Star Formation in low mass galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Mehta, Vihang

2018-01-01

Our current hierarchical view of the universe asserts that the large galaxies we see today grew via mergers of numerous smaller galaxies. As evidenced by recent literature, the collective impact of these low mass galaxies on the universe is more substantial than previously thought. Studying the growth and evolution of these low mass galaxies is critical to our understanding of the universe as a whole. Star formation is one of the most important ongoing processes in galaxies. Forming stars is fundamental to the growth of a galaxy. One of the main goals of my thesis is to analyze the star formation in these low mass galaxies at different redshifts.Using the Hubble UltraViolet Ultra Deep Field (UVUDF), I investigate the star formation in galaxies at the peak of the cosmic star formation history using the ultraviolet (UV) light as a star formation indicator. Particularly, I measure the UV luminosity function (LF) to probe the volume-averaged star formation properties of galaxies at these redshifts. The depth of the UVUDF is ideal for a direct measurement of the faint end slope of the UV LF. This redshift range also provides a unique opportunity to directly compare UV to the "gold standard" of star formation indicators, namely the Hα nebular emission line. A joint analysis of the UV and Hα LFs suggests that, on average, the star formation histories in low mass galaxies (~109 M⊙) are more bursty compared to their higher mass counterparts at these redshifts.Complementary to the analysis of the average star formation properties of the bulk galaxy population, I investigate the details of star formation in some very bursty galaxies at lower redshifts selected from Spitzer Large Area Survey with Hyper-Suprime Cam (SPLASH). Using a broadband color-excess selection technique, I identify a sample of low redshift galaxies with bright nebular emission lines in the Subaru-XMM Deep Field (SXDF) from the SPLASH-SXDF catalog. These galaxies are highly star forming and have

One of the most massive stars in the Galaxy may have formed in isolation

OpenAIRE

Oskinova, L. M.; Steinke, M.; Hamann, W. -R.; Sander, A.; Todt, H.; Liermann, A.

2013-01-01

Very massive stars, 100 times heavier than the sun, are rare. It is not yet known whether such stars can form in isolation or only in star clusters. The answer to this question is of fundamental importance. The central region of our Galaxy is ideal for investigating very massive stars and clusters located in the same environment. We used archival infrared images to investigate the surroundings of apparently isolated massive stars presently known in the Galactic Center. We find that two such i...

Formation of stars and star clusters in colliding galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belles, Pierre-Emmanuel

2012-01-01

Mergers are known to be essential in the formation of large-scale structures and to have a significant role in the history of galaxy formation and evolution. Besides a morphological transformation, mergers induce important bursts of star formation. These starburst are characterised by high Star Formation Efficiencies (SFEs) and Specific Star Formation Rates, i.e., high Star Formation Rates (SFR) per unit of gas mass and high SFR per unit of stellar mass, respectively, compared to spiral galaxies. At all redshifts, starburst galaxies are outliers of the sequence of star-forming galaxies defined by spiral galaxies. We have investigated the origin of the starburst-mode of star formation, in three local interacting systems: Arp 245, Arp 105 and NGC 7252. We combined high-resolution JVLA observations of the 21-cm line, tracing the HI diffuse gas, with UV GALEX observations, tracing the young star-forming regions. We probe the local physical conditions of the Inter-Stellar Medium (ISM) for independent star-forming regions and explore the atomic-to-dense gas transformation in different environments. The SFR/HI ratio is found to be much higher in central regions, compared to outer regions, showing a higher dense gas fraction (or lower HI gas fraction) in these regions. In the outer regions of the systems, i.e., the tidal tails, where the gas phase is mostly atomic, we find SFR/HI ratios higher than in standard HI-dominated environments, i.e., outer discs of spiral galaxies and dwarf galaxies. Thus, our analysis reveals that the outer regions of mergers are characterised by high SFEs, compared to the standard mode of star formation. The observation of high dense gas fractions in interacting systems is consistent with the predictions of numerical simulations; it results from the increase of the gas turbulence during a merger. The merger is likely to affect the star-forming properties of the system at all spatial scales, from large scales, with a globally enhanced turbulence

Observing the Sun with NuSTAR

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Kohler, Susanna

2016-07-01

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a space telescope primarily designed to detect high-energy X-rays from faint, distant astrophysical sources. Recently, however, its occasionally been pointing much closer to home, with the goal of solving a few longstanding mysteries about the Sun.Intensity maps from an observation of a quiet-Sun region near the north solar pole and an active region just below the solar limb. The quiet-Sun data will be searched for small flares that could be heating the solar corona, and the high-altitude emission above the limb may provide clues about particle acceleration. [Adapted from Grefenstette et al. 2016]An Unexpected TargetThough we have a small fleet of space telescopes designed to observe the Sun, theres an important gap: until recently, there was no focusing telescope making solar observations in the hard X-ray band (above ~3 keV). Conveniently, there is a tool capable of doing this: NuSTAR.Though NuSTARs primary mission is to observe faint astrophysical X-ray sources, a team of scientists has recently conducted a series of observations in which NuSTAR was temporarily repurposed and turned to focus on the Sun instead.These observations pose an interesting challenge precisely because of NuSTARs extreme sensitivity: pointing at such a nearby, bright source can quickly swamp the detectors. But though the instrument cant be used to observe the bright flares and outbursts from the Sun, its the perfect tool for examining the parts of the Sun weve been unable to explore in hard X-rays before now such as faint flares, or the quiet, inactive solar surface.In a recently published study led by Brian Grefenstette (California Institute of Technology), the team describes the purpose and initial results of NuSTARs first observations of the Sun.Solar MysteriesWhat is NuSTAR hoping to accomplish with its solar observations? There are two main questions that hard X-ray observations may help to answer.How are particles accelerated in

GREEN PEA GALAXIES AND COHORTS: LUMINOUS COMPACT EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES IN THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izotov, Yuri I.; Guseva, Natalia G.; Thuan, Trinh X.

2011-01-01

We present a large sample of 803 star-forming luminous compact galaxies (LCGs) in the redshift range z = 0.02-0.63, selected from Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The global properties of these galaxies are similar to those of the so-called green pea star-forming galaxies in the redshift range z = 0.112-0.360 and selected from the SDSS on the basis of their green color and compact structure. In contrast to green pea galaxies, our LCGs are selected on the basis of both their spectroscopic and photometric properties, resulting in a ∼10 times larger sample, with galaxies spanning a redshift range ∼>2 times larger. We find that the oxygen abundances and the heavy element abundance ratios in LCGs do not differ from those of nearby low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxies. The median stellar mass of LCGs is ∼10 9 M sun . However, for galaxies with high EW(Hβ), ≥ 100 A, it is only ∼7 x 10 8 M sun . The star formation rate in LCGs varies in the large range of 0.7-60 M sun yr -1 , with a median value of ∼4 M sun yr -1 , a factor of ∼3 lower than in high-redshift star-forming galaxies at z ∼> 3. The specific star formation rates in LCGs are extremely high and vary in the range ∼10 -9 -10 -7 yr -1 , comparable to those derived in high-redshift galaxies.

Star-forming galaxy models: Blending star formation into TREESPH

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Mihos, J. Christopher; Hernquist, Lars

1994-01-01

We have incorporated star-formation algorithms into a hybrid N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics code (TREESPH) in order to describe the star forming properties of disk galaxies over timescales of a few billion years. The models employ a Schmidt law of index n approximately 1.5 to calculate star-formation rates, and explicitly include the energy and metallicity feedback into the Interstellar Medium (ISM). Modeling the newly formed stellar population is achieved through the use of hybrid SPH/young star particles which gradually convert from gaseous to collisionless particles, avoiding the computational difficulties involved in creating new particles. The models are shown to reproduce well the star-forming properties of disk galaxies, such as the morphology, rate of star formation, and evolution of the global star-formation rate and disk gas content. As an example of the technique, we model an encounter between a disk galaxy and a small companion which gives rise to a ring galaxy reminiscent of the Cartwheel (AM 0035-35). The primary galaxy in this encounter experiences two phases of star forming activity: an initial period during the expansion of the ring, and a delayed phase as shocked material in the ring falls back into the central regions.

Are star formation rates of galaxies bimodal?

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Feldmann, Robert

2017-09-01

Star formation rate (SFR) distributions of galaxies are often assumed to be bimodal with modes corresponding to star-forming and quiescent galaxies, respectively. Both classes of galaxies are typically studied separately, and SFR distributions of star-forming galaxies are commonly modelled as lognormals. Using both observational data and results from numerical simulations, I argue that this division into star-forming and quiescent galaxies is unnecessary from a theoretical point of view and that the SFR distributions of the whole population can be well fitted by zero-inflated negative binomial distributions. This family of distributions has three parameters that determine the average SFR of the galaxies in the sample, the scatter relative to the star-forming sequence and the fraction of galaxies with zero SFRs, respectively. The proposed distributions naturally account for (I) the discrete nature of star formation, (II) the presence of 'dead' galaxies with zero SFRs and (III) asymmetric scatter. Excluding 'dead' galaxies, the distribution of log SFR is unimodal with a peak at the star-forming sequence and an extended tail towards low SFRs. However, uncertainties and biases in the SFR measurements can create the appearance of a bimodal distribution.

STAR FORMATION EFFICIENCY IN THE COOL CORES OF GALAXY CLUSTERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McDonald, Michael; Veilleux, Sylvain; Mushotzky, Richard; Reynolds, Christopher; Rupke, David S. N.

2011-01-01

We have assembled a sample of high spatial resolution far-UV (Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys/Solar Blind Channel) and Hα (Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter) imaging for 15 cool core galaxy clusters. These data provide a detailed view of the thin, extended filaments in the cores of these clusters. Based on the ratio of the far-UV to Hα luminosity, the UV spectral energy distribution, and the far-UV and Hα morphology, we conclude that the warm, ionized gas in the cluster cores is photoionized by massive, young stars in all but a few (A1991, A2052, A2580) systems. We show that the extended filaments, when considered separately, appear to be star forming in the majority of cases, while the nuclei tend to have slightly lower far-UV luminosity for a given Hα luminosity, suggesting a harder ionization source or higher extinction. We observe a slight offset in the UV/Hα ratio from the expected value for continuous star formation which can be modeled by assuming intrinsic extinction by modest amounts of dust (E(B - V) ∼ 0.2) or a top-heavy initial mass function in the extended filaments. The measured star formation rates vary from ∼0.05 M sun yr -1 in the nuclei of non-cooling systems, consistent with passive, red ellipticals, to ∼5 M sun yr -1 in systems with complex, extended, optical filaments. Comparing the estimates of the star formation rate based on UV, Hα, and infrared luminosities to the spectroscopically determined X-ray cooling rate suggests a star formation efficiency of 14 +18 -8 %. This value represents the time-averaged fraction, by mass, of gas cooling out of the intracluster medium, which turns into stars and agrees well with the global fraction of baryons in stars required by simulations to reproduce the stellar mass function for galaxies. This result provides a new constraint on the efficiency of star formation in accreting systems.

Star formation histories of irregular galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallagher, J.S. III; Hunter, D.A.; Tutukov, A.V.

1984-01-01

We explore the star formation histories of a selection of irregular and spiral galaxies by using three parameters that sample the star formation rate (SFR) at different epochs: (1) the mass of a galaxy in the form of stars measures the SFR integrated over a galaxy's lifetime; (2) the blue luminosity is dominated primarily by stars formed over the past few billion years; and (3) Lyman continuum photon fluxes derived from Hα luminosities give the current ( 8 yr) SFR

SHOCKED SUPERWINDS FROM THE z {approx} 2 CLUMPY STAR-FORMING GALAXY, ZC406690

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newman, Sarah F.; Genzel, Reinhard [Department of Astronomy, Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Shapiro Griffin, Kristen [Aerospace Research Laboratories, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, CA 90278 (United States); Davies, Ric; Foerster-Schreiber, Natascha M.; Tacconi, Linda J.; Kurk, Jaron; Wuyts, Stijn; Genel, Shy; Buschkamp, Peter; Eisenhauer, Frank; Lutz, Dieter [Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Giessenbachstr.1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Lilly, Simon J.; Carollo, C. Marcella [Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule, ETH Zuerich CH-8093 (Switzerland); Renzini, Alvio; Mancini, Chiara [Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dellOsservatorio 5, Padova I-35122 (Italy); Bouche, Nicolas [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States); Burkert, Andreas [Department fuer Physik, Universitaets-Sternwarte Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (USM), Scheinerstr. 1, Muenchen, D-81679 (Germany); Cresci, Giovanni [Istituto Nazionale di AstrofisicaOsservatorio Astronomico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, I 50125 Firenze (Italy); Hicks, Erin, E-mail: sfnewman@berkeley.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, U.W., Seattle, WA 98195-1580 (United States); and others

2012-06-20

We have obtained high-resolution data of the z {approx} 2 ring-like, clumpy star-forming galaxy (SFG) ZC406690 using the VLT/SINFONI with adaptive optics (in K band) and in seeing-limited mode (in H and J bands). Our data include all of the main strong optical emission lines: [O II], [O III], H{alpha}, H{beta}, [N II], and [S II]. We find broad, blueshifted H{alpha} and [O III] emission line wings in the spectra of the galaxy's massive, star-forming clumps ({sigma} {approx} 85 km s{sup -1}) and even broader wings (up to 70% of the total H{alpha} flux, with {sigma} {approx} 290 km s{sup -1}) in regions spatially offset from the clumps by {approx}2 kpc. The broad emission likely originates from large-scale outflows with mass outflow rates from individual clumps that are 1-8 Multiplication-Sign the star formation rate (SFR) of the clumps. Based on emission line ratio diagnostics ([N II]/H{alpha} and [S II]/H{alpha}) and photoionization and shock models, we find that the emission from the clumps is due to a combination of photoionization from the star-forming regions and shocks generated in the outflowing component, with 5%-30% of the emission deriving from shocks. In terms of the ionization parameter (6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 7} to 10{sup 8} cm s{sup -1}, based on both the SFR and the O{sub 32} ratio), density (local electron densities of 300-1800 cm{sup -3} in and around the clumps, and ionized gas column densities of 1200-8000 M{sub Sun }pc{sup -2}), and SFR (10-40 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}), these clumps more closely resemble nuclear starburst regions of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies and dwarf irregulars than H II regions in local galaxies. However, the star-forming clumps are not located in the nucleus as in local starburst galaxies but instead are situated in a ring several kpc from the center of their high-redshift host galaxy, and have an overall disk-like morphology. The two brightest clumps are quite different in terms of their internal

THE STAR-FORMATION-RATE-DENSITY RELATION AT 0.6 < z < 0.9 AND THE ROLE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patel, Shannon G.; Holden, Bradford P.; Illingworth, Garth D.; Kelson, Daniel D.; Franx, Marijn

2011-01-01

We study the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies as a function of local galaxy density at 0.6 z /(1 + z) ∼ 1% for galaxies with z AB 1.8 x 10 10 M sun (log M/M sun >10.25) to conduct our main analysis. With three different SFR indicators, (1) Spitzer MIPS 24 μm imaging, (2) spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, and (3) [O II]λ3727 emission, we find the median specific SFR (SSFR) and SFR to decline from the low-density field to the cores of groups and a rich cluster. For the SED- and [O II]-based SFRs, the decline in SSFR is roughly an order of magnitude while for the MIPS-based SFRs, the decline is a factor of ∼4. We find approximately the same magnitude of decline in SSFR even after removing the sample of galaxies near the cluster. Galaxies in groups and a cluster at these redshifts therefore have lower star formation (SF) activity than galaxies in the field, as is the case at z ∼ 0. We investigated whether the decline in SFR with increasing density is caused by a change in the proportion of quiescent and star-forming galaxies (SFGs) or by a decline in the SFRs of SFGs. Using the rest-frame U - V and V - J colors to distinguish quiescent galaxies from SFGs (including both unattenuated blue galaxies and reddened ones), we find that the fraction of quiescent galaxies increases from ∼32% to 79% from low to high density. In addition, we find the SSFRs of SFGs, selected based on U - V and V - J colors, to decline with increasing density by factors of ∼5-6 for the SED- and [O II]-based SFRs. The MIPS-based SSFRs for SFGs decline with a shallower slope. The declining SFRs of SFGs with density are paralleled by a decline in the median A V , providing indirect evidence that the cold gas content that fuels future SF is diminished in higher density environments. The order of magnitude decline in the SSFR-density relation at 0.6 < z < 0.9 is therefore driven by both a combination of declining SFRs of SFGs as well as a changing mix of SFGs and quiescent

Star Formation in Merging Galaxies Using FIRE

Science.gov (United States)

Perez, Adrianna; Hung, Chao-Ling; Naiman, Jill; Moreno, Jorge; Hopkins, Philip

2018-01-01

Galaxy interactions and mergers are efficient mechanisms to birth stars at rates that are significantly higher than found in our Milky Way galaxy. The Kennicut-Schmidt (KS) relation is an empirical relationship between the star-forming rate and gas surface densities of galaxies (Schmidt 1959; Kennicutt 1998). Although most galaxies follow the KS relation, the high levels of star formation in galaxy mergers places them outside of this otherwise tight relationship. The goal of this research is to analyze the gas content and star formation of simulated merging galaxies. Our work utilizes the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) model (Hopkins et al., 2014). The FIRE project is a high-resolution cosmological simulation that resolves star-forming regions and incorporates stellar feedback in a physically realistic way. In this work, we have noticed a significant increase in the star formation rate at first and second passage, when the two black holes of each galaxy approach one other. Next, we will analyze spatially resolved star-forming regions over the course of the interacting system. Then, we can study when and how the rates that gas converts into stars deviate from the standard KS. These analyses will provide important insights into the physical mechanisms that regulate star formation of normal and merging galaxies and valuable theoretical predictions that can be used to compare with current and future observations from ALMA or the James Webb Space Telescope.

GOODS-HERSCHEL MEASUREMENTS OF THE DUST ATTENUATION OF TYPICAL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT: OBSERVATIONS OF ULTRAVIOLET-SELECTED GALAXIES AT z {approx} 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reddy, N.; Dickinson, M.; Kartaltepe, J. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Elbaz, D.; Daddi, E.; Magdis, G.; Aussel, H.; Dannerbauer, H.; Dasyra, K.; Hwang, H. S. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Morrison, G. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Giavalisco, M. [Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Ivison, R. [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Papovich, C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77845 (United States); Scott, D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Buat, V.; Burgarella, D. [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille, OAMP, Universite Aix-Marseille, CNRS, 38 Rue Frederic Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Charmandaris, V. [Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete, GR-71003, Heraklion (Greece); Murphy, E. [Spitzer Science Center, MC 314-6, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Altieri, B. [Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, 28691 Madrid (Spain); and others

2012-01-10

We take advantage of the sensitivity and resolution of the Herschel Space Observatory at 100 and 160 {mu}m to directly image the thermal dust emission and investigate the infrared luminosities (L{sub IR}) and dust obscuration of typical star-forming (L*) galaxies at high redshift. Our sample consists of 146 UV-selected galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts 1.5 {<=} z{sub spec} < 2.6 in the GOODS-North field. Supplemented with deep Very Large Array and Spitzer imaging, we construct median stacks at the positions of these galaxies at 24, 100, and 160 {mu}m, and 1.4 GHz. The comparison between these stacked fluxes and a variety of dust templates and calibrations implies that typical star-forming galaxies with UV luminosities L{sub UV} {approx}> 10{sup 10} L{sub Sun} at z {approx} 2 are luminous infrared galaxies with a median L{sub IR} = (2.2 {+-} 0.3) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} L{sub Sun }. Their median ratio of L{sub IR} to rest-frame 8 {mu}m luminosity (L{sub 8}) is L{sub IR}/L{sub 8} = 8.9 {+-} 1.3 and is Almost-Equal-To 80% larger than that found for most star-forming galaxies at z {approx}< 2. This apparent redshift evolution in the L{sub IR}/L{sub 8} ratio may be tied to the trend of larger infrared luminosity surface density for z {approx}> 2 galaxies relative to those at lower redshift. Typical galaxies at 1.5 {<=} z < 2.6 have a median dust obscuration L{sub IR}/L{sub UV} = 7.1 {+-} 1.1, which corresponds to a dust correction factor, required to recover the bolometric star formation rate (SFR) from the unobscured UV SFR, of 5.2 {+-} 0.6. This result is similar to that inferred from previous investigations of the UV, H{alpha}, 24 {mu}m, radio, and X-ray properties of the same galaxies studied here. Stacking in bins of UV slope ({beta}) implies that L* galaxies with redder spectral slopes are also dustier and that the correlation between {beta} and dustiness is similar to that found for local starburst galaxies. Hence, the rest-frame {approx_equal} 30 and

Star formation in active galaxies and quasars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heckman, T.M.

1987-01-01

I review the observational evidence for a causal or statistical link between star formation and active galactic nuclei. The chief difficulty is in quantitatively ascertaining the star formation rate in active galaxies: most of the readily observable manifestations of star formation superficially resemble those of an active nucleus. Careful multi-wavelength spatially-resolved observations demonstrate that many Seyfert galaxies are undergoing star formation. Our survey of CO emission from Seyferts (interpreted in conjunction IRAS data) suggests that type 2 Seyferts have unusually high rates of star formation, but type 1 Seyferts do not. Recent work also suggests that many powerful radio galaxies may be actively forming stars: radio galaxies with strong emission-lines often have blue colors and strong far-infrared emission. Determining the star formation rate in the host galaxies of quasars is especially difficult. Multi-color imaging and long-slit spectroscopy suggests that many of the host galaxies of radio-loud quasars are blue and a cold interstellar medium has been detected in some quasar hosts

THE REDSHIFT EVOLUTION OF OXYGEN AND NITROGEN ABUNDANCES IN EMISSION-LINE SDSS GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thuan, Trinh X.; Pilyugin, Leonid S.; Zinchenko, Igor A.

2010-01-01

The oxygen and nitrogen abundance evolutions with redshift and galaxy stellar mass in emission-line galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are investigated. This is the first such study for nitrogen abundances, and it provides an additional constraint for the study of the chemical evolution of galaxies. We have devised a criterion to recognize and exclude from consideration active galactic nuclei and star-forming galaxies with large errors in the line flux measurements. To select star-forming galaxies with accurate line fluxes measurements, we require that, for each galaxy, the nitrogen abundances derived with various calibrations based on different emission lines agree. Using this selection criterion, subsamples of star-forming SDSS galaxies have been extracted from catalogs of the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics/Johns Hopkins University group. We found that the galaxies of highest masses, those with masses ∼>10 11.2 M sun , have not been enriched in both oxygen and nitrogen over the last ∼3 Gyr: they have formed their stars in the so distant past that these have returned their nucleosynthesis products to the interstellar medium before z = 0.25. The galaxies in the mass range from ∼10 11.0 M sun to ∼10 11.2 M sun do not show an appreciable enrichment in oxygen, but do show some enrichment in nitrogen: they also formed their stars before z = 0.25 but later in comparison to the galaxies of highest masses; these stars have not returned nitrogen to the interstellar medium before z = 0.25 because they have not had enough time to evolve. This suggests that stars with lifetimes of 2-3 Gyr, in the 1.5-2 M sun mass range, contribute to the nitrogen production. Finally, galaxies with masses ∼ 11 M sun show enrichment in both oxygen and nitrogen during the last 3 Gyr: they have undergone appreciable star formation and have converted up to ∼20% of their mass into stars over this period. Both oxygen and nitrogen enrichments increase with decreasing

THE TRANSVERSE PECULIAR VELOCITY OF THE Q2237+0305 LENS GALAXY AND THE MEAN MASS OF ITS STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poindexter, Shawn; Kochanek, Christopher S.

2010-01-01

Using 11 years of OGLE V-band photometry of Q2237+0305, we measure the transverse velocity of the lens galaxy and the mean mass of its stars. We can do so because, for the first time, we fully include the random motions of the stars in the lens galaxy in the analysis of the light curves. In doing so, we are also able to correctly account for Earth's parallax motion and the rotation of the lens galaxy, further reducing systematic errors. We measure a lower limit on the transverse speed of the lens galaxy, v t > 338 km s -1 (68% confidence) and find a preferred direction to the east. The mean stellar mass estimate, including a well-defined velocity prior, is 0.12 ≤ (M/M sun ) ≤ 1.94 at 68% confidence, with a median of 0.52 M sun . We also show for the first time that analyzing subsets of a microlensing light curve, in this case the first and second halves of the OGLE V-band light curve, gives mutually consistent physical results.

Linking dwarf galaxies to halo building blocks with the most metal-poor star in Sculptor.

Science.gov (United States)

Frebel, Anna; Kirby, Evan N; Simon, Joshua D

2010-03-04

Current cosmological models indicate that the Milky Way's stellar halo was assembled from many smaller systems. On the basis of the apparent absence of the most metal-poor stars in present-day dwarf galaxies, recent studies claimed that the true Galactic building blocks must have been vastly different from the surviving dwarfs. The discovery of an extremely iron-poor star (S1020549) in the Sculptor dwarf galaxy based on a medium-resolution spectrum cast some doubt on this conclusion. Verification of the iron-deficiency, however, and measurements of additional elements, such as the alpha-element Mg, are necessary to demonstrate that the same type of stars produced the metals found in dwarf galaxies and the Galactic halo. Only then can dwarf galaxy stars be conclusively linked to early stellar halo assembly. Here we report high-resolution spectroscopic abundances for 11 elements in S1020549, confirming its iron abundance of less than 1/4,000th that of the Sun, and showing that the overall abundance pattern follows that seen in low-metallicity halo stars, including the alpha-elements. Such chemical similarity indicates that the systems destroyed to form the halo billions of years ago were not fundamentally different from the progenitors of present-day dwarfs, and suggests that the early chemical enrichment of all galaxies may be nearly identical.

VUV Spectroscopy of the Sun as a Star

Science.gov (United States)

Kankelborg, Charles; Philip, Judge; Winebarger, Amy R.; Kobayashi, Ken; Smart, Roy

2017-08-01

We describe a new sounding rocket mission to obtain the first high resolution, high quality VUV (100-200 nm) spectrum of the Sun-as-a-star. Our immediate science goal is to understand better the processes of chromospheric and coronal heating. HST data exist for a dozen or so Sun-like stars of a quality already beyond our ability to construct a comparable sun-as-a-star UV spectrum. The solar spectrum we obtain will enable us to understand the nature of magnetic energy dissipation as a Sun-like star evolves, and the dependence of magnetic activity on stellar mass and metallicity. This poster presents the instrument design, scientific prospects, and broader impacts of the proposed mission.

MORPHOLOGICAL QUENCHING OF STAR FORMATION: MAKING EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES RED

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martig, Marie; Bournaud, Frederic; Teyssier, Romain; Dekel, Avishai

2009-01-01

We point out a natural mechanism for quenching of star formation in early-type galaxies (ETGs). It automatically links the color of a galaxy with its morphology and does not require gas consumption, removal or termination of gas supply. Given that star formation takes place in gravitationally unstable gas disks, it can be quenched when a disk becomes stable against fragmentation to bound clumps. This can result from the growth of a stellar spheroid, for instance by mergers. We present the concept of morphological quenching (MQ) using standard disk instability analysis, and demonstrate its natural occurrence in a cosmological simulation using an efficient zoom-in technique. We show that the transition from a stellar disk to a spheroid can be sufficient to stabilize the gas disk, quench star formation, and turn an ETG red and dead while gas accretion continues. The turbulence necessary for disk stability can be stirred up by sheared perturbations within the disk in the absence of bound star-forming clumps. While other quenching mechanisms, such as gas stripping, active galactic nucleus feedback, virial shock heating, and gravitational heating are limited to massive halos, MQ can explain the appearance of red ETGs also in halos less massive than ∼10 12 M sun . The dense gas disks observed in some of today's red ellipticals may be the relics of this mechanism, whereas red galaxies with quenched gas disks could be more frequent at high redshift.

COMPARISON OF Hα AND UV STAR FORMATION RATES IN THE LOCAL VOLUME: SYSTEMATIC DISCREPANCIES FOR DWARF GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Janice C.; Gil de Paz, Armando; Tremonti, Christy; Walter, Fabian; Kennicutt, Robert C.; Bothwell, Matthew; Johnson, Benjamin; Salim, Samir; Calzetti, Daniela; Dalcanton, Julianne; Dale, Daniel; Engelbracht, Chad; Funes, S. J. Jose G.; Sakai, Shoko; Skillman, Evan; Weisz, Daniel; Van Zee, Liese

2009-01-01

Using a complete sample of ∼300 star-forming galaxies within 11 Mpc of the Milky Way, we evaluate the consistency between star formation rates (SFRs) inferred from the far ultraviolet (FUV) non-ionizing continuum and Hα nebular emission, assuming standard conversion recipes in which the SFR scales linearly with luminosity at a given wavelength. Our analysis probes SFRs over 5 orders of magnitude, down to ultra-low activities on the order of ∼10 -4 M sun yr -1 . The data are drawn from the 11 Mpc Hα and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey (11HUGS), which has obtained Hα fluxes from ground-based narrowband imaging, and UV fluxes from imaging with GALEX. For normal spiral galaxies (SFR ∼ 1 M sun yr -1 ), our results are consistent with previous work which has shown that FUV SFRs tend to be lower than Hα SFRs before accounting for internal dust attenuation, but that there is relative consistency between the two tracers after proper corrections are applied. However, a puzzle is encountered at the faint end of the luminosity function. As lower luminosity dwarf galaxies, roughly less active than the Small Magellanic Cloud, are examined, Hα tends to increasingly underpredict the total SFR relative to the FUV. The trend is evident prior to corrections for dust attenuation, which affects the FUV more than the nebular Hα emission, so this general conclusion is robust to the effects of dust. Although past studies have suggested similar trends, this is the first time this effect is probed with a statistical sample for galaxies with SFR ∼ sun yr -1 . By SFR ∼ 0.003 M sun yr -1 , the average Hα-to-FUV flux ratio is lower than expected by a factor of two, and at the lowest SFRs probed, the ratio exhibits an order of magnitude discrepancy for the handful of galaxies that remain in the sample. A range of standard explanations does not appear to be able to fully account for the magnitude of the systematic. Some recent work has argued for a stellar initial mass function which

The formation of galaxies from pregalactic stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Janet

1982-01-01

A knowledge of how and when the first stars formed is vital for our understanding of the formation and early evolution of galaxies. Evidence is given that the first stars were pregalactic: indeed, that at least two generations of stars had formed before galaxies collapsed. A model is presented describing the effects of pregalactic stars on galaxy evolution. The first generation -primordial stars- were massive and few in number. A brief description is given for the formation of such a star. The second generation included stars of all masses and involved widespread star formation. Gas ejected from these stars on timescales of 6 x 10 7 to 6 x 10 8 years induced a qualitative change into the dynamics of collapsing perturbations, leading to a characteristic mass of galaxies of 10 10 - 10 12 M 0 . Variations in the rate of gas ejection were responsible for different morphological structures - elliptical and spirals. A few comments are made on some other implications of the model

Stacked Star Formation Rate Profiles of Bursty Galaxies Exhibit “Coherent” Star Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Orr, Matthew E.; Hayward, Christopher C.; Nelson, Erica J.; Hopkins, Philip F.; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Kereš, Dušan; Chan, T. K.; Schmitz, Denise M.; Miller, Tim B.

2017-11-01

In a recent work based on 3200 stacked Hα maps of galaxies at z˜ 1, Nelson et al. find evidence for “coherent star formation”: the stacked star formation rate (SFR) profiles of galaxies above (below) the “star formation main sequence” (MS) are above (below) that of galaxies on the MS at all radii. One might interpret this result as inconsistent with highly bursty star formation and evidence that galaxies evolve smoothly along the MS rather than crossing it many times. We analyze six simulated galaxies at z˜ 1 from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project in a manner analogous to the observations to test whether the above interpretations are correct. The trends in stacked SFR profiles are qualitatively consistent with those observed. However, SFR profiles of individual galaxies are much more complex than the stacked profiles: the former can be flat or even peak at large radii because of the highly clustered nature of star formation in the simulations. Moreover, the SFR profiles of individual galaxies above (below) the MS are not systematically above (below) those of MS galaxies at all radii. We conclude that the time-averaged coherent star formation evident stacks of observed galaxies is consistent with highly bursty, clumpy star formation of individual galaxies and is not evidence that galaxies evolve smoothly along the MS.

Star Formation Histories of Dwarf Irregular Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Skillman, Evan

1995-07-01

We propose to obtain deep WFPC2 `BVI' color-magnitude diagrams {CMDs} for the dwarf irregular {dI} Local Group galaxies GR 8, Leo A, Pegasus, and Sextans A. In addition to resolved stars, we will use star clusters, and especially any globulars, to probe the history of intense star formation. These data will allow us to map the Pop I and Pop II stellar components, and thereby construct the first detailed star formation histories for non-interacting dI galaxies. Our results will bear on a variety of astrophysical problems, including the evolution of small galaxies, distances in the Local Group, age-metallicity distributions in small galaxies, ages of dIs, and the physics of star formation. The four target galaxies are typical dI systems in terms of luminosity, gas content, and H II region abundance, and represent a range in current star forming activity. They are sufficiently near to allow us to reach to stars at M_V = 0, have 0.1 of the luminosity of the SMC and 0.25 of its oxygen abundance. Unlike the SMC, these dIs are not near giant galaxies. This project will allow the extension of our knowledge of stellar populations in star forming galaxies from the spirals in the Local Group down to its smallest members. We plan to take maximum advantage of the unique data which this project will provide. Our investigator team brings extensive and varied experience in studies of dwarf galaxies, stellar populations, imaging photometry, and stellar evolution to this project.

PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY IN KEPLER TARGET STARS: THE SUN AMONG STARS-A FIRST LOOK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basri, Gibor; Walkowicz, Lucianne M.; Batalha, Natalie; Jenkins, Jon; Borucki, William J.; Koch, David; Caldwell, Doug; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Dupree, Andrea K.; Latham, David W.; Meibom, Soeren; Howell, Steve; Brown, Tim

2010-01-01

The Kepler mission provides an exciting opportunity to study the light curves of stars with unprecedented precision and continuity of coverage. This is the first look at a large sample of stars with photometric data of a quality that has heretofore been only available for our Sun. It provides the first opportunity to compare the irradiance variations of our Sun to a large cohort of stars ranging from very similar to rather different stellar properties, at a wide variety of ages. Although Kepler data are in an early phase of maturity, and we only analyze the first month of coverage, it is sufficient to garner the first meaningful measurements of our Sun's variability in the context of a large cohort of main-sequence stars in the solar neighborhood. We find that nearly half of the full sample is more active than the active Sun, although most of them are not more than twice as active. The active fraction is closer to a third for the stars most similar to the Sun, and rises to well more than half for stars cooler than mid-K spectral types.

Gravitational instability, evolution of galaxies and star formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palous, J.

