The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) generated by merging black holes has recently opened up a new observational window into the Universe. The mass of the black holes in the first and third LIGO detections, ($36-29 \, \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ and $32-19 \, \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$), suggests low-metallicity stars as their most likely progenitors. Based on high-resolution N-body simulations, coupled with state-of-the-art metal enrichment models, we find that the remnants of Pop III stars are preferentially located within the cores of galaxies. The probability of a GW signal to be generated by Pop III stars reaches $\sim 90\%$ at $\sim 0.5 \, \mathrm{kpc}$ from the galaxy center, compared to a benchmark value of $\sim 5\%$ outside the core. The predicted merger rates inside bulges is $\sim 60 \times \beta_{III} \, \mathrm{Gpc^{-3} \, yr^{-1}}$ ($\beta_{III}$ is the Pop III binarity fraction). To match the $90\%$ credible range of LIGO merger rates, we obtain: $0.03 < \beta_{III} < 0.88$. Future advances in GW observatories and the discovery of possible electromagnetic counterparts could allow the localization of such sources within their host galaxies. The preferential concentration of GW events within the bulge of galaxies would then provide an indirect proof for the existence of Pop III stars.
We present the integrated stellar mass-metallicity relation (MZR) for more than 1700 galaxies included in the integral field area SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. The spatially resolved data allow us to determine the metallicity at the same physical scale (effective radius in arcsecs, $\mathrm{R_{eff}}$ ) using a heterogeneous set of ten abundance calibrators. Besides scale factors, the shape of the MZR is similar for all calibrators, consistent with those reported previously using single-fiber and integral field spectroscopy. We compare the residuals of this relation against the star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR). We do not find a strong secondary relation of the MZR with either SFR or the sSFR for any of the calibrators, in contrast with previous single-fiber spectroscopic studies. Our results agree with an scenario in which metal enrichment happens at local scales, with global outflows playing a secondary role in shaping the chemistry of galaxies and cold-gas inflows regulating the stellar formation.
This manual accompanies the release of the particle data for 24 simulations of the EAGLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation by the virgo consortium. It describes how to download these snapshots and how to extract datasets from them, emphasising the meaning of variables, and their units. We provide examples for extracting the particle data in python. This data release complements our earlier release of numerous integrated properties of the galaxies in EAGLE through an SQL relational database. This database has been updated to include the additional simulations that are part of the present data release. Scientists wanting to use EAGLE may find it useful to first investigate whether their analysis can be performed using the database, before accessing the particle data. The particles in the snapshot files are indexed by a peano-hilbert key. This allows for an eased extraction of simply connected spatial volumes, without needing to read the entire snapshot. This makes it possible to analyse many aspects of galaxies using modest computing resources, even when using EAGLE simulations with large numbers of particles. A reading routine is provided to simplify this process.
We have conducted two-component, non-LTE modeling of the CO lines from J = 1-0 through J = 13-12 in 87 galaxies observed by the Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). We find the average pressure of the cold molecular gas, traced especially by CO J = 1-0, is $\sim 10^{5.0 \pm 0.5}$ K cm$^{-3}$. The mid- to high-J lines of CO trace higher-pressure gas at $10^{6.5 \pm 0.6}$ K cm$^{-3}$; this pressure is slightly correlated with LFIR. Two components are often necessary to accurately fit the Spectral Line Energy Distributions (SLEDs); a one-component fit often underestimates the flux of CO J = 1-0 and the mass. If low-J lines are not included, mass is underestimated by an order of magnitude. Even when modeling the low-J lines alone or using an $\alpha_{CO}$ conversion factor, the mass should be considered to be uncertain to a factor of at least 0.4 dex, and the vast majority of the CO luminosity will be missed (median, 65%). We find a very large spread in our derived values of $\alpha_{CO}$, though they do not have a discernible trend with LFIR; the best fit is a constant 0.7 M$_{\odot}$/ (K kms$^{-1}$ pc$^2$), with a standard deviation of 0.36 dex, and a range of 0.3-1.6 M$_{\odot}$/ (K kms$^{-1}$ pc$^2$). We find average molecular gas depletion times ($\tau_{dep}$) of $10^8$ yr that decrease with increasing SFR. Finally, we note that the J = 11-10/J = 1-0 line flux ratio is diagnostic of the warm component pressure, and discuss the implications of this comprehensive study of SPIRE FTS extragalactic spectra for future study post-Herschel.
We present two large catalogs of AGN candidates identified across ~75% of the sky from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer's AllWISE Data Release. Both catalogs, some of the largest such catalogs published to date, are selected purely on the basis of mid-IR photometry in the WISE W1 and W2 bands. The catalogs are designed to be appropriate for a broad range of scientific investigations, with one catalog emphasizing reliability while the other emphasizes completeness. Specifically, the R90 catalog consists of 4,543,530 AGN candidates with 90% reliability, while the C75 catalog consists of 20,907,127 AGN candidates with 75% completeness. We provide a detailed discussion of potential artifacts, and excise portions of the sky close to the Galactic Center, Galactic Plane, nearby galaxies, and other expected contaminating sources. Our final catalogs cover 30,093 deg^2 of extragalactic sky. These catalogs are expected to enable a broad range of science, and we present a few simple illustrative cases. From the R90 sample we identify 45 highly variable AGN lacking radio counterparts in the FIRST survey, implying they are unlikely to be blazars. One of these sources, WISEA J142846.71+172353.1, is a mid-IR-identified changing-look quasar at z=0.104. We characterize our catalogs by comparing them to large, wide-area AGN catalogs in the literature, specifically UV-to-near-IR quasar selections from SDSS and XDQSOz, mid-IR selection from Secrest et al. (2015) and X-ray selection from ROSAT. From the latter work, we identify four ROSAT X-ray sources that each are matched to three WISE-selected AGN in the R90 sample within 30". Palomar spectroscopy reveals one of these systems, 2RXS J150158.6+691029, to consist of a triplet of quasars at z=1.133 +/- 0.004, suggestive of a rich group or forming galaxy cluster.(Abridged)
The nature, size and orientation of the dominant structural components in the Milky Way's inner ~4 kpc - specifically the bulge and bar - have been the subject of conflicting interpretations in the literature. We present a different approach to inferring the properties of the long bar which extends beyond the inner bulge, via the information encoded in the Galaxy's X/peanut (X/P)-shaped structure. We perform a quantitative analysis of the X/P feature seen in WISE wide-field imaging at 3.4 $\mu$m and 4.6 $\mu$m. We measure the deviations of the isophotes from pure ellipses, and quantify the X/P structure via the radial profile of the Fourier n=6 harmonic (cosine term $B_6$). In addition to the vertical height and integrated `strength' of the X/P instability, we report an intrinsic radius of $R_{\Pi;{\rm int}} = 1.67\pm0.27$ kpc, and an orientation angle of $\alpha = {37^\circ}^{+7^\circ}_{-10^\circ}$ with respect to our line-of-sight to the Galactic Centre. Based on X/P structures observed in other galaxies, we make three assumptions: (i) the peanut is intrinsically symmetric, (ii) the peanut is aligned with the long Galactic bar, and (iii) their sizes are correlated. Thus the implication for the Galactic bar is that it is oriented at the same $37^\circ$ angle and has an expected radius of ~4.2 kpc, but possibly as low as ~3.2 kpc. We further investigate how the Milky Way's X/P structure compares with other analogues, and find that the Galaxy is broadly consistent with our recently established scaling relations, though with a moderately stronger peanut instability than expected. We additionally perform a photometric decomposition of the Milky Way's major axis surface brightness profile, accounting for spiral structure, and determine an average disc scale length of $h = 2.54\pm0.16$ kpc in the WISE bands, in good agreement with the literature.
Previous studies have shown that CIZA J2242.8+5301 (the 'Sausage' cluster, $z=0.192$) is a massive merging galaxy cluster that hosts a radio halo and multiple relics. In this paper we present deep, high fidelity, low-frequency images made with the LOw-Frequency Array (LOFAR) between 115.5 and 179 MHz. These images, with a noise of 140 mJy/beam and a resolution of $\theta_{\text{beam}}=7.3"\times5.3"$, are an order of magnitude more sensitive and five times higher resolution than previous low-frequency images of this cluster. We combined the LOFAR data with the existing GMRT (153, 323, 608 MHz) and WSRT (1.2, 1.4, 1.7, 2.3 GHz) data to study the spectral properties of the radio emission from the cluster. Assuming diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), we found Mach numbers of $\mathcal{M}_{n}=2.7{}_{-0.3}^{+0.6}$ and $\mathcal{M}_{s}=1.9_{-0.2}^{+0.3}$ for the northern and southern shocks. The derived Mach number for the northern shock requires an acceleration efficiency of several percent to accelerate electrons from the thermal pool, which is challenging for DSA. Using the radio data, we characterised the eastern relic as a shock wave propagating outwards with a Mach number of $\mathcal{M}_{e}=2.4_{-0.3}^{+0.5}$, which is in agreement with $\mathcal{M}_{e}^{X}=2.5{}_{-0.2}^{+0.6}$ that we derived from Suzaku data. The eastern shock is likely to be associated with the major cluster merger. The radio halo was measured with a flux of $346\pm64\,\text{mJy}$ at $145\,\text{MHz}$. Across the halo, we observed a spectral index that remains approximately constant ($\alpha^{\text{145 MHz-2.3 GHz}}_{\text{across \(\sim\)1 Mpc}^2}=-1.01\pm0.10$) after the steepening in the post-shock region of the northern relic. This suggests a generation of post-shock turbulence that re-energies aged electrons.
We investigate how the properties of spiral arms relate to other fundamental galaxy properties, including bars and disc breaks. We use previously published measurements of those properties, and our own measurements of arm and bar contrasts for a large sample of galaxies, using $3.6 \mathrm{\mu m}$ images from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G). Flocculent galaxies are clearly distinguished from other spiral arm classes, especially by their lower stellar mass and surface density. Multi-armed and grand-design galaxies are similar in most of their fundamental parameters, excluding some bar properties and the bulge-to-total ratio. Based on these results, we revisit the sequence of spiral arm classes, and discuss classical bulges as a necessary condition for standing spiral wave modes in grand-design galaxies. We find a strong correlation between bulge-to-total ratio and bar contrast, and a weaker correlation between arm and bar contrasts. Barred and unbarred galaxies exhibit similar arm contrasts, but the highest arm contrasts are found exclusively in barred galaxies. Interestingly, the bar contrast, and its increase from flocculent to grand-design galaxies, is systematically more significant than that of the arm contrast. We corroborate previous findings concerning a connection between bars and disc breaks. In particular, in grand-design galaxies the bar contrast correlates with the normalised disc break radius. This does not hold for other spiral arm classes or the arm contrast. Our measurements of arm and bar contrast and radial contrast profiles are publicly available.
We present images of CO(J=3-2) emission near the supernebula in the dwarf galaxy NGC~5253, which contains one of the best examples of a potential globular cluster in formation. The 0.3" resolution images reveal an unusual molecular cloud, "Cloud D1", coincident with the radio-infrared supernebula. The ~6-pc diameter cloud has a linewidth, $\Delta$ v = 21.7 km/s, that reflects only the gravitational potential of the star cluster residing within it. The corresponding virial mass is 2.5 x 10$^5$ M$_\odot$. The cluster appears to have a top-heavy initial mass function, with $M_{low}$~1-2 M$_\odot$. Molecular gas mass is very uncertain but constitutes < 35% of the dynamical mass within the cloud boundaries. Cloud D1 is probably bright in CO(3-2) because the gas is optically thin and hot. In spite of the presence of an estimated ~1500-2000 O stars within the small cloud, the CO appears relatively undisturbed. We propose that Cloud D1 consists of star-forming cores orbiting with more evolved stars in the core of the giant cluster.
We present ALMA observations of the dust continuum and [C II] 158um line emission from the z=6.0695 Lyman Break Galaxy WMH5. These observations at 0.3" spatial resolution show a compact (~3kpc) main galaxy in dust and [C II] emission, with a 'tail' of emission extending to the east by about 5kpc (in projection). The [C II] tail is comprised predominantly of two distinct sub-components in velocity, separated from the core by ~100 and 250km/s, with narrow intrinsic widths of about 80km/s, which we call 'sub-galaxies'. The sub-galaxies themselves are extended east-west by about 3kpc in individual channel images. The [C II] tail joins smoothly into the main galaxy velocity field. The [C II] line to continuum ratios are comparable for the main and sub-galaxy positions, within a factor 2. In addition, these ratios are comparable to z~5.5 LBGs. We conjecture that the WMH5 system represents the early formation of a galaxy through the accretion of smaller satellite galaxies, embedded in a smoother gas distribution, along a possibly filamentary structure. The results are consistent with current cosmological simulations of early galaxy formation, and support the idea of very early enrichment with dust and heavy elements of the accreting material.
We present a new face-on map of dense neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas in the outer Galaxy. Our map has been produced from the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) HI 21-cm line all-sky survey by finding intensity maxima along every line of sight and then by projecting them on the Galactic plane. The resulting face-on map strikingly reveals the complex spiral structure beyond the solar circle, which is characterized by a mixture of distinct long arcs of HI concentrations and numerous 'interarm' features. The comparison with more conventional spiral tracers confirms the nature of those long arc structures as spiral arms. Our map shows that the HI spiral structure in the outer Galaxy is well described by a four-arm spiral model (pitch angle of 12 deg) with some deviations, and gives a new insight into identifying HI features associated with individual arms.
Isotopic ratios are keys to understanding the origin and early evolution of the solar system in the context of Galactic nucleosynthesis. The large range of measured $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N isotopic ratios in the solar system reflects distinct reservoirs of nitrogen whose origins remain to be determined. We have directly measured a C$^{14}$N/C$^{15}$N abundance ratio of 323$\pm$30 in the disk orbiting the nearby young star TW Hya. This value, which is in good agreement with nitrogen isotopic ratios measured for prestellar cores, likely reflects the primary present-day reservoir of nitrogen in the solar neighbourhood. These results support models invoking novae as primary $^{15}$N sources as well as outward migration of the Sun over its lifetime, and suggest that comets sampled a secondary, $^{15}$N-rich reservoir during solar system formation.
