Aims: Previous observations of the young massive star formation region IRAS 19410+2336 have revealed strong outflow activity with several interacting outflows. We aim to get a better understanding of the outflow activity in this region by observing the SiO and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ emission with high angular resolution. SiO is known to trace shocked gas, which is often associated with young energetic outflows. With the H$^{13}$CO$^+$ data, we intend to better understand the distribution of the quiescent gaseous component of the region. Methods: The SiO observations in the J=2-1 v=0 transition and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ J=1-0 observations were performed by the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, combined with IRAM 30 m single-dish observations, in order to get the missing short-spacing information. We complement this new high-resolution observation with earlier CO and H$_2$ data. Results: The SiO observations do not trace the previously in CO and H$_2$ identified outflows well. Although we identify regions of highly increased SiO abundance indicative of shock interaction, there are hardly any bipolar structures in the data. The southern part of the region, which exhibits strong H$_2$ emission, shows almost no SiO. The CO and SiO data show only weak similarities, and the main SiO emission lies between the two dominating dust clumps of the region. Conclusions: Most SiO emission is likely to be a result of high-velocity shocks due to protostellar jets. However, this does not explain all the emission features and additional effects; for example, colliding gas flows at the interface of the two main regions may play an important role in the origin of the emission. The present SiO data show that several different effects can influence SiO emission, which makes the interpretation of SiO data more difficult than often assumed.
It is widely believed that the large discrepancy between the observed number of satellite galaxies and the predicted number of dark subhalos can be resolved via a variety of baryonic effects which suppress star formation in low mass halos.Supporting this hypothesis, numerous high resolution simulations with star formation, and associated feedback have been shown to reproduce the satellite luminosity function around Milky Way-mass simulated galaxies at redshift zero. However, a more stringent test of these models is their ability to simultaneously match the satellite luminosity functions of a range of host halo masses and redshifts. In this work we measure the luminosity function of faint (sub-Small Magellanic Cloud luminosity) satellites around hosts with stellar masses 10.5$<\log_{10}$M$_*$/M$_\odot<11.5$ to an unprecedented redshift of 1.5. This new measurement of the satellite luminosity function provides powerful new constraining power; we compare these results with predictions from four different simulations and show that although the models perform similarly over-all, no one model reproduces the satellite luminosity function reliably at all redshifts and host stellar masses. This result highlights the continued need for improvement in understanding the fundamental physics that governs satellite galaxy evolution.
We present VLT/X-Shooter and MUSE spectroscopy of an intrinsically faint F814W=28.82+/-0.33 (Muv=-16.8), low mass (<~10^7 Msol) and compact (R_eff=67pc) freshly star-forming galaxy at z=3.1169 magnified (20x) by the Hubble Frontier Fields galaxy cluster Abell S1063. Gravitational lensing allows for a significant jump toward low-luminosity regimes, in moderately high resolution spectroscopy (R=\lambda/d \lambda ~ 3000-7400). In particular, we measured CIV1548-1550, HeII1640, OIII]1661-1666, CIII]1907-1909, Hb, [OIII]4959-5007, emission lines with FWHM<~50 km/s and (de-lensed) fluxes spanning the interval 1.0x10^(-19) - 2x10^(-18) erg/s/cm2 at S/N=4-30. The double peaked Lya emission with \Delta v(red-blue) = 280(+/-7)km/s and de-lensed fluxes 2_(blue)|7_(red)x10^(-18) erg/s/cm2 (S/N=38_(blue)|110_(red)) indicates a low column density of neutral hydrogen gas (N_HI~10^(16-18.5)cm^-2), consistent with an highly ionized interstellar medium as also inferred from the large [OIII]5007/[OII]3727>10 ratio. We detect CIV1548-1550 resonant doublet in emission, each component with FWHM <~ 45 km/s, and redshifted by +51(+/-10) km/s relative to the systemic redshift. We interpret this as nebular emission tracing an expanding optically-thin interstellar medium. Both CIV1548-1550 and HeII1640 suggest the presence of hot and massive stars (with a possible faint AGN). The ultraviolet slope is remarkably blue, \beta =-2.95 (+/-0.20) (F_\lambda=\lambda^\beta), consistent with a dust-free and young <~20 Myr galaxy. We are witnessing an early episode of star-formation in which a relatively low N_HI and negligible dust attenuation might favor a leakage of ionizing radiation. This galaxy currently represents a unique low-luminosity reference object for future studies of the reionization epoch with JWST and ELT.
We analyze the kinematics of six Virgo cluster dwarf early-type galaxies (dEs) from their globular cluster (GC) systems. We present new Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy for three of them and reanalyze the data found in the literature for the remaining three. We use two independent methods to estimate the rotation amplitude (Vmax) and velocity dispersion (sigma_GC) of the GC systems and evaluate their statistical significance by simulating non-rotating GC systems with the same number of GC satellites and velocity uncertainties. Our measured kinematics agree with the published values for the three galaxies from the literature and, in all cases, some rotation is measured. However, our simulations show that the null hypothesis of being non-rotating GC systems cannot be ruled out. In the case of VCC1861, the measured Vmax and the simulations indicate that it is not rotating. In the case of VCC1528, the null hypothesis can be marginally ruled out, thus, it might be rotating although further confirmation is needed. In our analysis, we find that, in general, the measured Vmax tends to be overestimated and the measured sigma_GC tends to be underestimated by amounts that depend on the intrinsic Vmax/sigma_GC, the number of observed GCs (N_GC), and the velocity uncertainties. The bias is negligible when N_GC>~20. In those cases where a large N_GC is not available, it is imperative to obtain data with small velocity uncertainties. For instance, errors of <2km/s lead to Vmax<10km/s for a system that is intrinsically not rotating.
We present evidence from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations for a co-evolution of the slope of the total (dark and stellar) mass density profiles, gamma_tot, and the dark matter fractions within the half-mass radius, f_DM, in early-type galaxies. The relation can be described as gamma_tot = A f_DM + B and holds for all systems at all redshifts. We test different feedback models and find that the general trend is independent of the assumed feedback processes and is set by the decreasing importance of dissipative processes towards lower redshifts and for more massive systems. Early-type galaxies are smaller, more concentrated, have lower dark matter fractions and steeper total density slopes at high redshifts and at lower masses for a given redshift. The values for A and B change distinctively with the assumed feedback model, and thus this relation can be used as a test for feedback models. A similar correlation exists between gamma_tot and the stellar mass surface density Sigma_*. The model with weak stellar feedback and, in particular, feedback from black holes is in better agreement with observations. All simulations, independent of the assumed feedback model, predict steeper total density slopes and lower dark matter fractions at higher redshifts. While the latter is in agreement with the observed trends, the former is in conflict with currently available lensing observations, which indicate constant or decreasing density slopes. This discrepancy cannot be overcome by any of the feedback models included in this study.
We present a sample of accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in low-mass galaxies at $z<1$. We identify dwarf galaxies in the NEWFIRM Medium Band Survey with stellar masses $M_{\star}<3\times 10^{9} M_{\odot}$ that have spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2 survey and lie within the region covered by deep ($>200$ ks) archival \textit{Chandra} X-ray data. From our sample of $\sim 600$ low-mass galaxies, $10$ exhibit X-ray emission consistent with that arising from AGN activity. If black hole mass scales roughly with stellar mass, then we expect that these AGN are powered by SMBHs with masses of $\sim 10^5-10^6 \ M_{\odot}$ and typical Eddington ratios $\sim 5\%$. Furthermore, we find an active fraction consistent with extrapolations of other searches of $\sim 0.006-3\%$ for $10^9 \ M_{\odot} \leq M_{\star} \leq 3\times 10^{9} \ M_{\odot}$ and $0.1<z<0.6$. This is the first time an active fraction has been directly measured outside of the local universe for these SMBH mass ranges. We find good agreement with semi-analytic models, suggesting that as we search larger volumes we may use comparisons between observed active fractions and models to understand seeding mechanisms in the early universe.
Compact groups provide an environment to study the growth of galaxies amid multiple prolonged interactions. With their dense galaxy concentrations and relatively low velocity dispersions, compact groups mimic the conditions of hierarchical galaxy assembly. Compact group galaxies are known to show a bimodality in $Spitzer$ IRAC infrared colorspace: galaxies are preferentially either quiescent with low specific star formation rates, or are prolifically forming stars---galaxies with moderate levels of specific star formation are rare. Previous $Spitzer$ IRAC studies identifying this "canyon" have been limited by small number statistics. We utilize whole-sky WISE data to study 163 compact groups, thereby tripling our previous sample and including more galaxies with intermediate mid-IR colors indicative of moderate specific star formation rates (SSFRs). We define a distinct WISE mid-IR color-space ($\log[{\frac{\rm f_{12}}{\rm f_{4.6}}}]$ vs. $\log[{\frac{\rm f_{22}}{\rm f_{3.4}}}]$) that we use to identify canyon galaxies from the larger sample. We confirm that compact group galaxies show a bimodal distribution in the mid-infrared and identify 37 canyon galaxies with reliable photometry and intermediate mid-IR colors. Morphologically, we find that the canyon harbors a large population of both Sa-Sbc and E/S0 type galaxies, and that they fall on the optical red sequence rather than the green valley. Finally, we provide a catalog of WISE photometry for 567 of 652 galaxies selected from the sample of 163 compact groups.
Detailed studies of galaxy formation require clear definitions of the structural components of galaxies. Precisely defined components also enable better comparisons between observations and simulations. We use a subsample of eighteen cosmological zoom-in simulations from the NIHAO project to derive a robust method for defining stellar kinematic discs in galaxies. Our method uses Gaussian Mixture Models in a 3D space of dynamical variables. The NIHAO galaxies have the right stellar mass for their halo mass, and their angular momenta and S\'ersic indices match observations. While the photometric disc-to-total ratios are close to 1 for all the simulated galaxies, the kinematic ratios are around ~0.5. Thus, exponential structure does not imply a cold kinematic disc. Above log(M*)~9.5, the decomposition leads to thin discs and spheroids that have clearly different properties, in terms of angular momentum, rotational support, ellipticity, [Fe/H] and [O/Fe]. At log(M*)<9.5, the decomposition selects discs and spheroids with less distinct properties. At these low masses, both the discs and spheroids have exponential profiles with high minor-to-major axes ratios, i.e. thickened discs.
To understand the role of the environment in galaxy formation, evolution, and present-day properties, it is essential to study the multi-frequency behavior of different galaxy populations under various environmental conditions. We crossmatch the SDSS DR10 group catalog with GAMA Data Release 2 and Wide-field Survey Explorer (WISE) data to construct a catalog of 1651 groups and 11436 galaxies containing photometric information in 15 different wavebands ranging from ultraviolet (0.152 {\mu}m) to mid-infrared (22 {\mu}m). We perform the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of galaxies using the MAGPHYS code and estimate the rest frame luminosities and stellar masses. We use the 1/Vmax method to estimate the galaxy stellar mass and luminosity functions, and the luminosity density field of galaxies to define the large scale environment of galaxies. The stellar mass functions of both central and satellite galaxies in groups are different in low and high density large scale environments. Satellite galaxies in high density environments have a steeper low mass end slope compared to low density environments, independently of the galaxy morphology. Central galaxies in low density environments have a steeper low mass end slope but the difference disappears for fixed galaxy morphology. The characteristic stellar mass of satellite galaxies is higher in high density environments and the difference exists only for galaxies with elliptical morphologies. Galaxy formation in groups is more efficient in high density large scale environments. Groups in high density environments have higher abundances of satellite galaxies, irrespective of the satellite galaxy morphology. The elliptical satellite galaxies are generally more massive in high density environments. The stellar masses of spiral satellite galaxies show no dependence on the large scale environment.
After the jets have switched off, radio galaxies undergo a fading phase which is often named the dying phase. The luminosity evolution of the remnant plasma during this period is still poorly constrained because of the paucity of objects detected. Using the new 150-MHz deep LOFAR observations of the well-known extragalactic field the Lockman Hole, we performed a systematic search of dying radio sources aiming to provide good statistics on their detection and properties. To avoid selection biases towards any specific class of dying sources we used both morphological and spectral selection criteria. To do this we combined the LOFAR data with publicly available surveys at other frequencies as well as dedicated deep observations. Our preliminary results, show that the fraction of candidate dying radio sources is < 6-8% of the entire radio source population and is dominated by steep spectrum sources. By comparing these observational results with statistical modelling of the radio sky population we will be able to constrain the main mechanisms contributing to the dying radio galaxy luminosity evolution.
