005-11-01

Dwarf galaxies are the most common galaxies in the Universe. They are systems believed to consist of matter in a near-primordial state, from which giant galaxies probably form. As such, they are important probes for studying matter in its near-primordial state. In an effort to study the main physical and chemical properties of dwarfs, the present thesis focuses upon the main physical properties of dwarfs. Two classes of star forming dwarf galaxies are considered: dwarf irregulars (dIs), and blue compact dwarfs (BCDs). A third class, dwarf ellipticals (dEs), is studied based on its structural properties and compared with dIs. Possible evolutionary connections are addressed between dIs and BCDs. To measure the luminosity, deep imaging in the near-infrared (NIR) is considered. Compared with the visible, the NIR domain gives a better gauge of the galaxy mass contained in the old stellar populations, minimising the starburst contribution and also the effects of extinction. Two observing samples of star-forming dwarf galaxies are considered. The first includes 34 dIs in the Local Volume closer than 5 Mpc. The second sample includes 16 BCDs in the Virgo Cluster. In six observing runs between 2001 and 2004, we acquired deep NIR images (J and K_s) using the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope (CFHT) in Hawaii and the 2.1m telescope at the National Astronomical Observatory ''San Pedro Martir'' (OAN-SPM) in Mexico. Deep spectrocopy was acquired in 2003 on the 8.1m Gemini-North telescope in Hawaii. We completed the observed samples with spectroscopic data from the literature, and photometry from the 2MASS survey and GOLDMine database. From a statistical study at CFHT, we derived some strategies necessary to image optimally faint extended sources in the NIR. Due to the airglow variation in the atmosphere and the thermal contribution of the dome, telescope and the instrumentation, repeated observations of the sky must be alternated every 3-4 minutes with the science images, in

WHEN DID ROUND DISK GALAXIES FORM?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takeuchi, T. M.; Ohta, K.; Yuma, S.

2015-03-01

When and how galaxy morphology, such as the disk and bulge seen in the present-day universe, emerged is still not clear. In the universe at z ≳ 2, galaxies with various morphologies are seen, and star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2 show the intrinsic shape of bar-like structures. Then, when did the round disk structure form? Here we take a simple and straightforward approach to see the epoch when a round disk galaxy population emerged by constraining the intrinsic shape statistically based on the apparent axial ratio distribution of galaxies. We derived the distributions of the apparent axial ratios inmore » the rest-frame optical light (∼5000 Å) of star-forming main-sequence galaxies at 2.5 > z > 1.4, 1.4 > z > 0.85, and 0.85 > z > 0.5, and found that their apparent axial ratios show peaky distributions at z ≳ 0.85, while a rather flat distribution at the lower redshift. By using a tri-axial model (A > B > C) for the intrinsic shape, we found that the best-fit models give the peaks of the B/A distribution of 0.81 ± 0.04, 0.84 ± 0.04, and 0.92 ± 0.05 at 2.5 > z > 1.4, 1.4 > z > 0.85, and 0.85 > z > 0.5, respectively. The last value is close to the local value of 0.95. Thickness (C/A) is ∼0.25 at all the redshifts and is close to the local value (0.21). The results indicate that the shape of the star-forming galaxies in the main sequence changes gradually, and that the round disk is established at around z ∼ 0.9. The establishment of the round disk may be due to the cessation of a violent interaction between galaxies or the growth of a bulge and/or a supermassive black hole residing at the center of a galaxy that dissolves the bar structure.« less

Searching for intermediate-mass black holes in extremely-metal poor galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mezcua, Mar

2016-09-01

Extremely metal-poor dwarf galaxies (XMPs) are star-forming, low-mass galaxies with metallicites highly sub-solar. Their regions of star formation could be triggered by the accretion of pristine gas from the cosmic web and harbour Population III stars. XMPs are thus ideal laboratories for searching for the seed black holes or intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) that populated the early Universe. The combination of X-ray, radio and optical observations offer the best tool for detecting such IMBHs in the local Universe. We propose Chandra observations of a sample of XMPs whose optical spectra indicate the possible presence of an active black hole of 1e4 - 1e6 Msun. The Chandra data could confirm this and yield the first detection of an IMBH in these type of galaxies.

Modelling baryonic effects on galaxy cluster mass profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirasaki, Masato; Lau, Erwin T.; Nagai, Daisuke

2018-06-01

Gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of the mass distribution of galaxy clusters and cosmology. However, accurate measurements of the cluster mass profiles are limited by uncertainties in cluster astrophysics. In this work, we present a physically motivated model of baryonic effects on the cluster mass profiles, which self-consistently takes into account the impact of baryons on the concentration as well as mass accretion histories of galaxy clusters. We calibrate this model using the Omega500 hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters with varying baryonic physics. Our model will enable us to simultaneously constrain cluster mass, concentration, and cosmological parameters using stacked weak lensing measurements from upcoming optical cluster surveys.

The VANDELS survey: dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies at z = 3-4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cullen, F.; McLure, R. J.; Khochfar, S.; Dunlop, J. S.; Dalla Vecchia, C.; Carnall, A. C.; Bourne, N.; Castellano, M.; Cimatti, A.; Cirasuolo, M.; Elbaz, D.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Garilli, B.; Koekemoer, A.; Marchi, F.; Pentericci, L.; Talia, M.; Zamorani, G.

2018-05-01

We present the results of a new study of dust attenuation at redshifts 3 < z < 4 based on a sample of 236 star-forming galaxies from the VANDELS spectroscopic survey. Motivated by results from the First Billion Years (FiBY) simulation project, we argue that the intrinsic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts have a self-similar shape across the mass range 8.2 ≤ log (M⋆/M⊙) ≤ 10.6 probed by our sample. Using FiBY data, we construct a set of intrinsic SED templates which incorporate both detailed star formation and chemical abundance histories, and a variety of stellar population synthesis (SPS) model assumptions. With this set of intrinsic SEDs, we present a novel approach for directly recovering the shape and normalization of the dust attenuation curve. We find, across all of the intrinsic templates considered, that the average attenuation curve for star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 3.5 is similar in shape to the commonly adopted Calzetti starburst law, with an average total-to-selective attenuation ratio of RV = 4.18 ± 0.29. In contrast, we find that an average attenuation curve as steep as the SMC extinction law is strongly disfavoured. We show that the optical attenuation (AV) versus stellar mass (M⋆) relation predicted using our method is consistent with recent ALMA observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), as well as empirical AV - M⋆ relations predicted by a Calzetti-like law. In fact, our results, combined with other literature data, suggest that the AV-M⋆ relation does not evolve over the redshift range 0 < z < 5, at least for galaxies with log(M⋆/M⊙) ≳ 9.5. Finally, we present tentative evidence which suggests that the attenuation curve may become steeper at lower masses log(M⋆/M⊙) ≲ 9.0.

The FMOS-COSMOS Survey of Star-forming Galaxies at Z ˜ 1.6. V: Properties of Dark Matter Halos Containing Hα Emitting Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashino, Daichi; More, Surhud; Silverman, John D.; Daddi, Emanuele; Renzini, Alvio; Sanders, David B.; Rodighiero, Giulia; Puglisi, Annagrazia; Kajisawa, Masaru; Valentino, Francesco; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Le Fèvre, Olivier; Nagao, Tohru; Arimoto, Nobuo; Sugiyama, Naoshi

2017-07-01

We study the properties of dark matter halos that contain star-forming galaxies at 1.43 ≤ z ≤ 1.74, using the FMOS-COSMOS survey. The sample consists of 516 objects with a detection of the Hα emission line, which represent the star forming population at this epoch, having a stellar mass range of 109.57 ≤ M */M ⊙ ≲ 1011.4 and a star-formation rate range of 15 ≲ SFR/(M ⊙ yr-1) ≲ 600. We measure the projected two-point correlation function while carefully taking into account observational biases, and find a significant clustering amplitude at scales of 0.04-10 h -1 cMpc, with a correlation length {r}0={5.26}-0.62+0.75 {h}-1 {cMpc} and a bias b={2.44}-0.32+0.38. We interpret our clustering measurement using a halo occupation distribution model. The sample galaxies appear to reside in halos with mass {M}{{h}}={4.71}-1.62+1.19× {10}12 {h}-1 {M}⊙ on average, which will likely become present-day halos of mass M h (z = 0) ˜ 2 × 1013 h -1 M ⊙, equivalent to the typical halo mass scale of galaxy groups. We then confirm the decline of the stellar-to-halo mass ratio at M h < 1012 M ⊙, finding M */M h ≈ 5 × 10-3 at M h = 7. 5 × 1011 M ⊙, which is lower by a factor of 2-4 than those measured at higher masses (M h ˜ 1012-13 M ⊙). Finally, we use our results to illustrate the future capabilities of Subaru’s Prime-Focus Spectrograph, a next-generation instrument that will provide strong constraints on the galaxy-formation scenario by obtaining precise measurements of galaxy clustering at z > 1.

Triple galaxies and a hidden mass problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Karachentsev, I. D.; Karachentseva, V. E.; Lebedev, V. S.

1990-01-01

The authors consider a homogeneous sample of 84 triple systems of galaxies with components brighter than m = 15.7, located in the northern sky and satisfying an isolation criterion with respect to neighboring galaxies in projection. The distributions of basic dynamical parameters for triplets have median values as follows: radial velocity dispersion 133 km/s, mean harmonic radius 63 kpc, absolute magnitude of galaxies M sub B equals -20.38, crossing time tau = 0.04 H(sup minus 1). For different ways of estimation the median mass-to-luminosity ratio is (20 - 30). A comparison of the last value with the ones for single and binary galaxies shows the presence of a virial mass excess for triplets by a factor 4. The mass-to-luminosity ratio is practically uncorrelated with linear size of triplets or with morphological types of their components. We note that a significant part of the virial excess may be explained by the presence of nonisolated triple configurations in the sample, which are produced by debris of more populous groups of galaxies.

A {sup 13}CO SURVEY OF INTERMEDIATE-MASS STAR-FORMING REGIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lundquist, Michael J.; Kobulnicky, Henry A.; Kerton, Charles R.

2015-06-10

We have conducted a {sup 13}CO survey of a sample of 128 infrared color-selected intermediate-mass star-forming region (IM SFR) candidates. We utilized the Onsala 20 m telescope to observe {sup 13}CO (1–0) toward 67 northern IM SFRs, used the 12 m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope to observe {sup 13}CO (2–1) toward 22 southern IM SFRs, and incorporated an additional 39 sources from the Boston University Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey which observed {sup 13}CO (1–0). We detect {sup 13}CO (1–0) in 58 of the 67 northern sources and {sup 13}CO (2–1) in 20 of the 22 southernmore » sources. The mean molecular column densities and {sup 13}CO linewidths in the inner Galaxy are higher by factors of 3.4 and 1.5, respectively, than the outer Galaxy. We attribute this difference to molecular clouds in the inner Galaxy being more massive and hosting star forming regions with higher luminosities on average than the outer Galaxy. IM SFRs have mean a molecular column density of 7.89 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −2}, a factor of 3.1 lower than that for a sample of high-mass regions, and have a mean {sup 13}CO linewidth of 1.84 km s{sup −1}, a factor of 1.5 lower than that for high-mass regions. We demonstrate a correlation between {sup 13}CO linewidth and infrared luminosity as well as between molecular column density and infrared luminosity for the entire sample of intermediate-mass and high-mass regions. IM SFRs appear to form in distinctly lower-density environments with mean linewidths and beam-averaged column densities a factor of several lower than high-mass star-forming regions.« less

The FMOS-COSMOS survey of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.6. II. The mass-metallicity relation and the dependence on star formation rate and dust extinction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zahid, H. J.; Sanders, D. B.; Chu, J.

We investigate the relationships between stellar mass, gas-phase oxygen abundance (metallicity), star formation rate (SFR), and dust content of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.6 using Subaru/FMOS spectroscopy in the COSMOS field. The mass-metallicity (MZ) relation at z ∼ 1.6 is steeper than the relation observed in the local universe. The steeper MZ relation at z ∼ 1.6 is mainly due to evolution in the stellar mass where the MZ relation begins to turnover and flatten. This turnover mass is 1.2 dex larger at z ∼ 1.6. The most massive galaxies at z ∼ 1.6 (∼10{sup 11} M {sub ☉})more » are enriched to the level observed in massive galaxies in the local universe. The MZ relation we measure at z ∼ 1.6 supports the suggestion of an empirical upper metallicity limit that does not significantly evolve with redshift. We find an anti-correlation between metallicity and SFR for galaxies at a fixed stellar mass at z ∼ 1.6, which is similar to trends observed in the local universe. We do not find a relation between stellar mass, metallicity, and SFR that is independent of redshift; rather, our data suggest that there is redshift evolution in this relation. We examine the relation between stellar mass, metallicity, and dust extinction, and find that at a fixed stellar mass, dustier galaxies tend to be more metal rich. From examination of the stellar masses, metallicities, SFRs, and dust extinctions, we conclude that stellar mass is most closely related to dust extinction.« less

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): ugriz galaxy luminosity functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loveday, J.; Norberg, P.; Baldry, I. K.; Driver, S. P.; Hopkins, A. M.; Peacock, J. A.; Bamford, S. P.; Liske, J.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cameron, E.; Conselice, C. J.; Croom, S. M.; Frenk, C. S.; Gunawardhana, M.; Hill, D. T.; Jones, D. H.; Kelvin, L. S.; Kuijken, K.; Nichol, R. C.; Parkinson, H. R.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Popescu, C. C.; Prescott, M.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Sharp, R. G.; Sutherland, W. J.; Taylor, E. N.; Thomas, D.; Tuffs, R. J.; van Kampen, E.; Wijesinghe, D.

2012-02-01

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) is a project to study galaxy formation and evolution, combining imaging data from ultraviolet to radio with spectroscopic data from the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Using data from Phase 1 of GAMA, taken over three observing seasons, and correcting for various minor sources of incompleteness, we calculate galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) and their evolution in the ugriz passbands. At low redshift, z < 0.1, we find that blue galaxies, defined according to a magnitude-dependent but non-evolving colour cut, are reasonably well fitted over a range of more than 10 magnitudes by simple Schechter functions in all bands. Red galaxies, and the combined blue plus red sample, require double power-law Schechter functions to fit a dip in their LF faintwards of the characteristic magnitude M* before a steepening faint end. This upturn is at least partly due to dust-reddened disc galaxies. We measure the evolution of the galaxy LF over the redshift range 0.002 < z < 0.5 both by using a parametric fit and by measuring binned LFs in redshift slices. The characteristic luminosity L* is found to increase with redshift in all bands, with red galaxies showing stronger luminosity evolution than blue galaxies. The comoving number density of blue galaxies increases with redshift, while that of red galaxies decreases, consistent with prevailing movement from blue cloud to red sequence. As well as being more numerous at higher redshift, blue galaxies also dominate the overall luminosity density beyond redshifts z≃ 0.2. At lower redshifts, the luminosity density is dominated by red galaxies in the riz bands, and by blue galaxies in u and g.

Weak-Lensing Determination of the Mass in Galaxy Halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, D. R.; Bernstein, G. M.; Fischer, P.; Jarvis, M.

2001-04-01

We detect the weak gravitational lensing distortion of 450,000 background galaxies (20galaxies (R<18) selected from the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS). This is the first detection of weak lensing by field galaxies of known redshift, and as such permits us to reconstruct the shear profile of the typical field galaxy halo in absolute physical units (modulo H0), and to investigate the dependence of halo mass upon galaxy luminosity. This is also the first galaxy-galaxy lensing study for which the calibration errors due to uncertainty in the background galaxy redshift distribution and the seeing correction are negligible. Within a projected radius of 200 h-1 kpc, the shear profile is consistent with an isothermal profile with circular velocity vc=164+/-20 km s-1 for an L* galaxy, consistent with the typical circular velocity for the disks of spirals at this luminosity. This halo mass normalization, combined with the halo profile derived by Fischer and coworkers from a galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, places a lower limit of (2.7+/-0.6)×1012 h-1 Msolar on the mass of an L* galaxy halo, in good agreement with the satellite galaxy studies of Zaritsky et al. Given the known luminosity function of LCRS galaxies, and assuming that M~Lβ for galaxies, we determine that the mass within 260 h-1 kpc of normal galaxies contributes Ω=0.16+/-0.03 to the density of the universe (for β=1) or Ω=0.24+/-0.06 for β=0.5. These lensing data suggest that 0.6<β<2.4 (95% confidence level), only marginally in agreement with the usual β~0.5 Faber-Jackson or Tully-Fisher scaling. This is the most complete direct inventory of the matter content of the universe to date.

Characterizing the Interstellar and Circumgalactic Medium in Star-forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xinnan; Shapley, Alice; Crystal Martin, Alison Coil, Charles Steidel, Tucker Jones, Daniel Stark, Allison Strom

2018-01-01

Rest-frame UV and optical spectroscopy provide valuable information on the physical properties of the neutral and ionized interstellar medium (ISM) in star-forming galaxies, including both the systemic interstellar component originating from HII regions, and the multi-phase outflowing component associated with star-formation feedback. My thesis focuses on both the systemic and outflowing ISM in star-forming galaxies at redshift z ~ 1-4. With an unprecedented sample at z~1 with the rest-frame near-UV coverage, we examined how the kinematics of the warm and cool phrases of gas, probed by the interstellar CIV and low-ionization features, respectively, relate to each other. The spectral properties of CIV strongly correlate with the current star-formation rate, indicating a distinct nature of highly-ionized outflowing gas being driven by massive star formation. Additionally, we used the same set of z~1 galaxies to study the properties of the systemic ISM in HII regions by analyzing the nebular CIII] emission. CIII] emission tends to be stronger in lower-mass, bluer, and fainter galaxies with lower metallicity, suggesting that the strong CIII] emitters at lower redshifts can be ideal analogs of young, bursty galaxies at z > 6, which are possibly responsible for reionizing the universe. We are currently investigating the redshift evolution of the neutral, circumgalactic gas in a sample of ~1100 Lyman Break Galaxies at z ~ 2-4. The negative correlation between Lya emission and low-ionization interstellar absorption line strengths appears to be universal across different redshifts, but the fine-structure line emitting regions are found to be more compact for higher-redshift galaxies. With the detailed observational constraints provided by the rest-UV and rest-optical spectroscopy, our study sheds light on how the interstellar and circumgalactic gas components and different phases of gas connect to each other, and therefore provides a comprehensive picture of the overall

Black Holes Masses in Seyfert Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macchetto, F. D.

2004-01-01

There is increasing evidence for the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of all galaxies, and much work is being devoted to understand the process that lead to their formation, the duty cycle for the active phase of these black holes and the relevant fueling mechanisms. Seyfert galaxies determined by HST high spatial resolution observations of the kinematics of the central regions. The study of the gas kinematics provides a unique tool to probe the gravitational potential of the nuclear regions of Seyfert galaxies down to a limit radius of a few parsecs. This is particularly important to detect and measure the mass associated with any central massive black hole. We have obtained high spatial resolution spectra of a number of Seyfert galaxies, with the STIS G430M and G750M gratings, and we have been able to separate the emission line components associated with different velocity systems. We have derived two-dimensional velocity fields and determined the mass of the central black hole with good precision for each of the galaxies.

The Origin of the Relation between Metallicity and Size in Star-forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez Almeida, J.; Dalla Vecchia, C.

2018-06-01

For the same stellar mass, physically smaller star-forming galaxies are also metal richer. What causes the relation remains unclear. The central star-forming galaxies in the EAGLE cosmological numerical simulation reproduce the observed trend. We use them to explore the origin of the relation assuming that the physical mechanism responsible for the anticorrelation between size and gas-phase metallicity is the same in the simulated and the observed galaxies. We consider the three most likely causes: (1) metal-poor gas inflows feeding the star formation (SF) process, (2) metal-rich gas outflows particularly efficient in shallow gravitational potentials, and (3) enhanced efficiency of the SF process in compact galaxies. Outflows (cause 2) and enhanced SF efficiency (cause 3) can be discarded. Metal-poor gas inflows (cause 1) produce the correlation in the simulated galaxies. Galaxies grow in size with time, so those that receive gas later are both metal poorer and larger, giving rise to the observed anticorrelation. As expected within this explanation, larger galaxies have younger stellar populations. We explore the variation with redshift of the relation, which is maintained up to, at least, redshift 8.

Uncovering mass segregation with galaxy analogues in dark-matter simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Gandhali D.; Parker, Laura C.; Wadsley, James

2016-10-01

We investigate mass segregation in group and cluster environments by identifying galaxy analogues in high-resolution dark-matter simulations. Subhaloes identified by the Amiga's Halo Finder (AHF) and ROCKSTAR halo finders have similar mass functions, independent of resolution, but different radial distributions due to significantly different subhalo hierarchies. We propose a simple way to classify subhaloes as galaxy analogues. The radial distributions of galaxy analogues agree well at large halocentric radii for both AHF and ROCKSTAR but disagree near parent halo centres where the phase-space information used by ROCKSTAR is essential. We see clear mass segregation at small radii (within 0.5 rvir) with average galaxy analogue mass decreasing with radius. Beyond the virial radius, we find a mild trend where the average galaxy analogue mass increases with radius. These mass segregation trends are strongest in small groups and dominated by the segregation of low-mass analogues. The lack of mass segregation in massive galaxy analogues suggests that the observed trends are driven by the complex accretion histories of the parent haloes rather than dynamical friction.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): the red fraction and radial distribution of satellite galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prescott, Matthew; Baldry, I. K.; James, P. A.; Bamford, S. P.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cameron, E.; Conselice, C. J.; Croom, S. M.; Driver, S. P.; Frenk, C. S.; Gunawardhana, M.; Hill, D. T.; Hopkins, A. M.; Jones, D. H.; Kelvin, L. S.; Kuijken, K.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Nichol, R. C.; Norberg, P.; Parkinson, H. R.; Peacock, J. A.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Popescu, C. C.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Sharp, R. G.; Sutherland, W. J.; Taylor, E. N.; Tuffs, R. J.; van Kampen, E.; Wijesinghe, D.

2011-10-01

We investigate the properties of satellite galaxies that surround isolated hosts within the redshift range 0.01 < z < 0.15, using data taken as part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey. Making use of isolation and satellite criteria that take into account stellar mass estimates, we find 3514 isolated galaxies of which 1426 host a total of 2998 satellites. Separating the red and blue populations of satellites and hosts, using colour-mass diagrams, we investigate the radial distribution of satellite galaxies and determine how the red fraction of satellites varies as a function of satellite mass, host mass and the projected distance from their host. Comparing the red fraction of satellites to a control sample of small neighbours at greater projected radii, we show that the increase in red fraction is primarily a function of host mass. The satellite red fraction is about 0.2 higher than the control sample for hosts with ?, while the red fractions show no difference for hosts with ?. For the satellites of more massive hosts, the red fraction also increases as a function of decreasing projected distance. Our results suggest that the likely main mechanism for the quenching of star formation in satellites hosted by isolated galaxies is strangulation.

Galaxy Kinematics and Mass Calibration in Massive SZE Selected Galaxy Clusters to z=1.3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Capasso, R.; et al.

The galaxy phase-space distribution in galaxy clusters provides insights into the formation and evolution of cluster galaxies, and it can also be used to measure cluster mass profiles. We present a dynamical study based onmore » $$\\sim$$3000 passive, non-emission line cluster galaxies drawn from 110 galaxy clusters. The galaxy clusters were selected using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) in the 2500 deg$^2$ SPT-SZ survey and cover the redshift range $0.2 < z < 1.3$. We model the clusters using the Jeans equation, while adopting NFW mass profiles and a broad range of velocity dispersion anisotropy profiles. The data prefer velocity dispersion anisotropy profiles that are approximately isotropic near the center and increasingly radial toward the cluster virial radius, and this is true for all redshifts and masses we study. The pseudo-phase-space density profile of the passive galaxies is consistent with expectations for dark matter particles and subhalos from cosmological $N$-body simulations. The dynamical mass constraints are in good agreement with external mass estimates of the SPT cluster sample from either weak lensing, velocity dispersions, or X-ray $$Y_X$$ measurements. However, the dynamical masses are lower (at the 2.2$$\\sigma$$ level) when compared to the mass calibration favored when fitting the SPT cluster data to a LCDM model with external cosmological priors, including CMB anisotropy data from Planck. The tension grows with redshift, where in the highest redshift bin the ratio of dynamical to SPT+Planck masses is $$\\eta=0.63^{+0.13}_{-0.08}\\pm0.05$$ (statistical and systematic), corresponding to 2.6$$\\sigma$$ tension.« less

The Leoncino Dwarf: The Lowest Metallicity Star-Forming Galaxy in the Nearby Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McQuinn, Kristen

2017-08-01

Extremely metal-poor (XMP) galaxies are dwarf irregular galaxies with very low metallicities, traced by their gas-phase oxygen abundance. Galaxy evolution scenarios suggest three pathways to form an XMP: (1) secular evolution at low galaxy masses, (2) slow evolution in voids, or (3) dilution of measured abundances from infall of pristine gas. These scenarios have proven challenging to test because, despite concerted efforts, XMP galaxies in the nearby universe have proven hard to find. A notable exception is the recently discovered dwarf galaxy Leoncino. Leoncino has the lowest gas-phase oxygen abundance ever measured in a galaxy in the local Universe. From optical spectroscopy, the oxygen abundance is 12+log(O/H)=7.02+/-0.03, more than 40% lower than the iconic low-metallicity galaxy I Zw 18 and less than 2% Z_sun. Despite a precision oxygen abundance measurement, the evolutionary context of Leoncino remains uncertain without a secure distance. We propose HST WFC3 high-resolution optical imaging of Leoncino to accurately measure the distance to the galaxy using the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) method. The distance will determine whether Leoncino is located in a typical field environment or in a void, and whether the galaxy is consistent with the luminosity-metallicity relation at low galaxy masses. The detailed study of Leoncino will provide benchmark results for future XMP discoveries in the nearby Universe, and an exceptionally timely comparison for studies of chemically primitive, high-redshift galaxies that will be observable in the JWST era.

Upper limits on the mass and luminosity of Population III-dominated galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yajima, Hidenobu; Khochfar, Sadegh

2017-05-01

We here derive upper limits on the mass and luminosity of Population III (POPIII) dominated proto-galaxies based on the collapse of primordial gas under the effect of angular momentum loss via Lyα radiation drag and the gas accretion on to a galactic centre. Our model predicts that POPIII-dominated galaxies at z ˜ 7 are hosted by haloes with Mh ˜ 1.5 × 108-1.1 × 109 M⊙, that they have Lyα luminosities of LLyα ˜ 3.0 × 1042-2.1 × 1043 erg s- 1, stellar mass of Mstar ˜ 0.8 × 105-2.5 × 106 M⊙ and outflowing gas with velocities Vout ˜ 40 km s- 1 due to Lyα radiation pressure. We show that the POPIII galaxy candidate CR7 violates the derived limits on stellar mass and Lyα luminosity and thus is unlikely to be a POPIII galaxy. POPIII-dominated galaxies at z ˜ 7 have He II line emission that is ˜1-3 orders of magnitude lower than that of Lyα, they have high Lyα equivalent width of ≳ 300 Å and should be found close to bright star-forming galaxies. The He II 1640 Å line is in comfortable reach of next generation telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

Metal-Poor, Strongly Star-Forming Galaxies in the DEEP2 Survey: The Relationship Between Stellar Mass, Temperature-Based Metallicity, and Star Formation Rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ly, Chun; Rigby, Jane R.; Cooper, Michael; Yan, Renbin

2015-01-01

We report on the discovery of 28 redshift (z) approximately equal to 0.8 metal-poor galaxies in DEEP2. These galaxies were selected for their detection of the weak [O (sub III)] lambda 4363 emission line, which provides a "direct" measure of the gas-phase metallicity. A primary goal for identifying these rare galaxies is to examine whether the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) between stellar mass, gas metallicity, and star formation rate (SFR) holds for low stellar mass and high SFR galaxies. The FMR suggests that higher SFR galaxies have lower metallicity (at fixed stellar mass). To test this trend, we combine spectroscopic measurements of metallicity and dust-corrected SFR with stellar mass estimates from modeling the optical photometry. We find that these galaxies are 1.05 plus or minus 0.61 dex above the redshift (z) approximately 1 stellar mass-SFR relation and 0.23 plus or minus 0.23 dex below the local mass-metallicity relation. Relative to the FMR, the latter offset is reduced to 0.01 dex, but significant dispersion remains dex with 0.16 dex due to measurement uncertainties). This dispersion suggests that gas accretion, star formation, and chemical enrichment have not reached equilibrium in these galaxies. This is evident by their short stellar mass doubling timescale of approximately equal to 100 (sup plus 310) (sub minus 75) million years which suggests stochastic star formation. Combining our sample with other redshift (z) of approximately 1 metal-poor galaxies, we find a weak positive SFR-metallicity dependence (at fixed stellar mass) that is significant at 94.4 percent confidence. We interpret this positive correlation as recent star formation that has enriched the gas but has not had time to drive the metal-enriched gas out with feedback mechanisms.

What galaxy masses perturb the local cosmic expansion?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peñarrubia, Jorge; Fattahi, Azadeh

2017-06-01

We use 12 cosmological N-body simulations of Local Group systems (the apostle models) to inspect the relation between the virial mass of the main haloes (Mvir,1 and Mvir,2), the mass derived from the relative motion of the halo pair (Mtim), and that inferred from the local Hubble flow (Mlhf). We show that within the spherical collapse model (SCM), the correspondence between the three mass estimates is exact, I.e. Mlhf = Mtim = Mvir,1 + Mvir,2. However, comparison with apostle simulations reveals that, contrary to what the SCM states, a relatively large fraction of the mass that perturbs the local Hubble flow and drives the relative trajectory of the main galaxies is not contained within Rvir, and that the amount of 'extravirial' mass tends to increase in galaxies with a slow accretion rate. In contrast, modelling the peculiar velocities around the Local Group returns an unbiased constraint on the virial mass ratio of the main galaxy pair. Adopting the outer halo profile found in N-body simulations, which scales as ρ ˜ R-4 at R ≳ Rvir, indicates that the galaxy masses perturbing the local Hubble flow roughly correspond to the asymptotically convergent (total) masses of the individual haloes. We show that estimates of Mvir based on the dynamics of tracers at R ≫ Rvir require a priori information on the internal matter distribution and the growth rate of the main galaxies, both of which are typically difficult to quantify.

A Wide Area Survey for High-Redshift Massive Galaxies. II. Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of BzK-Selected Massive Star-Forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onodera, Masato; Arimoto, Nobuo; Daddi, Emanuele; Renzini, Alvio; Kong, Xu; Cimatti, Andrea; Broadhurst, Tom; Alexander, Dave M.

2010-05-01

Results are presented from near-infrared spectroscopic observations of a sample of BzK-selected, massive star-forming galaxies (sBzKs) at 1.5 < z < 2.3 that were obtained with OHS/CISCO at the Subaru telescope and with SINFONI at the Very Large Telescope. Among the 28 sBzKs observed, Hα emission was detected in 14 objects, and for 11 of them the [N II] λ6583 flux was also measured. Multiwavelength photometry was also used to derive stellar masses and extinction parameters, whereas Hα and [N II] emissions have allowed us to estimate star formation rates (SFRs), metallicities, ionization mechanisms, and dynamical masses. In order to enforce agreement between SFRs from Hα with those derived from rest-frame UV and mid-infrared, additional obscuration for the emission lines (that originate in H II regions) was required compared to the extinction derived from the slope of the UV continuum. We have also derived the stellar mass-metallicity relation, as well as the relation between stellar mass and specific SFR (SSFR), and compared them to the results in other studies. At a given stellar mass, the sBzKs appear to have been already enriched to metallicities close to those of local star-forming galaxies of similar mass. The sBzKs presented here tend to have higher metallicities compared to those of UV-selected galaxies, indicating that near-infrared selected galaxies tend to be a chemically more evolved population. The sBzKs show SSFRs that are systematically higher, by up to ~2 orders of magnitude, compared to those of local galaxies of the same mass. The empirical correlations between stellar mass and metallicity, and stellar mass and SSFR are then compared with those of evolutionary population synthesis models constructed either with the simple closed-box assumption, or within an infall scenario. Within the assumptions that are built-in such models, it appears that a short timescale for the star formation (sime100 Myr) and large initial gas mass appear to be required

Low Gas Fractions Connect Compact Star-Forming Galaxies to their z~2 Quiescent Descendants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spilker, Justin; Bezanson, Rachel; Marrone, Daniel P.; Weiner, Benjamin J.; Whitaker, Katherine E.; Williams, Christina C.