1979-01-01

The gravitational collapse is the key to the theories of galaxy and star formation. The observations, showing intrinsic differences between elliptical and spiral galaxies, guide our fundamental conceptions on the formation and evolution of systems in question. Stars in elliptical galaxies and in spherical components of spiral galaxies were formed in a short period of time during early phases of protogalactic collapse, at a time of violent star formation. The disc-like components of spiral galaxies, however, were built gradually in the course of galactic evolution. Star formation in elliptical galaxies is described by the collision model of interstellar clouds, while star formation in discs is characterised by several processes: the expansion of HII regions, the expansion of supernovae remnants and the shock wave related to the presence of the spiral structure. (author)

ON THE STAR FORMATION PROPERTIES OF VOID GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moorman, Crystal M.; Moreno, Jackeline; White, Amanda; Vogeley, Michael S. [Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Hoyle, Fiona [Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Ecuador, 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Quito (Ecuador); Giovanelli, Riccardo; Haynes, Martha P., E-mail: crystal.m.moorman@drexel.edu [Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Space Sciences Building, Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2016-11-10

We measure the star formation properties of two large samples of galaxies from the SDSS in large-scale cosmic voids on timescales of 10 and 100 Myr, using H α emission line strengths and GALEX FUV fluxes, respectively. The first sample consists of 109,818 optically selected galaxies. We find that void galaxies in this sample have higher specific star formation rates (SSFRs; star formation rates per unit stellar mass) than similar stellar mass galaxies in denser regions. The second sample is a subset of the optically selected sample containing 8070 galaxies with reliable H i detections from ALFALFA. For the full H i detected sample, SSFRs do not vary systematically with large-scale environment. However, investigating only the H i detected dwarf galaxies reveals a trend toward higher SSFRs in voids. Furthermore, we estimate the star formation rate per unit H i mass (known as the star formation efficiency; SFE) of a galaxy, as a function of environment. For the overall H i detected population, we notice no environmental dependence. Limiting the sample to dwarf galaxies still does not reveal a statistically significant difference between SFEs in voids versus walls. These results suggest that void environments, on average, provide a nurturing environment for dwarf galaxy evolution allowing for higher specific star formation rates while forming stars with similar efficiencies to those in walls.

A practical equation of state for the sun and sun-like stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, H.H.; Daeppen, W.

2012-01-01

For models of the Sun and Sun-like stars, a high-quality equation of state is crucial. Conversely, helio- and asteroseismological observations put constraints on the physical formalisms. They effectively turn the Sun and stars into laboratories for dense plasmas. For models of the Sun and Sun-like stars, the most accurate equation of state so far has been the one developed as part of OPAL opacity project of Livermore. However, the OPAL equation of state is limited in two important respects. First, it is only available in the form of pre-computed tables that are provided from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Applications to stellar modeling require therefore interpolation, with unavoidable loss of accuracy. Second, the OPAL equation of state is proprietary and not freely available. Varying its underlying physical parameters is therefore no option for the community. We report on the most recent progress with the development of a high-precision emulation of the OPAL equation of state that will lead to an in-line tool for modelers (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Star formation properties of galaxy cluster A1767

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Peng-Fei; Li, Feng; Yuan, Qi-Rong

2015-01-01

Abell 1767 is a dynamically relaxed, cD cluster of galaxies with a redshift of 0.0703. Among 250 spectroscopically confirmed member galaxies within a projected radius of 2.5r 200 , 243 galaxies (∼ 97%) are spectroscopically covered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Based on this homogeneous spectral sample, the stellar evolutionary synthesis code STARLIGHT is applied to investigate the stellar populations and star formation histories of galaxies in this cluster. The star formation properties of galaxies, such as mean stellar ages, metallicities, stellar masses, and star formation rates, are presented as functions of local galaxy density. A strong environmental effect is found such that massive galaxies in the high-density core region of the cluster tend to have higher metallicities, older mean stellar ages, and lower specific star formation rates (SSFRs), and their recent star formation activities have been remarkably suppressed. In addition, the correlations of the metallicity and SSFR with stellar mass are confirmed. (paper)

The Sun among the stars. Pt. 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardorp, J.

1980-01-01

Energy distributions from 3308 to 8390 Angstroem of two candidates for a solar spectral analog and of 14 other northern G-type dwarfs are compared to the solar energy distribution via stellar spectrophotometric standards. The reliability of the stellar and solar flux-calibrations is evaluated. While the stellar calibration seems to be in good shape, solar calibrations differ widely. Labs.and Neckel's calibration is the best match to the energy distributions from 4500 to 8390 Angstroem of those four stars that share the Sun's ultraviolet line spectrum (16 Cyg B, G5V, and the three Hyades stars VB 64, 106, and 142). Below 4500 Angstroem, discrepancies of up to 6% remain which do not seem to be genuine Sun-star differences. An error in the Labs and Neckel tables between 5700 and 6000 Angstroem is corrected. The NASA Standard Tables of Solar Spectral Irradiance cannot be trusted, since there seems to be no star in the sky that look like the NASA-sun. The four stars mentioned are taken to be perfect solar spectral analogs. An improved table of solar spectral irradiance is then given by the magnitudes of 16 Cyg B minus 32.945, based on Tueg's atellar and Labs and Neckel's solar calibrations. The Sun's place in the UBV system is V = -26.71 +- 0.03, B-V = 0.665 +- 0.005, and U-B = 0.20 +- 0.01. Most previous photometric investigations found a bluer Sun because they used the wrong solar calibration. For deriving accurate albedos of planets, any one of the calibrated G-type stars can be used as a standard star, when corrections are applied, although the solar analogs themselves are to be preferred. The MK system of spectral classification should be revised. (orig.)

Star-formation complexes in the `galaxy-sized' supergiant shell of the galaxy Holmberg I

Science.gov (United States)

Egorov, Oleg V.; Lozinskaya, Tatiana A.; Moiseev, Alexei V.; Smirnov-Pinchukov, Grigory V.

2018-05-01

We present the results of observations of the galaxy Holmberg I carried out at the Russian 6-m telescope in the narrow-band imaging, long-slit spectroscopy, and scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer modes. A detailed analysis of gas kinematics, ionization conditions, and metallicity of star-forming regions in the galaxy is presented. The aim of the paper is to analyse the propagation of star formation in the galaxy and to understand the role of the ongoing star formation in the evolution of the central `galaxy-sized' supergiant H I shell (SGS), where all regions of star formation are observed. We show that star formation in the galaxy occurs in large unified complexes rather than in individual giant H II regions. Evidence of the triggered star formation is observed both on scales of individual complexes and of the whole galaxy. We identified two supernova-remnant candidates and one late-type WN star and analysed their spectrum and surrounding-gas kinematics. We provide arguments indicating that the SGS in Holmberg I is destructing by the influence of star formation occurring on its rims.

Star Formation Histories of Nearby Dwarf Galaxies

OpenAIRE

Grebel, Eva K.

2000-01-01

Properties of nearby dwarf galaxies are briefly discussed. Dwarf galaxies vary widely in their star formation histories, the ages of their subpopulations, and in their enrichment history. Furthermore, many dwarf galaxies show evidence for spatial variations in their star formation history; often in the form of very extended old populations and radial gradients in age and metallicity. Determining factors in dwarf galaxy evolution appear to be both galaxy mass and environment. We may be observi...

The finite - dimensional star and grade star irreducible representation of SU(n/1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Qi-zhi.

1981-01-01

We derive the conditions of star and grade star representations of SU(n/1) and give some examples of them. We also give a brief review of the finite - dimensional irreducible representations of SU(n/1). (author)

Stars at Low Metallicity in Dwarf Galaxies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tolstoy, Eline; Battaglia, Giuseppina; Cole, Andrew; Hunt, LK; Madden, S; Schneider, R

2008-01-01

Dwarf galaxies offer an opportunity to understand the properties of low metallicity star formation both today and at the earliest times at the, epoch of the formation of the first stars. Here we concentrate on two galaxies in the Local Group: the dwarf irregular galaxy Leo A, which has been the

Colors of galaxies with continuing star formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zasov, A.V.; Demin, V.V.

1979-01-01

A position of non-elliptical galaxies on a two-colour diagram (B-V)-(U-B) is considered from the data on the RC2 catalogue. Correction was made for internal reddening of light in galaxies. A sequence of colour indices on a two-colour diagram is compared with theoretical sequences for the Salpeter's initial mass function of stars (IMF). To reach the best agreement between calculated and observed colours of galaxies it is demanded that IMF change systematically along a morphological Hubble's sequence of galaxies and IMF in most of spiral galaxies of early types must have a deficiency of massive stars with respect to the Salpeter's IMF. A difference between colour indices of inner and outer parts of spiral galaxies shows that internal light absorption is possibly stronger in the inner regions of galaxies. A relation between dust content of galaxies and their IMF is in qualitative agreement with the Kahn's theory which gives an upper limit of mass of young stars

The sun as a star: Solar phenomena and stellar applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noyes, R.W.

1981-01-01

Our Sun is a run-of-the-mill star, having no obvious extremes of stellar properties. For this reason it is perhaps more, rather than less, interesting as an astrophysical object, for its sameness to other stars suggests that in studying the Sun, we are studying at close hand common, rather than unusual stellar phenomena. Conversely, comparative study of the Sun and other solar-type stars is an invaluable tool for solar physics, for two reasons: First, it allows us to explore how solar properties and phenomena depend on parameters we cannot vary on the Sun - most fundamentally, rotation rate and mass. Second, study of solar-like stars of different ages allows us to see how stellar and solar phenomena depend on age; study of other stars may be one of the best ways to infer the earlier history of the Sun, as well as its future history. In this review we shall concentrate on phenomena common to the Sun and solar-type (main sequence) stars with different fundamental properties such as mass, age, and rotation. (orig.)

Galaxies in the act of quenching star formation

Science.gov (United States)

Quai, Salvatore; Pozzetti, Lucia; Citro, Annalisa; Moresco, Michele; Cimatti, Andrea

2018-04-01

Detecting galaxies when their star-formation is being quenched is crucial to understand the mechanisms driving their evolution. We identify for the first time a sample of quenching galaxies selected just after the interruption of their star formation by exploiting the [O III] λ5007/Hα ratio and searching for galaxies with undetected [O III]. Using a sample of ˜174000 star-forming galaxies extracted from the SDSS-DR8 at 0.04 ≤ z growth of the quiescent population at these redshifts. Their main properties (i.e. star-formation rate, colours and metallicities) are comparable to those of the star-forming population, coherently with the hypothesis of recent quenching, but preferably reside in higher-density environments.Most candidates have morphologies similar to star-forming galaxies, suggesting that no morphological transformation has occurred yet. From a survival analysis we find a low fraction of candidates (˜ 0.58% of the star-forming population), leading to a short quenching timescale of tQ ˜ 50 Myr and an e-folding time for the quenching history of τQ ˜ 90 Myr, and their upper limits of tQ < 0.76 Gyr and τQ <1.5 Gyr, assuming as quenching galaxies 50% of objects without [O III] (˜7.5%).Our results are compatible with a 'rapid' quenching scenario of satellites galaxies due to the final phase of strangulation or ram-pressure stripping. This approach represents a robust alternative to methods used so far to select quenched galaxies (e.g. colours, specific star-formation rate, or post-starburst spectra).

Star clusters in the Whirlpool Galaxy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheepmaker, R.A.

2009-01-01

This thesis presents the results of observational studies of the star cluster population in the interacting spiral galaxy M51, also known as the Whirlpool galaxy. Observations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical and the near-UV are used to determine fundamental properties of the star

A CHANDRA PERSPECTIVE ON GALAXY-WIDE X-RAY BINARY EMISSION AND ITS CORRELATION WITH STAR FORMATION RATE AND STELLAR MASS: NEW RESULTS FROM LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehmer, B. D.; Jenkins, L. P.; Alexander, D. M.; Goulding, A. D.; Roberts, T. P.; Bauer, F. E.; Brandt, W. N.; Ptak, A.

2010-01-01

We present new Chandra observations that complete a sample of seventeen (17) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with D H ∼ 20 cm -2 . The LIRGs in our sample have total infrared (8-1000 μm) luminosities in the range of L IR ∼ (1-8) x 10 11 L sun . The high-resolution imaging and X-ray spectral information from our Chandra observations allow us to measure separately X-ray contributions from active galactic nuclei and normal galaxy processes (e.g., X-ray binaries and hot gas). We utilized total infrared plus UV luminosities to estimate star formation rates (SFRs) and K-band luminosities and optical colors to estimate stellar masses (M * ) for the sample. Under the assumption that the galaxy-wide 2-10 keV luminosity (L gal HX ) traces the combined emission from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) and low-mass X-ray binaries, and that the power output from these components is linearly correlated with SFR and M * , respectively, we constrain the relation L gal HX = αM * + βSFR. To achieve this, we construct a Chandra-based data set composed of our new LIRG sample combined with additional samples of less actively star-forming normal galaxies and more powerful LIRGs and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) from the literature. Using these data, we measure best-fit values of α = (9.05 ± 0.37) x 10 28 erg s -1 M -1 sun and β = (1.62 ± 0.22) x 10 39 erg s -1 (M sun yr -1 ) -1 . This scaling provides a more physically meaningful estimate of L gal HX , with ∼0.1-0.2 dex less scatter, than a direct linear scaling with SFR. Our results suggest that HMXBs dominate the galaxy-wide X-ray emission for galaxies with SFR/M * ∼>5.9 x 10 -11 yr -1 , a factor of ∼2.9 times lower than previous estimates. We find that several of the most powerful LIRGs and ULIRGs, with SFR/M * ∼> 10 -9 yr -1 , appear to be X-ray underluminous with respect to our best-fit relation. We argue that these galaxies are likely to contain X-ray binaries residing in compact star-forming regions

From the sun to the Galactic Center: dust, stars and black hole(s)

Science.gov (United States)

Fritz, Tobias

2013-07-01

Way. I obtain the mass distribution and the light distribution of these stars. I ! find that the flattening of the stellar distribution increases outside 70''. This indicates that inside a nearly spherical nuclear cluster dominates and that the surrounding light belongs mostly to the nuclear disk. I dissect the light in two components and obtain for the nuclear cluster L_Ks=2.7*10^7 L_sun. I obtain proper motions for more than 10000 stars and radial velocities for more than 2400 stars. Using Jeans modeling I combine velocities and the radial profile to obtain within 100'' (4 pc) a mass of 6.02*10^6 M_sun and a total nuclear cluster mass of 12.88*10^6 M_sun. The Jeans modeling and various other evidence weakly favor a core in the extended mass compared to a cusp. The old star light shows a similar core. The mass to light ratio of the old stars of the nuclear cluster is consistent with the usual initial mass function in the Galaxy. This suggests that most stars in GC formed in the usual way, in a mode different from the origin of the youngest stars there.

CANDELS: CORRELATIONS OF SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS AND MORPHOLOGIES WITH STAR FORMATION STATUS FOR MASSIVE GALAXIES AT z {approx} 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang Tao; Gu Qiusheng [School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Huang Jiasheng; Fang Guanwen; Fazio, G. G. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Faber, S. M.; McGrath, Elizabeth J.; Kocevski, Dale [University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Wuyts, Stijn [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching (Germany); Yan Haojing [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 (United States); Dekel, Avishai [Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel); Guo Yicheng [Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, 710 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Ferguson, Henry C.; Grogin, Norman; Lotz, Jennifer M.; Lucas, Ray A.; Koekemoer, A. M. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Weiner, Benjamin [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Hathi, Nimish P. [Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Kong Xu, E-mail: taowang@nju.edu.cn [Center for Astrophysics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)

2012-06-20

We present a study on spectral energy distributions, morphologies, and star formation for an IRAC-selected extremely red object sample in the GOODS Chandra Deep Field-South. This work was enabled by new HST/WFC3 near-IR imaging from the CANDELS survey as well as the deepest available X-ray data from Chandra 4 Ms observations. This sample consists of 133 objects with the 3.6 {mu}m limiting magnitude of [3.6] = 21.5 and is approximately complete for galaxies with M{sub *} > 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun} at 1.5 {<=} z {<=} 2.5. We classify this sample into two types, quiescent and star-forming galaxies (SFGs), in the observed infrared color-color ([3.6]-[24] versus K - [3.6]) diagram. The further morphological study of this sample shows a consistent result with the observed color classification. The classified quiescent galaxies are bulge dominated and SFGs in the sample have disk or irregular morphologies. Our observed infrared color classification is also consistent with the rest-frame color (U - V versus V - J) classification. We also found that quiescent and SFGs are well separated in the nonparametric morphology parameter (Gini versus M{sub 20}) diagram measuring their concentration and clumpiness: quiescent galaxies have a Gini coefficient higher than 0.58 and SFGs have a Gini coefficient lower than 0.58. We argue that the star formation quenching process must lead to or be accompanied by the increasing galaxy concentration. One prominent morphological feature of this sample is that disks are commonly seen in this massive galaxy sample at 1.5 {<=} z {<=} 2.5: 30% of quiescent galaxies and 70% of SFGs with M{sub *} > 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun} have disks in their rest-frame optical morphologies. The prevalence of these extended, relatively undisturbed disks challenges the merging scenario as the main mode of massive galaxy formation.

HISTORY OF GALAXY INTERACTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON STAR FORMATION OVER THE LAST 7 Gyr FROM GEMS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jogee, Shardha; Miller, Sarah H.; Penner, Kyle; Skelton, Rosalind E.; Somerville, Rachel S.; Bell, Eric F.; Rix, Hans-Walter; Robaina, Aday R.; Borch, Andrea; Haeussler, Boris; Jahnke, Knud; Conselice, Christopher J.; Zheng, Xian Zhong; Barazza, Fabio D.; Barden, Marco; Beckwith, Steven V. W.; Caldwell, John A. R.; Peng, Chien Y.; Heymans, Catherine; McIntosh, Daniel H.

2009-01-01

We perform a comprehensive estimate of the frequency of galaxy mergers and their impact on star formation over z∼ 0.24-0.80 (lookback time T b ∼ 3-7 Gyr) using ∼3600 (M≥ 1 x 10 9 M sun ) galaxies with GEMS Hubble Space Telescope, COMBO-17, and Spitzer data. Our results are as follows. (1) Among ∼790 high-mass (M≥ 2.5 x 10 10 M sun ) galaxies, the visually based merger fraction over z∼ 0.24-0.80, ranges from 9% ± 5% to 8% ± 2%. Lower limits on the major merger and minor merger fraction over this interval range from 1.1% to 3.5%, and 3.6% to 7.5%, respectively. This is the first, albeit approximate, empirical estimate of the frequency of minor mergers over the last 7 Gyr. Assuming a visibility timescale of ∼0.5 Gyr, it follows that over T b ∼ 3-7 Gyr, ∼68% of high-mass systems have undergone a merger of mass ratio >1/10, with ∼16%, 45%, and 7% of these corresponding respectively to major, minor, and ambiguous 'major or minor' mergers. The average merger rate is ∼ a few x10 -4 galaxies Gyr -1 Mpc -3 . Among ∼2840 blue-cloud galaxies of mass M≥ 1.0 x 10 9 M sun , similar results hold. (2) We compare the empirical merger fraction and merger rate for high-mass galaxies to three Λ cold dark matter-based models: halo occupation distribution models, semi-analytic models, and hydrodynamic SPH simulations. We find qualitative agreement between observations and models such that the (major+minor) merger fraction or rate from different models bracket the observations, and show a factor of 5 dispersion. Near-future improvements can now start to rule out certain merger scenarios. (3) Among ∼3698 M≥ 1.0 x 10 9 M sun galaxies, we find that the mean star formation rate (SFR) of visibly merging systems is only modestly enhanced compared to non-interacting galaxies over z∼ 0.24-0.80. Visibly merging systems only account for a small fraction ( b ∼ 3-7 Gyr. This complements the results of Wolf et al. over a shorter time interval of T b ∼ 6

GAMMA RAYS FROM STAR FORMATION IN CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Storm, Emma M.; Jeltema, Tesla E.; Profumo, Stefano

2012-01-01

Star formation in galaxies is observed to be associated with gamma-ray emission, presumably from non-thermal processes connected to the acceleration of cosmic-ray nuclei and electrons. The detection of gamma rays from starburst galaxies by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has allowed the determination of a functional relationship between star formation rate and gamma-ray luminosity. Since star formation is known to scale with total infrared (8-1000 μm) and radio (1.4 GHz) luminosity, the observed infrared and radio emission from a star-forming galaxy can be used to quantitatively infer the galaxy's gamma-ray luminosity. Similarly, star-forming galaxies within galaxy clusters allow us to derive lower limits on the gamma-ray emission from clusters, which have not yet been conclusively detected in gamma rays. In this study, we apply the functional relationships between gamma-ray luminosity and radio and IR luminosities of galaxies derived by the Fermi Collaboration to a sample of the best candidate galaxy clusters for detection in gamma rays in order to place lower limits on the gamma-ray emission associated with star formation in galaxy clusters. We find that several clusters have predicted gamma-ray emission from star formation that are within an order of magnitude of the upper limits derived in Ackermann et al. based on non-detection by Fermi-LAT. Given the current gamma-ray limits, star formation likely plays a significant role in the gamma-ray emission in some clusters, especially those with cool cores. We predict that both Fermi-LAT over the course of its lifetime and the future Cerenkov Telescope Array will be able to detect gamma-ray emission from star-forming galaxies in clusters.

Chandra Sees Wealth Of Black Holes In Star-Forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

2001-06-01

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

The Maximum Flux of Star-Forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-04-01

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

Star formation and abundances in the nearby irregular galaxy VII ZW 403

Science.gov (United States)

Tully, R. B.; Boesgaard, A. M.; Dyck, H. M.; Schempp, W. V.

1981-05-01

Photometry in J, H, and K bands reveals that there is an unresolved source of infrared emission associated with the brightest H II region in VII Zw 403, and the colors suggest the presence of a substantial number of K and M supergiants in addition to the hot O stars that must be present to account for the ionized gas. Spectrophotometry of this emission region indicates that reddening is substantial, and that the interpretation of the observed Balmer decrement in terms of reddening is not straightforward. The primary nucleosynthesis products O, S, and Ne are underabundant compared with the sun by a factor of 15; N is underabundant compared with the sun by a factor of 160; and the helium abundance suggests that either there could have been only a small number of star formation episodes or the galaxy is younger than the time scale of the process that deposits N in the interstellar medium.

STAR FORMATION IN DISK GALAXIES. II. THE EFFECT OF STAR FORMATION AND PHOTOELECTRIC HEATING ON THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF GIANT MOLECULAR CLOUDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tasker, Elizabeth J.

2011-01-01

We investigate the effect of star formation and diffuse photoelectric heating on the properties of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) formed in high-resolution (∼ H,c >100 cm -3 are identified as GMCs. Between 1000 and 1500 clouds are created in the simulations with masses M>10 5 M sun and 180-240 with masses M>10 6 M sun in agreement with estimates of the Milky Way's population. We find that the effect of photoelectric heating is to suppress the fragmentation of the interstellar medium, resulting in a filamentary structure in the warm gas surrounding clouds. This environment suppresses the formation of a retrograde rotating cloud population, with 88% of the clouds rotating prograde with respect to the galaxy after 300 Myr. The diffuse heating also reduces the initial star formation rate (SFR), slowing the conversation of gas into stars. We therefore conclude that the interstellar environment plays an important role in the GMC evolution. Our clouds live between 0 and 20 Myr with a high infant mortality (t' < 3 Myr) due to cloud mergers and star formation. Other properties, including distributions of mass, size, and surface density, agree well with observations. Collisions between our clouds are common, occurring at a rate of ∼ 1/4 of the orbital period. It is not clear whether such collisions trigger or suppress star formation at our current resolution. Our SFR is a factor of 10 higher than observations in local galaxies. This is likely due to the absence of localized feedback in our models.

Halo carbon stars associated with dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Den Bergh, S.; Lafontaine, A.

1984-11-01

Star counts have been performed for rings centered on the carbon star at 1 69 degrees, b + 55 degrees at a distance of 60 kpc. The counts were performed in order to determine whether halo carbon stars might be situated in dwarf spheroidal galaxies which are too star-poor to have been recognized as galaxies. The counts were made on a IIIa-J plate baked in forming gas that was exposed for 40 minutes through a 2C filter with the Palomar 1.2-m Schmidt telescope. It is shown that the carbon star is not situated in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy brighter than M(V) 5.7.

Recent star formation in interacting galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joseph, R.D.; Wright, G.S.

1985-01-01

The subset of galaxy-galaxy interactions which have resulted in a merger are, as a class, ultraluminous IR galaxies. Their IR luminosities span a narrow range which overlaps with the most luminous Seyfert galaxies. However, in contrast with Seyfert galaxies, the available optical, IR, and radio properties of mergers show no evidence for a compact non-thermal central source, and are easily understood in terms of a burst of star formation of extraordinary intensity and spatial extent; they are 'super starbursts'. We argue that super starbursts occur in the evolution of most mergers, and discuss the implications of super starbursts for the suggestion that mergers evolve into elliptical galaxies. Finally, we note that merger-induced shocks are likely to leave the gas from both galaxies in dense molecular form which will rapidly cool, collapse, and fragment. Thus a merger might in fact be expected to result in a burst of star formation of exceptional intensity and spatial extent, i.e. a super starburst. (author)

PROBING THE STAR FORMATION HISTORY AND INITIAL MASS FUNCTION OF THE z {approx} 2.5 LENSED GALAXY SMM J163554.2+661225 WITH HERSCHEL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finkelstein, Keely D.; Papovich, Casey; Finkelstein, Steven L. [George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States); Willmer, Christopher N. A.; Egami, Eiichi; Rieke, Marcia [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Rigby, Jane R. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Rudnick, Gregory [Department of Physics and Astronomy, 1251 Wescoe Hall Dr., University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7582 (United States); Smith, J.-D. T. [Ritter Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, MS 113, Toledo, OH 43606 (United States)

2011-12-01

We present the analysis of Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver far-infrared (FIR) observations of the z = 2.515 lensed galaxy SMM J163554.2+661225. Combining new 250, 350, and 500 {mu}m observations with existing data, we make an improved fit to the FIR spectral energy distribution of this galaxy. We find a total infrared (IR) luminosity of L(8-1000 {mu}m) = 6.9 {+-} 0.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} L{sub Sun }, a factor of three more precise over previous L{sub IR} estimates for this galaxy, and one of the most accurate measurements for any galaxy at these redshifts. This FIR luminosity implies an unlensed star formation rate (SFR) for this galaxy of 119 {+-} 10 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}, which is a factor of 1.9 {+-} 0.35 lower than the SFR derived from the nebular Pa{alpha} emission line (a 2.5{sigma} discrepancy). Both SFR indicators assume an identical Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) with slope {Gamma} = 2.35 over a mass range of 0.1-100 M{sub Sun }; thus this discrepancy suggests that more ionizing photons may be necessary to account for the higher Pa{alpha}-derived SFR. We examine a number of scenarios and find that the observations can be explained with a varying star formation history (SFH) due to an increasing SFR, paired with a slight flattening of the IMF. If the SFR is constant in time, then larger changes need to be made to the IMF by either increasing the upper mass cutoff to {approx}200 M{sub Sun }, or a flattening of the IMF slope to 1.9 {+-} 0.15, or a combination of the two. These scenarios result in up to double the number of stars with masses above 20 M{sub Sun }, which produce the requisite increase in ionizing photons over a Salpeter IMF with a constant SFH.

C III] EMISSION IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES NEAR AND FAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rigby, J. R. [Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Bayliss, M. B. [Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Gladders, M. D. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Sharon, K.; Johnson, T. [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Wuyts, E. [Max Plank Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Dahle, H. [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Peña-Guerrero, M. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2015-11-20

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

Spatially-resolved star formation histories of CALIFA galaxies. Implications for galaxy formation

Science.gov (United States)

González Delgado, R. M.; Pérez, E.; Cid Fernandes, R.; García-Benito, R.; López Fernández, R.; Vale Asari, N.; Cortijo-Ferrero, C.; de Amorim, A. L.; Lacerda, E. A. D.; Sánchez, S. F.; Lehnert, M. D.; Walcher, C. J.

2017-11-01

This paper presents the spatially resolved star formation history (SFH) of nearby galaxies with the aim of furthering our understanding of the different processes involved in the formation and evolution of galaxies. To this end, we apply the fossil record method of stellar population synthesis to a rich and diverse data set of 436 galaxies observed with integral field spectroscopy in the CALIFA survey. The sample covers a wide range of Hubble types, with stellar masses ranging from M⋆ 109 to 7 × 1011 M⊙. Spectral synthesis techniques are applied to the datacubes to retrieve the spatially resolved time evolution of the star formation rate (SFR), its intensity (ΣSFR), and other descriptors of the 2D SFH in seven bins of galaxy morphology (E, S0, Sa, Sb, Sbc, Sc, and Sd) and five bins of stellar mass. Our main results are that (a) galaxies form very fast independently of their current stellar mass, with the peak of star formation at high redshift (z > 2). Subsequent star formation is driven by M⋆ and morphology, with less massive and later type spirals showing more prolonged periods of star formation. (b) At any epoch in the past, the SFR is proportional to M⋆, with most massive galaxies having the highest absolute (but lowest specific) SFRs. (c) While today, the ΣSFR is similar for all spirals and significantly lower in early-type galaxies (ETG), in the past, the ΣSFR scales well with morphology. The central regions of today's ETGs are where the ΣSFR reached the highest values (> 103 M⊙ Gyr-1 pc-2), similar to those measured in high-redshift star-forming galaxies. (d) The evolution of ΣSFR in Sbc systems matches that of models for Milky Way-like galaxies, suggesting that the formation of a thick disk may be a common phase in spirals at early epochs. (e) The SFR and ΣSFR in outer regions of E and S0 galaxies show that they have undergone an extended phase of growth in mass between z = 2 and 0.4. The mass assembled in this phase is in agreement with

UVES Abundances of Stars in Nearby Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Tolstoy, Eline; Venn, Kim; Shetrone, Matt; Primas, Francesca; Hill, Vanessa; Kaufer, Andreas; Szeifert, Thomas

2002-07-01

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a galaxy in possession of a good quantity of gas must want to form stars. It is the details of how and why that baffle us all. The simplest theories either would have this process a carefully self-regulated affair, or one that goes completely out of control and is capable of wrecking the galaxy which hosts it. Of course the majority of galaxies seem to amble along somewhere between these two extremes, and the mean properties tend to favour a quiescent self-regulated evolutionary scenario. But there area variety of observations which require us to invoke transitory ‘bursts’ of star-formation at one time or another in most galaxy types. Several nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies have clearly determined star-formation histories with apparent periods of zero star formation followed by periods of fairly active star formation. If we are able to understand what separated these bursts we would understand several important phenomena in galaxy evolution. Were these galaxies able to clear out their gas reservoir in a burst of star formation? How did this gas return? or did it? Have these galaxies receieved gas from the IGM instead? Could stars from these types of galaxy contribute significantly to the halo population in our Galaxy? To answer these questions we need to combine accurate stellar photometry and Colour-Magnitude Diagram interpretation with detailed metal abundances to combine a star-formation rate versus time with a range of element abundances with time. Different elements trace different evolutionary process (e.g., relative contributions of type I and II supernovae). We often aren't even sure of the abundance spread in these galaxies. We have collected detailed high resolution UVES spectra of four nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies (Sculptor, Fornax, Leo I & Carina) to begin to answer these questions. This is a precursor study to a more complete study with FLAMES. We presented at this meeting the initial results for

Star Formation Quenching in Quasar Host Galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carniani, Stefano, E-mail: sc888@mrao.cam.ac.uk [Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom)

2017-10-16

Galaxy evolution is likely to be shaped by negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In the whole range of redshifts and luminosities studied so far, galaxies hosting an AGN frequently show fast and extended outflows consisting in both ionized and molecular gas. Such outflows could potentially quench the start formation within the host galaxy, but a clear evidence of negative feedback in action is still missing. Hereby I will analyse integral-field spectroscopic data for six quasars at z ~ 2.4 obtained with SINFONI in the H- and K-band. All the quasars show [Oiii]λ5007 line detection of fast, extended outflows. Also, the high signal-to-noise SINFONI observations allow the identification of faint narrow Hα emission (FWHM < 500 km/s), which is spatially extended and associated with star formation in the host galaxy. On paper fast outflows are spatially anti-correlated with star-formation powered emission, i.e., star formation is suppressed in the area affected by the outflow. Nonetheless as narrow, spatially-extended Hα emission, indicating star formation rates of at least 50–100 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}, has been detected, either AGN feedback is not affecting the whole host galaxy, or star formation is completely quenched only by several feedback episodes. On the other hand, a positive feedback scenario, supported by narrow emission in Hα extending along the edges of the outflow cone, suggests that galaxy-wide outflows could also have a twofold role in the evolution of the host galaxy. Finally, I will present CO(3-2) ALMA data for three out of the six QSOs observed with SINFONI. Flux maps obtained for the CO(3-2) transition suggest that molecular gas within the host galaxy is swept away by fast winds. A negative-feedback scenario is supported by the inferred molecular gas mass in all three objects, which is significantly below what observed in non-active main-sequence galaxies at high-z.

Star Formation Quenching in Quasar Host Galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carniani, Stefano

2017-01-01

Galaxy evolution is likely to be shaped by negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In the whole range of redshifts and luminosities studied so far, galaxies hosting an AGN frequently show fast and extended outflows consisting in both ionized and molecular gas. Such outflows could potentially quench the start formation within the host galaxy, but a clear evidence of negative feedback in action is still missing. Hereby I will analyse integral-field spectroscopic data for six quasars at z ~ 2.4 obtained with SINFONI in the H- and K-band. All the quasars show [Oiii]λ5007 line detection of fast, extended outflows. Also, the high signal-to-noise SINFONI observations allow the identification of faint narrow Hα emission (FWHM < 500 km/s), which is spatially extended and associated with star formation in the host galaxy. On paper fast outflows are spatially anti-correlated with star-formation powered emission, i.e., star formation is suppressed in the area affected by the outflow. Nonetheless as narrow, spatially-extended Hα emission, indicating star formation rates of at least 50–100 M ⊙ yr −1 , has been detected, either AGN feedback is not affecting the whole host galaxy, or star formation is completely quenched only by several feedback episodes. On the other hand, a positive feedback scenario, supported by narrow emission in Hα extending along the edges of the outflow cone, suggests that galaxy-wide outflows could also have a twofold role in the evolution of the host galaxy. Finally, I will present CO(3-2) ALMA data for three out of the six QSOs observed with SINFONI. Flux maps obtained for the CO(3-2) transition suggest that molecular gas within the host galaxy is swept away by fast winds. A negative-feedback scenario is supported by the inferred molecular gas mass in all three objects, which is significantly below what observed in non-active main-sequence galaxies at high-z.

Star Formation Quenching in Quasar Host Galaxies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Carniani

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Galaxy evolution is likely to be shaped by negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN. In the whole range of redshifts and luminosities studied so far, galaxies hosting an AGN frequently show fast and extended outflows consisting in both ionized and molecular gas. Such outflows could potentially quench the start formation within the host galaxy, but a clear evidence of negative feedback in action is still missing. Hereby I will analyse integral-field spectroscopic data for six quasars at z ~ 2.4 obtained with SINFONI in the H- and K-band. All the quasars show [Oiii]λ5007 line detection of fast, extended outflows. Also, the high signal-to-noise SINFONI observations allow the identification of faint narrow Hα emission (FWHM < 500 km/s, which is spatially extended and associated with star formation in the host galaxy. On paper fast outflows are spatially anti-correlated with star-formation powered emission, i.e., star formation is suppressed in the area affected by the outflow. Nonetheless as narrow, spatially-extended Hα emission, indicating star formation rates of at least 50–100 M⊙ yr−1, has been detected, either AGN feedback is not affecting the whole host galaxy, or star formation is completely quenched only by several feedback episodes. On the other hand, a positive feedback scenario, supported by narrow emission in Hα extending along the edges of the outflow cone, suggests that galaxy-wide outflows could also have a twofold role in the evolution of the host galaxy. Finally, I will present CO(3-2 ALMA data for three out of the six QSOs observed with SINFONI. Flux maps obtained for the CO(3-2 transition suggest that molecular gas within the host galaxy is swept away by fast winds. A negative-feedback scenario is supported by the inferred molecular gas mass in all three objects, which is significantly below what observed in non-active main-sequence galaxies at high-z.