The S\'ersic $R^{1/n}$ model is the best approximation known to date for describing the light distribution of stellar spheroidal and disk components, with the S\'ersic index $n$ providing a direct measure of the central radial concentration of stars. The S\'ersic index of a galaxy's spheroidal component, $n_{sph}$, has been shown to tightly correlate with the mass of the central supermassive black hole, $M_{BH}$. The $M_{BH}-n_{sph}$ correlation is also expected from other two well known scaling relations involving the spheroid luminosity, $L_{sph}$: the $L_{sph}-n_{sph}$ and the $M_{BH}-L_{sph}$. Obtaining an accurate estimate of the spheroid S\'ersic index requires a careful modelling of a galaxy's light distribution and some studies have failed to recover a statistically significant $M_{BH}-n_{sph}$ correlation. With the aim of re-investigating the $M_{BH}-n_{sph}$ and other black hole mass scaling relations, we performed a detailed (i.e.~bulge, disks, bars, spiral arms, rings, halo, nucleus, etc.) decomposition of 66 galaxies, with directly measured black hole masses, that had been imaged at $3.6\rm~\mu m$ with Spitzer. In this paper, the third of this series, we present an analysis of the $L_{sph}-n_{sph}$ and $M_{BH}-n_{sph}$ diagrams. While early-type (elliptical+lenticular) and late-type (spiral) galaxies split into two separate relations in the $L_{sph}-n_{sph}$ and $M_{BH}-L_{sph}$ diagrams, they reunite into a single $M_{BH} \propto n_{sph}^{3.39 \pm 0.15}$ sequence with relatively small intrinsic scatter ($\epsilon \simeq 0.25 \rm~dex$). The black hole mass appears to be closely related to the spheroid central concentration of stars, which mirrors the inner gradient of the spheroid gravitational potential.
In the broad line region of AGN, acceleration occurs naturally when a cloud condenses out of the hot confining medium due to the increase in line opacity as the cloud cools. However, acceleration by radiation pressure is not very efficient when the flux is time-independent, unless the flow is one-dimensional. Here we explore how acceleration is affected by a time-varying flux, as AGN are known to be highly variable. If the period of flux oscillations is longer than the thermal timescale, we expect the gas to cool during the low flux state, and therefore line opacity should quickly increase. The cloud will receive a small kick due to the increased radiation force. We perform hydrodynamical simulations using Athena to confirm this effect and quantify its importance. We find that despite the flow becoming turbulent in 2D due to hydrodynamic instabilities, a 20% modulation of the flux leads to a net increase in acceleration --- by more than a factor of 2 --- in both 1D and 2D. We show that this is sufficient to produce the observed line widths, although we only consider optically thin clouds. We discuss the implications of our results for photoionization modeling and reverberation mapping.
Formation and evolution of galaxies have been a central driving force in the studies of galaxies and cosmology. Recent studies provided a global picture of cosmic star formation history. However, what drives the evolution of star formation activities in galaxies has long been a matter of debate. The key factor of the star formation is the transition of hydrogen from atomic to molecular state, since the star formation is associated with the molecular phase. This transition is also strongly coupled with chemical evolution, because dust grains, i.e., tiny solid particles of heavy elements, play a critical role in molecular formation. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of neutral-molecular gas transition, star formation and chemical enrichment is necessary to clarify the galaxy formation and evolution. Here we present the activity of SKA-JP galaxy evolution sub-science working group (subSWG) Our activity is focused on three epochs: z \sim 0, 1, and z > 3. At z \sim 0, we try to construct a unified picture of atomic and molecular hydrogen through nearby galaxies in terms of metallicity and other various ISM properties. Up to intermediate redshifts z \sim 1, we explore scaling relations including gas and star formation properties, like the main sequence and the Kennicutt-Schmidt law of star forming galaxies. To connect the global studies with spatially-resolved investigations, such relations will be plausibly a viable way. For high redshift objects, the absorption lines of HI 21-cm line will be a very promising observable to explore the properties of gas in galaxies. By these studies, we will surely witness a real revolution in the studies of galaxies by SKA.
Tidal streams from existing and destroyed satellite galaxies populate the outer regions of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). This inhomogeneous debris can be studied without many of the obstacles that plague Milky Way research. We review the history of tidal stream research in M31, and in its main satellite galaxies. We highlight the numerous tidal streams observed around M31, some of which reside at projected distances of up to 120 kpc from the center of this galaxy. Most notable is the Giant Stellar Stream, a signature of the most recent significant accretion event in the M31 system. This event involved an early-type progenitor of ~10^9 solar masses that came within a few kpc of M31's center roughly a gigayear ago; almost all of the inner halo debris (within 50 kpc) in M31 can be tied either directly or indirectly to this event. We draw attention to the fact that most of M31's outer halo globular clusters lie preferentially on tidal streams and discuss the potential this offers to use these systems as probes of the accretion history. Tidal features observed around M33, M32, NGC 205 and NGC 147 are also reviewed. We conclude by discussing future prospects for this field.
This chapter summarizes radio astrometry in relation to current very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) projects and describes its perspectives with the SKA. The scientific goals of the astrometry with the SKA have been discussed in the international and Japanese communities of researchers, whose major issues are shown here. We have demonstrated some of the issues, such as censuses of possible targets and the technical feasibility of astrometry in the SKA frequency bands. The preliminary results of our case studies on SKA astrometry are also presented. In addition, possible synergy and commensality of the SKA astrometric projects with those in the optical and infrared astrometric missions, especially JASMINE (Japan Astrometry Satellite Mission for INfrared Exploration) are discussed.
Previous studies have shown the existence of an excess of emission at submillimeter (submm) and millimeter (mm) wavelengths in the spectral energy distribution (SED) of many low-metallicity galaxies. The goal of the present study is to model separately the emission from the star forming (SF) component and the emission from the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. We decomposed the observed SED of M33 into its SF and diffuse components. Mid-infrared (MIR) and far-infrared (FIR) fluxes were extracted from Spitzer and Herschel data. At submm and mm wavelengths, we used ground-based observations from APEX to measure the emission from the SF component and data from the Planck space telescope to estimate the diffuse emission. Both components were separately fitted using radiation transfer models based on standard dust properties and a realistic geometry. Both modeled SEDs were combined to build the global SED of M33. In addition, the radiation field necessary to power the dust emission in our modeling was compared with observations from GALEX, Sloan, and Spitzer. Our modeling is able to reproduce the observations at MIR and FIR wavelengths, but we found a strong excess of emission at submm and mm wavelengths, where the model expectations severely underestimate the LABOCA and Planck fluxes. We also found that the ultraviolet (UV) radiation escaping the galaxy is 70% higher than the model predictions. We determined a gas-to-dust mass ratio Gdust~100, significantly lower than the value expected from the sub-solar metallicity of M33. We discussed different hypotheses to explain the discrepancies found in our study (i.e., excess of emission at submm and mm wavelengths, deficit of UV attenuation, and abnormally low value of Gdust), concluding that different dust properties in M33 is the most plausible explanation.
Clues to the origins and evolution of our Galaxy can be found in the kinematics of stars around us. Remnants of accreted satellite galaxies produce over- densities in velocity-space, which can remain coherent for much longer than spatial over-densities. This chapter reviews a number of studies that have hunted for these accretion relics, both in the nearby solar-neighborhood and the more-distant stellar halo. Many observational surveys have driven this field forwards, from early work with the Hipparcos mission, to contemporary surveys like RAVE & SDSS. This active field continues to flourish, providing many new discoveries, and will be revolutionised as the Gaia mission delivers precise proper motions for a billion stars in our Galaxy.
(Abridged for arXiv) The history of the mass assembly of brightest cluster galaxies may be studied by the mapping the stellar populations at large radial distances from the galaxy centre. We provide extended and robust measurements of the stellar population parameters in NGC 3311, the cD galaxy at the centre of the Hydra I cluster and out to three effective radii. Using seven absorption-features defined in the Lick/IDS system and single stellar populations models, we obtained luminosity-weighted ages, metallicities and alpha element abundances. The trends in the Lick indices and the distribution of the stellar population parameters indicate that the stars of NGC 3311 may be divided into two radial regimes, one within and the another beyond one effective radius, $R_e = 8.4$ kpc, similar to the distinction between inner galaxy and external halo derived from the NGC 3311 velocity dispersion profile. The inner galaxy ($R\leq R_e$) is old (age $\sim 14$ Gyr), have negative metallicity gradients and positive alpha element gradients. The external halo is also very old, but the metal and element abundances of the external halo have both a large scatter, indicating that stars from a variety of satellites with different masses have been accreted. The region in the extended halo associated with the off-centred envelope at 0$^o$ < P.A.< 90$^o$ (Arnaboldi et al. 2012) has higher metallicity with respect to the symmetric external halo. The different stellar populations in the inner galaxy and extended halo reflect the dominance of in situ stars in the former and the accreted origin for the large majority of the stars in the latter. These results provide supporting evidence to the recent theoretical models of formation of massive ellipticals as a two-phase process.
The proper motions of 15 nearby (d < 1 kpc) open clusters were recalculated using data from the UCAC4 catalog. Only evolved or main sequence stars inside a certain radius from the center of the cluster were used. The results differ significantly from the ones presented by Dias et al. (2014). This could be explained by the different approach to taking the field star contamination into account. The present work aims to emphasize the importance of applying photometric criteria for the calculation of open cluster proper motions.
Cosmic reionization is known to be a major phase transition of the gas in the Universe. Since astronomical objects formed in the early Universe, such as the first stars, galaxies and black holes, are expected to have caused cosmic reionization, the formation history and properties of such objects are closely related to the reionization process. In spite of the importance of exploring reionization, our understandings regarding reionization is not sufficient yet. Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a next-generation large telescope that will be operated in the next decade. Although several programs of next-generation telescopes are currently scheduled, the SKA will be the unique telescope with a potential to directly observe neutral hydrogen up to z~30, and provide us with valuable information on the Cosmic Dawn (CD) and the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). The early science with the SKA will start in a few years; it is thus the time for us to elaborate a strategy for CD/EoR Science with the SKA. The purpose of this document is to introduce Japanese scientific interests in the SKA project and to report results of our investigation.
The globular cluster 47 Tuc exhibits a complex sub-giant branch (SGB) with a faint-SGB comprising only about the 10% of the cluster mass and a bright-SGB hosting at least two distinct populations.We present a spectroscopic analysis of 62 SGB stars including 21 faint-SGB stars. We thus provide the first chemical analysis of the intriguing faint-SGB population and compare its abundances with those of the dominant populations. We have inferred abundances of Fe, representative light elements C, N, Na, and Al, {\alpha} elements Mg and Si for individual stars. Oxygen has been obtained by co-adding spectra of stars on different sequences. In addition, we have analysed 12 stars along the two main RGBs of 47 Tuc. Our principal results are: (i) star-to-star variations in C/N/Na among RGB and bright-SGB stars; (ii) substantial N and Na enhancements for the minor population corresponding to the faint-SGB; (iii) no high enrichment in C+N+O for faint-SGB stars. Specifically, the C+N+O of the faint-SGB is a factor of 1.1 higher than the bright-SGB, which, considering random (+-1.3) plus systematic errors (+-0.3), means that their C+N+O is consistent within observational uncertainties. However, a small C+N+O enrichment for the faint-SGB, similar to what predicted on theoretical ground, cannot be excluded. The N and Na enrichment of the faint-SGB qualitatively agrees with this population possibly being He-enhanced, as suggested by theory. The iron abundance of the bright and faint-SGB is the same to a level of ~0.10 dex, and no other significant difference for the analysed elements has been detected.
The halo shape plays a central role in determining important observational properties of the halos such as mass, concentration and lensing cross sections. The triaxiality of lensing galaxy clusters has a substantial impact on the distribution of the largest Einstein radii, while weak lensing techniques are sensitive to the intrinsic halo ellipticity. In this work, we provide scaling relations for the shapes of dark matter halos as a function of mass (peak height) and redshift over more than four orders of magnitude in halo masses, namely from $10^{11.5} h^{-1}$M$_\odot$ to $10^{15.8}h^{-1}$M$_\odot$. We have analysed four dark matter only simulations from the MultiDark cosmological simulation suite with more than 56 billion particles within boxes of 4.0, 2.5, 1.0 and 0.4 $h^{-1}$Gpc size assuming Planck cosmology. The dark matter halos have been identified in the simulations using the RockStar halo finder, which also determines the axis ratios in terms of the diagonalisation of the inertia tensor. The minor-to-major and intermediate-to-major axis ratios are well described by simple functional forms. We provide the corresponding fitting functions in order to infer the axis ratios for an hypothetical halo of a given mass at a given redshift.