2017-01-01

Early quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2 are known to be remarkably compact compared to their nearby counterparts. Possible progenitors of these systems include galaxies that are structurally similar, but are still rapidly forming stars. I will present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the CO(1-0) line towards three such compact, star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2.3, significantly detecting one. The VLA observations indicate baryonic gas fractions 5 times lower and gas depletion times 10 times shorter than normal, extended massive star-forming galaxies at these redshifts. At their current star formation rates, all three objects will deplete their gas reservoirs within 100Myr. These objects are among the most gas-poor objects observed at z > 2 and are outliers from standard gas scaling relations, a result which remains true regardless of assumptions about the CO-H2 conversion factor. Our observations are consistent with the idea that compact, star-forming galaxies are in a rapid state of transition to quiescence in tandem with the build-up of the z ~ 2 quenched population. In the detected compact galaxy, we see no evidence of rotation or that the CO-emitting gas is spatially extended relative to the stellar light. This casts doubt on recent suggestions that the gas in these compact galaxies is rotating and significantly extended compared to the stars. Instead, we suggest that, at least for this object, the gas is centrally concentrated, and only traces a small fraction of the total galaxy dynamical mass. I will conclude by discussing my ongoing efforts to characterize the gas and star forming properties of this unusual population of galaxies.

Central Stellar Mass Deficits in the Bulges of Local Lenticular Galaxies, and the Connection with Compact z ~ 1.5 Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dullo, Bililign T.; Graham, Alister W.

2013-05-01

We have used the full radial extent of images from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to extract surface brightness profiles from a sample of six, local lenticular galaxy candidates. We have modeled these profiles using a core-Sérsic bulge plus an exponential disk model. Our fast rotating lenticular disk galaxies with bulge magnitudes MV <~ -21.30 mag have central stellar deficits, suggesting that these bulges may have formed from "dry" merger events involving supermassive black holes (BHs) while their surrounding disk was subsequently built up, perhaps via cold gas accretion scenarios. The central stellar mass deficits M def are roughly 0.5-2 M BH (BH mass), rather than ~10-20 M BH as claimed from some past studies, which is in accord with core-Sérsic model mass deficit measurements in elliptical galaxies. Furthermore, these bulges have Sérsic indices n ~3, half-light radii Re < 2 kpc and masses >1011 M ⊙, and therefore appear to be descendants of the compact galaxies reported at z ~ 1.5-2. Past studies which have searched for these local counterparts by using single-component galaxy models to provide the z ~ 0 size comparisons have overlooked these dense, compact, and massive bulges in today's early-type disk galaxies. This evolutionary scenario not only accounts for what are today generally old bulges—which must be present in z ~ 1.5 images—residing in what are generally young disks, but it eliminates the uncomfortable suggestion of a factor of three to five growth in size for the compact, z ~ 1.5 galaxies that are known to possess infant disks.

Detection of high Lyman continuum leakage from four low-redshift compact star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izotov, Y. I.; Schaerer, D.; Thuan, T. X.; Worseck, G.; Guseva, N. G.; Orlitová, I.; Verhamme, A.

2016-10-01

Following our first detection reported in Izotov et al., we present the detection of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation of four other compact star-forming galaxies observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. These galaxies, at redshifts of z ˜ 0.3, are characterized by high emission-line flux ratios [O III] λ5007/[O II] λ3727 ≳ 5. The escape fractions of the LyC radiation fesc(LyC) in these galaxies are in the range of ˜6-13 per cent, the highest values found so far in low-redshift star-forming galaxies. Narrow double-peaked Ly α emission lines are detected in the spectra of all four galaxies, compatible with predictions for LyC leakers. We find escape fractions of Ly α, fesc(Ly α) ˜ 20-40 per cent, among the highest known for Ly α emitting galaxies. Surface brightness profiles produced from the COS acquisition images reveal bright star-forming regions in the centre and exponential discs in the outskirts with disc scalelengths α in the range ˜0.6-1.4 kpc. Our galaxies are characterized by low metallicity, ˜1/8-1/5 solar, low stellar mass ˜(0.2-4) × 109 M⊙, high star formation rates, SFR ˜ 14-36 M⊙ yr-1, and high SFR densities, Σ ˜ 2-35 M⊙ yr-1 kpc-2. These properties are comparable to those of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. Finally, our observations, combined with our first detection reported in Izotov et al., reveal that a selection for compact star-forming galaxies showing high [O III] λ5007/[O II] λ3727 ratios appears to pick up very efficiently sources with escaping LyC radiation: all five of our selected galaxies are LyC leakers.

J0811+4730: the most metal-poor star-forming dwarf galaxy known

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izotov, Y. I.; Thuan, T. X.; Guseva, N. G.; Liss, S. E.

2018-01-01

We report the discovery of the most metal-poor dwarf star-forming galaxy (SFG) known to date, J0811+4730. This galaxy, at a redshift z = 0.04444, has a Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) g-band absolute magnitude Mg = -15.41 mag. It was selected by inspecting the spectroscopic data base in the Data Release 13 (DR13) of the SDSS. Large Binocular Telescope/Multi-Object Double spectrograph (LBT/MODS) spectroscopic observations reveal its oxygen abundance to be 12 + log O/H = 6.98 ± 0.02, the lowest ever observed for an SFG. J0811+4730 strongly deviates from the main sequence defined by SFGs in the emission line diagnostic diagrams and the metallicity-luminosity diagram. These differences are caused mainly by the extremely low oxygen abundance in J0811+4730, which is ∼10 times lower than that in main-sequence SFGs with similar luminosities. By fitting the spectral energy distributions of the SDSS and LBT spectra, we derive a stellar mass of M⋆ = 106.24-106.29 M⊙, and we find that a considerable fraction of the galaxy stellar mass was formed during the most recent burst of star formation.

C III] Emission in Star-forming Galaxies at z ∼ 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xinnan; Shapley, Alice E.; Martin, Crystal L.; Coil, Alison L.

2017-03-01

The C III]λλ1907, 1909 rest-frame UV emission doublet has recently been detected in galaxies during the epoch of reionization (z > 6), with a high equivalent width (EW; 10 Å, rest frame). Currently, it is possible to obtain much more detailed information for star-forming galaxies at significantly lower redshift. Accordingly, studies of their far-UV spectra are useful for understanding the factors modulating the strength of C III] emission. We present the first statistical sample of C III] emission measurements in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1. Our sample is drawn from the DEEP2 survey and spans the redshifts 0.64 ≤slant z ≤slant 1.35 (< z> =1.08). We find that the median EW of individual C III] detections in our sample (1.30 Å) is much smaller than the typical value observed thus far at z > 6. Furthermore, out of 184 galaxies with coverage of C III], only 40 have significant detections. Galaxies with individual C III] detections have bluer colors and lower luminosities on average than those without, implying that strong C III] emitters are in general young and low-mass galaxies without significant dust extinction. Using stacked spectra, we further investigate how C III] strength correlates with multiple galaxy properties (M B , U ‑ B, M *, star formation rate, specific star formation rate) and rest-frame near-UV (Fe II* and Mg II) and optical ([O III] and Hβ) emission line strengths. These results provide a detailed picture of the physical environment in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1, and motivate future observations of strong C III] emitters at similar redshifts.

AN OBJECTIVE DEFINITION FOR THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Renzini, Alvio; Peng, Ying-jie, E-mail: alvio.renzini@oapd.inaf.it, E-mail: y.peng@mrao.cam.ac.uk

The main sequence (MS) of star-forming (SF) galaxies plays a fundamental role in driving galaxy evolution and our efforts to understand it. However, different studies find significant differences in the normalization, slope, and shape of the MS. These discrepancies arise mainly from the different selection criteria adopted to isolate SF galaxies, which may include or exclude galaxies with a specific star formation rate (SFR) substantially below the MS value. To obviate this limitation of all current criteria, we propose an objective definition of the MS that does not rely at all on a pre-selection of SF galaxies. Constructing the 3Dmore » SFR–mass–number plot, the MS is then defined as the ridge line of the SF peak, as illustrated with various figures. The advantages of such a definition are manifold. If generally adopted, it will facilitate the inter-comparison of results from different groups using the same SFR and stellar mass diagnostics, or it will highlight the relative systematics of different diagnostics. All of this could help to understand MS galaxies as systems in a quasi-steady state equilibrium and would also provide a more objective criterion for identifying quenching galaxies.« less

Stellar populations in local star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez-Gonzalez, P. G.

2003-11-01

The main goal of this thesis work is studying the main properties of the stellar populations embedded in a statistically complete sample of local active star-forming galaxies: the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Survey of emission-line galaxies. This sample contains 191 local star-forming galaxies at an average redshift of 0.026. The survey was carried out using an objective-prism technique centered at the wavelength of the Halpha nebular emission-line (a common tracer of recent star formation). (continues)

Physical Properties of Massive, Star-Forming Galaxies When the Universe Was Only Two Billion Years Old

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Nicole Christina

Due to the finite speed of light and a vast, expanding universe, telescopes are just now receiving the light emitted by galaxies as they were forming in the very early universe. The light from these galaxies has been redshifted (stretched to longer, redder wavelengths) as a result of its journey through expanding space. Using sophisticated techniques and exceptional multi-wavelength optical and infrared data, we isolate a population of 378 galaxies in the process of formation when the Universe was only two billion years old. By matching the distinctive properties of the light spectra of these galaxies to models, the redshift, age, dust content, star formation rate and total stellar mass of each galaxy are determined. Comparing our results to similar surveys of galaxy populations at other redshifts, a picture emerges of the growth and evolution of massive, star-forming galaxies over the course of billions of years.

Organized chaos: scatter in the relation between stellar mass and halo mass in small galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garrison-Kimmel, Shea; Bullock, James S.; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Bardwell, Emma

2017-01-01

We use Local Group galaxy counts together with the ELVIS N-body simulations to explore the relationship between the scatter and slope in the stellar mass versus halo mass relation at low masses, M⋆ ≃ 105-108 M⊙. Assuming models with lognormal scatter about a median relation of the form M_star ∝ M_halo^α, the preferred log-slope steepens from α ≃ 1.8 in the limit of zero scatter to α ≃ 2.6 in the case of 2 dex of scatter in M⋆ at fixed halo mass. We provide fitting functions for the best-fitting relations as a function of scatter, including cases where the relation becomes increasingly stochastic with decreasing mass. We show that if the scatter at fixed halo mass is large enough (≳ 1 dex) and if the median relation is steep enough (α ≳ 2), then the `too-big-to-fail' problem seen in the Local Group can be self-consistently eliminated in about ˜5-10 per cent of realizations. This scenario requires that the most massive subhaloes host unobservable ultra-faint dwarfs fairly often; we discuss potentially observable signatures of these systems. Finally, we compare our derived constraints to recent high-resolution simulations of dwarf galaxy formation in the literature. Though simulation-to-simulation scatter in M⋆ at fixed Mhalo is large among different authors (˜2 dex), individual codes produce relations with much less scatter and usually give relations that would overproduce local galaxy counts.

The Star-forming Main Sequence of Dwarf Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGaugh, Stacy S.; Schombert, James M.; Lelli, Federico

2017-12-01

We explore the star-forming properties of late-type, low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. The star-forming main sequence ({SFR}-{M}* ) of LSB dwarfs has a steep slope, indistinguishable from unity (1.04 ± 0.06). They form a distinct sequence from more massive spirals, which exhibit a shallower slope. The break occurs around {M}* ≈ {10}10 {M}⊙ , and can also be seen in the gas mass—stellar mass plane. The global Kennicutt-Schmidt law ({SFR}-{M}g) has a slope of 1.47 ± 0.11 without the break seen in the main sequence. There is an ample supply of gas in LSB galaxies, which have gas depletion times well in excess of a Hubble time, and often tens of Hubble times. Only ˜ 3 % of this cold gas needs be in the form of molecular gas to sustain the observed star formation. In analogy with the faint, long-lived stars of the lower stellar main sequence, it may be appropriate to consider the main sequence of star-forming galaxies to be defined by thriving dwarfs (with {M}* < {10}10 {M}⊙ ), while massive spirals (with {M}* > {10}10 {M}⊙ ) are weary giants that constitute more of a turn-off population.

Cluster galaxy population evolution from the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey: brightest cluster galaxies, stellar mass distribution, and active galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yen-Ting; Hsieh, Bau-Ching; Lin, Sheng-Chieh; Oguri, Masamune; Chen, Kai-Feng; Tanaka, Masayuki; Chiu, I.-non; Huang, Song; Kodama, Tadayuki; Leauthaud, Alexie; More, Surhud; Nishizawa, Atsushi J.; Bundy, Kevin; Lin, Lihwai; Miyazaki, Satoshi; HSC Collaboration

2018-01-01

The unprecedented depth and area surveyed by the Subaru Strategic Program with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC-SSP) have enabled us to construct and publish the largest distant cluster sample out to z~1 to date. In this exploratory study of cluster galaxy evolution from z=1 to z=0.3, we investigate the stellar mass assembly history of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), and evolution of stellar mass and luminosity distributions, stellar mass surface density profile, as well as the population of radio galaxies. Our analysis is the first high redshift application of the top N richest cluster selection, which is shown to allow us to trace the cluster galaxy evolution faithfully. Our stellar mass is derived from a machine-learning algorithm, which we show to be unbiased and accurate with respect to the COSMOS data. We find very mild stellar mass growth in BCGs, and no evidence for evolution in both the total stellar mass-cluster mass correlation and the shape of the stellar mass surface density profile. The clusters are found to contain more red galaxies compared to the expectations from the field, even after the differences in density between the two environments have been taken into account. We also present the first measurement of the radio luminosity distribution in clusters out to z~1.

Metal-Poor, Strongly Star-Forming Galaxies in the DEEP2 Survey: The Relationship Between Stellar Mass, Temperature-Based Metallicity, and Star Formation Rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ly, Chun; Rigby, Jane R.; Cooper, Michael; Yan, Renbin

2015-01-01

We report on the discovery of 28 redshift (z) approximately 0.8 metal-poor galaxies in DEEP2. These galaxies were selected for their detection of the weak [O (sub III)] lambda 4363 emission line, which provides a "direct" measure of the gas-phase metallicity. A primary goal for identifying these rare galaxies is to examine whether the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) between stellar mass, gas metallicity, and star formation rate (SFR) extends to low stellar mass and high SFR. The FMR suggests that higher SFR galaxies have lower metallicity (at fixed stellar mass). To test this trend, we combine spectroscopic measurements of metallicity and dust-corrected SFRs, with stellar mass estimates from modeling the optical photometry. We find that these galaxies are 1.05 plus or minus 0.61 decimal exponent (dex) above the redshift (z) approximately equal to 1 stellar mass-SFR relation, and 0.23 plus or minus 0.23 decimal exponent (dex) below the local mass-metallicity relation. Relative to the FMR, the latter offset is reduced to 0.01 decimal exponent (dex), but significant dispersion remains (0.29 decimal exponent (dex) with 0.16 decimal exponent (dex) due to measurement uncertainties). This dispersion suggests that gas accretion, star formation and chemical enrichment have not reached equilibrium in these galaxies. This is evident by their short stellar mass doubling timescale of approximately 100 (sup plus 310) (sub minus 75) million years that suggests stochastic star formation. Combining our sample with other redshift (z) of approximately 1 metal-poor galaxies, we find a weak positive SFR-metallicity dependence (at fixed stellar mass) that is significant at 97.3 percent confidence. We interpret this positive correlation as recent star formation that has enriched the gas, but has not had time to drive the metal-enriched gas out with feedback mechanisms.

The dependence of galaxy clustering on stellar mass, star-formation rate and redshift at z = 0.8-2.2, with HiZELS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochrane, R. K.; Best, P. N.; Sobral, D.; Smail, I.; Geach, J. E.; Stott, J. P.; Wake, D. A.

2018-04-01

The deep, near-infrared narrow-band survey HiZELS has yielded robust samples of H α-emitting star-forming galaxies within narrow redshift slices at z = 0.8, 1.47 and 2.23. In this paper, we distinguish the stellar mass and star-formation rate (SFR) dependence of the clustering of these galaxies. At high stellar masses (M*/M⊙ ≳ 2 × 1010), where HiZELS selects galaxies close to the so-called star-forming main sequence, the clustering strength is observed to increase strongly with stellar mass (in line with the results of previous studies of mass-selected galaxy samples) and also with SFR. These two dependencies are shown to hold independently. At lower stellar masses, however, where HiZELS probes high specific SFR galaxies, there is little or no dependence of the clustering strength on stellar mass, but the dependence on SFR remains: high-SFR low-mass galaxies are found in more massive dark matter haloes than their lower SFR counterparts. We argue that this is due to environmentally driven star formation in these systems. We apply the same selection criteria to the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We find that, in EAGLE, the high-SFR low-mass galaxies are central galaxies in more massive dark matter haloes, in which the high SFRs are driven by a (halo-driven) increased gas content.

High-energy gamma-ray and neutrino production in star-forming galaxies across cosmic time: Difficulties in explaining the IceCube data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudoh, Takahiro; Totani, Tomonori; Kawanaka, Norita

2018-06-01

We present new theoretical modeling to predict the luminosity and spectrum of gamma-ray and neutrino emission of a star-forming galaxy, from the star formation rate (ψ), gas mass (Mgas), stellar mass, and disk size, taking into account production, propagation, and interactions of cosmic rays. The model reproduces the observed gamma-ray luminosities of nearby galaxies detected by Fermi better than the simple power-law models as a function of ψ or ψMgas. This model is then used to predict the cosmic background flux of gamma-rays and neutrinos from star-forming galaxies, by using a semi-analytical model of cosmological galaxy formation that reproduces many observed quantities of local and high-redshift galaxies. Calibration of the model using gamma-ray luminosities of nearby galaxies allows us to make a more reliable prediction than previous studies. In our baseline model, star-forming galaxies produce about 20% of the isotropic gamma-ray background unresolved by Fermi, and only 0.5% of IceCube neutrinos. Even with an extreme model assuming a hard injection cosmic-ray spectral index of 2.0 for all galaxies, at most 22% of IceCube neutrinos can be accounted for. These results indicate that it is difficult to explain most of the IceCube neutrinos by star-forming galaxies, without violating the gamma-ray constraints from nearby galaxies.

High-energy gamma-ray and neutrino production in star-forming galaxies across cosmic time: Difficulties in explaining the IceCube data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudoh, Takahiro; Totani, Tomonori; Kawanaka, Norita

2018-04-01

We present new theoretical modeling to predict the luminosity and spectrum of gamma-ray and neutrino emission of a star-forming galaxy, from the star formation rate (ψ), gas mass (Mgas), stellar mass, and disk size, taking into account production, propagation, and interactions of cosmic rays. The model reproduces the observed gamma-ray luminosities of nearby galaxies detected by Fermi better than the simple power-law models as a function of ψ or ψMgas. This model is then used to predict the cosmic background flux of gamma-rays and neutrinos from star-forming galaxies, by using a semi-analytical model of cosmological galaxy formation that reproduces many observed quantities of local and high-redshift galaxies. Calibration of the model using gamma-ray luminosities of nearby galaxies allows us to make a more reliable prediction than previous studies. In our baseline model, star-forming galaxies produce about 20% of the isotropic gamma-ray background unresolved by Fermi, and only 0.5% of IceCube neutrinos. Even with an extreme model assuming a hard injection cosmic-ray spectral index of 2.0 for all galaxies, at most 22% of IceCube neutrinos can be accounted for. These results indicate that it is difficult to explain most of the IceCube neutrinos by star-forming galaxies, without violating the gamma-ray constraints from nearby galaxies.

CO Tully-Fisher relation of star-forming galaxies at z = 0.05 - 0.3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topal, Selçuk; Bureau, Martin; Tiley, Alfred L.; Davis, Timothy A.; Torii, Kazufumi

2018-06-01

The Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) is an empirical relation between galaxy luminosity and rotation velocity. We present here the first TFR of galaxies beyond the local Universe that uses carbon monoxide (CO) as the kinematic tracer. Our final sample includes 25 isolated, non-interacting star-forming galaxies with double-horned or boxy CO integrated line profiles located at redshifts z ≤ 0.3, drawn from a larger ensemble of 67 detected objects. The best reverse Ks-band, stellar mass and baryonic mass CO TFRs are respectively M_{Ks}=(-8.4± 2.9)[log (W_{50}/km s^{-1}/sin {i})-2.5] + (-23.5± 0.5), log (M_{\\star } / M_⊙ )=(5.2± 3.0)[log (W_{50}/km s^{-1}/sin {i})-2.5] + (10.1± 0.5) and log (M_b / M_⊙ )=(4.9± 2.8)[log (W_{50}/km s^{-1}/sin {i})-2.5] + (10.2± 0.5), where M_{Ks} is the total absolute Ks-band magnitude of the objects, M⋆ and Mb their total stellar and baryonic masses, and W50 the width of their line profile at 50% of the maximum. Dividing the sample into different redshift bins and comparing to the TFRs of a sample of local (z = 0) star-forming galaxies from the literature, we find no significant evolution in the slopes and zero-points of the TFRs since z ≈ 0.3, this in either luminosity or mass. In agreement with a growing number of CO TFR studies of nearby galaxies, we more generally find that CO is a suitable and attractive alternative to neutral hydrogen (H I). Our work thus provides an important benchmark for future higher redshift CO TFR studies.

Where are Low Mass X-ray Binaries Formed?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kundu, A.; Maccarone, T. J.; Zepf, S. E.

2004-08-01

Chandra images of nearby galaxies reveal large numbers of low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). As in the Galaxy, a significant fraction of these are associated with globular clusters. We exploit the LMXB-globular cluster link in order to probe both the physical properties of globular clusters that promote the formation of LMXBs within clusters with specific characteristics, and to study whether the non-cluster field LMXB population was originally formed in clusters and then released into the field. The large population of globular clusters around nearby galaxies and the range of properties such as age, metallicity and host galaxy environment spanned by these objects enables us to identify and probe the link between these characteristics and the formation of LMXBs. We present the results of our study of a large sample of elliptical and S0 galaxies which reveals among other things that bright LMXBs definitively prefer metal-rich cluster hosts and that this relationship is unlikely to be driven by age effects. The ancestry of the non-cluster field LMXBs is a matter of some debate with suggestions that they they might have formed in the field, or created in globular clusters and then subsequently released into the field either by being ejected from clusters by dynamical processes or as remnants of dynamically destroyed clusters. Each of these scenarios has a specific spatial signature that can be tested by our combined optical and X-ray study. Furthermore, these scenarios predict additional statistical variations that may be driven by the specific host galaxy environment. We present a detailed analysis of our sample galaxies and comment on the probability that the field sources were actually formed in clusters.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the mass-metallicity relationship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, C.; Hopkins, A. M.; Gunawardhana, M.; Lara-López, M. A.; Sharp, R. G.; Steele, O.; Taylor, E. N.; Driver, S. P.; Baldry, I. K.; Bamford, S. P.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Norberg, P.; Peacock, J. A.; Alpaslan, M.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Cameron, E.; Colless, M.; Conselice, C. J.; Croom, S. M.; Frenk, C. S.; Hill, D. T.; Jones, D. H.; Kelvin, L. S.; Kuijken, K.; Nichol, R. C.; Owers, M. S.; Parkinson, H. R.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Popescu, C. C.; Prescott, M.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Lopez-Sanchez, A. R.; Sutherland, W. J.; Thomas, D.; Tuffs, R. J.; van Kampen, E.; Wijesinghe, D.

2012-11-01

Context. The mass-metallicity relationship (MMR) of star-forming galaxies is well-established, however there is still some disagreement with respect to its exact shape and its possible dependence on other observables. Aims: We measure the MMR in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We compare our measured MMR to that measured in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and study the dependence of the MMR on various selection criteria to identify potential causes for disparities seen in the literature. Methods: We use strong emission line ratio diagnostics to derive oxygen abundances. We then apply a range of selection criteria for the minimum signal-to-noise in various emission lines, as well as the apparent and absolute magnitude to study variations in the inferred MMR. Results: The shape and position of the MMR can differ significantly depending on the metallicity calibration and selection used. After selecting a robust metallicity calibration amongst those tested, we find that the mass-metallicity relation for redshifts 0.061 ≲ z ≲ 0.35 in GAMA is in reasonable agreement with that found in the SDSS despite the difference in the luminosity range probed. Conclusions: In view of the significant variations of the MMR brought about by reasonable changes in the sample selection criteria and method, we recommend that care be taken when comparing the MMR from different surveys and studies directly. We also conclude that there could be a modest level of evolution over 0.06 ≤ z ≤ 0.35 within the GAMA sample.

High mass star formation in the galaxy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scoville, N. Z.; Good, J. C.

1987-01-01

The Galactic distributions of HI, H2, and HII regions are reviewed in order to elucidate the high mass star formation occurring in galactic spiral arms and in active galactic nuclei. Comparison of the large scale distributions of H2 gas and radio HII regions reveals that the rate of formation of OB stars depends on (n sub H2) sup 1.9 where (n sub H2) is the local mean density of H2 averaged over 300 pc scale lengths. In addition the efficiency of high mass star formation is a decreasing function of cloud mass in the range 200,000 to 3,000,000 solar mass. These results suggest that high mass star formation in the galactic disk is initiated by cloud-cloud collisions which are more frequent in the spiral arms due to orbit crowding. Cloud-cloud collisions may also be responsible for high rates of OB star formation in interacting galaxies and galactic nuclei. Based on analysis of the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) and CO data for selected GMCs in the Galaxy, the ratio L sub IR/M sub H2 can be as high as 30 solar luminosity/solar mass for GMCs associated with HII regions. The L sub IR/M sub H2 ratios and dust temperature obtained in many of the high luminosity IRAS galaxies are similar to those encountered in galactic GMCs with OB star formation. High mass star formation is therefore a viable explanation for the high infrared luminosity of these galaxies.

ZFIRE: THE KINEMATICS OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AS A FUNCTION OF ENVIRONMENT AT z ∼ 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alcorn, Leo Y.; Tran, Kim-Vy H.; Quadri, Ryan

2016-07-01

We perform a kinematic analysis of galaxies at z ∼ 2 in the COSMOS legacy field using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy from Keck/MOSFIRE as part of the ZFIRE survey. Our sample consists of 75 Ks-band selected star-forming galaxies from the ZFOURGE survey with stellar masses ranging from log( M {sub ⋆}/ M {sub ⊙}) = 9.0–11.0, 28 of which are members of a known overdensity at z = 2.095. We measure H α emission-line integrated velocity dispersions ( σ {sub int}) from 50 to 230 km s{sup −1}, consistent with other emission-line studies of z ∼ 2 field galaxies. From thesemore » data we estimate virial, stellar, and gas masses and derive correlations between these properties for cluster and field galaxies at z ∼ 2. We find evidence that baryons dominate within the central effective radius. However, we find no statistically significant differences between the cluster and the field, and conclude that the kinematics of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2 are not significantly different between the cluster and field environments.« less

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Morphological transformation of galaxies across the green valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bremer, M. N.; Phillipps, S.; Kelvin, L. S.; De Propris, R.; Kennedy, Rebecca; Moffett, Amanda J.; Bamford, S.; Davies, L. J. M.; Driver, S. P.; Häußler, B.; Holwerda, B.; Hopkins, A.; James, P. A.; Liske, J.; Percival, S.; Taylor, E. N.

2018-05-01

We explore constraints on the joint photometric and morphological evolution of typical low redshift galaxies as they move from the blue cloud through the green valley and on to the red sequence. We select Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey galaxies with 10.25 < log(M*/M⊙) < 10.75 and z < 0.2 classified according to their intrinsic u* - r* colour. From single component Sérsic fits, we find that the stellar mass-sensitive K-band profiles of red and green galaxy populations are very similar while g-band profiles indicate more disc-like morphologies for the green galaxies: apparent (optical) morphological differences arise primarily from radial mass-to-light ratio variations. Two-component fits show that most green galaxies have significant bulge and disc components and that the blue to red evolution is driven by colour change in the disc. Together, these strongly suggest that galaxies evolve from blue to red through secular disc fading and that a strong bulge is present prior to any decline in star formation. The relative abundance of the green population implies a typical time-scale for traversing the green valley ˜1-2 Gyr and is independent of environment, unlike that of the red and blue populations. While environment likely plays a rôle in triggering the passage across the green valley, it appears to have little effect on time taken. These results are consistent with a green valley population dominated by (early type) disc galaxies that are insufficiently supplied with gas to maintain previous levels of disc star formation, eventually attaining passive colours. No single event is needed to quench their star formation.

Dust attenuation in 2 < z < 3 star-forming galaxies from deep ALMA observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLure, R. J.; Dunlop, J. S.; Cullen, F.; Bourne, N.; Best, P. N.; Khochfar, S.; Bowler, R. A. A.; Biggs, A. D.; Geach, J. E.; Scott, D.; Michałowski, M. J.; Rujopakarn, W.; van Kampen, E.; Kirkpatrick, A.; Pope, A.

2018-05-01

We present the results of a new study of the relationship between infrared excess (IRX ≡ LIR/LUV), ultraviolet (UV) spectral slope (β) and stellar mass at redshifts 2 < z < 3, based on a deep Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 1.3-mm continuum mosaic of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Excluding the most heavily obscured sources, we use a stacking analysis to show that z ≃ 2.5 star-forming galaxies in the mass range 9.25≤ log (M_{\\ast }/M_{⊙}) ≤ 10.75 are fully consistent with the IRX-β relation expected for a relatively grey attenuation curve, similar to the commonly adopted Calzetti law. Based on a large, mass-complete sample of 2 ≤ z ≤ 3 star-forming galaxies drawn from multiple surveys, we proceed to derive a new empirical relationship between β and stellar mass, making it possible to predict UV attenuation (A1600) and IRX as a function of stellar mass, for any assumed attenuation law. Once again, we find that z ≃ 2.5 star-forming galaxies follow A1600-M* and IRX-M* relations consistent with a relatively grey attenuation law, and find no compelling evidence that star-forming galaxies at this epoch follow a reddening law as steep as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) extinction curve. In fact, we use a simple simulation to demonstrate that previous determinations of the IRX-β relation may have been biased towards low values of IRX at red values of β, mimicking the signature expected for an SMC-like dust law. We show that this provides a plausible mechanism for reconciling apparently contradictory results in the literature and that, based on typical measurement uncertainties, stellar mass provides a cleaner prediction of UV attenuation than β. Although the situation at lower stellar masses remains uncertain, we conclude that for 2 < z < 3 star-forming galaxies with log (M_{\\ast }/M_{⊙}) ≥ 9.75, both the IRX-β and IRX-M* relations are well described by a Calzetti-like attenuation law.

Inclination Dependence of Estimated Galaxy Masses and Star Formation Rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, Betsy; Maller, Ariyeh; McKernan, Barry; Ford, Saavik

2016-01-01

We examine the inclination dependence of inferred star formation rates and galaxy mass estimates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by combining the disk/bulge de-convolved catalog of Simard et al 2011 with stellar mass estimates catalog of Mendel et al 2014 and star formation rates measured from spectra by Brinchmann et al 2004. We know that optical star formation indicators are reddened by dust, but calculated star formation rates and stellar mass estimates should account for this. However, we find that face-on galaxies have a higher calculated average star formation rates than edge-on galaxies. We also find edge-on galaxies have ,on average, slightly smaller but similar estimated masses to face-on galaxies, suggesting that there are issues with the applied dust corrections for both models.