Wolf-Rayet stars in the Andromeda Galaxy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moffat, A.F.J.; Shara, M.M.; Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD)

1987-01-01

A survey of M31 for strong-line Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars has been completed, confirming the trends found previously, that (1) M31 is at present about an order of magnitude less active in star formation than the Galaxy, as reflected in the total number of W-R stars, assumed to have evolved from massive progenitors; (2) the number ratio of late to early WC stars, WCL/WCE, varies systematically with galactocentric radius as in the Galaxy, possibly a consequence of the metallicity gradient in the disk; and (3) most W-R stars lie in the prominent ring of active star formation at R = 7-12 kpc from the center of M31. 19 references

ORIGIN OF THE GALAXY MASS-METALLICITY-STAR FORMATION RELATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harwit, Martin; Brisbin, Drew

2015-01-01

We describe an equilibrium model that links the metallicity of low-redshift galaxies to stellar evolution models. It enables the testing of different stellar initial mass functions and metal yields against observed galaxy metallicities. We show that the metallicities of more than 80,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies in the low-redshift range 0.07 ≤ z ≤ 0.3 considerably constrain stellar evolution models that simultaneously relate galaxy stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rates to the infall rate of low-metallicity extragalactic gas and outflow of enriched matter. A feature of our model is that it encompasses both the active star forming phases of a galaxy and epochs during which the same galaxy may lie fallow. We show that the galaxy mass-metallicity-star formation relation can be traced to infall of extragalactic gas mixing with native gas from host galaxies to form stars of observed metallicities, the most massive of which eject oxygen into extragalactic space. Most consequential among our findings is that, on average, extragalactic infall accounts for one half of the gas required for star formation, a ratio that is remarkably constant across galaxies with stellar masses ranging at least from M* = 2 × 10 9 to 6 × 10 10 M ☉ . This leads us to propose that star formation is initiated when extragalactic infall roughly doubles the mass of marginally stable interstellar clouds. The processes described may also account quantitatively for the metallicity of extragalactic space, though to check this the fraction of extragalactic baryons will need to be more firmly established

ORIGIN OF THE GALAXY MASS-METALLICITY-STAR FORMATION RELATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harwit, Martin; Brisbin, Drew, E-mail: harwit@verizon.net [Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2015-02-20

We describe an equilibrium model that links the metallicity of low-redshift galaxies to stellar evolution models. It enables the testing of different stellar initial mass functions and metal yields against observed galaxy metallicities. We show that the metallicities of more than 80,000 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies in the low-redshift range 0.07 ≤ z ≤ 0.3 considerably constrain stellar evolution models that simultaneously relate galaxy stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rates to the infall rate of low-metallicity extragalactic gas and outflow of enriched matter. A feature of our model is that it encompasses both the active star forming phases of a galaxy and epochs during which the same galaxy may lie fallow. We show that the galaxy mass-metallicity-star formation relation can be traced to infall of extragalactic gas mixing with native gas from host galaxies to form stars of observed metallicities, the most massive of which eject oxygen into extragalactic space. Most consequential among our findings is that, on average, extragalactic infall accounts for one half of the gas required for star formation, a ratio that is remarkably constant across galaxies with stellar masses ranging at least from M* = 2 × 10{sup 9} to 6 × 10{sup 10} M {sub ☉}. This leads us to propose that star formation is initiated when extragalactic infall roughly doubles the mass of marginally stable interstellar clouds. The processes described may also account quantitatively for the metallicity of extragalactic space, though to check this the fraction of extragalactic baryons will need to be more firmly established.

Revisiting The First Galaxies: The epoch of Population III stars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muratov, Alexander L. [U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Gnedin, Oleg Y. [U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Gnedin, Nickolay Y. [Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Zemp, Marcel [Beijing, KITPC

2013-07-19

We investigate the transition from primordial Population III (Pop III) star formation to normal Pop II star formation in the first galaxies using new cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We find that while the first stars seed their host galaxies with metals, they cannot sustain significant outflows to enrich the intergalactic medium, even assuming a top-heavy initial mass function. This means that Pop III star formation could potentially continue until z 6 in different unenriched regions of the universe, before being ultimately shut off by cosmic reionization. Within an individual galaxy, the metal production and stellar feedback from Pop II stars overtake Pop III stars in 20-200 Myr, depending on galaxy mass.

Star clusters in evolving galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Renaud, Florent

2018-04-01

Their ubiquity and extreme densities make star clusters probes of prime importance of galaxy evolution. Old globular clusters keep imprints of the physical conditions of their assembly in the early Universe, and younger stellar objects, observationally resolved, tell us about the mechanisms at stake in their formation. Yet, we still do not understand the diversity involved: why is star cluster formation limited to 105M⊙ objects in the Milky Way, while some dwarf galaxies like NGC 1705 are able to produce clusters 10 times more massive? Why do dwarfs generally host a higher specific frequency of clusters than larger galaxies? How to connect the present-day, often resolved, stellar systems to the formation of globular clusters at high redshift? And how do these links depend on the galactic and cosmological environments of these clusters? In this review, I present recent advances on star cluster formation and evolution, in galactic and cosmological context. The emphasis is put on the theory, formation scenarios and the effects of the environment on the evolution of the global properties of clusters. A few open questions are identified.

Differential Rotation in Sun-like Stars from Surface Variability and Asteroseismology

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Martin Bo

2017-03-01

The Sun and other stars are known to oscillate. Through the study of small perturbations to the frequencies of these oscillations the rotation of the deep interior can be inferred. However, thus far the internal rotation of other Sun-like stars is unknown. The NASA Kepler mission has observed a multitude of Sun-like stars over a period of four years. This has provided high-quality photometric data that can be used to study the rotation of stars with two different techniques: asteroseismology and surface activity. Asteroseismology provides a means of measuring rotation in the stellar interior, while photometric variability from magnetically active regions are sensitive to rotation at the stellar surface. The combination of these two methods can be used to constrain the radial differential rotation in Sun-like stars. First, we developed an automated method for measuring the rotation of stars using surface variability. This method was initially applied to the entire Kepler catalog, out of which we detected signatures of rotation in 12,000 stars across the main sequence, providing robust estimates of the surface rotation rates and the associated errors. Second, we performed an asteroseismic analysis of six Sun-like stars, where we were able to measure the rotational splitting as a function of frequency in the p-mode envelope. This was done by dividing the oscillation spectrum into individual segments, and fitting a model independently to each segment. We found that the measured splittings were all consistent with a constant value, indicating little differential rotation. Third, we compared the asteroseismic rotation rates of five Sun-like stars to their surface rotation rates. We found that the values were in good agreement, again indicating little differential rotation between the regions where the two methods are most sensitive. Finally, we discuss how the surface rotation rates may be used as a prior on the seismic envelope rotation rate in a double-zone model

LOW-METALLICITY STAR FORMATION IN HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES AT z ∼ 8

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taniguchi, Y.; Shioya, Y.; Trump, J. R.

2010-01-01

Based on the recent very deep near-infrared imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, five groups published the most probable samples of galaxies at z ∼ 8, selected by the so-called dropout method or photometric redshift; e.g., Y 105 -dropouts (Y 105 - J 125 > 0.8). These studies are highly useful for investigating both the early star formation history of galaxies and the sources of cosmic re-ionization. In order to better understand these issues, we carefully examine whether there are low-z interlopers in the samples of z ∼ 8 galaxy candidates. We focus on the strong emission-line galaxies at z ∼ 2 in this paper. Such galaxies may be selected as Y 105 -dropouts since the [O III] λ5007 emission line is redshifted into the J 125 band. We have found that the contamination from such low-z interlopers is negligibly small. Therefore, all objects found by the five groups are free from this type of contamination. However, it remains difficult to extract real z ∼ 8 galaxies because all the sources are very faint and the different groups have found different candidates. With this in mind, we construct a robust sample of eight galaxies at z ∼ 8 from the objects found by the five groups: each of these eight objects has been selected by at least two groups. Using this sample, we discuss their UV continuum slope. We also discuss the escape fraction of ionizing photons adopting various metallicities. Our analysis suggests that massive stars forming in low-metallicity gas (Z ∼ 5 x 10 -4 Z sun ) can be responsible for the completion of cosmic re-ionization if the escape fraction of the ionizing continuum from galaxies is as large as 0.5, and this is consistent with the observed blue UV continua.

Clustering of Star-forming Galaxies Near a Radio Galaxy at z=5.2

Science.gov (United States)

Overzier, Roderik A.; Miley, G. K.; Bouwens, R. J.; Cross, N. J. G.; Zirm, A. W.; Benítez, N.; Blakeslee, J. P.; Clampin, M.; Demarco, R.; Ford, H. C.; Hartig, G. F.; Illingworth, G. D.; Martel, A. R.; Röttgering, H. J. A.; Venemans, B.; Ardila, D. R.; Bartko, F.; Bradley, L. D.; Broadhurst, T. J.; Coe, D.; Feldman, P. D.; Franx, M.; Golimowski, D. A.; Goto, T.; Gronwall, C.; Holden, B.; Homeier, N.; Infante, L.; Kimble, R. A.; Krist, J. E.; Mei, S.; Menanteau, F.; Meurer, G. R.; Motta, V.; Postman, M.; Rosati, P.; Sirianni, M.; Sparks, W. B.; Tran, H. D.; Tsvetanov, Z. I.; White, R. L.; Zheng, W.

2006-01-01

We present HST ACS observations of the most distant radio galaxy known, TN J0924-2201 at z=5.2. This radio galaxy has six spectroscopically confirmed Lyα-emitting companion galaxies and appears to lie within an overdense region. The radio galaxy is marginally resolved in i775 and z850, showing continuum emission aligned with the radio axis, similar to what is observed for lower redshift radio galaxies. Both the half-light radius and the UV star formation rate are comparable to the typical values found for Lyman break galaxies at z~4-5. The Lyα emitters are sub-L* galaxies, with deduced star formation rates of 1-10 Msolar yr-1. One of the Lyα emitters is only detected in Lyα. Based on the star formation rate of ~3 Msolar yr-1 calculated from Lyα, the lack of continuum emission could be explained if the galaxy is younger than ~2 Myr and is producing its first stars. Observations in V606i775z850 were used to identify additional Lyman break galaxies associated with this structure. In addition to the radio galaxy, there are 22 V606 break (z~5) galaxies with z850dropouts extracted from GOODS and the UDF parallel fields. We find evidence for an overdensity to very high confidence (>99%), based on a counts-in-cells analysis applied to the control field. The excess suggests that the V606 break objects are associated with a forming cluster around the radio galaxy. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program 9291.

DUST-CORRECTED STAR FORMATION RATES OF GALAXIES. I. COMBINATIONS OF Hα AND INFRARED TRACERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennicutt, Robert C.; Hao, C.-N.; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Calzetti, Daniela; Moustakas, John; Dale, Daniel A.; Bendo, George; Engelbracht, Charles W.; Lee, Janice C.

2009-01-01

We combine Hα emission-line and infrared (IR) continuum measurements of two samples of nearby galaxies to derive dust attenuation-corrected star formation rates (SFRs). We use a simple energy balance based method that has been applied previously to H II regions in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, and extend the methodology to integrated measurements of galaxies. We find that our composite Hα + IR based SFRs are in excellent agreement with attenuation-corrected SFRs derived from integrated spectrophotometry, over the full range of SFRs (0.01-80 M sun yr -1 ) and attenuations (0-2.5 mag) studied. We find that the combination of Hα and total IR luminosities provides the most robust SFR measurements, but combinations of Hα measurements with monochromatic luminosities at 24 μm and 8 μm perform nearly as well. The calibrations differ significantly from those obtained for H II regions, with the difference attributable to a more evolved population of stars heating the dust. Our results are consistent with a significant component of diffuse dust (the 'IR cirrus' component) that is heated by a non-star-forming population. The same methodology can be applied to [O II]λ3727 emission-line measurements, and the radio continuum fluxes of galaxies can be applied in place of IR fluxes when the latter are not available. We assess the precision and systematic reliability of all of these composite methods.

Peculiar early-type galaxies with central star formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ge Chong; Gu Qiusheng

2012-01-01

Early-type galaxies (ETGs) are very important for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. Recent observations suggest that ETGs are not simply old stellar spheroids as we previously thought. Widespread recent star formation, cool gas and dust have been detected in a substantial fraction of ETGs. We make use of the radial profiles of g — r color and the concentration index from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database to pick out 31 peculiar ETGs with central blue cores. By analyzing the photometric and spectroscopic data, we suggest that the blue cores are caused by star formation activities rather than the central weak active galactic nucleus. From the results of stellar population synthesis, we find that the stellar population of the blue cores is relatively young, spreading from several Myr to less than one Gyr. In 14 galaxies with H I observations, we find that the average gas fraction of these galaxies is about 0.55. The bluer galaxies show a higher gas fraction, and the total star formation rate (SFR) correlates very well with the H I gas mass. The star formation history of these ETGs is affected by the environment, e.g. in the denser environment the H I gas is less and the total SFR is lower. We also discuss the origin of the central star formation of these early-type galaxies.

MEASURING GALAXY STAR FORMATION RATES FROM INTEGRATED PHOTOMETRY: INSIGHTS FROM COLOR-MAGNITUDE DIAGRAMS OF RESOLVED STARS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Benjamin D. [Institute d' Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, 98bis Bd Arago, F-75014 Paris (France); Weisz, Daniel R.; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Johnson, L. C.; Williams, Benjamin F. [Department of Astronomy, Box 351580, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Dale, Daniel A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States); Dolphin, Andrew E. [Raytheon, 1151 E. Hermans Road, Tucson, AZ 85756 (United States); Gil de Paz, Armando [CEI Campus Moncloa, UCM-UPM, Departamento de Astrofisica y CC. de la Atmosfera, Facultad de CC. Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Complutense s/n, E-28040 Madrid (Spain); Kennicutt, Robert C. Jr. [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Lee, Janice C. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Skillman, Evan D. [Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Boquien, Mederic [Marseille Universite, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, F-13388 Marseille (France)

2013-07-20

We use empirical star formation histories (SFHs), measured from Hubble-Space-Telescope-based resolved star color-magnitude diagrams, as input into population synthesis codes to model the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 50 nearby dwarf galaxies (6.5 < log M{sub *}/M{sub Sun} < 8.5, with metallicities {approx}10% solar). In the presence of realistic SFHs, we compare the modeled and observed SEDs from the ultraviolet (UV) through near-infrared and assess the reliability of widely used UV-based star formation rate (SFR) indicators. In the FUV through i bands, we find that the observed and modeled SEDs are in excellent agreement. In the Spitzer 3.6 {mu}m and 4.5 {mu}m bands, we find that modeled SEDs systematically overpredict observed luminosities by up to {approx}0.2 dex, depending on treatment of the TP-AGB stars in the synthesis models. We assess the reliability of UV luminosity as a SFR indicator, in light of independently constrained SFHs. We find that fluctuations in the SFHs alone can cause factor of {approx}2 variations in the UV luminosities relative to the assumption of a constant SFH over the past 100 Myr. These variations are not strongly correlated with UV-optical colors, implying that correcting UV-based SFRs for the effects of realistic SFHs is difficult using only the broadband SED. Additionally, for this diverse sample of galaxies, we find that stars older than 100 Myr can contribute from <5%-100% of the present day UV luminosity, highlighting the challenges in defining a characteristic star formation timescale associated with UV emission. We do find a relationship between UV emission timescale and broadband UV-optical color, though it is different than predictions based on exponentially declining SFH models. Our findings have significant implications for the comparison of UV-based SFRs across low-metallicity populations with diverse SFHs.

ON STAR FORMATION RATES AND STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF GALAXIES OUT TO z ∼ 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wuyts, Stijn; Foerster Schreiber, Natascha M.; Lutz, Dieter; Nordon, Raanan; Berta, Stefano; Genzel, Reinhard; Magnelli, Benjamin; Poglitsch, Albrecht; Altieri, Bruno; Andreani, Paola; Aussel, Herve; Daddi, Emanuele; Elbaz, David; Bongiovanni, Angel; Cepa, Jordi; Garcia, Ana Perez; Cimatti, Andrea; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Maiolino, Roberto; McGrath, Elizabeth J.

2011-01-01

We compare multi-wavelength star formation rate (SFR) indicators out to z ∼ 3 in the GOODS-South field. Our analysis uniquely combines U to 8 μm photometry from FIREWORKS, MIPS 24 μm and PACS 70, 100, and 160 μm photometry from the PEP, and Hα spectroscopy from the SINS survey. We describe a set of conversions that lead to a continuity across SFR indicators. A luminosity-independent conversion from 24 μm to total infrared luminosity yields estimates of L IR that are in the median consistent with the L IR derived from PACS photometry, albeit with significant scatter. Dust correction methods perform well at low-to-intermediate levels of star formation. They fail to recover the total amount of star formation in systems with large SFR IR /SFR UV ratios, typically occuring at the highest SFRs (SFR UV+ I R ∼> 100 M sun yr -1 ) and redshifts (z ∼> 2.5) probed. Finally, we confirm that Hα-based SFRs at 1.5 SED and SFR UV+IR provided extra attenuation toward H II regions is taken into account (A V,neb = A V,continuum /0.44). With the cross-calibrated SFR indicators in hand, we perform a consistency check on the star formation histories inferred from spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling. We compare the observed SFR-M relations and mass functions at a range of redshifts to equivalents that are computed by evolving lower redshift galaxies backward in time. We find evidence for underestimated stellar ages when no stringent constraints on formation epoch are applied in SED modeling. We demonstrate how resolved SED modeling, or alternatively deep UV data, may help to overcome this bias. The age bias is most severe for galaxies with young stellar populations and reduces toward older systems. Finally, our analysis suggests that SFHs typically vary on timescales that are long (at least several 100 Myr) compared to the galaxies' dynamical time.

Environmental effects on star formation in dwarf galaxies and star clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Pasetto, Stefano; Cropper, Mark; fujita, Yutaka; Chiosi, Cesare; Grebel, Eva K.

2015-08-01

We investigate the competitive role of the different dissipative phenomena acting on the onset of star formation history of gravitationally bound system in an external environment.Ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Rayleigh-Taylor, and tidal forces are accounted separately in an analytical framework and compared in their role in influencing the star forming regions. The two-fluids instability at the interface between a stellar system and its surrounding hotter and less dense environment is related to the star formation processes through a set of differential equations. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system on its surrounding environment useful in theoretical interpretations of numerical results as well as observational applications. We show how spherical coordinates naturally enlighten the interpretation of the two-fluids instability in a geometry that directly applies to astrophysical case. Finally, we consider the different signatures of these phenomena in synthetically realized colour-magnitude diagrams of the orbiting system thus investigating the detectability limits of these different effects for future observational projects and their relevance.The theoretical framework developed has direct applications to the cases of dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way system, as well as any primordial gas-rich cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy.

Revisiting The First Galaxies: The effects of Population III stars on their host galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muratov, Alexander L. [U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Gnedin, Oleg Y. [U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.; Gnedin, Nickolay Y. [Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Zemp, Marcel [Beijing, KITPC

2013-07-12

We revisit the formation and evolution of the first galaxies using new hydrodynamic cosmological simulations with the adaptive refinement tree code. Our simulations feature a recently developed model for H₂ formation and dissociation, and a star formation recipe that is based on molecular rather than atomic gas. Here, we develop and implement a recipe for the formation of metal-free Population III (Pop III) stars in galaxy-scale simulations that resolve primordial clouds with sufficiently high density. We base our recipe on the results of prior zoom-in simulations that resolved the protostellar collapse in pre-galactic objects. We find the epoch during which Pop III stars dominated the energy and metal budget of the first galaxies to be short-lived. Galaxies that host Pop III stars do not retain dynamical signatures of their thermal and radiative feedback for more than 10⁸ years after the lives of the stars end in pair-instability supernovae, even when we consider the maximum reasonable efficiency of the feedback. Though metals ejected by the supernovae can travel well beyond the virial radius of the host galaxy, they typically begin to fall back quickly, and do not enrich a large fraction of the intergalactic medium. Galaxies with a total mass in excess of 3 × 10⁶ M_⊙ re-accrete most of their baryons and transition to metal-enriched Pop II star formation.

STAR FORMATION RATES AND STELLAR MASSES OF z = 7-8 GALAXIES FROM IRAC OBSERVATIONS OF THE WFC3/IR EARLY RELEASE SCIENCE AND THE HUDF FIELDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Labbe, I.; Gonzalez, V.; Bouwens, R. J.; Illingworth, G. D.; Magee, D.; Franx, M.; Trenti, M.; Oesch, P. A.; Carollo, C. M.; Van Dokkum, P. G.; Stiavelli, M.; Kriek, M.

2010-01-01

We investigate the Spitzer/IRAC properties of 36 z ∼ 7 z 850 -dropout galaxies and three z ∼ 8 Y 098 galaxies derived from deep/wide-area WFC3/IR data of the Early Release Science, the ultradeep HUDF09, and wide-area NICMOS data. We fit stellar population synthesis models to the spectral energy distributions to derive mean redshifts, stellar masses, and ages. The z ∼ 7 galaxies are best characterized by substantial ages (>100 Myr) and M/L V ∼ 0.2. The main trend with decreasing luminosity is that of bluing of the far-UV slope from β ∼ -2.0 to β ∼ -3.0. This can be explained by decreasing metallicity, except for the lowest luminosity galaxies (0.1L* z =3 ), where low metallicity and smooth star formation histories (SFHs) fail to match the blue far-UV and moderately red H - [3.6] color. Such colors may require episodic SFHs with short periods of activity and quiescence ('on-off' cycles) and/or a contribution from emission lines. The stellar mass of our sample of z ∼ 7 star-forming galaxies correlates with star formation rate (SFR) according to log M* = 8.70(±0.09) + 1.06(±0.10)log SFR, implying that star formation may have commenced at z > 10. No galaxies are found with SFRs much higher or lower than the past averaged SFR suggesting that the typical star formation timescales are probably a substantial fraction of the Hubble time. We report the first IRAC detection of Y 098 -dropout galaxies at z ∼ 8. The average rest-frame U - V ∼ 0.3 (AB) of the three galaxies are similar to faint z ∼ 7 galaxies, implying similar M/L. The stellar mass density to M UV,AB +0.7 -1.0 x 10 6 M sun Mpc -3 , following log ρ*(z) = 10.6(±0.6) - 4.4(±0.7) log(1 + z) [M sun Mpc -3 ] over 3 < z < 8.

Chemical Abundances of Metal-poor stars in Dwarf Galaxies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Venn, Kim A.; Jablonka, Pascale; Hill, Vanessa; Starkenburg, Else; Lemasle, Bertrand; Shetrone, Matthew; Irwin, Mike; Norris, John; Yong, David; Gilmore, Gerry; Salvadori, Stephania; Skuladottir, Asa; Tolstoy, Eline; Bragaglia, A.; Arnaboldi, M.; Rejkuba, M.; Romano, D.

2016-01-01

Stars in low-mass dwarf galaxies show a larger range in their chemical properties than those in the Milky Way halo. The slower star formation efficiency make dwarf galaxies ideal systems for testing nucleosynthetic yields. Not only are alpha-poor stars found at lower metallicities, and a higher

REST-FRAME UV-OPTICALLY SELECTED GALAXIES AT 2.3 {approx}< z {approx}< 3.5: SEARCHING FOR DUSTY STAR-FORMING AND PASSIVELY EVOLVING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo Yicheng; Giavalisco, Mauro; Cassata, Paolo; Williams, Christina C.; Salimbeni, Sara [Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, 710 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Ferguson, Henry C.; Koekemoer, Anton; Grogin, Norman A. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Dickinson, Mark [NOAO-Tucson, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Chary, Ranga-Ram [Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, MS 220-6, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Messias, Hugo [Centro de Astronomia e Astrofisica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatorio Astronomico de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa (Portugal); Tundo, Elena [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste (Italy); Lin Lihwai [Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan (China); Lee, Seong-Kook [School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Hoegiro 87, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul 130-722 (Korea, Republic of); Fontana, Adriano; Grazian, Andrea [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, I00040 Monteporzio (Italy); Kocevski, Dale [UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Lee, Kyoung-Soo [Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); Villanueva, Edward [Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101-1292 (United States); Van der Wel, Arjen, E-mail: yicheng@astro.umass.edu [Max-Planck Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)

2012-04-20

A new set of color selection criteria (VJL) analogous with the BzK method is designed to select both star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and passively evolving galaxies (PEGs) at 2.3 {approx}< z {approx}< 3.5 by using rest-frame UV-optical (V - J versus J - L) colors. The criteria are thoroughly tested with theoretical stellar population synthesis models and real galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts to evaluate their efficiency and contamination. We apply the well-tested VJL criteria to the HST/WFC3 Early Release Science field and study the physical properties of selected galaxies. The redshift distribution of selected SFGs peaks at z {approx} 2.7, slightly lower than that of Lyman break galaxies at z {approx} 3. Comparing the observed mid-infrared fluxes of selected galaxies with the prediction of pure stellar emission, we find that our VJL method is effective at selecting massive dusty SFGs that are missed by the Lyman break technique. About half of the star formation in massive (M{sub star} > 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }) galaxies at 2.3 {approx}< z {approx}< 3.5 is contributed by dusty (extinction E(B - V) > 0.4) SFGs, which, however, only account for {approx}20% of the number density of massive SFGs. We also use the mid-infrared fluxes to clean our PEG sample and find that galaxy size can be used as a secondary criterion to effectively eliminate the contamination of dusty SFGs. The redshift distribution of the cleaned PEG sample peaks at z {approx} 2.5. We find six PEG candidates at z > 3 and discuss possible methods to distinguish them from dusty contamination. We conclude that at least part of our candidates are real PEGs at z {approx} 3, implying that these types of galaxies began to form their stars at z {approx}> 5. We measure the integrated stellar mass density (ISMD) of PEGs at z {approx} 2.5 and set constraints on it at z > 3. We find that the ISMD grows by at least about a factor of 10 in 1 Gyr at 3 < z <5 and by another factor of 10 in the next 3.5 Gyr (1 < z

Star formation suppression in compact group galaxies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alatalo, K.; Appleton, P. N.; Lisenfeld, U.

2015-01-01

, bars, rings, tidal tails, and possibly nuclear outflows, though the molecular gas morphologies are more consistent with spirals and earlytype galaxies than mergers and interacting systems. Our CO-imaged HCG galaxies, when plotted on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, shows star formation (SF) suppression...... color space. This supports the idea that at least some galaxies in HCGs are transitioning objects, where a disruption of the existing molecular gas in the system suppresses SF by inhibiting the molecular gas from collapsing and forming stars efficiently. These observations, combined with recent work...

Star formation quenching in quasar host galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Carniani, Stefano

2017-10-01

Galaxy evolution is likely to be shaped by negative feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In the whole range of redshifts and luminosities studied so far, galaxies hosting an AGN frequently show fast and extended outflows consisting in both ionised and molecular gas. Such outflows could potentially quench the start formation within the host galaxy, but a clear evidence of negative feedback in action is still missing. Hereby I will analyse integral-field spectroscopic data for six quasars at z ˜2.4 obtained with SINFONI in the H- and K-band. All the quasars show [OIII]λ5007 line detection of fast, extended outflows. Also, the high signal-to-noise SINFONI observations allow the identification of faint narrow Hα emission (FWHM anti-correlated with star-formation powered emission, i.e. star formation is suppressed in the area affected by the outflow. Nonetheless as narrow, spatially-extended Hα emission, indicating star formation rates of at least 50 - 100 M⊙/yr, has been detected, either AGN feedback is not affecting the whole host galaxy, or star formation is completely quenched only by several feedback episodes. On the other hand, a positive feedback scenario, supported by narrow emission in Hα extending along the edges of the outflow cone, suggests that galaxy-wide outflows could also have a twofold role in the evolution of the host galaxy. Finally, I will present CO(3-2) ALMA data for three out of the six QSOs observed with SINFONI. Flux maps obtained for the CO(3-2) transition suggest that molecular gas within the host galaxy is swept away by fast winds. A negative-feedback scenario is supported by the inferred molecular gas mass in all three objects, which is significantly below what observed in non-active main-sequence galaxies at high-z.

MODELING THE GRB HOST GALAXY MASS DISTRIBUTION: ARE GRBs UNBIASED TRACERS OF STAR FORMATION?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kocevski, Daniel; West, Andrew A.; Modjaz, Maryam

2009-01-01

We model the mass distribution of long gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies given recent results suggesting that GRBs occur in low-metallicity environments. By utilizing measurements of the redshift evolution of the mass-metallicity relationship for galaxies, along with a sharp host metallicity cutoff suggested by Modjaz and collaborators, we estimate an upper limit on the stellar mass of a galaxy that can efficiently produce a GRB as a function of redshift. By employing consistent abundance indicators, we find that subsolar metallicity cutoffs effectively limit GRBs to low-stellar mass spirals and dwarf galaxies at low redshift. At higher redshifts, as the average metallicity of galaxies in the Universe falls, the mass range of galaxies capable of hosting a GRB broadens, with an upper bound approaching the mass of even the largest spiral galaxies. We compare these predicted limits to the growing number of published GRB host masses and find that extremely low-metallicity cutoffs of 0.1 to 0.5 Z sun are effectively ruled out by a large number of intermediate mass galaxies at low redshift. A mass function that includes a smooth decrease in the efficiency of producing GRBs in galaxies of metallicity above 12+log(O/H) KK04 = 8.7 can, however, accommodate a majority of the measured host galaxy masses. We find that at z ∼ 1, the peak in the observed GRB host mass distribution is inconsistent with the expected peak in the mass of galaxies harboring most of the star formation. This suggests that GRBs are metallicity-biased tracers of star formation at low and intermediate redshifts, although our model predicts that this bias should disappear at higher redshifts due to the evolving metallicity content of the universe.

A model for the origin of bursty star formation in galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André

2018-01-01

We propose a simple analytic model to understand when star formation is time steady versus bursty in galaxies. Recent models explain the observed Kennicutt-Schmidt relation between star formation rate and gas surface densities in galaxies as resulting from a balance between stellar feedback and gravity. We argue that bursty star formation occurs when such an equilibrium cannot be stably sustained, and identify two regimes in which galaxy-scale star formation should be bursty: (i) at high redshift (z ≳ 1) for galaxies of all masses, and (ii) at low masses (depending on gas fraction) for galaxies at any redshift. At high redshift, characteristic galactic dynamical time-scales become too short for supernova feedback to effectively respond to gravitational collapse in galactic discs (an effect recently identified for galactic nuclei), whereas in dwarf galaxies star formation occurs in too few bright star-forming regions to effectively average out. Burstiness is also enhanced at high redshift owing to elevated gas fractions in the early Universe. Our model can thus explain the bursty star formation rates predicted in these regimes by recent high-resolution galaxy formation simulations, as well as the bursty star formation histories observationally inferred in both local dwarf and high-redshift galaxies. In our model, bursty star formation is associated with particularly strong spatiotemporal clustering of supernovae. Such clustering can promote the formation of galactic winds and our model may thus also explain the much higher wind mass loading factors inferred in high-redshift massive galaxies relative to their z ∼ 0 counterparts.

RELICS: A Candidate Galaxy Arc at z~10 and Other Brightly Lensed z>6 Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Salmon, Brett; Coe, Dan; Bradley, Larry; Bradac, Marusa; Huang, Kuang-Han; Oesch, Pascal; Brammer, Gabriel; Stark, Daniel P.; Sharon, Keren; Trenti, Michele; Avila, Roberto J.; Ogaz, Sara; Acebron, Ana; Andrade-Santos, Felipe; Carrasco, Daniela; Cerny, Catherine; Cibirka, Nathália; Dawson, William; Frye, Brenda; Hoag, Austin; Jones, Christine; Mainali, Ramesh; Ouchi, Masami; Paterno-Mahler, Rachel; Rodney, Steven; Umetsu, Keiichi; Zitrin, Adi; RELICS

2018-01-01

Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here some of the most brightly lensed z>6 galaxy candidates known from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS) and the discovery of a particularly fortuitous z~10 galaxy candidate which has been arced by the effects of strong gravitational lensing. The z~10 candidate has a lensed H-band magnitude of 25.8 AB mag and a high lensing magnification (~4-7). The inferred upper limits on the stellar mass (log [M_star /M_Sun]=9.5) and star formation rate (log [SFR/(M_Sun/yr)]=1.5) indicate that this candidate is a typical star-forming galaxy on the z>6 SFR-M_star relation. We rule out the only low-z solution as unphysical based on the required stellar mass, dust attenuation, size, and [OIII] EW needed for a z~2 SED to match the data. Finally, we reconstruct the source-plane image and estimate the candidate's physical size at z~10, finding a half-light radius of r_e 9 candidates. While the James Webb Space Telescope will detect z>10 with ease, this rare candidate offers the potential for unprecedented spatial resolution less than 500 Myr after the Big Bang.

STAR-GALAXY CLASSIFICATION IN MULTI-BAND OPTICAL IMAGING

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fadely, Ross; Willman, Beth; Hogg, David W.

2012-01-01

Ground-based optical surveys such as PanSTARRS, DES, and LSST will produce large catalogs to limiting magnitudes of r ∼> 24. Star-galaxy separation poses a major challenge to such surveys because galaxies—even very compact galaxies—outnumber halo stars at these depths. We investigate photometric classification techniques on stars and galaxies with intrinsic FWHM best ) where the training data are (unrealistically) a random sampling of the data in both signal-to-noise and demographics and (2) a more realistic scenario where training is done on higher signal-to-noise data (SVM real ) at brighter apparent magnitudes. Testing with COSMOS ugriz data, we find that HB outperforms ML, delivering ∼80% completeness, with purity of ∼60%-90% for both stars and galaxies. We find that no algorithm delivers perfect performance and that studies of metal-poor main-sequence turnoff stars may be challenged by poor star-galaxy separation. Using the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve, we find a best-to-worst ranking of SVM best , HB, ML, and SVM real . We conclude, therefore, that a well-trained SVM will outperform template-fitting methods. However, a normally trained SVM performs worse. Thus, HB template fitting may prove to be the optimal classification method in future surveys.

Galaxies interactions and induced star formation

CERN Document Server

Kennicutt Jr, Robert C; Barnes, JE

1998-01-01

The papers that make up this volume present a comprehensive review of the field of galaxy interaction. Galaxies are dynamic forces that evolve, interact, merge, blaze and reshape. This book offers a historical perspective and studies such topics as induced star formation.

GAS, STARS, AND STAR FORMATION IN ALFALFA DWARF GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Shan; Haynes, Martha P.; Giovanelli, Riccardo; Brinchmann, Jarle; Stierwalt, Sabrina; Neff, Susan G.