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The far-infrared fine-structure line [CII] at 1900.5GHz is known to be one of the brightest cooling lines in local galaxies, and therefore it has been suggested to be an efficient tracer for star-formation in very high-redshift galaxies. However, recent results for galaxies at $z>6$ have yielded numerous non-detections in star-forming galaxies, except for quasars and submillimeter galaxies. We report the results of ALMA observations of two lensed, star-forming galaxies at $z = 6.029$ and $z=6.703$. The galaxy A383-5.1 (star formation rate [SFR] of 3.2 M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$ and magnification of $\mu = 11.4$) shows a line detection with $L_{\rm [CII]} = 8.3\times10^{6}$ L$_\odot$, making it the so far lowest $L_{\rm [CII]}$ ever detected at $z>6$. For MS0451-H (SFR = 0.4M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$ and $\mu = 100\pm20$) we provide an upper limit of $L_{\rm [CII]} < 3\times10^{5}$ L$_\odot$, which is 1\,dex below the local SFR-$L_{\rm [CII]}$ relations. The results are consistent with predictions for low-metallicity galaxies at $z>6$, however, other effects could also play a role in terms of decreasing $L_{\rm [CII]}$. The detection of A383-5.1 is encouraging and suggests that detections are possible, but much fainter than initially predicted.
We investigate whether the recently discovered Phoenix stream may be part of a much longer structure that includes the previously discovered Hermus stream. Using a simple model of the Galaxy with a disk, bulge, and a spherical dark matter halo, we show that a nearly circular orbit, highly inclined with respect to the disk, can be found that fits the positions, orientations, and distances of both streams. While the two streams are somewhat misaligned in the sense that they do not occupy the same plane, nodal precession due to the Milky Way disk potential naturally brings the orbit into line with each stream in the course of half an orbit. We consequently consider a common origin for the two streams as plausible. Based on our best fitting orbit, we make predictions for the positions, distances, radial velocities, and proper motions along each stream. If our hypothesis is borne out by measurements, then at ~183 degrees (~235 degrees with respect to the Galactic center) and ~76 kpc in length, Phoenix-Hermus would become the longest cold stream yet found. This would make it a particularly valuable new probe of the shape and mass of the Galactic halo out to ~20 kpc.
High-precision kinematic studies of globular clusters require an accurate knowledge of all possible sources of contamination. Amongst other sources, binary stars can introduce systematic biases in the kinematics. Using a set of Monte Carlo cluster simulations with different concentrations and binary fractions, we investigate the effect of unresolved binaries on proper-motion dispersion profiles, treating the simulations like HST proper-motion samples. Since globular clusters evolve towards a state of partial energy equipartition, more massive stars lose energy and decrease their velocity dispersion. As a consequence, on average, binaries have a lower velocity dispersion, since they are more massive kinematic tracers. We show that, in the case of clusters with high binary fraction (initial binary fraction of 50%) and high concentration (i.e., closer to energy equipartition), unresolved binaries introduce a color-dependent bias in the velocity dispersion of main-sequence stars of the order of 0.1-0.3 km s$^{-1}$ (corresponding to $1-6$% of the velocity dispersion), with the reddest stars having a lower velocity dispersion, due to the higher fraction of contaminating binaries. This bias depends on the ability to distinguish binaries from single stars, on the details of the color-magnitude diagram and the photometric errors. We apply our analysis to the HSTPROMO data set of NGC 7078 (M15) and show that no effect ascribable to binaries is observed, consistent with the low binary fraction of the cluster. Our work indicates that binaries do not significantly bias proper-motion velocity-dispersion profiles, but should be taken into account in the error budget of kinematic analyses.
We report the discovery of 15 quasars and bright galaxies at $5.7 < z < 6.9$. This is the initial result from the Subaru High-$z$ Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, which exploits the exquisite multi-band imaging data produced by the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Strategic Program survey. The candidate selection is performed by combining several photometric approaches including a Bayesian probabilistic algorithm to reject stars and dwarfs. The spectroscopic identification was carried out with the Gran Telescopio Canarias and the Subaru Telescope for the first 80 deg$^2$ of the survey footprint. The success rate of our photometric selection is quite high, approaching 100 % at the brighter magnitudes ($z_{\rm AB} < 23.5$ mag). Our selection also recovered all the known high-$z$ quasars on the HSC images. Among the 15 discovered objects, six are likely quasars, while the other six with interstellar absorption lines and in some cases narrow emission lines are likely bright Lyman-break galaxies. The remaining three objects have weak continua and very strong and narrow Ly $\alpha$ lines, which may be excited by ultraviolet light from both young stars and quasars. These results indicate that we are starting to see the steep rise of the luminosity function of $z \ge 6$ galaxies, compared to that of quasars, at magnitudes fainter than $M_{\rm 1450} \sim -22$ mag or $z_{\rm AB} \sim 24$ mag. Follow-up studies of the discovered objects as well as further survey observations are ongoing.
We present the first direct comparison between Balmer line and panchromatic SED-based SFRs for z~2 galaxies. For this comparison we used 17 star-forming galaxies selected from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey, with $3\sigma$ detections for H$\alpha$ and at least two IR bands (Spitzer/MIPS 24$\mu$m and Herschel/PACS 100 and 160$\mu$m, and in some cases Herschel/SPIRE 250, 350, and 500$\mu$m). The galaxies have total IR (8-1000$\mu$m) luminosities of $\sim10^{11.4}-10^{12.4}\,\textrm{L}_\odot$ and star-formation rates (SFRs) of $\sim30-250\,\textrm{M}_\odot\,\mathrm{yr^{-1}}$. We fit the UV-to-far-IR SEDs with flexible stellar population synthesis (FSPS) models - which include both stellar and dust emission - and compare the inferred SFRs with the SFR(H$\alpha$,H$\beta$) values corrected for dust attenuation using Balmer decrements. The two SFRs agree with a scatter of 0.17 dex. Our results imply that the Balmer decrement accurately predicts the obscuration of the nebular lines and can be used to robustly calculate SFRs for star-forming galaxies at z~2 with SFRs up to $\sim200\,\textrm{M}_\odot\,\mathrm{yr^{-1}}$. We also use our data to assess SFR indicators based on modeling the UV-to-mid-IR SEDs or by adding SFR(UV) and SFR(IR), for which the latter is based on the mid-IR only or on the full IR SED. All these SFRs show a poorer agreement with SFR(H$\alpha$,H$\beta$) and in some cases large systematic biases are observed. Finally, we show that the SFR and dust attenuation derived from the UV-to-near-IR SED alone are unbiased when assuming a delayed exponentially declining star-formation history.
Studies of dynamical stability (chaotic versus regular motion) in galactic dynamics often rely on static analytical models of the total gravitational potential. Potentials based upon self-consistent N-body simulations offer more realistic models, fully incorporating the time-dependent nature of the systems. Here we aim at analysing the fractions of chaotic motion within different morphological components of the galaxy. We wish to investigate how the presence of chaotic orbits evolves with time, and how their spatial distribution is associated with morphological features of the galaxy. We employ a time-dependent analytical potential model that was derived from an N-body simulation of a strongly barred galaxy. With this analytical potential we may follow the dynamical evolution of ensembles of orbits. Using the Generalized Alignment Index (GALI) chaos detection method, we study the fraction of chaotic orbits, sampling the dynamics of both the stellar disc and of the dark matter halo. Within the stellar disc, the global trend is for chaotic motion to decrease in time, specially in the region of the bar. We scrutinized the different changes of regime during the evolution (orbits that are permanently chaotic, permanently regular, those that begin regular and end chaotic, and those that begin chaotic and end regular), tracing the types of orbits back to their common origins. Within the dark matter halo, chaotic motion also decreases globally in time. The inner halo (r < 5 kpc) is where most chaotic orbits are found and it is the only region where chaotic orbits outnumber regular orbits, in the early evolution.
We present analytic theory for the total column density of singly ionized carbon (C$^+$) in the optically thick photon dominated regions (PDRs) of far-UV irradiated (star-forming) molecular clouds. We derive a simple formula for the C$^+$ column as a function of the cloud (hydrogen) density, the far-UV field intensity, and metallicity, encompassing the wide range of galaxy conditions. We verify our analysis with detailed numerical PDR models. For optically thick gas, most of the C$^+$ column is mixed with hydrogen that is primarily molecular (H$_2$), and this "C$^+$/H$_2$" gas layer accounts for almost all of the `CO-dark' molecular gas in PDRs. The C$^+$/H$_2$ column density is limited by dust shielding and is inversely proportional to the metallicity down to $\sim$0.1 solar. At lower metallicities, H$_2$ line blocking dominates and the C$^+$/H$_2$ column saturates. Applying our theory to CO surveys in low redshift spirals we estimate the fraction of C$^+$/H$_2$ gas out of the total molecular gas to be typically $\sim$0.4. At redshifts $1<z<3$ in massive disk galaxies the C$^+$/H$_2$ gas represents a very small fraction of the total molecular gas ($<0.16$). This small fraction at high redshifts is due to the high gas surface densities when compared to local galaxies.
We present a new method to effectively select objects which may be low-mass active black holes (BHs) at galaxy centers using high-cadence optical imaging data, and our first spectroscopic identification of an active 2.7x10^6 Msun BH at z=0.164. This active BH was originally selected due to its rapid optical variability, from a few hours to a day, based on Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam~(HSC) g-band imaging data taken with 1-hour cadence. Broad and narrow H-alpha and many other emission lines are detected in our optical spectra taken with Subaru FOCAS, and the BH mass is measured via the broad H-alpha emission line width (1,880 km s^{-1}) and luminosity (4.2x10^{40} erg s^{-1}) after careful correction for the atmospheric absorption around 7,580-7,720A. We measure the Eddington ratio to be as low as 0.05, considerably smaller than those in a previous SDSS sample with similar BH mass and redshift, which indicates one of the strong potentials of our Subaru survey. The g-r color and morphology of the extended component indicate that the host galaxy is a star-forming galaxy. We also show effectiveness of our variability selection for low-mass active BHs.
High redshift star-forming galaxies are likely responsible for the reionization of the Universe, yet direct detection of their escaping ionizing (Lyman continuum) photons has proven to be extremely challenging. In this study, we search for escaping Lyman continuum of the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitationally lensed, star-forming galaxy at z=2.38 with a large magnification of $\sim24$. Transmission at wavelengths of low ionization interstellar absorption lines in the rest-frame ultraviolet suggest a patchy, partially transparent interstellar medium. This makes it an ideal candidate for direct detection of the Lyman continuum. We obtained a 10-orbit Hubble near-UV image using the WFC3/UVIS F275W filter that probes wavelengths just below the Lyman limit at the redshift of the Horseshoe in an attempt to detect escaping Lyman continuum radiation. After fully accounting for the uncertainties in the opacity of the intergalactic medium as well as accounting for the charge transfer inefficiency in the WFC3 CCDs, we find a $3 \sigma$ upper-limit for the relative escape fraction of $f_{esc,rel}<0.08$. This value is a factor of five lower than the value (0.4) predicted by the 40\% transmission in the low-ion absorption lines. We discuss the possible causes for this discrepancy and consider the implications for future attempts at both direct Lyman continuum detection as well as indirect estimates of the escape fraction.
We have carried out a statistical study on the mid- and far-infrared (IR) properties of Galactic IR bubbles observed by Spitzer. Using the Spitzer 8 ${\mu}{\rm m}$ images, we estimated the radii and covering fractions of their shells, and categorized them into closed, broken and unclassified bubbles with our data analysis method. Then, using the AKARI all-sky images at wavelengths of 9, 18, 65, 90, 140 and 160 ${\mu}{\rm m}$, we obtained the spatial distributions and the luminosities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), warm and cold dust components by decomposing 6-band spectral energy distributions with model fitting. As a result, 180 sample bubbles show a wide range of the total IR luminosities corresponding to the bolometric luminosities of a single B-type star to many O-type stars. For all the bubbles, we investigated relationships between the radius, luminosities and luminosity ratios, and found that there are overall similarities in the IR properties among the bubbles regardless of their morphological types. In particular, they follow a power-law relation with an index of $\sim$3 between the total IR luminosity and radius, as expected from the conventional picture of the Str$\rm{\ddot{o}}$mgren sphere. The exceptions are large broken bubbles; they indicate higher total IR luminosities, lower fractional luminosities of the PAH emission, and dust heating sources located nearer to the shells. We discuss the implications of those differences for a massive star-formation scenario.