Low-mass galaxy assembly in simulations: regulation of early star formation by radiation from massive stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trujillo-Gomez, Sebastian; Klypin, Anatoly; Colín, Pedro; Ceverino, Daniel; Arraki, Kenza S.; Primack, Joel

2015-01-01

Despite recent success in forming realistic present-day galaxies, simulations still form the bulk of their stars earlier than observations indicate. We investigate the process of stellar mass assembly in low-mass field galaxies, a dwarf and a typical spiral, focusing on the effects of radiation from young stellar clusters on the star formation (SF) histories. We implement a novel model of SF with a deterministic low efficiency per free-fall time, as observed in molecular clouds. Stellar feedback is based on observations of star-forming regions, and includes radiation pressure from massive stars, photoheating in H II regions, supernovae and stellar winds. We find that stellar radiation has a strong effect on the formation of low-mass galaxies, especially at z > 1, where it efficiently suppresses SF by dispersing cold and dense gas, preventing runaway growth of the stellar component. This behaviour is evident in a variety of observations but had so far eluded analytical and numerical models without radiation feedback. Compared to supernovae alone, radiation feedback reduces the SF rate by a factor of ˜100 at z ≲ 2, yielding rising SF histories which reproduce recent observations of Local Group dwarfs. Stellar radiation also produces bulgeless spiral galaxies and may be responsible for excess thickening of the stellar disc. The galaxies also feature rotation curves and baryon fractions in excellent agreement with current data. Lastly, the dwarf galaxy shows a very slow reduction of the central dark matter density caused by radiation feedback over the last ˜7 Gyr of cosmic evolution.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): testing galaxy formation models through the most massive galaxies in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliva-Altamirano, P.; Brough, S.; Lidman, C.; Couch, W. J.; Hopkins, A. M.; Colless, M.; Taylor, E.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Ponman, T.; Baldry, I.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Cluver, M.; Cameron, E.; Conselice, C. J.; Driver, S.; Edge, A. C.; Graham, A. W.; van Kampen, E.; Lara-López, M. A.; Liske, J.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Loveday, J.; Mahajan, S.; Peacock, J.; Phillipps, S.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Sharp, R. G.

2014-05-01

We have analysed the growth of Brightest Group Galaxies and Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BGGs/BCGs) over the last 3 billion years using a large sample of 883 galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey. By comparing the stellar mass of BGGs and BCGs in groups and clusters of similar dynamical masses, we find no significant growth between redshift z = 0.27 and 0.09. We also examine the number of BGGs/BCGs that have line emission, finding that approximately 65 per cent of BGGs/BCGs show Hα in emission. From the galaxies where the necessary spectroscopic lines were accurately recovered (54 per cent of the sample), we find that half of this (i.e. 27 per cent of the sample) harbour ongoing star formation with rates up to 10 M⊙ yr-1, and the other half (i.e. 27 per cent of the sample) have an active nucleus (AGN) at the centre. BGGs are more likely to have ongoing star formation, while BCGs show a higher fraction of AGN activity. By examining the position of the BGGs/BCGs with respect to their host dark matter halo, we find that around 13 per cent of them do not lie at the centre of the dark matter halo. This could be an indicator of recent cluster-cluster mergers. We conclude that BGGs and BCGs acquired their stellar mass rapidly at higher redshifts as predicted by semi-analytic models, mildly slowing down at low redshifts.

The structure of galaxies : the division of stellar mass by morphological type and structural component

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelvin, Lee Steven

This thesis explores the relation between galaxy structure, morphology and stellar mass. In the first part I present single-Sersic two-dimensional model fits to 167,600 galaxies modelled independently in the ugrizYJHK bandpasses using reprocessed Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven (SDSS DR7) and UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Large Area Survey (UKIDSS LAS) imaging data available via the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) data base. In order to facilitate this study, we developed Structural Investigation of Galaxies via Model Analysis (SIGMA): an automated wrapper around several contemporary astronomy software packages. We confirm that variations in global structural measurements with wavelength arise due to the effects of dust attenuation and stellar population/metallicity gradients within galaxies. In the second part of this thesis we establish a volume-limited sample of 3,845 galaxies in the local Universe and visually classify these galaxies according to their morphological Hubble type. We find that single-Sersic photometry accurately reproduces the morphology luminosity functions predicted in the literature. We employ multi-component Sersic profiling to provide bulge-disk decompositions for this sample, allowing for the luminosity and stellar mass to be divided between the key structural components: spheroids and disks. Grouping the stellar mass in these structures by the evolutionary mechanisms that formed them, we find that hot-mode collapse, merger or otherwise turbulent mechanisms account for ~46% of the total stellar mass budget, cold-mode gas accretion and splashback mechanisms account for ~48% of the total stellar mass budget and secular evolutionary processes for ~6.5% of the total stellar mass budget in the local (z<0.06) Universe.

Galaxy Groups in the 2Mass Redshift Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Yi; Yang, Xiaohu; Shi, Feng; Mo, H. J.; Tweed, Dylan; Wang, Huiyuan; Zhang, Youcai; Li, Shijie; Lim, S. H.

2016-11-01

A galaxy group catalog is constructed from the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) with the use of a halo-based group finder. The halo mass associated with a group is estimated using a “GAP” method based on the luminosity of the central galaxy and its gap with other member galaxies. Tests using mock samples show that this method is reliable, particularly for poor systems containing only a few members. On average, 80% of all the groups have completeness \\gt 0.8, and about 65% of the groups have zero contamination. Halo masses are estimated with a typical uncertainty of ∼ 0.35 {dex}. The application of the group finder to the 2MRS gives 29,904 groups from a total of 43,246 galaxies at z≤slant 0.08, with 5286 groups having two or more members. Some basic properties of this group catalog is presented, and comparisons are made with other group catalogs in overlap regions. With a depth to z∼ 0.08 and uniformly covering about 91% of the whole sky, this group catalog provides a useful database to study galaxies in the local cosmic web, and to reconstruct the mass distribution in the local universe.

The gas-phase metallicities of star-forming galaxies in aperture-matched SDSS samples follow potential rather than mass or average surface density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Eugenio, Francesco; Colless, Matthew; Groves, Brent; Bian, Fuyan; Barone, Tania M.

2018-05-01

We present a comparative study of the relation between the aperture-based gas-phase metallicity and three structural parameters of star-forming galaxies: mass (M ≡ M*), average potential (Φ ≡ M*/Re) and average surface mass density (Σ ≡ M_*/R_e^2; where Re is the effective radius). We use a volume-limited sample drawn from the publicly available SDSS DR7, and base our analysis on aperture-matched sampling by selecting sets of galaxies where the SDSS fibre probes a fixed fraction of Re. We find that between 0.5 and 1.5 Re, the gas-phase metallicity correlates more tightly with Φ than with either {M} or Σ, in that for all aperture-matched samples, the potential-metallicity relation has (i) less scatter, (ii) higher Spearman rank correlation coefficient and (iii) less residual trend with Re than either the mass-metallicity relation and the average surface density-metallicity relation. Our result is broadly consistent with the current models of gas enrichment and metal loss. However, a more natural explanation for our findings is a local relation between the gas-phase metallicity and escape velocity.

Compact Starburst Galaxies with Fast Outflows: Spatially Resolved Stellar Mass Profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gottlieb, Sophia; Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar; Lipscomb, Charles; Ohene, Senyo; Rines, Josh; Moustakas, John; Sell, Paul; Tremonti, Christy; Coil, Alison; Rudnick, Gregory; Hickox, Ryan C.; Geach, James; Kepley, Amanda

2018-01-01

Powerful galactic winds driven by stellar feedback and black hole accretion are thought to play an important role in regulating star formation in galaxies. In particular, strong stellar feedback from supernovae, stellar winds, radiation pressure, and cosmic rays is required by simulations of star-forming galaxies to prevent the vast majority of baryons from cooling and collapsing to form stars. However, it remains unclear whether these stellar processes play a significant role in expelling gas and shutting down star formation in massive progenitors of quiescent galaxies. What are the limits of stellar feedback? We present multi-band photometry with HST/WFC3 (F475W, F814W, F160W) for a dozen compact starburst galaxies at z~0.6 with half-light radii that suggest incredibly large central escape velocities. These massive galaxies are driving fast (>1000 km/s) outflows that have been previously attributed to stellar feedback associated with the compact (r~100 pc) starburst. But how compact is the stellar mass? In the context of the stellar feedback hypothesis, it is unclear whether these fast outflows are being driven at velocities comparable to the escape velocity of an incredibly dense stellar system (as predicted by some models of radiation-pressure winds) or at velocities that exceed the central escape velocity by large factor. Our spatially resolved measurements with HST show that the stellar mass is more extended than the light, and this requires that the physical mechanism responsible for driving the winds must be able to launch gas at velocities that are factors of 5-10 beyond the central escape velocity.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the effect of galaxy group environment on active galactic nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Yjan A.; Pimbblet, Kevin A.; Owers, Matt S.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Brough, Sarah; Brown, Michael J. I.; Cluver, Michelle E.; Croom, Scott M.; Holwerda, Benne W.; Loveday, Jonathan; Mahajan, Smriti; Wang, Lingyu

2018-04-01

In galaxy clusters, efficiently accreting active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are preferentially located in the infall regions of the cluster projected phase-space, and are rarely found in the cluster core. This has been attributed to both an increase in triggering opportunities for infalling galaxies, and a reduction of those mechanisms in the hot, virialized, cluster core. Exploiting the depth and completeness (98 per cent at r < 19.8 mag) of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA), we probe down the group halo mass function to assess whether AGNs are found in the same regions in groups as they are in clusters. We select 451 optical AGNs from 7498 galaxies with log10(M*/M⊙) > 9.9 in 695 groups with 11.53 ≤ log10(M200/M⊙) ≤ 14.56 at z < 0.15. By analysing the projected phase-space positions of these galaxies, we demonstrate that when split both radially, and into physically derived infalling and core populations, AGN position within group projected phase-space is dependent on halo mass. For groups with log10(M200/M⊙) > 13.5, AGNs are preferentially found in the infalling galaxy population with 3.6σ confidence. At lower halo masses, we observe no difference in AGN fraction between core and infalling galaxies. These observations support a model where a reduced number of low-speed interactions, ram pressure stripping and intra-group/cluster medium temperature, the dominance of which increase with halo mass, work to inhibit AGN in the cores of groups and clusters with log10(M200/M⊙) > 13.5, but do not significantly affect nuclear activity in cores of less massive structures.

Diverse stellar haloes in nearby Milky Way mass disc galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmsen, Benjamin; Monachesi, Antonela; Bell, Eric F.; de Jong, Roelof S.; Bailin, Jeremy; Radburn-Smith, David J.; Holwerda, Benne W.

2017-04-01

We have examined the resolved stellar populations at large galactocentric distances along the minor axis (from 10 kpc up to between 40 and 75 kpc), with limited major axis coverage, of six nearby highly inclined Milky Way (MW) mass disc galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope data from the Galaxy haloes, Outer discs, Substructure, Thick discs, and Star clusters (GHOSTS) survey. We select red giant branch stars to derive stellar halo density profiles. The projected minor axis density profiles can be approximated by power laws with projected slopes of -2 to -3.7 and a diversity of stellar halo masses of 1-6 × 109 M⊙, or 2-14 per cent of the total galaxy stellar masses. The typical intrinsic scatter around a smooth power-law fit is 0.05-0.1 dex owing to substructure. By comparing the minor and major axis profiles, we infer projected axis ratios c/a at ˜25 kpc between 0.4and0.75. The GHOSTS stellar haloes are diverse, lying between the extremes charted out by the (rather atypical) haloes of the MW and M31. We find a strong correlation between the stellar halo metallicities and the stellar halo masses. We compare our results with cosmological models, finding good agreement between our observations and accretion-only models where the stellar haloes are formed by the disruption of dwarf satellites. In particular, the strong observed correlation between stellar halo metallicity and mass is naturally reproduced. Low-resolution hydrodynamical models have unrealistically high stellar halo masses. Current high-resolution hydrodynamical models appear to predict stellar halo masses somewhat higher than observed but with reasonable metallicities, metallicity gradients, and density profiles.

The Isophotal Structure of Star-forming Galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.8 in CANDELS: Implications for the Evolution of Galaxy Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Dongfei; Liu, F. S.; Zheng, Xianzhong; Yesuf, Hassen M.; Koo, David C.; Faber, S. M.; Guo, Yicheng; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Wang, Weichen; Fang, Jerome J.; Barro, Guillermo; Jia, Meng; Tong, Wei; Liu, Lu; Meng, Xianmin; Kocevski, Dale; McGrath, Elizabeth J.; Hathi, Nimish P.

2018-02-01

We have measured the radial profiles of isophotal ellipticity (ε) and disky/boxy parameter A 4 out to radii of about three times the semimajor axes for ∼4600 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) between redshift 0.5 and 1.8 in the CANDELS/GOODS-S and UDS fields. Based on the average size–mass relation in each redshift bin, we divide our galaxies at a given mass into Small SFGs (SSFGs; smaller than the average) and Large SFGs (LSFGs; larger than the average). We show that, at low masses ({M}* < {10}10{M}ȯ ), the SSFGs generally have nearly flat ε and A 4 profiles in both edge-on and face-on views, especially at z> 1. Moreover, the median A 4 values at all radii are almost zero. In contrast, the highly inclined low-mass LSFGs in the same mass-redshift bins generally have monotonically increasing ε profiles with radius and disky feature dominated in the intermediate regions. These findings imply that at these redshifts, the low-mass SSFGs are not disk-like, whereas the low-mass LSFGs likely harbour disk-like components flattened by significant rotations. At high masses ({M}* > {10}10{M}ȯ ), both highly inclined SSFGs and LSFGs generally exhibit distinct trends in both ε and A 4 profiles, which increase at lower radii, reach maxima, then decrease at larger radii. Such the feature is more prevalent for more massive ({M}* > {10}10.5{M}ȯ ) galaxies or at lower redshifts (z< 1.4). This feature can be simply explained if galaxies possess all three components: central bulges, disks in the intermediate regions, and halo-like stellar components in the outskirts.

Kinematic scaling relations of CALIFA galaxies: A dynamical mass proxy for galaxies across the Hubble sequence.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aquino-Ortíz, E.; Valenzuela, O.; Sánchez, S. F.; Hernández-Toledo, H.; Ávila-Reese, V.; van de Ven, G.; Rodríguez-Puebla, A.; Zhu, L.; Mancillas, B.; Cano-Díaz, M.; García-Benito, R.

2018-06-01

We used ionized gas and stellar kinematics for 667 spatially resolved galaxies publicly available from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey (CALIFA) 3rd Data Release with the aim of studying kinematic scaling relations as the Tully & Fisher (TF) relation using rotation velocity, Vrot, the Faber & Jackson (FJ) relation using velocity dispersion, σ, and also a combination of Vrot and σ through the SK parameter defined as SK^2 = KV_{rot}^2 + σ ^2 with constant K. Late-type and early-type galaxies reproduce the TF and FJ relations. Some early-type galaxies also follow the TF relation and some late-type galaxies the FJ relation, but always with larger scatter. On the contrary, when we use the SK parameter, all galaxies, regardless of the morphological type, lie on the same scaling relation, showing a tight correlation with the total stellar mass, M⋆. Indeed, we find that the scatter in this relation is smaller or equal to that of the TF and FJ relations. We explore different values of the K parameter without significant differences (slope and scatter) in our final results with respect the case K = 0.5 besides than a small change in the zero point. We calibrate the kinematic SK^2 dynamical mass proxy in order to make it consistent with sophisticated published dynamical models within 0.15 dex. We show that the SK proxy is able to reproduce the relation between the dynamical mass and the stellar mass in the inner regions of galaxies. Our result may be useful in order to produce fast estimations of the central dynamical mass in galaxies and to study correlations in large galaxy surveys.

An intermediate-mass black hole in the darf galaxy Pox 52

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barth, Aaron

2005-01-01

Do dwarf elliptical and dwarf spiral galaxies contain central black holes with masses below 106 solar masses? Beyond the Local Group dynamical searches for black holes in this mass range are very difficult but the detection of accretion-powered nuclear activity could be used to infer the presence of a black hole. The nearby dwarf spiral galaxy NGC 4395 hosts a faint Seyfert 1 nucleus with a likely black hole mass in the range 104-105 solar masses and for more than a decade it has been the only known example of a Seyfert 1 nucleus in a dwarf galaxy. I will present new Keck spectra of the dwarf galaxy POX 52 which demonstrate that it has a Seyfert 1 spectrum nearly identical to that of NGC 4395. Its velocity dispersion is 37 km/s suggesting a possible black hole mass of order 105 solar masses. I will discuss the prospects for systematic searches for nuclear activity in dwarf galaxies and the implications for black hole demographics.

An Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in the Dwarf Galaxy Pox 52

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barth, Aaron

Do dwarf elliptical and dwarf spiral galaxies contain central black holes with masses below 106 solar masses? Beyond the Local Group dynamical searches for black holes in this mass range are very difficult but the detection of accretion-powered nuclear activity could be used to infer the presence of a black hole. The nearby dwarf spiral galaxy NGC 4395 hosts a faint Seyfert 1 nucleus with a likely black hole mass in the range 104-105 solar masses and for more than a decade it has been the only known example of a Seyfert 1 nucleus in a dwarf galaxy. I will present new Keck spectra of the dwarf galaxy POX 52 which demonstrate that it has a Seyfert 1 spectrum nearly identical to that of NGC 4395. Its velocity dispersion is 37 km/s suggesting a possible black hole mass of order 105 solar masses. I will discuss the prospects for systematic searches for nuclear activity in dwarf galaxies and the implications for black hole demographics.

IRAS galaxies versus POTENT mass - Density fields, biasing, and Omega

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dekel, Avishai; Bertschinger, Edmund; Yahil, Amos; Strauss, Michael A.; Davis, Marc; Huchra, John P.

1993-01-01

A comparison of the galaxy density field extracted from a complete redshift survey of IRAS galaxies brighter than 1.936 Jy with the mass-density field reconstructed by the POTENT procedure from the observed peculiar velocities of 493 objects is presented. A strong correlation is found between the galaxy and mass-density fields; both feature the Great Attractor, part of the Perseus-Pisces supercluster, and the large void between them. Monte Carlo noise simulations show that the data are consistent with the hypotheses that the smoothed fluctuations of galaxy and mass densities at each point are proportional to each other with the 'biasing' factor of IRAS galaxies, b(I), and that the peculiar velocity field is related to the mass-density field as expected according to the gravitational instability theory. Under these hypotheses, the two density fields can be related by specifying b(I) and the cosmological density parameter, Omega.

A 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a group galaxy with a diffuse core.

PubMed

Thomas, Jens; Ma, Chung-Pei; McConnell, Nicholas J; Greene, Jenny E; Blakeslee, John P; Janish, Ryan

2016-04-21

Quasars are associated with and powered by the accretion of material onto massive black holes; the detection of highly luminous quasars with redshifts greater than z = 6 suggests that black holes of up to ten billion solar masses already existed 13 billion years ago. Two possible present-day 'dormant' descendants of this population of 'active' black holes have been found in the galaxies NGC 3842 and NGC 4889 at the centres of the Leo and Coma galaxy clusters, which together form the central region of the Great Wall--the largest local structure of galaxies. The most luminous quasars, however, are not confined to such high-density regions of the early Universe; yet dormant black holes of this high mass have not yet been found outside of modern-day rich clusters. Here we report observations of the stellar velocity distribution in the galaxy NGC 1600--a relatively isolated elliptical galaxy near the centre of a galaxy group at a distance of 64 megaparsecs from Earth. We use orbit superposition models to determine that the black hole at the centre of NGC 1600 has a mass of 17 billion solar masses. The spatial distribution of stars near the centre of NGC 1600 is rather diffuse. We find that the region of depleted stellar density in the cores of massive elliptical galaxies extends over the same radius as the gravitational sphere of influence of the central black holes, and interpret this as the dynamical imprint of the black holes.

C III] Emission in Star-forming Galaxies Near and Far

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rigby, J. R.; Bayliss, M. B.; Gladders, M. D.; Sharon, K.; Wuyts, E.; Dahle, H.; Johnson, T.; Peña-Guerrero, M.

2015-11-01

We measure [C iii] 1907, C iii] 1909 Å emission lines in 11 gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxies at z ˜ 1.6-3, finding much lower equivalent widths than previously reported for fainter lensed galaxies. While it is not yet clear what causes some galaxies to be strong C iii] emitters, C iii] emission is not a universal property of distant star-forming galaxies. We also examine C iii] emission in 46 star-forming galaxies in the local universe, using archival spectra from GHRS, FOS, and STIS on HST and IUE. Twenty percent of these local galaxies show strong C iii] emission, with equivalent widths < -5 Å. Three nearby galaxies show C iii] emission equivalent widths as large as the most extreme emitters yet observed in the distant universe; all three are Wolf-Rayet galaxies. At all redshifts, strong C iii] emission may pick out low-metallicity galaxies experiencing intense bursts of star formation. Such local C iii] emitters may shed light on the conditions of star formation in certain extreme high-redshift galaxies.

C III] Emission in Star-Forming Galaxies Near and Far

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rigby, J, R.; Bayliss, M. B.; Gladders, M. D.; Sharon, K.; Wuyts, E.; Dahle, H.; Johnson, T.; Pena-Guerrero, M.

2015-01-01

We measure C III Lambda Lambda 1907, 1909 Angstrom emission lines in eleven gravitationally-lensed star-forming galaxies at zeta at approximately 1.6-3, finding much lower equivalent widths than previously reported for fainter lensed galaxies (Stark et al. 2014). While it is not yet clear what causes some galaxies to be strong C III] emitters, C III] emission is not a universal property of distant star-forming galaxies. We also examine C III] emission in 46 star-forming galaxies in the local universe, using archival spectra from GHRS, FOS, and STIS on HST, and IUE. Twenty percent of these local galaxies show strong C III] emission, with equivalent widths less than -5 Angstrom. Three nearby galaxies show C III] emission equivalent widths as large as the most extreme emitters yet observed in the distant universe; all three are Wolf-Rayet galaxies. At all redshifts, strong C III] emission may pick out low-metallicity galaxies experiencing intense bursts of star formation. Such local C III] emitters may shed light on the conditions of star formation in certain extreme high-redshift galaxies.

Total molecular gas masses of Planck - Herschel selected strongly lensed hyper luminous infrared galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrington, K. C.; Yun, M. S.; Magnelli, B.; Frayer, D. T.; Karim, A.; Weiß, A.; Riechers, D.; Jiménez-Andrade, E. F.; Berman, D.; Lowenthal, J.; Bertoldi, F.

2018-03-01

We report the detection of CO(1-0) line emission from seven Planck and Herschel selected hyper luminous ({L_{IR (8-1000{μ m})} > 10^{13} L_{⊙}) infrared galaxies with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). CO(1-0) measurements are a vital tool to trace the bulk molecular gas mass across all redshifts. Our results place tight constraints on the total gas content of these most apparently luminous high-z star-forming galaxies (apparent IR luminosities of LIR > 1013 - 14 L⊙), while we confirm their predetermined redshifts measured using the Large Millimeter Telescope, LMT (zCO = 1.33-3.26). The CO(1-0) lines show similar profiles as compared to Jup = 2-4 transitions previously observed with the LMT. We report enhanced infrared to CO line luminosity ratios of < L_IR / L^' }_{CO(1-0)} > = 110 ± 22 L_{⊙} (K km s^{-1} pc^{-2})^{-1} compared to normal star-forming galaxies, yet similar to those of well-studied IR-luminous galaxies at high-z. We find average brightness temperature ratios of 〈 r21〉 = 0.93 (2 sources), 〈 r31〉 = 0.34 (5 sources), and 〈 r41〉 = 0.18 (1 source). The r31 and r41 values are roughly half the average values for SMGs. We estimate the total gas mass content as {μ M_{H2} = (0.9-27.2) × 10^{11} (α _CO/0.8) M_{⊙}, where μ is the magnification factor and αCO is the CO line luminosity to molecular hydrogen gas mass conversion factor. The rapid gas depletion times, < τ_depl > = 80} Myr, reveal vigorous starburst activity, and contrast the Gyr depletion time-scales observed in local, normal star-forming galaxies.

Does the IMF vary with galaxy mass? The X-ray binary population of a key galaxy, NGC7457

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peacock, Mark

2014-09-01

We propose a 100ksec observation of NGC7457. The primary goal of this observation is to test for variations in the initial mass function (IMF). Many recent studies have proposed that the IMF varies systematically as a function of early-type galaxy mass. This has potentially dramatic consequences and must to be confirmed. The number of LMXBs in a galaxy (per stellar luminosity) can be used to provide an independent test of this hypothesis (see Peacock et al. 2014). Unfortunately, only galaxies with intermediate to high masses currently have the data needed to perform this test. The proposed observation of the elliptical galaxy NGC7457 will detect an order of magnitude more LMXBs in a low mass galaxy - hence providing the crucial constraint needed to significantly test for a variable IMF.

The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calzetti, Daniela; Armus, Lee; Bohlin, Ralph C.; Kinney, Anne L.; Koornneef, Jan; Storchi-Bergmann, Thaisa

2000-01-01

We present far-infrared (FIR) photometry at 150 and 205 micron(s) of eight low-redshift starburst galaxies obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) ISOPHOT. Five of the eight galaxies are detected in both wave bands, and these data are used, in conjunction with IRAS archival photometry, to model the dust emission at lambda approximately greater than 40 microns. The FIR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are best fitted by a combination of two modified Planck functions, with T approx. 40 - 55 K (warm dust) and T approx. 20-23 K (cool dust) and with a dust emissivity index epsilon = 2. The cool dust can be a major contributor to the FIR emission of starburst galaxies, representing up to 60% of the total flux. This component is heated not only by the general interstellar radiation field, but also by the starburst itself. The cool dust mass is up to approx. 150 times larger than the warm dust mass, bringing the gas-to-dust ratios of the starbursts in our sample close to Milky Way values, once resealed for the appropriate metallicity. The ratio between the total dust FIR emission in the range 1-1000 microns and the IRAS FIR emission in the range 40 - 120 microns is approx. 1.75, with small variations from galaxy to galaxy. This ratio is about 40% larger than previously inferred from data at millimeter wavelengths. Although the galaxies in our sample are generally classified as "UV bright," for four of them the UV energy emerging shortward of 0.2 microns is less than 15% of the FIR energy. On average, about 30% of the bolometric flux is coming out in the UV-to-near-IR wavelength range; the rest is emitted in the FIR. Energy balance calculations show that the FIR emission predicted by the dust reddening of the UV-to-near-IR stellar emission is within a factor of approx. 2 of the observed value in individual galaxies and within 20% when averaged over a large sample. If our sample of local starbursts is representative of high-redshift (z approx. greater than 1

The Masses and Stellar Content of Nuclei in Early-Type Galaxies from Multi-Band Photometry and Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spengler, Chelsea; Côté, Patrick; Roediger, Joel; Ferrarese, Laura; Sánchez-Janssen, Rubén; Toloba, Elisa; Liu, Yiqing; Guhathakurta, Puragra; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles; Gwyn, Stephen; Zirm, Andrew; Muñoz, Roberto; Puzia, Thomas; Lançon, Ariane; Peng, Eric; Mei, Simona; Powalka, Mathieu

2018-01-01

It is now established that most, if not all, massive galaxies host central supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and that these SMBHs are linked to the growth their host galaxies as shown by several scaling relations. Within the last couple of decades, it has become apparent that most lower-mass galaxies without obvious SMBHs nevertheless contain some sort of central massive object in the form of compact stellar nuclei that also follow identical (or similar) scaling relations. These nuclei are challenging to study given their small sizes and relatively faint magnitudes, but understanding their origins and relationship to their hosts is critical to gaining a more complete picture of galaxy evolution. To that end, we highlight selected results from an analysis of 39 nuclei and their early-type hosts in the Virgo Cluster using ten broadband filters: F300W, F475W, F850LP, F160W, u*griz, and Ks. We estimate masses, metallicities and ages using simple stellar population (SSP) models. For 19 nuclei, we compare to SSP parameters derived from Keck and Gemini spectra and find reasonable agreement between the photometric and spectroscopic metallicity: the RMS scatter is 0.3 dex. We reproduce the nucleus-galaxy mass fraction of 0.33 ± 0.08% for galaxy stellar masses 108.4-1010.3 M⊙ with a typical precision of ~35% for the nuclei masses. Based on available model predictions, there is no single preferred formation scenario for nuclei, suggesting that nuclei are formed stochastically through a mix of processes. Nuclei metallicities are statistically identical to those of their hosts, appearing 0.07 ± 0.3 dex more metal-rich on average — although, omitting galaxies with unusual origins (i.e., compact ellipticals), nuclei are 0.20 ± 0.28 dex more metal-rich. We find no clear age difference between nuclei and their galaxies, with nuclei displaying a broad range of ages. Interestingly, we find that the most massive nuclei may be flatter and more closely aligned with the semi

An atlas of ultraviolet spectra of star-forming galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kinney, A. L.; Bohlin, R. C.; Calzetti, D.; Panagia, N.; Wyse, Rosemary F. G.

1993-01-01

A systematic study is presented of the UV spectra of star-forming galaxies of different morphological type and activity class using a sample drawn from a uniformly reduced IUE data set. The spectra for a wide variety of galaxies, including normal spiral, LINER, starburst, blue compact, blue compact dwarf, and Seyfert 2 galaxies, are presented in the form of spectral energy distributions to demonstrate the overall characteristics according to morphology and activity class and in the form of absolute flux distributions to better show the absorption and emission features of individual objects. The data support the picture based on UV spectra of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory and of the Astronautical Netherlands Satellite that spiral galaxies of later Hubble class have more flux at the shortest UV wavelengths than do spiral galaxies of earlier Hubble class.

KMOS LENsing Survey (KLENS): Morpho-kinematic analysis of star-forming galaxies at z 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girard, M.; Dessauges-Zavadsky, M.; Schaerer, D.; Cirasuolo, M.; Turner, O. J.; Cava, A.; Rodríguez-Muñoz, L.; Richard, J.; Pérez-González, P. G.

2018-06-01

We present results from the KMOS LENsing Survey (KLENS), which is exploiting gravitational lensing to study the kinematics of 24 star-forming galaxies at 1.4 < z < 3.5 with a median mass of log(M⋆/M⊙) = 9.6 and a median star formation rate (SFR) of 7.5 M⊙ yr-1. We find that 25% of these low mass/low SFR galaxies are rotation-dominated, while the majority of our sample shows no velocity gradient. When combining our data with other surveys, we find that the fraction of rotation-dominated galaxies increases with the stellar mass, and decreases for galaxies with a positive offset from the main sequence (higher specific star formation rate). We also investigate the evolution of the intrinsic velocity dispersion, σ0, as a function of the redshift, z, and stellar mass, M⋆, assuming galaxies in quasi-equilibrium (Toomre Q parameter equal to 1). From the z - σ0 relation, we find that the redshift evolution of the velocity dispersion is mostly expected for massive galaxies (log(M⋆/M⊙) > 10). We derive a M⋆ - σ0 relation, using the Tully-Fisher relation, which highlights that a different evolution of the velocity dispersion is expected depending on the stellar mass, with lower velocity dispersions for lower masses, and an increase for higher masses, stronger at higher redshift. The observed velocity dispersions from this work and from comparison samples spanning 0 < z < 3.5 appear to follow this relation, except at higher redshift (z > 2), where we observe higher velocity dispersions for low masses (log(M⋆/M⊙) 9.6) and lower velocity dispersions for high masses (log(M⋆/M⊙) 10.9) than expected. This discrepancy could, for instance, suggest that galaxies at high redshift do not satisfy the stability criterion, or that the adopted parametrization of the specific star formation rate and molecular properties fail at high redshift. Based on KMOS observations made with the European Southern Observatory VLT/Antu telescope, Paranal, Chile, collected under the

Rapidly star-forming galaxies adjacent to quasars at redshifts exceeding 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Decarli, R.; Walter, F.; Venemans, B. P.; Bañados, E.; Bertoldi, F.; Carilli, C.; Fan, X.; Farina, E. P.; Mazzucchelli, C.; Riechers, D.; Rix, H.-W.; Strauss, M. A.; Wang, R.; Yang, Y.

