We use new Band-3 CO(1-0) observations taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the physical conditions in the interstellar gas of a sample of 27 dusty main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 0.03<$z$<0.2 present in the Valpara\'iso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES). The sample is drawn from far-IR bright galaxies over $\sim$160 deg$^{2}$ in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (HATLAS), which is covered by Herschel [CII] 158 $\mu$m spectroscopy and far-infrared (FIR) photometry. The [CII] and CO lines are both detected at >5$\sigma$ in 26 sources. We find an average [CII] to CO(1-0) luminosity ratio of 3500$\pm$1200 for our sample that is consistent with previous studies. Using the [CII], CO and FIR measurements as diagnostics of the physical conditions of the interstellar medium, we compare these observations to the predictions of a photodissociation region (PDR) model to determine the gas density, surface temperature, pressure, and the strength of the incident far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field, $G_{0}$, normalised to the Habing Field. The majority of our sample exhibit hydrogen densities of 4 < $\log n/\mathrm{cm}^{3}$ < 5.5 and experience an incident FUV radiation field with strengths of 2 < $\log G_0$ < 3 when adopting standard adjustments. A comparison to galaxy samples at different redshifts indicates that the average strength of the FUV radiation field appears constant up to redshift $z\sim$6.4, yet the neutral gas density increases with redshift by a factor of $\sim$100, that persists regardless of various adjustments to our observable quantities. This evolution could provide an explanation for the observed evolution of the star formation rate density with cosmic time, yet could arise from a combination of observational biases when using different suites of emission lines as diagnostic tracers of PDR gas.
The physical state of the gas in the central 500 pc of NGC~5128 (the radio galaxy Centaurus A - Cen A), was investigated using the far-infrared fine-structure lines of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, as well as the CO(4-3) molecular line. The circumnuclear disk (CND) is traced by emission from dust and the neutral gas ([CI] and CO). A gas outflow with a line-of-sight velocity of 60 km/s is evident in both species. The center of the CND is bright in [OI], [OIII], and [CII]; [OI]63mu emission dominates that of [CII] even though it is absorbed with optical depths of 1.0-1.5. The outflow is well-traced by the [NII] and [NIII] lines and also seen in the [CII] and [OIII] lines that peak in the center. Ionized gas densities are moderate in the CND and low everywhere else. Neutral gas densities range from 4000 per cm3 (outflow, extended thin disk ETD) to 20 000 per cm3 (CND). The CND radiation field is weak compared to the ETD starburst field. The outflow has a much stronger radiation field. The total mass of all the CND gas is 9 x 10^(7) M(o) and the mass of the outflowing gas is only 15%-30% of that. The outflow most likely originates from the shock-dominated CND cavity surrounding the central black hole. With a factor of three uncertainty, the mass outflow rate is about 2 M(o)/yr, a thousand times higher than the accretion rate of the black hole. Without replenishment, the CND will be depleted in 15-120 million years. However, the outflow velocity is well below the escape velocity.
(Abridged) The properties of stellar clumps in star forming galaxies and their evolution over the redshift range $2\lesssim z \lesssim 6$ are presented and discussed in the context of the build-up of massive galaxies at early cosmic times. We use HST/ACS images of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) to identify clumps within a 20 kpc radius. We find that the population of galaxies with more than one clump is dominated by galaxies with two clumps, representing $\sim21-25$\% of the population, while the fraction of galaxies with 3, or 4 and more, clumps is 8-11 and 7-9\%, respectively. The fraction of clumpy galaxies is in the range $\sim35-55\%$ over $2<z<6$, increasing at higher redshifts, indicating that the fraction of irregular galaxies remains high up to the highest redshifts. The large and bright clumps (M$_{\star}\sim10^9$ up to $\sim10^{10}$M$_\odot$) are found to reside predominantly in galaxies with two clumps. Smaller and lower luminosity clumps ($\log_{10}\left(M_{\star}/\mathrm{M_\odot}\right)<9$) are found in galaxies with three clumps or more. We interpret these results as evidence for two different modes of clump formation working in parallel. The small low luminosity clumps are likely the result of disc fragmentation, with violent disc instabilities (VDI) forming several long-lived clumps {\it in-situ}, as suggested from simulations. A fraction of these clumps is also likely coming from minor mergers. The clumps in the dominating population of galaxies with two clumps are significantly more massive and have properties akin to those in merging pairs observed at similar redshifts; they appear as more massive than the most massive clumps observed in VDI numerical simulations.
We compare the isophote shape parameter $a_{4}$ of early-type galaxies (ETGs) between $z\sim1$ and 0 as a proxy for dynamics to investigate the epoch at which the dynamical properties of ETGs are established, using cluster ETG samples with stellar masses of $\log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})\geq10.5$ which have spectroscopic redshifts. We have 130 ETGs from the Hubble Space Telescope Cluster Supernova Survey for $z\sim1$ and 355 ETGs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for $z\sim0$. We have developed an isophote shape analysis method which can be used for high-redshift galaxies and has been carefully compared with published results. We have applied the same method for both the $z\sim1$ and $0$ samples. We find similar dependence of the $a_{4}$ parameter on the mass and size at $z\sim1$ and 0; the main population of ETGs changes from disky to boxy at a critical stellar mass of $\log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})\sim11.5$ with the massive end dominated by boxy. The disky ETG fraction decreases with increasing stellar mass both at $z\sim1$ and $0$, and is consistent between these redshifts in all stellar mass bins when the Eddington bias is taken into account. Although uncertainties are large, the results suggest that the isophote shapes and probably dynamical properties of ETGs in massive clusters are already in place at $z>1$ and do not significantly evolve in $z<1$, despite significant size evolution in the same galaxy population. The constant disky fraction favors less violent processes than mergers as a main cause of the size and morphological evolution of intermediate mass ETGs in $z<1$.
The residual gas within newly formed star clusters is expelled through stellar feedback on timescales ~ 1 Myr. The subsequent expansion of the cluster results in an unbinding of a fraction of stars, before the remaining cluster members can re-virialize and form a surviving cluster. We investigate the bound fraction after gas expulsion as a function of initial cluster mass in stars and gauge the influence of primordial mass segregation, stellar evolution and the tidal field at solar distance. We also assess the impact of the star-formation efficiency and gas expulsion velocity. We perform N-body simulations using Sverre Aarseth's NBODY7 code, starting with compact clusters in their embedded phase and approximate the gas expulsion by means of an exponentially depleting external gravitational field. We follow the process of re-virialization through detailed monitoring of different Lagrange radii over several Myr, examining initial half-mass radii of 0.1 pc, 0.3 pc and 0.5 pc and masses usually ranging from 5x10^3 to 5x10^4 Solar masses. The adopted star-formation efficiency of 0.33 in the cluster volume results in a distinct sensitivity to the gas expulsion velocity over a wide mass range, while a variation of the star-formation efficiency can make the cluster robust to the rapidly decreasing external potential. We confirm that primordial mass segregation leads to a smaller bound fraction, its influence possibly decreasing with mass. Stellar evolution has a higher impact on lower mass clusters, but heating through dynamical friction could expand the cluster to a similar extent. The examined clusters expand well within their tidal radii and would survive gas expulsion even in a strong tidal field.
Determining the average fraction of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons escaping high redshift galaxies is essential to understand how reionization proceeded in the z>6 Universe. We want to measure the LyC signal from a sample of sources in the CDFS and COSMOS fields for which ultra-deep VIMOS spectroscopy as well as multi-wavelength HST imaging are available. We select a sample of 46 galaxies at $z\sim 4$ from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) database, such that the VUDS spectra contain the LyC part of the spectra i.e. the rest-frame range $880-910\AA$; taking advantage of the HST imaging we apply a careful cleaning procedure and reject all the sources showing nearby clumps with different colours, that could potentially be lower redshift interlopers. After this procedure the sample is reduced to 33 galaxies. We measure the ratio between ionizing flux (LyC at $895\AA$) and non ionizing emission (at $\sim 1500 \AA$) for all individual sources. We also produce a normalized stacked spectrum of all sources. Assuming an intrinsic average $L_{\nu}(1470)/L_{\nu}(895)$ of 3, we estimate the individual and average relative escape fraction. We do not detect ionizing radiation from any individual source, although we identify a possible LyC emitter with very high Ly$\alpha$ equivalent width. From the stacked spectrum and assuming a mean transmissivity for the sample, we measure a relative e scape fraction $f_{esc}^{rel}=0.06\pm0.03$. We also look for correlations between the limits in the LyC flux and source properties and find a tentative correlation between LyC flux and the EW of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line. Our result implies that the LyC flux emitted by $V=25-26$ star forming galaxies at z$\sim$4 is, at most, very modest, in agreement with previous upper limits from studies based on broad and narrow band imaging.
Fast and energetic winds are invoked by galaxy formation models as essential
processes in the evolution of galaxies. These massive gas outflows can be
powered either by star-formation and/or AGN activity, but the relative
dominance of the two mechanisms is still under debate. In this work we use
spectroscopic stacking analysis to study the properties of the low-ionization
phase of the outflow in a sample of 1332 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and 62
X-ray detected (L_X < 10^45 erg/s) Type 2 AGN at 1.7<z<4.6 selected from a
compilation of deep optical spectroscopic surveys (mostly from zCOSMOS-Deep and
VUDS).
We measure velocity offsets of about -150 km/s in the SFGs while in the AGN
sample the velocity is much higher (about -800 km/s), suggesting that the AGN
is boosting the outflow up to velocities that could not be reached only with
the star-formation contribution. The sample of X-ray AGN has on average a lower
SFR than non-AGN SFGs of similar mass: this, combined with the enhanced outflow
velocity in AGN hosts, is consistent with AGN feedback in action.
We further divide our sample of AGN into two X-ray luminosity bins: we
measure the same velocity offsets in both stacked spectra, at odds with results
reported for the highly ionized phase in local AGN, suggesting that the two
phases of the outflow are mixed only in low-velocity outflows.
The heaviest metals found in stars in most ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the Milky Way halo are generally underabundant by an order of magnitude or more when compared with stars in the halo field. Among the heavy elements produced by n-capture reactions, only Sr and Ba can be detected in red giant stars in most UFD galaxies. This limited chemical information is unable to identify the nucleosynthesis process(es) responsible for producing the heavy elements in UFD galaxies. Similar [Sr/Ba] and [Ba/Fe] ratios are found in three bright halo field stars, BD-18 5550, CS 22185-007, and CS 22891-200. Previous studies of high-quality spectra of these stars report detections of additional n-capture elements, including Eu. The [Eu/Ba] ratios in these stars span +0.41 to +0.86. These ratios and others among elements in the rare earth domain indicate an r-process origin. These stars have some of the lowest levels of r-process enhancement known, with [Eu/H] spanning -3.95 to -3.32, and they may be considered nearby proxies for faint stars in UFD galaxies. Direct confirmation, however, must await future observations of additional heavy elements in stars in the UFD galaxies themselves.
The search for chemically unevolved galaxies remains prevalent in the nearby Universe, mostly because these systems provide excellent proxies for exploring in detail the physics of high-z systems. The most promising candidates are extremely metal-poor galaxies (XMPs), i.e., galaxies with <1/10 solar metallicity. However, due to the bright emission line based search criteria traditionally used to find XMPs, we may not be sampling the full XMP population. In 2014 we reoriented this search using only morphological properties and uncovered a population of ~150 `blue diffuse dwarf (BDD) galaxies', and published a sub-sample of 12 BDD spectra. Here we present optical spectroscopic observations of a larger sample of 51 BDDs, along with their SDSS photometric properties. With our improved statistics, we use direct-method abundances to confirm that BDDs are chemically unevolved (7.43<12+log(O/H)<8.01), with ~20% of our sample classified as being XMP galaxies, and find they are actively forming stars at rates of 1-33x10^-2 M_sol/yr in HII regions randomly embedded in a blue, low-surface brightness continuum. Stellar masses are calculated from population synthesis models and estimated to be in the range log(M_star/M_sol) ~5-9. Unlike other low-metallicity star-forming galaxies, BDDs are in agreement with the mass-metallicity relation at low masses, suggesting they are not accreting large amounts of pristine gas relative to their stellar mass. BDD galaxies appear to be a population of actively star-forming dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies who fall within the class of low-surface brightness dIrr galaxies. Their ongoing star-formation and irregular morphology make them excellent analogues for galaxies in the early Universe.
We reexamine the systematic properties of local galaxy populations, using published surveys of star formation, structure, and gas content. After recalibrating star formation measures, we are able to reliably measure specific star formation rates well below the "main sequence" of star formation vs mass. We find an unexpectedly large population of galaxies with star formation rates intermediate between vigorously star-forming main sequence galaxies and passive galaxies, and with gas content disproportionately high for their star formation rates. Several lines of evidence suggest that these quiescent galaxies form a distinct population rather than a low star formation tail of the main sequence. We demonstrate that a tight main sequence, evolving with epoch, is a natural outcome of most histories of star formation and has little astrophysical significance, but that the quiescent population requires additional astrophysics to explain its properties. Using a simple model for disk evolution based on the observed dependence of star formation on gas content in local galaxies, and assuming simple histories of cold gas inflow, we show that the evolution of galaxies away from the main sequence can be attributed to the depletion of gas due to star formation after a cutoff in gas inflow. The quiescent population is composed of galaxies in which the density of disk gas has fallen below a threshold for disk stability. The evolution of galaxies beyond the quiescent state to gas exhaustion requires another process, probably wind-driven mass loss. The SSFR distribution of the quiescent and passive implies that the timescale of this process must be greater than a few Gyrs but less than a few tens of Gyrs. The environmental dependence of the galaxy populations is consistent with recent theory suggesting that cold gas inflows into galaxies are truncated at earlier times in denser environments.
Multi-band images of the very isolated spiral galaxy NGC 5523 show a number of unusual features consistent with NGC 5523 having experienced a significant merger: (1) Near-infrared (NIR) images from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) and the WIYN 3.5-m telescope reveal a nucleated bulge-like structure embedded in a spiral disk. (2) The bulge is offset by ~1.8 kpc from a brightness minimum at the center of the optically bright inner disk. (3) A tidal stream, possibly associated with an ongoing satellite interaction, extends from the nucleated bulge along the disk. We interpret these properties as the results of one or more non-disruptive mergers between NGC 5523 and companion galaxies or satellites, raising the possibility that some galaxies become isolated because they have merged with former companions.