The formation and evolution of galaxies with low neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) masses, M$_{\rm HI}$$<$10$^{8}h^{-2}$M$_{\odot}$, are affected by host dark matter halo mass and photoionisation feedback from the UV background after the end of reionization. We study how the physical processes governing the formation of galaxies with low HI mass are imprinted on the distribution of neutral hydrogen in the Universe using the hierarchical galaxy formation model, GALFORM. We calculate the effect on the correlation function of changing the HI mass detection threshold at redshifts $0 \le z \le 0.5$. We parameterize the clustering as $\xi(r)=(r/r_{0})^{-\gamma}$ and we find that including galaxies with M$_{\rm HI}$$<$10$^{8}h^{-2}$M$_{\odot}$ increases the clustering amplitude $r_{0}$ and slope $\gamma$ compared to samples of higher HI masses. This is due to these galaxies with low HI masses typically being hosted by haloes with masses greater than 10$^{12}{h}^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$. This is in contrast to optically selected galaxy surveys for which the inclusion of faint, blue galaxies lowers the clustering amplitude. We show the HI mass function for different host dark matter halo masses and galaxy types (central or satellite) to interpret the values of $r_{0}$ and $\gamma$ of the clustering of HI-selected galaxies. We also predict the contribution of low HI mass galaxies to the 21cm intensity mapping signal. We calculate that a dark matter halo mass resolution better than $\sim$10$^{10}{h}^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ at redshifts higher than 0.5 is required in order to predict 21cm brightness temperature fluctuations that are well converged.
SDSS J1634+2049 is a local (z = 0.1293) infrared-luminous quasar with LIR= 10^11.91 Lsun. We present a detailed multiwavelength study of both the host galaxy and the nucleus. The host galaxy demonstrates violent, obscured star formation activities with SFR ~ 140 Msun yr^-1, estimated from either the PAH emission or IR luminosity. The optical to NIR spectra exhibit a blueshifted narrow cuspy component in Hb, HeI5876,10830 and other emission lines consistently with an offset velocity of ~900 km/s, as well as additional blueshifting phenomena in high-ionization lines , while there exist blueshifted broad absorption lines (BALs) in NaID and HeI*3889,10830, indicative of the AGN outflows producing BALs and emission lines. Constrained mutually by the several BALs with CLOUDY, the physical properties of the absorption-line outflow are derived as follows: 10^4 < n_H <= 10^5 cm^-3, 10^-1.3 <= U <= 10^-0.7 and 10^22.5<= N_H <= 10^22.9 cm^-2 , similar to those derived for the emission-line outflows. The similarity suggests a common origin. Taking advantages of both the absorption lines and outflowing emission lines, we find that the outflow gas is located at a distance of 48 - 65 pc from the nucleus, and that the kinetic luminosity of the outflow is 10^44-10^46 erg s^-1. J1634+2049 has a off-centered galactic ring on the scale of ~ 30 kpc that is proved to be formed by a recent head-on collision by a nearby galaxy. Thus this quasar is a valuable object in the transitional phase emerging out of dust enshrouding as depicted by the co-evolution scenario.
We present a study of the distribution of radio jet position angles of radio
galaxies over an area of 1 square degree in the ELAIS N1 field. ELAIS N1 was
observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 612 MHz to an rms noise
level of 10 $\mu$Jy and angular resolution of $6"\times 5"$. The image contains
65 resolved radio galaxy jets. The spatial distribution reveals a prominent
alignment of jet position angles along a "filament" of about 1$^{\circ}$. We
examine the possibility that the apparent alignment arises from an underlying
random distribution and find that the probability of chance alignment is less
than 0.1%. An angular covariance analysis of the data indicates the presence of
spatially coherence in position angles on scales $>0.5^{\circ}$. This angular
scales translates to a co-moving scale of $>20h^{-1}$Mpc at a redshift of 1.
The implied alignment of the spin axes of massive black holes that give rise
the radio jets suggest the presence of large-scale spatial coherence in angular
momentum. Our results reinforce prior evidence for large-scale spatial
alignments of quasar optical polarisation position angles.
We present multiwavelength photometric catalogues (HST, Spitzer and Hawk-I K band) for the first two of the Frontier Fields, Abell2744 and MACSJ0416 (plus their parallel fields). To detect faint sources even in the central regions of the clusters, we develop a robust and repeatable procedure that uses the public codes Galapagos and Galfit to model and remove most of the light contribution from both the brightest cluster members as well as the ICL. We perform the detection on the HST H160 processed image to obtain a pure H-selected sample. We also add a sample of sources which are undetected in the H160 image but appear on a stacked infrared image. Photometry in the other HST bands is obtained using SExtractor, performed again on residual images after the Galfit procedure for foreground light removal. Photometry on the Hawk-I and IRAC bands has been obtained using our PSF-matching deconfusion code T-PHOT. A similar procedure, but without the need for the foreground light removal, is adopted for the Parallel fields. The procedure allows for the detection and the photometric measurements of ~2500 sources per field. We deliver and release complete photometric H-detected catalogues, with the addition of a complementary sample of infrared-detected sources. All objects have multiwavelength coverage including B to H HST bands, plus K band from Hawk-I, and 3.6 - 4.5 {\mu}m from Spitzer. Full and detailed treatment of photometric errors is included. We perform basic sanity checks on the reliability of our results. The multiwavelength catalogues are publicly available and are ready to be used for scientific purposes. Our procedures allows for the detection of outshined objects near the bright galaxies, which, coupled with the magnification effect of the clusters, can reveal extremely faint high redshift sources. Full analysis on photometric redshifts is presented in a companion Paper II. [abridged]
We present the first public release of photometric redshifts, galaxy rest-frame properties and associated magnification values in the cluster and parallel pointings of the first two Frontier Fields, Abell-2744 and MACS-J0416. We exploit a multi-wavelength catalogue ranging from HST to ground-based K and Spitzer IRAC which is specifically designed to enable detection and measurement of accurate fluxes in crowded cluster regions. The multi-band information is used to derive photometric redshifts and physical properties of sources detected either in the H-band image alone or from a stack of four WFC3 bands. To minimize systematics median photometric redshifts are assembled from six different approaches to photo-z estimates. Their reliability is assessed through a comparison with available spectroscopic samples. State of the art lensing models are used to derive magnification values on an object-by-object basis by taking into account sources positions and redshifts. We show that photometric redshifts reach a remarkable ~3-5% accuracy. After accounting for magnification the H band number counts are found in agreement at bright magnitudes with number counts from the CANDELS fields, while extending the presently available samples to galaxies intrinsically as faint as H160~32-33 thanks to strong gravitational lensing. The Frontier Fields allow to probe the galaxy stellar mass distribution at 0.5-1.5 dex lower masses, depending on magnification, with respect to extragalactic wide fields, including sources at Mstar~ 10^7-10^8 Msun at z>5. Similarly, they allow the detection of objects with intrinsic SFRs>1dex lower than in the CANDELS fields reaching 0.1-1 Msun/yr at z~6-10. [abridged]
We study the properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) from an SPH simulation of a portion of a spiral galaxy, modelled at high resolution, with robust representations of the physics of the interstellar medium. We examine the global molecular gas content of clouds, and investigate the effect of using CO or H2 densities to define the GMCs. We find that CO can reliably trace the high-density H2 gas, but misses less dense H2 clouds. We also investigate the effect of using 3D CO densities versus CO emission with an observer's perspective, and find that CO-emission clouds trace well the peaks of the actual GMCs in 3D, but can miss the lower density molecular gas between density peaks which is often CO-dark. Thus the CO emission typically traces smaller clouds within larger GMC complexes. We also investigate the effect of the galactic environment (in particular the presence of spiral arms), on the distribution of GMC properties, and we find that the mean properties are similar between arm and inter-arm clouds, but the tails of some distributions are indicative of intrinsic differences in the environment. We find highly filamentary clouds (similar to the giant molecular filaments of our Galaxy) exclusively in the inter-arm region, formed by galactic shear. We also find that the most massive GMC complexes are located in the arm, and that as a consequence of more frequent cloud interactions/mergers in the arm, arm clouds are more sub-structured and have higher velocity dispersions than inter-arm clouds.
The first hydrostatic core, also called the first Larson core, is one of the first steps in low-mass star formation, as predicted by theory. With recent and future high performance telescopes, details of these first phases become accessible, and observations may confirm theory and even bring new challenges for theoreticians. In this context, we study from a theoretical point of view the chemical and physical evolution of the collapse of prestellar cores until the formation of the first Larson core, in order to better characterize this early phase in the star formation process. We couple a state-of-the-art hydrodynamical model with full gas-grain chemistry, using different assumptions on the magnetic field strength and orientation. We extract the different components of each collapsing core (i.e., the central core, the outflow, the disk, the pseudodisk, and the envelope) to highlight their specific physical and chemical characteristics. Each component often presents a specific physical history, as well as a specific chemical evolution. From some species, the components can clearly be differentiated. The different core models can also be chemically differentiated. Our simulation suggests some chemical species as tracers of the different components of a collapsing prestellar dense core, and as tracers of the magnetic field characteristics of the core. From this result, we pinpoint promising key chemical species to be observed.
We used the new ESO VLT instrument MUSE to obtain spectral and imaging coverage of NGC 4710. The wide area and excellent sampling of the MUSE integral field spectrograph allows us to investigate the dynamical properties of the X-shaped bulge of NGC 4710 and compare it with the properties of the Milky Way's own X-shaped bulge. We measured the radial velocities, velocity dispersion, and stellar populations using a penalized pixel full spectral fitting technique adopting simple stellar populations models, on a 1' x 1' area centred on the bulge of NGC 4710. We have constructed the velocity maps of the bulge of NGC 4710 and we investigated the presence of vertical metallicity gradients. These properties were compared to those of the Milky Way bulge and as well as to a simulated galaxy with boxy/peanut bulge. We find the line-of-sight velocity maps and 1D rotation curves of the bulge of NGC 4710 to be remarkably similar to those of the Milky Way bulge. Some specific differences that were identified are in good agreement with the expectations from variations in the bar orientation angle. The bulge of NGC 4710 has a boxy-peanut morphology with a pronounced X-shape, showing no indication of any additional spheroidally distributed bulge population, in which we measure a vertical metallicity gradient of 0.35 dex/kpc. The general properties of NGC 4710 are very similar to those observed in the MW bulge. However, it has been suggested that the MW bulge has an additional component that is comprised of the oldest, most metal-poor stars and which is not part of the boxy-peanut bulge structure. Such a population is not observed in NGC 4710, but could be hidden in the integrated light we observed.
NGC 7023 is a well-studied reflection nebula, which shows strong emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules in the form of aromatic infrared bands (AIBs). The spectral variations of the AIBs in this region are connected to the chemical evolution of the PAH molecules which, in turn, depends on the local physical conditions. We use the capabilities of SOFIA to observe a 3.2' x 3.4' region of NGC 7023 at wavelengths that we observe with high spatial resolution (2.7") at 3.3 and 11.2 um. We compare the SOFIA images with existing images of the PAH emission at 8.0 um (Spitzer), emission from evaporating very small grains (eVSG) extracted from Spitzer-IRS spectral cubes, the ERE (HST and CFHT), and H_2 (2.12 um). We create maps of the 11.2/3.3 um ratio to probe the morphology of the PAH size distribution and the 8.0/11.2 um ratio to probe the PAH ionization. We make use of an emission model and of vibrational spectra from the NASA Ames PAHdb to translate the 11.2/3.3 um ratio to PAH sizes. The 11.2/3.3 um map shows the smallest PAH concentrate on the PDR surface (H_2 and extended red emission) in the NW and South PDR. We estimated that PAHs in the NW PDR bear, on average, a number of carbon atoms (N_c) of ~70 in the PDR cavity and ~50 at the PDR surface. In the entire nebula, the results reveal a factor of 2 variation in the size of the PAH. We relate these size variations to several models for the evolution of the PAH families when they traverse from the molecular cloud to the PDR. The PAH size map enables us to follow the photochemical evolution of PAHs in NGC 7023. Small PAHs result from the photo-evaporation of VSGs as they reach the PDR surface. Inside the PDR cavity, the PAH abundance drops as the smallest PAH are broken down. The average PAH size increases in the cavity where only the largest species survive or are converted into C_60 by photochemical processing.