2017-05-01

The existence of massive (1011 solar masses) elliptical galaxies by redshift z ≈ 4 (refs 1, 2, 3; when the Universe was 1.5 billion years old) necessitates the presence of galaxies with star-formation rates exceeding 100 solar masses per year at z > 6 (corresponding to an age of the Universe of less than 1 billion years). Surveys have discovered hundreds of galaxies at these early cosmic epochs, but their star-formation rates are more than an order of magnitude lower. The only known galaxies with very high star-formation rates at z > 6 are, with one exception, the host galaxies of quasars, but these galaxies also host accreting supermassive (more than 109 solar masses) black holes, which probably affect the properties of the galaxies. Here we report observations of an emission line of singly ionized carbon ([C II] at a wavelength of 158 micrometres) in four galaxies at z > 6 that are companions of quasars, with velocity offsets of less than 600 kilometres per second and linear offsets of less than 100 kiloparsecs. The discovery of these four galaxies was serendipitous; they are close to their companion quasars and appear bright in the far-infrared. On the basis of the [C II] measurements, we estimate star-formation rates in the companions of more than 100 solar masses per year. These sources are similar to the host galaxies of the quasars in [C II] brightness, linewidth and implied dynamical mass, but do not show evidence for accreting supermassive black holes. Similar systems have previously been found at lower redshift. We find such close companions in four out of the twenty-five z > 6 quasars surveyed, a fraction that needs to be accounted for in simulations. If they are representative of the bright end of the [C II] luminosity function, then they can account for the population of massive elliptical galaxies at z ≈ 4 in terms of the density of cosmic space.

Rapidly star-forming galaxies adjacent to quasars at redshifts exceeding 6.

PubMed

Decarli, R; Walter, F; Venemans, B P; Bañados, E; Bertoldi, F; Carilli, C; Fan, X; Farina, E P; Mazzucchelli, C; Riechers, D; Rix, H-W; Strauss, M A; Wang, R; Yang, Y

2017-05-24

The existence of massive (10 11 solar masses) elliptical galaxies by redshift z ≈ 4 (refs 1, 2, 3; when the Universe was 1.5 billion years old) necessitates the presence of galaxies with star-formation rates exceeding 100 solar masses per year at z > 6 (corresponding to an age of the Universe of less than 1 billion years). Surveys have discovered hundreds of galaxies at these early cosmic epochs, but their star-formation rates are more than an order of magnitude lower. The only known galaxies with very high star-formation rates at z > 6 are, with one exception, the host galaxies of quasars, but these galaxies also host accreting supermassive (more than 10 9 solar masses) black holes, which probably affect the properties of the galaxies. Here we report observations of an emission line of singly ionized carbon ([C ii] at a wavelength of 158 micrometres) in four galaxies at z > 6 that are companions of quasars, with velocity offsets of less than 600 kilometres per second and linear offsets of less than 100 kiloparsecs. The discovery of these four galaxies was serendipitous; they are close to their companion quasars and appear bright in the far-infrared. On the basis of the [C ii] measurements, we estimate star-formation rates in the companions of more than 100 solar masses per year. These sources are similar to the host galaxies of the quasars in [C ii] brightness, linewidth and implied dynamical mass, but do not show evidence for accreting supermassive black holes. Similar systems have previously been found at lower redshift. We find such close companions in four out of the twenty-five z > 6 quasars surveyed, a fraction that needs to be accounted for in simulations. If they are representative of the bright end of the [C ii] luminosity function, then they can account for the population of massive elliptical galaxies at z ≈ 4 in terms of the density of cosmic space.

The Lyman continuum escape fraction of low mass star-forming galaxies at z~1.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutkowski, Michael J.; Scarlata, Claudia; Haardt, Francesco; Siana, Brian D.; Rafelski, Marc; Henry, Alaina L.; Hayes, Matthew; Salvato, Mara; Pahl, Anthony; Mehta, Vihang; Beck, Melanie; Malkan, Matthew Arnold; Teplitz, Harry I.

2016-01-01

Star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in the high redshift universe (z>6) are believed to ionize neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization. We tested this assumption by studying likely analogs of these SFGs in archival HST grism spectroscopy with GALEX UV and ground-based optical images at the redshift range in which we can directly measure the rest-frame Lyman continuum (λ<912Å, LyC) emission. We selected ~1400 SFGs for study on the presence of strong Hα emission and strongly selected against those SFGs whose GALEX FUV photometry could be contaminated by low redshift interlopers along the line of sight to produce a sample of ~600 z~1 SFGs. We made no unambiguous detection of escaping Lyman continuum radiation in individual galaxies in this sample, and stacked the individual non-detections in order to constrain the absolute Lyman continuum escape fraction, fesc<2% (3σ). We sub-divided this sample and stacked SFGs to measure upper limits to fesc with respect to stellar mass,luminosity and relative orientation. For z~1 high Hα equivalent width (EW>200Å) SFGs, we found for the first time an upper limit to fesc<9%. We discuss the implications of these limits for the ionizing emissivity of high redshift SFGs during the epoch of reionization. We conclude that reionization by SFGs is only marginally consistent with independent Planck observations of the CMB electron scattering opacity unless the LyC escape fraction of SFGs increases with redshift and an unobserved population of faint (MUV<-13 AB) SFGs contributes significantly to the UV background.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Gas Fueling of Spiral Galaxies in the Local Universe. I. The Effect of the Group Environment on Star Formation in Spiral Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grootes, M. W.; Tuffs, R. J.; Popescu, C. C.; Norberg, P.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Liske, J.; Andrae, E.; Baldry, I. K.; Gunawardhana, M.; Kelvin, L. S.; Madore, B. F.; Seibert, M.; Taylor, E. N.; Alpaslan, M.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cluver, M. E.; Driver, S. P.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Holwerda, B. W.; Hopkins, A. M.; Lopez-Sanchez, A. R.; Loveday, J.; Rushton, M.

2017-03-01

We quantify the effect of the galaxy group environment (for group masses of 1012.5-1014.0 M ⊙) on the current star formation rate (SFR) of a pure, morphologically selected sample of disk-dominated (I.e., late-type spiral) galaxies with redshift ≤0.13. The sample embraces a full representation of quiescent and star-forming disks with stellar mass M * ≥ 109.5 M ⊙. We focus on the effects on SFR of interactions between grouped galaxies and the putative intrahalo medium (IHM) of their host group dark matter halos, isolating these effects from those induced through galaxy-galaxy interactions, and utilizing a radiation transfer analysis to remove the inclination dependence of derived SFRs. The dependence of SFR on M * is controlled for by measuring offsets Δlog(ψ *) of grouped galaxies about a single power-law relation in specific SFR, {\\psi }* \\propto {M}* -0.45+/- 0.01, exhibited by non-grouped “field” galaxies in the sample. While a small minority of the group satellites are strongly quenched, the group centrals and a large majority of satellites exhibit levels of ψ * statistically indistinguishable from their field counterparts, for all M *, albeit with a higher scatter of 0.44 dex about the field reference relation (versus 0.27 dex for the field). Modeling the distributions in Δlog(ψ *), we find that (I) after infall into groups, disk-dominated galaxies continue to be characterized by a similar rapid cycling of gas into and out of their interstellar medium shown prior to infall, with inflows and outflows of ˜1.5-5 x SFR and ˜1-4 x SFR, respectively; and (II) the independence of the continuity of these gas flow cycles on M * appears inconsistent with the required fueling being sourced from gas in the circumgalactic medium on scales of ˜100 kpc. Instead, our data favor ongoing fueling of satellites from the IHM of the host group halo on ˜Mpc scales, I.e., from gas not initially associated with the galaxies upon infall. Consequently, the color

Detection of Enhanced Central Mass-to-light Ratios in Low-mass Early-type Galaxies: Evidence for Black Holes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pechetti, Renuka; Seth, Anil; Cappellari, Michele; McDermid, Richard; den Brok, Mark; Mieske, Steffen; Strader, Jay

2017-11-01

We present dynamical measurements of the central mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of a sample of 27 low-mass early-type {{ATLAS}}3{{D}} galaxies. We consider all {{ATLAS}}3{{D}} galaxies with 9.7 < log({M}\\star /{M}⊙ ) < 10.5 in our analysis, selecting out galaxies with available high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, and eliminating galaxies with significant central color gradients or obvious dust features. We use the HST images to derive mass models for these galaxies and combine these with the central velocity dispersion values from {{ATLAS}}3{{D}} data to obtain a central dynamical M/L estimate. These central dynamical {\\text{}}M/L{{s}} are higher than dynamical {\\text{}}M/L{{s}} derived at larger radii and stellar population estimates of the galaxy centers in ˜80% of galaxies, with a median enhancement of ˜14% and a statistical significance of 3.3σ. We show that the enhancement in the central M/L is best described either by the presence of black holes in these galaxies or by radial initial mass function variations. Assuming a black hole model, we derive black hole masses for the sample of galaxies. In two galaxies, NGC 4458 and NGC 4660, the data suggest significantly overmassive black holes, while in most others only upper limits are obtained. We also show that the level of M/L enhancements we see in these early-type galaxy nuclei are consistent with the larger enhancements seen in ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), supporting the scenario where massive UCDs are created by stripping galaxies of these masses.

Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, I.-Ting; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Kewley, Lisa J.; Zahid, H. Jabran; Dopita, Michael A.; Bresolin, Fabio; Rupke, David S. N.

2015-04-01

We present metallicity gradients in 49 local field star-forming galaxies. We derive gas-phase oxygen abundances using two widely adopted metallicity calibrations based on the [O III]/Hβ, [N II]/Hα, and [N II]/[O II] line ratios. The two derived metallicity gradients are usually in good agreement within ± 0.14 dex R_{25}^{-1} (R25 is the B-band iso-photoal radius), but the metallicity gradients can differ significantly when the ionization parameters change systematically with radius. We investigate the metallicity gradients as a function of stellar mass (8 < log (M*/M⊙) < 11) and absolute B-band luminosity (-16 > MB > -22). When the metallicity gradients are expressed in dex kpc-1, we show that galaxies with lower mass and luminosity, on average, have steeper metallicity gradients. When the metallicity gradients are expressed in dex R_{25}^{-1}, we find no correlation between the metallicity gradients, and stellar mass and luminosity. We provide a local benchmark metallicity gradient of field star-forming galaxies useful for comparison with studies at high redshifts. We investigate the origin of the local benchmark gradient using simple chemical evolution models and observed gas and stellar surface density profiles in nearby field spiral galaxies. Our models suggest that the local benchmark gradient is a direct result of the coevolution of gas and stellar disc under virtually closed-box chemical evolution when the stellar-to-gas mass ratio becomes high (≫0.3). These models imply low current mass accretion rates ( ≲ 0.3 × SFR), and low-mass outflow rates ( ≲ 3 × SFR) in local field star-forming galaxies.

Spitzer IRS Observations of Low-Mass Seyfert Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thornton, Carol E.; Barth, A. J.; Ho, L. C.; Greene, J. E.

2010-01-01

We present results from Spitzer IRS observations of a sample of 41 Seyfert galaxies with estimated black hole masses below 106 solar masses, including objects from the SDSS-selected samples of Seyfert 1 galaxies from Greene & Ho (2004) and Seyfert 2 galaxies from Barth et al. (2008), as well as NGC 4395 and POX 52. We use the IDL code PAHFIT (Smith et al. 2007) to derive measurements of continuum shapes and narrow emission line and PAH luminosities from the low-resolution spectra in order to examine the dust emission properties of these objects and investigate the relationship between Type 1 and Type 2 AGNs at low luminosities and low masses, to search for evidence of star formation, and to use emission-line diagnostics to constrain physical conditions within the narrow-line regions.

The 6dF Galaxy Survey: dependence of halo occupation on stellar mass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beutler, Florian; Blake, Chris; Colless, Matthew; Jones, D. Heath; Staveley-Smith, Lister; Campbell, Lachlan; Parker, Quentin; Saunders, Will; Watson, Fred

2013-03-01

In this paper we study the stellar mass dependence of galaxy clustering in the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS). The near-infrared selection of 6dFGS allows more reliable stellar mass estimates compared to optical bands used in other galaxy surveys. Using the halo occupation distribution model, we investigate the trend of dark matter halo mass and satellite fraction with stellar mass by measuring the projected correlation function, wp(rp). We find that the typical halo mass (M1) as well as the satellite power-law index (α) increases with stellar mass. This indicates (1) that galaxies with higher stellar mass sit in more massive dark matter haloes and (2) that these more massive dark matter haloes accumulate satellites faster with growing mass compared to haloes occupied by low stellar mass galaxies. Furthermore, we find a relation between M1 and the minimum dark matter halo mass (Mmin) of M1 ≈ 22 Mmin, in agreement with similar findings for Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies. The satellite fraction of 6dFGS galaxies declines with increasing stellar mass from 21 per cent at Mstellar = 2.6 × 1010 h-2 M⊙ to 12 per cent at Mstellar = 5.4 × 1010 h-2 M⊙ indicating that high stellar mass galaxies are more likely to be central galaxies. We compare our results to two different semi-analytic models derived from the Millennium Simulation, finding some disagreement. Our results can be used for placing new constraints on semi-analytic models in the future, particularly the behaviour of luminous red satellites. Finally, we compare our results to studies of halo occupation using galaxy-galaxy weak lensing. We find good overall agreement, representing a valuable cross-check for these two different tools of studying the matter distribution in the Universe.

LoCuSS: weak-lensing mass calibration of galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okabe, Nobuhiro; Smith, Graham P.

2016-10-01

We present weak-lensing mass measurements of 50 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at 0.15 ≤ z ≤ 0.3, based on uniform high-quality observations with Suprime-Cam mounted on the 8.2-m Subaru telescope. We pay close attention to possible systematic biases, aiming to control them at the ≲4 per cent level. The dominant source of systematic bias in weak-lensing measurements of the mass of individual galaxy clusters is contamination of background galaxy catalogues by faint cluster and foreground galaxies. We extend our conservative method for selecting background galaxies with (V - I') colours redder than the red sequence of cluster members to use a colour-cut that depends on cluster-centric radius. This allows us to define background galaxy samples that suffer ≤1 per cent contamination, and comprise 13 galaxies per square arcminute. Thanks to the purity of our background galaxy catalogue, the largest systematic that we identify in our analysis is a shape measurement bias of 3 per cent, that we measure using simulations that probe weak shears up to g = 0.3. Our individual cluster mass and concentration measurements are in excellent agreement with predictions of the mass-concentration relation. Equally, our stacked shear profile is in excellent agreement with the Navarro Frenk and White profile. Our new Local Cluster Substructure Survey mass measurements are consistent with the Canadian Cluster Cosmology Project and Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble surveys, and in tension with the Weighing the Giants at ˜1σ-2σ significance. Overall, the consensus at z ≤ 0.3 that is emerging from these complementary surveys represents important progress for cluster mass calibration, and augurs well for cluster cosmology.

The extent of chemically enriched gas around star-forming dwarf galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Sean

2018-01-01

Supernovae driven winds are often invoked to remove chemically enriched gas from galaxies to match the low metallicities of dwarf galaxies. In such shallow potential wells, outflows may produce massive amounts of enriched halo gas (circum-galactic medium or CGM) and pollute the intergalactic medium (IGM). I will present a survey of the CGM and IGM around 18 star-forming field dwarf galaxies with stellar masses of log M*/M⊙ ≈ 8 ‑ 9 at z ≈ 0.2. Eight of these have CGM probed by quasar absorption spectra at projected distances, d, less than the host virial radius, Rh. Ten are probed at d/Rh = 1 ‑ 3 to study the surrounding IGM. The absorption measurements include neutral hydrogen (H I), the dominant silicon ions for diffuse cool gas (T ∼ 104 K; Si II, Si III, and Si IV), more highly ionized carbon (C IV), and highly ionized oxygen (O VI). The metal absorption from the CGM of the dwarf galaxies is less common and ≈ 4× weaker compared to massive star-forming galaxies though O VI absorption is still common. None of the dwarfs probed at d/Rh = 1 ‑ 3 have definitive metal-line detections. Combining the available silicon ions, we estimate that the cool CGM accounts for only 2 ‑ 6% of the expected silicon budget. CGM absorption from O VI can account for ≈ 8% of the expected oxygen budget. As O VI traces an ion with expected equilibrium ion fractions of 0.2, this highly ionized phase of the CGM may represent a significant metal reservoir even for dwarf galaxies not expected to maintain gravitationally shock heated hot halos.

Lurking systematics in predicting galaxy cold gas masses using dust luminosities and star formation rates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janowiecki, Steven; Cortese, Luca; Catinella, Barbara; Goodwin, Adelle J.

2018-05-01

We use galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey to evaluate commonly used indirect predictors of cold gas masses. We calibrate predictions for cold neutral atomic and molecular gas using infrared dust emission and gas depletion time methods that are self-consistent and have ˜20 per cent accuracy (with the highest accuracy in the prediction of total cold gas mass). However, modest systematic residual dependences are found in all calibrations that depend on the partition between molecular and atomic gas, and can over/underpredict gas masses by up to 0.3 dex. As expected, dust-based estimates are best at predicting the total gas mass while depletion time-based estimates are only able to predict the (star-forming) molecular gas mass. Additionally, we advise caution when applying these predictions to high-z galaxies, as significant (0.5 dex or more) errors can arise when incorrect assumptions are made about the dominant gas phase. Any scaling relations derived using predicted gas masses may be more closely related to the calibrations used than to the actual galaxies observed.

The final data release of ALLSMOG: a survey of CO in typical local low-M∗ star-forming galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cicone, C.; Bothwell, M.; Wagg, J.; Møller, P.; De Breuck, C.; Zhang, Z.; Martín, S.; Maiolino, R.; Severgnini, P.; Aravena, M.; Belfiore, F.; Espada, D.; Flütsch, A.; Impellizzeri, V.; Peng, Y.; Raj, M. A.; Ramírez-Olivencia, N.; Riechers, D.; Schawinski, K.

2017-08-01

We present the final data release of the APEX low-redshift legacy survey for molecular gas (ALLSMOG), comprising CO(2-1) emission line observations of 88 nearby, low-mass (108.5forming galaxies carried out with the 230 GHz APEX-1 receiver on the APEX telescope. The main goal of ALLSMOG is to probe the molecular gas content of more typical and lower stellar mass galaxies than have been studied by previous CO surveys. We also present IRAM 30 m observations of the CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission lines in nine galaxies aimed at increasing the M∗< 109M⊙ sample size. In this paper we describe the observations, data reduction and analysis methods and we present the final CO spectra together with archival Hi 21 cm line observations for the entire sample of 97 galaxies. At the sensitivity limit of ALLSMOG, we register a total CO detection rate of 47%. Galaxies with higher M∗, SFR, nebular extinction (AV), gas-phase metallicity (O/H), and Hi gas mass have systematically higher CO detection rates. In particular, the parameter according to which CO detections and non-detections show the strongest statistical differences is the gas-phase metallicity, for any of the five metallicity calibrations examined in this work. We investigate scaling relations between the CO(1-0) line luminosity (L'CO(1-0)) and galaxy-averaged properties using ALLSMOG and a sub-sample of COLD GASS for a total of 185 sources that probe the local main sequence (MS) of star-forming galaxies and its ± 0.3 dex intrinsic scatter from M∗ = 108.5M⊙ to M∗ = 1011M⊙. L'CO(1-0) is most strongly correlated with the SFR, but the correlation with M∗ is closer to linear and almost comparably tight. The relation between L'CO(1-0) and metallicity is the steepest one, although deeper CO observations of galaxies with AV< 0.5 mag may reveal an as much steep correlation with AV. Our results suggest that star-forming galaxies across more than two orders of magnitude in M∗ obey similar

The He I 2.06 microns/Br-gamma ratio in starburst galaxies - An objective constraint on the upper mass limit to the initial mass function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doyon, Rene; Puxley, P. J.; Joseph, R. D.

1992-01-01

The use of the He I 2.06 microns/Br-gamma ratio as a constraint on the massive stellar population in star-forming galaxies is developed. A theoretical relationship between the He I 2.06 microns/Br-gamma ratio and the effective temperature of the exciting star in H II regions is derived. The effects of collisional excitation and dust within the nebula on the ratio are also considered. It is shown that the He I 2.06 microns/Br-gamma ratio is a steep function of the effective temperature, a property which can be used to determine the upper mass limit of the initial mass function (IMF) in galaxies. This technique is reliable for upper mass limits less than about 40 solar masses. New near-infrared spectra of starburst galaxies are presented. The He I 2.06 microns/Br-gamma ratios observed imply a range of upper mass limits from 27 to over 40 solar masses. There is also evidence that the upper mass limit is spatially dependent within a given galaxy. These results suggest that the upper mass limit is not a uniquely defined parameter of the IMF and probably varies with local physical conditions.

Galaxy dynamics and the mass density of the universe.

PubMed

Rubin, V C

1993-06-01

Dynamical evidence accumulated over the past 20 years has convinced astronomers that luminous matter in a spiral galaxy constitutes no more than 10% of the mass of a galaxy. An additional 90% is inferred by its gravitational effect on luminous material. Here I review recent observations concerning the distribution of luminous and nonluminous matter in the Milky Way, in galaxies, and in galaxy clusters. Observations of neutral hydrogen disks, some extending in radius several times the optical disk, confirm that a massive dark halo is a major component of virtually every spiral. A recent surprise has been the discovery that stellar and gas motions in ellipticals are enormously complex. To date, only for a few spheroidal galaxies do the velocities extend far enough to probe the outer mass distribution. But the diverse kinematics of inner cores, peripheral to deducing the overall mass distribution, offer additional evidence that ellipticals have acquired gas-rich systems after initial formation. Dynamical results are consistent with a low-density universe, in which the required dark matter could be baryonic. On smallest scales of galaxies [10 kiloparsec (kpc); Ho = 50 km.sec-1.megaparsec-1] the luminous matter constitutes only 1% of the closure density. On scales greater than binary galaxies (i.e., >/=100 kpc) all systems indicate a density approximately 10% of the closure density, a density consistent with the low baryon density in the universe. If large-scale motions in the universe require a higher mass density, these motions would constitute the first dynamical evidence for nonbaryonic matter in a universe of higher density.

Limit on graviton mass from galaxy cluster Abell 1689

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desai, Shantanu

2018-02-01

To date, the only limit on graviton mass using galaxy clusters was obtained by Goldhaber and Nieto in 1974, using the fact that the orbits of galaxy clusters are bound and closed, and extend up to 580 kpc. From positing that only a Newtonian potential gives rise to such stable bound orbits, a limit on the graviton mass m_g<10^{-29} eV was obtained (PRD 9,1119, 1974). Recently, it has been shown that one can obtain closed bound orbits for Yukawa potential (arXiv:1705.02444), thus invalidating the main ansatz used in Goldhaber and Nieto to obtain the graviton mass bound. In order to obtain a revised estimate using galaxy clusters, we use dynamical mass models of the Abell 1689 (A1689) galaxy cluster to check their compatibility with a Yukawa gravitational potential. We assume mass models for the gas, dark matter, and galaxies for A1689 from arXiv:1703.10219 and arXiv:1610.01543, who used this cluster to test various alternate gravity theories, which dispense with the need for dark matter. We quantify the deviations in the acceleration profile using these mass models assuming a Yukawa potential and that obtained assuming a Newtonian potential by calculating the χ^2 residuals between the two profiles. Our estimated bound on the graviton mass (m_g) is thereby given by, m_g < 1.37 × 10^{-29} eV or in terms of the graviton Compton wavelength of, λ_g>9.1 × 10^{19} km at 90% confidence level.

The ionisation parameter of star-forming galaxies evolves with the specific star formation rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaasinen, Melanie; Kewley, Lisa; Bian, Fuyan; Groves, Brent; Kashino, Daichi; Silverman, John; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan

2018-04-01

We investigate the evolution of the ionisation parameter of star-forming galaxies using a high-redshift (z ˜ 1.5) sample from the FMOS-COSMOS survey and matched low-redshift samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By constructing samples of low-redshift galaxies for which the stellar mass (M*), star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (sSFR) are matched to the high-redshift sample we remove the effects of an evolution in these properties. We also account for the effect of metallicity by jointly constraining the metallicity and ionisation parameter of each sample. We find an evolution in the ionisation parameter for main-sequence, star-forming galaxies and show that this evolution is driven by the evolution of sSFR. By analysing the matched samples as well as a larger sample of z < 0.3, star-forming galaxies we show that high ionisation parameters are directly linked to high sSFRs and are not simply the byproduct of an evolution in metallicity. Our results are physically consistent with the definition of the ionisation parameter, a measure of the hydrogen ionising photon flux relative to the number density of hydrogen atoms.

Environmental quenching of low-mass field galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fillingham, Sean P.; Cooper, Michael C.; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Bullock, James S.; Garrison-Kimmel, Shea; Wheeler, Coral

2018-07-01

In the local Universe, there is a strong division in the star-forming properties of low-mass galaxies, with star formation largely ubiquitous amongst the field population while satellite systems are predominantly quenched. This dichotomy implies that environmental processes play the dominant role in suppressing star formation within this low-mass regime (M⋆ ˜ 105.5-8 M⊙). As shown by observations of the Local Volume, however, there is a non-negligible population of passive systems in the field, which challenges our understanding of quenching at low masses. By applying the satellite quenching models of Fillingham et al. (2015) to subhalo populations in the Exploring the Local Volume In Simulations suite, we investigate the role of environmental processes in quenching star formation within the nearby field. Using model parameters that reproduce the satellite quenched fraction in the Local Group, we predict a quenched fraction - due solely to environmental effects - of ˜0.52 ± 0.26 within 1 < R/Rvir < 2 of the Milky Way and M31. This is in good agreement with current observations of the Local Volume and suggests that the majority of the passive field systems observed at these distances are quenched via environmental mechanisms. Beyond 2Rvir, however, dwarf galaxy quenching becomes difficult to explain through an interaction with either the Milky Way or M31, such that more isolated, field dwarfs may be self-quenched as a result of star-formation feedback.

Environmental Quenching of Low-Mass Field Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fillingham, Sean P.; Cooper, Michael C.; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Bullock, James S.; Garrison-Kimmel, Shea; Wheeler, Coral

2018-04-01

In the local Universe, there is a strong division in the star-forming properties of low-mass galaxies, with star formation largely ubiquitous amongst the field population while satellite systems are predominantly quenched. This dichotomy implies that environmental processes play the dominant role in suppressing star formation within this low-mass regime (M⋆ ˜ 105.5 - 8 M⊙). As shown by observations of the Local Volume, however, there is a non-negligible population of passive systems in the field, which challenges our understanding of quenching at low masses. By applying the satellite quenching models of Fillingham et al. (2015) to subhalo populations in the Exploring the Local Volume In Simulations (ELVIS) suite, we investigate the role of environmental processes in quenching star formation within the nearby field. Using model parameters that reproduce the satellite quenched fraction in the Local Group, we predict a quenched fraction - due solely to environmental effects - of ˜0.52 ± 0.26 within 1 < R/Rvir < 2 of the Milky Way and M31. This is in good agreement with current observations of the Local Volume and suggests that the majority of the passive field systems observed at these distances are quenched via environmental mechanisms. Beyond 2 Rvir, however, dwarf galaxy quenching becomes difficult to explain through an interaction with either the Milky Way or M31, such that more isolated, field dwarfs may be self-quenched as a result of star-formation feedback.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): A “No Smoking” Zone for Giant Elliptical Galaxies?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khosroshahi, Habib G.; Raouf, Mojtaba; Miraghaei, Halime

We study the radio emission of the most massive galaxies in a sample of dynamically relaxed and unrelaxed galaxy groups from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. The dynamical state of the group is defined by the stellar dominance of the brightest group galaxy (BGG), e.g., the luminosity gap between the two most luminous members, and the offset between the position of the BGG and the luminosity centroid of the group. We find that the radio luminosity of the largest galaxy in the group strongly depends on its environment, such that the BGGs in dynamically young (evolving) groups are anmore » order of magnitude more luminous in the radio than those with a similar stellar mass but residing in dynamically old (relaxed) groups. This observation has been successfully reproduced by a newly developed semi-analytic model that allows us to explore the various causes of these findings. We find that the fraction of radio-loud BGGs in the observed dynamically young groups is ∼2 times that of the dynamically old groups. We discuss the implications of this observational constraint on the central galaxy properties in the context of galaxy mergers and the super massive black hole accretion rate.« less

Outflows in low-mass galaxies at z >1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maseda, Michael V.; MUSE GTO Consortium

2017-03-01

Star formation histories of local dwarf galaxies, derived through resolved stellar populations, appear complex and varied. The general picture derived from hydrodynamical simulations is one of cold gas accretion and bursty star formation, followed by feedback from supernovae and winds that heat and eject the central gas reservoirs. This ejection halts star formation until the material cools and re-accretes, resulting in an episodic SFH, particularly at stellar masses below ~ 109 M⊙. Such feedback has often been cited as the driving force behind the observed slowly-rising rotation curves in local dwarfs, due to an under-density of dark matter compared to theoretical models, which is one of the primary challenges to LCDM cosmology. However, these events have not yet been directly observed at high-redshift. Recently, using HST imaging and grism spectroscopy, we have uncovered an abundant population of low-mass galaxies (M* < 109 M⊙) at z = 1 - 2 that are undergoing strong bursts of star formation, in agreement with the theoretical predictions. These Extreme Emission Line Galaxies, with high specific SFRs and shallow gravitational potential wells, are ideal places to test the theoretical prediction of strong feedback-driven outflows. Here we use deep MUSE spectroscopy to search these galaxies for signatures of outflowing material, namely kinematic offsets between absorption lines (in the restframe optical and UV), which trace cool gas, and the nebular emission lines, which define the systemic redshift of the galaxy. Although the EELGs are intrinsically very faint, stacked spectra reveal blueshifted velocity centroids for Fe II absorption, which is indicative of outflowing cold gas. This represents the first constraint on outflows in M* < 109 M⊙ galaxies at z = 1 - 2. These outflows should regulate the star formation histories of low-mass galaxies at early cosmic times and thus play a crucial role in galaxy growth and evolution.

The star formation history of early-type galaxies as a function of mass and environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clemens, M. S.; Bressan, A.; Nikolic, B.; Alexander, P.; Annibali, F.; Rampazzo, R.

2006-08-01

decreases with σ. More massive galaxies were formed in faster bursts. We argue that the timing of the process of formation of early-type galaxies is determined by the environment, while the details of the process of star formation, which has built up the stellar mass, are entirely regulated by the halo mass. These results suggest that the star formation took place after the mass assembly and favours an anti-hierarchical model. In such a model, the majority of the mergers must take place before the bulk of the stars form. This can only happen if there exists an efficient feedback mechanism which inhibits the star formation in low-mass haloes and is progressively reduced as mergers increase the mass.

Do galaxy global relationships emerge from local ones? The SDSS IV MaNGA surface mass density-metallicity relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrera-Ballesteros, Jorge K.; Heckman, Timothy M.; Zhu, Guangtun B.; Zakamska, Nadia L.; Sánchez, Sebastian F.; Law, David; Wake, David; Green, Jenny E.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Oravetz, Daniel; Simmons, Audrey; Malanushenko, Elena; Pan, Kaike; Roman Lopes, Alexandre; Lane, Richard R.