According to optical stellar kinematics observations, an over-massive black hole candidate has been reported by van den Bosch et al. (2012) in the normal early-type galaxy NGC 1277. This galaxy is located in the central region of the Perseus cluster. Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) observations have shown that NGC 1277 and other early-type galaxies in the neighbourhood have radio counterparts. These nuclear radio sources have stable flux densities on time scale of years. In order to investigate the origin of the radio emission from these normal galaxies, we selected five sources (NGC 1270, NGC 1272, NGC 1277, NGC 1278 and VZw 339) residing in the central 10 arcminute region of the Perseus cluster and requested to re-correlate the data of an existing very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment at these new positions. With the re-correlation data provided by the European VLBI Network (EVN), we imaged the five sources with a resolution of about eight milliarcseconds and detected all of them with a confidence level above 5{\sigma} at 1.4 GHz. They show compact structure and brightness temperatures above $10^7$ K, which implies that the radio emission is non-thermal. We rule out ongoing nuclear star formation and conclude that these VLBI-detected radio sources are parsec-scale jet activity associated with the supermassive black holes in low luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs), although there are no clear signs of nuclear activity observed in the optical and infrared bands. Using the fundamental plane relation in black holes, we find no significant evidence for or against an extremely massive black hole hiding in NGC 1277.
We present an analysis of Mg II $\lambda2798$ and Fe II UV emission lines for archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars to explore diagnostics of the magnesium-to-iron abundance ratio in a broad-line region cloud. Our sample consists of 17,432 quasars selected from the SDSS Data Release 7 with a redshift range of $0.72 < z < 1.63$. A strong anticorrelation between Mg II equivalent width (EW) and the Eddington ratio is found, while only a weak positive correlation is found between Fe II EW and the Eddington ratio. To investigate the origin of these differing behaviors of Mg II and Fe II emission lines, we have performed photoionization calculations using the Cloudy code, where constraints from recent reverberation mapping studies are considered. We find from calculations that (i) Mg II and Fe II emission lines are created at different regions in a photoionized cloud, and (ii) their EW correlations with the Eddington ratio can be explained by just changing the cloud gas density. These results indicate that the Mg II/Fe II flux ratio, which has been used as a first-order proxy for the Mg/Fe abundance ratio in chemical evolution studies with quasar emission lines, depends largely on the cloud gas density. By correcting this density dependence, we propose new diagnostics of the Mg/Fe abundance ratio for a broad line region cloud. Comparing the derived Mg/Fe abundance ratios with chemical evolution models, we suggest that $\alpha$-enrichment by mass loss from metal-poor intermediate-mass stars occurred at $z\sim2$ or earlier.
We conduct a multiwavelength continuum variability study of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 to investigate the temperature structure of its accretion disk. The 19 overlapping continuum light curves (1158 to 9157 angstroms) combine simultaneous HST , Swift , and ground-based observations over a 180 day period from 2014 January to July. Light-curve variability is interpreted as the reverberation response of the accretion disk to irradiation by a central time-varying point source. Our model yields the disk inclination, i, temperature T1 at 1 light day from the black hole, and a temperature-radius slope, alpha. We also infer the driving light curve and find that it correlates poorly with both the hard and soft X-ray light curves, suggesting that the X-rays alone may not drive the ultraviolet and optical variability over the observing period. We also decompose the light curves into bright, faint, and mean accretion-disk spectra. These spectra lie below that expected for a standard blackbody accretion disk accreting at L/LEdd = 0.1
In Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and HII regions ionic abundances can be derived by using collisionally excited lines (CELs) or recombination lines (ORLs). Such abundances do not coincide for the same ion and usually abundances from ORLs are larger than those from CELs by factors of 2 or larger. The origin of the discrepancy, known as the Abundance Discrepancy Factor is an open problem in astrophysics of gaseous nebulae. It has been attributed to temperature fluctuations in the plasma, tiny metal-rich inclusions embedded in the H-rich plasma, gas inhomogeneities or other processes. In this work we analyze the kinematical behavior of CELs and ORLs in two PNe ionized by [WC] stars, finding that kinematics of ORLS is incompatible with the kinematics of CELs. In particular the expansion velocities from CELs and ORLs for the same ion are different, indicating that ORLs seem to be produced in zones nearer the central star than CELs. This is in agreement with results found by other authors for individual PNe.
We study two self-interacting scalar field theories in their strong regime. We numerically investigate them in the static limit using path integrals on a lattice. We first recall the formalism and then recover known static potentials to validate the method and verify that calculations are independent of the choice of the simulation's arbitrary parameters, such as the space discretization size. The calculations in the strong field regime yield linear potentials for both theories. We discuss how these theories can represent the Strong Interaction and General Relativity in their static and classical limits. In the case of Strong Interaction, the model suggests an origin for the emergence of the confinement scale from the approximately conformal Lagrangian. The model also underlines the role of quantum effects in the appearance of the long-range linear quark-quark potential. For General Relativity, the results have important implications on the nature of Dark Matter. In particular, non-perturbative effects naturally provide flat rotation curves for disk galaxies, without need for non-baryonic matter, and explain as well other observations involving Dark Matter such as cluster dynamics or the dark mass of elliptical galaxies.
It has recently been proposed, by assuming that dark matter is a superfluid, that MOND-like effects can be achieved on small scales whilst preserving the success of $\Lambda$CDM on large scales. Here we aim to provide the first set of spherical models of galaxy clusters in the context of superfluid dark matter. We first outline the theoretical structure of the superfluid core and the surrounding "normal phase" dark halo of quasi-particles in thermal equlibrium. The latter should encompass the largest part of galaxy clusters. Here, we set the SfDM transition at the radius where the density and pressure of the superfluid and normal phase coincides, neglecting the effect of phonons in the suprefluid core. We then apply the theory to a sample of galaxy clusters, and directly compare the SfDM predicted mass profiles to data. We find that the superfluid formulation can reproduce the X-ray dynamical mass profile of clusters, with less free parameters than the corresponding CDM fits with NFW profiles. The SfDM fits however display slight under-predictions of the gravity in the central regions which might be partly related to our neglecting of the effect of phonons in these regions. We conclude that this superfluid formulation is successful in describing galaxy clusters, but further work will be needed to determine whether the parameter choice is consistent with galaxies. Our model could be made more realistic by exploring non-sphericity, the SfDM transition condition, and non-isothermal normal phase profiles.
We briefly review the synergy between X-ray and infrared observations for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) detected in cosmic X-ray surveys, primarily with XMM-Newton, Chandra, and NuSTAR. We focus on two complementary aspects of this X-ray-infrared synergy (1) the identification of the most heavily obscured AGNs and (2) the connection between star formation and AGN activity. We also briefly discuss future prospects for X-ray-infrared studies over the next decade.
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Galaxy interactions are thought to be one of the main triggers of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), especially at high luminosities, where the accreted gas mass during the AGN lifetime is substantial. Evidence for a connection between mergers and AGN, however, remains mixed. Possible triggering mechanisms remain particularly poorly understood for luminous AGN, which are thought to require triggering by major mergers, rather than secular processes. We analyse the host galaxies of a sample of 20 optically and X-ray selected luminous AGN (log($L_{bol}$ [erg/s]) $>$ 45) at z $\sim$ 0.6 using HST WFC3 data in the F160W/H band. 15/20 sources have resolved host galaxies. We create a control sample of mock AGN by matching the AGN host galaxies to a control sample of non-AGN galaxies. Visual signs of disturbances are found in about 25% of sources in both the AGN hosts and control galaxies. Using both visual classification and quantitative morphology measures, we show that the levels of disturbance are not enhanced when compared to a matched control sample. We find no signs that major mergers play a dominant role in triggering AGN at high luminosities, suggesting that minor mergers and secular processes dominate AGN triggering up to the highest AGN luminosities. The upper limit on the enhanced fraction of major mergers is $\leqslant$20%. While major mergers might increase the incidence of (luminous AGN), they are not the prevalent triggering mechanism in the population of unobscured AGN.
We present XID+ a new generation of software for prior-based photometry extraction in the Herschel SPIRE maps. Based on a Bayesian framework, XID+ allows the inclusion of prior information and gives access to the full posterior probability distribution of fluxes. XID+ is developed within the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) and is available at https://github.com/H-E-L-P/XID_plus.
In the last decade, several ultra faint objects (UFOs, $M_V\gtrsim-3.5$) have been discovered in the outer halo of the Milky Way. For some of these objects it is not clear whether they are star clusters or (ultra-faint) dwarf galaxies. In this work we quantify the contribution of star clusters to the population of UFOs. We extrapolated the mass and Galactocentric radius distribution of the globular clusters using a population model, finding that the Milky Way contains about $3.3^{+7.3}_{-1.6}$ star clusters with $M_V\gtrsim-3.5$ and Galactocentric radius $\geq20\,$kpc. To understand whether dissolving clusters can appear as UFOs, we run a suite of direct $N$-body models, varying the orbit, the Galactic potential, the binary fraction and the black hole (BH) natal kick velocities. In the analyses, we consider observational biases such as: luminosity limit, field stars, and line-of-sight projection. We find that star clusters contribute to both the compact and the extended population of UFOs: clusters without BHs appear compact with radii $\sim5\,$pc, while clusters that retain their BHs after formation have radii $\gtrsim20\,$pc. The properties of the extended clusters are remarkably similar to those of dwarf galaxies: high inferred mass-to-light ratios due to binaries; binary properties mildly affected by dynamical evolution; no observable mass segregation; and flattened stellar mass function. We conclude that the slope of the stellar mass function as a function of Galactocentric radius and the presence/absence of cold streams can discriminate between DM free and DM dominated UFOs.
While galaxies with clockwise and counterclockwise handedness are visually different, they are expected to be symmetric in all of their other characteristics. Previous experiments using both manual analysis and machine vision have shown that the handedness of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies can be predicted with accuracy significantly higher than mere chance using its photometric data alone, showing that SDSS photometry pipeline is sensitive to the handedness of the galaxy. However, some of these previous experiments were based on manually classified galaxies, and the results may therefore be subjected to bias originated from the human perception. This paper describes an experiment based on a set of 162,514 celestial objects classified as clockwise and counterclockwise spiral galaxies in a fully automatic process, showing that the source of the asymmetry is more than the human perception bias. The results are compared to two smaller datasets, and confirm the observation that the handedness of SDSS galaxies can be predicted by their photometric information, and show that the position angle of counterclockwise galaxies computed by SDSS photometry pipeline is consistently higher than the position angle computed for galaxies with clockwise patterns. The experiment also shows statistically significant differences in the measured magnitude, according which galaxies with clockwise patterns are brighter than galaxies with counterclockwise patterns. The magnitude of that difference changes across RA ranges, and exhibits a strong correlation with the cosine of the right ascension.
In barred galaxies, the contours of stellar velocity dispersions ($\sigma$) are generally expected to be oval and aligned with the orientation of bars. However, many double-barred (S2B) galaxies exhibit distinct $\sigma$ peaks on the minor axis of inner bar, which we termed "$\sigma$-humps," while two local $\sigma$ minima are present close to the ends of inner bars, i.e., "$\sigma$-hollows." Analysis of numerical simulations shows that $\sigma_z$-humps or hollows should play an important role in generating the observed $\sigma$-humps+hollows in low-inclination galaxies. In order to systematically investigate the properties of $\sigma_z$ in barred galaxies, we apply the vertical Jeans equation to a group of well-designed three-dimensional bar+disk(+bulge) models. A vertically thin bar can lower $\sigma_z$ along the bar and enhance it perpendicular to the bar, thus generating $\sigma_z$-humps+hollows. Such a result suggests that $\sigma_z$-humps+hollows can be generated by the purely dynamical response of stars in the presence of a, sufficiently massive, vertically thin bar, even without an outer bar. Using self-consistent $N$-body simulations, we verify the existence of vertically thin bars in the nuclear-barred and S2B models which generate prominent $\sigma$-humps+hollows. Thus the ubiquitous presence of $\sigma$-humps+hollows in S2Bs implies that inner bars are vertically thin. The addition of a bulge makes the $\sigma_z$-humps more ambiguous and thus tends to somewhat hide the $\sigma_z$-humps+hollows. We show that $\sigma_z$ may be used as a kinematic diagnostic of stellar components that have different thickness, providing a direct perspective on the morphology and thickness of nearly face-on bars and bulges with integral-field unit spectroscopy.
We study the hierarchical stellar structures in a $\sim$1.5 deg$^2$ area covering the 30 Doradus-N158-N159-N160 star-forming complex with the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds. Based on the young upper main-sequence stars, we find that the surface densities cover a wide range of values, from log($\Sigma\cdot$pc$^2$) $\lesssim$ $-$2.0 to log($\Sigma\cdot$pc$^2$) $\gtrsim$ 0.0. Their distributions are highly non-uniform, showing groups that frequently have sub-groups inside. The sizes of the stellar groups do not exhibit characteristic values, and range continuously from several parsecs to more than 100 pc; the cumulative size distribution can be well described by a single power law, with the power-law index indicating a projected fractal dimension $D_2$ = 1.6 $\pm$ 0.3. We suggest that the phenomena revealed here support a scenario of hierarchical star formation. Comparisons with other star-forming regions and galaxies are also discussed.
The massive black holes originally in the nuclei of two merging galaxies will form a binary in the core of the merger remnant. The early evolution of the massive binary is driven by dynamical friction before the binary becomes "hard" and eventually reaches coalescence through the emission of gravitational wave radiation. We use analytical models and $N$-body integrations to study the evolution of supermassive black hole binaries due to dynamical friction. In our treatment we include the frictional force from stars moving faster than the massive body which is neglected in the standard Chandrasekhar's treatment. We show that the eccentricity of a massive binary increases due to dynamical friction if the density profile of the surrounding stellar cusp rises less steeply than $\rho\propto r^{-2}$. For cusps shallower than $\rho\propto r^{-1}$ the dynamical fiction timescale can become very long due to the deficit of stars moving slower than the secondary hole. Although adding the contribution of the fast stars increases the orbital decay rate, sufficiently low mass ratio binaries ($q\lesssim 10^{-3}$) in sufficiently massive host galaxies have decay timescales that are longer than one Hubble time. During such minor mergers the secondary hole stalls on an eccentric orbit at a galactocentric distance of order one tenth the influence radius of the primary black hole (i.e., $\approx 10-100$ pc for massive ellipticals). We calculate the expected average number of stalled satellites as a function of the host galaxy black hole mass, and find that the brightest cluster galaxies should have $\gtrsim 1$ of such satellites orbiting within their inner cores. Our results could provide an explanation for a number of observational puzzles, which include double structures or the presence of multiple nuclei in core elliptical galaxies, off-center active galactic nuclei and eccentric nuclear disks.