We present multi-band Period-Luminosity (PL) relations for first-overtone mode Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We derive optical band PL relations and the Wesenheit function using $VI$ mean magnitudes from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III) survey. We cross-match OGLE-III first-overtone mode Cepheids to the 2MASS and SAGE-SMC catalogs to derive PL relations at near-infrared ($JHK_s$) and mid-infrared ($3.6~\&~4.5\mu\mathrm{m}$) wavelengths. We test for possible non-linearities in these PL relations using robust statistical tests and find a significant break only in the optical-band PL relations at 2.5 days for first-overtone mode Cepheids. We do not find statistical evidence for a non-linearity in these PL relations at 1 day. The multi-band PL relations for fundamental-mode Cepheids in the SMC also exhibit a break at 2.5 days. We suggest that the period break around 2.5 days is related to sharp changes in the light curve parameters for SMC Cepheids. We also derive new optical and mid-infrared band PL relations for first-overtone mode Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We compare multi-band PL relations for first-overtone mode Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds and find a significant difference in the slope of the $V$-band PL relations but not for $I$-band PL relations. The slope of PL relations are found to be consistent in most of the infrared bands. A relative distance modulus of $\Delta\mu=0.49\pm0.02$~mag between the two clouds is estimated using multi-band PL relations for the first-overtone mode Cepheids in the SMC and LMC.
We re-investigate the question of whether there is a significant population of Dim (Low Surface Brightness) and/or Dark Galaxies (DDGs). We argue that if they are clustered with bright ones then a physical resolution of ~10 kpc. will be needed to to distinguish their 21-cm. and QSO Absorption Line(QSOAL) counterparts from their brighter neighbours, leading to a real possibility of confusion. But until now such a resolution has not been available in this context. New Very Large Array (VLA) observations reveal that the identifications with bright optical objects claimed in previous single-dish blind HI surveys are often unreliable. For instance 14/36 of our high-resolution (5 arc sec, 13kpc.) sample have no optical counterparts in the Digital Sky Survey. This suggests that DDGs might be commonplace after all, and we go on to re-examine the main arguments that have been used against them.. We find that the QSOAL argument founders on the aforementioned clustering while deep CCD surveys have so far covered too small an area to set set strong constraints on Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (LSBGs). A cosmos filled with low surface brightness galaxies, dark galaxies and intergalactic gas clouds is therefore possible.
We present early results from Radio Galaxy Zoo, a web-based citizen science project for visual inspection and classification of images from all-sky radio surveys. The goals of the project are to classify individual radio sources (particularly galaxies with multiple lobes and/or complex morphologies) as well as matching the continuum radio emission to the host galaxy. Radio images come from the FIRST and ATLAS surveys, while matches to potential hosts are performed with infrared imaging from WISE and SWIRE. The first twelve months of classification yielded more than 1 million classifications of more than 60,000 sources. For images with at least 75% consensus by the volunteer classifiers, the accuracy is comparable to visual inspection by the expert science team. Based on mid-infrared colors, the hosts associated with radio emission are primarily a mixture of elliptical galaxies, QSOs, and LIRGs, which are in good agreement with previous studies. The full catalog of radio lobes and their host galaxies will measure the relative populations of host types as a function of radio morphology and power. Radio Galaxy Zoo has also been an effective method for detecting extremely rare objects, such as HyMORs and giant radio galaxies. Results from the project are being used to train automatic algorithms for host matching for use in future large continuum surveys such as EMU, as well as establishing roles for citizen science in projects such as the SKA.
(ABRIDGED) Globular clusters trace the formation and evolution of the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies, and outline their chemical enrichment history. To accomplish these tasks it is important to have large samples of clusters with homogeneous data and analysis to derive kinematics, chemical abundances, ages and locations. We obtain homogeneous metallicities and alpha-element enhancement for over 800 red giant stars in 51 Galactic bulge, disc, and halo globular clusters that are among the most distant and/or highly reddened in the Galaxy's globular cluster system. We observed R ~ 2000 spectra in the wavelength interval 456-586 nm and applied full spectrum fitting technique. We compared the mean abundances of all clusters with previous work and with field stars. We used the relation between mean metallicity and horizontal branch morphology defined by all clusters to select outliers for discussion. We find our metallicities are comparable to those derived from high-resolution data to within sigma = 0.08 dex over the interval -2.5 < [Fe/H] < 0.0. We also find that the distribution of [Mg/Fe] and [alpha/Fe] with [Fe/H] for the 51 clusters follows the general trend exhibited by field stars. It is the first time that the following clusters have been included in a large sample of homogeneous stellar spectroscopic observations and metallicity derivation: BH 176, Djorg 2, Pal 10, NGC 6426, Lynga 7, and Terzan 8. In particular, only photometric metallicities were available previously for the first three clusters, and the available metallicity for NGC 6426 was based on integrated spectroscopy and photometry. Two other clusters, HP 1 and NGC 6558, are confirmed as candidates for the oldest globular clusters in the Milky Way. The technique used here can also be applied to globular cluster systems in nearby galaxies with current instruments and to distant galaxies with the advent of ELTs.
Through synthetic observations of a hydrodynamical simulation of an evolving star-forming region, we assess how the choice of observational techniques affects the measurements of properties which trace star formation. Testing and calibrating observational measurements requires synthetic observations which are as realistic as possible. In this part of the paper series (Paper I), we explore different techniques for how to map the distributions of densities and temperatures from the particle-based simulations onto a Voronoi mesh suitable for radiative transfer and consequently explore their accuracy. We further test different ways to set up the radiative transfer in order to produce realistic synthetic observations. We give a detailed description of all methods and ultimately recommend techniques. We have found that the flux around 20 microns is strongly overestimated when blindly coupling the dust radiative transfer temperature with the hydrodynamical gas temperature. We find that when instead assuming a constant background dust temperature in addition to the radiative transfer heating, the recovered flux is consistent with actual observations. We present around 5800 realistic synthetic observations for Spitzer and Herschel bands, at different evolutionary time-steps, distances and orientations. In the upcoming papers of this series (Paper II, Paper III and Paper IV), we will test and calibrate measurements of the star-formation rate (SFR), gas mass and the star-formation efficiency (SFE) using our realistic synthetic observations.
Field reddenings are summarized for 68 Cepheids from published studies and updated results presented here. The compilation forms the basis for a comparison with other published reddening scales of Cepheids, including those established from reddening-independent indices, photometry on the Lick six-color system, Str\"{o}mgren system, Walraven system, Washington system, Cape $BVI$ system, DDO system, and Geneva system, IRSB studies, and Cepheid spectroscopy, both old and new. Reddenings tied to period-color relations are the least reliable, as expected, while photometric color excesses vary in precision, their accuracy depending on the methodology and calibration sample. The tests provide insights into the accuracy and precision of published Cepheid reddening scales, and lead to a new system of standardized reddenings comprising a sample of 198 variables with an average uncertainty of $\pm0.028$ in E$_{B-V}$, the precision being less than $\pm0.01$ for many. The collected color excesses are used to map the dispersion in intrinsic colors as a function of pulsation period, the results contradicting current perceptions about the period dependence of dispersion in Cepheid effective temperatures.
Whitbourn & Shanks (2014) have reported evidence for a local void underdense by ~15% extending to 150-300h-1Mpc around our position in the Southern Galactic Cap (SGC). Assuming a local luminosity function they modelled K- and r-limited number counts and redshift distributions in the 6dFGS/2MASS and SDSS redshift surveys and derived normalised n(z) ratios relative to the standard homogeneous cosmological model. Here we test further these results using maximum likelihood techniques that solve for the galaxy density distributions and the galaxy luminosity function simultaneously. We confirm the results from the previous analysis in terms of the number density distributions, indicating that our detection of the 'Local Hole' in the SGC is robust to the assumption of either our previous, or newly estimated, luminosity functions. However, there are discrepancies with previously published K and r band luminosity functions. In particular the r-band luminosity function has a steeper faint end slope than the r0.1 results of Blanton et al. (2003) but is consistent with the r0.1 results of Montero-Dorta & Prada (2009); Loveday et al. (2012).
The understanding of hydrogen attachment to carbonaceous surfaces is essential to a wide variety of research fields and technologies such as hydrogen storage for transportation, precise localization of hydrogen in electronic devices and the formation of cosmic H2. For coronene cations as prototypical Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, the existence of magic numbers upon hydrogenation was uncovered experimentally. Quantum chemistry calculations show that hydrogenation follows a site-specific sequence leading to the appearance of cations having 5, 11, or 17 hydrogen atoms attached, exactly the magic numbers found in the experiments. For these closed-shell cations, further hydrogenation requires appreciable structural changes associated with a high transition barrier. Controlling specific hydrogenation pathways would provide the possibility to tune the location of hydrogen attachment and the stability of the system. The sequence to hydrogenate PAHs, leading to PAHs with magic numbers of H atoms attached, provides clues to understand that carbon in space is mostly aromatic and partially aliphatic in PAHs. PAH hydrogenation is fundamental to assess the contribution of PAHs to the formation of cosmic H2.
With the existing and upcoming large multi-fibre low-resolution
spectrographs, the question arises how precise stellar parameters such as Teff
and [Fe/H] can be obtained from low-resolution K-band spectra with respect to
traditional photometric temperature measurements. Until now, most of the
effective temperatures in galactic Bulge studies come directly from photometric
techniques. Uncertainties in interstellar reddening and in the assumed
extinction law could lead to large systematic errors. We aim to obtain and
calibrate the relation between Teff and the $\rm ^{12}CO$ first overtone bands
for M giants in the galactic Bulge covering a wide range in metallicity. We use
low-resolution spectra for 20 M giants with well-studied parameters from
photometric measurements covering the temperature range 3200 < Teff < 4500 K
and a metallicity range from 0.5 dex down to -1.2 dex and study the behaviour
of Teff and [Fe/H] on the spectral indices. We find a tight relation between
Teff and the $\rm ^{12}CO(2-0)$ band with a dispersion of 95 K as well as
between Teff and the $\rm ^{12}CO(3-1)$ with a dispersion of 120 K. We do not
find any dependence of these relations on the metallicity of the star, making
them relation attractive for galactic Bulge studies. This relation is also not
sensitive to the spectral resolution allowing to apply this relation in a more
general way.
We also found a correlation between the combination of the NaI, CaI and the
$\rm ^{12}CO$ band with the metallicity of the star. However this relation is
only valid for sub-solar metallicities. We show that low-resolution spectra
provide a powerful tool to obtain effective temperatures of M giants. We show
that this relation does not depend on the metallicity of the star within the
investigated range and is also applicable to different spectral resolution.
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We focus on the evidence of a past minor merger discovered in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). Previous N-body studies have moderately succeeded to reproduce observed giant stellar stream (GSS) and stellar shells in the halo of M31. The observed distribution of red giant branch stars in the halo of M31 shows an asymmetric surface brightness profile across the GSS; however, most of the theoretical studies have not paid much attention to the internal structure of the GSS. We notice that numerical experiments so far have not examined the morphology of the progenitor galaxy in detail. To investigate the physical connection between the characteristic surface brightness in the GSS and the morphology of the progenitor dwarf galaxy, we perform systematic surveys of N-body simulations varying the thickness, rotation velocity, and initial inclination of the disc dwarf galaxy. Our result suggests that the key to the formation of the observed structures is the progenitor's rotation. Not only we reproduce observed GSS and two shells in detail, but also we predict additional structures for further observations. We predict the detectability of the progenitor's stellar core in phase-space density distribution, azimuthal metallicity gradient of the western shell-like structure, and an additional extended shell at the north-western direction that will limit the properties of the progenitor galaxy.
Unlike Newtonian dynamics which is linear and obeys the strong equivalence principle, in any nonlinear gravitation such as Milgromian dynamics (MOND), the strong version of the equivalence principle is violated and the gravitational dynamics of a system is influenced by the external gravitational field in which it is embedded. This so called External Field Effect (EFE) is one of the important implications of MOND and provides a special context to test Milgromian dynamics. Here, we study the rotation curves (RCs) of 18 spiral galaxies and find that their shapes constrain the EFE. We show that the EFE can successfully remedy the overestimation of rotation velocities in 80\% of the sample galaxies in Milgromian dynamics fits by decreasing the velocity in the outer part of the RCs. We compare the implied external field with the gravitational field for non-negligible nearby sources of each individual galaxy and find that in many cases it is compatible with the EFE within the uncertainties. We therefore argue that in the framework of Milgromian dynamics, one can constrain the gravitational field induced from the environment of galaxies using their RCs. We finally show that taking into account the EFE yields more realistic values for the stellar mass-to-light ratio in terms of stellar population synthesis than the ones implied without the EFE.