2012-01-01

We examine the global properties of the stellar and H I components of 229 low H I mass dwarf galaxies extracted from the ALFALFA survey, including a complete sample of 176 galaxies with H I masses 7.7 M ☉ and H I line widths –1 . Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data are combined with photometric properties derived from Galaxy Evolution Explorer to derive stellar masses (M * ) and star formation rates (SFRs) by fitting their UV-optical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In optical images, many of the ALFALFA dwarfs are faint and of low surface brightness; only 56% of those within the SDSS footprint have a counterpart in the SDSS spectroscopic survey. A large fraction of the dwarfs have high specific star formation rates (SSFRs), and estimates of their SFRs and M * obtained by SED fitting are systematically smaller than ones derived via standard formulae assuming a constant SFR. The increased dispersion of the SSFR distribution at M * ∼ 8 M ☉ is driven by a set of dwarf galaxies that have low gas fractions and SSFRs; some of these are dE/dSphs in the Virgo Cluster. The imposition of an upper H I mass limit yields the selection of a sample with lower gas fractions for their M * than found for the overall ALFALFA population. Many of the ALFALFA dwarfs, particularly the Virgo members, have H I depletion timescales shorter than a Hubble time. An examination of the dwarf galaxies within the full ALFALFA population in the context of global star formation (SF) laws is consistent with the general assumptions that gas-rich galaxies have lower SF efficiencies than do optically selected populations and that H I disks are more extended than stellar ones.

The Effects of Galaxy Interactions on Star Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Beverage, Aliza; Weiner, Aaron; Ramos Padilla, Andres; Ashby, Matthew; Smith, Howard A.

2018-01-01

Galaxy interactions are key events in galaxy evolution, and are widely thought to trigger significant increases in star formation. However, the mechanisms and timescales for these increases are still not well understood. In order to probe the effects of mergers, we undertook an investigation based on the Spitzer Interacting Galaxies Survey (SIGS), a sample of 102 nearby galaxies in 48 systems ranging from weakly interacting to near coalescence. Our study is unique in that we use both broadband photometry and a large sample of objects chosen to be statistically meaningful. Our data come from 32 broad bands ranging from the UV to far-IR, and we model spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using the Code for Investigating Galaxy Emission (CIGALE) to estimate physical characteristics for each galaxy. We find marginal statistical correlations between galaxy interaction strength and dust luminosity and the distribution of dust mass as a function of heating intensity. The specific star formation rates, however, do not show any enhancement across the interaction stages. This result challenges conventional wisdom that mergers induce star formation throughout galaxy interaction.The SAO REU program is funded in part by the National Science Foundation REU and Department of Defense ASSURE programs under NSF Grant no. 1262851, and by the Smithsonian Institution.

Cosmic-ray energy densities in star-forming galaxies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Persic Massimo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The energy density of cosmic ray protons in star forming galaxies can be estimated from π0-decay γ-ray emission, synchrotron radio emission, and supernova rates. To galaxies for which these methods can be applied, the three methods yield consistent energy densities ranging from Up ~ 0.1 − 1 eV cm−3 to Up ~ 102 − 103 eV cm−3 in galaxies with low to high star-formation rates, respectively.

Star formation and the surface brightness of spiral galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillipps, S.; Disney, M.

1985-01-01

The (blue) surface brightness of spiral galaxies is significantly correlated with their Hα linewidth. This can be most plausibly interpreted as a correlation of surface brightness with star formation rate. There is also a significant difference in surface brightness between galaxies forming stars in a grand design spiral pattern and those with floc star formation regions. (author)

VARIABILITY AND STAR FORMATION IN LEO T, THE LOWEST LUMINOSITY STAR-FORMING GALAXY KNOWN TODAY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clementini, Gisella; Cignoni, Michele; Ramos, Rodrigo Contreras; Federici, Luciana; Tosi, Monica [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, I-40127 Bologna (Italy); Ripepi, Vincenzo; Marconi, Marcella; Musella, Ilaria, E-mail: gisella.clementini@oabo.inaf.it, E-mail: rodrigo.contreras@oabo.inaf.it, E-mail: luciana.federici@oabo.inaf.it, E-mail: monica.tosi@oabo.inaf.it, E-mail: michele.cignoni@unibo.it, E-mail: ripepi@na.astro.it, E-mail: marcella@na.astro.it, E-mail: ilaria@na.astro.it [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, I-80131 Napoli (Italy)

2012-09-10

We present results from the first combined study of variable stars and star formation history (SFH) of the Milky Way 'ultra-faint' dwarf (UFD) galaxy Leo T, based on F606W and F814W multi-epoch archive observations obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We have detected 14 variable stars in the galaxy. They include one fundamental-mode RR Lyrae star and 11 Anomalous Cepheids with periods shorter than 1 day, thus suggesting the occurrence of multiple star formation episodes in this UFD, of which one about 10 Gyr ago produced the RR Lyrae star. A new estimate of the distance to Leo T of 409{sup +29}{sub -27} kpc (distance modulus of 23.06 {+-} 0.15 mag) was derived from the galaxy's RR Lyrae star. Our V, V - I color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of Leo T reaches V {approx} 29 mag and shows features typical of a galaxy in transition between dwarf irregular and dwarf spheroidal types. A quantitative analysis of the SFH, based on the comparison of the observed V, V - I CMD with the expected distribution of stars for different evolutionary scenarios, confirms that Leo T has a complex SFH dominated by two enhanced periods about 1.5 and 9 Gyr ago, respectively. The distribution of stars and gas shows that the galaxy has a fairly asymmetric structure.

PROPERTIES OF BULGELESS DISK GALAXIES. II. STAR FORMATION AS A FUNCTION OF CIRCULAR VELOCITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watson, Linda C. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Martini, Paul; Wong, Man-Hong [Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); Lisenfeld, Ute [Departamento de Fisica Teorica y del Cosmos, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada (Spain); Boeker, Torsten [European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk (Netherlands); Schinnerer, Eva, E-mail: lwatson@cfa.harvard.edu [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)

2012-06-01

We study the relation between the surface density of gas and star formation rate in 20 moderately inclined, bulgeless disk galaxies (Sd-Sdm Hubble types) using CO(1-0) data from the IRAM 30 m telescope, H I emission line data from the VLA/EVLA, H{alpha} data from the MDM Observatory, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission data derived from Spitzer IRAC observations. We specifically investigate the efficiency of star formation as a function of circular velocity (v{sub circ}). Previous work found that the vertical dust structure and disk stability of edge-on, bulgeless disk galaxies transition from diffuse dust lanes with large scale heights and gravitationally stable disks at v{sub circ} < 120 km s{sup -1} (M{sub *} {approx}< 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }) to narrow dust lanes with small scale heights and gravitationally unstable disks at v{sub circ} > 120 km s{sup -1}. We find no transition in star formation efficiency ({Sigma}{sub SFR}/{Sigma}{sub Hi+H{sub 2}}) at v{sub circ} = 120 km s{sup -1} or at any other circular velocity probed by our sample (v{sub circ} = 46-190 km s{sup -1}). Contrary to previous work, we find no transition in disk stability at any circular velocity in our sample. Assuming our sample has the same dust structure transition as the edge-on sample, our results demonstrate that scale height differences in the cold interstellar medium of bulgeless disk galaxies do not significantly affect the molecular fraction or star formation efficiency. This may indicate that star formation is primarily affected by physical processes that act on smaller scales than the dust scale height, which lends support to local star formation models.

Cannibal Stars Cause Giant Explosions in Fornax Cluster Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

2000-07-01

The VLT Observes Most Remote Novae Ever Seen About 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still walking on the Earth, a series of violent thermo-nuclear explosions took place in a distant galaxy. After a very long travel across vast reaches of virtually empty space (70 million light-years, or ~ 7 x 10 20 km), dim light carrying the message about these events has finally reached us. It was recorded by the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory (Chile) during an observing programme by a group of Italian astronomers [1]. The subsequent analysis has shown that the observers witnessed the most distant nova outbursts ever seen . They were caused by "stellar cannibalism" in binary systems in which one relatively cool star loses matter to its smaller and hotter companion. An instability results that leads to the ignition of a "hydrogen bomb" on the surface of the receiving star. The "Stella Nova" Phenomenon A stellar outburst of the type now observed with the VLT is referred to as a "Stella Nova" ("new star" in Latin), or just "Nova" . Novae caused by explosions in binary stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way system, are relatively frequent and about every second or third year one of them is bright enough to be easily visible with the naked eye. For our ancestors, who had no means to see the faint binary star before the explosion, it looked as if a new star had been born in the sky, hence the name. The most common nova explosion occurs in a binary stellar system in which a white dwarf (a very dense and hot, compact star with a mass comparable to that of the Sun and a size like the Earth) accretes hydrogen from a cooler and larger red dwarf star [2]. As the hydrogen collects on the surface of the white dwarf star, it becomes progressively hotter until a thermonuclear explosion is ignited at the bottom of the collected gas. A huge amount of energy is released and causes a million-fold increase in the brightness of the binary system within a few hours

DWARF GALAXY CLUSTERING AND MISSING SATELLITES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlberg, R. G.; Sullivan, M.; Le Borgne, D.

2009-01-01

At redshifts around 0.1 the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep fields contain some 6 x 10 4 galaxies spanning the mass range from 10 5 to 10 12 M sun . We measure the stellar mass dependence of the two-point correlation using angular measurements to largely bypass the errors, approximately 0.02 in the median, of the photometric redshifts. Inverting the power-law fits with Limber's equation we find that the autocorrelation length increases from a very low 0.4 h -1 Mpc at 10 5.5 M sun to the conventional 4.5 h -1 Mpc at 10 10.5 M sun . The power-law fit to the correlation function has a slope which increases from γ ≅ 1.6 at high mass to γ ≅ 2.3 at low mass. The spatial cross-correlation of dwarf galaxies with more massive galaxies shows fairly similar trends, with a steeper radial dependence at low mass than predicted in numerical simulations of subhalos within galaxy halos. To examine the issue of 'missing satellites' we combine the cross-correlation measurements with our estimates of the low-mass galaxy number density. We find on the average there are 60 ± 20 dwarfs in subhalos with M(total)>10 7 M sun for a typical Local Group M(total)/M(stars) = 30, corresponding to M/L V ≅ 100 for a galaxy with no recent star formation. The number of dwarfs per galaxy is about a factor of 2 larger than currently found for the Milky Way. Nevertheless, the average dwarf counts are about a factor of 30 below lambda cold dark matter (LCDM) simulation results. The divergence from LCDM predictions is one of the slope of the relation, approximately dN/dln M ≅ -0.5 rather than the predicted -0.9, not sudden onset at some characteristic scale. The dwarf galaxy star formation rates span the range from passive to bursting, which suggests that there are few completely dark halos.

Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in dwarf galaxies

OpenAIRE

Salvadori, Stefania; Skuladottir, Asa; Tolstoy, Eline

2015-01-01

We investigate the frequency and origin of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in Local Group dwarf galaxies by means of a statistical, data-calibrated cosmological model for the hierarchical build-up of the Milky Way and its dwarf satellites. The model self-consistently explains the variation with dwarf galaxy luminosity of the observed: i) frequency and [Fe/H] range of CEMP stars; ii) metallicity distribution functions; iii) star formation histories. We show that if primordial faint sup...

Wolf-Rayet Stars in Starburst Galaxies

OpenAIRE

Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel; Kunth, Daniel; Cervino, Miguel

1999-01-01

Wolf-Rayet stars have been detected in a large number of galaxies experiencing intense bursts of star formation. All stars initially more massive than a certain, metallicity-dependent, value are believed to experience the Wolf-Rayet phase at the end of their evolution, just before collapsing in supernova explosion. The detection of Wolf-Rayet stars puts therefore important constraints on the evolutionary status of starbursts, the properties of their Initial Mass Functions and their star forma...

A MOLECULAR STAR FORMATION LAW IN THE ATOMIC-GAS-DOMINATED REGIME IN NEARBY GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schruba, Andreas; Walter, Fabian; Dumas, Gaelle; Sandstrom, Karin; Leroy, Adam K.; Bigiel, Frank; Brinks, Elias; De Blok, W. J. G.; Kramer, Carsten; Rosolowsky, Erik; Schuster, Karl; Usero, Antonio; Weiss, Axel; Wiesemeyer, Helmut

2011-01-01

We use the IRAM HERACLES survey to study CO emission from 33 nearby spiral galaxies down to very low intensities. Using 21 cm line atomic hydrogen (H I) data, mostly from THINGS, we predict the local mean CO velocity based on the mean H I velocity. By re-normalizing the CO velocity axis so that zero corresponds to the local mean H I velocity we are able to stack spectra coherently over large regions. This enables us to measure CO intensities with high significance as low as I CO ∼ 0.3 K km s -1 (Σ H 2 ∼1 M sun pc -2 ), an improvement of about one order of magnitude over previous studies. We detect CO out to galactocentric radii r gal ∼ r 25 and find the CO radial profile to follow a remarkably uniform exponential decline with a scale length of ∼0.2 r 25 . Here we focus on stacking as a function of radius, comparing our sensitive CO profiles to matched profiles of H I, Hα, far-UV (FUV), and Infrared (IR) emission at 24 μm and 70 μm. We observe a tight, roughly linear relationship between CO and IR intensity that does not show any notable break between regions that are dominated by molecular gas (Σ H 2 >Σ H i ) and those dominated by atomic gas (Σ H 2 H i ). We use combinations of FUV+24 μm and Hα+24 μm to estimate the recent star formation rate (SFR) surface density, Σ SFR , and find approximately linear relations between Σ SFR and Σ H 2 . We interpret this as evidence of stars forming in molecular gas with little dependence on the local total gas surface density. While galaxies display small internal variations in the SFR-to-H 2 ratio, we do observe systematic galaxy-to-galaxy variations. These galaxy-to-galaxy variations dominate the scatter in relationships between CO and SFR tracers measured at large scales. The variations have the sense that less massive galaxies exhibit larger ratios of SFR-to-CO than massive galaxies. Unlike the SFR-to-CO ratio, the balance between atomic and molecular gas depends strongly on the total gas surface density

Initial mass function for early-type stars in starburst galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekiguchi, K.; Anderson, K.S.

1987-01-01

The IMF slope of early-type stars in starburst galaxies is investigated using IUE observations and a technique that utilizes mass-linewidth relations for early-type stars. Fourteen low-resolution IUE spectra of eight starburst galaxies and three H II region galaxies are used to obtain line-strength ratios Si IV(1400 A)/C IV(1550 A). These are compared to model line ratios, and indicate that the average IMF slope for OB stars in these intense star-formation regions is appreciably flatter than that of the solar neighborhood. 46 references

Stochastic star formation and the evolution of galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seiden, P.E.; Schulman, L.S.; Gerola, H.

1979-01-01

The mechanism of stochastic self-propagating star formation has previously been invoked to explain the origin of spiral arms in galaxies. In this paper we extend the application of this mechanism to account for the diversity of morphological types and the evolution of galaxies. The new property that arises from consideration of this mechanism is that the rate of star formation exhibits the critical behavior of a phase transition. This is a general property of the system and is not strongly dependent on the details of the star--interstellar gas interaction. Examination of the properties of this phase transition provides a general scenario for the evolution of galaxies and the origin of the various morphological types

Star Formation in the Central Regions of Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Mengchun

2015-08-01

The galactic central region connects the galactic nucleus to the host galaxy. If the central black hole co-evolved with the host galaxies, there should be some evidence left in the central region. We use the environmental properties in the central regions such as star-forming activity, stellar population and molecular abundance to figure out a possible scenario of the evolution of galaxies. In this thesis at first we investigated the properties of the central regions in the host galaxies of active and normal galaxies. We used radio emission around the nuclei of the host galaxies to represent activity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and used infrared ray (IR) emission to represent the star-forming activity and stellar population of the host galaxies. We determined that active galaxies have higher stellar masses (SMs) within the central kiloparsec radius than normal galaxies do independent of the Hubble types of the host galaxies; but both active and normal galaxies exhibit similar specific star formation rates (SSFRs). We also discovered that certain AGNs exhibit substantial inner stellar structures in the IR images; most of the AGNs with inner structures are Seyferts, whereas only a few LINERs exhibit inner structures. We note that the AGNs with inner structures show a positive correlation between the radio activity of the AGNs and the SFRs of the host galaxies, but the sources without inner structures show a negative correlation between the radio power and the SFRs. These results might be explained with a scenario of starburst-AGN evolution. In this scenario, AGN activities are triggered following a nuclear starburst; during the evolution, AGN activities are accompanied by SF activity in the inner regions of the host galaxies; at the final stage of the evolution, the AGNs might transform into LINERs, exhibiting weak SF activity in the central regions of the host galaxies. For further investigation about the inner structure, we choose the most nearby and luminous

The Spiral Arm Segments of the Galaxy within 3 kpc from the Sun: A Statistical Approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Griv, Evgeny [Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel); Jiang, Ing-Guey [Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Kuang-Fu Road 101, Hsin-Chu 30013, Taiwan (China); Hou, Li-Gang, E-mail: griv@bgu.ac.il [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jia-20, Beijing 100012 (China)

2017-08-01

As can be reasonably expected, upcoming large-scale APOGEE, GAIA, GALAH, LAMOST, and WEAVE stellar spectroscopic surveys will yield rather noisy Galactic distributions of stars. In view of the possibility of employing these surveys, our aim is to present a statistical method to extract information about the spiral structure of the Galaxy from currently available data, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. The model differs from previous works studying how objects are distributed in space in its calculation of the statistical significance of the hypothesis that some of the objects are actually concentrated in a spiral. A statistical analysis of the distribution of cold dust clumps within molecular clouds, H ii regions, Cepheid stars, and open clusters in the nearby Galactic disk within 3 kpc from the Sun is carried out. As an application of the method, we obtain distances between the Sun and the centers of the neighboring Sagittarius arm segment, the Orion arm segment in which the Sun is located, and the Perseus arm segment. Pitch angles of the logarithmic spiral segments and their widths are also estimated. The hypothesis that the collected objects accidentally form spirals is refuted with almost 100% statistical confidence. We show that these four independent distributions of young objects lead to essentially the same results. We also demonstrate that our newly deduced values of the mean distances and pitch angles for the segments are not too far from those found recently by Reid et al. using VLBI-based trigonometric parallaxes of massive star-forming regions.

The Spiral Arm Segments of the Galaxy within 3 kpc from the Sun: A Statistical Approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griv, Evgeny; Jiang, Ing-Guey; Hou, Li-Gang

2017-01-01

As can be reasonably expected, upcoming large-scale APOGEE, GAIA, GALAH, LAMOST, and WEAVE stellar spectroscopic surveys will yield rather noisy Galactic distributions of stars. In view of the possibility of employing these surveys, our aim is to present a statistical method to extract information about the spiral structure of the Galaxy from currently available data, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. The model differs from previous works studying how objects are distributed in space in its calculation of the statistical significance of the hypothesis that some of the objects are actually concentrated in a spiral. A statistical analysis of the distribution of cold dust clumps within molecular clouds, H ii regions, Cepheid stars, and open clusters in the nearby Galactic disk within 3 kpc from the Sun is carried out. As an application of the method, we obtain distances between the Sun and the centers of the neighboring Sagittarius arm segment, the Orion arm segment in which the Sun is located, and the Perseus arm segment. Pitch angles of the logarithmic spiral segments and their widths are also estimated. The hypothesis that the collected objects accidentally form spirals is refuted with almost 100% statistical confidence. We show that these four independent distributions of young objects lead to essentially the same results. We also demonstrate that our newly deduced values of the mean distances and pitch angles for the segments are not too far from those found recently by Reid et al. using VLBI-based trigonometric parallaxes of massive star-forming regions.

The Sun - From the star to domestic energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-06-01

Considered as a star and a deity, for a long period of time the Sun was thought to be another planet, whereas the word 'star' was reserved for all the brilliant points of light in the night sky. The Sun's status as a star in the sense of 'an astral body producing and emitting energy' was firmly established only at the beginning of the 20. century. Today astrophysicists are revealing more and more secrets of the fusion burning region located in its core. It is thanks to the Sun that life has appeared and evolved on Earth; it controls the cycle of 'For the last 4.6 million years the Sun has being providing us with light and heat. Today it is man's ambition to control this energy source'. The seasons and provides us with heat and light. But what exactly is the nature and origin of this prodigious energy source, with which man attempts to provide warmth and produce electricity? What is happening in this gigantic ball of fire, impossible to observe without protective glasses? And finally, how long will it continue to shine? Questions such as these took many centuries to be solved and will continue to be the subject of research for a long time to come. (authors)

Star-formation rates in the nuclei of violently interacting galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bushouse, H.A.

1986-01-01

Spectrophotometry has been obtained of the nuclear regions of a large sample of violently interacting spiral galaxies. The sample galaxies were chosen to include only those systems having tails, plumes, or other morphological features consistent with strong tidal interactions involving disk galaxies. The interacting galaxies are found to exhibit a wide range of nuclear optical emission-line strengths, but show a significantly higher overall level in both Hα emission-line equivalent width and luminosity than samples of field spirals observed in a similar fashion. While galaxy-galaxy interactions can lead to large nuclear star-formation bursts, this is not a ubiquitous phenomenon. A large fraction (approx.30%) of the nuclei show only weak or no detectable optical emission lines and are characterized by stellar absorption spectra of old, elliptical galaxy-like stellar populations, thus indicating little recent or continuing star-formation activity. These circumstances can occur even in instances where the nucleus of the other component has a large population of young stars. While exhaustion of a galaxy's gas supply during the later phases of interaction can account for post-burst systems, it cannot explain systems that have experienced no significant star-formation activity throughout the entire interaction process. Seyfert and low-ionization nuclei also are rare in violently interacting systems which, coupled with the large number of nuclei found to have little star-formation activity, suggests either an initial lack of near-nuclear gas or that gas is present but in inappropriate forms to support star formation or fuel nuclear activity

THE ACS NEARBY GALAXY SURVEY TREASURY. IX. CONSTRAINING ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH EVOLUTION WITH OLD METAL-POOR GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girardi, Leo; Williams, Benjamin F.; Gilbert, Karoline M.; Rosenfield, Philip; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Marigo, Paola; Boyer, Martha L.; Dolphin, Andrew; Weisz, Daniel R.; Skillman, Evan; Melbourne, Jason; Olsen, Knut A. G.; Seth, Anil C.

2010-01-01

In an attempt to constrain evolutionary models of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase at the limit of low masses and low metallicities, we have examined the luminosity functions and number ratios between AGB and red giant branch (RGB) stars from a sample of resolved galaxies from the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury. This database provides Hubble Space Telescope optical photometry together with maps of completeness, photometric errors, and star formation histories for dozens of galaxies within 4 Mpc. We select 12 galaxies characterized by predominantly metal-poor populations as indicated by a very steep and blue RGB, and which do not present any indication of recent star formation in their color-magnitude diagrams. Thousands of AGB stars brighter than the tip of the RGB (TRGB) are present in the sample (between 60 and 400 per galaxy), hence, the Poisson noise has little impact in our measurements of the AGB/RGB ratio. We model the photometric data with a few sets of thermally pulsing AGB (TP-AGB) evolutionary models with different prescriptions for the mass loss. This technique allows us to set stringent constraints on the TP-AGB models of low-mass, metal-poor stars (with M sun , [Fe/H]∼ sun . This is also in good agreement with recent observations of white dwarf masses in the M4 old globular cluster. These constraints can be added to those already derived from Magellanic Cloud star clusters as important mileposts in the arduous process of calibrating AGB evolutionary models.

GALAXY FORMATION WITH SELF-CONSISTENTLY MODELED STARS AND MASSIVE BLACK HOLES. I. FEEDBACK-REGULATED STAR FORMATION AND BLACK HOLE GROWTH

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ji-hoon; Abel, Tom; Wise, John H.; Alvarez, Marcelo A.

2011-01-01

There is mounting evidence for the coevolution of galaxies and their embedded massive black holes (MBHs) in a hierarchical structure formation paradigm. To tackle the nonlinear processes of galaxy-MBH interaction, we describe a self-consistent numerical framework which incorporates both galaxies and MBHs. The high-resolution adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code Enzo is modified to model the formation and feedback of molecular clouds at their characteristic scale of 15.2 pc and the accretion of gas onto an MBH. Two major channels of MBH feedback, radiative feedback (X-ray photons followed through full three-dimensional adaptive ray tracing) and mechanical feedback (bipolar jets resolved in high-resolution AMR), are employed. We investigate the coevolution of a 9.2 x 10 11 M sun galactic halo and its 10 5 M sun embedded MBH at redshift 3 in a cosmological ΛCDM simulation. The MBH feedback heats the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM) up to 10 6 K through photoionization and Compton heating and locally suppresses star formation in the galactic inner core. The feedback considerably changes the stellar distribution there. This new channel of feedback from a slowly growing MBH is particularly interesting because it is only locally dominant and does not require the heating of gas globally on the disk. The MBH also self-regulates its growth by keeping the surrounding ISM hot for an extended period of time.

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: spatially resolving the main sequence of star formation

Science.gov (United States)

Medling, Anne M.; Cortese, Luca; Croom, Scott M.; Green, Andrew W.; Groves, Brent; Hampton, Elise; Ho, I.-Ting; Davies, Luke J. M.; Kewley, Lisa J.; Moffett, Amanda J.; Schaefer, Adam L.; Taylor, Edward; Zafar, Tayyaba; Bekki, Kenji; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Bloom, Jessica V.; Brough, Sarah; Bryant, Julia J.; Catinella, Barbara; Cecil, Gerald; Colless, Matthew; Couch, Warrick J.; Drinkwater, Michael J.; Driver, Simon P.; Federrath, Christoph; Foster, Caroline; Goldstein, Gregory; Goodwin, Michael; Hopkins, Andrew; Lawrence, J. S.; Leslie, Sarah K.; Lewis, Geraint F.; Lorente, Nuria P. F.; Owers, Matt S.; McDermid, Richard; Richards, Samuel N.; Sharp, Robert; Scott, Nicholas; Sweet, Sarah M.; Taranu, Dan S.; Tescari, Edoardo; Tonini, Chiara; van de Sande, Jesse; Walcher, C. Jakob; Wright, Angus

2018-04-01

We present the ˜800 star formation rate maps for the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey based on H α emission maps, corrected for dust attenuation via the Balmer decrement, that are included in the SAMI Public Data Release 1. We mask out spaxels contaminated by non-stellar emission using the [O III]/H β, [N II]/H α, [S II]/H α, and [O I]/H α line ratios. Using these maps, we examine the global and resolved star-forming main sequences of SAMI galaxies as a function of morphology, environmental density, and stellar mass. Galaxies further below the star-forming main sequence are more likely to have flatter star formation profiles. Early-type galaxies split into two populations with similar stellar masses and central stellar mass surface densities. The main-sequence population has centrally concentrated star formation similar to late-type galaxies, while galaxies >3σ below the main sequence show significantly reduced star formation most strikingly in the nuclear regions. The split populations support a two-step quenching mechanism, wherein halo mass first cuts off the gas supply and remaining gas continues to form stars until the local stellar mass surface density can stabilize the reduced remaining fuel against further star formation. Across all morphologies, galaxies in denser environments show a decreased specific star formation rate from the outside in, supporting an environmental cause for quenching, such as ram-pressure stripping or galaxy interactions.

A window on first-stars models from studies of dwarf galaxies and galactic halo stars

Science.gov (United States)

Venkatesan, Aparna

2018-06-01

Dwarf galaxies dominate the local universe by number and are predicted to be even more dominant at early times, with many having large star formation rates per unit mass. The cosmological role of dwarf galaxies in the metal enrichment and the reionization of the universe is an important but unresolved problem at present. Nearby low-mass galaxies are much more accessible observationally for detailed study and may be local analogs of the types of galaxies that hosted the first-light sources relevant for reionization. I will share recent results on UV studies of the escaping radiation from nearby low-mass starforming galaxies, as well as the tantalizing similarities in element abundance patterns between local dwarf galaxies and the latest data compilations on extremely metal-poor stars in galactic halos. I will highlight trends of interest in a variety of individual elements at values of [Fe/H] between -7 and -3, including alpha-elements, elements originating mostly in intermediate-mass stars, lithium, titanium, and r-process elements. These trends constrain not only models of the first stars and their supernovae, but provide a window into the physical conditions in early galaxies and when metal-free star formation may have ceased in the early universe.This work was supported by the University of San Francisco Faculty Development Fund, and NSF grant AST-1637339. We thank the Aspen Center for Physics, where some of this work was conducted, and which is supported by National Science Foundation grant PHY-1607611.

DECISION TREE CLASSIFIERS FOR STAR/GALAXY SEPARATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasconcellos, E. C.; Ruiz, R. S. R.; De Carvalho, R. R.; Capelato, H. V.; Gal, R. R.; LaBarbera, F. L.; Frago Campos Velho, H.; Trevisan, M.

2011-01-01

We study the star/galaxy classification efficiency of 13 different decision tree algorithms applied to photometric objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven (SDSS-DR7). Each algorithm is defined by a set of parameters which, when varied, produce different final classification trees. We extensively explore the parameter space of each algorithm, using the set of 884,126 SDSS objects with spectroscopic data as the training set. The efficiency of star-galaxy separation is measured using the completeness function. We find that the Functional Tree algorithm (FT) yields the best results as measured by the mean completeness in two magnitude intervals: 14 ≤ r ≤ 21 (85.2%) and r ≥ 19 (82.1%). We compare the performance of the tree generated with the optimal FT configuration to the classifications provided by the SDSS parametric classifier, 2DPHOT, and Ball et al. We find that our FT classifier is comparable to or better in completeness over the full magnitude range 15 ≤ r ≤ 21, with much lower contamination than all but the Ball et al. classifier. At the faintest magnitudes (r > 19), our classifier is the only one that maintains high completeness (>80%) while simultaneously achieving low contamination (∼2.5%). We also examine the SDSS parametric classifier (psfMag - modelMag) to see if the dividing line between stars and galaxies can be adjusted to improve the classifier. We find that currently stars in close pairs are often misclassified as galaxies, and suggest a new cut to improve the classifier. Finally, we apply our FT classifier to separate stars from galaxies in the full set of 69,545,326 SDSS photometric objects in the magnitude range 14 ≤ r ≤ 21.

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

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mancuso, C.; Prandoni, I. [INAF-IRA, Via P. Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna (Italy); Lapi, A.; Obi, I.; Perrotta, F.; Bressan, A.; Celotti, A.; Danese, L. [SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Gonzalez-Nuevo, J. [Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Oviedo, C. Calvo Sotelo s/n, E-33007 Oviedo (Spain)

2017-06-20

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

Massive stars in the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy

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Garcia, Miriam

2018-02-01

Low metallicity massive stars hold the key to interpret numerous processes in the past Universe including re-ionization, starburst galaxies, high-redshift supernovae, and γ-ray bursts. The Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy [SagDIG, 12+log(O/H) = 7.37] represents an important landmark in the quest for analogues accessible with 10-m class telescopes. This Letter presents low-resolution spectroscopy executed with the Gran Telescopio Canarias that confirms that SagDIG hosts massive stars. The observations unveiled three OBA-type stars and one red supergiant candidate. Pending confirmation from high-resolution follow-up studies, these could be the most metal-poor massive stars of the Local Group.

Stars, Galaxies, and the Origin of Chemical Elements

Science.gov (United States)

Peter, Ulmschneider

"That I am mortal I know, and that my days are numbered, but when in my mind I follow the multiply entwined orbits of the stars, then my feet do no longer touch the Earth. At the table of Zeus himself do I eat Ambrosia, the food of the Gods". These words by Ptolemy from around 125 A.D. are handed down together with his famous book The Almagest, the bible of astronomy for some 1500 years. They capture mankind's deep fascination with the movements of the heavens, and the miracles of the biological world. After the Babylonians observed the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets for millennia, the ancient Greeks were the first to speculate about the nature of these celestial bodies. Yet it is only as a consequence of developments in the last 150 years that a much clearer picture of the physical universe has begun to emerge. Among the most important discoveries have been the stellar parallax, confirming Copernicus's heliocentric system, the realization that galaxies are comprised of billions of stars, the awareness of the size of the universe, and the evolutionary nature of living organisms.

Galaxy Mission Completes Four Star-Studded Years in Space

Science.gov (United States)

2007-01-01

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer is celebrating its fourth year in space with some of M81's 'hottest' stars. In a new ultraviolet image, the magnificent M81 spiral galaxy is shown at the center. The orbiting observatory spies the galaxy's 'sizzling young starlets' as wisps of bluish-white swirling around a central golden glow. The tints of gold at M81's center come from a 'senior citizen' population of smoldering stars. 'This is a spectacular view of M81,' says Dr. John Huchra, of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. 'When we proposed to observe this galaxy with GALEX we hoped to see globular clusters, open clusters, and young stars...this view is everything that we were hoping for.' The image is one of thousands gathered so far by GALEX, which launched April 28, 2003. This mission uses ultraviolet wavelengths to measure the history of star formation 80 percent of the way back to the Big Bang. The large fluffy bluish-white material to the left of M81 is a neighboring galaxy called Holmberg IX. This galaxy is practically invisible to the naked human eye. However, it is illuminated brilliantly in GALEX's wide ultraviolet eyes. Its ultraviolet colors show that it is actively forming young stars. The bluish-white fuzz in the space surrounding M81 and Holmberg IX is new star formation triggered by gravitational interactions between the two galaxies. Huchra notes that the active star formation in Holmberg IX is a surprise, and says that more research needs to be done in light of the new findings from GALEX. 'Some astronomers suspect that the galaxy Holmberg IX is the result of a galactic interaction between M81 and another neighboring galaxy M82,' says Huchra. 'This particular galaxy is especially important because there are a lot of galaxies like Holmberg IX around our Milky Way galaxy. By understanding how Holmberg IX came to be, we hope to understand how all the little galaxies surrounding the Milky Way developed.' 'Four years after GALEX

Star Formation in Dwarf Galaxies: Life in a Rough Neighborhood

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murray, S

2003-10-16

Star formation within dwarf galaxies is governed by several factors. Many of these factors are external, including ram-pressure stripping, tidal stripping, and heating by external UV radiation. The latter, in particular, may prevent star formation in the smallest systems. Internal factors include negative feedback in the form of UV radiation, winds and supernovae from massive stars. These act to reduce the star formation efficiency within dwarf systems, which may, in turn, solve several theoretical and observational problems associated with galaxy formation. In this contribution, we discuss our recent work being done to examine the importance of the many factors in the evolution of dwarf galaxies.

Modelling the star formation histories of nearby elliptical galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Katy

Since Lick indices were introduced in 1994, they have been used as a source of observational data against which computer models of galaxy evolution have been compared. However, as this thesis demonstrates, observed Lick indices lead to mathematical ill-conditioning: small variations in observations can lead to very large differences in population synthesis models attempting to recreate the observed values. As such, limited reliance should be placed on any results currently or historically in the literature purporting to give the star formation history of a galaxy, or group of galaxies, where this is deduced from Lick observations taken from a single instrument, without separate verification from at least one other source. Within these limitations, this thesis also constrains the star formation histories of 21 nearby elliptical galaxies, finding that they formed 13.26 +0.09 -0.06 Gyrs ago, that all mergers are dry, and that galactic winds are formed from AGN activity (rather than being supernovae-driven). This thesis also finds evidence to support the established galaxy-formation theory of "downsizing". An existing galactic model from the literature is examined and evaluated, and the reasons for it being unable to establish star formation histories of individual galaxies are ascertained. A brand-new model is designed, developed, tested and used with two separate data sets, corroborated for 10 galaxies by data from a third source, and compared to results from a Single Stellar Population model from the literature, to model the star formation histories of nearby elliptical galaxies.