Recent ALMA observations of high-redshift normal galaxies have been providing a great opportunity to clarify the general origin of dust in the Universe, not biased to very bright special objects even at $z>6$. To clarify what constraint we can get for the dust enrichment in normal galaxies detected by ALMA, we use a theoretical model that includes major processes driving dust evolution in a galaxy; that is, dust condensation in stellar ejecta, dust growth by the accretion of gas-phase metals, and supernova destruction. Using the dust emission fluxes detected in two normal galaxies at $z>6$ by ALMA as a constraint, we can get the range of the time-scales (or efficiencies) of the above mentioned processes. We find that if we assume extremely high condensation efficiency in stellar ejecta ($f_{\mathrm{in}} \ga 0.5$), rapid dust enrichment by stellar sources in the early phase may be enough to explain the observed ALMA flux, unless dust destruction by supernovae in those galaxies is stronger than that in nearby galaxies. If we assume a condensation efficiency expected from theoretical calculations ($f_{\mathrm{in}} \la 0.1$), strong dust growth (even stronger than assumed for nearby galaxies if they are metal-poor galaxies) is required. These results indicate that the normal galaxies detected by ALMA at $z>6$ are biased to objects (i) with high dust condensation efficiency in stellar ejecta, (ii) with strong dust growth in very dense molecular clouds, or (iii) with efficient dust growth because of fast metal enrichment up to solar metallicity. A measurement of metallicity is crucial to distinguish among these possibilities.
With regard to generic two-component systems, the theory of first variations of global quantities is reviewed and explicit expressions are inferred for subsystem potential energies and potential-energy tensors. Performing a conceptual experiment, a physical interpretation of subsystem potential energies and potential-energy tensors is discussed. Subsystem tidal radii are defined by requiring an unbound component in absence of the other one. To this respect, a few guidance examples are presented as: (i) an embedding and an embedded homogeneous sphere; (ii) an embedding and an embedded truncated, singular isothermal sphere where related centres are sufficiently distant; (iii) a homogeneous sphere and a Roche system i.e. a mass point surrounded by a vanishing atmosphere. The results are discussed and compared with the findings of earlier investigations.
We investigated the star formation activities in the AFGL333 region, which is in the vicinity of the W4 expanding bubble, by conducting NH3 (1,1), (2,2), and (3,3) mapping observations with the 45 m Nobeyama Radio Telescope at an angular resolution of 75". The morphology of the NH3 (1,1) map shows a bow-shape structure with the size of 2.0 x 0.6 pc as seen in the dust continuum. At the interface between the W4 bubble and the dense NH3 cloud, the compact HII region G134.2+0.8, associated with IRAS02245+6115, is located. Interestingly, just north and south of G134.2+0.8 we found NH3 emission exhibiting large velocity widths of ~ 2.8 km/s, compared to 1.8 km/s at the other positions. As the possibility of mechanical energy injection through the activity of YSO(s) is low, we considered the origin of the large turbulent gas motion as indication of interaction between the compact HII region and the periphery of the dense molecular cloud. We also found expanding motion of the CO emission associated with G134.2+0.8. The overall structure of the AFGL333-Ridge might have been formed by the expanding bubble of W4. However, the small velocity widths observed west of IRAS02245+6115, around the center of the dense molecular cloud, suggest that interaction with the compact HII region is limited. Therefore the YSOs (dominantly Class 0/I) in the core of the AFGL333-Ridge dense molecular cloud most likely formed in quiescent mode. As has been previously suggested for the large scale star formation in the W3 giant molecular cloud, our results show an apparent coexistence of induced and quiescent star formation in this region. It appears that star formation in the AFGL333 region has proceeded without significant external triggers, but accompanying stellar feedback environment.
Recent photometric analysis of the colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of young massive clusters (YMCs) have found evidence for splitting in the main sequence and extended main sequence turn-offs, both of which have been suggested to be caused by stellar rotation. Comparison of the observed main sequence splitting with models has led various authors to suggest a rather extreme stellar rotation distribution, with a minority ($10-30$\%) of stars with low rotational velocities and the remainder ($70-90$\%) of stars rotating near the critical rotation (i.e., near break-up). We test this hypothesis by searching for Be stars within two YMCs in the LMC (NGC 1850 and NGC 1856), which are thought to be critically rotating stars with decretion disks that are (partially) ionised by their host stars. In both clusters we detect large populations of Be stars at the main sequence turn-off ($\sim30-60$\% of stars), which supports previous suggestions of large populations of rapidly rotating stars within massive clusters.
We present a spectroscopic study of metal-deficient dwarf galaxy candidates, selected from the SDSS DR12. The oxygen abundances were derived using the direct method in galaxies with the electron temperature-sensitive emission line [OIII]4363A measured with an accuracy better than 30%. The oxygen abundances for the remaining galaxies with larger uncertainties of the [OIII]4363A line fluxes were calculated using a strong-line semi-empirical method by Izotov and Thuan. The resulting sample consists of 287 low-metallicity candidates with oxygen abundances below 12+logO/H=7.65 including 23 extremely metal-deficient (XMD) candidates with 12+log O/H<7.35. Ten out of sixteen XMDs known so far (or ~60%) have been discovered by our team using the direct method. Three XMDs were found in the present study. We study relations between global parameters of low-metallicity galaxies, including absolute optical magnitudes, Hbeta luminosities (or equivalently star formation rates), stellar masses, mid-infrared colours, and oxygen abundances. Low-metallicity and XMD galaxies strongly deviate to lower metallicities in L-Z, L(Hbeta)-Z and Mstar-Z diagrams than in relations obtained for large samples of low-redshift, star-forming galaxies with non-restricted metallicities. These less chemically evolved galaxies with stellar masses ~10^6-10^8Msun, Hbeta luminosities ~10^38-10^41 erg/s, SFR~0.01-1.0Msun/yr, and sSFR~50 Gyr^-1 have physical conditions which may be characteristic of high-redshift low-mass star-forming galaxies which are still awaiting discovery.
Origin of magnetic fields, its structure and effects on dynamical processes in stars to galaxies are not well understood. Lack of a direct probe has hampered its study. The first phase of Square Kilometre Array (SKA-I), will have more than an order of magnitude higher sensitivity than existing radio telescopes. In this contribution, we discuss specific science cases that are of interest to the Indian community concerned with astrophysical turbulence and magnetic fields. The SKA-I will allow observations of a large number of background sources with detectable polarisation and measure their Faraday depths (FDs) through the Milky Way, other galaxies and their circum-galactic medium. This will probe line-of-sight magnetic fields in these objects well and provide field configurations. Detailed comparison of observational data with models which consider various processes giving rise to field amplification and maintenance will then be possible. Such observations will also provide the coherence scale of the fields and measure its random component. Measuring the random component is important to characterise turbulence in the medium. Observations of FDs with redshift will provide important information on magnetic field evolution as a function of redshift. The background sources could also be used to probe magnetic fields and its coherent scale in galaxy clusters and in bridges formed between interacting galaxies. Other than FDs, sensitive observations of synchrotron emission from galaxies will provide complimentary information on their magnetic field strengths in the sky plane. The core shift measurements of AGNs can provide more precise measurements of magnetic field very close (<pc) to the black hole and its evolution. The low band of SKA-I will also be useful to study circularly polarized emission from Sun and comparing various models of field configurations with observations.
We use state-of-art measurements of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) at z=6, 7 and 8 to derive constraints on warm dark matter (WDM), late-forming dark matter (LFDM) and ultra-light axion dark matter (ULADM) models alternative to the cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm. To this purpose we have run a suite of high-resolution N-body simulations to accurately characterise the low mass-end of the halo mass function and derive DM model predictions of the high-z luminosity function. In order to convert halo masses into UV-magnitudes we introduce an empirical approach based on halo abundance matching which allows us to model the LF in terms of the amplitude and scatter of the ensemble average star formation rate halo mass relation of each DM model, $\langle {\rm SFR}({\rm M_{ h}},z)\rangle$. We find that independent of the DM scenario the average SFR at fixed halo mass increases from z=6 to 8, while the scatter remains constant. At halo mass ${\rm M_{h}}\gtrsim 10^{12}\,{\rm M}_\odot$ h$^{-1}$ the average SFR as function of halo mass follows a double power law trend that is common to all models, while differences occur at smaller masses. In particular, we find that models with a suppressed low-mass halo abundance exhibit higher SFR compared to the CDM results. Using deviance statistics we obtain a lower limit on the WDM thermal relic particle mass, $m_{\rm WDM}\gtrsim 1.5$ keV at $2\sigma$. In the case of LFDM models, the phase transition redshift parameter is bounded to $z_t\gtrsim 8\cdot 10^5$ at $2\sigma$. We find ULADM best-fit models with axion mass $m_a\gtrsim 1.6\cdot 10^{-22}$ eV to be well within $2\sigma$ of the deviance statistics. We remark that measurements at $z=6$ slightly favour a flattening of the LF at faint UV-magnitudes. This tends to prefer some of the non-CDM models in our simulation suite, although not at a statistically significant level to distinguish them from CDM.
We extend the results of previous analyses towards constraining the abundance and clustering of post-reionization ($z \sim 0-5$) neutral hydrogen (HI) systems using a halo model framework. We work with a comprehensive HI dataset including the small-scale clustering, column density and mass function of HI galaxies at low redshifts, intensity mapping measurements at intermediate redshifts and the UV/optical observations of Damped Lyman Alpha (DLA) systems at higher redshifts. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to constrain the parameters of the best-fitting models, both for the HI-halo mass relation and the HI radial density profile. We find that a radial exponential profile results in a good fit to the low-redshift HI observations, including the clustering and the column density distribution. The form of the profile is also found to match the high-redshift DLA observations, when used in combination with a three-parameter HI-halo mass relation and a redshift evolution in the HI concentration. The halo model predictions are in good agreement with the observed HI surface density profiles of low-redshift galaxies, and the general trends in the the impact parameter and covering fraction observations of high-redshift DLAs. We provide convenient tables summarizing the best-fit halo model predictions.
A catalog of 8472 white dwarf (WD) candidates is presented, selected using reduced proper motions from the deep proper motion catalog of Munn et al. 2014. Candidates are selected in the magnitude range 16 < r < 21.5 over 980 square degrees, and 16 < r < 21.3 over an additional 1276 square degrees, within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging footprint. Distances, bolometric luminosities, and atmospheric compositions are derived by fitting SDSS ugriz photometry to pure hydrogen and helium model atmospheres (assuming surface gravities log g = 8). The disk white dwarf luminosity function (WDLF) is constructed using a sample of 2839 stars with 5.5 < M_bol < 17, with statistically significant numbers of stars cooler than the turnover in the luminosity function. The WDLF for the halo is also constructed, using a sample of 135 halo WDs with 5 < M_bol < 16. We find space densities of disk and halo WDs in the solar neighborhood of 5.5 +- 0.1 x 10^-3 pc^-3 and 3.5 +- 0.7 x 10^-5 pc^-3, respectively. We resolve the bump in the disk WDLF due to the onset of fully convective envelopes in WDs, and see indications of it in the halo WDLF as well.
We analyze the ${\it Kepler}$ monitoring light curve of a blazar W2R 1926$+$42 to examine features of microvariability by means of the "shot analysis" technique. We select 195 intra-day, flare-like variations (shots) for the continuous light curve of Quarter 14 with a duration of 100 d. In the application of the shot analysis, an averaged profile of variations is assumed to converge with a universal profile which reflects a physical mechanism generating the microvariability in a blazar jet, although light-variation profiles of selected shots show a variety. A mean profile, which is obtained by aligning the peaks of the 195 shots, is composed of a spiky-shape shot component at $\pm$0.1 d (with respect to the time of the peak), and two slow varying components ranging from $-$0.50 d to $-$0.15 d and from 0.10 d to 0.45 d of the peak time. The former spiky feature is well represented by an exponential rise of 0.043$\pm$0.001 d and an exponential decay of 0.061$\pm$0.002 d. These timescales are consistent with that corresponding to a break frequency of a power spectrum density calculated from the obtained light curve. After verification with the Monte-Carlo method, the exponential shape, but not the observed asymmetry, of the shot component can be explained by noise variation. The asymmetry is difficult to explain through a geometrical effect (i.e. changes of the geometry of the emitting region), but is more likely to be caused by the production and dissipation of high-energy accelerated particles in the jet. Additionally, durations of the detected shots show a systematic variation with a dispersion caused by a statistical randomness. A comparison with the variability of Cygnus X-1 is also briefly discussed.
We present the first results of the Gould's Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS), a project aimed at measuring the proper motion and trigonometric parallax of a large sample of young stars in nearby regions using multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio observations. Enough VLBA detections have now been obtained for 16 stellar systems in Ophiuchus to derive their parallax and proper motion. This leads to distance determinations for individual stars with an accuracy of 0.3 to a few percent. In addition, the orbits of 6 multiple systems were modelled by combining absolute positions with VLBA (and in some cases, near infrared) angular separations. Twelve stellar systems are located in the dark cloud Lynds 1688, the individual distances for this sample are highly consistent with one another, and yield a mean parallax for Lynds 1688 of $\varpi=7.28\pm0.06$ mas, corresponding to a distance $d=137.3\pm1.2$ pc. This represents an accuracy better than 1%. Three systems for which astrometric elements could be measured are located in the eastern streamer (Lynds 1689) and yield an estimate of $\varpi=6.79\pm0.16$ mas, corresponding to a distance $d=147.3\pm3.4$ pc. This suggests that the eastern streamer is located about 10 pc farther than the core, but this conclusion needs to be confirmed by observations (currently being collected) of additional sources in the eastern streamer. From the measured proper motions, we estimate the one-dimensional velocity dispersion in Lynds 1688 to be 2.8$\pm$1.8 and 3.0$\pm$2.0 ${\rm km~s}^{-1}$, in R.A. and DEC., respectively, these are larger than, but still consistent within $1\sigma$, with those found in other studies.