We study the acceleration of cosmic rays by collisionless structure formation shocks with ENZO grid simulations. Data from the FERMI satellite enable the use of galaxy clusters as a testbed for particle acceleration models. Based on advanced cosmological simulations that include different prescriptions for gas and cosmic rays physics, we use the predicted {\gamma}-ray emission to constrain the shock acceleration efficiency. We infer that the efficiency must be on average <0.1% for cosmic shocks, particularly for the 2<M<5 merger shocks that are mostly responsible for the thermalisation of the intracluster medium. These results emerge, both, from non-radiative and radiative runs including feedback from active galactic nuclei, as well as from zoomed resimulations of a cluster resembling MACSJ1752.0+0440. The limit on the acceleration efficiency we report is lower than what has been assumed in the literature so far. Combined with the information from radio emission in clusters, it appears that a revision of the present understanding of shock acceleration in the ICM is unavoidable.
We present low-resolution near-infrared stacked spectra from the 3D-HST survey up to $z=2.0$ and fit them with commonly used stellar population synthesis models: BC03 (Bruzual & Charlot, 2003), FSPS10 (Flexible Stellar Population Synthesis, Conroy & Gunn 2010), and FSPS-C3K (Conroy, Kurucz, Cargile, Castelli, in prep). The accuracy of the grism redshifts allows the unambiguous detection of many emission and absorption features, and thus a first systematic exploration of the rest-frame optical spectra of galaxies up to $z=2$. We select massive galaxies ($\rm log(M_{*} / M_{\odot}) > 10.8$), we divide them into quiescent and star-forming via a rest-frame color-color technique, and we median-stack the samples in 3 redshift bins between $z=0.5$ and $z=2.0$. We find that stellar population models fit the observations well at wavelengths below $\rm 6500 \AA$ rest-frame, but show systematic residuals at redder wavelengths. The FSPS-C3K model generally provides the best fits (evaluated with a $\chi^2_{red}$ statistics) for quiescent galaxies, while BC03 performs the best for star-forming galaxies. The stellar ages of quiescent galaxies implied by the models, assuming solar metallicity, vary from 4 Gyr at $z \sim 0.75$ to 1.5 Gyr at $z \sim 1.75$, with an uncertainty of a factor of 2 caused by the unknown metallicity. On average the stellar ages are half the age of the Universe at these redshifts. We show that the inferred evolution of ages of quiescent galaxies is in agreement with fundamental plane measurements, assuming an 8 Gyr age for local galaxies. For star-forming galaxies the inferred ages depend strongly on the stellar population model and the shape of the assumed star-formation history.
Galactic magnetic fields in the local Universe are strong and omnipresent. Now evidence accumulates that galaxies were magnetized already in the early Universe. Theoretical scenarios including the turbulent small-scale dynamo predict magnetic energy densities comparable to the one of turbulence. Based on the assumption of this energy equipartition, we determine the galactic synchrotron flux as a function of redshift. The conditions in the early Universe are different from the present day, in particular the galaxies have more intense star formation. To cover a large range of conditions we consider models based on two different types of galaxies: one model galaxy comparable to the Milky Way and one typical high-z starburst galaxy. We include a model of the steady state cosmic ray spectrum and find that synchrotron emission can be detected up to cosmological redshifts with current and future radio telescopes. Turbulent dynamo theory is in agreement with the origin of the observed correlation between the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity L_FIR and the radio luminosity L_radio. Our model reproduces this correlation well at z=0. We extrapolate the FIR-radio correlation to higher redshift and predict a time evolution with a significant deviation from its present-day appearance already at z~2. In particular, we predict a decrease of the radio luminosity with redshift which is caused by the increase of cosmic ray energy losses at high z. The result is an increase of the ratio between L_FIR and L_radio. Simultaneously, we predict that the slope of the FIR-radio correlation becomes shallower with redshift. This behavior of the correlation could be observed in the near future with ultra-deep radio surveys.
We present an extensive review of gas phase reactions producing methylacetylene and propene showing that these relatively abundant unsaturated hydrocarbons cannot be synthesized through gas-phase reactions. We explain the formation of propene and methylacetylene through surface hydrogenation of C3 depleted onto interstellar ices, C3 being a very abundant species in the gas phase.
Recent mid-infrared (MIR) interferometric observations showed in few active galactic nuclei (AGN) that the bulk of the infrared emission originates from the polar region above the putative torus, where only little dust should be present. Here, we investigate whether such strong polar dust emission is common in AGN. Out of 149 Seyferts in the MIR atlas of local AGN (Asmus et al.), 21 show extended MIR emission on single dish images. In 18 objects, the extended MIR emission aligns with the system axis position angle, established by [OIII], radio, polarisation and maser based position angle measurements. The relative amount of resolved MIR emission is at least 40 per cent and scales with the [OIV] fluxes implying a strong connection between the extended continuum and [OIV] emitters. These results together with the radio-quiet nature of the Seyferts support the scenario that the bulk of MIR emission is emitted by dust in the polar region and not by the torus, which would demand a new paradigm for the infrared emission structure in AGN. The current low detection rate of polar dust in the AGN of the MIR atlas is explained by the lack of sufficient high quality MIR data and the requirement for the orientation, NLR strength and distance of the AGN. The James-Webb Space Telescope will enable much deeper nuclear MIR studies with comparable angular resolution, allowing us to resolve the polar emission and surroundings in most of the nearby AGN.
We investigate how observations of synchrotron intensity fluctuations can be used to probe the sonic and Alfv\'enic Mach numbers of interstellar turbulence, based on mock observations performed on simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We find that the structure function slope, and a diagnostic of anisotropy that we call the integrated quadrupole ratio modulus, both depend on the Alfv\'enic Mach number. However, these statistics also depend on the orientation of the mean magnetic field in the synchrotron emitting region relative to our line of sight, and this creates a degeneracy that cannot be broken by observations of synchrotron intensity alone. We conclude that the polarization of synchrotron emission could be analyzed to break this degeneracy, and suggest that this will be possible with the Square Kilometre Array.
The bipolar-hyper shell (BHS) model for the North Polar Spurs (NPS-E, -W, and Loop I) and counter southern spurs (SPS-E and -W) is revisited based on numerical hydrodynamical simulations. Propagations of shock waves produced by energetic explosive events in the Galactic Center are examined. Distributions of soft X-ray brightness on the sky at 0.25, 0.7, and 1.5 keV in a +/-50 deg x +/-50 deg region around the Galactic Center are modeled by thermal emission from high-temperature plasma in the shock-compressed shell considering shadowing by the interstellar HI and H2 gases. The result is compared with the ROSAT wide field X-ray images in R2, 4 and 6 bands. The NPS and southern spurs are well reproduced by the simulation as shadowed dumbbell-shaped shock waves. We discuss the origin and energetics of the event in relation to the starburst and/or AGN activities in the Galactic Center. (High resolution pdf is available at this http URL)
We present new estimates of AGN accretion and star-formation luminosity in galaxies obtained for the local 12-$\mu$m sample of Seyfert galaxies (12MGS), by performing a detailed broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) decomposition including the emission of stars, dust heated by star formation and a possible AGN dusty torus. Thanks to the availability of data from the X-rays to the sub-millimetre, we constrain and test the contribution of the stellar, AGN and star-formation components to the SEDs. The availability of Spitzer-IRS low resolution mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectra is crucial to constrain the dusty torus component at its peak wavelengths. The results of SED-fitting are also tested against the available information in other bands: the reconstructed AGN bolometric luminosity is compared to those derived from X-rays and from the high excitation IR lines tracing AGN activity like [Ne V] and [O IV]. The IR luminosity due to star-formation (SF) and the intrinsic AGN bolometric luminosity are shown to be strongly related to the IR line luminosity. Variations of these relations with different AGN fractions are investigated, showing that the relation dispersions are mainly due to different AGN relative contribution within the galaxy. Extrapolating these local relations between line and SF or AGN luminosities to higher redshifts, by means of recent Herschel galaxy evolution results, we then obtain mid- and far-IR line luminosity functions useful to estimate how many star-forming galaxies and AGN we expect to detect in the different lines at different redshifts and luminosities with future IR facilities (e.g., JWST, SPICA).
We describe a far infrared survey of the Coma cluster and the galaxy filament it resides within. Our survey covers an area of $\sim$150 deg$^2$ observed by $Herschel$ H-ATLAS in five bands at 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500$\mu$m. The SDSS spectroscopic survey ($m_{r} \le 17.8)$ is used to define an area (within the Virial radius) and redshift selected ($4268 < v < 9700$ km s$^{-1}$) sample of 744 Coma cluster galaxies - the Coma Cluster Catalogue (CCC). For comparison we also define a sample of 951 galaxies in the connecting filament - the Coma Filament Catalogue (CFC). The optical positions and parameters are used to define appropriate apertures to measure each galaxy's far infrared emission. We have detected 99 of 744 (13\%) and 422 of 951 (44\%) of the cluster and filament galaxies in the SPIRE 250$\mu$m band. We consider the relative detection rates of galaxies of different morphological types finding that it is only the S0/Sa population that shows clear differences between the cluster and filament. We find no differences between the dust masses and temperatures of cluster and filament galaxies with the exception of early type galaxy dust temperatures, which are significantly hotter in the cluster than in the filament (X-ray heating?). From a chemical evolution model we find no evidence for different evolutionary processes (gas loss or infall) between galaxies in the cluster and filament.
We present an analytic model of a magnetized galactic halo surrounding a Mestel gravitating disc. The magnetic field is taken to be in energy equipartition with the pressure dominant rotating halo gas ({\it not} with the cosmic rays), and the whole system is in a steady state. A more flexible `anisotropic equipartition' model is also explored. A definite pressure law is required to maintain the equilibrium, but the halo density is constant. The velocity/magnetic system is scale-free. The objective is to find the rotational velocity lag in such a halo. The magnetic field is not force-free so that angular momentum may be transported from the halo to the intergalactic medium. We find that the `X'-shaped structure observed for halo magnetic fields can be obtained together with a simple analytic formula for the rate of decline of the velocity with height $z$. The formula also predicts the change in lag with radius, $r$.
Near-field cosmology - using detailed observations of the Local Group and its environs to study wide-ranging questions in galaxy formation and dark matter physics - has become a mature and rich field over the past decade. There are lingering concerns, however, that the relatively small size of the present-day Local Group ($\sim$ 2 Mpc diameter) imposes insurmountable sample-variance uncertainties, limiting its broader utility. We consider the evolution of the Local Group with time and show that it reaches $3' \approx 7$ co-moving Mpc in linear size (a volume of $\approx 350\,{\rm Mpc}^3$) at $z=7$. The Local Group is a representative portion of the Universe at early cosmic epochs according to multiple metrics. In a sense, the Local Group is therefore the ultimate deep field: its stellar fossil record traces the cosmic evolution for galaxies with $10^{3} < M_{\star}(z=0) / M_{\odot} < 10^{9}$ (reaching $m_{1500} > 38$ at $z\sim7$) over a region that, in terms of size, is comparable to or larger than the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) for the entire history of the Universe. It is highly complementary to the HUDF, as it probes \textit{much} fainter galaxies but does not contain the intrinsically rarer, brighter sources that are detectable in the HUDF. Archaeological studies in the Local Group also provide the ability to trace the evolution of individual galaxies across time as opposed to evaluating statistical connections between temporally distinct populations. In the JWST era, resolved stellar populations will probe regions larger than the HUDF and any deep JWST fields, further enhancing the value of near-field cosmology.
The evolution of the large-scale distribution of matter is sensitive to a variety of fundamental parameters that characterise the dark matter, dark energy, and other aspects of our cosmological framework. Since the majority of the mass density is in the form of dark matter that cannot be directly observed, to do cosmology with large-scale structure one must use observable (baryonic) quantities that trace the underlying matter distribution in a (hopefully) predictable way. However, recent numerical studies have demonstrated that the mapping between observable and total mass, as well as the total mass itself, are sensitive to unresolved feedback processes associated with galaxy formation, motivating explicit calibration of the feedback efficiencies. Here we construct a new suite of large-volume cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (called BAHAMAS, for BAryons and HAloes of MAssive Systems) where subgrid models of stellar and Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) feedback have been calibrated to reproduce the present-day galaxy stellar mass function and the hot gas mass fractions of groups and clusters in order to ensure the effects of feedback on the overall matter distribution are broadly correct. We show that the calibrated simulations reproduce an unprecedentedly wide range of properties of massive systems, including the various observed mappings between galaxies, hot gas, total mass, and black holes, and represent a significant advance in our ability to mitigate the primary systematic uncertainty in most present large-scale structure tests.