Galaxy formation hydrodynamics: From cosmic flows to star-forming clouds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bournaud, F.

2011-01-01

Major progress has been made over the last few years in understanding hydrodynamical processes on cosmological scales, in particular how galaxies get their baryons. There is increasing recognition that a large part of the baryons accrete smoothly onto galaxies, and that internal evolution processes play a major role in shaping galaxies mergers are not necessarily the dominant process. However, predictions from the various assembly mechanisms are still in large disagreement with the observed properties of galaxies in the nearby Universe. Small-scale processes have a major impact on the global evolution of galaxies over a Hubble time and the usual sub-grid models account for them in a far too uncertain way. Understanding when, where and at which rate galaxies formed their stars becomes crucial to understand the formation of galaxy populations. I discuss recent improvements and current limitations in 'resolved' modeling of star formation, aiming at explicitly capturing star-foul-ling instabilities, in cosmological and galaxy-sized simulations. Such models need to develop three-dimensional turbulence in the ISM, which requires parsec-scale resolution at redshift zero. (authors)

Lyα-EMITTING GALAXIES AT z = 2.1: STELLAR MASSES, DUST, AND STAR FORMATION HISTORIES FROM SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION FITTING

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guaita, Lucia; Padilla, Nelson; Acquaviva, Viviana; Gawiser, Eric; Bond, Nicholas A.; Kurczynski, Peter; Ciardullo, Robin; Gronwall, Caryl; Treister, Ezequiel; Lira, Paulina; Schawinski, Kevin

2011-01-01

We study the physical properties of 216 z ≅ 2.1 Lyα-emitting galaxies (LAEs) discovered in an ultra-deep narrow- MUSYC image of the ECDF-S. We fit their stacked spectral energy distribution (SED) using Charlot and Bruzual templates. We consider star formation histories (SFHs) parameterized by the e-folding time parameter τ, allowing for exponentially decreasing (τ > 0), exponentially increasing (τ * /M sun ) = 8.6[8.4-9.1], E(B - V) = 0.22[0.00-0.31], τ = -0.02[(- 4)-18] Gyr, and age SF = 0.018[0.009-3] Gyr. Thus, we obtain robust measurements of low stellar mass and dust content, but we cannot place meaningful constraints on the age or SFH of the LAEs. We also calculate the instantaneous SFR to be 35[0.003-170] M sun yr -1 , with its average over the last 100 Myr before observation giving (SFR) 100 = 4[2-30] M sun yr -1 . When we compare the results for the same SFH, typical LAEs at z ≅ 2.1 appear dustier and show higher instantaneous SFRs than z ≅ 3.1 LAEs, while the observed stellar masses of the two samples seem consistent. Because the majority are low-mass galaxies, our typical LAEs appear to occupy the low-mass end of the distribution of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2. We perform SED fitting on several sub-samples selected based on photometric properties and find that LAE sub-samples at z ≅ 2.1 exhibit heterogeneous properties. The typical IRAC-bright, UV-bright, and red LAEs have the largest stellar mass and dust reddening. The typical UV-faint, IRAC-faint, and high EW LAE sub-samples appear less massive ( 9 M sun ) and less dusty, with E(B - V) consistent with zero.

THE FIRST GALAXIES: ASSEMBLY UNDER RADIATIVE FEEDBACK FROM THE FIRST STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pawlik, Andreas H.; Milosavljević, Miloš; Bromm, Volker

2013-01-01

We investigate how radiative feedback from the first stars affects the assembly of the first dwarf galaxies. To this end, we perform cosmological zoomed smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of a dwarf galaxy assembling inside a halo reaching a virial mass ∼10 9 M ☉ at z = 10. The simulations follow the non-equilibrium chemistry and cooling of primordial gas and the subsequent conversion of the cool dense gas into massive metal-free stars. To quantify the radiative feedback, we compare a simulation in which stars emit both molecular hydrogen dissociating and hydrogen/helium ionizing radiation with a simulation in which stars emit only molecular hydrogen dissociating radiation, and further with a simulation in which stars remain dark. Photodissociation and photoionization exert a strong negative feedback on the assembly of the galaxy inside the main minihalo progenitor. Gas condensation is strongly impeded, and star formation is strongly suppressed in comparison with the simulation in which stars remain dark. The feedback on the gas from either dissociating or ionizing radiation implies a suppression of the central dark matter densities in the minihalo progenitor by factors of up to a few, which is a significant deviation from the singular isothermal density profile characterizing the dark matter distribution inside the virial radius in the absence of radiative feedback. The evolution of gas densities, star formation rates, and the distribution of dark matter becomes insensitive to the inclusion of dissociating radiation in the late stages of the minihalo assembly, and it becomes insensitive to the inclusion of ionizing radiation once the minihalo turns into an atomically cooling galaxy. The formation of a rotationally supported extended disk inside the dwarf galaxy is a robust outcome of our simulations not affected by the inclusion of radiation. Low-mass galaxies in the neighborhood of the dwarf galaxy show a large scatter in the baryon fraction which is

Star formation rates and abundance gradients in disk galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyse, R.F.G.; Silk, J.

1989-01-01

Analytic models for the evolution of disk galaxies are presented, placing special emphasis on the radial properties. These models are straightforward extensions of the original Schmidt (1959, 1963) models, with a dependence of star formation rate on gas density. The models provide successful descriptions of several measures of galactic disk evolution, including solar neighborhood chemical evolution, the presence and amplitude of metallicity and color gradients in disk galaxies, and the global rates of star formation in disk galaxies, and aid in the understanding of the apparent connection between young and old stellar populations in spiral galaxies. 67 refs

Tracing the journey of the Sun and the Solar siblings through the Milky Way

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Barbosa, Carmen Adriana

2016-04-01

This thesis is focused on studying the motion of the Sun and the Solar siblings through the Galaxy. The Solar siblings are stars that were born with the Sun in the same molecular cloud 4.6 Gyr ago. In the first part of the thesis, we present an efficient method to calculate the evolution of small systems embedded in larger systems. Generalizations of this method are used to calculate the motion of the Sun and the Solar siblings in an analytical potential containing a central bar and spiral arms. By integrating the orbit of the Sun backwards in time, we determine its birth radius and the amount of radial migration experienced by our star. The birth radius of the Sun is used to investigate the evolution and disruption of the Sun's birth cluster. Depending on the Galaxy model parameters, the present-day phase-space distribution of the Solar siblings might be quite different. We used these data to predict the regions in the Galaxy where it will be more likely to search for So! lar siblings in the future. Finally, we compute the stellar encounters experienced by the Sun along its orbit and their role on the stability of the outer Solar System.

YOUNG, ULTRAVIOLET-BRIGHT STARS DOMINATE DUST HEATING IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Law, Ka-Hei; Gordon, Karl D.; Misselt, K. A.

2011-01-01

In star-forming galaxies, dust plays a significant role in shaping the ultraviolet (UV) through infrared (IR) spectrum. Dust attenuates the radiation from stars, and re-radiates the energy through equilibrium and non-equilibrium emission. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), graphite, and silicates contribute to different features in the spectral energy distribution; however, they are all highly opaque in the same spectral region-the UV. Compared to old stellar populations, young populations release a higher fraction of their total luminosity in the UV, making them a good source of the energetic UV photons that can power dust emission. However, given their relative abundance, the question of whether young or old stellar populations provide most of these photons that power the IR emission is an interesting question. Using three samples of galaxies observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope and our dusty radiative transfer model, we find that young stellar populations (on the order of 100 million years old) dominate the dust heating in star-forming galaxies, and old stellar populations (13 billion years old) generally contribute less than 20% of the far-IR luminosity.

Quenching or Bursting: Star Formation Acceleration—A New Methodology for Tracing Galaxy Evolution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, D. Christopher; Darvish, Behnam; Seibert, Mark [California Institute of Technology, MC 405-47, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Gonçalves, Thiago S. [Observatorio do Valongo, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ladeira Pedro Antonio, 43, Saude, Rio de Janeiro-RJ 20080-090 (Brazil); Schiminovich, David [Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States)

2017-06-10

We introduce a new methodology for the direct extraction of galaxy physical parameters from multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy. We use semianalytic models that describe galaxy evolution in the context of large-scale cosmological simulation to provide a catalog of galaxies, star formation histories, and physical parameters. We then apply models of stellar population synthesis and a simple extinction model to calculate the observable broadband fluxes and spectral indices for these galaxies. We use a linear regression analysis to relate physical parameters to observed colors and spectral indices. The result is a set of coefficients that can be used to translate observed colors and indices into stellar mass, star formation rate, and many other parameters, including the instantaneous time derivative of the star formation rate, which we denote the Star Formation Acceleration (SFA), We apply the method to a test sample of galaxies with GALEX photometry and SDSS spectroscopy, deriving relationships between stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and SFA. We find evidence for a mass-dependent SFA in the green valley, with low-mass galaxies showing greater quenching and higher-mass galaxies greater bursting. We also find evidence for an increase in average quenching in galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus. A simple scenario in which lower-mass galaxies accrete and become satellite galaxies, having their star-forming gas tidally and/or ram-pressure stripped, while higher-mass galaxies receive this gas and react with new star formation, can qualitatively explain our results.

Quenching or Bursting: Star Formation Acceleration—A New Methodology for Tracing Galaxy Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, D. Christopher; Gonçalves, Thiago S.; Darvish, Behnam; Seibert, Mark; Schiminovich, David

2017-06-01

We introduce a new methodology for the direct extraction of galaxy physical parameters from multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy. We use semianalytic models that describe galaxy evolution in the context of large-scale cosmological simulation to provide a catalog of galaxies, star formation histories, and physical parameters. We then apply models of stellar population synthesis and a simple extinction model to calculate the observable broadband fluxes and spectral indices for these galaxies. We use a linear regression analysis to relate physical parameters to observed colors and spectral indices. The result is a set of coefficients that can be used to translate observed colors and indices into stellar mass, star formation rate, and many other parameters, including the instantaneous time derivative of the star formation rate, which we denote the Star Formation Acceleration (SFA), We apply the method to a test sample of galaxies with GALEX photometry and SDSS spectroscopy, deriving relationships between stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and SFA. We find evidence for a mass-dependent SFA in the green valley, with low-mass galaxies showing greater quenching and higher-mass galaxies greater bursting. We also find evidence for an increase in average quenching in galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus. A simple scenario in which lower-mass galaxies accrete and become satellite galaxies, having their star-forming gas tidally and/or ram-pressure stripped, while higher-mass galaxies receive this gas and react with new star formation, can qualitatively explain our results.

Quenching or Bursting: Star Formation Acceleration—A New Methodology for Tracing Galaxy Evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, D. Christopher; Darvish, Behnam; Seibert, Mark; Gonçalves, Thiago S.; Schiminovich, David

2017-01-01

We introduce a new methodology for the direct extraction of galaxy physical parameters from multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy. We use semianalytic models that describe galaxy evolution in the context of large-scale cosmological simulation to provide a catalog of galaxies, star formation histories, and physical parameters. We then apply models of stellar population synthesis and a simple extinction model to calculate the observable broadband fluxes and spectral indices for these galaxies. We use a linear regression analysis to relate physical parameters to observed colors and spectral indices. The result is a set of coefficients that can be used to translate observed colors and indices into stellar mass, star formation rate, and many other parameters, including the instantaneous time derivative of the star formation rate, which we denote the Star Formation Acceleration (SFA), We apply the method to a test sample of galaxies with GALEX photometry and SDSS spectroscopy, deriving relationships between stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and SFA. We find evidence for a mass-dependent SFA in the green valley, with low-mass galaxies showing greater quenching and higher-mass galaxies greater bursting. We also find evidence for an increase in average quenching in galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus. A simple scenario in which lower-mass galaxies accrete and become satellite galaxies, having their star-forming gas tidally and/or ram-pressure stripped, while higher-mass galaxies receive this gas and react with new star formation, can qualitatively explain our results.

Predicting galaxy star formation rates via the co-evolution of galaxies and haloes

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Douglas F.; Hearin, Andrew P.; Berlind, Andreas A.; Becker, Matthew R.; Behroozi, Peter S.; Skibba, Ramin A.; Reyes, Reinabelle; Zentner, Andrew R.; van den Bosch, Frank C.

2015-01-01

In this paper, we test the age matching hypothesis that the star formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy of fixed stellar mass is determined by its dark matter halo formation history, e.g. more quiescent galaxies reside in older haloes. We present new Sloan Digital Sky Survey measurements of the galaxy two-point correlation function and galaxy-galaxy lensing as a function of stellar mass and SFR, separated into quenched and star-forming galaxy samples to test this simple model. We find that our age matching model is in excellent agreement with these new measurements. We also find that our model is able to predict: (1) the relative SFRs of central and satellite galaxies, (2) the SFR dependence of the radial distribution of satellite galaxy populations within galaxy groups, rich groups, and clusters and their surrounding larger scale environments, and (3) the interesting feature that the satellite quenched fraction as a function of projected radial distance from the central galaxy exhibits an ˜r-.15 slope, independent of environment. These accurate predictions are intriguing given that we do not explicitly model satellite-specific processes after infall, and that in our model the virial radius does not mark a special transition region in the evolution of a satellite. The success of the model suggests that present-day galaxy SFR is strongly correlated with halo mass assembly history.

A Missing Link in Galaxy Evolution: The Mysteries of Dissolving Star Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Pellerin, Anne; Meyer, Martin; Harris, Jason; Calzetti, Daniela

2007-05-01

Star-forming events in starbursts and normal galaxies have a direct impact on the global stellar content of galaxies. These events create numerous compact clusters where stars are produced in great number. These stars eventually end up in the star field background where they are smoothly distributed. However, due to instrumental limitations such as spatial resolution and sensitivity, the processes involved during the transition phase from the compact clusters to the star field background as well as the impact of the environment (spiral waves, bars, starburst) on the lifetime of clusters are still poorly constrained observationally. I will present our latest results on the physical properties of dissolving clusters directly detected in HST/ACS archival images of the three nearby galaxies IC 2574, NGC 1313, and IC 10 (D detect and spatially resolve individual stars in nearby galaxies within a large field-of-view. For all ACS images obtained in three filters (F435W, F555W or F606W, and F814W), we performed PSF stellar photometry in crowded field. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMD) allow us to identify the most massive stars more likely to be part of dissolving clusters (A-type and earlier), and to isolate them from the star field background. We then adapt and use a clustering algorithm on the selected stars to find groups of stars to reveal and quantify the properties of all star clusters (compactness, size, age, mass). With this algorithm, even the less compact clusters are revealed while they are being destroyed. Our sample of three galaxies covers an interesting range in gravitational potential well and explores a variety of galaxy morphological types, which allows us to discuss the dissolving cluster properties as a function of the host galaxy characteristics. The properties of the star field background will also be discussed.

Making Galaxies: One Star at a Time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abel, Tom

2006-01-01

In the age of precision cosmology the fundamental parameters of our world model are being measured to unprecedented accuracy. In particular, measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation detail the state of the universe only 400,000 years after the big bang. Unfortunately, we have no direct observational evidence about the following few hundred million years, the so called dark ages. However, we do know from the composition of the highest redshift galaxies that it is there where the earliest and first galaxies are being formed. From a physics point of view these earliest times are much easier to understand and model because the chemical composition of the early gas is simpler and the first galaxies are much smaller than the ones found nearby. The absence of strong magnetic fields, cosmic rays, dust grains and UV radiation fields clearly also helps. The first generation of structure formation is as such a problem extremely well suited for direct ab initio calculations using supercomputers. In this colloquium I will discuss the rich physics of the formation of the first objects as computed via ab initio Eulerian cosmological adaptive mesh refinement calculations. We find the first generation of stars to be massive and to form in isolation with mass between 30 and 300 times the mass of the sun. Remarkably the relevant mass scales can all be understood analytically from the microscopic properties of atomic and molecular hydrogen. The UV radiation from these stars photo-evaporates their parent clouds within their lifetimes contributing significantly to cosmological reionization. Their supernovae distribute the first heavy elements over thousands of light years and enrich the intergalactic medium. As we are beginning to illuminate these earliest phases of galaxy formation many new questions arise and become addressable with our novel numerical techniques. How and where are the earliest magnetic fields made? How do the first super-massive black holes form

Gas, Stars, and Star Formation in Alfalfa Dwarf Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Shan; Haynes, Martha P.; Giovanelli, Riccardo; Brinchmann, Jarle; Stierwalt, Sabrina; Neff, Susan G.

2012-01-01

We examine the global properties of the stellar and Hi components of 229 low H i mass dwarf galaxies extracted from the ALFALFA survey, including a complete sample of 176 galaxies with H i masses ALFALFA dwarfs are faint and of low surface brightness; only 56% of those within the SDSS footprint have a counterpart in the SDSS spectroscopic survey. A large fraction of the dwarfs have high specific star formation rates (SSFRs), and estimates of their SFRs and M* obtained by SED fitting are systematically smaller than ones derived via standard formulae assuming a constant SFR. The increased dispersion of the SSFR distribution at M* approximately less than10(exp 8)M(sub 0) is driven by a set of dwarf galaxies that have low gas fractions and SSFRs; some of these are dE/dSphs in the Virgo Cluster. The imposition of an upper Hi mass limit yields the selection of a sample with lower gas fractions for their M* than found for the overall ALFALFA population. Many of the ALFALFA dwarfs, particularly the Virgo members, have H i depletion timescales shorter than a Hubble time. An examination of the dwarf galaxies within the full ALFALFA population in the context of global star formation (SF) laws is consistent with the general assumptions that gas-rich galaxies have lower SF efficiencies than do optically selected populations and that Hi disks are more extended than stellar ones.

STRUCTURES OF LOCAL GALAXIES COMPARED TO HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petty, Sara M.; De Mello, DuIlia F.; Gallagher, John S.; Gardner, Jonathan P.; Lotz, Jennifer M.; Matt Mountain, C.; Smith, Linda J.

2009-01-01

The rest-frame far-ultraviolet morphologies of eight nearby interacting and starburst galaxies (Arp 269, M 82, Mrk 8, NGC 520, NGC 1068, NGC 3079, NGC 3310, and NGC 7673) are compared with 54 galaxies at z ∼ 1.5 and 46 galaxies at z ∼ 4 observed in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The nearby sample is artificially redshifted to z ∼ 1.5 and 4 by applying luminosity and size scaling. We compare the simulated galaxy morphologies to real z ∼ 1.5 and 4 UV-bright galaxy morphologies. We calculate the Gini coefficient (G), the second-order moment of the brightest 20% of the galaxy's flux (M 20 ), and the Sersic index (n). We explore the use of nonparametric methods with two-dimensional profile fitting and find the combination of M 20 with n an efficient method to classify galaxies as having merger, exponential disk, or bulge-like morphologies. When classified according to G and M 20 20/30% of real/simulated galaxies at z ∼ 1.5 and 37/12% at z ∼ 4 have bulge-like morphologies. The rest have merger-like or intermediate distributions. Alternatively, when classified according to the Sersic index, 70% of the z ∼ 1.5 and z ∼ 4 real galaxies are exponential disks or bulge-like with n>0.8, and ∼ 30% of the real galaxies are classified as mergers. The artificially redshifted galaxies have n values with ∼ 35% bulge or exponential at z ∼ 1.5 and 4. Therefore, ∼ 20%-30% of Lyman-break galaxies have structures similar to local starburst mergers, and may be driven by similar processes. We assume merger-like or clumpy star-forming galaxies in the GOODS field have morphological structure with values n 20 > - 1.7. We conclude that Mrk 8, NGC 3079, and NGC 7673 have structures similar to those of merger-like and clumpy star-forming galaxies observed at z ∼ 1.5 and 4.

GEOMETRY OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES FROM SDSS, 3D-HST, AND CANDELS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Wel, A.; Chang, Yu-Yen; Rix, H.-W.; Martig, M.; Bell, E. F.; Holden, B. P.; Koo, D. C.; Mozena, M.; Faber, S. M.; Ferguson, H. C.; Brammer, G.; Kassin, S. A.; Giavalisco, M.; Skelton, R.; Whitaker, K.; Momcheva, I.; Van Dokkum, P. G.; Dekel, A.; Ceverino, D.; Franx, M.

2014-01-01

We determine the intrinsic, three-dimensional shape distribution of star-forming galaxies at 0 < z < 2.5, as inferred from their observed projected axis ratios. In the present-day universe, star-forming galaxies of all masses 10 9 -10 11 M ☉ are predominantly thin, nearly oblate disks, in line with previous studies. We now extend this to higher redshifts, and find that among massive galaxies (M * > 10 10 M ☉ ) disks are the most common geometric shape at all z ≲ 2. Lower-mass galaxies at z > 1 possess a broad range of geometric shapes: the fraction of elongated (prolate) galaxies increases toward higher redshifts and lower masses. Galaxies with stellar mass 10 9 M ☉ (10 10 M ☉ ) are a mix of roughly equal numbers of elongated and disk galaxies at z ∼ 1 (z ∼ 2). This suggests that galaxies in this mass range do not yet have disks that are sustained over many orbital periods, implying that galaxies with present-day stellar mass comparable to that of the Milky Way typically first formed such sustained stellar disks at redshift z ∼ 1.5-2. Combined with constraints on the evolution of the star formation rate density and the distribution of star formation over galaxies with different masses, our findings imply that, averaged over cosmic time, the majority of stars formed in disks

Little Bear’s pulsating stars: Variable star census of UMi dSph Galaxy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kinemuchi K.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recent observations and a photometric search for variable stars in the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy (UMi dSph are presented. Our observations were taken at Apache Point Observatory in 2014 and 2016 using the 0.5m ARCSAT telescope and the West Mountain Observatory (WMO 0.9m telescope of Brigham Young University in 2016. Previously known RR Lyrae stars in our field of view of the UMi dSph are identified, and we also catalog new variable star candidates. Tentative classifications are given for some of the new variable stars. We have conducted period searches with the data collected with the WMO telescope. Our ultimate goal is to create an updated catalog of variable stars in the UMi dSph and to compare the RR Lyrae stellar characteristics to other RR Lyrae stars found in the Local Group dSph galaxies.

RING STAR FORMATION RATES IN BARRED AND NONBARRED GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grouchy, R. D.; Buta, R. J.; Salo, H.; Laurikainen, E.

2010-01-01

Nonbarred ringed galaxies are relatively normal galaxies showing bright rings of star formation in spite of lacking a strong bar. This morphology is interesting because it is generally accepted that a typical galactic disk ring forms when material collects near a resonance, set up by the pattern speed of a bar or bar-like perturbation. Our goal in this paper is to examine whether the star formation properties of rings are related to the strength of a bar or, in the absence of a bar, to the non-axisymmetric gravity potential in general. For this purpose, we obtained Hα emission line images and calculated the line fluxes and star formation rates (SFRs) for 16 nonbarred SA galaxies and four weakly barred SAB galaxies with rings. For comparison, we combine our new observations with a re-analysis of previously published data on five SA, seven SAB, and 15 SB galaxies with rings, three of which are duplicates from our sample. With these data, we examine what role a bar may play in the star formation process in rings. Compared to barred ringed galaxies, we find that the inner ring SFRs and Hα+[N II] equivalent widths in nonbarred ringed galaxies show a similar range and trend with absolute blue magnitude, revised Hubble type, and other parameters. On the whole, the star formation properties of inner rings, excluding the distribution of H II regions, are independent of the ring shapes and the bar strength in our small samples. We confirm that the deprojected axis ratios of inner rings correlate with maximum relative gravitational force Q g ; however, if we consider all rings, a better correlation is found when a local bar forcing at the radius of the ring, Q r , is used. Individual cases are described and other correlations are discussed. By studying the physical properties of these galaxies, we hope to gain a better understanding of their placement in the scheme of the Hubble sequence and how they formed rings without the driving force of a bar.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE STAR FORMATION RATE OF GALAXIES AT 0.0 ≤ z ≤ 1.2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rujopakarn, Wiphu; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Rieke, George H.; Rieke, Marcia J.; Papovich, Casey; Cool, Richard J.; Moustakas, John; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Dey, Arjun; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Eisenhardt, Peter; Murray, Steve S.; Brown, Michael J. I.; Le Floc'h, Emeric

2010-01-01

We present the 24 μm rest-frame luminosity function (LF) of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 0.0 ≤ z ≤ 0.6 constructed from 4047 spectroscopic redshifts from the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey of 24 μm selected sources in the Booetes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. This sample provides the best available combination of large area (9 deg 2 ), depth, and statistically complete spectroscopic observations, allowing us to probe the evolution of the 24 μm LF of galaxies at low and intermediate redshifts while minimizing the effects of cosmic variance. In order to use the observed 24 μm luminosity as a tracer for star formation, active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that could contribute significantly at 24 μm are identified and excluded from our star-forming galaxy sample based on their mid-IR spectral energy distributions or the detection of X-ray emission. Optical emission line diagnostics are considered for AGN identification, but we find that 24 μm emission from optically selected AGNs is usually from star-forming activity and therefore should not be excluded. The evolution of the 24 μm LF of star-forming galaxies for redshifts of z ≤ 0.65 is consistent with a pure luminosity evolution where the characteristic 24 μm luminosity evolves as (1 + z) 3.8±0.3 . We extend our evolutionary study to encompass 0.0 ≤ z ≤ 1.2 by combining our data with that of the Far-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. Over this entire redshift range, the evolution of the characteristic 24 μm luminosity is described by a slightly shallower power law of (1 + z) 3.4±0.2 . We find a local star formation rate density of (1.09 ± 0.21) x 10 -2 M sun yr -1 Mpc -3 , and that it evolves as (1 + z) 3.5±0.2 over 0.0 ≤ z ≤ 1.2. These estimates are in good agreement with the rates using optical and UV fluxes corrected for the effects of intrinsic extinction in the observed sources. This agreement confirms that star formation at z ∼< 1.2 is robustly traced by

Dwarf galaxies in the coma cluster: Star formation properties and evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Derek M.

The infall regions of galaxy clusters are unique laboratories for studying the impact of environment on galaxy evolution. This intermediate region links the low-density field environment and the dense core of the cluster, and is thought to host recently accreted galaxies whose star formation is being quenched by external processes associated with the cluster. In this dissertation, we measure the star formation properties of galaxies at the infall region of the nearby rich cluster of galaxies, Coma. We rely primarily on Ultraviolet (UV) data owing to its sensitivity to recent star formation and we place more emphasis on the properties of dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are good tracers of external processes in clusters but their evolution is poorly constrained as they are intrinsically faint and hence more challenging to detect. We make use of deep GALEX far-UV and near-UV observations at the infall region of the Coma cluster. This area of the cluster has supporting photometric coverage at optical and IR wavelengths in addition to optical spectroscopic data that includes deep redshift coverage of dwarf galaxies in Coma. Our GALEX observations were the deepest exposures taken for a local galaxy cluster. The depth of these images required alternative data analysis techniques to overcome systematic effects that limit the default GALEX pipeline analysis. Specifically, we used a deblending method that improved detection efficiency by a factor of ˜2 and allowed reliable photometry a few magnitudes deeper than the pipeline catalog. We performed deep measurements of the total UV galaxy counts in our field that were used to measure the source confusion limit for crowded GALEX fields. The star formation properties of Coma members were studied for galaxies that span from starbursts to passive galaxies. Star-forming galaxies in Coma tend to have lower specific star formation rates, on average, as compared to field galaxies. We show that the majority of these galaxies are likely

Star-Formation Histories, Abundances, and Kinematics of Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Group

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tolstoy, Eline; Hill, Vanessa; Tosi, Monica; Blandford, R; Kormendy, J; VanDishoeck, E

2009-01-01

Within the Local Universe galaxies can be studied in great detail star by star, and here we review the results of quantitative studies in nearby dwarf galaxies. The color-magnitude diagram synthesis method is well established as the most accurate way to determine star-formation histories of galaxies

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF KNOTS OF STAR FORMATION IN INTERACTING VERSUS SPIRAL GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Beverly J.; Olmsted, Susan; Jones, Keith [Department of Physics and Astronomy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN 37614 (United States); Zaragoza-Cardiel, Javier [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Struck, Curtis, E-mail: smithbj@etsu.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011 (United States)

2016-03-15

Interacting galaxies are known to have higher global rates of star formation on average than normal galaxies, relative to their stellar masses. Using UV and IR photometry combined with new and published Hα images, we have compared the star formation rates (SFRs) of ∼700 star forming complexes in 46 nearby interacting galaxy pairs with those of regions in 39 normal spiral galaxies. The interacting galaxies have proportionally more regions with high SFRs than the spirals. The most extreme regions in the interacting systems lie at the intersections of spiral/tidal structures, where gas is expected to pile up and trigger star formation. Published Hubble Space Telescope images show unusually large and luminous star clusters in the highest luminosity regions. The SFRs of the clumps correlate with measures of the dust attenuation, consistent with the idea that regions with more interstellar gas have more star formation. For the clumps with the highest SFRs, the apparent dust attenuation is consistent with the Calzetti starburst dust attenuation law. This suggests that the high luminosity regions are dominated by a central group of young stars surrounded by a shell of clumpy interstellar gas. In contrast, the lower luminosity clumps are bright in the UV relative to Hα, suggesting either a high differential attenuation between the ionized gas and the stars, or a post-starburst population bright in the UV but faded in Hα. The fraction of the global light of the galaxies in the clumps is higher on average for the interacting galaxies than for the spirals. Thus either star formation in interacting galaxies is “clumpier” on average, or the star forming regions in interacting galaxies are more luminous, dustier, or younger on average.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-06-01

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

THE RELATION BETWEEN COOL CLUSTER CORES AND HERSCHEL-DETECTED STAR FORMATION IN BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rawle, T. D.; Egami, E.; Rex, M.; Fiedler, A.; Haines, C. P.; Pereira, M. J.; Portouw, J.; Walth, G. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Edge, A. C. [Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Smith, G. P. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Altieri, B.; Valtchanov, I. [Herschel Science Centre, ESAC, ESA, P.O. Box 78, Villanueva de la Canada, 28691 Madrid (Spain); Perez-Gonzalez, P. G. [Departamento de Astrofisica, Facultad de CC. Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid (Spain); Van der Werf, P. P. [Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA, Leiden (Netherlands); Zemcov, M., E-mail: trawle@as.arizona.edu [Department of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

2012-03-01

We present far-infrared (FIR) analysis of 68 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at 0.08 < z < 1.0. Deriving total infrared luminosities directly from Spitzer and Herschel photometry spanning the peak of the dust component (24-500 {mu}m), we calculate the obscured star formation rate (SFR). 22{sup +6.2}{sub -5.3}% of the BCGs are detected in the far-infrared, with SFR = 1-150 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}. The infrared luminosity is highly correlated with cluster X-ray gas cooling times for cool-core clusters (gas cooling time <1 Gyr), strongly suggesting that the star formation in these BCGs is influenced by the cluster-scale cooling process. The occurrence of the molecular gas tracing H{alpha} emission is also correlated with obscured star formation. For all but the most luminous BCGs (L{sub TIR} > 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} L{sub Sun }), only a small ({approx}<0.4 mag) reddening correction is required for SFR(H{alpha}) to agree with SFR{sub FIR}. The relatively low H{alpha} extinction (dust obscuration), compared to values reported for the general star-forming population, lends further weight to an alternate (external) origin for the cold gas. Finally, we use a stacking analysis of non-cool-core clusters to show that the majority of the fuel for star formation in the FIR-bright BCGs is unlikely to originate from normal stellar mass loss.

STAR FORMATION IN PARTIALLY GAS-DEPLETED SPIRAL GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, James A.; Miner, Jesse; Levy, Lorenza; Robertson, Paul

2010-01-01

Broadband B and R and Hα images have been obtained with the 4.1 m SOAR telescope atop Cerro Pachon, Chile, for 29 spiral galaxies in the Pegasus I galaxy cluster and for 18 spirals in non-cluster environments. Pegasus I is a spiral-rich cluster with a low-density intracluster medium and a low galaxy velocity dispersion. When combined with neutral hydrogen (H I) data obtained with the Arecibo 305 m radio telescope, acquired by Levy et al. (2007) and by Springob et al. (2005b), we study the star formation rates in disk galaxies as a function of their H I deficiency. To quantify H I deficiency, we use the usual logarithmic deficiency parameter, DEF. The specific star formation rate (SSFR) is quantified by the logarithmic flux ratio of Hα flux to R-band flux, and thus roughly characterizes the logarithmic SFR per unit stellar mass. We find a clear correlation between the global SFR per unit stellar mass and DEF, such that the SFR is lower in more H I-deficient galaxies. This correlation appears to extend from the most gas-rich to the most gas-poor galaxies. We also find a correlation between the central SFR per unit mass relative to the global values, in the sense that the more H I-deficient galaxies have a higher central SFR per unit mass relative to their global SFR values than do gas-rich galaxies. In fact, approximately half of the H I-depleted galaxies have highly elevated SSFRs in their central regions, indicative of a transient evolutionary state. In addition, we find a correlation between gas depletion and the size of the Hα disk (relative to the R-band disk); H I-poor galaxies have truncated disks. Moreover, aside from the elevated central SSFR in many gas-poor spirals, the SSFR is otherwise lower in the Hα disks of gas-poor galaxies than in gas-rich spirals. Thus, both disk truncation and lowered SSFR levels within the star-forming part of the disks (aside from the enhanced nuclear SSFR) correlate with H I deficiency, and both phenomena are found to

Origin of stars and structure of galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palous, J.

1988-01-01

The substance is described of molecular clouds from interstellar mass and the origin, process and termination of the gravitational collapse are described which lead to the creation of stars. The probability is described of the origin of high-mass and lower-mass stars. The connection is discussed between the creation of stars, molecular clouds and the structure of galaxies. (E.S.). 7 figs

A Study of Two Dwarf Irregular Galaxies with Asymmetrical Star Formation Distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Deidre A.; Gallardo, Samavarti; Zhang, Hong-Xin; Adamo, Angela; Cook, David O.; Oh, Se-Heon; Elmegreen, Bruce G.; Kim, Hwihyun; Kahre, Lauren; Ubeda, Leonardo; Bright, Stacey N.; Ryon, Jenna E.; Fumagalli, Michele; Sacchi, Elena; Kennicutt, R. C.; Tosi, Monica; Dale, Daniel A.; Cignoni, Michele; Messa, Matteo; Grebel, Eva K.; Gouliermis, Dimitrios A.; Sabbi, Elena; Grasha, Kathryn; Gallagher, John S., III; Calzetti, Daniela; Lee, Janice C.

2018-03-01

Two dwarf irregular galaxies, DDO 187 and NGC 3738, exhibit a striking pattern of star formation: intense star formation is taking place in a large region occupying roughly half of the inner part of the optical galaxy. We use data on the H I distribution and kinematics and stellar images and colors to examine the properties of the environment in the high star formation rate (HSF) halves of the galaxies in comparison with the low star formation rate halves. We find that the pressure and gas density are higher on the HSF sides by 30%–70%. In addition we find in both galaxies that the H I velocity fields exhibit significant deviations from ordered rotation and there are large regions of high-velocity dispersion and multiple velocity components in the gas beyond the inner regions of the galaxies. The conditions in the HSF regions are likely the result of large-scale external processes affecting the internal environment of the galaxies and enabling the current star formation there.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-04-01

We investigate the evolution of the ionisation parameter of star-forming galaxies using a high-redshift (z ˜ 1.5) sample from the FMOS-COSMOS survey and matched low-redshift samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By constructing samples of low-redshift galaxies for which the stellar mass (M*), star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (sSFR) are matched to the high-redshift sample we remove the effects of an evolution in these properties. We also account for the effect of metallicity by jointly constraining the metallicity and ionisation parameter of each sample. We find an evolution in the ionisation parameter for main-sequence, star-forming galaxies and show that this evolution is driven by the evolution of sSFR. By analysing the matched samples as well as a larger sample of z physically consistent with the definition of the ionisation parameter, a measure of the hydrogen ionising photon flux relative to the number density of hydrogen atoms.