We report the detection of near-IR H$_2$ emission from the low-ionization structures (knots) in two planetary nebulae. The deepest ever, high-angular resolution H$_2$ 1-0 S(1) at 2.122$\mu$, H$_2$ 2-1 S(1) at 2.248$\mu$ and Br$\gamma$ images of K 4-47 and NGC 7662, obtained using the Near InfraRed Imager and Spectrometer (NIRI) at Gemini-North, are analyzed here. K 4-47 reveals a remarkable highly collimated bipolar structure not only in the optical but also in the molecular hydrogen emission. The H$_2$ emission emanates from the walls of the bipolar outflows and also from the pair of knots at the tip of the outflows. The H$_2$ 1-0 S(1)/2-1 S(1) line ratio ranges from ~7 to ~10 suggesting the presence of shock interactions. Our findings can be explained by the interaction of a jet/bullet ejected from the central star with the surrounding asymptotic giant branch material. The strongest H$_2$ line, v=1-0 S(1) is also detected in several low-ionization knots located at the periphery of the elliptical planetary nebula NGC 7662, but only four of these knots are detected in the H$_2$ v=2-1 S(1) line. These four knots exhibit an H$_2$ line ratio between 2 and 3.5, which suggests that the emission is caused by the UV ionizing flux of the central star. Our data confirms the presence of H$_2$ gas in both fast- and slow-moving low-ionization knots, which has only been confirmed before in the nearby Helix nebula and Hu 1-2. Overall, the low-ionization structures of planetary nebulae are found to share similar traits to photodissociation regions.
One of the most unexpected results in the field of stellar populations of the
last few years, is the discovery that some Magellanic-Cloud globular clusters
younger than ~400 Myr, exhibit bimodal main sequences (MSs) in their
color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Moreover, these young clusters host an
extended main sequence turn off (eMSTO) in close analogy with what is observed
in most ~1-2 Gyr old clusters of both Magellanic Clouds.
We use high-precision Hubble-Space-Telescope photometry to study the young
star cluster NGC1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We discover an eMSTO and a
split MS. The analysis of the CMD reveals that (i) the blue MS is the less
populous one, hosting about one-third of the total number of MS stars; (ii)
red-MS stars are more centrally concentrated than blue-MS stars; (iii) the
fraction of blue-MS stars with respect to the total number of MS stars drops by
a factor of ~2 in the upper MS with F814W <~19.7.
The comparison between the observed CMDs and stellar models reveals that the
observations are consistent with ~200 Myr old highly-rotating stars on the
red-MS, with rotation close to critical value, plus a non-rotating stellar
population spanning an age interval between ~140 and 220 Myr, on the blue-MS.
Noticeable, neither stellar populations with different ages only, nor coeval
stellar models with different rotation rates, properly reproduce the observed
split MS and eMSTO. We discuss these results in the context of the eMSTO and
multiple MS phenomenon.
The absorption of TeV $\gamma$-ray photons produced in relativistic jets by surrounding soft photon fields is a long-standing problem of jet physics. In some cases the most likely emission site close to the central black hole is ruled out because of the high opacity caused by strong optical and infrared photon sources, such as the broad line region. Mostly neglected for jet modeling is the absorption of $\gamma$-rays in the starlight photon field of the host galaxy. Analyzing the absorption for arbitrary locations and observation angles of the $\gamma$-ray emission site within the host galaxy we find that the distance to the galaxy center, the observation angle, and the distribution of starlight in the galaxy are crucial for the amount of absorption. We derive the absorption value for a sample of $20$ TeV detected blazars with a redshift $z_r<0.2$. The absorption value of the $\gamma$-ray emission located in the galaxy center may be as high as $20\%$ with an average value of $6\%$. This is important in order to determine the intrinsic blazar parameters. We see no significant trends in our sample between the degree of absorption and host properties, such as starlight emissivity, galactic size, half-light radius, and redshift. While the uncertainty of the spectral properties of the extragalactic background light exceeds the effect of absorption by stellar light from the host galaxy in distant objects, the latter is a dominant effect in nearby sources. It may also be revealed in a differential comparison of sources with similar redshifts.
We derive the secular evolution of the orbital elements of a stellar-mass object orbiting a spinning massive black hole. We use the post-Newtonian approximation in harmonic coordinates, with test-body equations of motion for the conservative dynamics that are valid through 3PN order, including spin-orbit, quadrupole and (spin)$^2$ effects, and with radiation-reaction contributions linear in the mass of the body that are valid through 4.5PN order, including the 4PN damping effects of spin-orbit coupling. The evolution equations for the osculating orbit elements are iterated to high PN orders using a two-timescale approach and averaging over orbital timescales. We derive a criterion for terminating the orbit when its Carter constant drops below a critical value, whereupon the body plunges across the event horizon at the next closest approach. The results are valid for arbitrary eccentricities and arbitrary inclinations. We then analyze numerically the orbits of objects injected into high-eccentricity orbits via interactions within a surrounding star cluster, obtaining the number of orbits and the elapsed time between injection and plunge, and the residual orbital eccentricity at plunge as a function of inclination. We derive an analytic approximation for the time to plunge in terms of initial orbital variables. We show that, if the black hole is spinning rapidly, the flux of gravitational radiation during the final orbit before plunge may be suppressed by as much as three orders of magnitude if the orbit is retrograde on the equatorial plane compared to its prograde counterpart.
We present two wide-field catalogs of photometrically-selected emission line galaxies (ELGs) at z=0.8 covering about 2800 deg^2 over the south galactic cap. The catalogs were obtained using a Fisher discriminant technique described in a companion paper. The two catalogs differ by the imaging used to define the Fisher discriminant: the first catalog includes imaging from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, the second also includes information from the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS). Containing respectively 560,045 and 615,601 objects, they represent the largest ELG catalogs available today and were designed for the ELG programme of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). We study potential sources of systematic variation in the angular distribution of the selected ELGs due to fluctuations of the observational parameters. We model the influence of the observational parameters using a multivariate regression and implement a weighting scheme that allows effective removal of all of the systematic errors induced by the observational parameters. We show that fluctuations in the imaging zero-points of the photometric bands have minor impact on the angular distribution of objects in our catalogs. We compute the angular clustering of both catalogs and show that our weighting procedure effectively removes spurious clustering on large scales. We fit a model to the small scale angular clustering, showing that the selections have similar biases of 1.35/D_a(z) and 1.28/D_a(z). Both catalogs are publicly available.
The formation pathways of different types of organic molecules in protostellar envelopes and other regions of star formation are subjects of intense current interest. We here present observations of C$_4$H and CH$_3$OH, tracing two distinct groups of interstellar organic molecules, toward 16 protostars in the Ophiuchus and Corona Australis molecular clouds. Together with observations in the literature, we present C$_4$H and CH$_3$OH data from single-dish observations of 40 embedded protostars. We find no correlation between the C$_4$H and CH$_3$OH column densities in this large sample. Based on this lack of correlation, a difference in line profiles between C$_4$H and CH$_3$OH, and previous interferometric observations of similar sources, we propose that the emission from these two molecules is spatially separated, with the CH$_3$OH tracing gas that has been transiently heated to high ($\sim$70-100 K) temperatures, and the C$_4$H tracing the cooler large-scale envelope where CH$_4$ molecules have been liberated from ices. These results provide insight in the differentiation between hot corino and warm carbon-chain chemistry in embedded protostars.
We present APEX 218 GHz observations of molecular emission in a complete sample of embedded protostars in the Ophiuchus star-forming region. To study the physical properties of the cores, we calculate H$_2$CO and c-C$_3$H$_2$ rotational temperatures, both of which are good tracers of the kinetic temperature of the molecular gas. We find that the H$_2$CO temperatures range between 16 K and 124 K, with the highest H$_2$CO temperatures toward the hot corino source IRAS 16293-2422 (69-124 K) and the sources in the $\rho$ Oph A cloud (23-49 K) located close to the luminous Herbig Be star S 1, which externally irradiates the $\rho$ Oph A cores. On the other hand, the c-C$_3$H$_2$ rotational temperature is consistently low (7-17 K) in all sources. Our results indicate that the c-C$_3$H$_2$ emission is primarily tracing more shielded parts of the envelope whereas the H$_2$CO emission (at the angular scale of the APEX beam; 3600 au in Ophiuchus) mainly traces the outer irradiated envelopes, apart from in IRAS 16293-2422, where the hot corino emission dominates. In some sources, a secondary velocity component is also seen, possibly tracing the molecular outflow.
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Research on Galactic Center star formation is making great advances, in particular due to new data from interferometers spatially resolving molecular clouds in this environment. These new results are discussed in the context of established knowledge about the Galactic Center. Particular attention is paid to suppressed star formation in the Galactic Center and how it might result from shallow density gradients in molecular clouds.
To characterize the absorption properties of this circumgalactic medium (CGM) and its relation to the LG we present the so-far largest survey of metal absorption in Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs) using archival ultraviolet (UV) spectra of extragalactic background sources. The UV data are obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and are supplemented by 21 cm radio observations of neutral hydrogen. Along 262 sightlines we measure metal absorption in the lines of SiII, SiIII, CII, and CIV and associated HI 21 cm emission in HVCs in the velocity range |v_LSR|=100-500 km s^-1. With this unprecedented large HVC sample we were able to improve the statistics on HVC covering fractions, ionization conditions, small-scale structure, CGM mass, and inflow rate. For the first time, we determine robustly the angular two point correlation function of the high-velocity absorbers, systematically analyze antipodal sightlines on the celestial sphere, and compare the absorption characteristics with that of Damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLAs) and constrained cosmological simulations of the LG. Our study demonstrates that the Milky Way CGM contains sufficient gaseous material to maintain the Galactic star-formation rate at its current level. We show that the CGM is composed of discrete gaseous structures that exhibit a large-scale kinematics together with small-scale variations in physical conditions. The Magellanic Stream clearly dominates both the cross section and mass flow of high-velocity gas in the Milky Way's CGM. The possible presence of high-velocity LG gas underlines the important role of the local cosmological environment in the large-scale gas-circulation processes in and around the Milky Way (abridged).
We report ALMA observations of the most massive (star forming) galaxy in the redshift range 3<z<4 within the whole GOODS-S field. We detect a large elongated structure of molecular gas around the massive primeval galaxy, traced by the CO(4-3) emission, and extended over 40 kpc. We infer a mass of the large gaseous structure of Mgas~2-6x10^11 Msun. About 60% of this mass is not directly associated with either the central galaxy or its two lower mass satellites. The CO extended structure is also detected in continuum thermal emission. The kinematics of the molecular gas shows the presence of different components, which cannot be ascribed to simple rotation. Furthermore, on even larger scales, we detect nine additional CO systems within a radius of 250 kpc from the massive galaxy and mostly distributed in the same direction as the CO elongated structure found in the central 40 kpc. The stacked images of these CO systems show detections in the thermal continuum and in the X-rays, suggesting that these systems are forming stars at a rate of 30-120 Msun/yr. We suggest that the extended gas structure, combined with its kinematic properties, and the gas rich star forming systems detected on larger scales, are tracing the inner and densest regions of large scale accreting streams, feeding the central massive galaxy. These results corroborate models of galaxy formation, in which accreting streams are clumpy and undergo some star formation (hence enriching the streams with metals) even before accreting onto the central galaxy.
We present KETJU, a new extension of GADGET-3 based on algorithmic chain regularization. The key feature of the code is the inclusion of regularized regions around every supermassive black hole (SMBH). This allows for simultaneously following global galactic-scale dynamical and astrophysical processes, while solving the dynamics of SMBHs, SMBH binaries and surrounding stellar systems at sub-parsec scales. The KETJU code includes Post-Newtonian terms in the equations of motions of the SMBHs which enables a new SMBH merger criterion based on the gravitational wave coalescence timescale pushing the merger separation of SMBHs down to $\sim 0.005 \ \rm pc$. We test the performance of our code by comparison to NBODY7 and rVINE. We set up dynamically stable multi-component merger progenitor galaxies to study the SMBH binary evolution during galaxy mergers. In our simulation sample the SMBH binaries do not suffer from the final-parsec problem, which we attribute to the triaxiality of the merger remnants. For bulge-only models, the hardening rate decreases with increasing resolution, whereas for models with additionally dark matter halos the SMBH binary hardening rate becomes practically independent of the mass resolution of the stellar bulge. The SMBHs coalesce on average 200 Myr after the formation of the SMBH binary. However, small differences in the initial SMBH binary eccentricities can result in large differences in the SMBH coalescence times. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of KETJU, which allows for a straightforward inclusion of gas physics in the simulations.
We present the results from our search for HI 21-cm absorption in a sample of 16 strong FeII systems ($W_{\rm r}$(MgII $\lambda2796$) $\ge1.0$ \AA\ and $W_{\rm r}$(FeII $\lambda2600$) or $W_{\rm FeII}$ $\ge1$ \AA) at $0.5<z<1.5$ using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and the Green Bank Telescope. We report six new HI 21-cm absorption detections from our sample, which have increased the known number of detections in strong MgII systems at this redshift range by $\sim50$%. Combining our measurements with those in the literature, we find that the detection rate of HI 21-cm absorption increases with $W_{\rm FeII}$, being four times higher in systems with $W_{\rm FeII}$ $\ge1$ \AA\ compared to systems with $W_{\rm FeII}$ $<1$ \AA. The $N$(HI) associated with the HI 21-cm absorbers would be $\ge 2 \times 10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$, assuming a spin temperature of $\sim500$ K (based on HI 21-cm absorption measurements of damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems at this redshift range) and unit covering factor. We find that HI 21-cm absorption arises on an average in systems with stronger metal absorption. We also find that quasars with HI 21-cm absorption detected towards them have systematically higher $E(B-V)$ values than those which do not. Further, by comparing the velocity widths of HI 21-cm absorption lines detected in absorption- and galaxy-selected samples, we find that they show an increasing trend (significant at $3.8\sigma$) with redshift at $z<3.5$, which could imply that the absorption originates from more massive galaxy haloes at high-$z$. Increasing the number of HI 21-cm absorption detections at these redshifts is important to confirm various trends noted here with higher statistical significance.