Most, if not all, stars in the field are born in binary configurations or higher multiplicity systems. In dense stellar environment such as the Galactic Center (GC), many stars are expected to be in binary configurations as well. These binaries form hierarchical triple body systems, with the massive black hole (MBH) as the third, distant object. The stellar binaries are expected to undergo large amplitude eccentricity and inclination oscillations via the so-called "eccentric Kozai-Lidov" (EKL) mechanism. These eccentricity excitations, combined with post main sequence stellar evolution, can drive the inner stellar binaries to merge. We study the mergers of stellar binaries in the inner 0.1 pc of the GC caused by gravitational perturbations due to the MBH. We run a large set of Monte Carlo simulations that include the secular evolution of the orbits, general relativistic precession, tides, and post-main-sequence stellar evolution. We find that about 13 % of the initial binary population will have merged after a few million years and about 29 % after a few billion years. These expected merged systems represent a new class of objects at the GC and we speculate that they are connected to G2-like objects and the young stellar population.
We present Str\"omgren photometry of the Galactic Globular Cluster M3 to study its multiple generations phenomenon. The use of different colour-magnitude diagrams and especially of the notoriously efficient c_y index allowed us to detect a double Red Giant Branch in the cluster CMD. After decontamination from fore- and background sources, the two sequences turned out to be equally populated. The two components also show a bimodal radial distribution well corresponding to that predicted by numerical simulations for clusters living in an intermediate dynamical evolutive state and with a population with modified chemical composition that was born more centrally concentrated than the primordial. The analysis of high-resolution spectra quantitatively demonstrates that the two detected sequences correspond to the first (Na-poor) generation and the second (Na-rich) generation, thus confirming the importance of synergy between photometry and spectroscopy.
Physisorbed atoms on the surface of interstellar dust grains play a central role in solid state astrochemistry. Their surface reactivity is one source of the observed molecular complexity in space. In experimental astrophysics, the high reactivity of atoms also constitutes an obstacle to measuring two of the fundamental properties in surface physics, namely desorption and diffusion energies, and so far direct measurements are non-existent for O and N atoms. We investigated the diffusion and desorption processes of O and N atoms on cold surfaces in order to give boundary conditions to astrochemical models. Here we propose a new technique for directly measuring the N- and O-atom mass signals. Including the experimental results in a simple model allows us to almost directly derive the desorption and diffusion barriers of N atoms on amorphous solid water ice (ASW) and O atoms on ASW and oxidized graphite. We find a strong constraint on the values of desorption and thermal diffusion energy barriers. The measured barriers for O atoms are consistent with recent independent estimations and prove to be much higher than previously believed (E$_{des}=1410_{-160}^{+290}$; E$_{dif}=990_{-360}^{+530}$ K on ASW). As for oxygen atoms, we propose that the combination E$_{des}$-E$_{dif}$=1320-750 K is a sensible choice among the possible pairs of solutions. Also, we managed to measure the desorption and diffusion energy of N atoms for the first time (E$_{des}=720_{-80}^{+160}$; E$_{dif}=525_{-200}^{+260}$ K on ASW) in the thermal hopping regime and propose that the combination E$_{des}$-E$_{dif}$=720-400 K can be reasonably adopted in models. The value of E$_{dif}$ for N atoms is slightly lower than previously suggested, which implies that the N chemistry on dust grains might be richer.
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Interstellar ultraviolet absorption-lines provide crucial information about the properties of galactic outflows. In this paper, we augment our previous analysis of the systematic properties of starburst-driven galactic outflows by expanding our sample to include a rare population of starbursts with exceptionally high outflow velocities. In principle, these could be a qualitatively different phenomenon from more typical outflows. However, we find that instead these starbursts lie on, or along the extrapolation of, the trends defined by the more typical systems studied previously by us. We exploit the wide dynamic range provided by this new sample to determine scaling relations of outflow velocity with galaxy stellar mass (M*), circular velocity, star-formation rate (SFR), SFR/M*, and SFR/area. We argue that these results can be accommodated within the general interpretational framework we previously advocated, in which a population of ambient interstellar or circum-galactic clouds is accelerated by the combined forces of gravity and the momentum flux from the starburst. We show that this simple physical picture is consistent with both the strong cosmological evolution of galactic outflows in typical star-forming galaxies and the paucity of such galaxies with spectra showing inflows. We also present simple parameterizations of these results that can be implemented in theoretical models and numerical simulations of galaxy evolution.
We present a new-generation tool to model and interpret spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, which incorporates in a consistent way the production of radiation and its transfer through the interstellar and intergalactic media. This flexible tool, named BEAGLE (for BayEsian Analysis of GaLaxy sEds), allows one to build mock galaxy catalogues as well as to interpret in terms of physical parameters any combination of photometric and spectroscopic galaxy observations. The current version of the tool includes the versatile modeling of the emission from stars and photoionized gas, attenuation by dust and the accounting for different instrumental effects. We show a first application of the BEAGLE tool to the interpretation of broadband SEDs of a published sample of ${\sim}10^4$ galaxies at redshifts $0.1 \lesssim z\lesssim8$. We find that the constraints derived on photometric redshifts using this multi-purpose tool are comparable to those obtained using public, dedicated photometric-redshift codes and quantify this result in a rigorous statistical way. We also show how the post-processing of BEAGLE output data with the Python extension PYP-BEAGLE allows the characterization of systematic deviations between models and observations, in particular through posterior predictive checks. The modular design of the BEAGLE tool allows easy extensions to incorporate, for example, the absorption by neutral galactic and circumgalactic gas, and the emission from an active galactic nucleus, dust and shock-ionized gas. Information about public releases of the BEAGLE tool will be maintained on this http URL
We present an Integral Field Unit survey of 73 galaxy clusters and groups with the VIsible Multi Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) on VLT. We exploit the data to determine the H$\alpha$ gas dynamics on kpc-scales to study the feedback processes occurring within the dense cluster cores. We determine the kinematic state of the ionised gas and show that the majority of systems ($\sim$ 2/3) have relatively ordered velocity fields on kpc scales that are similar to the kinematics of rotating discs and are decoupled from the stellar kinematics of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy. The majority of the H$\alpha$ flux ($>$ 50%) is typically associated with these ordered kinematics and most systems show relatively simple morphologies suggesting they have not been disturbed by a recent merger or interaction. Approximately 20% of the sample (13/73) have disturbed morphologies which can typically be attributed to AGN activity disrupting the gas. Only one system shows any evidence of an interaction with another cluster member. A spectral analysis of the gas suggests that the ionisation of the gas within cluster cores is dominated by non stellar processes, possibly originating from the intracluster medium itself.
We introduce a potentially powerful method for constraining or discovering a thin dark matter disk in the Milky Way. The method relies on the relationship between the midplane densities and scale heights of interstellar gas being determined by the gravitational potential, which is sensitive to the presence of a dark disk. We show how to use the interstellar gas parameters to set a bound on a dark disk and discuss the constraints suggested by the current data. However, current measurements for these parameters are discordant, with the uncertainty in the constraint being dominated by the molecular hydrogen midplane density measurement, as well as by the atomic hydrogen velocity dispersion measurement. Magnetic fields and cosmic ray pressure, which are expected to play a role, are uncertain as well. Although a small dark disk is slightly favored, the current data is inadequate to establish its existence
This is the first of two papers describing the observations and cataloguing of deep 3-GHz observations of the Lockman Hole North using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. The aim of this paper is to investigate, through the use of simulated images, the uncertainties and accuracy of source finding routines, as well as to quantify systematic effects due to resolution, such as source confusion and source size. While these effects are not new, this work is intended as a particular case study that can be scaled and translated to other surveys. We use the simulations to derive uncertainties in the fitted parameters, as well as bias corrections for the actual catalogue (presented in Paper 2). We compare two different source-finding routines, OBIT and AEGEAN, and two different effective resolutions, 8 and 2.75 arcsec. We find that the two routines perform comparably well, with OBIT being slightly better at de-blending sources, but slightly worse at fitting resolved sources. We show that 30 to 70 per cent of sources are missed or fit inaccurately once the source size becomes larger than the beam, resulting in possible source count errors in high-resolution surveys. We also investigate the effect of blending and find that any sources with separations smaller than the beam are fit as single sources. We show that the use of machine-learning techniques can correctly identify blended sources up to 90 per cent of the time, and prior-driven fitting can lead to a 70 per cent improvement in the number of de-blended sources.
This is the second of two papers describing the observations and source catalogues derived from sensitive 3 GHz images of the Lockman Hole North using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. We describe the reduction and cataloguing process, which yielded an image with 8 arcsec resolution and instrumental noise of $\sigma_{\rm n}=1.01\,\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ rms (before primary beam corrections) and a catalogue of sources detected above $5\sigma_{\rm n}$. We include details of how we estimate source spectral indices across the 2 GHz VLA bandwidth, finding a median index of -0.76. We present a source count derived from the catalogue. We show a traditional count estimate compared with a completely independent estimate made via a P(D) confusion analysis, and find very good agreement. Cross-matches of the catalogue with optical, infrared, radio, and redshift catalogues are presented. The optical and infrared colours and AGN selection criteria indicates that 10 to 50 per cent of the sources with matches are classified as optical AGN, depending on the criteria used, with the majority of sources having radio emission dominated by the star-formation process.
We present multi-frequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) follow-up observations of VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey sources identified as likely compact symmetric objects (CSOs) or super-massive binary black holes (SBBHs). We also present new spectroscopic redshifts for 11 sources observed with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. While no new SBBHs can be confirmed from these observations, we have identified 24 CSOs in the sample, 15 of which are newly designated, and refuted 52 candidates leaving 33 unconfirmed candidates. This is the first large uniform sample of CSOs which can be used to elicit some of the general properties of these sources, including morphological evolution and environmental interaction. We have detected polarised emission from two of these CSOs the properties of which are consistent with Active Galactic Nuclei unification schemes.
The diffuse interstellar band (DIB) at 5797.1 \AA\ is simulated based on
three premises: (1) The carrier of the DIB is polar as concluded by T. Oka et
al. from the anomalous spectrum toward Herschel 36. (2) The sharp central
feature observed by P. J. Sarre's group is the $Q$-branch of a parallel band of
a prolate top. (3) The radiative temperature of the environment is $T_r$=2.73
K.
A $^2 \Pi \leftarrow$ $^2\Pi$ transition of a linear radical is simulated.
Results depend on 10 parameters, with the rotational constant $B$ being the
most critical. Comparisons of calculated spectra with observed data constrain
$B$, which in turn constrains the number of heavy atoms to 5 $\leq n \leq 7$.
Upper limits based on the Her 36 spectrum and lower limits based on stability
against photodissociation are also discussed. The latter is based on the
assumption that the DIB molecules are produced top-down from the breakdown of
dust rather than bottom-up by chemical reactions.
A difficulty with this limit is that J. P. Maier's laboratory has observed
many molecules within this size range, some of which have been tested
astronomically. Candidates are discussed in light of many prolate tops observed
by the P. Thaddeus and M. C. McCarthy microwave group.
A list of the Castor stream members is compiled based on the data from various authors. The membership probabilities for some stars are revised based on the individual apex, multiplicity, observational errors, and peculiarity. The apex of the Castor moving group is determined using the apex diagram method. The parameters of the Castor and Ursa Major streams are compared and the positions of the two streams on the apex diagram are found to differ by 225deg, implying that the two groups move in almost opposite directions. Stars of both moving groups are intermixed in space, the Castor stream occupies a smaller volume than the UMa stream and is located inside it. Our results can be useful for understanding the morphology of the Galactic disk in the Sun's vicinity.