2016-12-01

We present the stellar surface mass density versus gas metallicity (Σ*-Z) relation for more than 500 000 spatially resolved star-forming resolution elements (spaxels) from a sample of 653 disc galaxies included in the SDSS IV MaNGA survey. We find a tight relation between these local properties, with higher metallicities as the surface density increases. This relation extends over three orders of magnitude in the surface mass density and a factor of 4 in metallicity. We show that this local relationship can simultaneously reproduce two well-known properties of disc galaxies: their global mass-metallicity relationship and their radial metallicity gradients. We also find that the Σ*-Z relation is largely independent of the galaxy's total stellar mass and specific star formation rate (sSFR), except at low stellar mass and high sSFR. These results suggest that in the present-day universe local properties play a key role in determining the gas-phase metallicity in typical disc galaxies.

Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions from the 6dF Galaxy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colless, M.; Jones, D. H.; Peterson, B. A.; Campbell, L.; Saunders, W.; Lah, P.

2007-12-01

The completed 6dF Galaxy Survey includes redshifts for over 124,000 galaxies. We present luminosity functions in optical and near-infrared passbands that span a range of 10^4 in luminosity. These luminosity functions show systematic deviations from the Schechter form. The corresponding luminosity densities in the optical and near-infrared are consistent with an old stellar population and a moderately declining star formation rate. Stellar mass functions, derived from the K band luminosities and simple stellar population models selected by b_J-r_F colour, lead to an estimate of the present-day stellar mass density of ρ_* = (5.00 ± 0.11) × 10^8 h M_⊙ Mpc^{-3}, corresponding to Ω_* h = (1.80 ± 0.04) × 10^{-3}.

Galaxy evolution in protoclusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muldrew, Stuart I.; Hatch, Nina A.; Cooke, Elizabeth A.

2018-01-01

We investigate galaxy evolution in protoclusters using a semi-analytic model applied to the Millennium Simulation, scaled to a Planck cosmology. We show that the model reproduces the observed behaviour of the star formation history (SFH) both in protoclusters and the field. The rate of star formation peaks ∼0.7 Gyr earlier in protoclusters than in the field and declines more rapidly afterwards. This results in protocluster galaxies forming significantly earlier: 80 per cent of their stellar mass is already formed by z = 1.4, but only 45 per cent of the field stellar mass has formed by this time. The model predicts that field and protocluster galaxies have similar average specific star-formation rates (sSFR) at z > 3, and we find evidence of an enhancement of star formation in the dense protoclusters at early times. At z < 3, protoclusters have lower sSFRs, resulting in the disparity between the SFHs. We show that the stellar mass functions of protoclusters are top-heavy compared with the field due to the early formation of massive galaxies, and the disruption and merging of low-mass satellite galaxies in the main haloes. The fundamental cause of the different SFHs and mass functions is that dark matter haloes are biased tracers of the dark matter density field: the high density of haloes and the top-heavy halo mass function in protoclusters result in the early formation then rapid merging and quenching of galaxies. We compare our results with observations from the literature and highlight which observables provide the most informative tests of galaxy formation.

On the frequency of star-forming galaxies in the vicinity of powerful AGNs: The case of SMM J04135+10277

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogasy, J.; Knudsen, K. K.; Lagos, C. D. P.; Drouart, G.; Gonzalez-Perez, V.

2017-01-01

Context. In the last decade several massive molecular gas reservoirs were found <100 kpc distance from active galactic nuclei (AGNs), residing in gas-rich companion galaxies. The study of AGN-gas-rich companion systems opens the opportunity to determine whether the stellar mass of massive local galaxies was formed in their host after a merger event or outside of their host galaxy in a close starbursting companion and later incorporated via mergers. Aims: Our aim is to study the quasar-companion galaxy system of SMM J04135+10277 (z = 2.84) and investigate the expected frequency of quasar-starburst galaxy pairs at high redshift using a cosmological galaxy formation model. Methods: We use archive data and new APEX ArTeMiS data to construct and model the spectral energy distribution of SMM J04135+10277 in order to determine its properties. We also carry out a comprehensive analysis of the cosmological galaxy formation model galform with the aim of characterising how typical the system of SMM J04135+10277 is and whether quasar-star-forming galaxy pairs may constitute an important stage in galaxy evolution. Finally, we compare our results to observations found in the literature at both large and small scales (1 Mpc-100 kpc). Results: The companion galaxy of SMM J04135+10277 is a heavily dust-obscured starburst galaxy with a median star formation rate (SFR) of 700 M⊙ yr-1, median dust mass of 5.1 × 109M⊙ and median dust luminosity of 9.3 × 1012L⊙. Our simulations, performed at z = 2.8, suggest that SMM J04135+10277 is not unique. In fact, at a distance of <100 kpc, 22% of our simulated quasar sample have at least one companion galaxy of a stellar mass >108M⊙, and 0.3% have at least one highly star-forming companion (SFR> 100 M⊙ yr-1). Conclusions: Our results suggest that quasar-gas-rich companion galaxy systems are common phenomena in the early Universe and the high incidence of companions makes the study of such systems crucial to understand the growth and

Massive star-forming regions across the galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rygl, Kazi Lucie Jessica

2010-04-01

Star-forming regions trace the spiral structure of the Galaxy. They are regions of increased column density and therefore traced well by the extinction in the mid-infrared based on the Spitzer/GLIMPSE 3.6-4.5 micron color excess maps. A sample of 25 high extinction clouds (HECs) was studied in the 1.2 mm dust continuum emission, and followed up by observations of ammonia plus several other molecules using the Effelsberg 100m, IRAM 30m and APEX telescopes. With these data we want to investigate the most early stages of massive star formation, which are currently still largely unknown. Three cloud classes were defined from their morphology in the 1.2 mm continuum maps: the early diffuse HECs, with a low contrast between the clump and cloud emission; the peaked HECs, with an increased contrast; the late multiply peaked HECs, with more than one clump and a high contrast between the clump and the cloud emission. The clouds are cold (T 16 K) and massive (M 800 M_sun) and contain dense clumps (n 10^5 cm^{-3}) of 0.3 pc in size. These clumps were investigated for evidence of gravitational collapse or expansion, for high velocity outflows, and for the presence of young stellar objects. Based on these results we interpret the three cloud classes as an evolutionary sequence of star-forming clouds. Accurate distances are a crucial parameter for establishing the mass, size, and luminosity of an object. Also, for understanding the spiral structure of the Galaxy trustworthy distances are necessary. The most accurate method to measure these is the trigonometric parallax. Using the European Very Large Baseline Interferometry Network of radio antennas we measured, for the first time, parallaxes of 6.7 GHz methanol masers. This transition belongs to the strongest maser species in the Galaxy, it is stable and observed toward numerous massive star-forming regions. We measured distances and proper motions toward L 1287, L 1206, NGC 281-W, ON 1 and S 255, and obtained their 3-dimensional

Measuring the High-Mass IMF in Low-Metallicity Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weisz, Daniel

2017-08-01

We propose to measure the stellar initial mass function above >1-2 Msun in 46 nearby dwarf galaxies with archival HST observations. This novel approach leverages the redundant age information provided by the main sequence and blue core helium burning stars <500 years old to break the well-known degeneracy between the IMF and star formation history (SFH), enabling a direct measurement of the high-mass IMF in dwarf galaxies. We will be able to constrain the high-mass IMF slope to a precision better than 0.1 to 0.3 dex in each galaxy. Our sample spans a factor of 6 in metallicity ( 5-30% Zsun), 4 decades in star formation rate, and 3 decades in both stellar and gas mass, allowing us to explore the IMF over a wide range of extreme environments.Current observational evidence suggests that nearby dwarf galaxies are the most likely candidates to host significant and systematic variations in the high-mass IMF (e.g., Halpha/UV ratios). However, to date there have been no direct measurements of the high-mass IMF in environments with lower star formation rates and/or more metal poor than the Magellanic Clouds. Our program remedies this shortcoming allowing us to (1) make the first-ever measurement of the high-mass IMF in extremely metal-poor environments; (2) empirically quantify environmental the (lack of) variations in the high-mass IMF; (3) directly test the integrated galactic mass initial mass function (IGIMF), which predicts environmental sensitivity of the IMF in dwarf galaxies.

The effects of the initial mass function on the chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Masi, Carlo; Matteucci, F.; Vincenzo, F.

2018-03-01

We describe the use of our chemical evolution model to reproduce the abundance patterns observed in a catalogue of elliptical galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4. The model assumes ellipticals form by fast gas accretion, and suffer a strong burst of star formation followed by a galactic wind, which quenches star formation. Models with fixed initial mass function (IMF) failed in simultaneously reproducing the observed trends with the galactic mass. So, we tested a varying IMF; contrary to the diffused claim that the IMF should become bottom heavier in more massive galaxies, we find a better agreement with data by assuming an inverse trend, where the IMF goes from being bottom heavy in less massive galaxies to top heavy in more massive ones. This naturally produces a downsizing in star formation, favouring massive stars in largest galaxies. Finally, we tested the use of the integrated Galactic IMF, obtained by averaging the canonical IMF over the mass distribution function of the clusters where star formation is assumed to take place. We combined two prescriptions, valid for different SFR regimes, to obtain the Integrated Initial Mass Function values along the whole evolution of the galaxies in our models. Predicted abundance trends reproduce the observed slopes, but they have an offset relative to the data. We conclude that bottom-heavier IMFs do not reproduce the properties of the most massive ellipticals, at variance with previous suggestions. On the other hand, an IMF varying with galactic mass from bottom heavier to top heavier should be preferred.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): deconstructing bimodality - I. Red ones and blue ones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Edward N.; Hopkins, Andrew M.; Baldry, Ivan K.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Brown, Michael J. I.; Colless, Matthew; Driver, Simon; Norberg, Peder; Robotham, Aaron S. G.; Alpaslan, Mehmet; Brough, Sarah; Cluver, Michelle E.; Gunawardhana, Madusha; Kelvin, Lee S.; Liske, Jochen; Conselice, Christopher J.; Croom, Scott; Foster, Caroline; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Lara-Lopez, Maritza; Loveday, Jon

2015-01-01

We measure the mass functions for generically red and blue galaxies, using a z < 0.12 sample of log M* > 8.7 field galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Our motivation is that, as we show, the dominant uncertainty in existing measurements stems from how `red' and `blue' galaxies have been selected/defined. Accordingly, we model our data as two naturally overlapping populations, each with their own mass function and colour-mass relation, which enables us characterize the two populations without having to specify a priori which galaxies are `red' and `blue'. Our results then provide the means to derive objective operational definitions for the terms `red' and `blue', which are based on the phenomenology of the colour-mass diagrams. Informed by this descriptive modelling, we show that (1) after accounting for dust, the stellar colours of `blue' galaxies do not depend strongly on mass; (2) the tight, flat `dead sequence' does not extend much below log M* ˜ 10.5; instead, (3) the stellar colours of `red' galaxies vary rather strongly with mass, such that lower mass `red' galaxies have bluer stellar populations; (4) below log M* ˜ 9.3, the `red' population dissolves into obscurity, and it becomes problematic to talk about two distinct populations; as a consequence, (5) it is hard to meaningfully constrain the shape, including the existence of an upturn, of the `red' galaxy mass function below log M* ˜ 9.3. Points 1-4 provide meaningful targets for models of galaxy formation and evolution to aim for.

The Galaxy-Halo Connection in High-redshift Universe: Details and Evolution of Stellar-to-halo Mass Ratios of Lyman Break Galaxies on CFHTLS Deep Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishikawa, Shogo; Kashikawa, Nobunari; Toshikawa, Jun; Tanaka, Masayuki; Hamana, Takashi; Niino, Yuu; Ichikawa, Kohei; Uchiyama, Hisakazu

2017-05-01

We present the results of clustering analyses of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z˜ 3, 4, and 5 using the final data release of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). Deep- and wide-field images of the CFHTLS Deep Survey enable us to obtain sufficiently accurate two-point angular correlation functions to apply a halo occupation distribution analysis. The mean halo masses, calculated as < {M}h> ={10}11.7{--}{10}12.8 {h}-1 {M}⊙ , increase with the stellar-mass limit of LBGs. The threshold halo mass to have a central galaxy, {M}\\min , follows the same increasing trend as the low-z results, whereas the threshold halo mass to have a satellite galaxy, M 1, shows higher values at z=3{--}5 than z=0.5{--}1.5, over the entire stellar mass range. Satellite fractions of dropout galaxies, even at less massive halos, are found to drop sharply, from z = 2 down to less than 0.04, at z=3{--}5. These results suggest that satellite galaxies form inefficiently within dark halos at z=3{--}5, even for less massive satellites with {M}\\star < {10}10 {M}⊙ . We compute stellar-to-halo mass ratios (SHMRs) assuming a main sequence of galaxies, which is found to provide SHMRs consistent with those derived from a spectral energy distribution fitting method. The observed SHMRs are in good agreement with model predictions based on the abundance-matching method, within 1σ confidence intervals. We derive observationally, for the first time, {M}{{h}}{pivot}, which is the halo mass at a peak in the star-formation efficiency, at 3< z< 5, and it shows a small increasing trend with cosmic time at z> 3. In addition, {M}{{h}}{pivot} and its normalization are found to be almost unchanged during 0< z< 5. Our study provides observational evidence that galaxy formation is ubiquitously most efficient near a halo mass of {M}{{h}}˜ {10}12 {M}⊙ over cosmic time.

Stellar populations, stellar masses and the formation of galaxy bulges and discs at z < 3 in CANDELS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margalef-Bentabol, Berta; Conselice, Christopher J.; Mortlock, Alice; Hartley, Will; Duncan, Kenneth; Kennedy, Rebecca; Kocevski, Dale D.; Hasinger, Guenther

2018-02-01

We present a multicomponent structural analysis of the internal structure of 1074 high-redshift massive galaxies at 1 < z < 3 from the CANDELS HST Survey. In particular, we examine galaxies best fitted by two structural components, and thus likely forming discs and bulges. We examine the stellar mass, star formation rates (SFRs) and colours of both the inner 'bulge' and outer 'disc' components for these systems using Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) information from the resolved ACS+WFC3 HST imaging. We find that the majority of both inner and outer components lie in the star-forming region of UVJ space (68 and 90 per cent, respectively). However, the inner portions, or the likely forming bulges, are dominated by dusty star formation. Furthermore, we show that the outer components of these systems have a higher SFR than their inner regions, and the ratio of SFR between 'disc' and 'bulge' increases at lower redshifts. Despite the higher SFR of the outer component, the stellar mass ratio of inner to outer component remains constant through this epoch. This suggests that there is mass transfer from the outer to inner components for typical two-component-forming systems, thus building bulges from discs. Finally, using Chandra data we find that the presence of an active galactic nucleus is more common in both one-component spheroid-like galaxies and two-component systems (13 ± 3 and 11 ± 2 per cent) than in one-component disc-like galaxies (3 ± 1 per cent), demonstrating that the formation of a central inner component likely triggers the formation of central massive black holes in these galaxies.

Perspectives on Intracluster Enrichment and the Stellar Initial Mass Function in Elliptical Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowenstein, Michael

2013-01-01

The amount of metals in the Intracluster Medium (ICM) in rich galaxy clusters exceeds that expected based on the observed stellar population by a large factor. We quantify this discrepancy--which we term the "cluster elemental abundance paradox"--and investigate the required properties of the ICM-enriching population. The necessary enhancement in metal enrichment may, in principle, originate in the observed stellar population if a larger fraction of stars in the supernova-progenitor mass range form from an initial mass function (IMF) that is either bottom-light or top-heavy, with the latter in some conflict with observed ICM abundance ratios. Other alternatives that imply more modest revisions to the IMF, mass return and remnant fractions, and primordial fraction, posit an increase in the fraction of 3-8 solar mass stars that explode as SNIa or assume that there are more stars than conventionally thought--although the latter implies a high star formation efficiency. We discuss the feasibility of these various solutions and the implications for the diversity of star formation, the process of elliptical galaxy formation, and the nature of this hidden source of ICM metal enrichment in light of recent evidence of an elliptical galaxy IMF that, because it is skewed to low masses, deepens the paradox.

Galaxy dynamics and the mass density of the universe.

PubMed Central

Rubin, V C

1993-01-01

Dynamical evidence accumulated over the past 20 years has convinced astronomers that luminous matter in a spiral galaxy constitutes no more than 10% of the mass of a galaxy. An additional 90% is inferred by its gravitational effect on luminous material. Here I review recent observations concerning the distribution of luminous and nonluminous matter in the Milky Way, in galaxies, and in galaxy clusters. Observations of neutral hydrogen disks, some extending in radius several times the optical disk, confirm that a massive dark halo is a major component of virtually every spiral. A recent surprise has been the discovery that stellar and gas motions in ellipticals are enormously complex. To date, only for a few spheroidal galaxies do the velocities extend far enough to probe the outer mass distribution. But the diverse kinematics of inner cores, peripheral to deducing the overall mass distribution, offer additional evidence that ellipticals have acquired gas-rich systems after initial formation. Dynamical results are consistent with a low-density universe, in which the required dark matter could be baryonic. On smallest scales of galaxies [10 kiloparsec (kpc); Ho = 50 km.sec-1.megaparsec-1] the luminous matter constitutes only 1% of the closure density. On scales greater than binary galaxies (i.e., >/=100 kpc) all systems indicate a density approximately 10% of the closure density, a density consistent with the low baryon density in the universe. If large-scale motions in the universe require a higher mass density, these motions would constitute the first dynamical evidence for nonbaryonic matter in a universe of higher density. Images Fig. 3 Fig. 5 PMID:11607393

Sub-millimetre properties of massive star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 in SHADES/SXDF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takagi, T.; Mortier, A. M. J.; Shimasaku, K.; Coppin, K.; Pope, A.; Ivison, R. J.; Hanami, H.; Serjeant, S.; Dunlop, J. S.

2007-05-01

We study the submillimetre (submm) properties of the following NIR-selected massive galaxies at high redshifts: BzK-selected star-forming galaxies (BzKs), distant red galaxies (DRGs) and extremely red objects (EROs). We used the SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES), the largest uniform submm survey to date. We detected 6 NIR-selected galaxies in our SCUBA map. Four submm-detected galaxies out of six are found to be detected both at 24 micron and in radio (1.4 GHz), and therefore confirmed as genuine submm-bright galaxies. We identify two submm-bright NIR-selected galaxies are the BzK-DRG-ERO overlapping population. Although this overlapping population is rare, about 12% of this population could be submm galaxies. With a stacking analysis, we detected the 850-micron flux of submm-faint BzKs and EROs in our SCUBA maps. While the contribution from BzKs at z˜2 to submm background is about 10 - 15 % and similar to that from EROs typically at z˜1, BzKs have a higher fraction (˜30%) of flux in resolved sources than EROs do. Therefore, submm flux of BzKs seems to be biased high. From the SED fitting using an evolutionary model of starbursts with radiative transfer, submm-bright NIR-selected galaxies, mostly BzKs, are found to have the stellar mass of >5x1010M[sun] with the bolometric luminosity of >3x1012L[sun]. On the other hand, an average SED of submm-faint BzKs indicates the typical stellar mass of <6x1010M[sun] and therefore less massive.

DUST CONTINUUM EMISSION AS A TRACER OF GAS MASS IN GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Groves, Brent A.; Schinnerer, Eva; Walter, Fabian

2015-01-20

We use a sample of 36 galaxies from the KINGFISH (Herschel IR), HERACLES (IRAM CO), and THINGS (Very Large Array H I) surveys to study empirical relations between Herschel infrared (IR) luminosities and the total mass of the interstellar gas (H{sub 2} + H I). Such a comparison provides a simple empirical relationship without introducing the uncertainty of dust model fitting. We find tight correlations, and provide fits to these relations, between Herschel luminosities and the total gas mass integrated over entire galaxies, with the tightest, almost linear, correlation found for the longest wavelength data (SPIRE 500). However, we findmore » that accounting for the gas-phase metallicity (affecting the dust to gas ratio) is crucial when applying these relations to low-mass, and presumably high-redshift, galaxies. The molecular (H{sub 2}) gas mass is found to be better correlated with the peak of the IR emission (e.g., PACS160), driven mostly by the correlation of stellar mass and mean dust temperature. When examining these relations as a function of galactocentric radius, we find the same correlations, albeit with a larger scatter, up to a radius of r ∼ 0.7 r {sub 25} (containing most of a galaxy's baryonic mass). However, beyond that radius, the same correlations no longer hold, with increasing gas (predominantly H I) mass relative to the infrared emission. The tight relations found for the bulk of the galaxy's baryonic content suggest that total gas masses of disk-like (non-merging/ULIRG) galaxies can be inferred from far-infrared continuum measurements in situations where only the latter are available, e.g., in ALMA continuum observations of high-redshift galaxies.« less

The stellar masses of ˜ 40 000 UV selected Galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3galaxies?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerji, Manda; Glazebrook, Karl; Blake, Chris; Brough, Sarah; Colless, Matthew; Contreras, Carlos; Couch, Warrick; Croton, Darren J.; Croom, Scott; Davis, Tamara M.; Drinkwater, Michael J.; Forster, Karl; Gilbank, David; Gladders, Mike; Jelliffe, Ben; Jurek, Russell J.; Li, I.-hui; Madore, Barry; Martin, D. Christopher; Pimbblet, Kevin; Poole, Gregory B.; Pracy, Michael; Sharp, Rob; Wisnioski, Emily; Woods, David; Wyder, Ted K.; Yee, H. K. C.

2013-05-01

-based estimator overpredicts M/LK by ˜0.4 dex on average. The effect is more pronounced for bluer galaxies with younger best-fitting ages. The WiggleZ galaxies have star formation rates of 3-10 M⊙ yr-1 and mostly lie at the upper end of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts. Their rest-frame UV luminosities and stellar masses are comparable to both local compact UV-luminous galaxies as well as Lyman break galaxies at z ˜ 2-3. The stellar masses from this paper will be made publicly available with the next WiggleZ data release.

Active Galactic Nuclei in Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hein, Megan; Secrest, N.; Satyapal, S.

2014-01-01

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) one million to a few billion times the mass of our sun are thought to reside in the center of most, if not all, bulge-dominated galaxies. It has been observed that the mass of these SMBHs is strongly correlated with the mass of these bulges, leading to the popular view that these central black holes are formed by galaxy mergers, which induce the growth of the galaxy's bulge and provide matter with which to feed the black hole. Although these properties and their possible consequences have been studied extensively in high mass galaxies and galaxies with large bulges, there is very little research on the possible existence and subsequent properties of SMBHs in low mass galaxies or galaxies with small or no central bulges. This is a significant weakness in the research of these objects as the study of this population of galaxies would allow us to gain valuable insight into SMBH seeds, black holes thought to have formed in the early universe. Strong X-rays are a good indicator of an accreting black hole, because they require more energy to produce and SMBHs are highly energetic, as well as being easier to see due to their ability to penetrate matter more easily than other forms of radiation. In this poster, I will present the results from an X-ray investigation using data matched from the Chandra X-ray observatory to a sample of low mass galaxies (with a mass of log(M) < 9).

First Results on the Cluster Galaxy Population from the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey. III. Brightest Cluster Galaxies, Stellar Mass Distribution, and Active Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yen-Ting; Hsieh, Bau-Ching; Lin, Sheng-Chieh; Oguri, Masamune; Chen, Kai-Feng; Tanaka, Masayuki; Chiu, I.-Non; Huang, Song; Kodama, Tadayuki; Leauthaud, Alexie; More, Surhud; Nishizawa, Atsushi J.; Bundy, Kevin; Lin, Lihwai; Miyazaki, Satoshi

2017-12-01

The unprecedented depth and area surveyed by the Subaru Strategic Program with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC-SSP) have enabled us to construct and publish the largest distant cluster sample out to z∼ 1 to date. In this exploratory study of cluster galaxy evolution from z = 1 to z = 0.3, we investigate the stellar mass assembly history of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), the evolution of stellar mass and luminosity distributions, the stellar mass surface density profile, as well as the population of radio galaxies. Our analysis is the first high-redshift application of the top N richest cluster selection, which is shown to allow us to trace the cluster galaxy evolution faithfully. Over the 230 deg2 area of the current HSC-SSP footprint, selecting the top 100 clusters in each of the four redshift bins allows us to observe the buildup of galaxy population in descendants of clusters whose z≈ 1 mass is about 2× {10}14 {M}ȯ . Our stellar mass is derived from a machine-learning algorithm, which is found to be unbiased and accurate with respect to the COSMOS data. We find very mild stellar mass growth in BCGs (about 35% between z = 1 and 0.3), and no evidence for evolution in both the total stellar mass–cluster mass correlation and the shape of the stellar mass surface density profile. We also present the first measurement of the radio luminosity distribution in clusters out to z∼ 1, and show hints of changes in the dominant accretion mode powering the cluster radio galaxies at z∼ 0.8.

Les galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Combes, Francoise

2016-08-01

Considerable progress has been made on galaxy formation and evolution in recent years, and new issues. The old Hubble classification according to the tuning fork of spirals, lenticulars and ellipticals, is still useful but has given place to the red sequence, the blue cloud and the green valley, showing a real bimodality of types between star forming galaxies (blue) and quenched ones (red). Large surveys have shown that stellar mass and environment density are the two main factors of the evolution from blue to red sequences. Evolution is followed directly with redshift through a look-back time of more than 12 billion years. The most distant galaxy at z=11. has already a stellar mass of a billion suns. In an apparent anti-hierarchical scenario, the most massive galaxies form stars early on, while essentially dwarf galaxies are actively star-formers now. This downsizing feature also applies to the growth of super-massive black holes at the heart of each bulgy galaxy. The feedback from active nuclei is essential to explain the distribution of mass in galaxies, and in particular to explain why the fraction of baryonic matter is so low, lower by more than a factor 5 than the baryonic fraction of the Universe. New instruments just entering in operation, like MUSE and ALMA, provide a new and rich data flow, which is developed in this series of articles.

Environmental impacts on dust temperature of star-forming galaxies in the local Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsuki, Yasuhiro; Koyama, Yusei; Nakagawa, Takao; Takita, Satoshi

2017-04-01

We present infrared views of the environmental effects on the dust properties in star-forming (SF) galaxies at z ˜ 0, using the AKARI Far-Infrared Surveyor all-sky map and the large spectroscopic galaxy sample from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7). We restrict the sample to those within the redshift range of 0.05 < z < 0.07 and the stellar mass range of 9.2 < log 10(M*/M⊙). We select SF galaxies based on their Hα equivalent width (EWHα > 4 Å) and emission line flux ratios. We perform far-infrared (FIR) stacking analyses by splitting the SDSS SF galaxy sample according to their stellar mass, specific star formation rate (SSFRSDSS), and environment. We derive total infrared luminosity (LIR) for each subsample using the average flux densities at WIDE-S (90 μm) and WIDE-L (140 μm) bands, and then compute infrared (IR)-based SFR (SFRIR) from LIR. We find a mild decrease of IR-based SSFR (SSFRIR) amongst SF galaxies with increasing local density (˜0.1-dex level at maximum), which suggests that environmental effects do not instantly shut down the SF activity in galaxies. We also derive average dust temperature (Tdust) using the flux densities at 90 and 140 μm bands. We confirm a strong positive correlation between Tdust and SSFRIR, consistent with recent studies. The most important finding of this study is that we find a marginal trend that Tdust increases with increasing environmental galaxy density. Although the environmental trend is much milder than the SSFR-Tdust correlation, our results suggest that the environmental density may affect the dust temperature in SF galaxies, and that the physical mechanism which is responsible for this phenomenon is not necessarily specific to cluster environments because the environmental dependence of Tdust holds down to relatively low-density environments.

Galaxy Zoo: Major Galaxy Mergers Are Not a Significant Quenching Pathway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weigel, Anna K.; Schawinski, Kevin; Caplar, Neven; Carpineti, Alfredo; Hart, Ross E.; Kaviraj, Sugata; Keel, William C.; Kruk, Sandor J.; Lintott, Chris J.; Nichol, Robert C.; Simmons, Brooke D.; Smethurst, Rebecca J.

2017-08-01

We use stellar mass functions to study the properties and the significance of quenching through major galaxy mergers. In addition to SDSS DR7 and Galaxy Zoo 1 data, we use samples of visually selected major galaxy mergers and post-merger galaxies. We determine the stellar mass functions of the stages that we would expect major-merger-quenched galaxies to pass through on their way from the blue cloud to the red sequence: (1) major merger, (2) post-merger, (3) blue early type, (4) green early type, and (5) red early type. Based on their similar mass function shapes, we conclude that major mergers are likely to form an evolutionary sequence from star formation to quiescence via quenching. Relative to all blue galaxies, the major-merger fraction increases as a function of stellar mass. Major-merger quenching is inconsistent with the mass and environment quenching model. At z˜ 0, major-merger-quenched galaxies are unlikely to constitute the majority of galaxies that transition through the green valley. Furthermore, between z˜ 0-0.5, major-merger-quenched galaxies account for 1%-5% of all quenched galaxies at a given stellar mass. Major galaxy mergers are therefore not a significant quenching pathway, neither at z˜ 0 nor within the last 5 Gyr. The majority of red galaxies must have been quenched through an alternative quenching mechanism that causes a slow blue to red evolution. .

A Systematic Analysis of Caustic Methods for Galaxy Cluster Masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gifford, Daniel; Miller, Christopher; Kern, Nicholas

2013-08-01

We quantify the expected observed statistical and systematic uncertainties of the escape velocity as a measure of the gravitational potential and total mass of galaxy clusters. We focus our attention on low redshift (z <=0.15) clusters, where large and deep spectroscopic datasets currently exist. Utilizing a suite of Millennium Simulation semi-analytic galaxy catalogs, we find that the dynamical mass, as traced by either the virial relation or the escape velocity, is robust to variations in how dynamical friction is applied to "orphan" galaxies in the mock catalogs (i.e., those galaxies whose dark matter halos have fallen below the resolution limit). We find that the caustic technique recovers the known halo masses (M 200) with a third less scatter compared to the virial masses. The bias we measure increases quickly as the number of galaxies used decreases. For N gal > 25, the scatter in the escape velocity mass is dominated by projections along the line-of-sight. Algorithmic uncertainties from the determination of the projected escape velocity profile are negligible. We quantify how target selection based on magnitude, color, and projected radial separation can induce small additional biases into the escape velocity masses. Using N gal = 150 (25), the caustic technique has a per cluster scatter in ln (M|M 200) of 0.3 (0.5) and bias 1% ± 3} (16% ± 5}) for clusters with masses >1014 M ⊙ at z < 0.15.