Pulsating stars, such as Cepheids, Miras, and RR Lyrae stars, are important distance indicators and calibrators of the "cosmic distance ladder", and yet their period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relations are still constrained using simple statistical methods that cannot take full advantage of available data. To enable optimal usage of data provided by the Gaia mission, we present a probabilistic approach that simultaneously constrains parameters of PLZ relations and uncertainties in Gaia parallax measurements. We demonstrate this approach by constraining PLZ relations of RR Lyrae stars in near-infrared W1 and W2 bands, using Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) parallax measurements for a sample of 123 RR Lyrae stars located within 2.5 kpc of the Sun. The fitted PLZ relations are consistent with previous studies, and in combination with other data, deliver distances precise to 6% (once various sources of uncertainty are taken into account). To a precision of 0.03 mas ($1\sigma$), we do not find a statistically significant offset in TGAS parallaxes for this sample of distant RR Lyrae stars (median parallax of 0.8 mas and distance of 1.4 kpc). With only minor modifications, our probabilistic approach can be used to constrain PLZ relations of other pulsating stars, and we intend to apply it to Cepheid and Mira stars in the near future.
Compton Thick (CT) AGN are a key ingredient of Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB) synthesis models, but are still an elusive component of the AGN population beyond the local Universe. Multi-wavelength surveys are the only way to find them at z > 0.1, and a deep X-ray coverage is crucial in order to clearly identify them among star forming galaxies. As an example, the deep and wide COSMOS survey allowed us to select a total of 34 CT sources. This number is computed from the 64 nominal CT candidates, each counted for its N H probability distribution function. For each of these sources, rich multi-wavelength information is available, and is used to confirm their obscured nature, by comparing the expected AGN luminosity from spectral energy distribution fitting, with the absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity. While Chandra is more efficient, for a given exposure, in detecting CT candidates in current surveys (by a factor ~2), deep XMM-Newton pointings of bright sources are vital to fully characterize their properties: NH distribution above 10^25 cm^-2, reflection intensity etc., all crucial parameters of CXB models. Since luminous CT AGN at high redshift are extremely rare, the future of CT studies at high redshift will have to rely on the large area surveys currently underway, such as XMM-XXL and Stripe82, and will then require dedicated follow-up with XMM-Newton, while waiting for the advent of the ESA mission Athena.
We present six galaxies at z~2 that show evidence of Lyman continuum (LyC) emission based on the newly acquired UV imaging of the Hubble Deep UV legacy survey (HDUV) conducted with the WFC3/UVIS camera on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). At the redshift of these sources, the HDUV F275W images partially probe the ionizing continuum. By exploiting the HST multi-wavelength data available in the HDUV/GOODS fields, models of the UV spectral energy distributions, and detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the intergalactic medium absorption, we estimate the absolute ionizing photon escape fractions of these galaxies to be very high -- typically >60% (>13% for all sources at 90% likelihood). Our findings are in broad agreement with previous studies that found only a small fraction of galaxies to show high escape fraction. These six galaxies comprise the largest sample yet of LyC leaking candidates at z~2 whose inferred LyC flux has been cleanly observed at HST resolution. While three of our six candidates show evidence of hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN), two of these are heavily obscured and their LyC emission appears to originate from star-forming regions rather than the central nucleus. This suggests an AGN-aided pathway for LyC escape from these sources. Extensive multi-wavelength data in the GOODS fields, especially the near-IR grism spectra from the 3D-HST survey, enable us to study the candidates in detail and tentatively test some recently proposed indirect methods to probe LyC leakage -- namely, the [OIII]/[OII] line ratio and the H$\beta-$UV slope diagram. High-resolution spectroscopic followup of our candidates will help constrain such indirect methods which are our only hope of studying $f_{esc}$ at z~5-9 in the fast-approaching era of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Recent cosmological hydrodynamical simulations suggest that integral field spectroscopy can connect the high-order stellar kinematic moments h3 (~skewness) and h4 (~kurtosis) in galaxies to their cosmological assembly history. Here, we assess these results by measuring the stellar kinematics on a sample of 315 galaxies, without a morphological selection, using 2D integral field data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. A proxy for the spin parameter ($\lambda_{R_e}$) and ellipticity ($\epsilon_e$) are used to separate fast and slow rotators; there exists a good correspondence to regular and non-regular rotators, respectively, as also seen in earlier studies. We confirm that regular rotators show a strong h3 versus $V/\sigma$ anti-correlation, whereas quasi-regular and non-regular rotators show a more vertical relation in h3 and $V/\sigma$. Motivated by recent cosmological simulations, we develop an alternative approach to kinematically classify galaxies from their individual h3 versus $V/\sigma$ signatures. We identify five classes of high-order stellar kinematic signatures using Gaussian mixture models. Class 1 corresponds to slow rotators, whereas Classes 2-5 correspond to fast rotators. We find that galaxies with similar $\lambda_{R_e}-\epsilon_e$ values can show distinctly different h3-$V/\sigma$ signatures. Class 5 objects are previously unidentified fast rotators that show a weak h3 versus $V/\sigma$ anti-correlation. These objects are predicted to be disk-less galaxies formed by gas-poor mergers. From morphological examination, however, there is evidence for large stellar disks. Instead, Class 5 objects are more likely disturbed galaxies, have counter-rotating bulges, or bars in edge-on galaxies. Finally, we interpret the strong anti-correlation in h3 versus $V/\sigma$ as evidence for disks in most fast rotators, suggesting a dearth of gas-poor mergers among fast rotators.
We investigate star formation in DLSCL J0916.2+2953, a dissociative merger of two clusters at z=0.53 that has progressed $1.1^{+1.3}_{-0.4}$ Gyr since first pass-through. We attempt to reveal the effects a collision may have had on the evolution of the cluster galaxies by tracing their star formation history. We probe current and recent activity to identify a possible star formation event at the time of the merger using EW(Hd), EW([OII]), and D$_{n}$4000 measured from the composite spectra of 64 cluster and 153 coeval field galaxies. We supplement $Keck$ DEIMOS spectra with DLS and $HST$ imaging to determine the color, stellar mass, and morphology of each galaxy and conduct a comprehensive study of the populations in this complex structure. Spectral results indicate the average cluster and cluster red sequence galaxies experienced no enhanced star formation relative to the surrounding field during the merger, ruling out a predominantly merger-quenched population. We find that the average blue galaxy in the North cluster is currently active and in the South cluster is currently post-starburst having undergone a recent star formation event. While the North activity could be latent or long-term merger effects, a young blue stellar population and irregular geometry suggest the cluster was still forming prior the collision. While the South activity coincides with the time of the merger, the blue early-type population could be a result of secular cluster processes. The evidence suggests that the dearth or surfeit of activity is indiscernible from normal cluster galaxy evolution.
We present the first quantitative detection of large-scale filamentary structure at $z \simeq 0.7$ in the large cosmological volume probed by the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). We use simulations to show the capability of VIPERS to recover robust topological features in the galaxy distribution, in particular the filamentary network. We then investigate how galaxies with different stellar masses and stellar activities are distributed around the filaments and find a significant segregation, with the most massive or quiescent galaxies being closer to the filament axis than less massive or active galaxies. The signal persists even after down-weighting the contribution of peak regions. Our results suggest that massive and quiescent galaxies assemble their stellar mass through successive mergers during their migration along filaments towards the nodes of the cosmic web. On the other hand, low-mass star-forming galaxies prefer the outer edge of filaments, a vorticity rich region dominated by smooth accretion, as predicted by the recent spin alignment theory. This emphasizes the role of large scale cosmic flows in shaping galaxy properties.
We use the final data from the VIPERS redshift survey to extract an unparalleled sample of more than 2000 massive M > 10^11 M_sun passive galaxies (MPGs) at redshift 0.5 < z < 1.0, based on their NUVrK colours. This enables us to investigate how the population of these objects was built up over cosmic time. We find that the evolution of the number density depends on the galaxy mean surface stellar mass density, Sigma. In particular, dense (Sigma > 2000 M_sun pc^-2) MPGs show a constant comoving number density over this redshift range, whilst this increases by a factor ~ 4 for the least dense objects, defined as having Sigma < 1000 M_sun pc^-2. We estimate stellar ages for the MPG population both fitting the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) and through the D4000_n index, obtaining results in good agreement. Our findings are consistent with passive ageing of the stellar content of dense MPGs. We show that at any redshift the less dense MPGs are younger than dense ones and that their stellar populations evolve at a slower rate than predicted by passive evolution. This points to a scenario in which the overall population of MPGs was built up over the cosmic time by continuous addition of less dense galaxies: on top of an initial population of dense objects that passively evolves, new, larger, and younger MPGs continuously join the population at later epochs. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed increase in the number density of MPGs is totally accounted for by the observed decrease in the number density of correspondingly massive star forming galaxies (i.e. all the non-passive M > 10^11 M_sun objects). Such systems observed at z ~ 1 in VIPERS, therefore, represent the most plausible progenitors of the subsequent emerging class of larger MPGs.
We present the full public data release (PDR-2) of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS), performed at the ESO VLT. We release redshifts, spectra, CFHTLS magnitudes and ancillary information (as masks and weights) for a complete sample of 86,775 galaxies (plus 4,732 other objects, including stars and serendipitous galaxies); we also include their full photometrically-selected parent catalogue. The sample is magnitude limited to i_AB < 22.5, with an additional colour-colour pre-selection devised as to exclude galaxies at z<0.5. This practically doubles the effective sampling of the VIMOS spectrograph over the range 0.5<z<1.2 (reaching 47% on average), yielding a final median local galaxy density close to 5 10^{-3} h^3 Mpc}^{-3}. The total area spanned by the final data set is ~ 23.5 deg^2, corresponding to 288 VIMOS fields with marginal overlaps, split over two regions within the CFHTLS-Wide W1 and W4 equatorial fields (at R.A. ~2 and ~22 hours, respectively). Spectra were observed at a resolution R=220, covering a wavelength range 5500-9500 Angstrom. Data reduction and redshift measurements were performed through a fully automated pipeline; all redshift determinations were then visually validated and assigned a quality flag. Measurements with a quality flag >= 2 are shown to have a confidence level of 96% or larger and make up 88% of all measured galaxy redshifts (76,552 out of 86,775), constituting the VIPERS prime catalogue for statistical investigations. For this sample the rms redshift error, estimated using repeated measurements of about 3,000 galaxies, is found to be sigma_z = 0.00054(1+z). All data are available at this http URL and on the ESO Archive.
[Abridged] We use the final data of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) to investigate the effect of environment on the evolution of galaxies between $z=0.5$ and $z=0.9$. We characterise local environment in terms of the density contrast smoothed over a cylindrical kernel, the scale of which is defined by the distance to the $5^{th}$ nearest neighbour. We find that more massive galaxies tend to reside in higher-density environments over the full redshift range explored. Defining star-forming and passive galaxies through their (NUV$-r$) vs ($r-K$) colours, we then quantify the fraction of star-forming over passive galaxies, $f_{\rm ap}$, as a function of environment at fixed stellar mass. $f_{\rm ap}$ is higher in low-density regions for galaxies with masses ranging from $\log(\mathcal{M}/\mathcal{M}_\odot)=10.38$ (the lowest value explored) to at least $\log(\mathcal{M}/\mathcal{M}_\odot)\sim11.3$, although with decreasing significance going from smaller to larger masses. This is the first time that environmental effects on high-mass galaxies are clearly detected at redshifts as high as $z\sim0.9$. We compared these results to VIPERS-like galaxy mock catalogues based on the galaxy formation model of De Lucia & Blaizot. The model correctly reproduces $f_{\rm ap}$ in low-density environments, but underpredicts it at high densities. The discrepancy is particularly strong for the lowest-mass bins. We find that this discrepancy is driven by an excess of low-mass passive satellite galaxies in the model. Looking at the accretion history of these model galaxies, i.e. the times when they become satellites, a better (yet not perfect) agreement with observations can be obtained in high density regions by assuming either that a not-negligible fraction of satellites is destroyed, or that their quenching time-scale is longer than $\sim 2$ Gyr.
We use the full VIPERS redshift survey in combination with SDSS-DR7 to explore the relationships between star-formation history (using d4000), stellar mass and galaxy structure, and how these relationships have evolved since z~1. We trace the extents and evolutions of both the blue cloud and red sequence, by fitting double Gaussians to the d4000 distribution of galaxies in narrow stellar mass bins, for four redshift intervals over 0<z<1. This reveals downsizing in star formation, as the high-mass limit of the blue cloud retreats steadily with time from M*~10^11.2Msun at z~0.9 to M*~10^10.7Msun by the present day. The number density of massive blue-cloud galaxies (M*>10^11Msun, d4000<1.55) drops sharply by a factor five between z~0.8 and z~0.5. These galaxies are becoming quiescent at a rate that largely matches the increase in the numbers of massive passive galaxies seen over this period. We examine the size-mass relation of blue cloud galaxies, finding that its high-mass boundary runs along lines of constant M*/r_e or equivalently inferred velocity dispersion. Larger galaxies can continue to form stars to higher stellar masses than smaller galaxies. As blue cloud galaxies approach this high-mass limit, they start to be quenched, their d4000 values increasing to push them towards the green valley. In parallel, their structures change, showing higher Sersic indices and central stellar mass densities. For these galaxies, bulge growth is necessary for them to reach the high-mass limit of the blue cloud and be quenched by internal mechanisms. The blue cloud galaxies that are being quenched at z~0.8 lie along the same size-mass relation as present day quiescent galaxies, and seem the likely progenitors of today's S0s.
We present the Magellan/FIRE detection of highly-ionized CIV 1550 and OIII] 1666 in a deep infrared spectrum of the z=6.11 gravitationally lensed low-mass galaxy RXC J2248.7-4431-ID3, which has previously-known Lyman-alpha. No corresponding emission is detected at the expected location of HeII 1640. The upper limit on HeII paired with detection of OIII] and CIV constrains possible ionization scenarios. Production of CIV and OIII] requires ionizing photons of 2.5-3.5 Ryd, but once in that state their multiplet emission is powered by collisional excitation at lower energies (~0.5 Ryd). As a pure recombination line, HeII emission is powered by 4 Ryd ionizing photons. The data therefore require a spectrum with significant power at 3.5 Ryd but a rapid drop toward 4.0 Ryd. This hard spectrum with a steep drop is characteristic of low-metallicity stellar populations, and less consistent with soft AGN excitation, which features more 4 Ryd photons and hence higher HeII flux. The conclusions based on ratios of metal line detections to Helium non-detection are strengthened if the gas metallicity is low. RXJ2248-ID3 adds to the growing handful of reionization-era galaxies with UV emission line ratios distinct from the general z=2-3 population, in a way that suggests hard ionizing spectra that do not necessarily originate in AGN.