We report the detection of spatially distinct stellar density features near the apocenters of the Sagittarius (Sgr) stream's main leading and trailing arm. These features are clearly visible in a high-fidelity stellar halo map that is based on RR Lyrae from Pan-STARRS1: there is a plume of stars 10 kpc beyond the apocenter of the leading arm, and there is a "spur" extending to 130 kpc, almost 30 kpc beyond the previously detected apocenter of the trailing arm. Such apocenter substructure is qualitatively expected in any Sgr stream model, as stars stripped from the progenitor at different pericenter passages become spatially separated there. The morphology of these new Sgr stream substructures could provide much-needed new clues and constraints for modeling the Sgr system, including the level of dynamical friction that Sgr has experienced. We also report the discovery of a new, presumably unrelated halo substructure at 80 kpc from the Sun and $10^\circ$ from the Sgr orbital plane, which we dub the Outer Virgo Overdensity.
Galaxy-cluster gravitational lenses can magnify background galaxies by a factor of up to ~50. An individual well-aligned background star, however, could potentially become much more highly magnified. Here we report an image of a star (dubbed "MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 (LS1)") at redshift z=1.49 magnified by >2000. We measure fluctuations in the star's flux arising from microlensing by intracluster stars and compact objects, whose effective Einstein radii should become exaggerated by a factor of ~100 by the cluster's potential. LS1's light curve is sensitive to the mass function of intracluster stars and compact objects and provides evidence about binary fractions as well as specific stellar evolution and supernova models, and against a high abundance of ~30 solar-mass primordial black holes. A second event, separated by 0.26" from LS1, likely corresponds to LS1's counterimage demagnified for multiple years by a ~3 solar-mass object in the cluster. Additional monitoring should test the hypothesis that dark matter consists of extremely light bosons.
We study the role of the local tidal environment in determining the assembly bias of dark matter haloes. Previous results suggest that the anisotropy of a halo's environment (i.e, whether it lies in a filament or in a more isotropic region) can play a significant role in determining the eventual mass and age of the halo. We statistically isolate this effect using correlations between the large-scale and small-scale environments of simulated haloes at $z=0$ with masses between $10^{11.6}\lesssim (m/h^{-1}M_{\odot})\lesssim10^{14.9}$. We probe the large-scale environment using a novel halo-by-halo estimator of linear bias. For the small-scale environment, we identify a variable $\alpha_R$ that captures the $\textit{tidal anisotropy}$ in a region of radius $R=4R_{\textrm{200b}}$ around the halo and correlates strongly with halo bias at fixed mass. Segregating haloes by $\alpha_R$ reveals two distinct populations. Haloes in highly isotropic local environments ($\alpha_R\lesssim0.2$) behave as expected from the simplest, spherically averaged analytical models of structure formation, showing a $\textit{negative}$ correlation between their concentration and large-scale bias at $\textit{all}$ masses. In contrast, haloes in anisotropic, filament-like environments ($\alpha_R\gtrsim0.5$) tend to show a $\textit{positive}$ correlation between bias and concentration at any mass. Our multi-scale analysis cleanly demonstrates how the overall assembly bias trend across halo mass emerges as an average over these different halo populations, and provides valuable insights towards building analytical models that correctly incorporate assembly bias. We also discuss potential implications for the nature and detectability of galaxy assembly bias.
We present multi-epoch, multi-colour pre-outburst photometry and post-outburst light curves and spectra of the luminous blue variable (LBV) outburst Gaia16cfr discovered by the Gaia satellite on 1 December 2016. We detect Gaia16cfr in 13 epochs of Hubble Space Telescope imaging spanning phases of 10 yr to 8 months before the outburst and in Spitzer Space Telescope imaging 13 years before outburst. Pre-outburst optical photometry is consistent with an 18 Msun F8 I star, although the star was likely reddened and closer to 30 Msun. The pre-outburst source exhibited a significant near-infrared excess consistent with a 120 AU shell with 4x10-6 Msun of dust. We infer that the source was enshrouded by an optically-thick and compact shell of circumstellar material from an LBV wind, which formed a pseudo-photosphere consistent with S Dor-like variables in their "maximum" phase. Within a year of outburst, the source was highly variable on 10-30 day timescales. The outburst light curve closely matches that of the 2012 outburst of SN 2009ip, although the observed velocities are significantly slower than in that event. In Halpha, the outburst had an excess of blueshifted emission at late times centred around -1500 km/s, similar to that of double-peaked Type IIn supernovae and the LBV outburst SN 2015bh. From the pre-outburst and post-outburst photometry, we infer that the outburst ejecta are evolving into a dense, highly structured circumstellar environment from precursor outbursts within years of the December 2016 event.
The new data release (DR5) of the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) includes radial velocities of 520,781 spectra of 457,588 individual stars, of which 215,590 individual stars are released in the Tycho-Gaia astrometric solution (TGAS) in Gaia DR1. Therefore, RAVE contains the largest TGAS overlap of the recent and ongoing Milky Way spectroscopic surveys. Most of the RAVE stars also contain stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, overall metallicity), as well as individual abundances for Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, and Ni. Combining RAVE with TGAS brings the uncertainties in space velocities down by a factor of 2 for stars in the RAVE volume -- 10 km/s uncertainties in space velocities are now able to be derived for the majority (70%) of the RAVE-TGAS sample, providing a powerful platform for chemo-dynamic analyses of the Milky Way. Here we discuss the RAVE-TGAS impact on Galactic archaeology as well as how the Gaia parallaxes can be used to break degeneracies within the RAVE spectral regime for an even better return in the derivation of stellar parameters and abundances.
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In dense and cold molecular clouds dust grains are surrounded by thick icy mantles. It is however not clear if dust growth and coagulation take place before the switch-on of a protostar. This is an important issue, as the presence of large grains may affect the chemical structure of dense cloud cores, including the dynamically important ionization fraction, and the future evolution of solids in protoplanetary disks. To study this further, we focus on L1544, one of the most centrally concentrated pre-stellar cores on the verge of star formation, and with a well-known physical structure. We observed L1544 at 1.2 and 2 mm using NIKA, a new receiver at the IRAM 30 m telescope, and we used data from the Herschel Space Observatory archive. We find no evidence of grain growth towards the center of L1544 at the available angular resolution. Therefore, we conclude that single dish observations do not allow us to investigate grain growth toward the pre-stellar core L1544 and high sensitivity interferometer observations are needed. We predict that dust grains can grow to 200 $\mu$m in size toward the central ~300 au of L1544. This will imply a dust opacity change by a factor of ~2.5 at 1.2 mm, which can be detected using the Atacama Large Millimeter and submillimeter Array (ALMA) at different wavelengths and with an angular resolution of 2".
In this paper we address the indirect method, which can provide a powerful technique to obtain information about radiative capture reactions at astrophysically relevant energies. The idea of the indirect method is to use the indirect reaction $A(a, s\,\gamma)F$ to obtain information about the radiative capture reaction $A(x,\,\gamma)F$, where $a=(s\,x)$ and $F=(x\,A)$. The main advantage of using the indirect reactions is the absence of the penetrability factor in the channel $x+A$, which suppresses the low-energy cross sections of the $A(x,\,\gamma)F$ reactions and does not allow to measure these reactions at astrophysical energies. A general formalism to treat indirect resonant radiative capture reactions is developed when only a few intermediate states do contribute and statistical approach cannot be applied. Angular dependence of the triple differential cross section at fixed scattering angle of the spectator $s$ is the angular $\gamma-s$ correlation function. Using indirect resonant radiative capture reactions one can obtain the information about important astrophysical resonant radiative capture reactions, like $(p,\,\gamma), \,\,(\alpha,\,\gamma)$ and $(n,\,\gamma)$ on stable and unstable isotopes. The indirect technique makes accessible low-lying resonances, which are close to the threshold, and even subthreshold bound states located at negative energies. In this paper, after developing the general formalism, we demonstrated the application of the indirect reaction ${}^{12}{\rm C}({}^{6}{\rm Li},d\,\gamma){}^{16}{\rm O}$ proceeding through $1^{-}$ and $2^{+}$ subthreshold bound states and resonances to obtain the information about the ${}^{12}{\rm C}(\alpha,\,\gamma){}^{16}{\rm O}$ radiative capture at astrophysically most effective energy $0.3$ MeV what is impossible using standard direct measurements.
The rest-frame UV-optical (i.e., $NUV-B$) color is sensitive to both low-level recent star formation (specific star formation rate - sSFR) and dust. In this Letter, we extend our previous work on the origins of $NUV-B$ color gradients in star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at $z\sim1$ to those at $z\sim2$. We use a sample of 1335 large (semi-major axis radius $R_{\rm SMA}>0.''18$) SFGs with extended UV emission out to $2R_{\rm SMA}$ in the mass range $M_{\ast} = 10^{9}-10^{11}M_{\odot}$ at $1.5<z<2.8$ in the CANDELS/GOODS-S and UDS fields. We show that these SFGs generally have negative $NUV-B$ color gradients (redder centres), and their color gradients strongly increase with galaxy mass. We also show that the global rest-frame $FUV-NUV$ color is approximately linear with $A_{\rm V}$, which is derived by modeling the observed integrated FUV to NIR spectral energy distributions of the galaxies. Applying this integrated calibration to our spatially-resolved data, we find a negative dust gradient (more dust extinguished in the centers), which steadily becomes steeper with galaxy mass. We further find that the $NUV-B$ color gradients become nearly zero after correcting for dust gradients regardless of galaxy mass. This indicates that the sSFR gradients are negligible and dust reddening is likely the principal cause of negative UV-optical color gradients in these SFGs. Our findings support that the buildup of the stellar mass in SFGs at the Cosmic Noon is self-similar inside $2R_{\rm SMA}$.
We present the results from a series of ground-based radio observations toward a Planck Galactic Cold Clump (PGCC), PGCC G108.84-00.81, which is located in one curved filamentary cloud in the vicinity of an extended HII region Sh2-152 and SNR G109.1-1.0. PGCC G108.84-00.81 is mainly composed of two clumps, "G108-N" and "G108-S". In the 850 micron dust continuum emission map, G108-N is shown as one component while G108-S is fragmented into four components. There is no infrared source associated with G108-N while there are two infrared sources (IRS 1 and IRS 2) associated with G108-S. The total mass of G108-N is larger than the jeans mass, suggesting that G108-N is gravitationally unstable and a potential place for a future star formation. The clump properties of G108-N and G108-S such as the gas temperature and the column density, are not distinctly different. However, G108-S is slightly more evolved than G108-N, in the consideration of the CO depletion factor, molecular abundances, and association with infrared sources. G108-S seems to be affected by the compression from Sh2-152, while G108-N is relatively protected from the external effect
In this paper we present the star formation properties of $\rm{I_{subaru}\leq}$ 23 X-ray detected AGN and non-AGN galaxies in the green valley with far-IR (FIR) emission, using data from the COSMOS field. We measured star formation rates (SFR) using FIR Herschel/PACS data and we observed the location of AGN and non-AGN galaxies on the main-sequence of star formation. We went a step further in analysing the importance of AGN in quenching star formation in the green valley, the region proposed to be the transitional phase in galaxy evolution where galaxies are moving from later- to earlier-types. We found that most of our green valley X-ray detected AGN with far-IR emission have SFRs higher than the ones of inactive galaxies at fixed stellar mass ranges, the result that is different when considering optical data. These FIR AGN have still very active star formation, being located either on or above the main-sequence of star formation (in total 82\% of our sample). Therefore, they do not show signs of star formation quenching, but rather its enhancement. Our results may suggest that for X-ray detected AGN with FIR emission if there is an influence of AGN feedback on the star formation in the green valley the scenario of AGN positive feedback seem to take place, rather than the negative one.
Proper motions of collisionless pointlike objects in a spherically symmetric system, for example stars in a galaxy, can be used to test whether that system is in equilibrium, with no assumptions regarding isotropy. In particular, the fourth order spherical Jeans equation yields expressions for two observable quantities characterizing the departure from equilibrium, both of which can be expressed in terms of time derivatives of first and third moments of the velocities. As illustrations, we compute these quantities for tracer distributions drawn from an exact equilibrium configuration and also from near equilibrium configurations generated using the N-body code GALIC.
We study the dynamical stability of stationary galactic spiral shocks. The steady-state equilibrium flow contains a shock of the type derived by Roberts in the tightly wound approximation. We find that boundary conditions are critical in determining whether the solutions are stable or not. Shocks are unstable if periodic boundary conditions are imposed. For intermediate strengths of the spiral potential, the instability disappears if boundary conditions are imposed such that the upstream flow is left unperturbed as in the classic analysis of D'yakov and Kontorovich. This reconciles apparently contradictory findings of previous authors regarding the stability of spiral shocks. This also shows that the instability is distinct from the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, confirming the findings of Kim et al. We suggest that instability is a general characteristics of periodic shocks, regardless of the presence of shear, and provide a physical picture as to why this is the case. For strong spiral potentials, high post-shock shear makes the system unstable also to parasitic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability regardless of the boundary conditions. Our analysis is performed in the context of a simplified problem that, while preserving all the important characteristics of the original problem, strips it from unnecessary complications, and assumes that the gas is isothermal, non self-gravitating, non-magnetised.
We present a multi-wavelength study to probe the star formation (SF) processes on a larger scale (~1.05 deg x 0.56 deg) around the S242 site. The S242 molecular cloud is depicted in a velocity range from -3.25 to 4.55 km/s and has spatially elongated appearance. Based on the virial analysis, the cloud is prone to gravitational collapse. The cloud harbors an elongated filamentary structure (EFS; length ~25 pc) evident in the Herschel column density map and the EFS has an observed mass per unit length of ~200 M_sun/pc exceeding the critical value of ~16 M_sun/pc (at T = 10 K). The EFS contains a chain of Herschel clumps (M_clump ~150 to 1020 M_sun), revealing the evidence of fragmentation along its length. The most massive clumps are observed at both the EFS ends, while the S242 HII region is located at one EFS end. Based on the radio continuum maps at 1.28 and 1.4 GHz, the S242 HII region is ionized by a B0.5V - B0V type star and has a dynamical age of ~0.5 Myr. The photometric 1 - 5 microns data analysis of point-like sources traces young stellar objects (YSOs) toward the EFS and the clusters of YSOs are exclusively found at both the EFS ends, revealing the SF activities. Considering the spatial presence of massive clumps and YSO clusters at both the EFS ends, the observed results are consistent with the prediction of a SF scenario of the end-dominated collapse driven by the higher accelerations of gas.