Mass and Environment as Drivers of Galaxy Evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the Origin of the Schechter Function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Ying-jie; Lilly, Simon J.; Kovač, Katarina; Bolzonella, Micol; Pozzetti, Lucia; Renzini, Alvio; Zamorani, Gianni; Ilbert, Olivier; Knobel, Christian; Iovino, Angela; Maier, Christian; Cucciati, Olga; Tasca, Lidia; Carollo, C. Marcella; Silverman, John; Kampczyk, Pawel; de Ravel, Loic; Sanders, David; Scoville, Nicholas; Contini, Thierry; Mainieri, Vincenzo; Scodeggio, Marco; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Le Fèvre, Olivier; Bardelli, Sandro; Bongiorno, Angela; Caputi, Karina; Coppa, Graziano; de la Torre, Sylvain; Franzetti, Paolo; Garilli, Bianca; Lamareille, Fabrice; Le Borgne, Jean-Francois; Le Brun, Vincent; Mignoli, Marco; Perez Montero, Enrique; Pello, Roser; Ricciardelli, Elena; Tanaka, Masayuki; Tresse, Laurence; Vergani, Daniela; Welikala, Niraj; Zucca, Elena; Oesch, Pascal; Abbas, Ummi; Barnes, Luke; Bordoloi, Rongmon; Bottini, Dario; Cappi, Alberto; Cassata, Paolo; Cimatti, Andrea; Fumana, Marco; Hasinger, Gunther; Koekemoer, Anton; Leauthaud, Alexei; Maccagni, Dario; Marinoni, Christian; McCracken, Henry; Memeo, Pierdomenico; Meneux, Baptiste; Nair, Preethi; Porciani, Cristiano; Presotto, Valentina; Scaramella, Roberto

2010-09-01

We explore the simple inter-relationships between mass, star formation rate, and environment in the SDSS, zCOSMOS, and other deep surveys. We take a purely empirical approach in identifying those features of galaxy evolution that are demanded by the data and then explore the analytic consequences of these. We show that the differential effects of mass and environment are completely separable to z ~ 1, leading to the idea of two distinct processes of "mass quenching" and "environment quenching." The effect of environment quenching, at fixed over-density, evidently does not change with epoch to z ~ 1 in zCOSMOS, suggesting that the environment quenching occurs as large-scale structure develops in the universe, probably through the cessation of star formation in 30%-70% of satellite galaxies. In contrast, mass quenching appears to be a more dynamic process, governed by a quenching rate. We show that the observed constancy of the Schechter M* and αs for star-forming galaxies demands that the quenching of galaxies around and above M* must follow a rate that is statistically proportional to their star formation rates (or closely mimic such a dependence). We then postulate that this simple mass-quenching law in fact holds over a much broader range of stellar mass (2 dex) and cosmic time. We show that the combination of these two quenching processes, plus some additional quenching due to merging naturally produces (1) a quasi-static single Schechter mass function for star-forming galaxies with an exponential cutoff at a value M* that is set uniquely by the constant of proportionality between the star formation and mass quenching rates and (2) a double Schechter function for passive galaxies with two components. The dominant component (at high masses) is produced by mass quenching and has exactly the same M* as the star-forming galaxies but a faint end slope that differs by Δαs ~ 1. The other component is produced by environment effects and has the same M* and αs as the

Galaxy And Mass Assembly: automatic morphological classification of galaxies using statistical learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sreejith, Sreevarsha; Pereverzyev, Sergiy, Jr.; Kelvin, Lee S.; Marleau, Francine R.; Haltmeier, Markus; Ebner, Judith; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Driver, Simon P.; Graham, Alister W.; Holwerda, Benne W.; Hopkins, Andrew M.; Liske, Jochen; Loveday, Jon; Moffett, Amanda J.; Pimbblet, Kevin A.; Taylor, Edward N.; Wang, Lingyu; Wright, Angus H.

2018-03-01

We apply four statistical learning methods to a sample of 7941 galaxies (z < 0.06) from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey to test the feasibility of using automated algorithms to classify galaxies. Using 10 features measured for each galaxy (sizes, colours, shape parameters, and stellar mass), we apply the techniques of Support Vector Machines, Classification Trees, Classification Trees with Random Forest (CTRF) and Neural Networks, and returning True Prediction Ratios (TPRs) of 75.8 per cent, 69.0 per cent, 76.2 per cent, and 76.0 per cent, respectively. Those occasions whereby all four algorithms agree with each other yet disagree with the visual classification (`unanimous disagreement') serves as a potential indicator of human error in classification, occurring in ˜ 9 per cent of ellipticals, ˜ 9 per cent of little blue spheroids, ˜ 14 per cent of early-type spirals, ˜ 21 per cent of intermediate-type spirals, and ˜ 4 per cent of late-type spirals and irregulars. We observe that the choice of parameters rather than that of algorithms is more crucial in determining classification accuracy. Due to its simplicity in formulation and implementation, we recommend the CTRF algorithm for classifying future galaxy data sets. Adopting the CTRF algorithm, the TPRs of the five galaxy types are : E, 70.1 per cent; LBS, 75.6 per cent; S0-Sa, 63.6 per cent; Sab-Scd, 56.4 per cent, and Sd-Irr, 88.9 per cent. Further, we train a binary classifier using this CTRF algorithm that divides galaxies into spheroid-dominated (E, LBS, and S0-Sa) and disc-dominated (Sab-Scd and Sd-Irr), achieving an overall accuracy of 89.8 per cent. This translates into an accuracy of 84.9 per cent for spheroid-dominated systems and 92.5 per cent for disc-dominated systems.

Lurking systematics in dust-based estimates of galaxy ISM masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janowiecki, Steven; Cortese, Luca; Catinella, Barbara; Goodwin, Adelle

2018-01-01

We use galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey to evaluate commonly used indirect predictors of cold gas masses. With observations of cold neutral atomic and molecular gas, we calibrate predictive relationships using infrared dust emission and gas depletion time methods. We derive a set of self-consistent predictions of cold gas masses with ~20% scatter, and the greatest accuracy for total cold gas mass. However, significant systematic residuals are found in all calibrations which depend strongly on the molecular-to-atomic hydrogen mass ratio, and they can over/under-predict gas masses by >0.5 dex. Extending these types of indirect predictions to high-z galaxies (e.g., using ALMA observations of dust continuum to determine gas masses) requires implicit assumptions about the conditions in their interstellar medium. Any scaling relations derived using predicted gas masses may be more closely related to the calibrations used than to the actual galaxies observed.

The influence of galaxy environment on the stellar initial mass function of early-type galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosani, Giulio; Pasquali, Anna; La Barbera, Francesco; Ferreras, Ignacio; Vazdekis, Alexandre

2018-06-01

In this paper, we investigate whether the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies depends on their host environment. To this purpose, we have selected a sample of early-type galaxies from the SPIDER catalogue, characterized their environment through the group catalogue of Wang et al., and used their optical Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra to constrain the IMF slope, through the analysis of IMF-sensitive spectral indices. To reach a high enough signal-to-noise ratio, we have stacked spectra in velocity dispersion (σ0) bins, on top of separating the sample by galaxy hierarchy and host halo mass, as proxies for galaxy environment. In order to constrain the IMF, we have compared observed line strengths and predictions of MIUSCAT/EMILES synthetic stellar population models, with varying age, metallicity, and `bimodal' (low-mass tapered) IMF slope (Γ _b). Consistent with previous studies, we find that Γ _b increases with σ0, becoming bottom-heavy (i.e. an excess of low-mass stars with respect to the Milky Way like IMF) at high σ0. We find that this result is robust against the set of isochrones used in the stellar population models, as well as the way the effect of elemental abundance ratios is taken into account. We thus conclude that it is possible to use currently state-of-the-art stellar population models and intermediate resolution spectra to consistently probe IMF variations. For the first time, we show that there is no dependence of Γb on environment or galaxy hierarchy, as measured within the 3 arcsec SDSS fibre, thus leaving the IMF as an intrinsic galaxy property, possibly set already at high redshift.

THE STELLAR MASS FUNDAMENTAL PLANE AND COMPACT QUIESCENT GALAXIES AT z < 0.6

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zahid, H. Jabran; Damjanov, Ivana; Geller, Margaret J.

2016-04-20

We examine the evolution of the relation between stellar mass surface density, velocity dispersion, and half-light radius—the stellar mass fundamental plane (MFP)—for quiescent galaxies at z < 0.6. We measure the local relation from galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the intermediate redshift relation from ∼500 quiescent galaxies with stellar masses 10 ≲ log( M {sub *}/ M {sub ⊙}) ≲ 11.5. Nearly half of the quiescent galaxies in our intermediate redshift sample are compact. After accounting for important selection and systematic effects, the velocity dispersion distribution of galaxies at intermediate redshifts is similar to that of galaxiesmore » in the local universe. Galaxies at z < 0.6 appear to be smaller (≲0.1 dex) than galaxies in the local sample. The orientation of the stellar MFP is independent of redshift for massive quiescent galaxies at z < 0.6 and the zero-point evolves by ∼0.04 dex. Compact quiescent galaxies fall on the same relation as the extended objects. We confirm that compact quiescent galaxies are the tail of the size and mass distribution of the normal quiescent galaxy population.« less

The ionization parameter of star-forming galaxies evolves with the specific star formation rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaasinen, Melanie; Kewley, Lisa; Bian, Fuyan; Groves, Brent; Kashino, Daichi; Silverman, John; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan

2018-07-01

We investigate the evolution of the ionization parameter of star-forming galaxies using a high-redshift (z˜ 1.5) sample from the FMOS-COSMOS (Fibre Multi-Object Spectrograph-COSMic evOlution Survey) and matched low-redshift samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By constructing samples of low-redshift galaxies for which the stellar mass (M*), star formation rate (SFR), and specific star formation rate (sSFR) are matched to the high-redshift sample, we remove the effects of an evolution in these properties. We also account for the effect of metallicity by jointly constraining the metallicity and ionization parameter of each sample. We find an evolution in the ionization parameter for main-sequence, star-forming galaxies and show that this evolution is driven by the evolution of sSFR. By analysing the matched samples as well as a larger sample of z< 0.3, star-forming galaxies we show that high ionization parameters are directly linked to high sSFRs and are not simply the by-product of an evolution in metallicity. Our results are physically consistent with the definition of the ionization parameter, a measure of the hydrogen ionizing photon flux relative to the number density of hydrogen atoms.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): small-scale anisotropic galaxy clustering and the pairwise velocity dispersion of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loveday, J.; Christodoulou, L.; Norberg, P.; Peacock, J. A.; Baldry, I. K.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brown, M. J. I.; Colless, M.; Driver, S. P.; Holwerda, B. W.; Hopkins, A. M.; Kafle, P. R.; Liske, J.; Lopez-Sanchez, A. R.; Taylor, E. N.

2018-03-01

The galaxy pairwise velocity dispersion (PVD) can provide important tests of non-standard gravity and galaxy formation models. We describe measurements of the PVD of galaxies in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey as a function of projected separation and galaxy luminosity. Due to the faint magnitude limit (r < 19.8) and highly complete spectroscopic sampling of the GAMA survey, we are able to reliably measure the PVD to smaller scales (r⊥ = 0.01 h - 1 Mpc) than previous work. The measured PVD at projected separations r⊥ ≲ 1 h - 1 Mpc increases near monotonically with increasing luminosity from σ12 ≈ 200 km s - 1 at Mr = -17 mag to σ12 ≈ 600 km s - 1 at Mr ≈ -22 mag. Analysis of the Gonzalez-Perez et al. (2014) GALFORM semi-analytic model yields no such trend of PVD with luminosity: the model overpredicts the PVD for faint galaxies. This is most likely a result of the model placing too many low-luminosity galaxies in massive haloes.

Intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies out to redshift ˜ 2.4 in the Chandra COSMOS Legacy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mezcua, M.; Civano, F.; Marchesi, S.; Suh, H.; Fabbiano, G.; Volonteri, M.

2018-05-01

We present a sample of 40 AGN in dwarf galaxies at redshifts z ≲ 2.4. The galaxies are drawn from the Chandra COSMOS-Legacy survey as having stellar masses 107 ≤ M* ≤ 3 × 109 M⊙. Most of the dwarf galaxies are star-forming. After removing the contribution from star formation to the X-ray emission, the AGN luminosities of the 40 dwarf galaxies are in the range L0.5-10keV ˜ 1039 - 1044 erg s-1. With 12 sources at z > 0.5, our sample constitutes the highest-redshift discovery of AGN in dwarf galaxies. The record-holder is cid_1192, at z = 2.39 and with L0.5-10keV ˜ 1044 erg s-1. One of the dwarf galaxies has M* = 6.6 × 107 M⊙ and is the least massive galaxy found so far to host an AGN. All the AGN are of type 2 and consistent with hosting intermediate-mass black holes (BHs) with masses ˜104 - 105 M⊙ and typical Eddington ratios >1%. We also study the evolution, corrected for completeness, of AGN fraction with stellar mass, X-ray luminosity, and redshift in dwarf galaxies out to z = 0.7. We find that the AGN fraction for 109 < M* ≤ 3 × 109 M⊙ and LX ˜ 1041 - 1042 erg s-1 is ˜0.4% for z ≤ 0.3 and that it decreases with X-ray luminosity and decreasing stellar mass. Unlike massive galaxies, the AGN fraction seems to decrease with redshift, suggesting that AGN in dwarf galaxies evolve differently than those in high-mass galaxies. Mindful of potential caveats, the results seem to favor a direct collapse formation mechanism for the seed BHs in the early Universe.

Reconstructing the galaxy density field with photometric redshifts - II. Environment-dependent galaxy evolution since z ≃ 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malavasi, Nicola; Pozzetti, Lucia; Cucciati, Olga; Bardelli, Sandro; Ilbert, Olivier; Cimatti, Andrea

2017-09-01

Although extensively investigated, the role of the environment in galaxy formation is still not well understood. In this context, the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) is a powerful tool to understand how environment relates to galaxy mass assembly and the quenching of star formation. In this work, we make use of the high-precision photometric redshifts of the UltraVISTA Survey to study the GSMF in different environments up to z ˜ 3, on physical scales from 0.3 to 2 Mpc, down to masses of M ˜ 1010 M⊙. We witness the appearance of environmental signatures for both quiescent and star-forming galaxies. We find that the shape of the GSMF of quiescent galaxies is different in high- and low-density environments up to z ˜ 2 with the high-mass end (M ≳ 1011 M⊙) being enhanced in high-density environments. On the contrary, for star-forming galaxies, a difference between the GSMF in high- and low-density environments is present for masses M ≲ 1011 M⊙. Star-forming galaxies in this mass range appear to be more frequent in low-density environments up to z < 1.5. Differences in the shape of the GSMF are not visible anymore at z > 2. Our results, in terms of general trends in the shape of the GSMF, are in agreement with a scenario in which galaxies are quenched when they enter hot gas-dominated massive haloes that are preferentially in high-density environments.

The Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs: A Multi-Wavelength Perspective on Low-Mass Galaxy Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannon, John M.; McNichols, Andrew; Teich, Yaron; Adams, Elizabeth A.; Giovanelli, Riccardo; Haynes, Martha P.; McQuinn, Kristen B.; Salzer, John Joseph; Skillman, Evan D.; Dolphin, Andrew E.; Elson, Edward C.; Haurberg, Nathalie C.; Huang, Shan; Janowiecki, Steven; Jozsa, Gyula; Leisman, Luke; Ott, Juergen; Papastergis, Emmanouil; Rhode, Katherine L.; Saintonge, Amelie; Van Sistine, Angela; Warren, Steven R.

2017-01-01

The “Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs” (SHIELD) is a multiwavelength study of local volume low-mass galaxies drawn from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) catalog. HST/Spitzer joint program GO-12658 revealed the stellar populations of the first 12 SHIELD galaxies (Cannon et al. 2011), allowing accurate distance measurements (McQuinn et al. 2014) and detailed studies of the patterns of recent star formation in each galaxy (McQuinn et al. 2015). These HST and Spitzer images are a critical interpretive benchmark for ground-based optical imaging and spectroscopy (Haurberg et al. 2015), as well as for sensitive VLA HI spectral line imaging of the SHIELD galaxies (McNichols et al. 2016; Teich et al. 2016). These results have furthered our understanding of the evolution of galaxies in a mass regime that was previously only sparsely populated. With the low-redshift ALFALFA catalog now complete, the scope of the SHIELD program has been expanded to include all 82 galaxies that meet distance, line width, and HI flux criteria for being gas-rich, low-mass galaxies. In HST program 13750, images of 18 more SHIELD galaxies have again set the physical scales for supporting HI spectral line imaging with both the VLA and the WSRT (Gordon et al. 2016). Taken as a whole, the ongoing SHIELD program is one of the most comprehensive multiwavelength studies of the physical properties of low-mass galaxies outside of the Local Group.

A comparison of LBGs, DRGs, and BzK galaxies: their contribution to the stellar mass density in the GOODS-MUSIC sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grazian, A.; Salimbeni, S.; Pentericci, L.; Fontana, A.; Nonino, M.; Vanzella, E.; Cristiani, S.; de Santis, C.; Gallozzi, S.; Giallongo, E.; Santini, P.

2007-04-01

Context: The classification scheme for high redshift galaxies is complex at the present time, with simple colour-selection criteria (i.e. EROs, IEROs, LBGs, DRGs, BzKs), resulting in ill-defined properties for the stellar mass and star formation rate of these distant galaxies. Aims: The goal of this work is to investigate the properties of different classes of high-z galaxies, focusing in particular on the stellar masses of LBGs, DRGs, and BzKs, in order to derive their contribution to the total mass budget of the distant Universe. Methods: We used the GOODS-MUSIC catalog, containing ~3000 Ks-selected (~10 000 z-selected) galaxies with multi-wavelength coverage extending from the U band to the Spitzer 8~μm band, with spectroscopic or accurate photometric redshifts. We selected samples of BM/BX/LBGs, DRGs, and BzK galaxies to discuss the overlap and the limitations of these criteria, which can be overridden by a selection criterion based on physical parameters. We then measured the stellar masses of these galaxies and computed the stellar mass density (SMD) for the different samples up to redshift ≃4. Results: We show that the BzK-PE criterion is not optimal for selecting early type galaxies at the faint end. On the other hand, BzK-SF is highly contaminated by passively evolving galaxies at red z-Ks colours. We find that LBGs and DRGs contribute almost equally to the global SMD at z≥ 2 and, in general, that star-forming galaxies form a substantial fraction of the universal SMD. Passively evolving galaxies show a strong negative density evolution from redshift 2 to 3, indicating that we are witnessing the epoch of mass assembly of such objects. Finally we have indications that by pushing the selection to deeper magnitudes, the contribution of less massive DRGs could overtake that of LBGs. Deeper surveys, like the HUDF, are required to confirm this suggestion.

Physical Properties of UV-bright Clumps in Star-forming Galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z < 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yicheng; Rafelski, Marc; Bell, Eric F.; Dekel, Avishai; Mandelker, Nir; Primack, Joel R.; CANDELS

2018-06-01

Studying giant star-forming clumps in distant galaxies is important to understand galaxy formation and evolution. At present, however, observers and theorists have not reached a consensus on whether the observed “clumps” in distant galaxies are the same phenomenon that is seen in simulations. As a step to establish a benchmark of direct comparisons between observations and theories, we publish a sample of clumps constructed to represent the commonly observed “clumps” in the literature. This sample contains 3193 clumps detected from the rest-frame images of 1270 galaxies at 0.5≤z<3.0. The physical properties of clumps (e.g., rest-frame color, stellar mass, star formation rate, age, and dust extinction) are measured by fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED) to synthetic stellar population models. We carefully test the procedures of measuring clump properties, especially the method of subtracting background fluxes from the diffuse component of galaxies. With our fiducial background subtraction, we find a radial clump U-V color variation, where clumps close to galactic centers are redder than those in outskirts. The slope of the color gradient (clump color as a function of their galactocentric distance scaled by the semimajor axis of galaxies) changes with redshift and stellar mass of the host galaxies: at a fixed stellar mass, the slope becomes steeper toward low redshift, and at a fixed redshift, it becomes slightly steeper with stellar mass. Based on our SED fitting, this observed color gradient can be explained by a combination of a negative age gradient, a negative E(B-V) gradient, and a positive specific star formation rate gradient of the clumps. We also find that the color gradients of clumps are steeper than those of intra-clump regions. Correspondingly, the radial gradients of the derived physical properties of clumps are different from those of the diffuse component or intra-clump regions.

Baryons Matter: Why Luminous Satellite Galaxies have Reduced Central Masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolotov, Adi; Brooks, Alyson M.; Willman, Beth; Governato, Fabio; Pontzen, Andrew; Christensen, Charlotte; Dekel, Avishai; Quinn, Tom; Shen, Sijing; Wadsley, James

2012-12-01

Using high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of Milky Way-massed disk galaxies, we demonstrate that supernovae feedback and tidal stripping lower the central masses of bright (-15 < MV < -8) satellite galaxies. These simulations resolve high-density regions, comparable to giant molecular clouds, where stars form. This resolution allows us to adopt a prescription for H2 formation and destruction that ties star formation to the presence of shielded, molecular gas. Before infall, supernova feedback from the clumpy, bursty star formation captured by this physically motivated model leads to reduced dark matter (DM) densities and shallower inner density profiles in the massive satellite progenitors (M vir >= 109 M ⊙, M * >= 107 M ⊙) compared with DM-only simulations. The progenitors of the lower mass satellites are unable to maintain bursty star formation histories, due to both heating at reionization and gas loss from initial star-forming events, preserving the steep inner density profile predicted by DM-only simulations. After infall, gas stripping from satellites reduces the total central masses of satellites simulated with DM+baryons relative to DM-only satellites. Additionally, enhanced tidal stripping after infall due to the baryonic disk acts to further reduce the central DM densities of the luminous satellites. Satellites that enter with cored DM halos are particularly vulnerable to the tidal effects of the disk, exacerbating the discrepancy in the central masses predicted by baryon+DM and DM-only simulations. We show that DM-only simulations, which neglect the highly non-adiabatic evolution of baryons described in this work, produce denser satellites with larger central velocities. We provide a simple correction to the central DM mass predicted for satellites by DM-only simulations. We conclude that DM-only simulations should be used with great caution when interpreting kinematic observations of the Milky Way's dwarf satellites.

THE HALO MASS FUNCTION CONDITIONED ON DENSITY FROM THE MILLENNIUM SIMULATION: INSIGHTS INTO MISSING BARYONS AND GALAXY MASS FUNCTIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Faltenbacher, A.; Finoguenov, A.; Drory, N.

2010-03-20

The baryon content of high-density regions in the universe is relevant to two critical unanswered questions: the workings of nurture effects on galaxies and the whereabouts of the missing baryons. In this paper, we analyze the distribution of dark matter and semianalytical galaxies in the Millennium Simulation to investigate these problems. Applying the same density field reconstruction schemes as used for the overall matter distribution to the matter locked in halos, we study the mass contribution of halos to the total mass budget at various background field densities, i.e., the conditional halo mass function. In this context, we present amore » simple fitting formula for the cumulative mass function accurate to {approx}<5% for halo masses between 10{sup 10} and 10{sup 15} h {sup -1} M{sub sun}. We find that in dense environments the halo mass function becomes top heavy and present corresponding fitting formulae for different redshifts. We demonstrate that the major fraction of matter in high-density fields is associated with galaxy groups. Since current X-ray surveys are able to nearly recover the universal baryon fraction within groups, our results indicate that the major part of the so-far undetected warm-hot intergalactic medium resides in low-density regions. Similarly, we show that the differences in galaxy mass functions with environment seen in observed and simulated data stem predominantly from differences in the mass distribution of halos. In particular, the hump in the galaxy mass function is associated with the central group galaxies, and the bimodality observed in the galaxy mass function is therefore interpreted as that of central galaxies versus satellites.« less

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): detection of low-surface-brightness galaxies from SDSS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Richard P.; Baldry, I. K.; Kelvin, L. S.; James, P. A.; Driver, S. P.; Prescott, M.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Davies, L. J. M.; Holwerda, B. W.; Liske, J.; Norberg, P.; Moffett, A. J.; Wright, A. H.

2016-12-01

We report on a search for new low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs) using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data within the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) equatorial fields. The search method consisted of masking objects detected with SDSS PHOTO, combining gri images weighted to maximize the expected signal-to-noise ratio, and smoothing the images. The processed images were then run through a detection algorithm that finds all pixels above a set threshold and groups them based on their proximity to one another. The list of detections was cleaned of contaminants such as diffraction spikes and the faint wings of masked objects. From these, selecting potentially the brightest in terms of total flux, a list of 343 LSBGs was produced having been confirmed using VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) imaging. The photometry of this sample was refined using the deeper VIKING Z band as the aperture-defining band. Measuring their g - I and J - K colours shows that most are consistent with being at redshifts less than 0.2. The photometry is carried out using an AUTO aperture for each detection giving surface brightnesses of μr ≳ 25 mag arcsec-2 and magnitudes of r > 19.8 mag. None of these galaxies are bright enough to be within the GAMA main survey limit but could be part of future deeper surveys to measure the low-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function.

DARK MATTER MASS FRACTION IN LENS GALAXIES: NEW ESTIMATES FROM MICROLENSING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Mediavilla, E.; Kochanek, C. S.

2015-02-01

We present a joint estimate of the stellar/dark matter mass fraction in lens galaxies and the average size of the accretion disk of lensed quasars based on microlensing measurements of 27 quasar image pairs seen through 19 lens galaxies. The Bayesian estimate for the fraction of the surface mass density in the form of stars is α = 0.21 ± 0.14 near the Einstein radius of the lenses (∼1-2 effective radii). The estimate for the average accretion disk size is R{sub 1/2}=7.9{sub −2.6}{sup +3.8}√(M/0.3 M{sub ⊙}) light days. The fraction of mass in stars at these radii is significantly largermore » than previous estimates from microlensing studies assuming quasars were point-like. The corresponding local dark matter fraction of 79% is in good agreement with other estimates based on strong lensing or kinematics. The size of the accretion disk inferred in the present study is slightly larger than previous estimates.« less

A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF CAUSTIC METHODS FOR GALAXY CLUSTER MASSES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gifford, Daniel; Miller, Christopher; Kern, Nicholas

We quantify the expected observed statistical and systematic uncertainties of the escape velocity as a measure of the gravitational potential and total mass of galaxy clusters. We focus our attention on low redshift (z {<=}0.15) clusters, where large and deep spectroscopic datasets currently exist. Utilizing a suite of Millennium Simulation semi-analytic galaxy catalogs, we find that the dynamical mass, as traced by either the virial relation or the escape velocity, is robust to variations in how dynamical friction is applied to ''orphan'' galaxies in the mock catalogs (i.e., those galaxies whose dark matter halos have fallen below the resolution limit).more » We find that the caustic technique recovers the known halo masses (M{sub 200}) with a third less scatter compared to the virial masses. The bias we measure increases quickly as the number of galaxies used decreases. For N{sub gal} > 25, the scatter in the escape velocity mass is dominated by projections along the line-of-sight. Algorithmic uncertainties from the determination of the projected escape velocity profile are negligible. We quantify how target selection based on magnitude, color, and projected radial separation can induce small additional biases into the escape velocity masses. Using N{sub gal} = 150 (25), the caustic technique has a per cluster scatter in ln (M|M{sub 200}) of 0.3 (0.5) and bias 1% {+-} 3{r_brace} (16% {+-} 5{r_brace}) for clusters with masses >10{sup 14} M{sub Sun} at z < 0.15.« less

3D-HST + CANDELS: the Evolution of the Galaxy Size-mass Distribution Since Z=3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

VanDerWel, A.; Franx, M.; vanDokkum, P. G.; Skelton, R. E.; Momcheva, I. G.; Whitaker, K. E.; Brammer, G. B.; Bell, E. F.; Rix, H.-W.; Wuyts, S.;

Angular power spectrum of galaxies in the 2MASS Redshift Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ando, Shin'ichiro; Benoit-Lévy, Aurélien; Komatsu, Eiichiro

2018-02-01

We present the measurement and interpretation of the angular power spectrum of nearby galaxies in the 2MASS Redshift Survey catalogue with spectroscopic redshifts up to z ≈ 0.1. We detect the angular power spectrum up to a multipole of ℓ ≈ 1000. We find that the measured power spectrum is dominated by galaxies living inside nearby galaxy clusters and groups. We use the halo occupation distribution (HOD) formalism to model the power spectrum, obtaining a fit with reasonable parameters. These HOD parameters are in agreement with the 2MASS galaxy distribution we measure towards the known nearby galaxy clusters, confirming validity of our analysis.

The formation and assembly of a typical star-forming galaxy at redshift z approximately 3.

PubMed

Stark, Daniel P; Swinbank, A Mark; Ellis, Richard S; Dye, Simon; Smail, Ian R; Richard, Johan

2008-10-09

Recent studies of galaxies approximately 2-3 Gyr after the Big Bang have revealed large, rotating disks, similar to those of galaxies today. The existence of well-ordered rotation in galaxies during this peak epoch of cosmic star formation indicates that gas accretion is likely to be the dominant mode by which galaxies grow, because major mergers of galaxies would completely disrupt the observed velocity fields. But poor spatial resolution and sensitivity have hampered this interpretation; such studies have been limited to the largest and most luminous galaxies, which may have fundamentally different modes of assembly from those of more typical galaxies (which are thought to grow into the spheroidal components at the centres of galaxies similar to the Milky Way). Here we report observations of a typical star-forming galaxy at z = 3.07, with a linear resolution of approximately 100 parsecs. We find a well-ordered compact source in which molecular gas is being converted efficiently into stars, likely to be assembling a spheroidal bulge similar to those seen in spiral galaxies at the present day. The presence of undisrupted rotation may indicate that galaxies such as the Milky Way gain much of their mass by accretion rather than major mergers.

The Mass-Size Relation of Quenched, Quiescent Galaxies in the WISP Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pahl, Anthony; Scarlata, Claudia; Rutkowski, Michael J.; Zanella, Anita; Bagley, Micaela B.; Colbert, James W.; Baronchelli, Ivano; Henry, Alaina L.; Hathi, Nimish P.; Teplitz, Harry I.; Rafelski, Marc; Dai, Yu Sophia; Malkan, Matthew Arnold; Mehta, Vihang; Beck, Melanie

2016-01-01

The relation between the stellar mass and size, if measured for galaxies of similar types, can be a useful tool for studying galactic evolution. We study the mass-size relation of quenched, quiescent galaxies to determine the effect of star-formation history on the growth of these objects over time. The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallels (WISP) survey is a large HST IR grism survey of over 385 fields of ~4 arcmin2 each, and it is ideal for studying the star-formation rate with its broad spectral coverage. Using a subset of these fields with deep IR data and measurements across both filters (28 fields), we perform a color selection and identify 83 quenched galaxies with a median z~1.6. With GALFIT, we measure their effective radius and sersic index on the 2-D surface brightness distribution in the F110W band. We perform fitting of grism spectra of the observed galaxies to derive redshift, stellar mass and age for all galaxies. We combine the size, stellar mass, and stellar age determinations to investigate whether the evolution of the mass-size relation over time is primarily driven by the entrance of newly quenched galaxies or by processes affecting the individual quenched galaxies.

The SLUGGS survey: a comparison of total-mass profiles of early-type galaxies from observations and cosmological simulations, to ˜4 effective radii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellstedt, Sabine; Forbes, Duncan A.; Romanowsky, Aaron J.; Remus, Rhea-Silvia; Stevens, Adam R. H.; Brodie, Jean P.; Poci, Adriano; McDermid, Richard; Alabi, Adebusola; Chevalier, Leonie; Adams, Caitlin; Ferré-Mateu, Anna; Wasserman, Asher; Pandya, Viraj

2018-06-01

We apply the Jeans Anisotropic Multi-Gaussian Expansion dynamical modelling method to SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS (SLUGGS) survey data of early-type galaxies in the stellar mass range 1010 < M*/M⊙ < 1011.6 that cover a large radial range of 0.1-4.0 effective radii. We combine SLUGGS and ATLAS3D data sets to model the total-mass profiles of a sample of 21 fast-rotator galaxies, utilizing a hyperparameter method to combine the two independent data sets. The total-mass density profile slope values derived for these galaxies are consistent with those measured in the inner regions of galaxies by other studies. Furthermore, the total-mass density slopes (γtot) appear to be universal over this broad stellar mass range, with an average value of γtot = -2.24 ± 0.05 , i.e. slightly steeper than isothermal. We compare our results to model galaxies from the Magneticum and EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, in order to probe the mechanisms that are responsible for varying total-mass density profile slopes. The simulated-galaxy slopes are shallower than the observed values by ˜0.3-0.5, indicating that the physical processes shaping the mass distributions of galaxies in cosmological simulations are still incomplete. For galaxies with M* > 1010.7 M⊙ in the Magneticum simulations, we identify a significant anticorrelation between total-mass density profile slopes and the fraction of stellar mass formed ex situ (i.e. accreted), whereas this anticorrelation is weaker for lower stellar masses, implying that the measured total-mass density slopes for low-mass galaxies are less likely to be determined by merger activity.