The $\Lambda$CDM cosmological scenario predicts that our Galaxy should contain hundreds of stellar streams at the solar vicinity, fossil relics of the merging history of the Milky Way and more generally of the hierarchical growth of galaxies. Because of the mixing time scales in the inner Galaxy, it has been claimed that these streams should be difficult to detect in configuration space but can still be identifiable in kinematic-related spaces like the energy/angular momenta spaces, E-Lz and Lperp-Lz, or spaces of orbital/velocity parameters. By means of high-resolution, dissipationless N-body simulations, containing between 25$\times10^6$ and 35$\times10^6$ particles, we model the accretion of a series of up to four 1:10 mass ratio satellites then up to eight 1:100 satellites and we search systematically for the signature of these accretions in these spaces. In all spaces considered (1) each satellite gives origin to several independent overdensities; (2) overdensities of multiple satellites overlap; (3) satellites of different masses can produce similar substructures; (4) the overlap between the in-situ and the accreted population is considerable everywhere; (5) in-situ stars also form substructures in response to the satellite(s) accretion. These points are valid even if the search is restricted to kinematically-selected halo stars only. As we are now entering the 'Gaia era', our results warn that an extreme caution must be employed before interpreting overdensities in any of those spaces as evidence of relics of accreted satellites. Reconstructing the accretion history of our Galaxy will require a substantial amount of accurate spectroscopic data, that, complemented by the kinematic information, will possibly allow us to (chemically) identify accreted streams and measure their orbital properties. (abridged)
Understanding how accretion proceeds in proto-planetary discs and more generally their dynamics is a crucial issue for explaining the conditions in which planets form. The role that accretion of gas from the surrounding molecular cloud onto the disc may have on its structure needs to be quantified. We perform tri-dimensional simulations using the Cartesian AMR code RAMSES of an accretion disc subject to infalling material. For the aspect ratio of $H/R \simeq 0.15$ and disk mass $M_d \simeq 10^{-2}$ M$_\odot$ used in our study, we find that for typical accretion rates on the order of a few 10$^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, values of the $\alpha$ parameter as high as a few 10$^{-3}$ are inferred. The mass that is accreted in the inner part of the disc is typically at least $50\%$ of the total mass that has been accreted onto the disc. Our results suggest that external accretion of gas at moderate values, onto circumstellar discs may trigger prominent spiral arms, reminiscent of recent observations made with various instruments, and lead to significant transport through the disc. If confirmed from observational studies, such accretion may therefore influence disc evolution.
Herschel/HIFI observations toward the compact HII region W51 has revealed the presence of a cold dense core along its line of sight in a high-velocity stream located just in front of W51. This detection has been made possible through absorption measurements of low-energy transitions of HDO, NH3, and C3 against the bright background emitted by the star-forming region. We present a follow-up study of this core using the high sensitivity and high spectral resolution provided by the IRAM 30-meter telescope. We report new detections of this core in absorption for DCO+ (2-1, 3-2), H13CO+ (1-0), DNC (3-2), HN13C (1-0), p-H2CO (202-101, 303-202), and in emission for o-NH2D. We also report interferometric observation of this last species using the IRAM/NOEMA telescope, revealing the fragmented nature of the source through the detection of two cores, separated by 0.19 - 0.24 pc, with average sizes of less than 0.16 - 0.19 pc. From a non-LTE analysis, we are able to estimate the density (~2.5e4 cm-3) and temperature (~10 K) of this component, typical of what is found in dark clouds. This component (called W51-core) has the same DCO+/HCO+ ratio (0.02) as TMC-1 and a high DNC/HNC ratio (0.14). Detection of these deuterated species indicates that W51-core is similar to an early-phase low-mass star-forming region, formed from the interaction between the W51 giant molecular cloud and the high-velocity stream in front of it. The W51 complex being at about 5 kpc, these findings lead to what is the first detection of the earliest phase of low-mass star-forming region at such a large distance.
The aim of this work is to characterize physical properties of Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) and Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) detected in the far-infrared (FIR) 90um band in the AKARI Deep Field-South (ADF-S) survey. In particular, we want to estimate the AGN contribution to the [U]LIRGs' infrared emission and which types of AGNs are related to their activity. We examined 69 galaxies at z>0.05 detected at 90um by the AKARI satellite in the ADF-S, with optical counterparts and spectral coverage from the ultraviolet to the FIR. We used two independent spectral energy distribution fitting codes: one fitting the SED from FIR to FUV (CIGALE) and gray-body + power spectrum fit for the infrared part of the spectra (CMCIRSED) in order to identify a subsample of [U]LIRGs, and to estimate their properties. Based on the CIGALE SED fitting, we have found that [U]LIRGs selected at the 90um AKARI band compose ~56% of our sample (we found 17 ULIRGs and 22 LIRGs, spanning over the redshift range 0.06<z<1.23). Their physical parameters, such as stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and specific SFR are consistent with the ones found for other samples selected at IR wavelengths. We have detected a significant AGN contribution to the MIR luminosity for 63% of LIRGs and ULIRGs. Our LIRGs contain Type 1, Type 2, and intermediate types of AGN, whereas for ULIRGs, a majority (more than 50%) of AGN emission originates from Type 2 AGNs. The temperature--luminosity and temperature--mass relations for the dust component of ADF--S LIRGs and ULIRGs indicate that these relations are shaped by the dust mass and not by the increased dust heating. We conclude that LIRGs contain Type 1, Type 2, and intermediate types of AGNs, with an AGN contribution to the MIR emission at the median level of 13+/-3%, whereas the majority of ULIRGs contain Type 2 AGNs, with a median AGN fraction equal to 19+/-8%.
The extremely metal-poor (XMP) galaxies analyzed in a previous paper have large star-forming regions with a metallicity lower than the rest of the galaxy. Such a chemical inhomogeneity reveals the external origin of the metal-poor gas fueling star formation, possibly indicating accretion from the cosmic web. This paper studies the kinematic properties of the ionized gas in these galaxies. Most XMPs have rotation velocity around a few tens of km/s. The star-forming regions appear to move coherently. The velocity is constant within each region, and the velocity dispersion sometimes increases within the star-forming clump towards the galaxy midpoint, suggesting inspiral motion toward the galaxy center. Other regions present a local maximum in velocity dispersion at their center, suggesting a moderate global expansion. The Halpha line wings show a number of faint emission features with amplitudes around a few percent of the main Halpha component, and wavelength shifts between 100 and 400 km/s. The components are often paired, so that red and blue emission features with similar amplitudes and shifts appear simultaneously. Assuming the faint emission to be produced by expanding shell-like structures, the inferred mass loading factor (mass loss rate divided by star formation rate) exceeds 10. Since the expansion velocity exceeds by far the rotational and turbulent velocities, the gas may eventually escape from the galaxy disk. The observed motions involve energies consistent with the kinetic energy released by individual core-collapse supernovae. Alternative explanations for the faint emission have been considered and discarded.
Photon Dominated Regions (PDRs) are interfaces between the mainly ionized and mainly molecular material around young massive stars. Analysis of the physical and chemical structure of such regions traces the impact of far-ultraviolet radiation of young massive stars on their environment. We present results on the physical and chemical structure of the prototypical high UV-illumination edge-on Orion Bar PDR from an unbiased spectral line survey with a wide spectral coverage. A spectral scan from 480-1250 GHz and 1410-1910 GHz at 1.1 MHz resolution was obtained by the HIFI instrument onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. For molecules with multiple transitions we used rotational diagrams to obtain excitation temperatures and column densities. For species with a single detected transition we used an optically thin LTE approximation. In case of species with available collisional rates, we also performed a non-LTE analysis to obtain kinetic temperatures, H2 volume densities, and column densities. About 120 lines corresponding to 29 molecules (including isotopologues) have been detected in the Herschel/HIFI line survey, including 11 transitions of CO, 7 transitions of 13CO, 6 transitions of C18O, 10 transitions of H2CO, and 6 transitions of H2O. Most species trace kinetic temperatures in the range between 100 and 150 K and H2 volume densities in the range between 10^5 and 10^6 cm^-3. The species with temperatures and / or densities outside of this range include the H2CO transitions tracing a very high temperature (315 K) and density (1.4x10^6 cm^-3) component and SO corresponding to the lowest temperature (56 K) measured as a part of this line survey. The observed lines/species reveal a range of physical conditions (gas density /temperature) involving structures at high density / high pressure, obsoleting the traditional 'clump / interclump' picture of the Orion Bar.
In this paper, we report on the analysis of the peculiar X-ray variability displayed by the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J00291+5934 in a 80 ks-long joint NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observation performed during the source outburst in 2015. The light curve of the source was characterized by a flaring-like behavior, with typical rise and decay time scales of ~120 s. The flares are accompanied by a remarkable spectral variability, with the X-ray emission being generally softer at the peak of the flares. A strong quasi periodic oscillation (QPO) is detected at ~8 mHz in the power spectrum of the source and clearly associated with the flaring-like behavior. This feature has the strongest power at soft X-rays (<3 keV). We carried out a dedicated hardness-ratio resolved spectral analysis and a QPO phase-resolved spectral analysis, together with an in-depth study of the source timing properties, to investigate the origin of this behavior. We suggest that the unusual variability of IGR J00291+5934 observed by XMM-Newton and NuSTAR could be produced by an heartbeat-like mechanism, similar to that operating in black-hole X-ray binaries. The possibility that this variability, and the associated QPO, are triggered by phases of quasi-stable nuclear burning, as suggested in the literature for a number of other neutron star binaries displaying a similar behavior, cannot be solidly tested in the case of IGR J00291+5934 due to the paucity of type-I X-ray bursts observed from this source.
We develop an approximation formula for the cross-validation error (CVE) of a sparse linear regression penalized by $\ell_1$-norm and total variation terms, which is based on a perturbative expansion utilizing the largeness of both the data dimensionality and the model. The developed formula allows us to reduce the necessary computational cost of the CVE evaluation significantly. The practicality of the formula is tested through application to simulated black-hole image reconstruction on the event-horizon scale with super resolution. The results demonstrate that our approximation reproduces the CVE values obtained via literally conducted cross-validation with reasonably good precision.
Aims. The magnetic star HD148937 is the only Galactic Of?p star surrounded by a nebula. The structure of this nebula is particularly complex and is composed, from the center out outwards, of a close bipolar ejecta nebula (NGC6164/5), an ellipsoidal wind-blown shell, and a spherically symmetric Stromgren sphere. The exact formation process of this nebula and its precise relation to the star's evolution remain unknown. Methods. We analyzed infrared Spitzer IRS and far-infrared Herschel/PACS observations of the NGC6164/5 nebula. The Herschel imaging allowed us to constrain the global morphology of the nebula. We also combined the infrared spectra with optical spectra of the central star to constrain its evolutionary status. We used these data to derive the abundances in the ejected material. To relate this information to the evolutionary status of the star, we also determined the fundamental parameters of HD148937 using the CMFGEN atmosphere code. Results. The H$\alpha$ image displays a bipolar or "8"-shaped ionized nebula, whilst the infrared images show dust to be more concentrated around the central object. We determine nebular abundance ratios of N/O = 1.06 close to the star, and N/O = 1.54 in the bright lobe constituting NGC6164. Interestingly, the parts of the nebula located further from HD148937 appear more enriched in stellar material than the part located closer to the star. Evolutionary tracks suggest that these ejecta have occured $\sim$1.2-1.3 and $\sim$0.6 Myrs ago, respectively. In addition, we derive abundances of argon for the nebula compatible with the solar values and we find a depletion of neon and sulfur. The combined analyses of the known kinematics and of the new abundances of the nebula suggest either a helical morphology for the nebula, possibly linked to the magnetic geometry, or the occurrence of a binary merger.
One of the open questions in astrochemistry is how complex organic and prebiotic molecules are formed. Aims. Our aim is to start the process of compiling an inventory of oxygen-bearing complex organic molecules toward the solar-type Class 0 protostellar binary IRAS16293-2422 from an unbiased spectral survey with ALMA (PILS). Here we focus on the new detections of ethylene oxide (c-C$_2$H$_4$O), acetone (CH$_3$COCH$_3$), and propanal (C$_2$H$_5$CHO). Methods. With ALMA, we surveyed the spectral range from 329 to 363 GHz at 0.5$"$ (60 AU diameter) resolution. Using a simple model for the molecular emission in LTE, the excitation temperatures and column densities of each species were constrained. Results. We successfully detect propanal (44 lines), ethylene oxide (20 lines) and acetone (186 lines) toward one component of the protostellar binary, IRAS16293B. The high resolution maps demonstrate that the emission for all investigated species originates from the compact central region close to the protostar. This, along with a derived common excitation temperature of $\sim$ 125 K, is consistent with a coexistence of these molecules in the same gas. Conclusions. The observations mark the first detections of acetone, propanal and ethylene oxide toward a low-mass protostar. The relative abundance ratios of the two sets of isomers (CH$_3$COCH$_3$/C$_2$H$_5$CHO $\sim$ 8 and CH$_3$CHO/c-C$_2$H$_4$O $\sim$ 12) are comparable to previous observations toward high-mass protostars. The majority of observed abundance ratios from these results as well as those measured toward high-mass protostars are up to an order of magnitude above the predictions from chemical models. This may reflect either missing reactions or uncertain rates in the chemical networks. The physical conditions, such as temperatures or densities, used in the models, may not be applicable to solar-type protostars either.
We present a search for debris discs amongst M-dwarf members of nearby, young (5-150 Myr) moving groups (MGs) using infrared (IR) photometry, primarily from the Wide Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). A catalogue of 100 MG M-dwarfs that have suitable WISE data is compiled and 19 of these are found to have significant IR excess emission at 22$\mu$m. Our search is likely to be complete for discs where the ratio of flux from the disc to flux from the star $f_{\rm d}/f_{*} > 10^{-3}$. The spectral energy distributions are supplemented with 2MASS photometry and data at longer wavelengths and fitted with simple disc models to characterise the IR excesses. There is a bimodal distribution -- twelve targets have $W1-W4 > 3$, corresponding to $f_{\rm d}/f_{*} > 0.02$ and are likely to be gas-rich, primordial discs. The remaining seven targets have $W1-W4 < 1$ ($f_{\rm d}/f_{*} \lesssim 10^{-3}$) and include three objects with previously known or suspected debris discs and four new debris disc candidates that are all members of the Beta Pic MG. All of the IR excesses are identified in stars that are likely members of MGs with age $< 30$ Myr. The detected debris disc frequency falls from 13 to 5 per cent to $< 7$ per cent (at 95 per cent confidence) for objects younger or older than 30 Myr respectively. This provides evidence for the evolution of debris discs on this timescale and does not support models where the maximum of debris disc emission occurs much later in lower-mass stars.