The gravitationally-lensed galaxy A1689-zD1 is one of the most distant spectroscopically confirmed sources ($z=7.5$). It is the earliest known galaxy where the interstellar medium (ISM) has been detected; dust emission was detected with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA). A1689-zD1 is also unusual among high-redshift dust emitters as it is a sub-L* galaxy and is therefore a good prospect for the detection of gaseous ISM in a more typical galaxy at this redshift. We observed A1689-zD1 with ALMA in bands 6 and 7 and with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in band Q. We map the mm thermal dust emission, confirming the large dust emission found before, and finding two spatial components with sizes about 0.4-1.7 kpc (lensing-corrected). The rough spatial morphology is similar to what is observed in the near-infrared with HST and points to a perturbed dynamical state, perhaps indicative of a major merger or a disc in early formation. The ALMA photometry is used to constrain the far-infrared spectral energy distribution, yielding a moderate dust temperature ($T_{\rm dust} \sim 35$ K for $\beta = 1.65$). We do not detect the CO(3-2) line in the GBT data with a 95% upper limit of 0.3mJy observed. We find a slight excess emission in ALMA band 6 at 220.9 GHz. If this excess is real, it is likely due to emission from the [CII] 158.8 $\mu$m line at $z_{\rm [CII]} = 7.603$. The stringent upper limits on the [CII] and CO(3-2) line luminosities suggest a high ISM gas density in A1689-zD1.
X-ray extragalactic surveys are ideal laboratories for the study of the evolution and clustering of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The XXL Survey spans two fields of a combined 50 $deg^2$ observed for more than 6Ms with XMM-Newton, occupying the parameter space between deep surveys and very wide area surveys; at the same time it benefits from a wealth of ancillary data. This paper marks the first release of the XXL point source catalogue selected in the 2-10 keV energy band with limiting flux $F_{2-10keV}=4.8\cdot10^{-14}\rm{erg\,s^{-1}\,cm^{-2}}$. We use both public and proprietary data sets to identify the counterparts of the X-ray point-like sources and improved upon the photometric redshift determination for AGN by applying a Random Forest classification trained to identify for each object the optimal photometric redshift model library. We also assign a probability to each source to be a star or an outlier. We model with Bayesian analysis the X-ray spectra assuming a power-law model with the presence of an absorbing medium. We find an average unabsorbed photon index of $\Gamma=1.85$ and average hydrogen column density $\log{N_{H}}=21.07 cm^{-2}$. We find no trend of $\Gamma$ or $N_H$ with redshift and a fraction of 26% absorbed sources ($\log N_{H}>22$). We show that the XXL-1000-AGN number counts extended the number counts of the COSMOS survey to higher fluxes and are fully consistent with the Euclidean expectation. We constrain the intrinsic luminosity function of AGN in the 2-10 keV energy band where the unabsorbed X-ray flux is estimated from the X-ray spectral fit up to z=3. Finally, we demonstrate the presence of a supercluster size structure at redshift 0.14, identified by means of percolation analysis of the XXL-1000-AGN sample. The XXL survey, reaching a medium flux limit and covering a wide area is a stepping stone between current deep fields and planned wide area surveys.
Machine learning can provide powerful tools to detect patterns in multi-dimensional parameter space. We use K-means -a simple yet powerful unsupervised clustering algorithm which picks out structure in unlabeled data- to study a sample of quasar UV spectra from the Quasar Catalog of the 10th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey of Paris et al. (2014). Detecting patterns in large datasets helps us gain insights into the physical conditions and processes giving rise to the observed properties of quasars. We use K-means to find clusters in the parameter space of the equivalent width (EW), the blue- and red-half-width at half-maximum (HWHM) of the Mg II 2800 A line, the C IV 1549 A line, and the C III] 1908 A blend in samples of Broad Absorption-Line (BAL) and non-BAL quasars at redshift 1.6-2.1. Using this method, we successfully recover correlations well-known in the UV regime such as the anti-correlation between the EW and blueshift of the C IV emission line and the shape of the ionizing Spectra Energy distribution (SED) probed by the strength of He II and the Si III]/C III] ratio. We find this to be particularly evident when the properties of C III] are used to find the clusters, while those of Mg II proved to be less strongly correlated with the properties of the other lines in the spectra such as the width of C IV or the Si III]/C III] ratio. We conclude that unsupervised clustering methods (such as K-means) are powerful methods for finding "natural" binning boundaries in multidimensional datasets and discuss caveats and future work.
We present models of low- and high-ionization metal-line absorbers (O I, C II, C IV and Mg II) during the end of the reionization epoch, at z ~ 6. Using four cosmological hydrodynamical simulations with different feedback schemes (including the Illustris and Sherwood simulations) and two different choices of hydro-solver, we investigate how the overall incidence rate and equivalent width distribution of metal-line absorbers varies with the galactic wind prescription. We find that the O I and C II absorbers are reasonably insensitive to the feedback scheme. All models, however, struggle to reproduce the observations of C IV and Mg II, which are probing down to lower overdensities than O I and C II at z ~ 6, suggesting that the metals in the simulations are not being transported out into the IGM efficiently enough. The situation is improved but not resolved if we choose a harder (but still reasonable) and/or (locally) increased UV background at z ~ 6.
We present the results of an X-ray spectral analysis of 153 galaxy clusters observed with the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku space telescopes. These clusters, which span 0 < z < 1.5, were drawn from a larger, mass-selected sample of galaxy clusters discovered in the 2500 square degree South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. With a total combined exposure time of 9.1 Ms, these data yield the strongest constraints to date on the evolution of the metal content of the intracluster medium (ICM). We find no evidence for strong evolution in the global (r<R500) ICM metallicity (dZ/dz = -0.06 +/- 0.04 Zsun), with a mean value at z=0.6 of <Z> = 0.23 +/- 0.01 Zsun and a scatter of 0.08 +/- 0.01 Zsun. These results imply that >60% of the metals in the ICM were already in place at z=1 (at 95% confidence), consistent with the picture of an early (z>1) enrichment. We find, in agreement with previous works, a significantly higher mean value for the metallicity in the centers of cool core clusters versus non-cool core clusters. We find weak evidence for evolution in the central metallicity of cool core clusters (dZ/dz = -0.21 +/- 0.11 Zsun), which is sufficient to account for this enhanced central metallicity over the past ~10 Gyr. We find no evidence for metallicity evolution outside of the core (dZ/dz = -0.03 +/- 0.06 Zsun), and no significant difference in the core-excised metallicity between cool core and non-cool core clusters. This suggests that strong radio-mode AGN feedback does not significantly alter the distribution of metals at r>0.15R500. Given the limitations of current-generation X-ray telescopes in constraining the ICM metallicity at z>1, significant improvements on this work will likely require next-generation X-ray missions.
The CDMS was founded 1998 to provide in its catalog section line lists of molecular species which may be observed in various astronomical sources using radio astronomy. The line lists contain transition frequencies with qualified accuracies, intensities, quantum numbers, as well as further auxilary information. They have been generated from critically evaluated experimental line lists, mostly from laboratory experiments, employing established Hamiltonian models. Seperate entries exist for different isotopic species and usually also for different vibrational states. As of December 2015, the number of entries is 792. They are available online as ascii tables with additional files documenting information on the entries. The Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre was founded more than 5 years ago as a common platform for atomic and molecular data. This platform facilitates exchange not only between spectroscopic databases related to astrophysics or astrochemistry, but also with collisional and kinetic databases. A dedicated infrastructure was developed to provide a common data format in the various databases enabling queries to a large variety of databases on atomic and molecular data at once. For CDMS, the incorporation in VAMDC was combined with several modifications on the generation of CDMS catalog entries. Here we introduce related changes to the data structure and the data content in the CDMS. The new data scheme allows us to incorporate all previous data entries but in addition allows us also to include entries based on new theoretical descriptions. Moreover, the CDMS entries have been transferred into a mySQL database format. These developments within the VAMDC framework have been driven by the needs of the astronomical community to be able to deal efficiently with large data sets obtained with the Herschel Space Telescope or, more recently, with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
Since the release of LAMOST (the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) catalog, we have the opportunity to use the LAMOST DR2 stellar catalog and \emph{WISE All-sky catalog} to search for 22 $\mu$m excess candidates. In this paper, we present 10 FGK candidates which show an excess in the infrared (IR) at 22 $\mu$m. The ten sources are all the newly identified 22 $\mu$m excess candidates. Of these 10 stars, 5 stars are F type and 5 stars are G type. The criterion for selecting candidates is $K_s-[22]_{\mu m}\geq0.387$. In addition, we present the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) covering wavelength from optical to mid-infrared band. Most of them show an obvious excess from 12 $\mu$m band and three candidates even show excess from 3.4 $\mu$m. To characterize the amount of dust, we also estimate the fractional luminosity of ten 22 $\mu$m excess candidates.
We use the EAGLE galaxy formation simulation to study the effects of baryons on the power spectrum of the total matter and dark matter distributions and on the velocity fields of dark matter and galaxies. On scales $k\geq \sim4{h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}}$ the effect of baryons on the amplitude of the total-matter power spectrum is greater than $1\%$. The back-reaction of baryons affects the density field of the dark matter at the level of $\sim3\%$ on scales of $1\leq k/({h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}})\leq 5$. The dark matter velocity divergence power spectrum at $k\leq \sim0.5{h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}}$ is changed by less than $1\%$. The 2D redshift-space power spectrum is affected at the level of $\sim6\%$ at $k_\perp\geq \sim1{h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}}$, but for $k_\perp\leq 0.4{h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}}$ the amplitude differs by less than $1\%$. We report vanishingly small baryonic velocity bias for haloes: the peculiar velocities of haloes with with $M_{200}>3\times10^{11}{{\rm M}_{\odot}}$ (hosting galaxies with $M_{*}>10^9{{\rm M}_{\odot}}$) are affected at the level of at most $1~$km/s, which is negligible for $1\%$-precision cosmology. We caution that since EAGLE overestimates cluster gas fractions it may also underestimate the impact of baryons, particularly for the total matter power spectrum. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that for theoretical modelling of redshift space distortions and galaxy velocity-based statistics, baryons and their back-reaction can be safely ignored at the current level of observational accuracy. However, we confirm that the modelling of the total matter power spectrum in weak lensing studies needs to include realistic galaxy formation physics in order to achieve the accuracy required in the precision cosmology era.
Probability distribution functions (PDFs) of column densities are an established tool to characterize the evolutionary state of interstellar clouds. Using simulations, we show to what degree their determination is affected by noise, line-of-sight contamination, field selection, and the incomplete sampling in interferometric measurements. We solve the integrals that describe the convolution of a cloud PDF with contaminating sources and study the impact of missing information on the measured column density PDF. The effect of observational noise can be easily estimated and corrected for if the root mean square (rms) of the noise is known. For $\sigma_{noise}$ values below 40\,\% of the typical cloud column density, $N_{peak}$, this involves almost no degradation of the accuracy of the PDF parameters. For higher noise levels and narrow cloud PDFs the width of the PDF becomes increasingly uncertain. A contamination by turbulent foreground or background clouds can be removed as a constant shield if the PDF of the contamination peaks at a lower column or is narrower than that of the observed cloud. Uncertainties in the definition of the cloud boundaries mainly affect the low-column density part of the PDF and the mean density. As long as more than 50\,\% of a cloud are covered, the impact on the PDF parameters is negligible. In contrast, the incomplete sampling of the uv plane in interferometric observations leads to uncorrectable distortions of the PDF of the produced maps. An extension of ALMA's capabilities would allow us to recover the high-column density tail of the PDF but we found no way to measure the intermediate and low column density part of the underlying cloud PDF in interferometric observations.
In order to find out capable chemical evolution step from astronomically created organic in interstellar space to biological organic on the earth, infrared spectrum of nitrogen substituted carbon pentagon-hexagon coupled polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon was analyzed by the density functional theory. Ionization was modeled from neutral to tri-cation. Among one nitrogen and two nitrogen substituted NPAH, we could find good examples showing similar IR behavior with astronomically well observed one as like C8H6N1, C7H5N2, and C7H5N2. We can imagine that such ionized NPAH may be created in interstellar space by attacks of high energy nitrogen and photon. Whereas, in case of three and four nitrogen substituted cases as like C6H4N3 and C5H3N4, there were no candidate showing similar behavior with observed one. Also, IR of typical biological organic with four and five nitrogen substituted one as like purine and adenine resulted no good similarity with observed one. By such theoretical comparison, one capable story of chemical evolution of PAH in interstellar space was that one and two nitrogen substituted carbon pentagon-hexagon molecules may have a potential to be created in interstellar space, whereas more than three nitrogen substituted molecules including biological organic purine and adenine may not be synthesized in space, possibly on the earth.
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