Superluminous Spiral Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogle, Patrick M.; Lanz, Lauranne; Nader, Cyril; Helou, George

2016-02-01

We report the discovery of spiral galaxies that are as optically luminous as elliptical brightest cluster galaxies, with r-band monochromatic luminosity Lr = 8-14L* (4.3-7.5 × 1044 erg s-1). These super spiral galaxies are also giant and massive, with diameter D = 57-134 kpc and stellar mass Mstars = 0.3-3.4 × 1011M⊙. We find 53 super spirals out of a complete sample of 1616 SDSS galaxies with redshift z < 0.3 and Lr > 8L*. The closest example is found at z = 0.089. We use existing photometry to estimate their stellar masses and star formation rates (SFRs). The SDSS and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors are consistent with normal star-forming spirals on the blue sequence. However, the extreme masses and rapid SFRs of 5-65 M⊙ yr-1 place super spirals in a sparsely populated region of parameter space, above the star-forming main sequence of disk galaxies. Super spirals occupy a diverse range of environments, from isolation to cluster centers. We find four super spiral galaxy systems that are late-stage major mergers—a possible clue to their formation. We suggest that super spirals are a remnant population of unquenched, massive disk galaxies. They may eventually become massive lenticular galaxies after they are cut off from their gas supply and their disks fade.

Metal Abundances of KISS Galaxies. VI. New Metallicity Relations for the KISS Sample of Star-forming Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirschauer, Alec S.; Salzer, John J.; Janowiecki, Steven; Wegner, Gary A.

2018-02-01

We present updated metallicity relations for the spectral database of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) found in the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS). New spectral observations of emission-line galaxies obtained from a variety of telescope facilities provide oxygen abundance information. A nearly fourfold increase in the number of KISS objects with robust metallicities relative to our previous analysis provides for an empirical abundance calibration to compute self-consistent metallicity estimates for all SFGs in the sample with adequate spectral data. In addition, a sophisticated spectral energy distribution fitting routine has provided robust calculations of stellar mass. With these new and/or improved galaxy characteristics, we have developed luminosity–metallicity (L–Z) relations, mass–metallicity (M *–Z) relations, and the so-called fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) for over 1450 galaxies from the KISS sample. This KISS M *–Z relation is presented for the first time and demonstrates markedly lower scatter than the KISS L–Z relation. We find that our relations agree reasonably well with previous publications, modulo modest offsets due to differences in the strong emission line metallicity calibrations used. We illustrate an important bias present in previous L–Z and M *–Z studies involving direct-method (T e ) abundances that may result in systematically lower slopes in these relations. Our KISS FMR shows consistency with those found in the literature, albeit with a larger scatter. This is likely a consequence of the KISS sample being biased toward galaxies with high levels of activity.

Obscured Activity and Stellar Mass in z~0.7 Post-starburst Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rieke, George; Diamond-Stanic, Aleks; Moustakas, John; Tremonti, Christy

2008-03-01

We are proposing 3.6-24 micron imaging of a sample of z~0.7 post-starburst galaxies. These galaxies are presumed to be late-stage mergers that have evolved past their ULIRG/quasar phase and are in transition to becoming early-type galaxies. We have detected outflowing winds with velocities ranging from 500-2200 km/s for 2/3 of the sample, so it is tempting to conclude that these spectacular outflows are the result of feedback from an AGN that has expelled cold gas quenched star formation. However, it is not clear that the existing near-UV and optical data are telling the full story. With Spitzer, we can verify whether or not these 'post-starburst' galaxies are truly quiescent by measuring the amount obscured star formation and black hole activity. We will also be able to determine how significant the recent starburst event was by accurately measuring stellar mass using the red end of the stellar SED. If these galaxies do have non-negligible dust emission, we will be able to use broad-band colors as blunt tools to measure spectral features and compare to known star-forming galaxies, AGNs, and LIRGs. If not, we will have strong evidence that the feedback event has been able to halt galaxy-wide star formation.

Evidence for a Constant Initial Mass Function in Early-type Galaxies Based on Their X-Ray Binary Populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peacock, Mark B.; Zepf, Stephen E.; Maccarone, Thomas J.; Kundu, Arunav; Gonzalez, Anthony H.; Lehmer, Bret D.; Maraston, Claudia

2014-04-01

A number of recent studies have proposed that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early type galaxies varies systematically as a function of galaxy mass, with higher mass galaxies having bottom-heavy IMFs. These bottom-heavy IMFs have more low-mass stars relative to the number of high mass stars, and therefore naturally result in proportionally fewer neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs). In this paper, we specifically predict the variation in the number of BHs and NSs based on the power-law IMF variation required to reproduce the observed mass-to-light ratio trends with galaxy mass. We then test whether such variations are observed by studying the field low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) populations of nearby early-type galaxies. In these binaries, an NS or BH accretes matter from a low-mass donor star. Their number is therefore expected to scale with the number of BHs and NSs present in a galaxy. We find that the number of LMXBs per K-band light is similar among the galaxies in our sample. These data therefore demonstrate the uniformity of the slope of the IMF from massive stars down to those now dominating the K-band light and are consistent with an invariant IMF. Our results are inconsistent with an IMF which varies from a Kroupa/Chabrier like IMF for low-mass galaxies to a steep power-law IMF (with slope x = 2.8) for high mass galaxies. We discuss how these observations constrain the possible forms of the IMF variations and how future Chandra observations can enable sharper tests of the IMF. Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and obtained from the Hubble Legacy Archive, which is a collaboration between the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI/NASA), the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF/ESA) and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC/NRC/CSA). The scientific results reported in this article are based in part on data obtained from the Chandra Data Archive and observations made by the

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Mid-infrared Properties and Empirical Relations from WISE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cluver, M. E.; Jarrett, T. H.; Hopkins, A. M.; Driver, S. P.; Liske, J.; Gunawardhana, M. L. P.; Taylor, E. N.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Alpaslan, M.; Baldry, I.; Brown, M. J. I.; Peacock, J. A.; Popescu, C. C.; Tuffs, R. J.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Colless, M.; Holwerda, B. W.; Lara-López, M. A.; Leschinski, K.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Norberg, P.; Owers, M. S.; Wang, L.; Wilkins, S. M.

2014-02-01

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey furnishes a deep redshift catalog that, when combined with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), allows us to explore for the first time the mid-infrared properties of >110, 000 galaxies over 120 deg2 to z ~= 0.5. In this paper we detail the procedure for producing the matched GAMA-WISE catalog for the G12 and G15 fields, in particular characterizing and measuring resolved sources; the complete catalogs for all three GAMA equatorial fields will be made available through the GAMA public releases. The wealth of multiwavelength photometry and optical spectroscopy allows us to explore empirical relations between optically determined stellar mass (derived from synthetic stellar population models) and 3.4 μm and 4.6 μm WISE measurements. Similarly dust-corrected Hα-derived star formation rates can be compared to 12 μm and 22 μm luminosities to quantify correlations that can be applied to large samples to z < 0.5. To illustrate the applications of these relations, we use the 12 μm star formation prescription to investigate the behavior of specific star formation within the GAMA-WISE sample and underscore the ability of WISE to detect star-forming systems at z ~ 0.5. Within galaxy groups (determined by a sophisticated friends-of-friends scheme), results suggest that galaxies with a neighbor within 100 h -1 kpc have, on average, lower specific star formation rates than typical GAMA galaxies with the same stellar mass.

Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and the Mass-to-number Ratio of Galaxy Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tinker, Jeremy L.; Sheldon, Erin S.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Becker, Matthew R.; Rozo, Eduardo; Zu, Ying; Weinberg, David H.; Zehavi, Idit; Blanton, Michael R.; Busha, Michael T.; Koester, Benjamin P.

2012-01-01

We place constraints on the average density (Ω m ) and clustering amplitude (σ8) of matter using a combination of two measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: the galaxy two-point correlation function, wp (rp ), and the mass-to-galaxy-number ratio within galaxy clusters, M/N, analogous to cluster M/L ratios. Our wp (rp ) measurements are obtained from DR7 while the sample of clusters is the maxBCG sample, with cluster masses derived from weak gravitational lensing. We construct nonlinear galaxy bias models using the Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) to fit both wp (rp ) and M/N for different cosmological parameters. HOD models that match the same two-point clustering predict different numbers of galaxies in massive halos when Ω m or σ8 is varied, thereby breaking the degeneracy between cosmology and bias. We demonstrate that this technique yields constraints that are consistent and competitive with current results from cluster abundance studies, without the use of abundance information. Using wp (rp ) and M/N alone, we find Ω0.5 m σ8 = 0.465 ± 0.026, with individual constraints of Ω m = 0.29 ± 0.03 and σ8 = 0.85 ± 0.06. Combined with current cosmic microwave background data, these constraints are Ω m = 0.290 ± 0.016 and σ8 = 0.826 ± 0.020. All errors are 1σ. The systematic uncertainties that the M/N technique are most sensitive to are the amplitude of the bias function of dark matter halos and the possibility of redshift evolution between the SDSS Main sample and the maxBCG cluster sample. Our derived constraints are insensitive to the current level of uncertainties in the halo mass function and in the mass-richness relation of clusters and its scatter, making the M/N technique complementary to cluster abundances as a method for constraining cosmology with future galaxy surveys.

The most distant, luminous, dusty star-forming galaxies: redshifts from NOEMA and ALMA spectral scans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fudamoto, Y.; Ivison, R. J.; Oteo, I.; Krips, M.; Zhang, Z.-Y.; Weiss, A.; Dannerbauer, H.; Omont, A.; Chapman, S. C.; Christensen, L.; Arumugam, V.; Bertoldi, F.; Bremer, M.; Clements, D. L.; Dunne, L.; Eales, S. A.; Greenslade, J.; Maddox, S.; Martinez-Navajas, P.; Michalowski, M.; Pérez-Fournon, I.; Riechers, D.; Simpson, J. M.; Stalder, B.; Valiante, E.; van der Werf, P.

2017-12-01

We present 1.3- and/or 3-mm continuum images and 3-mm spectral scans, obtained using Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) and Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), of 21 distant, dusty, star-forming galaxies. Our sample is a subset of the galaxies selected by Ivison et al. on the basis of their extremely red far-infrared (far-IR) colours and low Herschel flux densities; most are thus expected to be unlensed, extraordinarily luminous starbursts at z ≳ 4, modulo the considerable cross-section to gravitational lensing implied by their redshift. We observed 17 of these galaxies with NOEMA and four with ALMA, scanning through the 3-mm atmospheric window. We have obtained secure redshifts for seven galaxies via detection of multiple CO lines, one of them a lensed system at z = 6.027 (two others are also found to be lensed); a single emission line was detected in another four galaxies, one of which has been shown elsewhere to lie at z = 4.002. Where we find no spectroscopic redshifts, the galaxies are generally less luminous by 0.3-0.4 dex, which goes some way to explaining our failure to detect line emission. We show that this sample contains the most luminous known star-forming galaxies. Due to their extreme star-formation activity, these galaxies will consume their molecular gas in ≲ 100 Myr, despite their high molecular gas masses, and are therefore plausible progenitors of the massive, 'red-and-dead' elliptical galaxies at z ≈ 3.

GeV Observations of star-forming galaxies with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.; ...

2012-08-07

Some recent detections of the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 253 by gamma-ray telescopes suggest that galaxies rapidly forming massive stars are more luminous at gamma-ray energies compared to their quiescent relatives. Building upon those results, we examine a sample of 69 dwarf, spiral, and luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies at photon energies 0.1-100 GeV using 3 years of data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Measured fluxes from significantly detected sources and flux upper limits for the remaining galaxies are used to explore the physics of cosmic rays in galaxies. Here,more » we find further evidence for quasi-linear scaling relations between gamma-ray luminosity and both radio continuum luminosity and total infrared luminosity which apply both to quiescent galaxies of the Local Group and low-redshift starburst galaxies (conservative P-values ≲ 0.05 accounting for statistical and systematic uncertainties). The normalizations of these scaling relations correspond to luminosity ratios of log (L 0.1-100 GeV/L 1.4 GHz) = 1.7 ± 0.1(statistical) ± 0.2(dispersion) and log (L 0.1-100 GeV/L 8-1000 μm) = –4.3 ± 0.1(statistical) ± 0.2(dispersion) for a galaxy with a star formation rate of 1 M ⊙yr –1, assuming a Chabrier initial mass function. Using the relationship between infrared luminosity and gamma-ray luminosity, the collective intensity of unresolved star-forming galaxies at redshifts 0 < z < 2.5 above 0.1 GeV is estimated to be 0.4-2.4 × 10 –6 ph cm –2 s –1 sr –1 (4%-23% of the intensity of the isotropic diffuse component measured with the LAT). Furthermore, we anticipate that ~10 galaxies could be detected by their cosmic-ray-induced gamma-ray emission during a 10 year Fermi mission.« less

GeV Observations of star-forming galaxies with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.

Some recent detections of the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 253 by gamma-ray telescopes suggest that galaxies rapidly forming massive stars are more luminous at gamma-ray energies compared to their quiescent relatives. Building upon those results, we examine a sample of 69 dwarf, spiral, and luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies at photon energies 0.1-100 GeV using 3 years of data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Measured fluxes from significantly detected sources and flux upper limits for the remaining galaxies are used to explore the physics of cosmic rays in galaxies. Here,more » we find further evidence for quasi-linear scaling relations between gamma-ray luminosity and both radio continuum luminosity and total infrared luminosity which apply both to quiescent galaxies of the Local Group and low-redshift starburst galaxies (conservative P-values ≲ 0.05 accounting for statistical and systematic uncertainties). The normalizations of these scaling relations correspond to luminosity ratios of log (L 0.1-100 GeV/L 1.4 GHz) = 1.7 ± 0.1(statistical) ± 0.2(dispersion) and log (L 0.1-100 GeV/L 8-1000 μm) = –4.3 ± 0.1(statistical) ± 0.2(dispersion) for a galaxy with a star formation rate of 1 M ⊙yr –1, assuming a Chabrier initial mass function. Using the relationship between infrared luminosity and gamma-ray luminosity, the collective intensity of unresolved star-forming galaxies at redshifts 0 < z < 2.5 above 0.1 GeV is estimated to be 0.4-2.4 × 10 –6 ph cm –2 s –1 sr –1 (4%-23% of the intensity of the isotropic diffuse component measured with the LAT). Furthermore, we anticipate that ~10 galaxies could be detected by their cosmic-ray-induced gamma-ray emission during a 10 year Fermi mission.« less

MAJOR-MERGER GALAXY PAIRS IN THE COSMOS FIELD-MASS-DEPENDENT MERGER RATE EVOLUTION SINCE z = 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, C. Kevin; Zhao, Yinghe; Gao, Y.

2012-03-10

We present results of a statistical study of the cosmic evolution of the mass-dependent major-merger rate since z = 1. A stellar mass limited sample of close major-merger pairs (the CPAIR sample) was selected from the archive of the COSMOS survey. Pair fractions at different redshifts derived using the CPAIR sample and a local K-band-selected pair sample show no significant variations with stellar mass. The pair fraction exhibits moderately strong cosmic evolution, with the best-fitting function of f{sub pair} = 10{sup -1.88({+-}0.03)}(1 + z){sup 2.2({+-}0.2)}. The best-fitting function for the merger rate is R{sub mg} (Gyr{sup -1}) = 0.053 Multiplication-Signmore » (M{sub star}/10{sup 10.7} M{sub Sun} ){sup 0.3}(1 + z){sup 2.2}/(1 + z/8). This rate implies that galaxies of M{sub star} {approx} 10{sup 10}-10{sup 11.5} M{sub Sun} have undergone {approx}0.5-1.5 major mergers since z = 1. Our results show that, for massive galaxies (M{sub star} {>=} 10{sup 10.5} M{sub Sun }) at z {<=} 1, major mergers involving star-forming galaxies (i.e., wet and mixed mergers) can account for the formation of both ellipticals and red quiescent galaxies (RQGs). On the other hand, major mergers cannot be responsible for the formation of most low mass ellipticals and RQGs of M{sub star} {approx}< 10{sup 10.3} M{sub Sun }. Our quantitative estimates indicate that major mergers have significant impact on the stellar mass assembly of the most massive galaxies (M{sub star} {>=} 10{sup 11.3} M{sub Sun }), but for less massive galaxies the stellar mass assembly is dominated by the star formation. Comparison with the mass-dependent (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRG) rates suggests that the frequency of major-merger events is comparable to or higher than that of (U)LIRGs.« less

SDSS-IV MaNGA: Spatially resolved star formation histories in galaxies as a function of galaxy mass and type

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goddard, D.; Thomas, D.; Maraston, C.; Westfall, K.; Etherington, J.; Riffel, R.; Mallmann, N. D.; Zheng, Z.; Argudo-Fernández, M.; Lian, J.; Bershady, M.; Bundy, K.; Drory, N.; Law, D.; Yan, R.; Wake, D.; Weijmans, A.; Bizyaev, D.; Brownstein, J.; Lane, R. R.; Maiolino, R.; Masters, K.; Merrifield, M.; Nitschelm, C.; Pan, K.; Roman-Lopes, A.; Storchi-Bergmann, T.; Schneider, D. P.

2017-04-01

We study the internal gradients of stellar population properties within 1.5 Re for a representative sample of 721 galaxies, with stellar masses ranging between 109 M⊙ and 1011.5 M⊙ from the SDSS-IV MaNGA Integral-Field-Unit survey. Through the use of our full spectral fitting code firefly, we derive light- and mass-weighted stellar population properties and their radial gradients, as well as full star formation and metal enrichment histories. We also quantify the impact that different stellar population models and full spectral fitting routines have on the derived stellar population properties and the radial gradient measurements. In our analysis, we find that age gradients tend to be shallow for both early-type and late-type galaxies. Mass-weighted age gradients of early-types arepositive (˜0.09 dex/Re) pointing to 'outside-in' progression of star formation, while late-type galaxies have negative light-weighted age gradients (˜-0.11 dex/Re), suggesting an 'inside-out' formation of discs. We detect negative metallicity gradients in both early- and late-type galaxies, but these are significantly steeper in late-types, suggesting that the radial dependence of chemical enrichment processes and the effect of gas inflow and metal transport are far more pronounced in discs. Metallicity gradients of both morphological classes correlate with galaxy mass, with negative metallicity gradients becoming steeper with increasing galaxy mass. The correlation with mass is stronger for late-type galaxies, with a slope of d(∇[Z/H])/d(log M) ˜ -0.2 ± 0.05 , compared to d(∇[Z/H])/d(log M) ˜ -0.05 ± 0.05 for early-types. This result suggests that the merger history plays a relatively small role in shaping metallicity gradients of galaxies.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the galaxy stellar mass function to z = 0.1 from the r-band selected equatorial regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, A. H.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Driver, S. P.; Alpaslan, M.; Andrews, S. K.; Baldry, I. K.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Colless, M.; da Cunha, E.; Davies, L. J. M.; Graham, Alister W.; Holwerda, B. W.; Hopkins, A. M.; Kafle, P. R.; Kelvin, L. S.; Loveday, J.; Maddox, S. J.; Meyer, M. J.; Moffett, A. J.; Norberg, P.; Phillipps, S.; Rowlands, K.; Taylor, E. N.; Wang, L.; Wilkins, S. M.

2017-09-01

We derive the low-redshift galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF), inclusive of dust corrections, for the equatorial Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) data set covering 180 deg2. We construct the mass function using a density-corrected maximum volume method, using masses corrected for the impact of optically thick and thin dust. We explore the galactic bivariate brightness plane (M⋆-μ), demonstrating that surface brightness effects do not systematically bias our mass function measurement above 107.5 M⊙. The galaxy distribution in the M-μ plane appears well bounded, indicating that no substantial population of massive but diffuse or highly compact galaxies are systematically missed due to the GAMA selection criteria. The GSMF is fitted with a double Schechter function, with M^\\star =10^{10.78± 0.01± 0.20} M_{⊙}, φ ^\\star _1=(2.93± 0.40)× 10^{-3} h_{70}^3 Mpc-3, α1 = -0.62 ± 0.03 ± 0.15, φ ^\\star _2=(0.63± 0.10)× 10^{-3} h_{70}^3 Mpc-3 and α2 = -1.50 ± 0.01 ± 0.15. We find the equivalent faint end slope as previously estimated using the GAMA-I sample, although we find a higher value of M^\\star. Using the full GAMA-II sample, we are able to fit the mass function to masses as low as 107.5 M⊙, and assess limits to 106.5 M⊙. Combining GAMA-II with data from G10-COSMOS, we are able to comment qualitatively on the shape of the GSMF down to masses as low as 106 M⊙. Beyond the well-known upturn seen in the GSMF at 109.5, the distribution appears to maintain a single power-law slope from 109 to 106.5. We calculate the stellar mass density parameter given our best-estimate GSMF, finding Ω _\\star = 1.66^{+0.24}_{-0.23}± 0.97 h^{-1}_{70} × 10^{-3}, inclusive of random and systematic uncertainties.

Estimating the Mass of the Milky Way Using the Ensemble of Classical Satellite Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Ekta; Besla, Gurtina; Sohn, Sangmo Tony; Mandel, Kaisey

2018-06-01

High precision proper motions are currently available for approximately 20% of the Milky Way's known satellite galaxies. Often, the 6D phase space information of each satellite is used separately to constrain the mass of the MW. In this talk, I will discuss the Bayesian framework outlined in Patel et al. 2017b to make inferences of the MW's mass using satellite properties such as specific orbital angular momentum, rather than just position and velocity. By extending this framework from one satellite to a population of satellites, we can now form simultaneous MW mass estimates using the Illustris-Dark cosmological simulation that are unbiased by high speed satellites such as Leo I (Patel et al., submitted). Our resulting MW mass estimates reduce the current factor of two uncertainty in the mass range of the MW and show promising signs for improvement as upcoming ground- and space-based observatories obtain proper motions for additional MW satellite galaxies.

CLUMPY GALAXIES IN CANDELS. I. THE DEFINITION OF UV CLUMPS AND THE FRACTION OF CLUMPY GALAXIES AT 0.5 < z < 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Yicheng; Koo, David C.; Barro, Guillermo

Although giant clumps of stars are thought to be crucial to galaxy formation and evolution, the most basic demographics of clumps are still uncertain, mainly because the definition of clumps has not been thoroughly discussed. In this paper, we carry out a study of the basic demographics of clumps in star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 3, using our proposed physical definition that UV-bright clumps are discrete star-forming regions that individually contribute more than 8% of the rest-frame UV light of their galaxies. Clumps defined this way are significantly brighter than the H II regions of nearby large spiral galaxies,more » either individually or blended, when physical spatial resolution and cosmological dimming are considered. Under this definition, we measure the fraction of star-forming galaxies that have at least one off-center clump (f {sub clumpy}) and the contributions of clumps to the rest-frame UV light and star formation rate (SFR) of star-forming galaxies in the CANDELS/GOODS-S and UDS fields, where our mass-complete sample consists of 3239 galaxies with axial ratio q > 0.5. The redshift evolution of f {sub clumpy} changes with the stellar mass (M {sub *}) of the galaxies. Low-mass (log (M {sub *}/M {sub ☉}) < 9.8) galaxies keep an almost constant f {sub clumpy} of ∼60% from z ∼ 3 to z ∼ 0.5. Intermediate-mass and massive galaxies drop their f {sub clumpy} from 55% at z ∼ 3 to 40% and 15%, respectively, at z ∼ 0.5. We find that (1) the trend of disk stabilization predicted by violent disk instability matches the f {sub clumpy} trend of massive galaxies; (2) minor mergers are a viable explanation of the f {sub clumpy} trend of intermediate-mass galaxies at z < 1.5, given a realistic observability timescale; and (3) major mergers are unlikely responsible for the f {sub clumpy} trend in all masses at z < 1.5. The clump contribution to the rest-frame UV light of star-forming galaxies shows a broad peak around galaxies with log (M {sub *}/M

The size evolution of star-forming and quenched galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genel, Shy; Nelson, Dylan; Pillepich, Annalisa; Springel, Volker; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Weinberger, Rainer; Hernquist, Lars; Naiman, Jill; Vogelsberger, Mark; Marinacci, Federico; Torrey, Paul

2018-03-01

We analyse scaling relations and evolution histories of galaxy sizes in TNG100, part of the IllustrisTNG simulation suite. Observational qualitative trends of size with stellar mass, star formation rate and redshift are reproduced, and a quantitative comparison of projected r band sizes at 0 ≲ z ≲ 2 shows agreement to much better than 0.25 dex. We follow populations of z = 0 galaxies with a range of masses backwards in time along their main progenitor branches, distinguishing between main-sequence and quenched galaxies. Our main findings are as follows. (i) At M*, z = 0 ≳ 109.5 M⊙, the evolution of the median main progenitor differs, with quenched galaxies hardly growing in median size before quenching, whereas main-sequence galaxies grow their median size continuously, thus opening a gap from the progenitors of quenched galaxies. This is partly because the main-sequence high-redshift progenitors of quenched z = 0 galaxies are drawn from the lower end of the size distribution of the overall population of main-sequence high-redshift galaxies. (ii) Quenched galaxies with M*, z = 0 ≳ 109.5 M⊙ experience a steep size growth on the size-mass plane after their quenching time, but with the exception of galaxies with M*, z = 0 ≳ 1011 M⊙, the size growth after quenching is small in absolute terms, such that most of the size (and mass) growth of quenched galaxies (and its variation among them) occurs while they are still on the main sequence. After they become quenched, the size growth rate of quenched galaxies as a function of time, as opposed to versus mass, is similar to that of main-sequence galaxies. Hence, the size gap is retained down to z = 0.

Weighing Galaxy Clusters with Gas. II. On the Origin of Hydrostatic Mass Bias in ΛCDM Galaxy Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Kaylea; Lau, Erwin T.; Nagai, Daisuke; Rudd, Douglas H.; Yu, Liang

2014-02-01

The use of galaxy clusters as cosmological probes hinges on our ability to measure their masses accurately and with high precision. Hydrostatic mass is one of the most common methods for estimating the masses of individual galaxy clusters, which suffer from biases due to departures from hydrostatic equilibrium. Using a large, mass-limited sample of massive galaxy clusters from a high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation, in this work we show that in addition to turbulent and bulk gas velocities, acceleration of gas introduces biases in the hydrostatic mass estimate of galaxy clusters. In unrelaxed clusters, the acceleration bias is comparable to the bias due to non-thermal pressure associated with merger-induced turbulent and bulk gas motions. In relaxed clusters, the mean mass bias due to acceleration is small (lsim 3%), but the scatter in the mass bias can be reduced by accounting for gas acceleration. Additionally, this acceleration bias is greater in the outskirts of higher redshift clusters where mergers are more frequent and clusters are accreting more rapidly. Since gas acceleration cannot be observed directly, it introduces an irreducible bias for hydrostatic mass estimates. This acceleration bias places limits on how well we can recover cluster masses from future X-ray and microwave observations. We discuss implications for cluster mass estimates based on X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, and gravitational lensing observations and their impact on cluster cosmology.

GOODS-HERSCHEL: STAR FORMATION, DUST ATTENUATION, AND THE FIR–RADIO CORRELATION ON THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES UP TO z ≃ 4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pannella, M.; Elbaz, D.; Daddi, E.

We use deep panchromatic data sets in the GOODS-N field, from GALEX to the deepest Herschel far-infrared (FIR) and VLA radio continuum imaging, to explore the evolution of star-formation activity and dust attenuation properties of star-forming galaxies to z ≃ 4, using mass-complete samples. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the slope of the star-formation rate–M{sub *} correlation is consistent with being constant ≃0.8 up to z ≃ 1.5, while its normalization keeps increasing with redshift; (ii) for the first time we are able to explore the FIR–radio correlation for a mass-selected sample of star-forming galaxies: themore » correlation does not evolve up to z ≃ 4; (iii) we confirm that galaxy stellar mass is a robust proxy for UV dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies, with more massive galaxies being more dust attenuated. Strikingly, we find that this attenuation relation evolves very weakly with redshift, with the amount of dust attenuation increasing by less than 0.3 mag over the redshift range [0.5–4] for a fixed stellar mass; (iv) the correlation between dust attenuation and the UV spectral slope evolves with redshift, with the median UV slope becoming bluer with redshift. By z ≃ 3, typical UV slopes are inconsistent, given the measured dust attenuations, with the predictions of commonly used empirical laws. (v) Finally, building on existing results, we show that gas reddening is marginally larger (by a factor of around 1.3) than the stellar reddening at all redshifts probed. Our results support a scenario where the ISM conditions of typical star-forming galaxies evolve with redshift, such that at z ≥ 1.5 Main Sequence galaxies have ISM conditions moving closer to those of local starbursts.« less

UNCOVERING DRIVERS OF DISK ASSEMBLY: BULGELESS GALAXIES AND THE STELLAR MASS TULLY-FISHER RELATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Sarah H.; Sullivan, Mark; Ellis, Richard S., E-mail: smiller@astro.caltech.edu

2013-01-01

In order to determine what processes govern the assembly history of galaxies with rotating disks, we examine the stellar mass Tully-Fisher (TF) relation over a wide range in redshift partitioned according to whether or not galaxies contain a prominent bulge. Using our earlier Keck spectroscopic sample, for which bulge/total parameters are available from analyses of Hubble Space Telescope images, we find that bulgeless disk galaxies with z > 0.8 present a significant offset from the local (TF) relation whereas, at all redshifts probed, those with significant bulges fall along the local relation. Our results support the suggestion that bulge growthmore » may somehow expedite the maturing of disk galaxies onto the (TF) relation. We discuss a variety of physical hypotheses that may explain this result in the context of kinematic observations of star-forming galaxies at redshifts z = 0 and z > 2.« less

Listening to Shells: Galaxy Masses from Disrupted Satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westfall, Kyle; Sanderson, R.

2014-01-01

Our ability to measure the dynamical mass of an individual galaxy is limited by the radial extent of the luminous tracers of its potential. For elliptical galaxies, it is difficult to go much beyond two effective radii using integrated light. Appealing to particle tracers like globular clusters has allowed for mass measurements out to ten effective radii. The extended atomic-gas disks of spiral galaxies allow one to measure rotation curves well beyond the optical disk to a few effective radii; however, such mass measurements are limited to a single plane and can often be confused by warps. As surface-brightness limits have pushed ever deeper, the revealed abundance of disrupted satellites in galaxy halos may present a unique opportunity for determining the enclosed mass at very large radii (more than five effective radii), provided our technology is up to the challenge. Here, we discuss the prospect of using integrated light spectroscopy of tidal shells to measure the masses of individual galaxies at redshifts of up to 0.1. Our study considers the limitations of current and projected instrumentation on 4-, 10-, and 30-meter class telescopes. The observational constraints are indeed very stringent, requiring both high sensitivity (with V-band surface brightness limits below 25 mag per square arsecond) and high spectral resolution (R>10k), whereas spatial resolution is effectively irrelevant. Bigger is not necessarily better for our application because of the limited field-of-view (FOV) of large telescopes, which dramatically limits their total grasp. We find the two most-promising setups are (1) a large FOV (1 square arcminute) integral-field unit (IFU) on a 4-meter class telescope and (2) a multiplexed suite of small FOV (10 square arcseconds) IFUs on a 10- or 30-meter class telescope. Two prospective instruments that may meet these requirements are WEAVE, an instrument currently planned for the William Herschel Telescope at La Palma, and an OPTIMOS

Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of giant elliptical galaxies.

PubMed

McConnell, Nicholas J; Ma, Chung-Pei; Gebhardt, Karl; Wright, Shelley A; Murphy, Jeremy D; Lauer, Tod R; Graham, James R; Richstone, Douglas O

2011-12-08

Observational work conducted over the past few decades indicates that all massive galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres. Although the luminosities and brightness fluctuations of quasars in the early Universe suggest that some were powered by black holes with masses greater than 10 billion solar masses, the remnants of these objects have not been found in the nearby Universe. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 hosts the hitherto most massive known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion solar masses. Here we report that NGC 3842, the brightest galaxy in a cluster at a distance from Earth of 98 megaparsecs, has a central black hole with a mass of 9.7 billion solar masses, and that a black hole of comparable or greater mass is present in NGC 4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster (at a distance of 103 megaparsecs). These two black holes are significantly more massive than predicted by linearly extrapolating the widely used correlations between black-hole mass and the stellar velocity dispersion or bulge luminosity of the host galaxy. Although these correlations remain useful for predicting black-hole masses in less massive elliptical galaxies, our measurements suggest that different evolutionary processes influence the growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes.