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We make publicly available a catalog of calibrated environmental measures for galaxies in the five 3D-HST/CANDELS deep fields. Leveraging the spectroscopic and grism redshifts from the 3D-HST survey, multi wavelength photometry from CANDELS, and wider field public data for edge corrections, we derive densities in fixed apertures to characterize the environment of galaxies brighter than $JH_{140} < 24$ mag in the redshift range $0.5<z<3.0$. By linking observed galaxies to a mock sample, selected to reproduce the 3D-HST sample selection and redshift accuracy, each 3D-HST galaxy is assigned a probability density function of the host halo mass, and a probability that is a central or a satellite galaxy. The same procedure is applied to a $z=0$ sample selected from SDSS. We compute the fraction of passive central and satellite galaxies as a function of stellar and halo mass, and redshift, and then derive the fraction of galaxies that were quenched by environment specific processes. Using the mock sample, we estimate that the timescale for satellite quenching is $t_{\rm quench} \sim 2-5$ Gyr; longer at lower stellar mass or lower redshift, but remarkably independent of halo mass. This indicates that, in the range of environments commonly found within the 3D-HST sample, satellites are quenched by exhaustion of their gas reservoir in absence of cosmological accretion. We find that the quenching times can be separated into a delay phase during which satellite galaxies behave similarly to centrals at fixed stellar mass, and a phase where the star formation rate drops rapidly ($\sim 0.4-0.6$ Gyr), as shown previously at $z=0$. We conclude that this scenario requires satellite galaxies to retain a large reservoir of multi-phase gas upon accretion, even at high redshift, and that this gas sustains star formation for the long quenching times observed.
How can we discover objects we did not know existed within the large datasets that now abound in astronomy? We present an outlier detection algorithm that we developed, based on an unsupervised Random Forest. We test the algorithm on more than two million galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and examine the 400 galaxies with the highest outlier score. We find objects which have extreme emission line ratios and abnormally strong absorption lines, objects with unusual continua, including extremely reddened galaxies. We find galaxy-galaxy gravitational lenses, double-peaked emission line galaxies, and close galaxy pairs. We find galaxies with high ionisation lines, galaxies which host supernovae, and galaxies with unusual gas kinematics. Only a fraction of the outliers we find were reported by previous studies that used specific and tailored algorithms to find a single class of unusual objects. Our algorithm is general and detects all of these classes, and many more, regardless of what makes them peculiar. It can be executed on imaging, time-series, and other spectroscopic data, operates well with thousands of features, is not sensitive to missing values, and is easily parallelisable.
Filaments in Herschel molecular cloud images are found to exhibit a "characteristic width". This finding is in tension with spatial power spectra of the data, which show no indication of this characteristic scale. We demonstrate that this discrepancy is a result of the methodology adopted for measuring filament widths. First, we perform the previously used analysis technique on artificial scale-free data, and obtain a peaked width distribution of filament-like structures. Next, we repeat the analysis on three Herschel maps and reproduce the narrow distribution of widths found in previous studies $-$ when considering the average width of each filament. However, the distribution of widths measured at all points along a filament spine is broader than the distribution of mean filament widths, indicating that the narrow spread (interpreted as a "characteristic" width) results from averaging. Furthermore, the width is found to vary significantly from one end of a filament to the other. Therefore, the previously identified peak at 0.1 pc cannot be understood as representing the typical width of filaments. We find an alternative explanation by modelling the observed width distribution as a truncated power-law distribution, sampled with uncertainties. The position of the peak is connected to the lower truncation scale and is likely set by the choice of parameters used in measuring filament widths. We conclude that a "characteristic" width of filaments is not supported by the available data.
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) traced by OVI $\lambda\lambda 1031, 1037$ doublet absorption has been found to concentrate along the projected major and minor axes of the host galaxies. This suggests that OVI traces accreting and outflowing gas, respectively, which are key components of the baryon cycle of galaxies. We investigate this further by examining the kinematics of 29 OVI absorbers associated with galaxies at $0.13 < z_{\rm gal} < 0.66$ as a function of galaxy color, inclination, and azimuthal angle. Each galaxy was imaged with HST and the absorption was detected in COS/HST spectra of nearby ($D<200$ kpc) background quasars. We use the pixel-velocity two-point correlation function to characterize the velocity spread of the absorbers, which is a method used previously for a sample of MgII absorber--galaxy pairs. The absorption velocity spread for OVI is more extended than MgII, which suggests that the two ions trace differing components of the CGM. Also contrary to MgII, the OVI absorption velocity spreads are similar regardless of galaxy color, inclination, and azimuthal angle. This indicates that the kinematics of the high ionization gas is not strongly influenced by the present star formation activity in the galaxy. The kinematic homogeneity of OVI absorption and its tendency to be observed mainly along the projected galaxy major and minor axes is likely due to varying ionization conditions and gas densities about the galaxy. Gas in intermediate azimuthal angles may be ionized out of the OVI phase, possibly resulting in an azimuthal angle dependence on the distribution of gas in higher ionization states.
E+A galaxies are post-starburst systems that are identified from their optical spectra. These galaxies contain a substantial young A-type stellar component, but have only little ongoing star formation (SF). HI 21-cm line emission is found in approximately half of the nearby E+A galaxies, indicating that they contain a reservoir of gas that could fuel active SF. Here, we study two HI-rich galaxies, which show a typical E+A spectrum at the centre and SF at larger radii. We present new high spatial resolution radio interferometric observations of the HI 21-cm emission line using the VLA and of the CO(1-0) emission line using ALMA. We combine these data sets to predict the SFR and show that it does not correlate well with the SFR derived from H alpha on sub-kpc scales. We apply a recently developed statistical model for the small scale behaviour of the SF relation to predict and interpret the observed scatter. We find smoothly distributed, regularly rotating HI gas. The CO(1-0) emission line is not detected for both galaxies. The derived upper limit on the CO mass implies a molecular gas depletion time shorter than 20 Myr. However, due to the low metallicity, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor is highly uncertain. In the relations between the H alpha-based SFR and the HI mass, we observe a substantial scatter we demonstrate results from small-number statistics of independent star-forming regions on sub-kpc scales. This finding adds to the existing literature reporting a scale dependence of the molecular SF relation, showing that the atomic and molecular phases are both susceptible to the evolutionary 'cycling' of individual regions. This suggests that the atomic gas reservoirs host substantial substructure, which should be observable with future high-resolution observations. (abridged)
We present high sensitivity polarimetric observations in 6 bands covering the 5.5-38 GHz range of a complete sample of 53 compact extragalactic radio sources brighter than 200 mJy at 20 GHz. The observations, carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), achieved a 91% detection rate (at 5 sigma). Within this frequency range the spectra of about 95% of sources are well fitted by double power laws, both in total intensity and in polarisation, but the spectral shapes are generally different in the two cases. Most sources were classified as either steep- or peaked-spectrum but less than 50% have the same classification in total and in polarised intensity. No significant trends of the polarisation degree with flux density or with frequency were found. The mean variability index in total intensity of steep-spectrum sources increases with frequency for a 4-5 year lag, while no significant trend shows up for the other sources and for the 8 year lag. In polarisation, the variability index, that could be computed only for the 8 year lag, is substantially higher than in total intensity and has no significant frequency dependence.
NGC 1808 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy which hosts young stellar clusters in a patchy circumnuclear ring with a radius of $\sim 240\,\mathrm{pc}$. In order to study the gaseous and stellar kinematics and the star formation properties of the clusters, we perform seeing-limited $H+K$-band near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy with SINFONI of the inner $\sim 600\,\mathrm{pc}$. From the $M_\mathrm{BH}-\sigma_*$ relation, we find a black hole mass of a few $10^7\,M_\odot$. We estimate the age of the young stellar clusters in the circumnuclear ring to be $\lesssim 10\,\mathrm{Myr}$. No age gradient along the ring is visible. However, the starburst age is comparable to the travel time along the ring, indicating that the clusters almost completed a full orbit along the ring during their life time. In the central $\sim 600\,\mathrm{pc}$, we find a hot molecular gas mass of $\sim 730\,M_\odot$ which, with standard conversion factors, corresponds to a large cold molecular gas reservoir of several $10^8\,M_\odot$, in accordance with CO measurements from the literature. The gaseous and stellar kinematics show several deviations from pure disc motion, including a circumnuclear disc and signs of a nuclear bar potential. In addition, we confirm streaming motions on $\sim 200\,\mathrm{pc}$ scale that have recently been detected in CO(1-0) emission. Due to our enhanced angular resolution of $<1\,\mathrm{arcsec}$, we find further streaming motion within the inner arcsecond, that have not been detected until now. Despite the flow of gas towards the centre, no signs for significant AGN activity are found. This raises the questions what determines whether the infalling gas will fuel an AGN or star formation.
In the last decades several correlations between the mass of the central supermassive black hole (BH) and properties of the host galaxy - such as bulge luminosity and mass, central stellar velocity dispersion, S\'ersic index, spiral pitch angle etc. - have been found and point at a coevolution scenario of BH and host galaxy. In this article, I review some of these relations for inactive galaxies and discuss the findings for galaxies that host an active galactic nucleus/quasar. I present the results of our group that finds that active galaxies at $z\lesssim 0.1$ do not follow the BH mass - bulge luminosity relation. Furthermore, I show near-infrared integral-field spectroscopic data that suggest that young stellar populations cause the bulge overluminosity and indicate that the host galaxy growth started first. Finally, I discuss implications for the BH-host coevolution.
Large area surveys with a high number of galaxies observed have undoubtedly marked a milestone in the understanding of several properties of galaxies, such as star-formation history, morphology, and metallicity. However, in many cases, these surveys provide fluxes from fixed small apertures (e.g. fibre), which cover a scant fraction of the galaxy, compelling us to use aperture corrections to study the global properties of galaxies. In this work, we derive the current total star formation rate (SFR) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, using an empirically based aperture correction of the measured $\rm H\alpha$ flux for the first time, thus minimising the uncertainties associated with reduced apertures. All the $\rm H\alpha$ fluxes have been extinction-corrected using the $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ ratio free from aperture effects. The total SFR for $\sim$210,000 SDSS star-forming galaxies has been derived applying pure empirical $\rm H\alpha$ and $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ aperture corrections based on the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. We find that, on average, the aperture-corrected SFR is $\sim$0.65dex higher than the SDSS fibre-based SFR. The relation between the SFR and stellar mass for SDSS star-forming galaxies (SFR--$\rm M_\star$) has been obtained, together with its dependence on extinction and $\rm H\alpha$ equivalent width. We compare our results with those obtained in previous works and examine the behaviour of the derived SFR in six redshift bins, over the redshift range $\rm 0.005 \leq z\leq 0.22$. The SFR--$\rm M_\star$ sequence derived here is in agreement with selected observational studies based on integral field spectroscopy of individual galaxies as well as with the predictions of recent theoretical models of disc galaxies.
We present preliminary results of JVLA wideband full polarization observations of a sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with very high Rotation Measure (RM) values, a sign of extreme environment. Polarization properties show a complex behaviour such that the polarization angle (PA) and fractional polarization (fp) change dramatically within the wide band. The measured RM is not constant within the wide band. Its complex behaviour reflects the complexity of the medium with the presence of several Faraday components. The depolarization has been studied by modelling the variations of the Stokes parameters Q and U together with the polarization parameters (PA and fp) with wavelength using combinations of the simplest existing depolarization models. With this JVLA study we could spectrally resolve multiple polarized components of unresolved AGN. These preliminary results reveal the complexity of these objects, but improvements to the depolarization modelling are needed to better understand the polarization structure of these sources.
We describe the design of a low- and medium-resolution spectrograph ( R=300-1300) developed at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) for the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of Sayan Observatory of the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We report the results of laboratory measurements of the parameters of the instrument and tests performed on the SAO RAS 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope. We measured the total quantum efficiency of the "spectrograph + telescope + detector" system on AZT-33IK telescope, which at its maximum reaches 56%. Such a hight transparency of the spectrograph allows it to be used with the 1.6-m telescope to determine the types and redshifts of objects with magnitudes m_AB~20-21, that was confirmed by actual observations.
We present a spectropolarimetric snapshot survey of solar-type planet hosting stars. In addition to 14 planet-hosting stars observed as part of the BCool magnetic snapshot survey, we obtained magnetic observations of a further 19 planet-hosting solar-type stars in order to see if the presence of close-in planets had an effect on the measured surface magnetic field (|B$_{\ell}$|). Our results indicate that the magnetic activity of this sample is congruent with that of the overall BCool sample. The effects of the planetary systems on the magnetic activity of the parent star, if any, are too subtle to detect compared to the intrinsic dispersion and correlations with rotation, age and stellar activity proxies in our sample. Four of the 19 newly observed stars, two of which are subgiants, have unambiguously detected magnetic fields and are future targets for Zeeman Doppler Mapping.
Despite the maturity of stellar astrophysics, the formation and evolution of binary star systems still remain key questions in modern astronomy. Wide binary pairs (separations >10^3 AU) are particularly intriguing because their low binding energies makes it difficult for the stars to stay gravitationally bound over extended timescales. The SLoWPoKES I & II catalogs provided the largest and most complete sample of low-mass, wide binary pairs, creating a testbed for the formation and evolution scenarios of multiple star systems. We present an extension of these catalogs, the Gaia Assorted Mass Binaries Long Excluded from SloWPoKES (GAMBLES). This catalog identifies 1,892 candidate binary pairs, of assorted mass, with typical separations between 10^3-10^5.5 AU (0.002-1.5 pc) using the published distances and proper motions from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution and Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry. We find each pair to have, at most, a false positive probability of 0.05 and therefore a total expectation of 23 false binaries in our sample. We find the largest binary separation to be nearly 5.8 pc, 7 systems with 3 components and identify candidate pairs with possible red giant components. We find >92% of GAMBLES binaries have binding energies larger than theoretical limits and dissipation lifetimes longer than 1 Gyr. Given the large separation between the widest GAMBLES binaries, these objects will require the second Gaia data release for confirmation. In any event, we find the distribution of binary separations is clearly bimodal between low mass pairs, corroborating the finding from SloWPoKES and suggesting multiple pathways for the formation and dissipation of the widest binaries in the Galaxy.