The combination of line and continuum observations can provide vital insights
to the formation and fragmentation of filaments and the initial conditions for
star formation. We have carried out line observations to map the kinematics of
an evolved, actively star forming filament G82.65-2.00. The filament was first
The combination of line and continuum observations can provide vital insights
to the formation and fragmentation of filaments and the initial conditions for
star formation. We have carried out line observations to map the kinematics of
an evolved, actively star forming filament G82.65-2.00. The filament was first
identified from the Planck data as a region of particularly cold dust emission
and was mapped at 100-500 $\mu$m as a part of Herschel key program Galactic
Cold Cores.
The observations reveal several velocity components in the field, with
strongest line emission concentrated to velocity range $\sim [3,5]$ km $\rm
s^{-1}$. The column density of molecular hydrogen along the filament varies
from 1.0 to 2.3 $\times 10^{22}$ $\rm cm^{2}$. We have examined six cold clumps
from the central part of the filament. The clumps have masses in the range $10
- 20$ $M_{\odot}$ ($\sim70M_{\odot}$ in total) and are close to or above the
virial mass. Furthermore, the main filament is heavily fragmented and most of
the the substructures have a mass lower than or close to the virial mass,
suggesting that the filament is dispersing as a whole. Position-velocity maps
of $\rm ^{12}CO$ and $\rm ^{13}CO$ lines indicate that at least one of the
striations is kinematically connected to two of the clumps, potentially
indicating mass accretion from the striation onto the main filament. We
tentatively estimate the accretion rate to be $\dot{M}$ = $2.23 \times 10^{-6}$
$ M_{\odot} / \rm year$.
In this paper, we report the peculiar HI morphology of the cluster spiral galaxy NGC 6145, which has a 150 kpc HI filament on one side that is nearly parallel to its major axis. This filament is made up of several HI clouds and the diffuse HI gas between them, with no optical counterparts. We compare its HI distribution with other one-sided HI distributions in the literature, and find that the overall HI distribution is very different from the typical tidal and ram-pressure stripped HI shape, and its morphology is inconsistent with being a pure accretion event. Only about 30% of the total HI gas is anchored on the stellar disk, while most of HI gas forms the filament in the west. At a projected distance of 122 kpc, we find a massive elliptical companion (NGC 6146) with extended radio emission, whose axis points to an HI gap in NGC 6145. The velocity of the HI filament shows an overall light-of- sight motion of 80 to 180 km/s with respect to NGC 6145. Using the long-slit spectra of NGC 6145 along its major stellar axis, we find that some outer regions show enhanced star formation, while in contrast, almost no star formation activities are found in its center (less than 2 kpc). Pure accretion, tidal or ram-pressure stripping is not likely to produce the observed HI filament. An alternative explanation is the jet-stripping from NGC 6146, although direct evidence for a jet-cold gas interaction has not been found.
Using multi-wavelength data, from UV-optical-near-mid IR, for $\sim$6000 galaxies in the local Universe, we study the dependence of star formation on the morphological T-types for massive galaxies ($\log M_*/M_\odot \geq 10$). We find that, early-type spirals (Sa-Sbc) and S0s predominate in the green valley, which is a transition zone between the star forming and quenched regions. Within the early-type spirals, as we move from Sa to Sbc spirals the fraction of green valley and quenched galaxies decreases, indicating the important role of the bulge in the quenching of galaxies. The fraction of early-type spirals decreases as we enter the green valley from the blue cloud, which coincides with the increase in the fraction of S0s. This points towards the morphological transformation of early-type spiral galaxies into S0s which can happen due to environmental effects such as ram-pressure stripping, galaxy harassment, or tidal interactions. We also find a second population of S0s which are actively star-forming and are present in all environments. Since morphological T-type, specific star formation rate (sSFR), and environmental density are all correlated with each other, we compute the partial correlation coefficient for each pair of parameters while keeping the third parameter as a control variable. We find that morphology most strongly correlates with sSFR, independent of the environment, while the other two correlations (morphology-density and sSFR-environment) are weaker. Thus, we conclude that, for massive galaxies in the local Universe, the physical processes that shape their morphology are also the ones that determine their star-forming state.
Previous findings show that massive ($> 10^{10} M_{sun}$) star-forming (SF) galaxies usually have an inside-out stellar mass assembly mode. In this paper, we have for the first time selected a sample of 77 massive SF galaxies with an outside-in assembly mode (called targeted sample) from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. For comparison, two control samples are constructed from MaNGA sample matched in stellar mass: a sample of 154 normal SF galaxies and a sample of 62 quiescent galaxies. In contrast to normal SF galaxies, the targeted galaxies appear to be more smooth-like and bulge-dominated, and have smaller size, higher concentration, higher star formation rate and higher gas-phase metallicity as a whole. However, they have larger size and lower concentration than quiescent galaxies. Unlike normal SF sample, the targeted sample exhibits a slightly positive gradient of 4000 \AA\ break and a pronounced negative gradient of H${\alpha}$ equivalent width. Further more, their median surface mass density profile is between that of normal SF sample and quiescent sample, indicating that the gas accretion of quiescent galaxies is not likely to be the main approach for the outside-in assembly mode. Our results suggest that the targeted galaxies are likely in the transitional phase from normal SF galaxies to quiescent galaxies, with rapid on-going central stellar mass assembly (or bulge growth). We discuss several possible formation mechanisms for the outside-in mass assembly mode.
Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are at present the only means to search for gravitational waves from the population of supermassive black hole binary (SMBH) systems in the range $\sim 10^7 - 10^{10}\, M_\odot$. These systems produce a stochastic background which has been considered to be within the detection grasp of current or near future observations. However, the stringent upper-limit set by Parkes PTA Shannon et al. (2013, 2015) has been interpreted as excluding at >90% confidence the current paradigm of binary black hole assembly through galaxy mergers and hardening via stellar interactions, suggesting that SMBH evolution is stalled or significantly accelerated by star and/or gas in galactic cores. Using Bayesian hierarchical modelling, we consider the implications of this upper-limit in the context of a comprehensive range of astrophysical scenarios that do not invoke stalling of binaries, nor more exotic physical processes. We find these models are fully consistent with the reported upper-limit, but (weak) bounds about the population parameters can be inferred. The Bayes factors between the different models vary between $e^{0.03}\approx 1.03$ and $e^{1.76}\approx 5.81$ , and the Kullback-Leibler divergence between prior and posterior distribution of the background characteristic amplitude is in the range 0.37-0.85. If one considers prior astrophysical information about galaxy merger rates, recent upward revisions of the black hole mass-galaxy bulge mass relation (Kormendy & Ho 2013) are disfavoured at $1.6\sigma$ with respect to lighter black hole models based e.g. Shankar et al. (2016). By considering sensitivity improvements brought by the operation of the next generation radio telescopes, we show that if no detection is achieved by the time the sensitivity reaches $1\times 10^{-16}$ in characteristic amplitude, the present most optimistic models will be disfavoured at $3.9\sigma$.
We determine the physical properties of a sample of SMGs in the COSMOS field that were pre-selected at the observed wavelength of $\lambda_{\rm obs}=1.1$ mm, and followed up at $\lambda_{\rm obs}=1.3$ mm with ALMA. We used MAGPHYS to fit the panchromatic (ultraviolet to radio) SEDs of 124 of the target SMGs, 19.4% of which are spectroscopically confirmed. The SED analysis was complemented by estimating the gas masses of the SMGs by using the $\lambda_{\rm obs}=1.3$ mm emission as a tracer of the molecular gas. The sample median and 16th-84th percentile ranges of the stellar masses, SFRs, dust temperatures, and dust and gas masses were derived to be $\log(M_{\star}/{\rm M}_{\odot})=11.09^{+0.41}_{-0.53}$, ${\rm SFR}=402^{+661}_{-233}$ ${\rm M}_{\odot}~{\rm yr}^{-1}$, $T_{\rm dust}=39.7^{+9.7}_{-7.4}$ K, $\log(M_{\rm dust}/{\rm M}_{\odot})=9.01^{+0.20}_{-0.31}$, and $\log(M_{\rm gas}/{\rm M}_{\odot})=11.34^{+0.20}_{-0.23}$, respectively. The median gas-to-dust ratio and gas fraction were found to be $120^{+73}_{-30}$ and $0.62^{+0.27}_{-0.23}$, respectively. We found that 57.3% of our SMGs populate the main sequence (MS) of star-forming galaxies, while 41.9% of the sources lie above the MS by a factor of >3 (one source lies below the MS). The largest 3 GHz radio sizes are found among the MS sources. Those SMGs that appear irregular in the rest-frame UV are predominantly starbursts, while the MS SMGs are mostly disk-like. The larger radio-emitting sizes of the MS SMGs compared to starbursts is a likely indication of their more widespread, less intense star formation. The irregular UV morphologies of the starburst SMGs are likely to echo their merger nature. Our results suggest that the transition from high-$z$ SMGs to local ellipticals via compact, quiescent galaxies (cQGs) at $z \sim 2$ might not be universal, and the latter population might also descend from the so-called blue nuggets.
The astronomical observation of isopropyl cyanide further stresses the link between the chemical composition of the ISM and molecular composition of the meteorites in which there is a dominance of branched chain amino acids as compared to the straight. However, observations of more branched chain molecules in ISM will firmly establish this link. In the light of this, we have considered C5H9N isomeric group in which the next higher member of the alkyl cyanide and other branched chain isomers belong. High-level quantum chemical calculations have been employed in estimating accurate energies of these isomers. From the results, the only isomer of the group that has been astronomically searched, n-butyl cyanide is not the most stable isomer and therefore, which might explain why its search could only yield upper limits of its column density without a successful detection. Rather, the two most stable isomers of the group are the branched chain isomers, tert-butylnitrile and isobutyl cyanide. Based on the rotational constants of these isomers, it is found that the expected intensity of tert-butylnitrile is the maximum among this isomeric group. Thus, this is proposed as the most probable candidate for astronomical observation. A simple LTE (Local thermodynamic equilibrium) modelling has also been carried out to check the possibility of detecting tert-butyl cyanide in the millimetre-wave region.
We investigate the dependence of stellar population properties of galaxies on group dynamical stage for a subsample of Yang catalog. We classify groups according to their galaxy velocity distribution into Gaussian (G) and Non-Gaussian (NG). Using two totally independent approaches we have shown that our measurement of Gaussianity is robust and reliable. Our sample covers Yang's groups in the redshift range 0.03 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 0.1 having mass $\geq$ 10$^{14} \rm M_{\odot}$. The new method, Hellinger Distance (HD), to determine whether a group has a velocity distribution Gaussian or Non-Gaussian is very effective in distinguishing between the two families. NG groups present halo masses higher than the G ones, confirming previous findings. Examining the Skewness and Kurtosis of the velocity distribution of G and NG groups, we find that faint galaxies in NG groups are mainly infalling for the first time into the groups. We show that considering only faint galaxies in the outskirts, those in NG groups are older and more metal rich than the ones in G groups. Also, examining the Projected Phase Space of cluster galaxies we see that bright and faint galactic systems in G groups are in dynamical equilibrium which does not seem to be the case in NG groups. These findings suggest that NG systems have a higher infall rate, assembling more galaxies which experienced preprocessing before entering the group.
Recent observations support that individual stars in lensed galaxies at cosmological distances can be detected when they reach extremely high magnifications as they cross the caustics of lensing clusters. In idealized cluster lenses with smooth mass distributions, two images of a star of radius $R$ approaching a caustic would brighten as $t^{-1/2}$ and reach a peak magnification $\sim 10^{6}\, (10\, R_{\odot}/R)^{1/2}$ as they merge on the critical curve. We show that even a tiny mass fraction ($\kappa_\star \gtrsim \, 10^{-4.5}$) of microlenses inevitably disrupts the smooth caustic into a network of corrugated micro-caustics, and produces light curves with numerous peaks. Using analytical calculations and numerical simulations, we derive the characteristic width of the network, caustic crossing frequencies, and peak magnifications. For the lens parameters of a recent detection, and a population of intracluster stars with $\kappa_\star \sim 0.01$, we find a source-plane width of $\sim 20 \, {\rm pc}$ for the caustic network, which spans $0.2 \, {\rm arcsec}$ on the image plane. Across this width, there are $\sim 6 \times 10^4$ crossings, each one lasting for $\sim 5\,{\rm hr}\,(R/10\,R_\odot)$ with typical peak magnifications of $\sim 10^{4} \left( R/ 10\,R_\odot \right)^{-1/2}$. A source spends $\sim 2\times 10^4$ years in this network, and crosses micro-caustics with a frequency that increases as $t^{-1/2}$ from $\sim 1 \, {\rm yr}^{-1}$ at the onset, to $\sim 70 \, {\rm yr}^{-1}$ in a final band of a few milliparsec. In this band, the $t^{-1/2}$ behavior of the mean trend of the light curve plateaus to a finite value, and subsequently the transient fades away. The exquisite sensitivity of caustic crossing events to the granularity of the lens mass distribution makes them ideal probes to dark matter components, such as compact halo objects and ultralight axion dark matter.
ZwCl 2341.1+0000, a merging galaxy cluster with disturbed X-ray morphology and widely separated ($\sim$3 Mpc) double radio relics, was thought to be an extremely massive ($10-30 \times 10^{14} M_\odot$) and complex system with little known about its merger history. We present JVLA 2-4 GHz observations of the cluster, along with new spectroscopy from our Keck/DEIMOS survey, and apply Gaussian Mixture Modeling to the three-dimensional distribution of 227 confirmed cluster galaxies. After adopting the Bayesian Information Criterion to avoid overfitting, which we discover can bias total dynamical mass estimates high, we find that a three-substructure model with a total dynamical mass estimate of $9.39 \pm 0.81 \times 10^{14} M_\odot$ is favored. We also present deep Subaru imaging and perform the first weak lensing analysis on this system, obtaining a weak lensing mass estimate of $5.57 \pm 2.47 \times 10^{14} M_\odot$. This is a more robust estimate because it does not depend on the dynamical state of the system, which is disturbed due to the merger. Our results indicate that ZwCl 2341.1+0000 is a multiple merger system comprised of at least three substructures, with the main merger that produced the radio relics occurring near to the plane of the sky, and a younger merger in the North occurring closer to the line of sight. Dynamical modeling of the main merger reproduces observed quantities (relic positions and polarizations, subcluster separation and radial velocity difference), if the merger axis angle of $\sim$10$^{+34}_{-6}$ degrees and the collision speed at pericenter is $\sim$1900$^{+300}_{-200}$ km/s.