The connection between mass, environment, and slow rotation in simulated galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lagos, Claudia del P.; Schaye, Joop; Bahé, Yannick; Van de Sande, Jesse; Kay, Scott T.; Barnes, David; Davis, Timothy A.; Dalla Vecchia, Claudio

2018-06-01

Recent observations from integral field spectroscopy (IFS) indicate that the fraction of galaxies that are slow rotators (SRs), FSR, depends primarily on stellar mass, with no significant dependence on environment. We investigate these trends and the formation paths of SRs using the EAGLE and HYDRANGEA hydrodynamical simulations. EAGLE consists of several cosmological boxes of volumes up to (100 Mpc)^3, while HYDRANGEA consists of 24 cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters and their environment. Together they provide a statistically significant sample in the stellar mass range 10^{9.5}-10^{12.3} M_{⊙}, of 16 358 galaxies. We construct IFS-like cubes and measure stellar spin parameters, λR, and ellipticities, allowing us to classify galaxies into slow/fast rotators as in observations. The simulations display a primary dependence of FSR on stellar mass, with a weak dependence on environment. At fixed stellar mass, satellite galaxies are more likely to be SRs than centrals. FSR shows a dependence on halo mass at fixed stellar mass for central galaxies, while no such trend is seen for satellites. We find that ≈70 per cent of SRs at z = 0 have experienced at least one merger with mass ratio ≥0.1, with dry mergers being at least twice more common than wet mergers. Individual dry mergers tend to decrease λR, while wet mergers mostly increase it. However, 30 per cent of SRs at z = 0 have not experienced mergers, and those inhabit haloes with median spins twice smaller than the haloes hosting the rest of the SRs. Thus, although the formation paths of SRs can be varied, dry mergers and/or haloes with small spins dominate.

The KMOS Deep Survey (KDS) - I. Dynamical measurements of typical star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 3.5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, O. J.; Cirasuolo, M.; Harrison, C. M.; McLure, R. J.; Dunlop, J. S.; Swinbank, A. M.; Johnson, H. L.; Sobral, D.; Matthee, J.; Sharples, R. M.

2017-10-01

We present dynamical measurements from the KMOS (K-band multi-object spectrograph) Deep Survey (KDS), which comprises 77 typical star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 3.5 in the mass range 9.0 < log (M⋆/M⊙) < 10.5. These measurements constrain the internal dynamics, the intrinsic velocity dispersions (σint) and rotation velocities (VC) of galaxies in the high-redshift Universe. The mean velocity dispersion of the galaxies in our sample is σ _int = 70.8^{+3.3}_{-3.1} km s^{-1}, revealing that the increasing average σint with increasing redshift, reported for z ≲ 2, continues out to z ≃ 3.5. Only 36 ± 8 per cent of our galaxies are rotation-dominated (VC/σint > 1), with the sample average VC/σint value much smaller than at lower redshift. After carefully selecting comparable star-forming samples at multiple epochs, we find that the rotation-dominated fraction evolves with redshift with a z-0.2 dependence. The rotation-dominated KDS galaxies show no clear offset from the local rotation velocity-stellar mass (I.e. VC-M⋆) relation, although a smaller fraction of the galaxies are on the relation due to the increase in the dispersion-dominated fraction. These observations are consistent with a simple equilibrium model picture, in which random motions are boosted in high-redshift galaxies by a combination of the increasing gas fractions, accretion efficiency, specific star formation rate and stellar feedback and which may provide significant pressure support against gravity on the galactic disc scale.

Dusty Star Forming Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes at High Redshifts: In- Situ Coevolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mancuso, Claudia

2016-10-01

We have exploited the continuity equation approach and the star-formation timescales derived from the observed 'main sequence' relation (Star Formation Rate vs Stellar Mass), to show that the observed high abundance of galaxies with stellar masses ≥ a few 10^10 M⊙ at redshift z ≥ 4 implies the existence of a galaxy population featuring large star formation rates (SFRs) ψ ≥ 10^2 M⊙ yr^-1 in heavily dust-obscured conditions. These galaxies constitute the high-redshift counterparts of the dusty star-forming population already surveyed for z ≤ 3 in the Far-InfraRed (FIR) band by the Herschel space observatory. We work out specific predictions for the evolution of the corresponding stellar mass and SFR functions out to z ∼10, elucidating that the number density at z ≤ 8 for SFRs ψ ≥ 30 M⊙ yr^-1 cannot be estimated relying on the UltraViolet (UV) luminosity function alone, even when standard corrections for dust extinction based on the UV slope are applied. We compute the number counts and redshift distributions (including galaxy-scale gravitational lensing) of this galaxy population, and show that current data from AzTEC-LABOCA, SCUBA-2 and ALMA-SPT surveys are already digging into it. We substantiate how an observational strategy based on a color preselection in the far-IR or (sub-)mm band with Herschel and SCUBA-2, supplemented by photometric data via on-source observations with ALMA, can allow to reconstruct the bright end of the SFR functions out to z ≤ 8. In parallel, such a challenging task can be managed by exploiting current UV surveys in combination with (sub-)mm observations by ALMA and NIKA2. The same could be done with radio observations by SKA and its precursors. In particular we have worked out predictions for the radio counts of star-forming galaxies down to nJy levels, along with redshift distributions down to the detection limits of the phase 1 Square Kilometer Array MID telescope (SKA1-MID) and of its precursors. To do that we

The dust masses of powerful radio galaxies: clues to the triggering of their activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadhunter, C.; Dicken, D.; Morganti, R.; Konyves, V.; Ysard, N.; Nesvadba, N.; Ramos Almeida, C.

2014-11-01

We use deep Herschel Space Observatory observations of a 90 per cent complete sample of 32 intermediate-redshift 2Jy radio galaxies (0.05 < z < 0.7) with strong emission lines to estimate the dust masses of their host galaxies and thereby investigate the triggering mechanisms for their quasar-like AGN. The dust masses derived for the radio galaxies (7.2 × 105 < Md < 2.6 × 108 M⊙) are intermediate between those of quiescent elliptical galaxies on the one hand, and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) on the other. Consistent with simple models for the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, these results suggest that most radio galaxies represent the late time re-triggering of AGN activity via mergers between the host giant elliptical galaxies and companion galaxies with relatively low gas masses. However, a minority of the radio galaxies in our sample (˜20 per cent) have high, ULIRG-like dust masses, along with evidence for prodigious star formation activity. The latter objects are more likely to have been triggered in major, gas-rich mergers that represent a rapid growth phase for both their host galaxies and their supermassive black holes.

Mass-metallicity relation for AKARI-FMOS infrared luminous galaxies at z ~ 0.9

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oi, Nagisa; Matsuhara, Hideo; Goto, Tomotsugu; Pearson, Chris; Buat, Véronique; Malkan, Matthew A.

We study the mass-metallicity relation and fundamental relation (FMR) for infrared bright galaxies (IR galaxies) at z ~ 0.9 discovered by AKARI NEP-Deep survey. The main result of this work is that metallicity of IR galaxies surprisingly match optical selected galaxies at a given mass even their star formation rates are different, which may imply that optical and IR selected galaxies follow similar star formation histories, and the starbursts in the IR galaxies do not give a strong impact in changing metallicity because of the short duration time.

3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since z = 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Wel, A.; Franx, M.; van Dokkum, P. G.; Skelton, R. E.; Momcheva, I. G.; Whitaker, K. E.; Brammer, G. B.; Bell, E. F.; Rix, H.-W.; Wuyts, S.; Ferguson, H. C.; Holden, B. P.; Barro, G.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Chang, Yu-Yen; McGrath, E. J.; Häussler, B.; Dekel, A.; Behroozi, P.; Fumagalli, M.; Leja, J.; Lundgren, B. F.; Maseda, M. V.; Nelson, E. J.; Wake, D. A.; Patel, S. G.; Labbé, I.; Faber, S. M.; Grogin, N. A.; Kocevski, D. D.

2014-06-01

Spectroscopic+photometric redshifts, stellar mass estimates, and rest-frame colors from the 3D-HST survey are combined with structural parameter measurements from CANDELS imaging to determine the galaxy size-mass distribution over the redshift range 0 < z < 3. Separating early- and late-type galaxies on the basis of star-formation activity, we confirm that early-type galaxies are on average smaller than late-type galaxies at all redshifts, and we find a significantly different rate of average size evolution at fixed galaxy mass, with fast evolution for the early-type population, R effvprop(1 + z)-1.48, and moderate evolution for the late-type population, R effvprop(1 + z)-0.75. The large sample size and dynamic range in both galaxy mass and redshift, in combination with the high fidelity of our measurements due to the extensive use of spectroscopic data, not only fortify previous results but also enable us to probe beyond simple average galaxy size measurements. At all redshifts the slope of the size-mass relation is shallow, R_{eff}\\propto M_*^{0.22}, for late-type galaxies with stellar mass >3 × 109 M ⊙, and steep, R_{eff}\\propto M_*^{0.75}, for early-type galaxies with stellar mass >2 × 1010 M ⊙. The intrinsic scatter is lsim0.2 dex for all galaxy types and redshifts. For late-type galaxies, the logarithmic size distribution is not symmetric but is skewed toward small sizes: at all redshifts and masses, a tail of small late-type galaxies exists that overlaps in size with the early-type galaxy population. The number density of massive (~1011 M ⊙), compact (R eff < 2 kpc) early-type galaxies increases from z = 3 to z = 1.5-2 and then strongly decreases at later cosmic times.

TRACING EMBEDDED STELLAR POPULATIONS IN CLUSTERS AND GALAXIES USING MOLECULAR EMISSION: METHANOL AS A SIGNATURE OF THE LOW-MASS END OF THE IMF

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kristensen, Lars E.; Bergin, Edwin A., E-mail: lkristensen@cfa.harvard.edu

2015-07-10

Most low-mass protostars form in clusters, in particular high-mass clusters; however, how low-mass stars form in high-mass clusters and what the mass distribution is are still open questions both in our own Galaxy and elsewhere. To access the population of forming embedded low-mass protostars observationally, we propose using molecular outflows as tracers. Because the outflow emission scales with mass, the effective contrast between low-mass protostars and their high-mass cousins is greatly lowered. In particular, maps of methanol emission at 338.4 GHz (J = 7{sub 0}–6{sub 0} A{sup +}) in low-mass clusters illustrate that this transition is an excellent probe ofmore » the low-mass population. We present here a model of a forming cluster where methanol emission is assigned to every embedded low-mass protostar. The resulting model image of methanol emission is compared to recent ALMA observations toward a high-mass cluster and the similarity is striking: the toy model reproduces observations to better than a factor of two and suggests that approximately 50% of the total flux originates in low-mass outflows. Future fine-tuning of the model will eventually make it a tool for interpreting the embedded low-mass population of distant regions within our own Galaxy and ultimately higher-redshift starburst galaxies, not just for methanol emission but also water and high-J CO.« less

X-ray Emission from Seyfert 2 Galaxies with Low-Mass Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barth, Aaron

2005-10-01

We have recently identified the first sample of Seyfert 2 nuclei in host galaxies with stellar velocity dispersions smaller than 60 km/s, as a way to detect and study black holes with likely masses below 10^6 solar masses. These galaxies are Type 2 analogs of "dwarf" Seyfert 1 galaxies such as NGC 4395 and POX 52. We propose to obtain XMM exposures of four Seyfert 2 galaxies with stellar velocity dispersions in the range 25-47 km/s in order to (a) determine X-ray luminosities as part of an overall program to measure the SEDs of these sources; (b) determine the amount of X-ray absorption to establish whether these are obscured versions of NLS1 galaxies; (c) search for variability, which is expected for AGNs with very low black hole masses.

Merger-driven evolution of the effective stellar initial mass function of massive early-type galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sonnenfeld, Alessandro; Nipoti, Carlo; Treu, Tommaso

2017-02-01

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies is the combination of the IMF of the stellar population formed in situ and that of accreted stellar populations. Using as an observable the effective IMF αIMF, defined as the ratio between the true stellar mass of a galaxy and the stellar mass inferred assuming a Salpeter IMF, we present a theoretical model for its evolution as a result of dry mergers. We use a simple dry-merger evolution model, based on cosmological N-body simulations, together with empirically motivated prescriptions for the IMF to make predictions on how the effective IMF of massive early-type galaxies changes from z = 2 to z = 0. We find that the IMF normalization of individual galaxies becomes lighter with time. At fixed velocity dispersion, αIMF is predicted to be constant with redshift. Current dynamical constraints on the evolution of the IMF are in slight tension with this prediction, even though systematic uncertainties, including the effect of radial gradients in the IMF, prevent a conclusive statement. The correlation of αIMF with stellar mass becomes shallower with time, while the correlation between αIMF and velocity dispersion is mostly preserved by dry mergers. We also find that dry mergers can mix the dependence of the IMF on stellar mass and velocity dispersion, making it challenging to infer, from z = 0 observations of global galactic properties, what is the quantity that is originally coupled with the IMF.

Spitzer IRS Observations of Low-Mass Seyfert Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thornton, Carol E.; Barth, Aaron J.; Ho, Luis C.; Greene, Jenny E.

2010-05-01

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has made it possible to identify the first samples of active galaxies with estimated black hole masses below ~ 106 M⊙. We have obtained Spitzer IRS low-resolution spectra, covering 5-38 μm, of a sample of 41 Seyfert galaxies with low-mass black holes. Our sample includes SDSS-selected objects from the low-mass Seyfert 1 sample of Greene & Ho (2004) and the low-mass Seyfert 2 sample of Barth et al. (2008), as well as NGC 4395 and POX 52. The goals of this work are to examine the dust emission properties of these objects and investigate the relationship between type 1 and type 2 AGNs at low luminosities and low masses, to search for evidence of star formation, and to use emission-line diagnostics to constrain physical conditions within the narrow-line regions. Here we present preliminary results from this project.

The distribution of mass for spiral galaxies in clusters and in the field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forbes, D.A.; Whitmore, B.C.

1989-04-01

A comparison is made between the mass distributions of spiral galaxies in clusters and in the field using Burstein's mass-type methodology. Both the H-alpha emission-line rotation curves and more extended H I rotation curves are used. The fitting technique for determining mass types used by Burstein and coworkers has been replaced by an objective chi-sq method. Mass types are shown to be a function of both the Hubble type and luminosity, contrary to earlier results. The present data show a difference in the distribution of mass types for spiral galaxies in the field and in clusters, in the sense thatmore » mass type I galaxies, where the inner and outer velocity gradients are similar, are generally found in the field rather than in clusters. This can be understood in terms of the results of Whitmore, Forbes, and Rubin (1988), who find that the rotation curves of galaxies in the central region of clusters are generally failing, while the outer galaxies in a cluster and field galaxies tend to have flat or rising rotation curves. 15 refs.« less

THE SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE MASS-SPHEROID STELLAR MASS RELATION FOR SERSIC AND CORE-SERSIC GALAXIES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Scott, Nicholas; Graham, Alister W; Schombert, James

2013-05-01

We have examined the relationship between supermassive black hole mass (M{sub BH}) and the stellar mass of the host spheroid (M{sub sph,*}) for a sample of 75 nearby galaxies. To derive the spheroid stellar masses we used improved Two Micron All Sky Survey K{sub s}-band photometry from the ARCHANGEL photometry pipeline. Dividing our sample into core-Sersic and Sersic galaxies, we find that they are described by very different M{sub BH}-M{sub sph,*} relations. For core-Sersic galaxies-which are typically massive and luminous, with M{sub BH} {approx}> 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun }-we find M{sub BH}{proportional_to} M{sub sph,*}{sup 0.97{+-}0.14}, consistent with othermore » literature relations. However, for the Sersic galaxies-with typically lower masses, M{sub sph,*} {approx}< 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }-we find M{sub BH}{proportional_to}M{sub sph,*}{sup 2.22{+-}0.58}, a dramatically steeper slope that differs by more than 2 standard deviations. This relation confirms that, for Sersic galaxies, M{sub BH} is not a constant fraction of M{sub sph,*}. Sersic galaxies can grow via the accretion of gas which fuels both star formation and the central black hole, as well as through merging. Their black hole grows significantly more rapidly than their host spheroid, prior to growth by dry merging events that produce core-Sersic galaxies, where the black hole and spheroid grow in lockstep. We have additionally compared our Sersic M{sub BH}-M{sub sph,*} relation with the corresponding relation for nuclear star clusters, confirming that the two classes of central massive object follow significantly different scaling relations.« less

Galaxy Evolution in the Radio Band: The Role of Star-forming Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mancuso, C.; Prandoni, I.; Lapi, A.

We investigate the astrophysics of radio-emitting star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and elucidate their statistical properties in the radio band, including luminosity functions, redshift distributions, and number counts at sub-mJy flux levels, which will be crucially probed by next-generation radio continuum surveys. Specifically, we exploit the model-independent approach by Mancuso et al. to compute the star formation rate functions, the AGN duty cycles, and the conditional probability of a star-forming galaxy to host an AGN with given bolometric luminosity. Coupling these ingredients with the radio emission properties associated with star formation and nuclear activity, we compute relevant statisticsmore » at different radio frequencies and disentangle the relative contribution of star-forming galaxies and AGNs in different radio luminosity, radio flux, and redshift ranges. Finally, we highlight that radio-emitting star-forming galaxies and AGNs are expected to host supermassive black holes accreting with different Eddington ratio distributions and to occupy different loci in the galaxy main-sequence diagrams. These specific predictions are consistent with current data sets but need to be tested with larger statistics via future radio data with multiband coverage on wide areas, as will become routinely achievable with the advent of the Square Kilometre Array and its precursors.« less

Measuring Low Mass Galaxies In The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallels Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colbert, James; Teplitz, Harry; Scarlata, Claudia; Siana, Brian; Malkan, Matt; McCarthy, Patrick; Henry, Alaina; Atek, Hakim; Fosbury, Robert; Ross, Nathanial; Hathi, Nimish; Bridge, Carrie; Bunker, Andrew; Dressler, Alan; Shim, Hyunjin; Bedregal, Alejandro; Dominguez, Alberto; Rafelski, Marc; Masters, Dan; Martin, Crystal; Dai, Sophia

2015-10-01

The WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey uses over 1800 HST orbits to study galaxy evolution over a majority of cosmic history. Its slitless grism spectroscopy over a wide, continuous spectral range (0.8-1.7 micron) provides an unbiased selection of thousands of emission line galaxies over 0.5 < z < 2.5. Hundreds of these galaxies are detected in multiple emission lines, allowing for important diagnostics of metallicity and dust extinction. We propose deep 3.6 micron imaging (5 sigma, 0.9 micro-Jy) of 60 of the deepest WISP fields observed with the combination of G102+G141 grisms, in order to detect emission-line galaxies down to 0.1 L* and masses below 10^8 Mo. Combined with our HST optical and near-IR photometry, these IRAC data will be critical to determining accurate stellar masses for both passive and active galaxies in our survey. We will determine the evolution of the faint end slope of the stellar mass function and the mass-metallicity relation down to low-mass galaxies. The addition of the IRAC photometry will also provide much stronger constraints on dust extinction and star formation history, especially when combined with information available from the emission lines themselves.

The DiskMass Survey. VII. The distribution of luminous and dark matter in spiral galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinsson, Thomas P. K.; Verheijen, Marc A. W.; Westfall, Kyle B.; Bershady, Matthew A.; Andersen, David R.; Swaters, Rob A.

2013-09-01

We present dynamically-determined rotation-curve mass decompositions of 30 spiral galaxies, which were carried out to test the maximum-disk hypothesis and to quantify properties of their dark-matter halos. We used measured vertical velocity dispersions of the disk stars to calculate dynamical mass surface densities (Σdyn). By subtracting our observed atomic and inferred molecular gas mass surface densities from Σdyn, we derived the stellar mass surface densities (Σ∗), and thus have absolute measurements of all dominant baryonic components of the galaxies. Using K-band surface brightness profiles (IK), we calculated the K-band mass-to-light ratio of the stellar disks (Υ∗ = Σ∗/IK) and adopted the radial mean (overline{mls}) for each galaxy to extrapolate Σ∗ beyond the outermost kinematic measurement. The derived overline{mls} of individual galaxies are consistent with all galaxies in the sample having equal Υ∗. We find a sample average and scatter of mlab overline{mls}mrab = 0.31 ± 0.07. Rotation curves of the baryonic components were calculated from their deprojected mass surface densities. These were used with circular-speed measurements to derive the structural parameters of the dark-matter halos, modeled as either a pseudo-isothermal sphere (pISO) or a Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) halo. In addition to our dynamically determined mass decompositions, we also performed alternative rotation-curve decompositions by adopting the traditional maximum-disk hypothesis. However, the galaxies in our sample are submaximal, such that at 2.2 disk scale lengths (hR) the ratios between the baryonic and total rotation curves (Fb2.2hR) are less than 0.75. We find this ratio to be nearly constant between 1-6hR within individual galaxies. We find a sample average and scatter of mlab Fb2.2hRmrab = 0.57 ± 0.07, with trends of larger Fb2.2hR for more luminous and higher-surface-brightness galaxies. To enforce these being maximal, we need to scale Υ∗ by a factor 3.6 on

Demographics of Star-forming Galaxies since z ∼ 2.5. I. The UVJ Diagram in CANDELS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Jerome J.; Faber, S. M.; Koo, David C.; Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo; Guo, Yicheng; Barro, Guillermo; Behroozi, Peter; Brammer, Gabriel; Chen, Zhu; Dekel, Avishai; Ferguson, Henry C.; Gawiser, Eric; Giavalisco, Mauro; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan; Kocevski, Dale D.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; McGrath, Elizabeth J.; McIntosh, Daniel; Newman, Jeffrey A.; Pacifici, Camilla; Pandya, Viraj; Pérez-González, Pablo G.; Primack, Joel R.; Salmon, Brett; Trump, Jonathan R.; Weiner, Benjamin; Willner, S. P.; Acquaviva, Viviana; Dahlen, Tomas; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Finlator, Kristian; Fontana, Adriano; Galametz, Audrey; Grogin, Norman A.; Gruetzbauch, Ruth; Johnson, Seth; Mobasher, Bahram; Papovich, Casey J.; Pforr, Janine; Salvato, Mara; Santini, P.; van der Wel, Arjen; Wiklind, Tommy; Wuyts, Stijn

2018-05-01

This is the first in a series of papers examining the demographics of star-forming (SF) galaxies at 0.2 < z < 2.5 in CANDELS. We study 9100 galaxies from GOODS-S and UDS, having published values of redshifts, masses, star formation rates (SFRs), and dust attenuation (A V ) derived from UV–optical spectral energy distribution fitting. In agreement with previous works, we find that the UVJ colors of a galaxy are closely correlated with its specific star formation rate (SSFR) and A V . We define rotated UVJ coordinate axes, termed S SED and C SED, that are parallel and perpendicular to the SF sequence and derive a quantitative calibration that predicts SSFR from C SED with an accuracy of ∼0.2 dex. SFRs from UV–optical fitting and from UV+IR values based on Spitzer/MIPS 24 μm agree well overall, but systematic differences of order 0.2 dex exist at high and low redshifts. A novel plotting scheme conveys the evolution of multiple galaxy properties simultaneously, and dust growth, as well as star formation decline and quenching, exhibit “mass-accelerated evolution” (“downsizing”). A population of transition galaxies below the SF main sequence is identified. These objects are located between SF and quiescent galaxies in UVJ space, and have lower A V and smaller radii than galaxies on the main sequence. Their properties are consistent with their being in transit between the two regions. The relative numbers of quenched, transition, and SF galaxies are given as a function of mass and redshift.

Weighing galaxy clusters with gas. II. On the origin of hydrostatic mass bias in ΛCDM galaxy clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nelson, Kaylea; Nagai, Daisuke; Yu, Liang

2014-02-20

The use of galaxy clusters as cosmological probes hinges on our ability to measure their masses accurately and with high precision. Hydrostatic mass is one of the most common methods for estimating the masses of individual galaxy clusters, which suffer from biases due to departures from hydrostatic equilibrium. Using a large, mass-limited sample of massive galaxy clusters from a high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation, in this work we show that in addition to turbulent and bulk gas velocities, acceleration of gas introduces biases in the hydrostatic mass estimate of galaxy clusters. In unrelaxed clusters, the acceleration bias is comparable to themore » bias due to non-thermal pressure associated with merger-induced turbulent and bulk gas motions. In relaxed clusters, the mean mass bias due to acceleration is small (≲ 3%), but the scatter in the mass bias can be reduced by accounting for gas acceleration. Additionally, this acceleration bias is greater in the outskirts of higher redshift clusters where mergers are more frequent and clusters are accreting more rapidly. Since gas acceleration cannot be observed directly, it introduces an irreducible bias for hydrostatic mass estimates. This acceleration bias places limits on how well we can recover cluster masses from future X-ray and microwave observations. We discuss implications for cluster mass estimates based on X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, and gravitational lensing observations and their impact on cluster cosmology.« less

A Model Connecting Galaxy Masses, Star Formation Rates, and Dust Temperatures across Cosmic Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imara, Nia; Loeb, Abraham; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Conroy, Charlie; Behroozi, Peter

2018-02-01

We investigate the evolution of dust content in galaxies from redshifts z = 0 to z = 9.5. Using empirically motivated prescriptions, we model galactic-scale properties—including halo mass, stellar mass, star formation rate, gas mass, and metallicity—to make predictions for the galactic evolution of dust mass and dust temperature in main-sequence galaxies. Our simple analytic model, which predicts that galaxies in the early universe had greater quantities of dust than their low-redshift counterparts, does a good job of reproducing observed trends between galaxy dust and stellar mass out to z ≈ 6. We find that for fixed galaxy stellar mass, the dust temperature increases from z = 0 to z = 6. Our model forecasts a population of low-mass, high-redshift galaxies with interstellar dust as hot as, or hotter than, their more massive counterparts; but this prediction needs to be constrained by observations. Finally, we make predictions for observing 1.1 mm flux density arising from interstellar dust emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.

A Catalog Sample of Low-mass Galaxies Observed in X-Rays with Central Candidate Black Holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nucita, A. A.; Manni, L.; Paolis, F. De

We present a sample of X-ray-selected candidate black holes in 51 low-mass galaxies with z ≤ 0.055 and masses up to 10{sup 10} M {sub ⊙} obtained by cross-correlating the NASA-SLOAN Atlas with the 3XMM catalog. We have also searched in the available catalogs for radio counterparts of the black hole candidates and find that 19 of the previously selected sources also have a radio counterpart. Our results show that about 37% of the galaxies of our sample host an X-ray source (associated with a radio counterpart) spatially coincident with the galaxy center, in agreement with other recent works. Formore » these nuclear sources, the X-ray/radio fundamental plane relation allows one to estimate the mass of the (central) candidate black holes, which are in the range of 10{sup 4}–2 × 10{sup 8} M {sub ⊙} (with a median value of ≃3 × 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙} and eight candidates having masses below 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙}). This result, while suggesting that X-ray emitting black holes in low-mass galaxies may have had a key role in the evolution of such systems, makes it even more urgent to explain how such massive objects formed in galaxies. Of course, dedicated follow-up observations both in the X-ray and radio bands, as well as in the optical, are necessary in order to confirm our results.« less

The Effect of Mergers on Galaxy Cluster Mass Estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Ryan E.; Zuhone, John A.; Thorsen, Tessa; Hinds, Andre

2015-08-01

At vertices within the filamentary structure that describes the universal matter distribution, clusters of galaxies grow hierarchically through merging with other clusters. As such, the most massive galaxy clusters should have experienced many such mergers in their histories. Though we cannot see them evolve over time, these mergers leave lasting, measurable effects in the cluster galaxies' phase space. By simulating several different galaxy cluster mergers here, we examine how the cluster galaxies kinematics are altered as a result of these mergers. Further, we also examine the effect of our line of sight viewing angle with respect to the merger axis. In projecting the 6-dimensional galaxy phase space onto a 3-dimensional plane, we are able to simulate how these clusters might actually appear to optical redshift surveys. We find that for those optical cluster statistics which are most often used as a proxy for the cluster mass (variants of σv), the uncertainty due to an inprecise or unknown line of sight may alter the derived cluster masses moreso than the kinematic disturbance of the merger itself. Finally, by examining these, and several other clustering statistics, we find that significant events (such as pericentric crossings) are identifiable over a range of merger initial conditions and from many different lines of sight.

The Global and Radial Stellar Mass Assembly of Milky Way-sized Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avila-Reese, Vladimir; González-Samaniego, Alejandro; Colín, Pedro; Ibarra-Medel, Héctor; Rodríguez-Puebla, Aldo

2018-02-01

We study the global and radial stellar mass assembly of eight zoomed-in Milky Way (MW)-sized galaxies produced in hydrodynamics cosmological simulations. The disk-dominated galaxies (four) show a fast initial stellar mass growth in the innermost parts, driven mostly by in situ star formation (SF), but since z ∼ 2‑1, the SF has entered a long-term quenching phase. The outer regions follow this trend but more gently, as they are more external. As a result, the radial stellar mass growth is highly inside-out due to both inside-out structural growth and inside-out SF quenching. The half-mass radius evolves fast; for instance, {R}0.5(z = 1) < 0.5 {R}0.5 (z = 0). Two other runs resemble lenticular galaxies. One also shows a pronounced inside-out growth, and the other one presents a nearly uniform radial mass assembly. The other two galaxies suffered late major mergers. Their normalized radial mass growth histories (MGHs) are very close, but with periods of outside-in assembly during or after the mergers. For all of the simulations, the archaeological radial MGHs calculated from the z = 0 stellar particle age distribution are similar to current MGHs, which shows that the mass assembly by ex situ stars and the radial mass transport do not significantly change their radial mass distributions. Our results agree qualitatively with observational inferences from the fossil record method applied to a survey of local galaxies and from look-back observations of progenitors of MW-sized galaxies. However, the inside-out growth mode is more pronounced, and the {R}0.5 growth is faster in simulations than in observational inferences.

MERGERS OF UNEQUAL-MASS GALAXIES: SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARY EVOLUTION AND STRUCTURE OF MERGER REMNANTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khan, Fazeel Mahmood; Preto, Miguel; Berentzen, Ingo

Galaxy centers are residing places for supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Galaxy mergers bring SMBHs close together to form gravitationally bound binary systems, which, if able to coalesce in less than a Hubble time, would be one of the most promising sources of gravitational waves (GWs) for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. In spherical galaxy models, SMBH binaries stall at a separation of approximately 1 pc, leading to the 'final parsec problem' (FPP). On the other hand, it has been shown that merger-induced triaxiality of the remnant in equal-mass mergers is capable of supporting a constant supply of stars on themore » so-called centrophilic orbits that interact with the binary and thus avoid the FPP. In this paper, using a set of direct N-body simulations of mergers of initially spherically symmetric galaxies with different mass ratios, we show that the merger-induced triaxiality is also able to drive unequal-mass SMBH binaries to coalescence. The binary hardening rates are high and depend only weakly on the mass ratios of SMBHs for a wide range of mass ratios q. There is, however, an abrupt transition in the hardening rates for mergers with mass ratios somewhere between q {approx} 0.05 and 0.1, resulting from the monotonic decrease of merger-induced triaxiality with mass ratio q, as the secondary galaxy becomes too small and light to significantly perturb the primary, i.e., the more massive one. The hardening rates are significantly higher for galaxies having steep cusps in comparison with those having shallow cups at centers. The evolution of the binary SMBH leads to relatively shallower inner slopes at the centers of the merger remnants. The stellar mass displaced by the SMBH binary on its way to coalescence is {approx}1-5 times the combined mass of binary SMBHs. The coalescence timescales for SMBH binary with mass {approx}10{sup 6} M{sub Sun} are less than 1 Gyr and for those at the upper end of SMBH masses 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun} are 1-2 Gyr for less