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We make publicly available a catalog of calibrated environmental measures for galaxies in the five 3D-HST/CANDELS deep fields. Leveraging the spectroscopic and grism redshifts from the 3D-HST survey, multi wavelength photometry from CANDELS, and wider field public data for edge corrections, we derive densities in fixed apertures to characterize the environment of galaxies brighter than $JH_{140} < 24$ mag in the redshift range $0.5<z<3.0$. By linking observed galaxies to a mock sample, selected to reproduce the 3D-HST sample selection and redshift accuracy, each 3D-HST galaxy is assigned a probability density function of the host halo mass, and a probability that is a central or a satellite galaxy. The same procedure is applied to a $z=0$ sample selected from SDSS. We compute the fraction of passive central and satellite galaxies as a function of stellar and halo mass, and redshift, and then derive the fraction of galaxies that were quenched by environment specific processes. Using the mock sample, we estimate that the timescale for satellite quenching is $t_{\rm quench} \sim 2-5$ Gyr; longer at lower stellar mass or lower redshift, but remarkably independent of halo mass. This indicates that, in the range of environments commonly found within the 3D-HST sample, satellites are quenched by exhaustion of their gas reservoir in absence of cosmological accretion. We find that the quenching times can be separated into a delay phase during which satellite galaxies behave similarly to centrals at fixed stellar mass, and a phase where the star formation rate drops rapidly ($\sim 0.4-0.6$ Gyr), as shown previously at $z=0$. We conclude that this scenario requires satellite galaxies to retain a large reservoir of multi-phase gas upon accretion, even at high redshift, and that this gas sustains star formation for the long quenching times observed.
How can we discover objects we did not know existed within the large datasets that now abound in astronomy? We present an outlier detection algorithm that we developed, based on an unsupervised Random Forest. We test the algorithm on more than two million galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and examine the 400 galaxies with the highest outlier score. We find objects which have extreme emission line ratios and abnormally strong absorption lines, objects with unusual continua, including extremely reddened galaxies. We find galaxy-galaxy gravitational lenses, double-peaked emission line galaxies, and close galaxy pairs. We find galaxies with high ionisation lines, galaxies which host supernovae, and galaxies with unusual gas kinematics. Only a fraction of the outliers we find were reported by previous studies that used specific and tailored algorithms to find a single class of unusual objects. Our algorithm is general and detects all of these classes, and many more, regardless of what makes them peculiar. It can be executed on imaging, time-series, and other spectroscopic data, operates well with thousands of features, is not sensitive to missing values, and is easily parallelisable.
Filaments in Herschel molecular cloud images are found to exhibit a "characteristic width". This finding is in tension with spatial power spectra of the data, which show no indication of this characteristic scale. We demonstrate that this discrepancy is a result of the methodology adopted for measuring filament widths. First, we perform the previously used analysis technique on artificial scale-free data, and obtain a peaked width distribution of filament-like structures. Next, we repeat the analysis on three Herschel maps and reproduce the narrow distribution of widths found in previous studies $-$ when considering the average width of each filament. However, the distribution of widths measured at all points along a filament spine is broader than the distribution of mean filament widths, indicating that the narrow spread (interpreted as a "characteristic" width) results from averaging. Furthermore, the width is found to vary significantly from one end of a filament to the other. Therefore, the previously identified peak at 0.1 pc cannot be understood as representing the typical width of filaments. We find an alternative explanation by modelling the observed width distribution as a truncated power-law distribution, sampled with uncertainties. The position of the peak is connected to the lower truncation scale and is likely set by the choice of parameters used in measuring filament widths. We conclude that a "characteristic" width of filaments is not supported by the available data.
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) traced by OVI $\lambda\lambda 1031, 1037$ doublet absorption has been found to concentrate along the projected major and minor axes of the host galaxies. This suggests that OVI traces accreting and outflowing gas, respectively, which are key components of the baryon cycle of galaxies. We investigate this further by examining the kinematics of 29 OVI absorbers associated with galaxies at $0.13 < z_{\rm gal} < 0.66$ as a function of galaxy color, inclination, and azimuthal angle. Each galaxy was imaged with HST and the absorption was detected in COS/HST spectra of nearby ($D<200$ kpc) background quasars. We use the pixel-velocity two-point correlation function to characterize the velocity spread of the absorbers, which is a method used previously for a sample of MgII absorber--galaxy pairs. The absorption velocity spread for OVI is more extended than MgII, which suggests that the two ions trace differing components of the CGM. Also contrary to MgII, the OVI absorption velocity spreads are similar regardless of galaxy color, inclination, and azimuthal angle. This indicates that the kinematics of the high ionization gas is not strongly influenced by the present star formation activity in the galaxy. The kinematic homogeneity of OVI absorption and its tendency to be observed mainly along the projected galaxy major and minor axes is likely due to varying ionization conditions and gas densities about the galaxy. Gas in intermediate azimuthal angles may be ionized out of the OVI phase, possibly resulting in an azimuthal angle dependence on the distribution of gas in higher ionization states.
E+A galaxies are post-starburst systems that are identified from their optical spectra. These galaxies contain a substantial young A-type stellar component, but have only little ongoing star formation (SF). HI 21-cm line emission is found in approximately half of the nearby E+A galaxies, indicating that they contain a reservoir of gas that could fuel active SF. Here, we study two HI-rich galaxies, which show a typical E+A spectrum at the centre and SF at larger radii. We present new high spatial resolution radio interferometric observations of the HI 21-cm emission line using the VLA and of the CO(1-0) emission line using ALMA. We combine these data sets to predict the SFR and show that it does not correlate well with the SFR derived from H alpha on sub-kpc scales. We apply a recently developed statistical model for the small scale behaviour of the SF relation to predict and interpret the observed scatter. We find smoothly distributed, regularly rotating HI gas. The CO(1-0) emission line is not detected for both galaxies. The derived upper limit on the CO mass implies a molecular gas depletion time shorter than 20 Myr. However, due to the low metallicity, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor is highly uncertain. In the relations between the H alpha-based SFR and the HI mass, we observe a substantial scatter we demonstrate results from small-number statistics of independent star-forming regions on sub-kpc scales. This finding adds to the existing literature reporting a scale dependence of the molecular SF relation, showing that the atomic and molecular phases are both susceptible to the evolutionary 'cycling' of individual regions. This suggests that the atomic gas reservoirs host substantial substructure, which should be observable with future high-resolution observations. (abridged)
We present high sensitivity polarimetric observations in 6 bands covering the 5.5-38 GHz range of a complete sample of 53 compact extragalactic radio sources brighter than 200 mJy at 20 GHz. The observations, carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), achieved a 91% detection rate (at 5 sigma). Within this frequency range the spectra of about 95% of sources are well fitted by double power laws, both in total intensity and in polarisation, but the spectral shapes are generally different in the two cases. Most sources were classified as either steep- or peaked-spectrum but less than 50% have the same classification in total and in polarised intensity. No significant trends of the polarisation degree with flux density or with frequency were found. The mean variability index in total intensity of steep-spectrum sources increases with frequency for a 4-5 year lag, while no significant trend shows up for the other sources and for the 8 year lag. In polarisation, the variability index, that could be computed only for the 8 year lag, is substantially higher than in total intensity and has no significant frequency dependence.
NGC 1808 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy which hosts young stellar clusters in a patchy circumnuclear ring with a radius of $\sim 240\,\mathrm{pc}$. In order to study the gaseous and stellar kinematics and the star formation properties of the clusters, we perform seeing-limited $H+K$-band near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy with SINFONI of the inner $\sim 600\,\mathrm{pc}$. From the $M_\mathrm{BH}-\sigma_*$ relation, we find a black hole mass of a few $10^7\,M_\odot$. We estimate the age of the young stellar clusters in the circumnuclear ring to be $\lesssim 10\,\mathrm{Myr}$. No age gradient along the ring is visible. However, the starburst age is comparable to the travel time along the ring, indicating that the clusters almost completed a full orbit along the ring during their life time. In the central $\sim 600\,\mathrm{pc}$, we find a hot molecular gas mass of $\sim 730\,M_\odot$ which, with standard conversion factors, corresponds to a large cold molecular gas reservoir of several $10^8\,M_\odot$, in accordance with CO measurements from the literature. The gaseous and stellar kinematics show several deviations from pure disc motion, including a circumnuclear disc and signs of a nuclear bar potential. In addition, we confirm streaming motions on $\sim 200\,\mathrm{pc}$ scale that have recently been detected in CO(1-0) emission. Due to our enhanced angular resolution of $<1\,\mathrm{arcsec}$, we find further streaming motion within the inner arcsecond, that have not been detected until now. Despite the flow of gas towards the centre, no signs for significant AGN activity are found. This raises the questions what determines whether the infalling gas will fuel an AGN or star formation.
In the last decades several correlations between the mass of the central supermassive black hole (BH) and properties of the host galaxy - such as bulge luminosity and mass, central stellar velocity dispersion, S\'ersic index, spiral pitch angle etc. - have been found and point at a coevolution scenario of BH and host galaxy. In this article, I review some of these relations for inactive galaxies and discuss the findings for galaxies that host an active galactic nucleus/quasar. I present the results of our group that finds that active galaxies at $z\lesssim 0.1$ do not follow the BH mass - bulge luminosity relation. Furthermore, I show near-infrared integral-field spectroscopic data that suggest that young stellar populations cause the bulge overluminosity and indicate that the host galaxy growth started first. Finally, I discuss implications for the BH-host coevolution.
Large area surveys with a high number of galaxies observed have undoubtedly marked a milestone in the understanding of several properties of galaxies, such as star-formation history, morphology, and metallicity. However, in many cases, these surveys provide fluxes from fixed small apertures (e.g. fibre), which cover a scant fraction of the galaxy, compelling us to use aperture corrections to study the global properties of galaxies. In this work, we derive the current total star formation rate (SFR) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, using an empirically based aperture correction of the measured $\rm H\alpha$ flux for the first time, thus minimising the uncertainties associated with reduced apertures. All the $\rm H\alpha$ fluxes have been extinction-corrected using the $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ ratio free from aperture effects. The total SFR for $\sim$210,000 SDSS star-forming galaxies has been derived applying pure empirical $\rm H\alpha$ and $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ aperture corrections based on the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. We find that, on average, the aperture-corrected SFR is $\sim$0.65dex higher than the SDSS fibre-based SFR. The relation between the SFR and stellar mass for SDSS star-forming galaxies (SFR--$\rm M_\star$) has been obtained, together with its dependence on extinction and $\rm H\alpha$ equivalent width. We compare our results with those obtained in previous works and examine the behaviour of the derived SFR in six redshift bins, over the redshift range $\rm 0.005 \leq z\leq 0.22$. The SFR--$\rm M_\star$ sequence derived here is in agreement with selected observational studies based on integral field spectroscopy of individual galaxies as well as with the predictions of recent theoretical models of disc galaxies.
We present preliminary results of JVLA wideband full polarization observations of a sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with very high Rotation Measure (RM) values, a sign of extreme environment. Polarization properties show a complex behaviour such that the polarization angle (PA) and fractional polarization (fp) change dramatically within the wide band. The measured RM is not constant within the wide band. Its complex behaviour reflects the complexity of the medium with the presence of several Faraday components. The depolarization has been studied by modelling the variations of the Stokes parameters Q and U together with the polarization parameters (PA and fp) with wavelength using combinations of the simplest existing depolarization models. With this JVLA study we could spectrally resolve multiple polarized components of unresolved AGN. These preliminary results reveal the complexity of these objects, but improvements to the depolarization modelling are needed to better understand the polarization structure of these sources.
We describe the design of a low- and medium-resolution spectrograph ( R=300-1300) developed at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) for the 1.6-m AZT-33IK telescope of Sayan Observatory of the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We report the results of laboratory measurements of the parameters of the instrument and tests performed on the SAO RAS 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope. We measured the total quantum efficiency of the "spectrograph + telescope + detector" system on AZT-33IK telescope, which at its maximum reaches 56%. Such a hight transparency of the spectrograph allows it to be used with the 1.6-m telescope to determine the types and redshifts of objects with magnitudes m_AB~20-21, that was confirmed by actual observations.
We present a spectropolarimetric snapshot survey of solar-type planet hosting stars. In addition to 14 planet-hosting stars observed as part of the BCool magnetic snapshot survey, we obtained magnetic observations of a further 19 planet-hosting solar-type stars in order to see if the presence of close-in planets had an effect on the measured surface magnetic field (|B$_{\ell}$|). Our results indicate that the magnetic activity of this sample is congruent with that of the overall BCool sample. The effects of the planetary systems on the magnetic activity of the parent star, if any, are too subtle to detect compared to the intrinsic dispersion and correlations with rotation, age and stellar activity proxies in our sample. Four of the 19 newly observed stars, two of which are subgiants, have unambiguously detected magnetic fields and are future targets for Zeeman Doppler Mapping.
Despite the maturity of stellar astrophysics, the formation and evolution of binary star systems still remain key questions in modern astronomy. Wide binary pairs (separations >10^3 AU) are particularly intriguing because their low binding energies makes it difficult for the stars to stay gravitationally bound over extended timescales. The SLoWPoKES I & II catalogs provided the largest and most complete sample of low-mass, wide binary pairs, creating a testbed for the formation and evolution scenarios of multiple star systems. We present an extension of these catalogs, the Gaia Assorted Mass Binaries Long Excluded from SloWPoKES (GAMBLES). This catalog identifies 1,892 candidate binary pairs, of assorted mass, with typical separations between 10^3-10^5.5 AU (0.002-1.5 pc) using the published distances and proper motions from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution and Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry. We find each pair to have, at most, a false positive probability of 0.05 and therefore a total expectation of 23 false binaries in our sample. We find the largest binary separation to be nearly 5.8 pc, 7 systems with 3 components and identify candidate pairs with possible red giant components. We find >92% of GAMBLES binaries have binding energies larger than theoretical limits and dissipation lifetimes longer than 1 Gyr. Given the large separation between the widest GAMBLES binaries, these objects will require the second Gaia data release for confirmation. In any event, we find the distribution of binary separations is clearly bimodal between low mass pairs, corroborating the finding from SloWPoKES and suggesting multiple pathways for the formation and dissipation of the widest binaries in the Galaxy.
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