The Crab nebula originated from a core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion observed in 1054 A.D. When viewed as a supernova remnant (SNR), it has an anomalously low observed ejecta mass and kinetic energy for an Fe-core collapse SN. Intensive searches were made for a massive shell that solves this discrepancy, but none has been detected. An alternative idea is that the SN1054 is an electron-capture (EC) explosion with a lower explosion energy by an order of magnitude than Fe-core collapse SNe. In the X-rays, imaging searches were performed for the plasma emission from the shell in the Crab outskirts to set a stringent upper limit to the X-ray emitting mass. However, the extreme brightness of the source hampers access to its vicinity. We thus employed spectroscopic technique using the X-ray micro-calorimeter onboard the Hitomi satellite. By exploiting its superb energy resolution, we set an upper limit for emission or absorption features from yet undetected thermal plasma in the 2-12 keV range. We also re-evaluated the existing Chandra and XMM-Newton data. By assembling these results, a new upper limit was obtained for the X-ray plasma mass of <~ 1Mo for a wide range of assumed shell radius, size, and plasma temperature both in and out of the collisional equilibrium. To compare with the observation, we further performed hydrodynamic simulations of the Crab SNR for two SN models (Fe-core versus EC) under two SN environments (uniform ISM versus progenitor wind). We found that the observed mass limit can be compatible with both SN models if the SN environment has a low density of <~ 0.03 cm-3 (Fe core) or <~ 0.1 cm-3 (EC) for the uniform density, or a progenitor wind density somewhat less than that provided by a mass loss rate of 10-5 Mo yr-1 at 20 km s-1 for the wind environment.
Understanding the formation of wide binary systems of very low mass stars (M $\le$ 0.1 Msun) is challenging. The most obvious route is via widely separated low-mass collapsing fragments produced through turbulent fragmentation of a molecular core. However, close binaries/multiples from disk fragmentation can also evolve to wide binaries over a few initial crossing times of the stellar cluster through tidal evolution. Finding an isolated low mass wide binary system in the earliest stage of formation, before tidal evolution could occur, would prove that turbulent fragmentation is a viable mechanism for (very) low mass wide binaries. Here we report high resolution ALMA observations of a known wide-separation protostellar binary, showing that each component has a circumstellar disk. The system is too young to have evolved from a close binary and the disk axes are misaligned, providing strong support for the turbulent fragmentation model. Masses of both stars are derived from the Keplerian rotation of the disks; both are very low mass stars.
Einstein's General theory of relativity is plagued by cosmological and blackhole type singularities Recently, it has been shown that infinite derivative, ghost free, gravity can yield non-singular cosmological and mini-blackhole solutions. In particular, the theory possesses a {\it mass-gap} determined by the scale of new physics. We will use this property to argue that it is possible to form a non-singular super-massive compact objects without having any event horizon in this class of theories.
RCW 38 is a deeply embedded young (~1 Myr), massive star cluster located at a distance of 1.7 kpc. Twice as dense as the Orion Nebula Cluster, orders of magnitude denser than other nearby star forming regions, and rich in massive stars, RCW 38 is an ideal place to look for potential differences in brown dwarf formation efficiency as a function of environment. We present deep, high resolution adaptive optics data of the central ~0.5x0.5 pc^2 obtained with NACO at the Very Large Telescope. Through comparison with evolutionary models we determine masses and extinction for ~480 candidate members, and derive the first Initial Mass Function (IMF) of the cluster extending into the substellar regime. Representing the IMF as a set of power laws in the form dN/dM~M^(-alpha), we derive the slope alpha = 1.60+-0.13 for the mass range 0.5 - 20 MSun which is shallower than the Salpeter slope, but in agreement with results in several other young massive clusters. At the low-mass side, we find alpha = 0.71+-0.11 for masses between 0.02 and 0.5 MSun, or alpha = 0.81+-0.08 for masses between 0.02 and 1 MSun. Our result is in agreement with the values found in other young star-forming regions, revealing no evidence that a combination of high stellar densities and the presence of numerous massive stars affect the formation efficiency of brown dwarfs and very-low mass stars. We estimate that the Milky Way galaxy contains between 25 and 100 billion brown dwarfs (with masses > 0.03 MSun).
Acoustic quadrupole modes of sunlike stars vibrate when perturbed by a passing gravitational wave generated somewhere in the Universe. Here, we compute the imprint of the gravitational waves on the acoustic spectrum of these stars for gravitational events occurring near the supermassive black hole located at the center of the Milky Way. We found that in most cases the impact of gravitational waves in low-order quadrupole modes is not above the current observational threshold of detectability, although this should be in the reach of the next generation of near infrared observatories and asteroseismology satellite missions. Equally, we found that it is possible to follow the end phase of the coalescence of binaries with large chirp masses, as these phenomena have a unique imprint in the spectra of sunlike stars affecting sequentially several low-order quadrupole modes. Moreover, we discuss the different imprints on the acoustic spectra of the different types of binary systems constituted either by two white dwarfs, two neutron stars, two black holes or a compact star and a massive black hole.
We have obtained deep narrowband images in the near-infrared H2 (2.122 microns) emission line for a sample of 15 faint Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric Halpha Survey (IPHAS) bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe) to search for molecular material. H2 emission is found in most of them (14 out of 15), mostly associated with rings at their equatorial regions and with their bipolar lobes. These detections add to the high occurrence of H2 emission among bipolar PNe reported in previous works, resulting from the large reservoir of molecular material in these sources and the suitable excitation conditions for H2 emission. The correlation between detailed bipolar morphology and H2 luminosity is also confirmed: bipolar PNe with broad equatorial rings (R-BPNe) have almost no continuum emission, are H2 brighter and have larger H2/Brgamma line ratio than bipolar PNe with pinched equatorial waists (W-BPNe). The origin of this dichotomy is unclear. The larger size and age of R-BPNe are consistent with shock excitation of H2, whereas ultraviolet pumping is most likely the excitation mechanism in the smaller and younger W-BPNe, which would explain their lower H2 luminosity. Although both types of bipolar PNe seem to proceed from the same progenitor population, this does not imply that R-BPNe descend from W-BPNe. Otherwise, we note that some of the H2-weak bipolar PNe harbor post-common envelope binary systems and symbiotic stars. Finally, we suggest that the long-living H2 emission from R-BPNe arises from a discrete distribution of compact knots embedded within the ionized gas at the equatorial region.
In the past decade, gamma-ray observations and radio observations put strong constraints on the parameters of dark matter annihilation. In this article, we suggest another robust way to constrain the parameters of dark matter annihilation. We expect that the electrons and positrons produced from dark matter annihilation would scatter with the cosmic microwave background photons and boost the photon energy to $\sim$ keV order. Based on the x-ray data from the Draco dwarf galaxy, the new constraints for some of the annihilation channels are generally tighter than the constraints obtained from 6 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) gamma-ray observations of the Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. The lower limits of dark matter mass annihilating via $e^+e^-$, $\mu^+\mu^-$, $\tau^+\tau^-$, $gg$, $u\bar{u}$ and $b\bar{b}$ channels are 40 GeV, 28 GeV, 30 GeV, 57 GeV, 58 GeV and 66 GeV respectively with the canonical thermal relic cross section. This method is particularly useful to constrain dark matter annihilating via $e^+e^-$, $\mu^+\mu^-$, $gg$, $u\bar{u}$ and $b\bar{b}$ channels.
It is well known that the Milgrom's MOND (modified Newtonian dynamics) explains well the mass discrepancy problem in galaxy rotation curves. The MOND predicts a universal acceleration scale below which the Newtonian dynamics is invalid yet. The universal acceleration scale we got from the SPARC dataset is $g_{\dag}=1.02\times10^{-10} \rm m~s^{-2}$. Milgrom suggested that the acceleration scale may be a fingerprint of cosmology on local dynamics and related with the Hubble constant $g_{\dag}\sim cH_0$. In this paper, we use the hemisphere comparison method with the SPARC dataset to investigate the spatial anisotropy on the acceleration scale. We find that the hemisphere of the maximum acceleration scale is in the direction $(l,b) = ({175.5^\circ}^{+6^\circ}_{-10^\circ}, {-6.5^\circ}^{+8^\circ}_{-3^\circ})$ with $g_{\dag,max}=1.10\times10^{-10} \rm m~s^{-2}$, while the hemisphere of the minimum acceleration scale is in the opposite direction $(l,b) = ({355.5^\circ}^{+6^\circ}_{-10^\circ}, {6.5^\circ}^{+3^\circ}_{-8^\circ})$ with $g_{\dag,min}=0.76\times10^{-10} \rm m~s^{-2}$. The maximum anisotropy level reaches up to $0.37\pm0.04$. Robust tests present that such a level of anisotropy can't be reproduced by a statistically isotropic data. In addition, we show that the spatial anisotropy on the acceleration scale has little correlation with the non-uniform distribution of the SPARC data points in sky. We also find that the maximum anisotropy direction is close with other cosmological preferred directions, especially the direction of the "Australia dipole" for the fine structure constant.
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We present a new strong lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847 (MACS 1206), at z=0.44, using deep spectroscopy from CLASH-VLT and VLT/MUSE archival data, in combination with imaging from the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble. MUSE observations enable the spectroscopic identification of 23 new multiply imaged sources, extending the previous compilations by a factor of approximately five. In total, we use the positional measurements of 82 spectroscopic multiple images, belonging to 27 families at z=1.0-6.1, to reconstruct the projected total mass distribution of MACS 1206. Remarkably, 11 multiple images are found within 50 kpc from the brightest cluster galaxy, making this an unprecedented set of constraints for the innermost projected mass distribution of a galaxy cluster. We thus find that, although dynamically relaxed, the smooth matter component (dark matter plus hot gas) of MACS 1206 shows a significant asymmetry, which closely follows the asymmetric distribution of the stellar component (galaxy members and intra-cluster light). We determine the value of the innermost logarithmic slope of the projected total mass density profile and find it to be close to the canonical NFW value. We demonstrate that this quantity is very robust against different parametrizations of the diffuse mass component, however this is not the case when only one central image is used in the mass reconstruction. We also show that the mass density profile from our new strong lensing model is in very good agreement with dynamical and X-ray measurements at larger radii, where they overlap.
Sub-milllimetre galaxies (SMGs) are some of the most luminous star-forming galaxies in the Universe, however their properties remain hard to determine due to the difficulty of identifying their optical\slash near-infrared counterparts. One of the key steps to determining the nature of SMGs is measuring a redshift distribution representative of the whole population. We do this by applying statistical techniques to a sample of 761 850$\mu$m sources from the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey observations of the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) Field. We detect excess galaxies around $> 98.4$ per cent of the 850$\mu$m positions in the deep UDS catalogue, giving us the first 850$\mu$m selected sample to have virtually complete optical\slash near-infrared redshift information. Under the reasonable assumption that the redshifts of the excess galaxies are representative of the SMGs themselves, we derive a median SMG redshift of $z = 2.05 \pm 0.03$, with 68 per cent of SMGs residing between $1.07 < z < 3.06$. We find an average of $1.52\pm 0.09$ excess $K$-band galaxies within 12 arc sec of an 850$\mu$m position, with an average stellar mass of $2.2\pm 0.1 \times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$. While the vast majority of excess galaxies are star-forming, $8.0 \pm 2.1$ per cent have passive rest-frame colours, and are therefore unlikely to be detected at sub-millimetre wavelengths even in deep interferometry. We show that brighter SMGs lie at higher redshifts, and use our SMG redshift distribution -- along with the assumption of a universal far-infrared SED -- to estimate that SMGs contribute around 30 per cent of the cosmic star formation rate density between $0.5 < z < 5.0$.
We investigate the origin of the evolution of the population-averaged central stellar mass density ($\Sigma_1$) of quiescent galaxies (QGs) by probing the relation between stellar age and $\Sigma_1$ at $z\sim0$. We use the Zurich ENvironmental Study (ZENS), which is a survey of galaxy groups with a large fraction of satellite galaxies. QGs shape a narrow locus in the $\Sigma_1-M_{\star}$ plane, which we refer to as $\Sigma_1$ ridgeline. Colors of ($B-I$) and ($I-J$) are used to divide QGs into three age categories: young ($<2~\mathrm{Gyr}$), intermediate ($2-4~\mathrm{Gyr}$), and old ($>4~\mathrm{Gyr}$). At fixed stellar mass, old QGs on the $\Sigma_1$ ridgeline have higher $\Sigma_1$ than young QGs. This shows that galaxies landing on the $\Sigma_1$ ridgeline at later epochs arrive with lower $\Sigma_1$, which drives the zeropoint of the ridgeline down with time. We compare the present-day zeropoint of the oldest population at $z=0$ with the zeropoint of the quiescent population 4 Gyr back in time, at $z=0.37$. These zeropoints are identical, showing that the intrinsic evolution of individual galaxies after they arrive on the $\Sigma_1$ ridgeline must be negligible, or must evolve parallel to the ridgeline during this interval. The observed evolution of the global zeropoint of 0.07 dex over the last 4 Gyr is thus largely due to the continuous addition of newly quenched galaxies with lower $\Sigma_1$ at later times ("progenitor bias"). While these results refer to the satellite-rich ZENS sample as a whole, our work suggests a similar age-$\Sigma_1$ trend for central galaxies.
We present a method for measuring the Sun's motion using the proper motions of Galactic halo star streams. The method relies on the fact that the motion of the stars perpendicular to a stream from a low-mass progenitor is close to zero when viewed from a non-rotating frame at rest with respect to the Galaxy, and that the deviation from zero is due to the reflex motion of the observer. The procedure we implement here has the advantage of being independent of the Galactic mass distribution. We run a suite of simulations to test the algorithm we have developed, and find that we can recover the input Solar motion to good accuracy with data of the quality that will soon become available from the ESA/Gaia mission.