The First Focused Hard X-Ray Images of the Sun With NuSTAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grefenstette, Brian W.; Glesener, Lindsay; Krucker, Sam

2016-01-01

We present results from the the first campaign of dedicated solar observations undertaken by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) hard X-ray (HXR) telescope. Designed as an astrophysics mission, NuSTAR nonetheless has the capability of directly imaging the Sun at HXR energies (>3 ke......V) with an increase in sensitivity of at least two magnitude compared to current non-focusing telescopes. In this paper we describe the scientific areas where NuSTAR will make major improvements on existing solar measurements. We report on the techniques used to observe the Sun with NuSTAR, their limitations......, and full-disk HXR images of the Sun....

Radial distributions of star populations in elliptical galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angeletti, Lucio; Giannone, Pietro

2010-01-01

The dynamical structure of stars in low-ellipticity early-type galaxies has been approached in a conceptually simple manner by making use of the mass structure inferred from the radial surface brightness and the stellar metal abundance as derived from that of the contracting gas mass when the stars formed. Families of models depending on three parameters can be used to fit the surface radial profiles of spectro-photometric indices. In particular, the behavior of the spectral index Mg 2 is selected, and the observations for eleven galaxies are matched with models. With the fitting values of the free parameters, we have studied the spatial (within the galaxy) and projected (on the image of the galaxy) distributions of the metal abundances. We present the results for three chosen galaxies characterized by rather different values of the fitting parameters. Our results can be of interest for the formation of stellar populations and call attention to the need for more detailed observations.

Characterizing the Interstellar and Circumgalactic Medium in Star-forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-01-01

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

Prospects of the "WSO-UV" Project for Star Formation Study in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Makarova, L. N.; Makarov, D. I.

2017-12-01

In the present work we consider the questions of star formation and evolution of nearby dwarf galaxies. We describe the method of star formation history determination based on multicolor photometry of resolved stars and models of color-magnitude diagrams of the galaxies. We present the results of star formation rate determination and its dependence on age and metallicity for dwarf irregular and dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the two nearby galaxy groups M81 and Cen A. Similar age of the last episode of star formation in the central part of the M81 group and also unusually high level of metal enrichment in the several galaxies of the Cen A group are mentioned. We pay special attention to the consideration of perspectives of star formation study in nearby dwarf galaxies with he new WSO-UV observatory.

A CENSUS OF OXYGEN IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES: AN EMPIRICAL MODEL LINKING METALLICITIES, STAR FORMATION RATES, AND OUTFLOWS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zahid, H. J.; Dima, G. I.; Kewley, L. J.; Erb, D. K.; Davé, R.

2012-01-01

In this contribution, we present the first census of oxygen in star-forming galaxies in the local universe. We examine three samples of galaxies with metallicities and star formation rates (SFRs) at z = 0.07, 0.8, and 2.26, including the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and DEEP2 survey. We infer the total mass of oxygen produced and mass of oxygen found in the gas-phase from our local SDSS sample. The star formation history is determined by requiring that galaxies evolve along the relation between stellar mass and SFR observed in our three samples. We show that the observed relation between stellar mass and SFR for our three samples is consistent with other samples in the literature. The mass-metallicity relation is well established for our three samples, and from this we empirically determine the chemical evolution of star-forming galaxies. Thus, we are able to simultaneously constrain the SFRs and metallicities of galaxies over cosmic time, allowing us to estimate the mass of oxygen locked up in stars. Combining this work with independent measurements reported in the literature, we conclude that the loss of oxygen from the interstellar medium of local star-forming galaxies is likely to be a ubiquitous process with the oxygen mass loss scaling (almost) linearly with stellar mass. We estimate the total baryonic mass loss and argue that only a small fraction of the baryons inferred from cosmological observations accrete onto galaxies.

Environmental effects on stellar populations of star clusters and dwarf galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Pasetto, Stefano; Cropper, Mark; Fujita, Yutaka; Chiosi, Cesare; Grebel, Eva K.

2017-03-01

We investigate the competitive role of the different dissipative phenomena acting on the onset of star formation of gravitationally bound systems in an external environment. Ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and tidal forces are accounted for separately in an analytical framework and compared in their role in influencing the star forming regions. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system on its surrounding environment. We consider the different signatures of these phenomena in synthetically realized colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of the orbiting system thus investigating the detectability limits of these different effects for future observational projects and their relevance. The developed theoretical framework has direct applications to the cases of massive star clusters, dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way system, as well as any primordial gas-rich cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy.

Halo Histories vs. Galaxy Properties at z=0, III: The Properties of Star-Forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Tinker, Jeremy L.; Hahn, ChangHoon; Mao, Yao-Yuan; Wetzel, Andrew R.

2018-05-01

We measure how the properties of star-forming central galaxies correlate with large-scale environment, δ, measured on 10 h-1Mpc scales. We use galaxy group catalogs to isolate a robust sample of central galaxies with high purity and completeness. The galaxy properties we investigate are star formation rate (SFR), exponential disk scale length Rexp, and Sersic index of the galaxy light profile, nS. We find that, at all stellar masses, there is an inverse correlation between SFR and δ, meaning that above-average star forming centrals live in underdense regions. For nS and Rexp, there is no correlation with δ at M_\\ast ≲ 10^{10.5} M⊙, but at higher masses there are positive correlations; a weak correlation with Rexp and a strong correlation with nS. These data are evidence of assembly bias within the star-forming population. The results for SFR are consistent with a model in which SFR correlates with present-day halo accretion rate, \\dot{M}_h. In this model, galaxies are assigned to halos using the abundance matching ansatz, which maps galaxy stellar mass onto halo mass. At fixed halo mass, SFR is then assigned to galaxies using the same approach, but \\dot{M}_h is used to map onto SFR. The best-fit model requires some scatter in the \\dot{M}_h-SFR relation. The Rexp and nS measurements are consistent with a model in which both of these quantities are correlated with the spin parameter of the halo, λ. Halo spin does not correlate with δ at low halo masses, but for higher mass halos, high-spin halos live in higher density environments at fixed Mh. Put together with the earlier installments of this series, these data demonstrate that quenching processes have limited correlation with halo formation history, but the growth of active galaxies, as well as other detailed galaxies properties, are influenced by the details of halo assembly.

Star formation and substructure in galaxy clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, Seth A.; Hickox, Ryan C.; Wegner, Gary A.; Einasto, Maret; Vennik, Jaan

2014-01-01

We investigate the relationship between star formation (SF) and substructure in a sample of 107 nearby galaxy clusters using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Several past studies of individual galaxy clusters have suggested that cluster mergers enhance cluster SF, while others find no such relationship. The SF fraction in multi-component clusters (0.228 ± 0.007) is higher than that in single-component clusters (0.175 ± 0.016) for galaxies with M r 0.1 <−20.5. In both single- and multi-component clusters, the fraction of star-forming galaxies increases with clustercentric distance and decreases with local galaxy number density, and multi-component clusters show a higher SF fraction than single-component clusters at almost all clustercentric distances and local densities. Comparing the SF fraction in individual clusters to several statistical measures of substructure, we find weak, but in most cases significant at greater than 2σ, correlations between substructure and SF fraction. These results could indicate that cluster mergers may cause weak but significant SF enhancement in clusters, or unrelaxed clusters exhibit slightly stronger SF due to their less evolved states relative to relaxed clusters.

Approximations to galaxy star formation rate histories: properties and uses of two examples

Science.gov (United States)

Cohn, J. D.

2018-05-01

Galaxies evolve via a complex interaction of numerous different physical processes, scales and components. In spite of this, overall trends often appear. Simplified models for galaxy histories can be used to search for and capture such emergent trends, and thus to interpret and compare results of galaxy formation models to each other and to nature. Here, two approximations are applied to galaxy integrated star formation rate histories, drawn from a semi-analytic model grafted onto a dark matter simulation. Both a lognormal functional form and principal component analysis (PCA) approximate the integrated star formation rate histories fairly well. Machine learning, based upon simplified galaxy halo histories, is somewhat successful at recovering both fits. The fits to the histories give fixed time star formation rates which have notable scatter from their true final time rates, especially for quiescent and "green valley" galaxies, and more so for the PCA fit. For classifying galaxies into subfamilies sharing similar integrated histories, both approximations are better than using final stellar mass or specific star formation rate. Several subsamples from the simulation illustrate how these simple parameterizations provide points of contact for comparisons between different galaxy formation samples, or more generally, models. As a side result, the halo masses of simulated galaxies with early peak star formation rate (according to the lognormal fit) are bimodal. The galaxies with a lower halo mass at peak star formation rate appear to stall in their halo growth, even though they are central in their host halos.

The Star Formation Histories of Disk Galaxies: The Live, the Dead, and the Undead

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oemler, Augustus Jr; Dressler, Alan [The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101-1292 (United States); Abramson, Louis E. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles CA 90095-1547 (United States); Gladders, Michael D. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Poggianti, Bianca M. [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Vulcani, Benedetta [School of Physics, The University of Melbourne, VIC 3010 (Australia)

2017-07-20

We reexamine the properties of local galaxy populations using published surveys of star formation, structure, and gas content. After recalibrating star formation measures, we are able to reliably measure specific star formation rates well below that of the so-called “main sequence” of star formation versus mass. We find an unexpectedly large population of quiescent galaxies with star formation rates intermediate between the main sequence and passive populations and with disproportionately high star formation rates. We demonstrate that a tight main sequence is a natural outcome of most histories of star formation and has little astrophysical significance but that the quiescent population requires additional astrophysics to explain its properties. Using a simple model for disk evolution based on the observed dependence of star formation on gas content in local galaxies, and assuming simple histories of cold gas inflow, we show that the evolution of galaxies away from the main sequence can be attributed to the depletion of gas due to star formation after a cutoff of gas inflow. The quiescent population is composed of galaxies in which the density of disk gas has fallen below a threshold for star formation probably set by disk stability. The evolution of galaxies beyond the quiescent state to gas exhaustion and the end of star formation requires another process, probably wind-driven mass loss. The environmental dependence of the three galaxy populations is consistent with recent numerical modeling, which indicates that cold gas inflows into galaxies are truncated at earlier epochs in denser environments.

ASSESSING RADIATION PRESSURE AS A FEEDBACK MECHANISM IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrews, Brett H.; Thompson, Todd A.

2011-01-01

Radiation pressure from the absorption and scattering of starlight by dust grains may be an important feedback mechanism in regulating star-forming galaxies. We compile data from the literature on star clusters, star-forming subregions, normal star-forming galaxies, and starbursts to assess the importance of radiation pressure on dust as a feedback mechanism, by comparing the luminosity and flux of these systems to their dust Eddington limit. This exercise motivates a novel interpretation of the Schmidt law, the L IR -L' CO correlation, and the L IR -L' HCN correlation. In particular, the linear L IR -L' HCN correlation is a natural prediction of radiation pressure regulated star formation. Overall, we find that the Eddington limit sets a hard upper bound to the luminosity of any star-forming region. Importantly, however, many normal star-forming galaxies have luminosities significantly below the Eddington limit. We explore several explanations for this discrepancy, especially the role of 'intermittency' in normal spirals-the tendency for only a small number of subregions within a galaxy to be actively forming stars at any moment because of the time dependence of the feedback process and the luminosity evolution of the stellar population. If radiation pressure regulates star formation in dense gas, then the gas depletion timescale is 6 Myr, in good agreement with observations of the densest starbursts. Finally, we highlight the importance of observational uncertainties, namely, the dust-to-gas ratio and the CO-to-H 2 and HCN-to-H 2 conversion factors, that must be understood before a definitive assessment of radiation pressure as a feedback mechanism in star-forming galaxies.

Delayed star formation in isolated dwarf galaxies: Hubble space telescope star formation history of the Aquarius dwarf irregular

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cole, Andrew A. [School of Physical Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 37, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001 Australia (Australia); Weisz, Daniel R. [Department of Astronomy, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Dolphin, Andrew E. [Raytheon, 1151 East Hermans Road, Tucson, AZ 85706 (United States); Skillman, Evan D. [Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55441 (United States); McConnachie, Alan W. [NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, BC, V9E 2E7 Canada (Canada); Brooks, Alyson M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Leaman, Ryan, E-mail: andrew.cole@utas.edu.au, E-mail: drw@ucsc.edu, E-mail: adolphin@raytheon.com, E-mail: skillman@astro.umn.edu, E-mail: alan.mcconnachie@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca, E-mail: abrooks@physics.rutgers.edu, E-mail: rleaman@iac.es [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)

2014-11-01

We have obtained deep images of the highly isolated (d = 1 Mpc) Aquarius dwarf irregular galaxy (DDO 210) with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. The resulting color-magnitude diagram (CMD) reaches more than a magnitude below the oldest main-sequence turnoff, allowing us to derive the star formation history (SFH) over the entire lifetime of the galaxy with a timing precision of ≈10% of the lookback time. Using a maximum likelihood fit to the CMD we find that only ≈10% of all star formation in Aquarius took place more than 10 Gyr ago (lookback time equivalent to redshift z ≈ 2). The star formation rate increased dramatically ≈6-8 Gyr ago (z ≈ 0.7-1.1) and then declined until the present time. The only known galaxy with a more extreme confirmed delay in star formation is Leo A, a galaxy of similar M {sub H} {sub I}/M {sub *}, dynamical mass, mean metallicity, and degree of isolation. The delayed stellar mass growth in these galaxies does not track the mean dark matter accretion rate from CDM simulations. The similarities between Leo A and Aquarius suggest that if gas is not removed from dwarf galaxies by interactions or feedback, it can linger for several gigayears without cooling in sufficient quantity to form stars efficiently. We discuss possible causes for the delay in star formation including suppression by reionization and late-time mergers. We find reasonable agreement between our measured SFHs and select cosmological simulations of isolated dwarfs. Because star formation and merger processes are both stochastic in nature, delayed star formation in various degrees is predicted to be a characteristic (but not a universal) feature of isolated small galaxies.

HerMES: COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND ANISOTROPIES AND THE CLUSTERING OF DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viero, M. P.; Zemcov, M.; Bock, J.; Cooray, A.; Dowell, C. D. [California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Wang, L. [Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Addison, G. [Department of Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Amblard, A. [NASA, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Arumugam, V. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Aussel, H.; Bethermin, M. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu - CNRS - Universite Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, pt courrier 131, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Boselli, A.; Buat, V.; Burgarella, D. [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille - LAM, Universite d' Aix-Marseille and CNRS, UMR7326, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Casey, C. M. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Clements, D. L. [Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Conley, A. [Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy 389-UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Conversi, L. [Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain); De Zotti, G. [INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Farrah, D., E-mail: marco.viero@caltech.edu [Astronomy Centre, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); and others

2013-07-20

We present measurements of the auto- and cross-frequency power spectra of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) at 250, 350, and 500 {mu}m (1200, 860, and 600 GHz) from observations totaling {approx}70 deg{sup 2} made with the SPIRE instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. We measure a fractional anisotropy {delta}I/I = 14% {+-} 4%, detecting signatures arising from the clustering of dusty star-forming galaxies in both the linear (2-halo) and nonlinear (1-halo) regimes; and that the transition from the 2- to 1-halo terms, below which power originates predominantly from multiple galaxies within dark matter halos, occurs at k{sub {theta}} {approx} 0.10-0.12 arcmin{sup -1} (l {approx} 2160-2380), from 250 to 500 {mu}m. New to this paper is clear evidence of a dependence of the Poisson and 1-halo power on the flux-cut level of masked sources-suggesting that some fraction of the more luminous sources occupy more massive halos as satellites, or are possibly close pairs. We measure the cross-correlation power spectra between bands, finding that bands which are farthest apart are the least correlated, as well as hints of a reduction in the correlation between bands when resolved sources are more aggressively masked. In the second part of the paper, we attempt to interpret the measurements in the framework of the halo model. With the aim of fitting simultaneously with one model the power spectra, number counts, and absolute CIB level in all bands, we find that this is achievable by invoking a luminosity-mass relationship, such that the luminosity-to-mass ratio peaks at a particular halo mass scale and declines toward lower and higher mass halos. Our best-fit model finds that the halo mass which is most efficient at hosting star formation in the redshift range of peak star-forming activity, z {approx} 1-3, is log(M{sub peak}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 12.1 {+-} 0.5, and that the minimum halo mass to host infrared galaxies is log(M{sub min}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 10

Evolved stars in the Local Group galaxies - II. AGB, RSG stars and dust production in IC10

Science.gov (United States)

Dell'Agli, F.; Di Criscienzo, M.; Ventura, P.; Limongi, M.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Marini, E.; Rossi, C.

2018-06-01

We study the evolved stellar population of the Local Group galaxy IC10, with the aim of characterizing the individual sources observed and to derive global information on the galaxy, primarily the star formation history and the dust production rate. To this aim, we use evolutionary sequences of low- and intermediate-mass (M account for 40% of the sources brighter than the tip of the red giant branch. Most of these stars descend from ˜1.1 - 1.3 M⊙ progenitors, formed during the major epoch of star formation, which occurred ˜2.5 Gyr ago. The presence of a significant number of bright stars indicates that IC10 has been site of significant star formation in recent epochs and currently hosts a group of massive stars in the core helium-burning phase. Dust production in this galaxy is largely dominated by carbon stars; the overall dust production rate estimated is 7 × 10-6 M⊙/yr.

A Hard X-Ray Study of the Normal Star-Forming Galaxy M83 with NuSTAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yukita, M.; Hornschemeier, A. E.; Lehmer, B. D.

2016-01-01

We present the results from sensitive, multi-epoch NuSTAR observations of the late-type star-forming galaxy M83 (d = 4.6 Mpc). This is the first investigation to spatially resolve the hard (E > 10 keV) X-ray emission of this galaxy. The nuclear region and similar to 20 off-nuclear point sources......, including a previously discovered ultraluminous X-ray source, are detected in our NuSTAR observations. The X-ray hardnesses and luminosities of the majority of the point sources are consistent with hard X-ray sources resolved in the starburst galaxy NGC 253. We infer that the hard X-ray emission is most...

Rotational studies of late-type stars. II. Ages of solar-type stars and the rotational history of the sun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soderblom, D.R.

1983-01-01

In the first part of this investigation, age indicators for solar-type stars are discussed. A Li abundance-age calibration is derived; it indicates that 1 M/sub sun/ stars have lost as much as 80% of their initial Li before reaching the main sequence. The e-folding time for Li depletion on the main sequence is 1 1/4 Gyr. The distribution of Li abundances for 1 M/sub sun/ stars is consistent with a uniform initial Li abundance for all stars

A Variation of the Present Star Formation Activity of Spiral Galaxies

OpenAIRE

Tomita, Akihiko; Tomita, Yoshio; Saito, Mamoru

1996-01-01

The star formation rate in spiral galaxies is considered to be decreasing continuously with time in a time scale of $10^{9}$ yr. The present star formation activity, on the other hand, shows various degrees among galaxies. We make a new data set of 1681 nearby spiral galaxies from available databases and study the statistics of the present star formation activity. We analyze far-infrared and optical B-band surface brightnesses of the H II regions and the non-H II regions in M~31 and show that...

Current star formation in S0 galaxies: NGC 4710

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wrobel, J.M.

1990-01-01

Elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies lack the substantial interstellar medium (ISM) found in the star-forming spiral galaxies. However, significant numbers of E and S0 galaxies are known to contain detectable amounts of interstellar matter (e.g., Jura 1988). Thus, it is worth investigating whether these galaxies are currently able to form stars from their ISM, or whether they should be consigned to the dustbin of inert objects (Thronson and Bally 1987). The results strongly imply that current star formation is responsible for NGC 4710's far infrared and radio continuum properties. If this is indeed the case, then one expects this star formation to be fueled by molecular gas, which is presumably dominated by H2 and can be traced by the CO-12 J=1 to 0 line. Both Kenney and Young (1988) and Sage and Wrobel (1989) have detected such an emission line from NGC 4710, and infer the presence of more than 10(exp 8) solar mass of H2. The origin of the molecular gas in NGC 4710 remains a mystery. The galaxy is very deficient in HI (Kenney and Young, in preparation), suggesting that it originally was a spiral galaxy from which the outer, mainly atomic, gas was stripped by the ram pressure of the Virgo Cluster's intracluster medium, leaving only a central interstellar medium (ISM) rich in molecular gas. Alternatively, the CO may have originated via stellar mass loss with subsequent cooling, cooling flows, or capture from a gas-rich companion. Information on the morphology and kinematics of the CO can be compared with that of the galaxy's other gases and stars to distinguish among these various possible origins for the molecular gas. Major axis CO mapping with single dishes indicate an unresolved source. Thus, a millimeter array is currently being used to image NGC 4710 in CO to provide the needed morphological and kinematical data

Star formation and mass assembly in high redshift galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

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

2009-09-01

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

Playing with Positive Feedback: External Pressure-triggering of a Star-forming Disk Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Bieri, Rebekka; Dubois, Yohan; Silk, Joseph; Mamon, Gary A.

2015-10-01

In massive galaxies, the currently favored method for quenching star formation is via active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, which ejects gas from the galaxy using a central supermassive black hole. At high redshifts however, explanation of the huge rates of star formation often found in galaxies containing AGNs may require a more vigorous mode of star formation than is attainable by simply enriching the gas content of galaxies in the usual gravitationally driven mode that is associated with the nearby universe. Using idealized hydrodynamical simulations, we show that AGN-pressure-driven star formation potentially provides the positive feedback that may be required to generate the accelerated star formation rates observed in the distant universe.

STAR CLUSTER DISRUPTION IN THE STARBURST GALAXY MESSIER 82

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Shuo; Li, Chengyuan; De Grijs, Richard; Anders, Peter

2015-01-01

Using high-resolution, multiple-passband Hubble Space Telescope images spanning the entire optical/near-infrared wavelength range, we obtained a statistically complete U-band-selected sample of 846 extended star clusters across the disk of the nearby starburst galaxy M82. Based on a careful analysis of the clusters' spectral energy distributions, we determined their galaxy-wide age and mass distributions. The M82 clusters exhibit three clear peaks in their age distribution, thus defining relatively young, log (t yr –1 ) ≤ 7.5, intermediate-age, log (t yr –1 ) in [7.5, 8.5], and old samples, log (t yr –1 ) ≥ 8.5. Comparison of the completeness-corrected mass distributions offers a firm handle on the galaxy's star cluster disruption history. The most massive star clusters in the young and old samples are (almost) all concentrated in the most densely populated central region, while the intermediate-age sample's most massive clusters are more spatially dispersed, which may reflect the distribution of the highest-density gas throughout the galaxy's evolutionary history, combined with the solid-body nature of the galaxy's central region

Galaxy evolution in extreme environments: Molecular gas content star formation and AGN in isolated void galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Mousumi; Iono, Daisuke; Saito, Toshiki; Subramanian, Smitha

Since the early redshift surveys of the large scale structure of our universe, it has become clear that galaxies cluster along walls, sheet and filaments leaving large, empty regions called voids between them. Although voids represent the most under dense parts of our universe, they do contain a sparse but significant population of isolated galaxies that are generally low luminosity, late type disk galaxies. Recent studies show that most void galaxies have ongoing star formation and are in an early stage of evolution. We present radio, optical studies of the molecular gas content and star formation in a sample of void galaxies. Using SDSS data, we find that AGN are rare in these systems and are found only in the Bootes void; their black hole masses and radio properties are similar to bright spirals galaxies. Our studies suggest that close galaxy interactions and gas accretion are the main drivers of galaxy evolution in these systems despite their location in the underdense environment of the voids.

THE STAR FORMATION HISTORY AND CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES IN THE NEARBY UNIVERSE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torres-Papaqui, J. P.; Coziol, R.; Ortega-Minakata, R. A.; Neri-Larios, D. M.

2012-01-01

We have determined the metallicity (O/H) and nitrogen abundance (N/O) of a sample of 122,751 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) from the Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For all these galaxies we have also determined their morphology and obtained a comprehensive picture of their star formation history (SFH) using the spectral synthesis code STARLIGHT. The comparison of the chemical abundance with the SFH allows us to describe the chemical evolution of the SFGs in the nearby universe (z ≤ 0.25) in a manner consistent with the formation of their stellar populations and morphologies. A high fraction (45%) of the SFGs in our sample show an excess abundance of nitrogen relative to their metallicity. We also find this excess to be accompanied by a deficiency of oxygen, which suggests that this could be the result of effective starburst winds. However, we find no difference in the mode of star formation of the nitrogen-rich and nitrogen-poor SFGs. Our analysis suggests that they all form their stars through a succession of bursts of star formation extended over a period of few Gyr. What produces the chemical differences between these galaxies seems therefore to be the intensity of the bursts: the galaxies with an excess of nitrogen are those that are presently experiencing more intense bursts or have experienced more intense bursts in their past. We also find evidence relating the chemical evolution process to the formation of the galaxies: the galaxies with an excess of nitrogen are more massive, and have more massive bulges and earlier morphologies than those showing no excess. Contrary to expectation, we find no evidence that the starburst wind efficiency decreases with the mass of the galaxies. As a possible explanation we propose that the loss of metals consistent with starburst winds took place during the formation of the galaxies, when their potential wells were still building up, and consequently were weaker than today, making starburst winds more

TURBULENCE AND STAR FORMATION IN A SAMPLE OF SPIRAL GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maier, Erin; Chien, Li-Hsin [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University 527 S Beaver Street, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 (United States); Hunter, Deidre A., E-mail: erin-maier@uiowa.edu, E-mail: Lisa.Chien@nau.edu, E-mail: dah@lowell.edu [Lowell Observatory 1400 W Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States)

2016-11-01

We investigate turbulent gas motions in spiral galaxies and their importance to star formation in far outer disks, where the column density is typically far below the critical value for spontaneous gravitational collapse. Following the methods of Burkhart et al. on the Small Magellanic Cloud, we use the third and fourth statistical moments, as indicators of structures caused by turbulence, to examine the neutral hydrogen (H i) column density of a sample of spiral galaxies selected from The H i Nearby Galaxy Survey. We apply the statistical moments in three different methods—the galaxy as a whole, divided into a function of radii and then into grids. We create individual grid maps of kurtosis for each galaxy. To investigate the relation between these moments and star formation, we compare these maps with their far-ultraviolet images taken by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite.We find that the moments are largely uniform across the galaxies, in which the variation does not appear to trace any star-forming regions. This may, however, be due to the spatial resolution of our analysis, which could potentially limit the scale of turbulent motions that we are sensitive to greater than ∼700 pc. From comparison between the moments themselves, we find that the gas motions in our sampled galaxies are largely supersonic. This analysis also shows that the Burkhart et al. methods may be applied not just to dwarf galaxies but also to normal spiral galaxies.

Predicting Galaxy Star Formation Rates via the Co-evolution of Galaxies and Halos

OpenAIRE

Watson, Douglas F.; Hearin, Andrew P.; Berlind, Andreas A.; Becker, Matthew R.; Behroozi, Peter S.; Skibba, Ramin A.; Reyes, Reinabelle; Zentner, Andrew R.; Bosch, Frank C. van den

2014-01-01

In this paper, we test the age matching hypothesis that the star formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy of fixed stellar mass is determined by its dark matter halo formation history, and as such, that more quiescent galaxies reside in older halos. This simple model has been remarkably successful at predicting color-based galaxy statistics at low redshift as measured in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To further test this method with observations, we present new SDSS measurements of the galaxy ...

Stellar Abundances for Galactic Archaeology Database. IV. Compilation of stars in dwarf galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Suda, Takuma; Hidaka, Jun; Aoki, Wako; Katsuta, Yutaka; Yamada, Shimako; Fujimoto, Masayuki Y.; Ohtani, Yukari; Masuyama, Miyu; Noda, Kazuhiro; Wada, Kentaro

2017-10-01

We have constructed a database of stars in Local Group galaxies using the extended version of the SAGA (Stellar Abundances for Galactic Archaeology) database that contains stars in 24 dwarf spheroidal galaxies and ultra-faint dwarfs. The new version of the database includes more than 4500 stars in the Milky Way, by removing the previous metallicity criterion of [Fe/H] ≤ -2.5, and more than 6000 stars in the Local Group galaxies. We examined the validity of using a combined data set for elemental abundances. We also checked the consistency between the derived distances to individual stars and those to galaxies as given in the literature. Using the updated database, the characteristics of stars in dwarf galaxies are discussed. Our statistical analyses of α-element abundances show that the change of the slope of the [α/Fe] relative to [Fe/H] (so-called "knee") occurs at [Fe/H] = -1.0 ± 0.1 for the Milky Way. The knee positions for selected galaxies are derived by applying the same method. The star formation history of individual galaxies is explored using the slope of the cumulative metallicity distribution function. Radial gradients along the four directions are inspected in six galaxies where we find no direction-dependence of metallicity gradients along the major and minor axes. The compilation of all the available data shows a lack of CEMP-s population in dwarf galaxies, while there may be some CEMP-no stars at [Fe/H] ≲ -3 even in the very small sample. The inspection of the relationship between Eu and Ba abundances confirms an anomalously Ba-rich population in Fornax, which indicates a pre-enrichment of interstellar gas with r-process elements. We do not find any evidence of anti-correlations in O-Na and Mg-Al abundances, which characterizes the abundance trends in the Galactic globular clusters.

Simulating Gamma-Ray Emission in Star-forming Galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pfrommer, Christoph [Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam (Germany); Pakmor, Rüdiger; Simpson, Christine M.; Springel, Volker, E-mail: cpfrommer@aip.de [Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Schloss-Wolfsbrunnenweg 35, D-69118 Heidelberg (Germany)

2017-10-01

Star-forming galaxies emit GeV and TeV gamma-rays that are thought to originate from hadronic interactions of cosmic-ray (CR) nuclei with the interstellar medium. To understand the emission, we have used the moving-mesh code Arepo to perform magnetohydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations with self-consistent CR physics. Our galaxy models exhibit a first burst of star formation that injects CRs at supernovae. Once CRs have sufficiently accumulated in our Milky Way–like galaxy, their buoyancy force overcomes the magnetic tension of the toroidal disk field. As field lines open up, they enable anisotropically diffusing CRs to escape into the halo and to accelerate a bubble-like, CR-dominated outflow. However, these bubbles are invisible in our simulated gamma-ray maps of hadronic pion-decay and secondary inverse-Compton emission because of low gas density in the outflows. By adopting a phenomenological relation between star formation rate (SFR) and far-infrared emission and assuming that gamma-rays mainly originate from decaying pions, our simulated galaxies can reproduce the observed tight relation between far-infrared and gamma-ray emission, independent of whether we account for anisotropic CR diffusion. This demonstrates that uncertainties in modeling active CR transport processes only play a minor role in predicting gamma-ray emission from galaxies. We find that in starbursts, most of the CR energy is “calorimetrically” lost to hadronic interactions. In contrast, the gamma-ray emission deviates from this calorimetric property at low SFRs due to adiabatic losses, which cannot be identified in traditional one-zone models.

Simulating Gamma-Ray Emission in Star-forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Pfrommer, Christoph; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Simpson, Christine M.; Springel, Volker

2017-10-01

Star-forming galaxies emit GeV and TeV gamma-rays that are thought to originate from hadronic interactions of cosmic-ray (CR) nuclei with the interstellar medium. To understand the emission, we have used the moving-mesh code Arepo to perform magnetohydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations with self-consistent CR physics. Our galaxy models exhibit a first burst of star formation that injects CRs at supernovae. Once CRs have sufficiently accumulated in our Milky Way-like galaxy, their buoyancy force overcomes the magnetic tension of the toroidal disk field. As field lines open up, they enable anisotropically diffusing CRs to escape into the halo and to accelerate a bubble-like, CR-dominated outflow. However, these bubbles are invisible in our simulated gamma-ray maps of hadronic pion-decay and secondary inverse-Compton emission because of low gas density in the outflows. By adopting a phenomenological relation between star formation rate (SFR) and far-infrared emission and assuming that gamma-rays mainly originate from decaying pions, our simulated galaxies can reproduce the observed tight relation between far-infrared and gamma-ray emission, independent of whether we account for anisotropic CR diffusion. This demonstrates that uncertainties in modeling active CR transport processes only play a minor role in predicting gamma-ray emission from galaxies. We find that in starbursts, most of the CR energy is “calorimetrically” lost to hadronic interactions. In contrast, the gamma-ray emission deviates from this calorimetric property at low SFRs due to adiabatic losses, which cannot be identified in traditional one-zone models.

Connections between Star Cluster Populations and Their Host Galaxy Nuclear Rings

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Chao; de Grijs, Richard; Ho, Luis C.

2018-04-01

Nuclear rings are excellent laboratories for probing diverse phenomena such as the formation and evolution of young massive star clusters and nuclear starbursts, as well as the secular evolution and dynamics of their host galaxies. We have compiled a sample of 17 galaxies with nuclear rings, which are well resolved by high-resolution Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope imaging. For each nuclear ring, we identified the ring star cluster population, along with their physical properties (ages, masses, and extinction values). We also determined the integrated ring properties, including the average age, total stellar mass, and current star formation rate (SFR). We find that Sb-type galaxies tend to have the highest ring stellar mass fraction with respect to the host galaxy, and this parameter is correlated with the ring’s SFR surface density. The ring SFRs are correlated with their stellar masses, which is reminiscent of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. There are striking correlations between star-forming properties (i.e., SFR and SFR surface density) and nonaxisymmetric bar parameters, appearing to confirm previous inferences that strongly barred galaxies tend to have lower ring SFRs, although the ring star formation histories turn out to be significantly more complicated. Nuclear rings with higher stellar masses tend to be associated with lower cluster mass fractions, but there is no such relation for the ages of the rings. The two youngest nuclear rings in our sample, NGC 1512 and NGC 4314, which have the most extreme physical properties, represent the young extremity of the nuclear ring age distribution.

First NuSTAR Limits on Quiet Sun Hard X-Ray Transient Events

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marsh, Andrew J.; Smith, David M.; Glesener, Lindsay

2017-01-01

We present the first results of a search for transient hard X-ray (HXR) emission in the quiet solar corona with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite. While NuSTAR was designed as an astrophysics mission, it can observe the Sun above 2 keV with unprecedented sensitivity due...... to its pioneering use of focusing optics. NuSTAR first observed quiet-Sun regions on 2014 November 1, although out-of-view active regions contributed a notable amount of background in the form of single-bounce (unfocused) X-rays. We conducted a search for quiet-Sun transient brightenings on timescales...... as model-independent photon fluxes. The limits in both bands are well below previous HXR microflare detections, though not low enough to detect events of equivalent T and EM as quiet-Sun brightenings seen in soft X-ray observations. We expect future observations during solar minimum to increase the Nu...