We present long-baseline ALMA observations of the strong gravitational lens H-ATLAS J090740.0-004200 (SDP.9), which consists of an elliptical galaxy at $z_{\mathrm{L}}=0.6129$ lensing a background submillimeter galaxy into two extended arcs. The data include Band 6 continuum observations, as well as CO $J$=6$-$5 molecular line observations, from which we measure an updated source redshift of $z_{\mathrm{S}}=1.5747$. The image morphology in the ALMA data is different from that of the HST data, indicating a spatial offset between the stellar, gas, and dust component of the source galaxy. We model the lens as an elliptical power law density profile with external shear using a combination of archival HST data and conjugate points identified in the ALMA data. Our best model has an Einstein radius of $\theta_{\mathrm{E}}=0.66\pm0.01$ and a slightly steeper than isothermal mass profile slope. We search for the central image of the lens, which can be used constrain the inner mass distribution of the lens galaxy including the central supermassive black hole, but do not detect it in the integrated CO image at a 3$\sigma$ rms level of 0.0471 Jy km s$^{-1}$.
For lensed galaxy SGAS J111020.0+645950.8 at redshift z=2.481, which is magnified by a factor of 28 +- 8, we analyze the morphology of star formation as traced by rest-frame ultraviolet emission, in both the highly-magnified source plane, and in simulations of how this galaxy would appear without lensing magnification. Were this galaxy not lensed but drawn from an HST deep field, we would conclude that almost all its star formation arises from an exponential disk (S\'ersic index of 1.0 +- 0.4) with an effective radius of r_e = 2.7 +- 0.3 kpc measured from two-dimensional fitting to F606W using Galfit, and r_e=1.9 +- 0.1 kpc measured by fitting a radial profile to F606W elliptical isophotes. At the normal spatial resolution of the deep fields, there is no sign of clumpy star formation within SGAS J111020.0+645950.8 . However, the enhanced spatial resolution enabled by gravitational lensing tells a very different story: much of the star formation arises in two dozen clumps with sizes of r=30--50 pc spread across the 7 kpc length of the galaxy. The color and spatial distribution of the diffuse component suggests that still smaller clumps are unresolved. Despite this clumpy, messy morphology, the radial profile is still well-characterized by an exponential profile. In this lensed galaxy, stars are forming in complexes with sizes well below 100 pc; such sizes are wholly unexplored by surveys of galaxy evolution at 1<z<3.
We present measurements of the surface density of star formation, the star-forming clump luminosity function, and the clump size distribution function, for the lensed galaxy SGAS J111020.0+645950.8 at a redshift of z=2.481. The physical size scales that we probe, radii r=30--50 pc, are considerably smaller scales than have yet been studied at these redshifts. The star formation surface density we find within these small clumps is consistent with surface densities measured previously for other lensed galaxies at similar redshift. Twenty-two percent of the rest-frame ultraviolet light in this lensed galaxy arises from small clumps, with r<100 pc. Within the range of overlap, the clump luminosity function measured for this lensed galaxy is remarkably similar to those of z~0 galaxies. In this galaxy, star-forming regions smaller than 100 pc---physical scales not usually resolved at these redshifts by current telescopes---are important locations of star formation in the distant universe. If this galaxy is representative, this may contradict the theoretical picture in which the critical size scale for star formation in the distant universe is of order 1 kiloparsec. Instead, our results suggest that current telescopes have not yet resolved the critical size scales of star-forming activity in galaxies over most of cosmic time.
Using the combined resolving power of the Hubble Space Telescope and gravitational lensing, we resolve star-forming structures in a z~2.5 galaxy on scales much smaller than the usual kiloparsec diffraction limit of HST. SGAS J111020.0+645950.8 is a clumpy, star forming galaxy lensed by the galaxy cluster SDSS J1110+6459 at z = 0.659, with a total magnification ~30x across the entire arc. We use a hybrid parametric/non-parametric strong lensing mass model to compute the deflection and magnification of this giant arc, reconstruct the light distribution of the lensed galaxy in the source plane, and resolve the star formation into two dozen clumps. We develop a forward-modeling technique to model each clump in the source plane. We ray trace the model to the image plane, convolve with the instrumental point spread function (PSF), and compare with the GALFIT model of the clumps in the image plane, which decomposes clump structure from more extended emission. This technique has the advantage, over ray tracing, by accounting for the asymmetric lensing shear of the galaxy in the image plane and the instrument PSF. At this resolution, we can begin to study star formation on a clump-by-clump basis, toward the goal of understanding feedback mechanisms and the buildup of exponential disks at high redshift.
Magnetic fields are believed to play an important role in controlling the stability and contraction of dense condensations of gas and dust leading to the formation of stars and planetary systems. In the present study, the magnetic field of FeSt 1-457, a cold starless molecular cloud core, was mapped on the basis of the polarized near-infrared light from 185 background stars after being dichroically absorbed by dust aligned with the magnetic field in the core. A distinct "hourglass-shaped" magnetic field was identified in the region of the core, which was interpreted as the first evidence of a magnetic field structure distorted by mass condensation in a starless core. The steep curvature of the magnetic field lines obtained in the present study indicates that the distortion was mainly created during the formation phase of the dense core. The derived mass-to-magnetic flux ratio indicates that the core is in a magnetically supercritical state. However, the stability of the core can be considered to be in a nearly critical state if the additional contributions from the thermal and turbulent support are included. Further diffusion of the magnetic field and/or turbulent dissipation would cause the onset of dynamical collapse of the core. The geometrical relationship between the direction of the magnetic field lines and the elongation of the core was found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions for the formation of Sun-like stars under the influence of a magnetic field.
The detailed distribution and kinematics of the atomic and the CO-bright molecular hydrogen in the disc of the Milky Way inside the Solar circle are derived under the assumptions of axisymmetry and pure circular motions. We divide the Galactic disc into a series of rings, and assume that the gas in each ring is described by four parameters: its rotation velocity, velocity dispersion, midplane density and its scale height. We fit these parameters to the Galactic HI and CO (J=1-0) data by producing artificial HI and CO line-profiles and comparing them with the observations. Our approach allows us to fit all parameters to the data simultaneously without assuming a-priori a radial profile for one of the parameters. We present the distribution and kinematics of the HI and H2 in both the approaching (QIV) and the receding (QI) regions of the Galaxy. Our best-fit models reproduces remarkably well the observed HI and CO longitude-velocity diagrams up to a few degrees of distance from the midplane. With the exception of the innermost 2.5 kpc, QI and QIV show very similar kinematics. The rotation curves traced by the HI and H2 follow closely each other, flattening beyond R=6.5 kpc. Both the HI and the H2 surface densities show a) a deep depression at 0.5<R<2.5 kpc, analogous to that shown by some nearby barred galaxies, b) local overdensities that can be interpreted in terms of spiral arms or ring-like features in the disk. The HI (H2) properties are fairly constant in the region outside the depression, with typical velocity dispersion of 8.9+/-1.1 (4.4+/-1.2) km/s, density of 0.43+/-0.11 (0.42+/-0.22) cm-3 and HWHM scale height of 202+/-28 (64+/-12) pc. We also show that the HI opacity in the LAB data can be accounted for by using an `effective' spin temperature of about 150 K: assuming an optically thin regime leads to underestimate the HI mass by about 30%.
We quantify the structure of a very large number of Galactic open clusters and look for evidence of mass segregation for the most massive stars in the clusters. We characterise the structure and mass segregation ratios of 1242 clusters in the Milky Way Stellar Cluster (MWSC) catalogue containing each at least 40 stars and that are located at a distance of up to $\approx 2$ kpc from the Sun. We use an approach based on the calculation of the minimum spanning tree of the clusters, and for each one of them, we calculate the structure parameter \Q\ and the mass segregation ratio $\Lambda_{\rm MSR}$. Our findings indicate that most clusters possess a \Q\ parameter that falls in the range 0.7-0.8 and are thus neither strongly concentrated nor do they show significant substructure. Only 27\% can be considered centrally concentrated with \Q\ values $> 0.8$. Of the 1242 clusters, only 14\% show indication of significant mass segregation ($\Lambda_{\rm MSR} > 1.5$). Furthermore, no correlation is found between the structure of the clusters or the degree of mass segregation with their position in the Galaxy. A comparison of the measured \Q\ values for the young open clusters in the MWSC to N-body numerical simulations that follow the evolution of the \Q\ parameter over the first 10 Myrs of the clusters life suggests that the young clusters found in the MWSC catalogue initially possessed local mean volume densities of $\rho_{*} \approx 10-100$ M$_{\odot}$ pc$^{-3}$.
The study of galaxy morphology is fundamental to understand the physical processes driving the structural evolution of galaxies. It has long been known that dense environments host high fractions of early-type galaxies and low fractions of late-type galaxies, indicating that the environment affects the structural evolution of galaxies. In this paper we present an analysis of the morphological composition of red sequence galaxies in a sample of 9 galaxy clusters at $0.8<z<1.5$ drawn from the HAWK-I cluster survey (HCS), with the aim of investigating the evolutionary paths of galaxies with different morphologies. We classify galaxies according to their apparent bulge-to-total light ratio and compare with red sequence galaxies from the lower-redshift WINGS and EDisCS surveys. We find that, while the HCS red sequence is dominated by elliptical galaxies at all luminosities and stellar masses, the WINGS red sequence is dominated by elliptical galaxies only at its bright end ($M_V<-21.0$ mag), while S0s become the most frequent class at fainter luminosities. Disc-dominated galaxies comprise 10-14\% of the red sequence population in the low (WINGS) and high (HCS) redshift samples, although their fraction increases up to 40\% at $0.4 < z < 0.8$ (EDisCS). We find a 20\% increase in the fraction of S0 galaxies from $z \sim 1.5$ to $z \sim 0.05$ on the red sequence. These results suggest that elliptical and S0 galaxies follow different evolutionary histories and, in particular, that S0 galaxies result, at least at intermediate luminosities ($-22.0 < M_V < -20.0$), from the morphological transformation of quiescent spiral galaxies.
We further study the unusual trend we found at statistically significant levels in some globular clusters, including NGC 3201: a decreasing iron abundance in red giants towards the cluster centers. We first show that recently published new estimates of iron abundance in the cluster reproduce this trend, in spite of the authors' statement about no metallicity spread due to a low scatter achieved in the [FeII/H] ratio. The mean of [FeII/H] within $R \sim 2'$ from the cluster center is lower, by $\Delta$[FeII/H] = 0.05$\pm$0.02 dex, than in the outer region, in agreement with our original estimate for a much larger sample size within $R \approx 9'$. We found that an older dataset traces the trend to a much larger radial distance, comparable with the cluster tidal radius, at $\Delta$[Fe/H]$\sim$0.2 dex due to higher metallicity of distant stars. We conclude the trend is reproduced by independent datasets and find that it is accompanied with both a notable same-sign trend of oxygen abundance which can vary by up to $\Delta$[O/Fe]$\sim$0.3 dex within $R \approx 9'$, and opposite-sign trend of sodium abundance.
We have conducted a mapping spectral line survey toward the Galactic giant molecular cloud W51 in the 3 mm band with the Mopra 22 m telescope in order to study an averaged chemical composition of the gas extended over a molecular cloud scale in our Galaxy. We have observed the area of $25' \times 30'$, which corresponds to 39 pc $\times$ 47 pc. The frequency ranges of the observation are 85.1 - 101.1 GHz and 107.0 - 114.9 GHz. In the spectrum spatially averaged over the observed area, spectral lines of 12 molecular species and 4 additional isotopologues are identified. An intensity pattern of the spatially-averaged spectrum is found to be similar to that of the spiral arm in the external galaxy M51, indicating that these two sources have similar chemical compositions. The observed area has been classified into 5 sub-regions according to the integrated intensity of $^{13}$CO($J=1-0$) ($I_{\rm ^{13}CO}$), and contributions of the fluxes of 11 molecular lines from each sub-region to the averaged spectrum have been evaluated. For most of molecular species, 50 % or more of the flux come from the sub-regions with $I_{\rm ^{13}CO}$ from 25 K km s$^{-1}$ to 100 K km s$^{-1}$, which does not involve active star forming regions. Therefore, the molecular-cloud-scale spectrum observed in the 3 mm band hardly represents the chemical composition of star forming cores, but mainly represents the chemical composition of an extended quiescent molecular gas. The present result constitutes a sound base for interpreting the spectra of external galaxies at a resolution of a molecular cloud scale ($\sim10$ pc) or larger.
Low-mass population III (PopIII) stars of $\lesssim 0.8 M_{\odot}$ could survive up until the present. Non-detection of low-mass PopIII stars in our Galaxy has already put a stringent constraint on the initial mass function (IMF) of PopIII stars, suggesting that PopIII stars have a top-heavy IMF. On the other hand, some claims that the lack of such stars stems from metal enrichment of their surface by accretion of heavy elements from interstellar medium (ISM). We investigate effects of the stellar wind on the metal accretion onto low-mass PopIII stars because accretion of the local ISM onto the Sun is prevented by the solar wind even for neutrals. The stellar wind and radiation of low-mass PopIII stars are modeled based on knowledge of nearby low-mass stellar systems including our Sun. We find that low-mass PopIII stars traveling across the Galaxy forms the stellar magnetosphere in most of their life. Once the magnetosphere is formed, most of neutral interstellar particles are photoionized before reaching to the stellar surface and are blown away by the wind. Especially, the accretion abundance of iron will be reduced by a factor of $< 10^{-12}$ compared with Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion. The metal accretion can enhance iron abundance [Fe/H] only up to $\sim -14$. This demonstrates that low-mass PopIII stars remain pristine and will be found as metal free stars and that further searches for them are valuable to constrain the IMF of PopIII stars.
STUDIES is a three-year JCMT Large Program aiming at reaching the confusion limit and a noise of < 0.6 mJy at 450 um in the COSMOS-CANDELS region. The goal is to study a representative sample of the high-z far-IR galaxy population that give rise to the bulk of the far-IR background. We present the first-year data from STUDIES. We have reached a 450 um noise level of 0.91 mJy for point sources at the map center, covered an area of 151 arcmin^2, and detected 98 and 141 sources at 4.0 and 3.5 sigma, respectively. We simulated the 450 um image in order to derive the intrinsic source counts. Our counts are best constrained in the 3.5--25 mJy regime using directly detected sources. In this flux density range, counts derived from various surveys are consistent with each other, and show a small field-to-field variation of < 20%. This suggests that the clustering in the 450 um population is weaker than that of the 850 um population, likely a consequence of the weaker K-correction at 450 um. Below the detection limits, our fluctuation analysis further constrains the slope of the counts down to 1 mJy, and the inferred counts are consistent with previous lensing-cluster surveys. Between 1 and 25 mJy, our counts are consistent with a single power law having a slope of -2.59. There is no evidence of a faint-end termination or turn-over of the counts in this flux density range. The integrated surface brightness from our counts down to 1 mJy is 90.0 Jy deg^-2, which can account for up to 83% of the 450 um background measured by COBE, or at least 48% of that measured by Planck. We also show that Herschel 350/500 um counts are significantly higher than our 450 um counts, likely caused by its large beam and source clustering. High-angular resolution instruments like SCUBA-2 at 450 um are therefore highly beneficial for measuring the luminosity and spatial density of high-redshift dusty galaxies.