HARPS-N OBSERVES THE SUN AS A STAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dumusque, Xavier; Glenday, Alex; Phillips, David F.; Charbonneau, David; Latham, David W.; Li, Chih-Hao; Sasselov, Dimitar; Szentgyorgyi, Andrew; Walsworth, Ronald [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Buchschacher, Nicolas; Lovis, Christophe; Pepe, Francesco; Udry, Stéphane [Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève, 51 Chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny (Switzerland); Cameron, Andrew Collier [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS (United Kingdom); Cecconi, Massimo; Cosentino, Rosario; Ghedina, Adriano; Lodi, Marcello; Molinari, Emilio, E-mail: xdumusque@cfa.harvard.edu [INAF—Fundación Galileo Galilei, Rambla José Ana Fernández Pérez 7, E-38712 Breña Baja (Spain)

2015-12-01

Radial velocity (RV) perturbations induced by stellar surface inhomogeneities including spots, plages and granules currently limit the detection of Earth-twins using Doppler spectroscopy. Such stellar noise is poorly understood for stars other than the Sun because their surface is unresolved. In particular, the effects of stellar surface inhomogeneities on observed stellar radial velocities are extremely difficult to characterize, and thus developing optimal correction techniques to extract true stellar radial velocities is extremely challenging. In this paper, we present preliminary results of a solar telescope built to feed full-disk sunlight into the HARPS-N spectrograph, which is in turn calibrated with an astro-comb. This setup enables long-term observation of the Sun as a star with state-of-the-art sensitivity to RV changes. Over seven days of observing in 2014, we show an average 50 cm s{sup −1} RV rms over a few hours of observation. After correcting observed radial velocities for spot and plage perturbations using full-disk photometry of the Sun, we lower by a factor of two the weekly RV rms to 60 cm s{sup −1}. The solar telescope is now entering routine operation, and will observe the Sun every clear day for several hours. We will use these radial velocities combined with data from solar satellites to improve our understanding of stellar noise and develop optimal correction methods. If successful, these new methods should enable the detection of Venus over the next two to three years, thus demonstrating the possibility of detecting Earth-twins around other solar-like stars using the RV technique.

THE ACS NEARBY GALAXY SURVEY TREASURY. VII. THE NGC 4214 STARBURST AND THE EFFECTS OF STAR FORMATION HISTORY ON DWARF MORPHOLOGY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, Benjamin F.; Dalcanton, Julianne J.; Gilbert, Karoline M.; Weisz, Daniel R.; Seth, Anil C.; Skillman, Evan D.; Dolphin, Andrew E.

2011-01-01

We present deep Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 optical observations obtained as part of the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury as well as early release Wide Field Camera 3 ultraviolet and infrared observations of the nearby dwarf starbursting galaxy NGC 4214. Our data provide a detailed example of how covering such a broad range in wavelength provides a powerful tool for constraining the physical properties of stellar populations. The deepest data reach the ancient red clump at M F814W ∼ - 0.2. All of the optical data reach the main-sequence turnoff for stars younger than ∼300 Myr and the blue He-burning sequence for stars younger than 500 Myr. The full color-magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting analysis shows that all three fields in our data set are consistent with ∼75% of the stellar mass being older than 8 Gyr, in spite of showing a wide range in star formation rates at present. Thus, our results suggest that the scale length of NGC 4214 has remained relatively constant for many gigayears. As previously noted by others, we also find the galaxy has recently ramped up production consistent with its bright UV luminosity and its population of UV-bright massive stars. In the central field we find UV point sources with F336W magnitudes as bright as -9.9. These are as bright as stars with masses of at least 52-56 M sun and ages near 4 Myr in stellar evolution models. Assuming a standard initial mass function, our CMD is well fitted by an increase in star formation rate beginning 100 Myr ago. The stellar populations of this late-type dwarf are compared with those of NGC 404, an early-type dwarf that is also the most massive galaxy in its local environment. The late-type dwarf appears to have a similar high fraction of ancient stars, suggesting that these dominant galaxies may form at early epochs even if they have low total mass and very different present-day morphologies.

Semi-Automatic Removal of Foreground Stars from Images of Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Frei, Zsolt

1996-07-01

A new procedure, designed to remove foreground stars from galaxy proviles is presented here. Although several programs exist for stellar and faint object photometry, none of them treat star removal from the images very carefully. I present my attempt to develop such a system, and briefly compare the performance of my software to one of the well-known stellar photometry packages, DAOPhot (Stetson 1987). Major steps in my procedure are: (1) automatic construction of an empirical 2D point spread function from well separated stars that are situated off the galaxy; (2) automatic identification of those peaks that are likely to be foreground stars, scaling the PSF and removing these stars, and patching residuals (in the automatically determined smallest possible area where residuals are truly significant); and (3) cosmetic fix of remaining degradations in the image. The algorithm and software presented here is significantly better for automatic removal of foreground stars from images of galaxies than DAOPhot or similar packages, since: (a) the most suitable stars are selected automatically from the image for the PSF fit; (b) after star-removal an intelligent and automatic procedure removes any possible residuals; (c) unlimited number of images can be cleaned in one run without any user interaction whatsoever. (SECTION: Computing and Data Analysis)

STAR Formation Histories Across the Interacting Galaxy NGC 6872, the Largest-Known Spiral

Science.gov (United States)

Eufrasio, Rafael T.; Dwek, E.; Arendt, RIchard G.; deMello, Duilia F.; Gadotti, DImitri A.; Urrutia-Viscarra, Fernanda; deOliveira, CLaudia Mendes; Benford, Dominic J.

2014-01-01

NGC6872, hereafter the Condor, is a large spiral galaxy that is interacting with its closest companion, the S0 galaxy IC 4970. The extent of the Condor provides an opportunity for detailed investigation of the impact of the interaction on the current star formation rate and its history across the galaxy, on the age and spatial distribution of its stellar population, and on the mechanism that drives the star formation activity. To address these issues we analyzed the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to near-infrared (near-IR) spectral energy distribution of seventeen 10 kpc diameter regions across the galaxy, and derived their star formation history, current star formation rate, and stellar population and mass. We find that most of the star formation takes place in the extended arms, with very little star formation in the central 5 kpc of the galaxy, in contrast to what was predicted from previous numerical simulations. There is a trend of increasing star formation activity with distance from the nucleus of the galaxy, and no evidence for a recent increase in the current star formation rate due to the interaction. The nucleus itself shows no significant current star formation activity. The extent of the Condor also provides an opportunity to test the applicability of a single standard prescription for conversion of the FUV + IR (22 micrometer) intensities to a star formation rate for all regions. We find that the conversion factor differs from region to region, arising from regional differences in the stellar populations.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2010-02-11

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

SMOOTH(ER) STELLAR MASS MAPS IN CANDELS: CONSTRAINTS ON THE LONGEVITY OF CLUMPS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wuyts, Stijn; Foerster Schreiber, Natascha M.; Genzel, Reinhard; Lutz, Dieter [Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1312, Giessenbachstr., D-85741 Garching (Germany); Guo Yicheng; Giavalisco, Mauro [Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Barro, Guillermo; Faber, Sandra M.; Kocevski, Dale D.; Koo, David C.; McGrath, Elizabeth [UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Bell, Eric F. [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Dekel, Avishai [Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel); Ferguson, Henry C.; Grogin, Norman A.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Lotz, Jennifer [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Hathi, Nimish P. [Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Huang, Kuang-Han [Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Newman, Jeffrey A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O' Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States); and others

2012-07-10

We perform a detailed analysis of the resolved colors and stellar populations of a complete sample of 323 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 0.5 < z < 1.5 and 326 SFGs at 1.5 < z < 2.5 in the ERS and CANDELS-Deep region of GOODS-South. Galaxies were selected to be more massive than 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun} and have specific star formation rates (SFRs) above 1/t{sub H} . We model the seven-band optical ACS + near-IR WFC3 spectral energy distributions of individual bins of pixels, accounting simultaneously for the galaxy-integrated photometric constraints available over a longer wavelength range. We analyze variations in rest-frame color, stellar surface mass density, age, and extinction as a function of galactocentric radius and local surface brightness/density, and measure structural parameters on luminosity and stellar mass maps. We find evidence for redder colors, older stellar ages, and increased dust extinction in the nuclei of galaxies. Big star-forming clumps seen in star formation tracers are less prominent or even invisible in the inferred stellar mass distributions. Off-center clumps contribute up to {approx}20% to the integrated SFR, but only 7% or less to the integrated mass of all massive SFGs at z {approx} 1 and z {approx} 2, with the fractional contributions being a decreasing function of wavelength used to select the clumps. The stellar mass profiles tend to have smaller sizes and M20 coefficients, and higher concentration and Gini coefficients than the light distribution. Our results are consistent with an inside-out disk growth scenario with brief (100-200 Myr) episodic local enhancements in star formation superposed on the underlying disk. Alternatively, the young ages of off-center clumps may signal inward clump migration, provided this happens efficiently on the order of an orbital timescale.

Young Stars in Old Galaxies - a Cosmic Hide and Seek Game

Science.gov (United States)

2002-05-01

Surprise Discovery with World's Leading Telescopes [1] Summary Combining data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) , a group of European and American astronomers [2] have made an unexpected, major discovery. They have identified a huge number of "young" stellar clusters , only a few billion years old [3], inside an "old" elliptical galaxy (NGC 4365), probably aged some 12 billion years. For the first time, it has been possible to identify several distinct periods of star-formation in a galaxy as old as this one . Elliptical galaxies like NGC 4365 have until now been considered to have undergone one early star-forming period and thereafter to be devoid of any star formation. However, the combination of the best and largest telescopes in space and on the ground has now clearly shown that there is more than meets the eye. This important new information will help to understand the early history of galaxies and the general theory of star formation in the Universe . PR Photo 15a/02 : Combined HST+VLT image of elliptical galaxy NGC 4365 PR Photo 15b/02 : Same image, with "old" and "young" stellar clusters indicated PR Photo 15c/02 : Animated GIF image, showing the three cluster populations observed in NGC 4365 Do elliptical galaxies only contain old stars? One of the challenges of modern astronomy is to understand how galaxies, those large systems of stars, gas and dust, form and evolve. In this connection, a central question has always been to learn when most of the stars in the Universe formed. Did this happen at a very early stage, within a few billion years after the Big Bang? Or were a significant number of the stars we now observe formed much more recently? Spectacular collisions between galaxies take place all the time, triggering the formation of thousands or even millions of stars, cf. ESO PR Photo 29b/99 of the dramatic encounter between NGC 6872 and IC 4970. However, when looking at the Universe as a whole, most

Induced star formation and colors of binary and interacting galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smirnov, M.A.; Komberg, B.V.; Moskovskij Gosudarstvennyj Univ.

1980-01-01

The colours of 208 galaxies in pairs and groups are compared (on colour-colour diagram) with those of single galaxies of the same morphological type. Different colours of galaxies in pairs and groups can be explained if one assumes that in some of them the star formation is slowed down, while in others it is speeded up. The latter is the most conspicuous in E, SO, and Ir2 galaxies when they are accompanied by brighter spirals. The relation of abundance rate to the rate of star formation in galaxies and to the activity level of their nuclei is discussed. This relation is particularly conspicuous in the galaxies of early morphological types (E, SO, Sa) and in systems of the type Ir2 where the relative abundance of gas is significantly above the normal. It is noted that such galaxies as well as galaxies with UV excess, Seyfertlike objects, emission-line galaxies and quasars - avoid regions occupied with rich clusters and frequently occur in pairs and small groups

Environmental effects on stellar populations of dwarf galaxies and star clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Pasetto, Stefano; Cropper, Mark; fujita, Yutaka; Chiosi, Cesare; Grebel, Eva K.

2015-08-01

We investigate the competitive role of the different dissipative phenomena acting on the onset of star formation history of gravitationally bound system in an external environment. Ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Rayleigh-Taylor, and tidal forces are accounted separately in an analytical framework and compared in their role in influencing the star forming regions. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system on its surrounding environment useful in observational applications as well as theoretical interpretations of numerical results.We consider the different signatures of these phenomena in synthetically realized colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of the orbiting system thus investigating the detectability limits of these different effects for future observational projects and their relevance.The theoretical framework developed has direct applications to the cases of dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way system, as well as any primordial gas-rich cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy.

Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars.

Science.gov (United States)

Petigura, Erik A; Howard, Andrew W; Marcy, Geoffrey W

2013-11-26

Determining whether Earth-like planets are common or rare looms as a touchstone in the question of life in the universe. We searched for Earth-size planets that cross in front of their host stars by examining the brightness measurements of 42,000 stars from National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kepler mission. We found 603 planets, including 10 that are Earth size ( ) and receive comparable levels of stellar energy to that of Earth (1 - 2 R[Symbol: see text] ). We account for Kepler's imperfect detectability of such planets by injecting synthetic planet-caused dimmings into the Kepler brightness measurements and recording the fraction detected. We find that 11 ± 4% of Sun-like stars harbor an Earth-size planet receiving between one and four times the stellar intensity as Earth. We also find that the occurrence of Earth-size planets is constant with increasing orbital period (P), within equal intervals of logP up to ~200 d. Extrapolating, one finds 5.7(-2.2)(+1.7)% of Sun-like stars harbor an Earth-size planet with orbital periods of 200-400 d.

Cosmic web and star formation activity in galaxies at z ∼ 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Darvish, B.; Mobasher, B.; Sales, L. V. [University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States); Sobral, D. [Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade de Lisboa, OAL, Tapada da Ajuda, PT 1349-018 Lisboa (Portugal); Scoville, N. Z. [California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Best, P. [SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Smail, I., E-mail: bdarv001@ucr.edu [Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

2014-11-20

We investigate the role of the delineated cosmic web/filaments on star formation activity by exploring a sample of 425 narrow-band selected Hα emitters, as well as 2846 color-color selected underlying star-forming galaxies for a large-scale structure at z = 0.84 in the COSMOS field from the HiZELS survey. Using the scale-independent Multi-scale Morphology Filter algorithm, we are able to quantitatively describe the density field and disentangle it into its major components: fields, filaments, and clusters. We show that the observed median star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, specific SFR, the mean SFR-mass relation, and its scatter for both Hα emitters and underlying star-forming galaxies do not strongly depend on different classes of environment, in agreement with previous studies. However, the fraction of Hα emitters varies with environment and is enhanced in filamentary structures at z ∼ 1. We propose mild galaxy-galaxy interactions as the possible physical agent for the elevation of the fraction of Hα star-forming galaxies in filaments. Our results show that filaments are the likely physical environments that are often classed as the 'intermediate' densities and that the cosmic web likely plays a major role in galaxy formation and evolution which has so far been poorly investigated.

FROM BLUE STAR-FORMING TO RED PASSIVE: GALAXIES IN TRANSITION IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vulcani, Benedetta [Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, the University of Tokyo, Kashiwa 277-8582 (Japan); Poggianti, Bianca M.; Fasano, Giovanni; Moretti, Alessia [INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padova, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Fritz, Jacopo [Sterrenkundig Observatorium Vakgroep Fysica en Sterrenkunde Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281, S9 B-9000 Gent (Belgium); Calvi, Rosa; Paccagnella, Angela [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universitá degli Studi di Padova, vicolo Osservatorio 2, I-35122 Padova (Italy)

2015-01-01

Exploiting a mass-complete (M {sub *} > 10{sup 10.25} M {sub ☉}) sample at 0.03 Galaxy Group Catalog, we use the (U – B) {sub rf} color and morphologies to characterize galaxies, in particular those that show signs of an ongoing or recent transformation of their star-formation activity and/or morphology: green galaxies, red passive late types, and blue star-forming early types. Color fractions depend on mass and only for M {sub *} < 10{sup 10.7} M {sub ☉} on environment. The incidence of red galaxies increases with increasing mass, and, for M {sub *} < 10{sup 10.7} M {sub ☉}, decreases toward the group outskirts and in binary and single galaxies. The relative abundance of green and blue galaxies is independent of environment and increases monotonically with galaxy mass. We also inspect galaxy structural parameters, star-formation properties, histories, and ages and propose an evolutionary scenario for the different subpopulations. Color transformations are due to a reduction and suppression of the star-formation rate in both bulges and disks that does not noticeably affect galaxy structure. Morphological transitions are linked to an enhanced bulge-to-disk ratio that is due to the removal of the disk, not to an increase of the bulge. Our modeling suggests that green colors might be due to star-formation histories declining with long timescales, as an alternative scenario to the classical ''quenching'' processes. Our results suggest that galaxy transformations in star-formation activity and morphology depend neither on the environment nor on being a satellite or the most massive galaxy of a halo. The only environmental dependence we find is the higher fast quenching efficiency in groups giving origin to poststarburst signatures.

THE X-FACTOR IN GALAXIES. II. THE MOLECULAR-HYDROGEN-STAR-FORMATION RELATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feldmann, Robert; Gnedin, Nickolay Y.; Kravtsov, Andrey V.

2012-10-08

There is ample observational evidence that the star formation rate (SFR) surface density, Sigma_SFR, is closely correlated with the surface density of molecular hydrogen, Sigma_H2. This empirical relation holds both for galaxy-wide averages and for individual >=kpc sized patches of the interstellar medium (ISM), but appears to degrade substantially at a sub-kpc scale. Identifying the physical mechanisms that determine the scale-dependent properties of the observed Sigma_H2-Sigma_SFR relation remains a challenge from a theoretical perspective. To address this question, we analyze the slope and scatter of the Sigma_H2-Sigma_SFR relation using a set of cosmological, galaxy formation simulations with a peak resolution of ~100 pc. These simulations include a chemical network for molecular hydrogen, a model for the CO emission, and a simple, stochastic prescription for star formation that operates on ~100 pc scales. Specifically, star formation is modeled as a Poisson process in which the average SFR is directly proportional to the present mass of H2. The predictions of our numerical model are in good agreement with the observed Kennicutt-Schmidt and Sigma_H2-Sigma_SFR relations. We show that observations based on CO emission are ill suited to reliably measure the slope of the latter relation at low (<20 M_sun pc^-2) H2 surface densities on sub-kpc scales. Our models also predict that the inferred Sigma_H2-Sigma_SFR relation steepens at high H2 surface densities as a result of the surface density dependence of the CO/H2 conversion factor. Finally, we show that on sub-kpc scales most of the scatter in the relation is a consequence of discreteness effects in the star formation process. In contrast, variations of the CO/H2 conversion factor are responsible for most of the scatter measured on super-kpc scales.

Chemical composition of extremely metal-poor stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy

OpenAIRE

Aoki, W.; Arimoto, N.; Sadakane, K.; Tolstoy, E.; Battaglia, G.; Jablonka, P.; Shetrone, M.; Letarte, B.; Irwin, M.; Hill, V.; Francois, P.; Venn, K.; Primas, F.; Helmi, A.; Kaufer, A.

2009-01-01

Context. Individual stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies around the Milky Way Galaxy have been studied both photometrically and spectroscopically. Extremely metal-poor stars among them are very valuable because they should record the early enrichment in the Local Group. However, our understanding of these stars is very limited because detailed chemical abundance measurements are needed from high resolution spectroscopy. Aims. To constrain the formation and chemical evolution of dwarf galaxi...

WHAT TURNS GALAXIES OFF? THE DIFFERENT MORPHOLOGIES OF STAR-FORMING AND QUIESCENT GALAXIES SINCE z ∼ 2 FROM CANDELS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, Eric F.; Herrington, Jessica; Van der Wel, Arjen; Papovich, Casey; Kocevski, Dale; Faber, S. M.; Cheung, Edmond; Koo, David C.; McGrath, Elizabeth J.; Lotz, Jennifer; Ferguson, Harry; Koekemoer, Anton; Grogin, Norman; McIntosh, Daniel H.; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan; Wuyts, Stijn; Conselice, Christopher J.; Dekel, Avishai; Dunlop, James S.; Giavalisco, Mauro

2012-01-01

We use HST/WFC3 imaging from the CANDELS Multi-Cycle Treasury Survey, in conjunction with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to explore the evolution of galactic structure for galaxies with stellar masses >3 × 10 10 M ☉ from z = 2.2 to the present epoch, a time span of 10 Gyr. We explore the relationship between rest-frame optical color, stellar mass, star formation activity, and galaxy structure. We confirm the dramatic increase from z = 2.2 to the present day in the number density of non-star-forming galaxies above 3 × 10 10 M ☉ reported by others. We further find that the vast majority of these quiescent systems have concentrated light profiles, as parameterized by the Sérsic index, and the population of concentrated galaxies grows similarly rapidly. We examine the joint distribution of star formation activity, Sérsic index, stellar mass, inferred velocity dispersion, and stellar surface density. Quiescence correlates poorly with stellar mass at all z 1.3, and somewhat less well at lower redshifts. Yet, there is significant scatter between quiescence and galaxy structure: while the vast majority of quiescent galaxies have prominent bulges, many of them have significant disks, and a number of bulge-dominated galaxies have significant star formation. Noting the rarity of quiescent galaxies without prominent bulges, we argue that a prominent bulge (and perhaps, by association, a supermassive black hole) is an important condition for quenching star formation on galactic scales over the last 10 Gyr, in qualitative agreement with the active galactic nucleus feedback paradigm.

Ultra-low dispersion spectroscopy of stars and galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bappu, M.K.V.; Parthasarathy, M.

1977-01-01

Application of ultra-low dispersion spectroscopy 10,000 A mm - 1 , is described to study the nuclei of elliptical galaxies, the quasi-stellar objects and for the discovery of faint OB stars, reddened stars and red stars. The instrument used is an f/2 slitless spectrograph with a three degree quartz prism at the Cassegrain focus of the 102-cm Ritchey-Chratien reflector at Kavalur. The spectra cover a field of 40 minutes of arc and the dispersion is 10,000 A mm - 1 . Ultra-low dispersion spectra (microspectra) were obtained for fifteen elliptical and three SO galaxies from the list of Ekers and Ekers (1973) who classified them as compact and extended sources from the observations of radio emission at 6 cms. From an analysis of micro-spectra and from direct photographs with graded exposure times, it is found that all compact radio galaxies in the Ekers list also have optically compact nuclei. Some of these elliptical galaxies with compact nuclei show enhancement of intensity in the blue violet region. From an examination of microspectra of forty-three of the known quasi-stellar objects of different redshifts it is found that the most striking characteristic of the spectra is their flat appearance. This characteristic flatness is also noticed in the microspectrum of the large redshift quasi-stellar objects like OH 471 and OQ 172 which do not have UV excess. Because of this characteristic difference in the appearance of the microspectra of the quasi-stellar objects and stellar objects, it is possible to detect new OSO's with this technique. An application of this technique to detect red stars in our galaxy and in the Large Magellanic cloud is discussed. (author)

VLA AND ALMA IMAGING OF INTENSE GALAXY-WIDE STAR FORMATION IN z ∼ 2 GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rujopakarn, W.; Silverman, J. D.; Dunlop, J. S.; Ivison, R. J.; McLure, R. J.; Michałowski, M. J.; Rieke, G. H.; Cibinel, A.; Nyland, K.; Jagannathan, P.; Bhatnagar, S.; Alexander, D. M.; Biggs, A. D.; Ballantyne, D. R.; Dickinson, M.; Elbaz, D.; Geach, J. E.; Hayward, C. C.; Kirkpatrick, A.

2016-01-01

We present ≃0.″4 resolution extinction-independent distributions of star formation and dust in 11 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z  = 1.3–3.0. These galaxies are selected from sensitive blank-field surveys of the 2′ × 2′ Hubble Ultra-Deep Field at λ  = 5 cm and 1.3 mm using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. They have star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses, and dust properties representative of massive main-sequence SFGs at z  ∼ 2. Morphological classification performed on spatially resolved stellar mass maps indicates a mixture of disk and morphologically disturbed systems; half of the sample harbor X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs), thereby representing a diversity of z  ∼ 2 SFGs undergoing vigorous mass assembly. We find that their intense star formation most frequently occurs at the location of stellar-mass concentration and extends over an area comparable to their stellar-mass distribution, with a median diameter of 4.2 ± 1.8 kpc. This provides direct evidence of galaxy-wide star formation in distant blank-field-selected main-sequence SFGs. The typical galactic-average SFR surface density is 2.5 M ⊙ yr −1 kpc −2 , sufficiently high to drive outflows. In X-ray-selected AGN where radio emission is enhanced over the level associated with star formation, the radio excess pinpoints the AGNs, which are found to be cospatial with star formation. The median extinction-independent size of main-sequence SFGs is two times larger than those of bright submillimeter galaxies, whose SFRs are 3–8 times larger, providing a constraint on the characteristic SFR (∼300 M ⊙ yr −1 ) above which a significant population of more compact SFGs appears to emerge.

CHARACTERIZING THE STAR FORMATION OF THE LOW-MASS SHIELD GALAXIES FROM HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McQuinn, Kristen B. W.; Skillman, Evan D.; Simones, Jacob E. [Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street, S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Cannon, John M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55105 (United States); Dolphin, Andrew E. [Raytheon Company, 1151 E. Hermans Road, Tucson, AZ 85756 (United States); Haynes, Martha P.; Giovanelli, Riccardo [Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Space Sciences Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Salzer, John J. [Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, 727 East 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States); Adams, Elizabeth A. K. [Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Postbus 2, 7900 AA Dwingeloo (Netherlands); Elson, Ed C. [Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre (ACGC), Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701 (South Africa); Ott, Jürgen, E-mail: kmcquinn@astro.umn.edu [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box O, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States)

2015-03-20

The Survey of Hi in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs is an on-going multi-wavelength program to characterize the gas, star formation, and evolution in gas-rich, very low-mass galaxies that populate the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. The galaxies were selected from the first ∼10% of the Hi Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey based on their low Hi mass and low baryonic mass. Here, we measure the star formation properties from optically resolved stellar populations for 12 galaxies using a color–magnitude diagram fitting technique. We derive lifetime average star formation rates (SFRs), recent SFRs, stellar masses, and gas fractions. Overall, the recent SFRs are comparable to the lifetime SFRs with mean birthrate parameter of 1.4, with a surprisingly narrow standard deviation of 0.7. Two galaxies are classified as dwarf transition galaxies (dTrans). These dTrans systems have star formation and gas properties consistent with the rest of the sample, in agreement with previous results that some dTrans galaxies may simply be low-luminosity dwarf irregulars. We do not find a correlation between the recent star formation activity and the distance to the nearest neighboring galaxy, suggesting that the star formation process is not driven by gravitational interactions, but regulated internally. Further, we find a broadening in the star formation and gas properties (i.e., specific SFRs, stellar masses, and gas fractions) compared to the generally tight correlation found in more massive galaxies. Overall, the star formation and gas properties indicate these very low-mass galaxies host a fluctuating, non-deterministic, and inefficient star formation process.

Correlating The Star Formation Histories Of MaNGA Galaxies With Their Past AGN Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez Ortiz, Andrea

2017-01-01

We investigate active galactic nuclei (AGN) as a primary mechanism affecting star formation in MaNGA galaxies. Using the Pipe3D code, we modeled the stellar population from MaNGA spectra and derived the star formation histories of 53 AGN host galaxies. We seek to compare the star formation histories of the host galaxies of AGN with the ages of their radio lobes to better understand the role of AGN feedback in the star formation histories of MaNGA galaxies. MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) is one of the three core programs in the fourth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS). MaNGA will investigate the internal kinematics of nearly 10,000 local galaxies through dithered observations using fiber integral field units (IFUs) that vary in diameter from 12" (19 fibers) to 32" (127 fibers). In this poster, we present initial results on the star formation histories of MaNGA AGN host galaxies. This work was supported by the SDSS Research Experience for Undergraduates program, which is funded by a grant from Sloan Foundation to the Astrophysical Research Consortium.

Nearest star the surprising science of our sun

CERN Document Server

Golub, Leon

2014-01-01

How did the Sun evolve, and what will it become? What is the origin of its light and heat? How does solar activity affect the atmospheric conditions that make life on Earth possible? These are the questions at the heart of solar physics, and at the core of this book. The Sun is the only star near enough to study in sufficient detail to provide rigorous tests of our theories and help us understand the more distant and exotic objects throughout the cosmos. Having observed the Sun using both ground-based and spaceborne instruments, the authors bring their extensive personal experience to this sto

THE CONTRIBUTION OF TP-AGB STARS TO THE MID-INFRARED COLORS OF NEARBY GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chisari, Nora E.; Kelson, Daniel D.

2012-01-01

We study the mid-infrared color space of 30 galaxies from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) survey for which Sloan Digital Sky Survey data are also available. We construct two-color maps for each galaxy and compare them to results obtained from combining Maraston evolutionary synthesis models, galactic thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) colors, and smooth star formation histories. For most of the SINGS sample, the spatially extended mid-IR emission seen by Spitzer in normal galaxies is consistent with our simple model in which circumstellar dust from TP-AGB stars dominates at 8 and 24 μm. There is a handful of exceptions that we identify as galaxies that have high star formation rates presumably with star formation histories that cannot be assumed to be smooth, or anemic galaxies, which were depleted of their H I at some point during their evolution and have very low ongoing star formation rates.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF TP-AGB STARS TO THE MID-INFRARED COLORS OF NEARBY GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chisari, Nora E. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Kelson, Daniel D., E-mail: nchisari@astro.princeton.edu [Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Science, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)

2012-07-10

We study the mid-infrared color space of 30 galaxies from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) survey for which Sloan Digital Sky Survey data are also available. We construct two-color maps for each galaxy and compare them to results obtained from combining Maraston evolutionary synthesis models, galactic thermally pulsating asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) colors, and smooth star formation histories. For most of the SINGS sample, the spatially extended mid-IR emission seen by Spitzer in normal galaxies is consistent with our simple model in which circumstellar dust from TP-AGB stars dominates at 8 and 24 {mu}m. There is a handful of exceptions that we identify as galaxies that have high star formation rates presumably with star formation histories that cannot be assumed to be smooth, or anemic galaxies, which were depleted of their H I at some point during their evolution and have very low ongoing star formation rates.

Metallicity of Young and Old Stars in Irregular Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Tikhonov, N. A.

2018-01-01

Based on archived images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, stellar photometry for 105 irregular galaxies has been conducted. We have shown the red supergiant and giant branches in the obtained Hertzsprung-Russel diagrams. Using the TRGB method, distances to galaxies and metallicity of red giants have been determined. The color index ( V - I) of the supergiant branch at the luminosity level M I = -7 was chosen as the metallicity index of red supergiants. For the galaxies under study, the diagrams have been built, in which the correlation can be seen between the luminosity of galaxies ( M B ) and metallicity of red giants and supergiants. The main source of variance of the results in the obtained diagrams is, in our opinion, uncertainty inmeasurements of galaxy luminosities and star-forming outburst. The relation between metallicity of young and old stars shows that main enrichment of galaxies with metals has taken place in the remote past. Deviations of some galaxies in the obtained relation can possibly be explained with the fall of the intergalactic gas on them, although, this inconsiderably affects metallicities of the stellar content.

Star formation in globular clusters and dwarf galaxies and implications for the early evolution of galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Douglas N. C.; Murray, Stephen D.

1991-01-01

Based upon the observed properties of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, we present important theoretical constraints on star formation in these systems. These constraints indicate that protoglobular cluster clouds had long dormant periods and a brief epoch of violent star formation. Collisions between protocluster clouds triggered fragmentation into individual stars. Most protocluster clouds dispersed into the Galactic halo during the star formation epoch. In contrast, the large spread in stellar metallicity in dwarf galaxies suggests that star formation in their pregenitors was self-regulated: we propose the protocluster clouds formed from thermal instability in the protogalactic clouds and show that a population of massive stars is needed to provide sufficient UV flux to prevent the collapsing protogalactic clouds from fragmenting into individual stars. Based upon these constraints, we propose a unified scenario to describe the early epochs of star formation in the Galactic halo as well as the thick and thin components of the Galactic disk.

PASCHEN-α EMISSION IN THE GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXY SMM J163554.2+661225

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papovich, Casey; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Rudnick, Gregory; Rigby, Jane R.; Willmer, Christopher N. A.; Egami, Eiichi; Rieke, Marcia; Smith, J.-D. T.

2009-01-01

We report the detection of the Paα emission line in the z = 2.515 galaxy SMM J163554.2+661225 using Spitzer spectroscopy. SMM J163554.2+661225 is a submillimeter-selected infrared-luminous galaxy maintaining a high star formation rate (SFR), with no evidence of an active galactic nucleus from optical or infrared spectroscopy, nor X-ray emission. This galaxy is lensed gravitationally by the cluster Abell 2218, making it accessible to Spitzer spectroscopy. We measure a line luminosity, L(Paα) = (2.05 ± 0.33) x 10 42 erg s -1 , corrected for gravitational lensing. Comparing the Hα and Paα luminosities, we derive a nebular extinction, A(V) = 3.6 ± 0.4 mag. The dust-corrected luminosity, L(Paα) = (2.57 ± 0.43) x 10 42 erg s -1 , corresponds to an ionization rate, Q 0 = (1.6 ± 0.3) x 10 55 γ s -1 . The instantaneous SFR is ψ = 171 ± 28 M sun yr -1 , assuming a Salpeter-like initial mass function from 0.1 to 100 M sun yr -1 . The total IR luminosity derived using 70, 450, and 850 μm data is L IR = (5-10) x 10 11 L sun , corrected for gravitational lensing. This corresponds to ψ = 90-180 M sun yr -1 , where the upper range is consistent with that derived from the Paα luminosity. While the L(8 μm)/L(Paα) ratio is consistent with the extrapolated relation observed in local galaxies and star-forming regions, the rest-frame 24 μm luminosity is significantly lower with respect to local galaxies of comparable Paα luminosity. Thus, SMM J163554.2+661225 arguably lacks a warmer dust component (T D ∼ 70 K), which is associated with deeply embedded star formation, and which contrasts with local galaxies with comparable SFRs. Rather, the starburst in SMM J163554.2+661225 is consistent with star-forming local galaxies with intrinsic luminosities, L IR ∼ 10 10 L sun , but 'scaled up' by a factor of ∼10-100.

Global and radial variations in the efficiency of massive star formation among galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, L.E.; Young, J.S.

1990-01-01

In order to determine the regions within galaxies which give rise to the most efficient star formation and to test the hypothesis that galaxies with high infrared luminosities per unit molecular mass are efficiently producing high mass stars, researchers have undertaken an H alpha imaging survey in galaxies whose CO distributions have been measured as part of the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (FCRAO) Extragalactic CO Survey. From these images researchers have derived global H alpha fluxes and distributions for comparison with far infrared radiation (FIR) fluxes and CO fluxes and distributions. Here, researchers present results on the global massive star formation efficiency (SFE = L sub H sub alpha/M(H2)) as a function of morphological type and environment, and on the radial distribution of the SFE within both peculiar and isolated galaxies. On the basis of comparison of the global L sub H sub alpha/M(H2) and L sub FIR/M(H2) for 111 galaxies, researchers conclude that environment rather than morphological type has the strongest effect on the global efficiency of massive star formation. Based on their study of a small sample, they find that the largest radial gradients are observed in the interacting/peculiar galaxies, indicating that environment affects the star formation efficiency within galaxies as well

Cartography of the sun and the stars

CERN Document Server

Neiner, Coralie

2016-01-01

The mapping of the surface of stars requires diverse skills, analysis techniques and advanced modeling, i.e. the collaboration of scientists in various specialties. This volume gives insights into new techniques allowing for the first time to obtain resolved images of stars. It takes stock of what has been achieved so far in Chile, on the ESO VLTI instrument or, in the States, on the CHARA instrument. In recent times interferometry, combined with adaptive optics has allowed to reconstruct images of stars. Besides the Sun (of course) by now five stars have been resolved in detail. In addition to interferometry, this book highlights techniques used for mapping the surfaces of stars using photometry made by space observatories; Zeeman- and Doppler Imaging; mapping the surface element abundances via spectroscopy. This book will also take stock of the best images of the  solar surface, made by connecting the differential rotation to the underlying physical parameters derived from helioseismology. Recent measureme...