Magnetic field plays important roles in many astrophysical processes. However, there is no universal magnetic diagnostic for distant interstellar medium (ISM) and each of them has its limitation. Any new detection method is thus valuable. Theoretical studies have shown that submillimeter fine structure lines are polarized due to atomic alignment, which opens up a new avenue to probe interstellar magnetic field. We will, for the first time, present detailed polarization map of submillimeter atomic lines induced in synthetic three-Dimensional ISM. The maximum polarization for different absorption and emission lines expected from various sources, including Star-Forming Regions (SFRs) are provided. Our results demonstrate that the polarization of submillimeter atomic lines is a powerful magnetic tracer with promising measurability and add great value to observational studies of submilimeter lines.
We present a pilot study of ~ 3" resolution observations of low CO transitions with the Submillimeter Array in three nearby Seyfert galaxies, which are part of the low-luminosity quasi-stellar object (LLQSOs) sample consisting of 99 nearby (z = 0.06) type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGN) taken from the Hamburg/ESO quasi-stellar object (QSO) survey. Two sources were observed in 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) and the third in 12CO(3-2) and HCO+(4-3). None of the sources is detected in continuum emission. More than 80% of the 12CO detected molecular gas is concentrated within a diameter (FWHM) < 1.8 kpc. 13CO is tentatively detected, while HCO+ emission could not be detected. All three objects show indications of a kinematically decoupled central unresolved molecular gas component. The molecular gas masses of the three galaxies are in the range M_mol = (0.7 - 8.7) x 10^9 M_sun. We give lower limits for the dynamical masses of M_dyn > 1.5 x 10^9 M_sun and for the dust masses of M_dust > 1.6 x 10^6 M_sun. The R21 =12CO/13CO(2-1) line luminosity ratios show Galactic values of R21 ~ 5 - 7 in the outskirts and R21 > 20 in the central region, similar to starbursts and (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies ((U)LIRGs; i.e. LIRGs and ULIRGs), implying higher temperatures and stronger turbulence. All three sources show indications of 12CO(2-1)/12CO(1-0) ratios of ~ 0.5, suggesting a cold or diffuse gas phase. Strikingly, the 12CO(3-2)/(1-0) ratio of ~ 1 also indicates a higher excited phase. Since these galaxies have high infrared luminosities of L_IR > 10^11 L_sun and seem to contain a circumnuclear starburst with minimum surface densities of gas and star formation rate (SFR) around {\Sigma}_mol = 50 - 550 M_sun pc^-2 and {\Sigma}_SFR = 1.1 - 3.1 M_sun kpc^-2 yr^-1, we conclude that the interstellar medium in the centers of these LIRG Seyferts is strongly affected by violent star formation and better ...
We present a new technique to infer dust locations towards reddened Type Ia supernovae and to help discriminate between an interstellar and a circumstellar origin for the observed extinction. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the time-evolution of the light-curve shape and especially of the colour excess $E(B-V)$ places strong constraints on the distance between dust and the supernova. We apply our approach to two highly-reddened Type Ia supernovae for which dust distance estimates are available in the literature: SN 2006X and SN 2014J. For the former, we obtain a time-variable $E(B-V)$ and from this derive a distance of $34.4^{+9.9}_{-8.0}$ or $21.4^{+5.2}_{-3.1}$ pc depending on whether dust properties typical of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) or the Milky Way (MW) are used. For the latter, instead, we obtain a constant $E(B-V)$ consistent with dust at distances larger than $\sim$ 46 and 31 pc for LMC$-$ and MW$-$type dust, respectively. Values thus extracted are in excellent agreement with previous estimates for the two supernovae. Our findings suggest that dust responsible for the extinction towards these supernovae is likely to be located within interstellar clouds. We also discuss how other properties of reddened Type Ia supernovae $-$ such as their peculiar extinction and polarization behaviour and the detection of variable, blue-shifted sodium features in some of these events $-$ might be compatible with dust and gas at interstellar-scale distances.
The study of stellar-remnant black holes (BH) in dense stellar clusters is now under the spotlight, especially due to their intrinsic ability to form binary black holes (BBH) through dynamical encounters, that potentially coalesce via gravitational-wave (GW) radiation. In this work, which is a continuation of the study by Banerjee, S., 2017, MNRAS, 467, 524 (paper I), additional models of compact stellar clusters with initial masses $\lesssim10^5 M_\odot$ and also those with small fractions of primordial binaries ($\lesssim10$%) are evolved, applying the direct N-body approach, for long term, assuming the same, state-of-the-art stellar-wind and remnant-formation prescriptions as in Paper I. That way, a substantially broader range of computed models than that in Paper I is achieved. As in Paper I, the general-relativistic BBH mergers, in the newer models, continue to be mostly mediated by triples that are bound to the clusters, rather than happen among the ejected BBHs. In fact, the number of such in situ BBH mergers, per cluster, tend to increase significantly with the introduction of a small population of primordial binaries. Despite the presence of massive primordial binaries, the merging BBHs, especially the in situ ones, are found to be exclusively dynamically assembled and hence would be spin-orbit misaligned as indicated in the GW170104 LIGO event. The BBHs typically traverse through both the LISA's and the LIGO's detection bands, being audible to both instruments. The "dynamical heating" of the BHs keeps the neutron stars (NS) from effectively mass segregating and participating in exchange interactions; the dynamically-active BHs would also exchange into any NS binary within $\lesssim1$ Gyr. Such young massive and open clusters have the potential to contribute to the dynamical BBH merger detection rate to a similar extent as their more massive globular-cluster counterparts.
The more we go deep into the knowledge of the dark component which embeds the stellar component of galaxies, the more we realize the profound interconnection between them. We show that the scaling laws among the structural properties of the dark and luminous matter in galaxies are too complex to derive from two inert components that just share the same gravitational field. In this paper we review the 30 years old paradigm of collisionless dark matter in galaxies. We found that their dynamical properties show strong indications that the dark and luminous components have interacted in a more direct way over a Hubble Time. The proofs for this are the presence of central cored regions with constant DM density in which their size is related with the disk lenghtscales. Moreover we find that the quantity $\rho_{DM}(r,L,R_D) \rho_\star (r,L,R_D)$ shows, in all objects, peculiarities very hardly explained in a collisionless DM scenario.
Intrinsic alignments (IA) of galaxies have been recognized as one of the most serious contaminants to weak lensing. These systematics need to be isolated and mitigated in order for ongoing and future lensing surveys to reach their full potential. The IA self-calibration (SC) method was shown in previous studies to be able to reduce the GI contamination by up to a factor of 10 for the 2-point and 3-point correlations. The SC method does not require to assume an IA model in its working and can extract the GI signal from the same photo-z survey offering the possibility to test and understand structure formation scenarios and their relationship to IA models. In this paper, we study the effects of the IA SC mitigation method on the precision and accuracy of cosmological parameter constraints from future cosmic shear surveys LSST, WFIRST and Euclid. We perform analytical and numerical calculations to estimate the loss of precision and the residual bias in the best fit cosmological parameters after the self-calibration is performed. We take into account uncertainties from photometric redshifts and the galaxy bias. We find that the confidence contours are slightly inflated from applying the SC method itself while a significant increase is due to the inclusion of the photo-z uncertainties. The bias of cosmological parameters is reduced from several-$\sigma$, when IA is not corrected for, to below 1-$\sigma$ after SC is applied. These numbers are comparable to those resulting from applying the method of marginalizing over IA model parameters despite the fact that the two methods operate very differently. We conclude that implementing the SC for these future cosmic-shear surveys will not only allow one to efficiently mitigate the GI contaminant but also help to understand their modeling and link to structure formation.
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Accurate measurements of galaxy masses and sizes are key to tracing galaxy evolution over time. Cosmological zoom-in simulations provide an ideal test bed for assessing the recovery of galaxy properties from observations. Here we utilize galaxies with $M_*\sim10^{10}-10^{11.5}M_{\odot}$ at z~1.7-2 from the MassiveFIRE cosmological simulation suite, part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. Using mock multi-band images, we compare intrinsic galaxy masses and sizes to observational estimates. We find that observations accurately recover stellar masses, with a slight average underestimate of ~0.06 dex and a ~0.15 dex scatter. Recovered half-light radii agree well with intrinsic half-mass radii when averaged over all viewing angles, with a systematic offset of ~0.1 dex (with the half-light radii being larger) and a scatter of ~0.2 dex. When using color gradients to account for mass-to-light variations, recovered half-mass radii also exceed the intrinsic half-mass radii by ~0.1 dex. However, if not properly accounted for, aperture effects can bias size estimates by ~0.1 dex. No differences are found between the mass and size offsets for star-forming and quiescent galaxies. Variations in viewing angle are responsible for ~25% of the scatter in the recovered masses and sizes. Our results thus suggest that the intrinsic scatter in the mass-size relation may have previously been overestimated by ~25%. Moreover, orientation-driven scatter causes the number density of very massive galaxies to be overestimated by ~0.5 dex at $M_*\sim10^{11.5}M_{\odot}$.
We present a relationship between the black hole mass, stellar mass, and star formation rate of a diverse group of 91 galaxies with dynamically-measured black hole masses. For our sample of galaxies with a variety of morphologies and other galactic properties, we find that the specific star formation rate is a smoothly decreasing function of the ratio between black hole mass and stellar mass, or what we call the specific black hole mass. In order to explain this relation, we propose a physical framework where the gradual suppression of a galaxy's star formation activity results from the adjustment to an increase in specific black hole mass and, accordingly, an increase in the amount of heating. From this framework, it follows that at least some galaxies with intermediate specific black hole masses are in a steady state of partial quiescence with intermediate specific star formation rates, implying that both transitioning and steady-state galaxies live within this region known as the "green valley." With respect to galaxy formation models, our results present an important diagnostic with which to test various prescriptions of black hole feedback and its effects on star formation activity.
In the first paper we presented 27 hydrodynamical cosmological simulations of galaxies with total masses between $5 \times 10^8$ and $10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$. In this second paper we use a subset of these cosmological simulations as initial conditions (ICs) for more than forty hydrodynamical simulations of satellite and host galaxy interaction. Our cosmological ICs seem to suggest that galaxies on these mass scales have very little rotational support and are velocity dispersion ($\sigma$) dominated. Accretion and environmental effects increase the scatter in the galaxy scaling relations (e.g. size - velocity dispersion) in very good agreement with observations. Star formation is substantially quenched after accretion. Mass removal due to tidal forces has several effects: it creates a very flat stellar velocity dispersion profiles, and it reduces the dark matter content at all scales (even in the centre), which in turn lowers the stellar velocity on scales around 0.5 kpc even when the galaxy does not lose stellar mass. Satellites that start with a cored dark matter profile are more prone to either be destroyed or to end up in a very dark matter poor galaxy. Finally, we found that tidal effects always increase the "cuspyness" of the dark matter profile, even for haloes that infall with a core.
The satellites of the Milky Way and Andromeda represent the smallest galaxies we can observe in our Universe. In this series of papers we aim to shed light on their formation and evolution using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. In this first paper we focus on the galaxy properties before accretion, by simulating twenty seven haloes with masses between $5\times 10^8$ and $10^{10} M_\odot$. Out of this set nineteen haloes successfully form stars, while eight remain dark. The simulated galaxies match quite well present day observed scaling relations between stellar mass, size and metallicity, showing that such relations are in place before accretion. Our galaxies show a large variety of star formation histories, from extended star formation periods to single bursts. As in more massive galaxies, large star formation bursts are connected with major mergers events, which greatly contribute to the overall stellar mass build up. The intrinsic stochasticity of mergers induces a large scatter in the stellar mass halo mass relation, up to two orders of magnitude. Despite the bursty star formation history, on these mass scales baryons are very ineffective in modifying the dark matter profiles, and galaxies with a stellar mass below $\approx 10^6 M_\odot$ retain their cuspy central dark matter distribution, very similar to results from pure N-body simulations.
We use zoom hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the properties of satellites within galaxy-sized dark-matter haloes with different assembly histories. We consider two classes of haloes at redshift $z=0$: `stalled' haloes that assembled at $z>1$ and `accreting' ones that are still forming nowadays. Previously, we showed that the stalled haloes are embedded within thick filaments of the cosmic web while the accreting ones lie where multiple thin filaments converge. We find that satellites in the two classes have both similar and different properties. Their mass spectra, radial count profiles, baryonic and stellar content, and the amount of material they shed are indistinguishable. However, the mass fraction locked in satellites is substantially larger for the accreting haloes as they experience more mergers at late times. The largest difference is found in the satellite kinematics. Substructures fall towards the accreting haloes along quasi-radial trajectories whereas an important tangential velocity component is developed, before accretion, while orbiting the filament that surrounds the stalled haloes. Thus, the velocity anisotropy parameter of the satellites ($\beta$) is positive for the accreting haloes and negative for the stalled ones. This signature enables us to tentatively categorize the Milky Way halo as stalled based on a recent measurement of $\beta$. Half of our haloes contain clusters of satellites with aligned orbital angular momenta corresponding to flattened structures in space. These features are not driven by baryonic physics and are only found in haloes hosting grand-design spiral galaxies, independently of their assembly history.
We present a clustering analysis of a sample of 238 Ly{$\alpha$}-emitters at redshift 3<z<6 from the MUSE-Wide survey. This survey mosaics extragalactic legacy fields with 1h MUSE pointings to detect statistically relevant samples of emission line galaxies. We analysed the first year observations from MUSE-Wide making use of the clustering signal in the line-of-sight direction. This method relies on comparing pair-counts at close redshifts for a fixed transverse distance and thus exploits the full potential of the redshift range covered by our sample. A clear clustering signal with a correlation length of r0 = 2.9(+1.0/-1.1) Mpc (comoving) is detected. Whilst this result is based on only about a quarter of the full survey size, it already shows the immense potential of MUSE for efficiently observing and studying the clustering of Ly{$\alpha$}-emitters.
Early-type dwarf galaxies are not simply featureless, old objects, but were found to be much more diverse, hosting substructures and a variety of stellar population properties. To explore the stellar content of faint early-type galaxies, and to investigate in particular those with recent central star formation, we study colours and colour gradients within one effective radius in optical (g-r) and near-infrared (i-H) bands for 120 Virgo cluster early types with -19 mag < $M_{r}$ < -16 mag. Twelve galaxies turn out to have blue cores, when defined as g-r colour gradients larger than 0.10 mag/$R_{\rm eff}$, which represents the positive tail of the gradient distribution. For these galaxies, we find that they have the strongest age gradients, and that even outside the blue core, their mean stellar population is younger than the mean of ordinary faint early types. The metallicity gradients of these blue-cored early-type dwarf galaxies are, however, in the range of most normal faint early types, which we find to have non-zero gradients with higher central metallicity. The blue central regions are consistent with star formation activity within the last few 100 Myr. We discuss that these galaxies could be explained by environmental quenching of star formation in the outer galaxy regions, while the inner star formation activity has continued.
We present a detailed description of the wavelength, astrometric and photometric calibration plan for SITELLE, the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer attached to the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, based on observations of a red (647 - 685 nm) data cube of the central region (11$' \times 11'$) of the Andromeda galaxy. The first application, presented in this paper, is a radial-velocity catalogue (with uncertainties of $\sim 2 - 6$ km/s) of nearly 800 emission-line point-like sources, including $\sim$ 450 new discoveries. Most of the sources are likely planetary nebulae, although we also detect five novae (having erupted in the first 8 months of 2016) and one new supernova remnant candidate.
The interstellar delivery of carbon atoms locked into molecules might be one of the key ingredients for the emergence of life. Cyanopolyynes are carbon chains delimited at their two extremities by an atom of hydrogen and a cyano group, so that they might be excellent reservoirs of carbon. The simplest member, HC3N, is ubiquitous in the galactic interstellar medium and found also in external galaxies. Thus, understanding the growth of cyanopolyynes in regions forming stars similar to our Sun, and what affects it, is particularly relevant. In the framework of the IRAM/NOEMA Large Program SOLIS (Seeds Of Life In Space), we have obtained a map of two cyanopolyynes, HC3N and HC5N, in the protocluster OMC2-FIR4. Because our Sun is thought to be born in a rich cluster, OMC2-FIR4 is one of the closest and best known representatives of the environment in which the Sun may have been born. We find a HC3N/HC5N abundance ratio across the source in the range ~ 1 - 30, with the smallest values (< 10) in FIR5 and in the Eastern region of FIR4. The ratios < 10 can be reproduced by chemical models only if: (1) the cosmic-ray ionisation rate $\zeta$ is ~ $4 \times 10^{-14}$ s$^{-1}$; (2) the gaseous elemental ratio C/O is close to unity; (3) O and C are largely depleted. The large $\zeta$ is comparable to that measured in FIR4 by previous works and was interpreted as due to a flux of energetic (> 10 MeV) particles from embedded sources. We suggest that these sources could lie East of FIR4 and FIR5. A temperature gradient across FIR4, with T decreasing by about 10 K, could also explain the observed change in the HC3N/HC5N line ratio, without the need of a cosmic ray ionisation rate gradient. However, even in this case, a high constant cosmic-ray ionisation rate (of the order of $10^{-14}$ s$^{-1}$) is necessary to reproduce the observations.
RadioAstron is a 10 m orbiting radio telescope mounted on the Spektr-R satellite, launched in 2011, performing Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (SVLBI) observations supported by a global ground array of radio telescopes. With an apogee of about 350 000 km, it is offering for the first time the possibility to perform {\mu}as-resolution imaging in the cm-band. We present observations at 22 GHz of 3C 273, performed in 2014, designed to reach a maximum baseline of approximately nine Earth diameters. Reaching an angular resolution of 0.3 mas, we study a particularly low-activity state of the source, and estimate the nuclear region brightness temperature, comparing with the extreme one detected one year before during the RadioAstron early science period. We also make use of the VLBA-BU-BLAZAR survey data, at 43 GHz, to study the kinematics of the jet in a 1.5-year time window. We find that the nuclear brightness temperature is two orders of magnitude lower than the exceptionally high value detected in 2013 with RadioAstron at the same frequency (1.4x10^13 K, source-frame), and even one order of magnitude lower than the equipartition value. The kinematics analysis at 43 GHz shows that a new component was ejected 2 months after the 2013 epoch, visible also in our 22 GHz map presented here. Consequently this was located upstream of the core during the brightness temperature peak. These observations confirm that the previously detected extreme brightness temperature in 3C 273, exceeding the inverse Compton limit, is a short-lived phenomenon caused by a temporary departure from equipartition. Thus, the availability of interferometric baselines capable of providing {\mu}as angular resolution does not systematically imply measured brightness temperatures over the known physical limits for astrophysical sources.
Studying large-scale environments of narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies gives a new perspective on their properties, particularly their radio loudness. The large-scale environment is believed to have an impact on the evolution and intrinsic properties of galaxies, however, NLS1 sources have not been studied in this context before. We have a large and diverse sample of 1341 NLS1 galaxies and three separate environment data sets constructed using Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We use various statistical methods to investigate how the properties of NLS1 galaxies are connected to the large-scale environment, and compare the large-scale environments of NLS1 galaxies with other active galacic nuclei (AGN) classes, for example, other jetted AGN and broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies, to study how they are related. NLS1 galaxies reside in less dense environments than any of the comparison samples, thus confirming their young age. The average large-scale environment density and environmental distribution of NLS1 sources is clearly different compared to BLS1 galaxies, thus it is improbable that they could be the parent population of NLS1 galaxies and unified by orientation. Within the NLS1 class there is a trend of increasing radio loudness with increasing large-scale environment density, indicating that the large-scale environment affects their intrinsic properties. Our results suggest that the NLS1 class of sources is not homogeneous, and furthermore, a considerable fraction of them are misclassified. We further support the Padovani's proposal to replace the traditional classification to radio-loud, and radio-quiet or radio-silent sources with a division to jetted and non-jetted sources.
Radiative feedback from stars and galaxies has been proposed as a potential solution to many of the tensions with simplistic galaxy formation models based on $\Lambda$CDM, such as the faint end of the UV luminosity function. The total energy budget of radiation could exceed that of galactic winds and supernovae combined, which has driven the development of sophisticated algorithms that evolve both the radiation field and the hydrodynamical response of gas simultaneously, in a cosmological context. We probe self-feedback on galactic scales using the adaptive mesh refinement, radiative transfer, hydrodynamics, and $N$-body code. Unlike previous studies which assume a homogeneous UV background, we self-consistently evolve both the radiation field and gas to constrain the halo baryon fraction during cosmic reionization. We demonstrate that the characteristic halo mass with mean baryon fraction half the cosmic mean, $M_{\mathrm{c}}(z)$, shows very little variation as a function of mass-weighted ionization fraction. Furthermore, we find that the inclusion of metal cooling and the ability to resolve scales small enough for self-shielding to become efficient leads to a significant drop in $M_{\mathrm{c}}$ when compared to recent studies. Finally, we develop an Artificial Neural Network that is capable of predicting the baryon fraction of haloes based on recent tidal interactions, gas temperature, and mass-weighted ionization fraction. Such a model can be applied to any reionization history, and trivially incorporated into semi-analytical models of galaxy formation.
We selected a sample of 76 Lya emitting galaxies from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) at 2<z<4. We estimated the velocity of the neutral gas flowing out of the interstellar medium as the velocity offset, Deltav, between the systemic redshift (zsys) and the center of low-ionization absorption line systems (LIS). To increase the SN of VUDS spectra, we stacked subsamples. We measured the systemic redshift from the rest-frame UV spectroscopic data using the CIII]1908 nebular emission line, and we considered SiII1526 as the highest signal-to-noise LIS line. We calculated the Lya peak shift with respect to the zsys, the EW(Lya), and the Lya spatial extension, Ext(Lya-C), from the profiles in the 2D stacked spectra. The galaxies that are faint in the rest-frame UV continuum, strong in Lya and CIII], with compact UV morphology, and localized in an underdense environment are characterized by outflow velocities of the order of a few hundreds of km/sec. The subsamples with smaller Deltav are characterized by larger Lya peak shifts, larger Ext(Lya-C), and smaller EW(Lya). In general we find that EW(Lya) anti-correlates with Ext(Lya-C) and Lya peak shift. We interpret these trends using a radiative-transfer shell model. The model predicts that an HI gas with a column density larger than 10^20/cm^2 is able to produce Lya peak shifts larger than >300km/sec. An ISM with this value of NHI would favour a large amount of scattering events, especially when the medium is static, so it can explain large values of Ext(Lya-C) and small EW(Lya). On the contrary, an ISM with a lower NHI, but large velocity outflows would lead to a Lya spatial profile peaked at the galaxy center (i.e. low values of Ext(Lya-C)) and to a large EW(Lya), as we see in our data. Our results and their interpretation via radiative-transfer models tell us that it is possible to use Lya to study the properties of the HI gas.
We explore the energetics of the titular reaction, which current astrochemical databases consider open at typical dense molecular (i.e., dark) cloud conditions. As is common for reactions involving the transfer of light particles, we assume that there are no intersystem crossings of the potential energy surfaces involved. In the absence of any such crossings, we find that this reaction is endoergic and will be suppressed at dark cloud temperatures. Updating accordingly a generic astrochemical model for dark clouds changes the predicted gas-phase abundances of 224 species by greater than a factor of 2. Of these species, 43 have been observed in the interstellar medium. Our findings demonstrate the astrochemical importance of determining the role of intersystem crossings, if any, in the titular reaction.
Misalignments between the orbital planes of planets and the equatorial planes of their host stars have been observed in our solar system, in transiting exoplanets, and in the orbital planes of debris discs. We present a mechanism that causes such a spin-orbit misalignment for a protoplanetary disc due to its movement through an ambient medium. Our physical explanation of the mechanism is based on the theoretical solutions to the Stark problem. We test this idea by performing self-consistent hydrodynamical simulations and simplified gravitational $N$-body simulations. The $N$-body model reduces the mechanism to the relevant physical processes. The hydrodynamical simulations show the mechanism in its full extent, including gas-dynamical and viscous processes in the disc which are not included in the theoretical framework. We find that a protoplanetary disc embedded in a flow changes its orientation as its angular momentum vector tends to align parallel to the relative velocity vector. Due to the force exerted by the flow, orbits in the disc become eccentric, which produces a net torque and consequentially changes the orbital inclination. The tilting of the disc causes it to contract. Apart from becoming lopsided, the gaseous disc also forms a spiral arm even if the inclination does not change substantially. The process is most effective at high velocities and observational signatures are therefore mostly expected in massive star-forming regions and around winds or supernova ejecta. Our $N$-body model indicates that the interaction with supernova ejecta is a viable explanation for the observed spin-orbit misalignment in our solar system.
We present results from high resolution optical spectra toward 66 young stars in the Orion B molecular cloud to study their kinematics and other properties. Observations of the H$\alpha$ and Li I 6707 {\AA} lines are used to check membership and accretion properties. While the stellar radial velocities of in NGC 2068 and L1622 show good agreement with that of the molecular gas, many of the stars in NGC 2024 show a considerable offset. This could be a signature of either expansion of the cluster, high degree of the ejection of the stars from the cluster through the dynamical interaction, or the acceleration of the gas due to stellar feedback.
We present experimental constraints on the insertion of oxygen atoms into methane to form methanol in astrophysical ice analogs. In gas-phase and theoretical studies this process has previously been demonstrated to have a very low or non-existent energy barrier, but the energetics and mechanisms have not yet been characterized in the solid state. We use a deuterium UV lamp filtered by a sapphire window to selectively dissociate O2 within a mixture of O2:CH4 and observe efficient production of CH3OH via O(1D) insertion. CH3OH growth curves are fit with a kinetic model, and we observe no temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant at temperatures below the oxygen desorption temperature of 25K. Through an analysis of side products we determine the branching ratio of ice-phase oxygen insertion into CH4: ~65% of insertions lead to CH3OH with the remainder leading instead to H2CO formation. There is no evidence for CH3 or OH radical formation, indicating that the fragmentation is not an important channel and that insertions typically lead to increased chemical complexity. CH3OH formation from O2 and CH4 diluted in a CO-dominated ice similarly shows no temperature dependence, consistent with expectations that insertion proceeds with a small or non-existent barrier. Oxygen insertion chemistry in ices should therefore be efficient under low-temperature ISM-like conditions, and could provide an important channel to complex organic molecule formation on grain surfaces in cold interstellar regions such as cloud cores and protoplanetary disk midplanes.
We report the detection of the 1.3 mm continuum and the molecular emission of the disks of the young triple system SR24 by analyzing ALMA (The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimter Array) subarcsecond archival observations. We estimate the mass of the disks (0.025 solar masses and 4E-5 earth masses for SR24S and SR24N, respectively) and the dynamical mass of the protostars (1.5 and 1.1 solar masses). A kinematic model of the SR24S disk to fit its C18O (2-1) emission allows us to develop an observational method to learn what is the tilt of a rotating and accreting disk. We derive the size, the inclination, the position angle and the sense of rotation of each disk, finding that they are strongly misaligned (108 degrees) and possibly rotate in opposite directions as seen from Earth, in projection. We compare the ALMA observations with 12CO SMA archival observations, which are more sensitive to extended structures. We find three extended structures and estimate their masses: a molecular bridge joining the disks of the system, a molecular gas reservoir associated with SR24N and a gas streamer associated with SR24S. Finally we discuss on the possible origin of the misaligned SR24 system, pointing out that a closer inspection of the northern gas reservoir is needed to better understand it.
Stellar clusters are important for astrophysics in many ways, for instance as optimal tracers of the Galactic populations to which they belong or as one of the best test bench for stellar evolutionary models. Gaia DR1, with TGAS, is just skimming the wealth of exquisite information we are expecting from the more advanced catalogues, but already offers good opportunities and indicates the vast potentialities. Gaia results can be efficiently complemented by ground-based data, in particular by large spectroscopic and photometric surveys. Examples of some scientific results of the Gaia-ESO survey are presented, as a teaser for what will be possible once advanced Gaia releases and ground-based data will be combined.
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The recent development of sensitive, multiplexed near infra-red instruments
has presented astronomers the unique opportunity to survey mass/magnitude
complete samples of galaxies at \emph{Cosmic Noon}, a time period where
$\sim80\%$ of the observed baryonic mass is generated and galaxies are actively
star-forming and evolving rapidly. This thesis takes advantage of the recently
commissioned MOSFIRE spectrograph on Keck, to conduct a survey (ZFIRE) of
galaxies at $1.5<z<2.5$ to measure accurate spectroscopic redshifts and basic
galaxy properties derived from multiple emission lines.
The majority of the thesis work involved survey planning, observing, data
reduction, and catalogue preparation of the ZFIRE survey and is described in
detail in this thesis. Using the ZFIRE spectroscopic redshifts, I show why
spectroscopy is instrumental to determine fundamental galaxy properties via SED
fitting techniques and to probe gravitationally bound structures in the early
universe. The thesis further presents basic properties of the ZFIRE data
products publicly released for the benefit of the astronomy community.
The high mass-completeness of the ZFIRE spectroscopic data at $z\sim2$ makes
it ideal to study fundamental galaxy properties such as, star formation rates,
metallicities, inter-stellar medium properties, galaxy kinematics, and the
stellar initial mass functions in unbiased star-forming galaxies. This thesis
focuses on one such aspect, the IMF.
Many radio galaxies show the presence of dense and dusty gas near the active nucleus. This can be traced by both 21cm HI absorption and soft X-ray absorption, offering new insight into the physical nature of the circumnuclear medium of these distant galaxies. To better understand this relationship, we investigate soft X-ray absorption as an indicator for the detection of associated HI absorption, as part of preparation for the First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH) to be undertaken with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). We present the results of our pilot study using the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, a precursor to ASKAP, to search for new absorption detections in radio sources brighter than 1 Jy that also feature soft X-ray absorption. Based on this pilot survey, we detected HI absorption towards the radio source PKS 1657-298 at a redshift of z = 0.42. This source also features the highest X-ray absorption ratio of our pilot sample by a factor of 3, which is consistent with our general findings that X-ray absorption predicates the presence of dense neutral gas. By comparing the X-ray properties of AGN with and without detection of HI absorption at radio wavelengths, we find that X-ray hardness ratio and HI absorption optical depth are correlated at a statistical significance of 4.71{\sigma}. We conclude by considering the impact of these findings on future radio and X-ray absorption studies.
We analyze Hubble Space Telescope observations of six globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud from program GO-14164 in Cycle 23. These are the deepest available observations of the LMC globular cluster population; their uniformity facilitates a precise comparison with globular clusters in the Milky Way. Measuring the magnitude of the main sequence turnoff point relative to template Galactic globular clusters allows the relative ages of the clusters to be determined with a mean precision of 8.4%, and down to 6% for individual objects. We find that the mean age of our LMC cluster ensemble is identical to the mean age of the oldest metal-poor clusters in the Milky Way halo to 0.2 $\pm$ 0.4 Gyr. This provides the most sensitive test to date of the synchronicity of the earliest epoch of globular cluster formation in two independent galaxies. Horizontal branch magnitudes and subdwarf fitting to the main sequence allow us to determine distance estimates for each cluster, and examine their geometric distribution in the LMC. Using two different methods, we find an average distance to the LMC of 18.52 $\pm$ 0.05.
We produce a catalogue of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 3.3 $\mu$m, Br$\alpha$ and infrared luminosity ($L$(IR)) of 412 local galaxies, and investigate a relation between these physical parameters. We measure the PAH 3.3 $\mu$m and Br$\alpha$ flux using AKARI 2-5 $\mu$m spectra and the $L$(IR) using the AKARI-all-sky-survey data. The $L$(IR) and redshift ranges of our sample are $L$(IR)=$10^{9.7-12.8}$L$_\odot$ and $z_{\rm spec}=0.002-0.3$, respectively. We found that the ratio of $L$(PAH 3.3 $\mu$m) to $L$(IR) is constant at $L$(IR) $<$ $10^{11} \rm L_\odot$ whereas it decreases with the $L$(IR) at higher $L$(IR). Also, the ratio of $L$(Br$\alpha$) to $L$(IR) decreases with the $L$(IR). The both $L$(PAH)/$L$(IR) and $L$(Br$\alpha$)/$L$(IR) ratios are not strongly dependent on galaxy type and dust temperature. The relative weakness of the two ratios could be attributed to destruction of PAH, a lack of UV photons exciting PAH molecules or ionising hydrogen gas, extremely high dust attenuation, or active galactic nucleus contribution to the $L$(IR). Although we cannot determine the cause of the decreases of the luminosity ratios, a clear correlation between them implies that they are related with each other. The catalogue presented in our work will be available at the AKARI archive web page.
We report the first detection and high angular resolution (1.8" $\times$ 1.1") imaging of acetic acid (CH$_3$COOH) and gGg$^{\prime}$--ethylene glycol (gGg$^{\prime}$(CH$_2$OH)$_2$) towards the Orion Kleinmann--Low nebula. The observations were carried out at $\sim$1.3mm with ALMA during the Cycle~2. A notable result is that the spatial distribution of the acetic acid and ethylene glycol emission differs from that of the other O-bearing molecules within Orion-KL. Indeed, while the typical emission of O-bearing species harbors a morphology associated with a "V-shape" linking the Hot Core region to the Compact Ridge (with an extension towards the BN object), that of acetic acid and ethylene glycol mainly peaks at about 2" southwest from the hot core region (near sources I and n). We find that the measured CH$_3$COOH:aGg$^{\prime}$(CH$_2$OH)$_2$ and CH$_3$COOH:gGg$^{\prime}$(CH$_2$OH)$_2$ ratios differ from the ones measured towards the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293--2422 by more than one order of magnitude. Our best hypothesis to explain these findings is that CH$_3$COOH, aGg$^{\prime}$(CH$_2$OH)$_2$ and gGg$^{\prime}$(CH$_2$OH)$_2$ are formed on the icy-surface of grains and then released into the gas-phase, via co-desorption with water, due to a bullet of matter ejected during the explosive event that occurred in the heart of the Nebula about 500-700 years ago.
We present a new approach to study the mass-metallicity relation and its dependency on time. We used the star formation history (SFH) derived from color-magnitude diagram fitting techniques of a sample of Local Group (LG) dwarfs to obtain stellar masses, metallicities, and star-formation rates (SFR) to analyze the mass-metallicity relation as a function of the ages of their stellar populations. The accurate SFHs allow a time resolution of about 2 Gyr at the oldest ages for a total redshift range of 0<~z<~3. The mass-metallicity relation retrieved for the sample of LG dwarfs was compared with a large dataset of literature data obtained in a wide redshift range. Neither of the two independent datasets shows a clear evolution of the mass-metallicity relation slope with redshift. However, when the star-formation rate is added as an additional parameter in the relation, it shows a dependence on the redshift in the sense that the coefficient of the mass decreases with increasing redshift, while the coefficient for the SFR is almost constant with time. This result suggests an increasing contribution with time of the galaxy stellar mass to the metalliticy of the stars that formed most recently, but it also shows that the SFR can play a fundamental role in shaping the mass-metallicity relation.
Small distortions in the images of Einstein rings or giant arcs offer the exciting prospect of detecting dark matter haloes or subhaloes of mass below $10^9$M$_{\odot}$, most of which are too small to have made a visible galaxy. A very large number of such haloes are predicted to exist in the cold dark matter model of cosmogony; in contrast other models, such as warm dark matter, predict no haloes below a mass of this order which depends on the properties of the warm dark matter particle. Attempting to detect these small perturbers could therefore discriminate between different kinds of dark matter particles, and even rule out the cold dark matter model altogether. Globular clusters in the lens galaxy also induce distortions in the image which could, in principle, contaminate the test. Here, we investigate the population of globular clusters in six early type galaxies in the Virgo cluster. We find that the number density of globular clusters of mass $\sim10^6$M$_{\odot}$ is comparable to that of the dark matter perturbers (including subhaloes in the lens and haloes along the line-of-sight). We show that the very different degrees of mass concentration in globular clusters and dark matter haloes result in different lensing distortions. These are detectable with milli-arcsecond resolution imaging which can distinguish between globular cluster and dark matter halo signals.
The formation of planets strongly depends on the total amount as well as on the spatial distribution of solids in protoplanetary disks. Thanks to the improvements in resolution and sensitivity provided by ALMA, measurements of the surface density of mm-sized grains are now possible on large samples of disks. Such measurements provide statistical constraints that can be used to inform our understanding of the initial conditions of planet formation. We analyze spatially resolved observations of 36 protoplanetary disks in the Lupus star forming complex from our ALMA survey at 890 micron, aiming to determine physical properties such as the dust surface density, the disk mass and size and to provide a constraint on the temperature profile. We fit the observations directly in the uv-plane using a two-layer disk model that computes the 890 micron emission by solving the energy balance at each disk radius. For 22 out of 36 protoplanetary disks we derive robust estimates of their physical properties. The sample covers stellar masses between ~0.1 and ~2 Solar masses, and we find no trend between the average disk temperatures and the stellar parameters. We find, instead, a correlation between the integrated sub-mm flux (a proxy for the disk mass) and the exponential cut-off radii (a proxy of the disk size) of the Lupus disks. Comparing these results with observations at similar angular resolution of Taurus-Auriga/Ophiuchus disks found in literature and scaling them to the same distance, we observe that the Lupus disks are generally fainter and larger at a high level of statistical significance. Considering the 1-2 Myr age difference between these regions, it is possible to tentatively explain the offset in the disk mass/disk size relation with viscous spreading, however with the current measurements other mechanisms cannot be ruled out.
One of the long-standing problems of star formation is the excess of angular momentum of the parent molecular cloud. In the classical picture, a fraction of angular momentum of the circumstellar material is removed by the magneto-centrifugally driven disk wind that is launched from a wide region throughout the disk. In this work, we investigate the kinematics in the envelope-disk transition zone of the Class I object BHB07-11, in the B59 core. For this purpose, we used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in extended configuration to observe the thermal dust continuum emission ($\lambda_0 \sim$ 1.3 mm) and molecular lines (CO, C$^{18}$O and H$_2$CO), which are suitable tracers of disk, envelope, and outflow dynamics at a spatial resolution of $\sim 30$ AU. We report a bipolar outflow that was launched at symmetric positions with respect to the disk ($\sim$80~AU in radius), but was concentrated at a distance of 90--130~AU from the disk center. The two outflow lobes had a conical shape and the gas inside was accelerating. The large offset of the launching position coincided with the landing site of the infall material from the extended spiral structure (seen in dust) onto the disk. This indicates that bipolar outflows are efficiently launched within a narrow region outside the disk edge. We also identify a sharp transition in the gas kinematics across the tip of the spiral structure, which pinpoints the location of the so-called centrifugal barrier.
We study the properties of tidal disruption event (TDE) host galaxies in the context of a catalog of ~500,000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We explore whether selection effects can account for the overrepresentation of TDEs in E+A/post-starburst galaxies by creating matched galaxy samples. Accounting for possible selection effects due to black hole (BH) mass, redshift completeness, strong AGN presence, bulge colors, and surface brightness can reduce the apparent overrepresentation of TDEs in E+A host galaxies by a factor of ~4 (from ~100-190 to ~25-48), but cannot fully explain the preference. We find that TDE host galaxies have atypical photometric properties compared to similar, "typical" galaxies. In particular, TDE host galaxies tend to live in or near the "green valley" between star-forming and passive galaxies, and have bluer bulge colors ($\Delta (g-r)$ ~ 0.3 mag), lower half-light surface brightnesses (by ~1 mag/sq."), higher Sersic indices ($\Delta n_g$ ~ 3), and higher bulge-to-total-light ratios ($\Delta B/T$ ~ 0.5) than galaxies with matched BH masses. We find that TDE host galaxies appear more centrally concentrated, and that all have high galaxy Sersic indices and B/T fractions---on average in the top 10% of galaxies of the same BH mass---, suggesting a higher nuclear stellar density. We identify a region in Sersic index and BH mass parameter space that contains ~2% of our reference catalog galaxies but >60% of TDE host galaxies. In summary, TDE host galaxies appear to reside in or near the green valley, and to be more centrally concentrated, with brighter and bluer cores, than typical galaxies of the same BH mass. These photometric properties may be particularly useful for selecting candidate TDEs for spectroscopic follow-up observations in large transient surveys. [abbreviated]
The mechanisms causing millimeter-wave polarization in protoplanetary disks are under debate. To disentangle the polarization mechanisms, we observe the protoplanetary disk around HL Tau at 3.1 mm with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which had polarization detected with CARMA at 1.3 mm. We successfully detect the ring-like azimuthal polarized emission at 3.1 mm. This indicates that dust grains are aligned with the major axis being in the azimuthal direction, which is consistent with the theory of radiative alignment of elongated dust grains, where the major axis of dust grains is perpendicular to the radiation flux. Furthermore, the morphology of the polarization vectors at 3.1 mm is completely different from those at 1.3 mm. We interpret that the polarization at 3.1 mm to be dominated by the grain alignment with the radiative flux producing azimuthal polarization vectors, while the self-scattering dominates at 1.3 mm and produces the polarization vectors parallel to the minor axis of the disk. By modeling the total polarization fraction with a single grain population model, the maximum grain size is constrained to be $100{\rm~\mu m}$, which is smaller than the previous predictions based on the spectral index between ALMA at 3 mm and VLA at 7 mm.
Context: Large cavities in disks are important testing grounds for the mechanisms proposed to drive disk evolution and dispersion, such as dynamical clearing by planets and photo-evaporation. Aims: We aim to resolve the large cavity in the disk around HD 34282, such as has been predicted by previous studies modeling the spectral energy distribution Methods: Using ALMA band 7 observations we study HD 34282 with a spatial resolution of 0.10\arcsec x 0.17\arcsec at 345 GHz. Results: We resolve the disk around HD 34282 into a ring between 0.24\arcsec and 1.15\arcsec (78 and 374 au adopting a distance of 325 pc). The emission in this ring shows azimuthal asymmetry centered at a radial distance of 0.46\arcsec and a position angle of 135 degrees and an azimuthal FWHM of 51 degrees. We detect CO emission both inside the disk cavity and as far out as 2.7 times the radial extent of the dust emission. Conclusions: Both the large disk cavity and the azimuthal structure in the disk around HD 34282 can be explained by the presence of a 50 jupiter mass brown dwarf companion at a separation of ~ 0.1\arcsec.
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