Hα star formation rates of z > 1 galaxy clusters in the IRAC shallow cluster survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeimann, Gregory R.; Stanford, S. A.; Brodwin, Mark; Gonzalez, Anthony H.; Mancone, Conor; Snyder, Gregory F.; Stern, Daniel; Eisenhardt, Peter; Dey, Arjun; Moustakas, John

2013-01-01

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-IR spectroscopy for 18 galaxy clusters at 1.0 galaxy clusters as well as in field galaxies. We find a large cluster-to-cluster scatter in the star formation rates within a projected radius of 500 kpc, and many of our clusters (∼60%) have significant levels of star formation within a projected radius of 200 kpc. A stacking analysis reveals that dust reddening in these star-forming galaxies is positively correlated with stellar mass and may be higher in the field than the cluster at a fixed stellar mass. This may indicate a lower amount of gas in star-forming cluster galaxies than in the field population. Also, Hα equivalent widths of star-forming galaxies in the cluster environment are still suppressed below the level of the field. This suppression is most significant for lower mass galaxies (log M * < 10.0 M ☉ ). We therefore conclude that environmental effects are still important at 1.0 star-forming galaxies in galaxy clusters with log M * ≲ 10.0 M ☉ .

STAR FORMATION AT Z = 2.481 IN THE LENSED GALAXY SDSS J1110+6459: STAR FORMATION DOWN TO 30 PARSEC SCALES.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Traci L; Rigby, Jane R; Sharon, Keren; Gladders, Michael D; Florian, Michael; Bayliss, Matthew B; Wuyts, Eva; Whitaker, Katherine E; Livermore, Rachael; Murray, Katherine T

2017-07-10

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 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.

A mathematical model of star formation in the Galaxy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.A. Sharaf

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is generally concerned with star formation in the Galaxy, especially blue stars. Blue stars are the most luminous, massive and the largest in radius. A simple mathematical model of the formation of the stars is established and put in computational algorithm. This algorithm enables us to know more about the formation of the star. Some real and artificial examples had been used to justify this model.

The different star formation histories of blue and red spiral and elliptical galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Tojeiro, Rita; Masters, Karen L.; Richards, Joshua; Percival, Will J.; Bamford, Steven P.; Maraston, Claudia; Nichol, Robert C.; Skibba, Ramin; Thomas, Daniel

2013-06-01

We study the spectral properties of intermediate mass galaxies (M* ˜ 1010.7 M⊙) as a function of colour and morphology. We use Galaxy Zoo to define three morphological classes of galaxies, namely early types (ellipticals), late-type (disc-dominated) face-on spirals and early-type (bulge-dominated) face-on spirals. We classify these galaxies as blue or red according to their Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) g - r colour and use the spectral fitting code Versatile Spectral Analyses to calculate time-resolved star formation histories, metallicity and total starlight dust extinction from their SDSS fibre spectra. We find that red late-type spirals show less star formation in the last 500 Myr than blue late-type spirals by up to a factor of 3, but share similar star formation histories at earlier times. This decline in recent star formation explains their redder colour: their chemical and dust content are the same. We postulate that red late-type spirals are recent descendants of blue late-type spirals, with their star formation curtailed in the last 500 Myr. The red late-type spirals are however still forming stars ≃17 times faster than red ellipticals over the same period. Red early-type spirals lie between red late-type spirals and red ellipticals in terms of recent-to-intermediate star formation and dust content. Therefore, it is plausible that these galaxies represent an evolutionary link between these two populations. They are more likely to evolve directly into red ellipticals than red late-type spirals, which show star formation histories and dust content closer to blue late-type spirals. Blue ellipticals show similar star formation histories as blue spirals (regardless of type), except that they have formed less stars in the last 100 Myr. However, blue ellipticals have different dust content, which peaks at lower extinction values than all spiral galaxies. Therefore, many blue ellipticals are unlikely to be descendants of blue spirals, suggesting there may

Star formation in the outskirts of disk galaxies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ferguson, AMN

2002-01-01

The far outer regions of galactic disks allow an important probe of both star formation and galaxy formation. I discuss how observations of HII regions in these low gas density, low metallicity environments can shed light on the physical processes which drive galactic star formation. The history of

Optimization method of star tracker orientation for sun-synchronous orbit based on space light distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Geng; Xing, Fei; Wei, Minsong; Sun, Ting; You, Zheng

2017-05-20

Star trackers, optical attitude sensors with high precision, are susceptible to space light from the Sun and the Earth albedo. Until now, research in this field has lacked systematic analysis. In this paper, we propose an installation orientation method for a star tracker onboard sun-synchronous-orbit spacecraft and analyze the space light distribution by transforming the complicated relative motion among the Sun, Earth, and the satellite to the body coordinate system of the satellite. Meanwhile, the boundary-curve equations of the areas exposed to the stray light from the Sun and the Earth albedo were calculated by the coordinate-transformation matrix under different maneuver attitudes, and the installation orientation of the star tracker was optimized based on the boundary equations instead of the traditional iterative simulation method. The simulation and verification experiment indicate that this installation orientation method is effective and precise and can provide a reference for the installation of sun-synchronous orbit star trackers free from the stray light.

Topics in Galaxy Evolution: Early Star Formation and Quenching

Science.gov (United States)

Goncalves, Thiago Signorini

In this thesis, we present three projects designed to shed light on yet unanswered questions on galaxy formation and evolution. The first two concern a sample of UV-bright starburst galaxies in the local universe (z ˜0.2). These objects are remarkably similar to star-forming galaxies that were abundant at high redshifts (2 manipulating our observations to mimic our objects at greater distances, we show how low resolution and signal-to-noise ratios can lead to erroneous conclusions, in particular when attempting to diagnose mergers as the origin of the starburst. Then, we present results from a pilot survey to study the cold, molecular gas reservoir in such objects. Again, we show that the observed properties are analogous to those observed at high redshift, in particular with respect to baryonic gas fractions in the galaxy, higher than normally found in low-extinction objects in the local universe. Furthermore, we show how gas surface density and star-formation surface density follow the same relation as local galaxies, albeit at much higher values. Finally, we discuss an observational project designed to measure the mass flux density from the blue sequence to the red sequence across the so-called green valley. We obtain the deepest spectra ever observed of green valley galaxies at intermediate redshifts (z˜0.8) in order to measure spectral features from which we can measure the star formation histories of individual galaxies. We measure a mass flux ratio that is higher than observed in the local universe, indicating the red sequence was growing faster when the universe was half its present age than today.

Modeling tracers of young stellar population age in star-forming galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levesque, Emily M. [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado 389-UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Leitherer, Claus, E-mail: Emily.Levesque@colorado.edu [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2013-12-20

The young stellar population of a star-forming galaxy is the primary engine driving its radiative properties. As a result, the age of a galaxy's youngest generation of stars is critical for a detailed understanding of its star formation history, stellar content, and evolutionary state. Here we present predicted equivalent widths for the Hβ, Hα, and Brγ recombination lines as a function of stellar population age. The equivalent widths are produced by the latest generations of stellar evolutionary tracks and the Starburst99 stellar population synthesis code, and are the first to fully account for the combined effects of both nebular emission and continuum absorption produced by the synthetic stellar population. Our grid of model stellar populations spans six metallicities (0.001 < Z < 0.04), two treatments of star formation history (a 10{sup 6} M {sub ☉} instantaneous burst and a continuous star formation rate of 1 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}), and two different treatments of initial rotation rate (v {sub rot} = 0.0v {sub crit} and 0.4v {sub crit}). We also investigate the effects of varying the initial mass function. Given constraints on galaxy metallicity, our predicted equivalent widths can be applied to observations of star-forming galaxies to approximate the age of their young stellar populations.

ON THE STAR FORMATION LAW FOR SPIRAL AND IRREGULAR GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elmegreen, Bruce G., E-mail: bge@us.ibm.com [IBM Research Division, T.J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (United States)

2015-12-01

A dynamical model for star formation on a galactic scale is proposed in which the interstellar medium is constantly condensing to star-forming clouds on the dynamical time of the average midplane density, and the clouds are constantly being disrupted on the dynamical timescale appropriate for their higher density. In this model, the areal star formation rate scales with the 1.5 power of the total gas column density throughout the main regions of spiral galaxies, and with a steeper power, 2, in the far outer regions and in dwarf irregular galaxies because of the flaring disks. At the same time, there is a molecular star formation law that is linear in the main and outer parts of disks and in dIrrs because the duration of individual structures in the molecular phase is also the dynamical timescale, canceling the additional 0.5 power of surface density. The total gas consumption time scales directly with the midplane dynamical time, quenching star formation in the inner regions if there is no accretion, and sustaining star formation for ∼100 Gyr or more in the outer regions with no qualitative change in gas stability or molecular cloud properties. The ULIRG track follows from high densities in galaxy collisions.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-05-24

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

The Phoenix galaxy as seen by NuSTAR

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Masini, A.; Comastri, A.; Puccetti, S.

2017-01-01

Aims. We study the long-term variability of the well-known Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 1210 (also known as UGC 4203, or the Phoenix galaxy). Methods. The source was observed by many X-ray facilities in the last 20 yr. Here we present a NuSTAR observation and put the results in the context of previously ...

A NuSTAR survey of nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Teng, Stacy H.; Rigby, Jane R.; Stern, Daniel

2015-01-01

We present a Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Chandra, and XMM-Newton survey of nine of the nearest ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The unprecedented sensitivity of NuSTAR at energies above 10 keV enables spectral modeling with far better precision than was previously......] line luminosity than do Seyfert 1 galaxies. We identify IRAS 08572+3915 as another candidate intrinsically X-ray weak source, similar to Mrk 231. We speculate that the X-ray weakness of IRAS 08572+3915 is related to its powerful outflow observed at other wavelengths....

A HIGHER EFFICIENCY OF CONVERTING GAS TO STARS PUSHES GALAXIES AT z ∼ 1.6 WELL ABOVE THE STAR-FORMING MAIN SEQUENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silverman, J. D.; Rujopakarn, W. [Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan); Daddi, E.; Liu, D. [Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d’Astrophysique, CEA Saclay (France); Rodighiero, G. [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita di Padova, vicolo Osservatorio, 3, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Sargent, M. [Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Renzini, A. [Instituto Nazionale de Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, v.co dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Feruglio, C. [IRAM—Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique, 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38406 Saint Martin d’Hères (France); Kashino, D. [Division of Particle and Astrophysical Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8602 (Japan); Sanders, D. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Kartaltepe, J. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Nagao, T. [Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama 790-8577 (Japan); Arimoto, N. [Subaru Telescope, 650 North A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI-96720 (United States); Berta, S.; Lutz, D. [Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, D-84571 Garching (Germany); Béthermin, M. [European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Koekemoer, A., E-mail: john.silverman@ipmu.jp [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 (United States); and others

2015-10-20

Local starbursts have a higher efficiency of converting gas into stars, as compared to typical star-forming galaxies at a given stellar mass, possibly indicative of different modes of star formation. With the peak epoch of galaxy formation occurring at z > 1, it remains to be established whether such an efficient mode of star formation is occurring at high redshift. To address this issue, we measure the molecular gas content of seven high-redshift (z ∼ 1.6) starburst galaxies with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and IRAM/Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Our targets are selected from the sample of Herschel far-infrared-detected galaxies having star formation rates (∼300–800 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}) elevated (≳4×) above the star-forming main sequence (MS) and included in the FMOS-COSMOS near-infrared spectroscopic survey of star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1.6 with Subaru. We detect CO emission in all cases at high levels of significance, indicative of high gas fractions (∼30%–50%). Even more compelling, we firmly establish with a clean and systematic selection that starbursts, identified as MS outliers, at high redshift generally have a lower ratio of CO to total infrared luminosity as compared to typical MS star-forming galaxies, although with a smaller offset than expected based on past studies of local starbursts. We put forward a hypothesis that there exists a continuous increase in star formation efficiency with elevation from the MS with galaxy mergers as a possible physical driver. Along with a heightened star formation efficiency, our high-redshift sample is similar in other respects to local starbursts, such as being metal rich and having a higher ionization state of the interstellar medium.

VLA AND ALMA IMAGING OF INTENSE GALAXY-WIDE STAR FORMATION IN z ∼ 2 GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rujopakarn, W.; Silverman, J. D. [Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583 (Japan); Dunlop, J. S.; Ivison, R. J.; McLure, R. J.; Michałowski, M. J. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Rieke, G. H. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Cibinel, A. [Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); Nyland, K. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (United States); Jagannathan, P.; Bhatnagar, S. [National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States); Alexander, D. M. [Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Biggs, A. D. [European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, Garching (Germany); Ballantyne, D. R. [Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States); Dickinson, M. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Elbaz, D. [CEA Saclay, DSM/Irfu/Service d’Astrophysique, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Geach, J. E. [Center for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB (United Kingdom); Hayward, C. C. [Center for Computational Astrophysics, 160 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 (United States); Kirkpatrick, A., E-mail: wiphu.rujopakarn@ipmu.jp [Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics Department, P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States); and others

2016-12-10

We present ≃0.″4 resolution extinction-independent distributions of star formation and dust in 11 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z  = 1.3–3.0. These galaxies are selected from sensitive blank-field surveys of the 2′ × 2′ Hubble Ultra-Deep Field at λ  = 5 cm and 1.3 mm using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. They have star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses, and dust properties representative of massive main-sequence SFGs at z  ∼ 2. Morphological classification performed on spatially resolved stellar mass maps indicates a mixture of disk and morphologically disturbed systems; half of the sample harbor X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs), thereby representing a diversity of z  ∼ 2 SFGs undergoing vigorous mass assembly. We find that their intense star formation most frequently occurs at the location of stellar-mass concentration and extends over an area comparable to their stellar-mass distribution, with a median diameter of 4.2 ± 1.8 kpc. This provides direct evidence of galaxy-wide star formation in distant blank-field-selected main-sequence SFGs. The typical galactic-average SFR surface density is 2.5 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} kpc{sup −2}, sufficiently high to drive outflows. In X-ray-selected AGN where radio emission is enhanced over the level associated with star formation, the radio excess pinpoints the AGNs, which are found to be cospatial with star formation. The median extinction-independent size of main-sequence SFGs is two times larger than those of bright submillimeter galaxies, whose SFRs are 3–8 times larger, providing a constraint on the characteristic SFR (∼300 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}) above which a significant population of more compact SFGs appears to emerge.

Physical Conditions of the Interstellar Medium in Star-forming Galaxies at z1.5

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashi, Masao; Ly, Chun; Shimasaku, Kazuhiro; Motohara, Kentaro; Malkan, Matthew A.; Nagao, Tohru; Kashikawa, Nobunari; Goto, Ryosuke; Naito, Yoshiaki

2015-01-01

We present results from Subaru/FMOS near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 118 star-forming galaxies at z approximately equal to 1.5 in the Subaru Deep Field. These galaxies are selected as [O II] lambda 3727 emitters at z approximately equal to 1.47 and 1.62 from narrow-band imaging. We detect H alpha emission line in 115 galaxies, [O III] lambda 5007 emission line in 45 galaxies, and H Beta, [N II] lambda 6584, and [S II]lambda lambda 6716, 6731 in 13, 16, and 6 galaxies, respectively. Including the [O II] emission line, we use the six strong nebular emission lines in the individual and composite rest-frame optical spectra to investigate physical conditions of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies at z approximately equal to 1.5. We find a tight correlation between H alpha and [O II], which suggests that [O II] can be a good star formation rate (SFR) indicator for galaxies at z approximately equal to 1.5. The line ratios of H alpha / [O II] are consistent with those of local galaxies. We also find that [O II] emitters have strong [O III] emission lines. The [O III]/[O II] ratios are larger than normal star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, suggesting a higher ionization parameter. Less massive galaxies have larger [O III]/[O II] ratios. With evidence that the electron density is consistent with local galaxies, the high ionization of galaxies at high redshifts may be attributed to a harder radiation field by a young stellar population and/or an increase in the number of ionizing photons from each massive star.

PRECIPITATION-REGULATED STAR FORMATION IN GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voit, G. Mark; O’Shea, Brian W.; Donahue, Megan; Bryan, Greg L.

2015-01-01

Galaxy growth depends critically on the interplay between radiative cooling of cosmic gas and the resulting energetic feedback that cooling triggers. This interplay has proven exceedingly difficult to model, even with large supercomputer simulations, because of its complexity. Nevertheless, real galaxies are observed to obey simple scaling relations among their primary observable characteristics. Here we show that a generic emergent property of the interplay between cooling and feedback can explain the observed scaling relationships between a galaxy's stellar mass, its total mass, and its chemical enrichment level, as well as the relationship between the average orbital velocity of its stars and the mass of its central black hole. These relationships naturally result from any feedback mechanism that strongly heats a galaxy's circumgalactic gas in response to precipitation of colder clouds out of that gas, because feedback then suspends the gas in a marginally precipitating state

ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF STELLAR MASSES IN GAMMA-RAY BURST HOST GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro Ceron, J. M.; Michalowski, M. J.; Hjorth, J.; Malesani, D.; Watson, D.; Fynbo, J. P. U.; Gorosabel, J.; Morales Calderon, M.

2010-01-01

We analyze Spitzer images of 30 long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies. We estimate their total stellar masses (M * ) based on the rest-frame K-band luminosities (L K rest ) and constrain their star formation rates (SFRs; not corrected for dust extinction) based on the rest-frame UV continua. Further, we compute a mean M * /L K rest = 0.45 M sun /L sun . We find that the hosts are low M * , star-forming systems. The median M * in our sample ((M * ) = 10 9.7 M sun ) is lower than that of 'field' galaxies (e.g., Gemini Deep Deep Survey). The range spanned by M * is 10 7 M sun * 11 M sun , while the range spanned by the dust-uncorrected UV SFR is 10 -2 M sun yr -1 sun yr -1 . There is no evidence for intrinsic evolution in the distribution of M * with redshift. We show that extinction by dust must be present in at least 25% of the GRB hosts in our sample and suggest that this is a way to reconcile our finding of a relatively lower UV-based, specific SFR (φ ≡ SFR/M * ) with previous claims that GRBs have some of the highest φ values. We also examine the effect that the inability to resolve the star-forming regions in the hosts has on φ.

Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space: A Guide to the Sun-Earth System

Science.gov (United States)

Eddy, John A.

2010-01-01

In a world of warmth and light and living things we soon forget that we are surrounded by a vast universe that is cold and dark and deadly dangerous, just beyond our door. On a starry night, when we look out into the darkness that lies around us, the view can be misleading in yet another way: for the brightness and sheer number of stars, and their chance groupings into familiar constellations, make them seem much nearer to each other, and to us, that in truth they are. And every one of them--each twinkling, like a diamond in the sky--is a white-hot sun, much like our own. The nearest stars in our own galaxy--the Milky Way-- are more than a million times further away from us than our star, the Sun. We could make a telephone call to the Moon and expect to wait but a few seconds between pieces of a conversation, or but a few hours in calling any planet in our solar system.

ULTRA-FAINT DWARF GALAXIES AS A TEST OF EARLY ENRICHMENT AND METALLICITY-DEPENDENT STAR FORMATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tassis, Konstantinos; Gnedin, Nickolay Y.; Kravtsov, Andrey V.

2012-01-01

The close relation of star formation with molecular gas indicated by observations and assumed in recent models implies that the efficiency with which galaxies convert their gas into stars depends on gas metallicity. This is because abundance of molecular hydrogen is sensitive to abundance of dust, which catalyzes formation of H 2 and helps to shield it from dissociating radiation. In this study, we point out that in the absence of significant pre-enrichment by Population III stars forming out of zero metallicity gas, such H 2 -based star formation is expected to leave an imprint in the form of bi-modality in the metallicity distribution among dwarf galaxies and in the metallicity distribution of stars within individual galaxies. The bi-modality arises because when gas metallicity (and dust abundance) is low, formation of molecular gas is inefficient, the gas consumption timescale is long, and star formation and metal enrichment proceed slowly. When metallicity reaches a critical threshold value star formation and enrichment accelerate, which leads to rapid increase in both stellar mass and metallicity of galaxies. We demonstrate this process both using a simple analytical model and full cosmological simulations. In contrast, the observed metallicity distributions of dwarf galaxies or stars within them are not bi-modal. We argue that this discrepancy points to substantial early stochastic pre-enrichment by Population III stars to levels Z ∼ 10 –2 Z ☉ in dense, star-forming regions of early galaxies.

Bimodal star formation - constraints from galaxy colors at high redshift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyse, R.F.G.; Silk, J.

1987-01-01

The possibility that at early epochs the light from elliptical galaxies is dominated by stars with an initial mass function (IMF) which is deficient in low-mass stars, relative to the solar neighborhood is investigated. V-R colors for the optical counterparts of 3CR radio sources offer the most severe constraints on the models. Reasonable fits are obtained to both the blue, high-redshift colors and the redder, low-redshift colors with a model galaxy which forms with initially equal star formation rates in each of two IMF modes: one lacking low-mass stars, and one with stars of all masses. The net effect is that the time-integrated IMF has twice as many high-mass stars as the solar neighborhood IMF, relative to low mass stars. A conventional solar neighborhood IMF does not simultaneously account for both the range in colors at high redshift and the redness of nearby ellipticals, with any single star formation epoch. Models with a standard IMF require half the stellar population to be formed in a burst at low redshift z of about 1. 38 references

Constraining the Stellar Populations and Star Formation Histories of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies with SED Fits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janowiecki, Steven [International Center for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009 (Australia); Salzer, John J.; Zee, Liese van [Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, 727 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States); Rosenberg, Jessica L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 (United States); Skillman, Evan, E-mail: steven.janowiecki@uwa.edu.au [Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street, SE Minneapolis, MN, 55455 (United States)

2017-02-10

We discuss and test possible evolutionary connections between blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) and other types of dwarf galaxies. BCDs provide ideal laboratories to study intense star formation episodes in low-mass dwarf galaxies, and have sometimes been considered a short-lived evolutionary stage between types of dwarf galaxies. To test these connections, we consider a sample of BCDs as well as a comparison sample of nearby galaxies from the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey for context. We fit the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions (SED, far-ultra-violet to far-infrared) of each galaxy with a grid of theoretical models to determine their stellar masses and star formation properties. We compare our results for BCDs with the LVL galaxies to put BCDs in the context of normal galaxy evolution. The SED fits demonstrate that the star formation events currently underway in BCDs are at the extreme of the continuum of normal dwarf galaxies, both in terms of the relative mass involved and in the relative increase over previous star formation rates. Today’s BCDs are distinctive objects in a state of extreme star formation that is rapidly transforming them. This study also suggests ways to identify former BCDs whose star formation episodes have since faded.

Comparative study of dust and young stars in three small galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, J.S.

1984-01-01

A comparative study is presented of dust and young stars in the central regions of the three small galaxies NGC 205, NGC 185, and NGC 3077 in the U, B, V, and K filters, and at six additional optical wavelengths. All three program galaxies have been successfully modeled with the empirical models of Oemler (1976); NGC 205 and NGC 3077 were also modeled with unsharp mask models. Subtracting model galaxies from the data enabled the authors to isolate clusters of young stars and dust clouds in the central regions of each galaxy. A comparison of the colors of the young clusters in NGC 3077 and those in NGC 205 reveals that the colors of the clusters in these two small galaxies are different. In NGC 185, diffuse emission after subtracting an Oemler model was discovered. NGC 205 also showed this remnant emission, with very similar colors to those of the remnant in NGC 185, but NGC 3077 did not. The colors of this diffuse remnant emission in NGC 205 and NGC 185 are interpreted as being due to previous episodes of star formation in the two dwarf ellipticals. A comparison of the author's data with that of Caldwell (1983) on a sample of 33 dwarf elliptical galaxies in Virgo indicates that star formation in dwarf elliptical galaxies is a common phenomenon. The study of dust in NGC 185 and NGC 205 at optical wavelengths shows that the properties of dust in NGC 205 are very similar to those of galactic dust, while the dust in NGC 185 is distinctly different. The optical and 2.2 micron centers of NGC 3077 are found to be different. From comparison of the three galaxies studied here, the author concludes that it is unlikely that NGC 205 and NGC 185 tidally interacted with M31

Evolution of star systems supplied by external stars: a model for Galaxy nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dokuchaev, V.I.; Ozernoj, L.M.; AN SSSR, Moscow. Inst. Yadernykh Issledovanij)

1985-01-01

Extended rarefied environments around the core of a non-isothermic galaxy nucleus can supply the core by both energies and masses of external stars due to relaxation mechanisms. These factors can influence considerably the secular evolution of the core when competing with usual star evaporation from it. Conditions are found under which external environments influence the core evolution much more than star evaporation. This results in expansion of the core instead of its collapse

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

THE FIRST FOCUSED HARD X-RAY IMAGES OF THE SUN WITH NuSTAR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grefenstette, Brian W.; Madsen, Kristin K.; Forster, Karl; Harrison, Fiona A. [Cahill Center for Astrophysics, 1216 E. California Blvd, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Glesener, Lindsay [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Krucker, Säm; Hudson, Hugh; Boggs, Steven E.; Craig, William W. [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Hannah, Iain G. [SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Smith, David M.; Marsh, Andrew J. [Physics Department and Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States); Vogel, Julia K. [Physics Division, Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States); White, Stephen M. [Air Force Research Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Caspi, Amir [Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302 (United States); Chen, Bin [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Shih, Albert [Solar Physics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Kuhar, Matej [University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, CH-5210 Windisch (Switzerland); Christensen, Finn E. [DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, DK-2800 Lyngby (Denmark); Hailey, Charles J., E-mail: bwgref@srl.caltech.edu [Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); and others

2016-07-20

We present results from the the first campaign of dedicated solar observations undertaken by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray ( NuSTAR ) hard X-ray (HXR) telescope. Designed as an astrophysics mission, NuSTAR nonetheless has the capability of directly imaging the Sun at HXR energies (>3 keV) with an increase in sensitivity of at least two magnitude compared to current non-focusing telescopes. In this paper we describe the scientific areas where NuSTAR will make major improvements on existing solar measurements. We report on the techniques used to observe the Sun with NuSTAR , their limitations and complications, and the procedures developed to optimize solar data quality derived from our experience with the initial solar observations. These first observations are briefly described, including the measurement of the Fe K-shell lines in a decaying X-class flare, HXR emission from high in the solar corona, and full-disk HXR images of the Sun.

The First Focused Hard X-Ray Images of the Sun with NuSTAR

Science.gov (United States)

Grefenstette, Brian W.; Glesener, Lindsay; Kruckner, Sam; Hudson, Hugh; Hannah, Iain G.; Smith, David M.; Vogel, Julia K.; White, Stephen M.; Madsen, Kristin K.; Marsh, Andrew J.;

Star formation rates in isolated galaxies selected from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Melnyk, O.; Karachentseva, V.; Karachentsev, I.

2015-08-01

We have considered the star formation properties of 1616 isolated galaxies from the 2MASS XSC (Extended Source Catalog) selected sample (2MIG) with the far-ultraviolet GALEX magnitudes. This sample was then compared with corresponding properties of isolated galaxies from the Local Orphan Galaxies (LOG) catalogue and paired galaxies. We found that different selection algorithms define different populations of isolated galaxies. The population of the LOG catalogue, selected from non-clustered galaxies in the Local Supercluster volume, mostly consists of low-mass spiral and late-type galaxies. The specific star formation rate (SSFR) upper limit in isolated and paired galaxies does not exceed the value of ˜dex(-9.4). This is probably common for galaxies of differing activity and environment (at least at z processes is the galaxy mass. However, the environmental influence is notable: paired massive galaxies with logM* > 11.5 have higher (S)SFR than isolated galaxies. Our results suggest that the environment helps to trigger the star formation in the highest mass galaxies. We found that the fraction of AGN in the paired sample is only a little higher than in our isolated galaxy sample. We assume that AGN phenomenon is probably defined by secular galaxy evolution.

PREDICTIONS FOR ULTRA-DEEP RADIO COUNTS OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mancuso, Claudia; Lapi, Andrea; De Zotti, Gianfranco; Bressan, Alessandro; Perrotta, Francesca; Danese, Luigi [Astrophysics Sector, SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Cai, Zhen-Yi [CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Negrello, Mattia; Bonato, Matteo, E-mail: cmancuso@sissa.it [INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy)

2015-09-01

We have worked outty predictions for the radio counts of star-forming galaxies down to nJy levels, along with redshift distributions down to the detection limits of the phase 1 Square Kilometer Array MID telescope (SKA1-MID) and of its precursors. Such predictions were obtained by coupling epoch-dependent star formation rate (SFR) functions with relations between SFR and radio (synchrotron and free–free) emission. The SFR functions were derived taking into account both the dust-obscured and the unobscured star formation, by combining far-infrared, ultraviolet, and Hα luminosity functions up to high redshifts. We have also revisited the South Pole Telescope counts of dusty galaxies at 95 GHz, performing a detailed analysis of the Spectral Energy Distributions. Our results show that the deepest SKA1-MID surveys will detect high-z galaxies with SFRs two orders of magnitude lower compared to Herschel surveys. The highest redshift tails of the distributions at the detection limits of planned SKA1-MID surveys comprise a substantial fraction of strongly lensed galaxies. We predict that a survey down to 0.25 μJy at 1.4 GHz will detect about 1200 strongly lensed galaxies per square degree, at redshifts of up to 10. For about 30% of them the SKA1-MID will detect at least 2 images. The SKA1-MID will thus provide a comprehensive view of the star formation history throughout the re-ionization epoch, unaffected by dust extinction. We have also provided specific predictions for the EMU/ASKAP and MIGHTEE/MeerKAT surveys.

EXTENDED STAR CLUSTERS IN THE REMOTE HALO OF THE INTRIGUING DWARF GALAXY NGC 6822

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, Narae; Lee, Myung Gyoon; Lee, Jong Chul; Park, Hong Soo; Park, Won-Kee; Kim, Sang Chul; Park, Jang-Hyun

2011-01-01

We present a study on four new star clusters discovered in the halo of the intriguing dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822 from a wide-field survey covering 3 0 x 3 0 area carried out with MegaCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The star clusters have extended structures with half-light radii R h ∼ 7.5-14.0 pc, larger than typical Galactic globular clusters and other known globular clusters in NGC 6822. The integrated colors and color-magnitude diagrams of resolved stars suggest that the new star clusters are 2-10 Gyr old and relatively metal poor with Z = 0.0001-0.004 based on the comparison with theoretical models. The projected distance of each star cluster from the galaxy center ranges from 10.'7 (∼1.5 kpc) to 77' (∼11 kpc), far beyond the optical body of the galaxy. Interestingly, the new star clusters are aligned along the elongated old stellar halo of NGC 6822, which is almost perpendicular to the H I gas distribution where young stellar populations exist. We also find that the colors and half-light radii of the new clusters are correlated with the galactocentric distance: clusters farther from the galaxy center are larger and bluer than those closer to the galaxy center. We discuss the stellar structure and evolution of NGC 6822 implied by these new extended star clusters in the halo. We also discuss the current status of observational and theoretical understandings regarding the origin of extended star clusters in NGC 6822 and other galaxies.

Chemical composition of extremely metal-poor stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aoki, W.; Arimoto, N.; Sadakane, K.; Tolstoy, E.; Battaglia, G.; Jablonka, P.; Shetrone, M.; Letarte, B.; Irwin, M.; Hill, V.; Francois, P.; Venn, K.; Primas, F.; Helmi, A.; Kaufer, A.; Tafelmeyer, M.; Szeifert, T.; Babusiaux, C.

Context. Individual stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies around the Milky Way Galaxy have been studied both photometrically and spectroscopically. Extremely metal-poor stars among them are very valuable because they should record the early enrichment in the Local Group. However, our understanding of

Cosmic dawn the search for the first stars and galaxies

CERN Document Server

Rhee, George

2013-01-01

The visible universe consists of stars and galaxies. One of the challenges of astronomy is to understand how galaxies and stars first came into existence over thirteen billion years ago. This book tells the story of our quest to solve this problem. Four hundred years after Galileo used his telescope to discover the  moons of Jupiter, we are using new telescopes and instruments to search for the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang. This book brings the reader to the current frontier of this subject and lays out some of the exciting developments we can expect in the years to come.

HOW THE FIRST STARS SHAPED THE FAINTEST GAS-DOMINATED DWARF GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbeke, R.; Vandenbroucke, B.; Rijcke, S. De

2015-01-01

Low-mass dwarf galaxies are very sensitive test-beds for theories of cosmic structure formation since their weak gravitational fields allow the effects of the relevant physical processes to clearly stand out. Up to now, no unified account has existed of the sometimes seemingly conflicting properties of the faintest isolated dwarfs in and around the Local Group, such as Leo T and the recently discovered Leo P and Pisces A systems. Using new numerical simulations, we show that this serious challenge to our understanding of galaxy formation can be effectively resolved by taking into account the regulating influence of the ultraviolet radiation of the first population of stars on a dwarf’s star formation rate while otherwise staying within the standard cosmological paradigm for structure formation. These simulations produce faint, gas-dominated, star-forming dwarf galaxies that lie on the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation and that successfully reproduce a broad range of chemical, kinematical, and structural observables of real late-type dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, we stress the importance of obtaining properties of simulated galaxies in a manner as close as possible to the typically employed observational techniques

HOW THE FIRST STARS SHAPED THE FAINTEST GAS-DOMINATED DWARF GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verbeke, R.; Vandenbroucke, B.; Rijcke, S. De, E-mail: robbert.verbeke@UGent.be [Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S9, 9000 Gent (Belgium)

2015-12-20

Low-mass dwarf galaxies are very sensitive test-beds for theories of cosmic structure formation since their weak gravitational fields allow the effects of the relevant physical processes to clearly stand out. Up to now, no unified account has existed of the sometimes seemingly conflicting properties of the faintest isolated dwarfs in and around the Local Group, such as Leo T and the recently discovered Leo P and Pisces A systems. Using new numerical simulations, we show that this serious challenge to our understanding of galaxy formation can be effectively resolved by taking into account the regulating influence of the ultraviolet radiation of the first population of stars on a dwarf’s star formation rate while otherwise staying within the standard cosmological paradigm for structure formation. These simulations produce faint, gas-dominated, star-forming dwarf galaxies that lie on the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation and that successfully reproduce a broad range of chemical, kinematical, and structural observables of real late-type dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, we stress the importance of obtaining properties of simulated galaxies in a manner as close as possible to the typically employed observational techniques.

Dwarf Galaxies with Gentle Star Formation and the Counts of Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field

OpenAIRE

Campos, Ana

1997-01-01

In this paper the counts and colors of the faint galaxies observed in the Hubble Deep Field are fitted by means of simple luminosity evolution models that incorporate a numerous population of fading dwarfs. The observed color distribution of the very faint galaxies now allows us to put constraints on the star formation history in dwarfs. It is shown that the star-forming activity in these small systems has to proceed in a gentle way, i.e., through episodes where each one lasts much longer tha...

Formation and evolution of star clusters and their host galaxies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kruijssen, J.M.D.

2011-01-01

The vast majority of galaxies contains large populations of stellar clusters, which are bound groups of a few tens to millions of stars. A cluster is formed from a single giant molecular cloud and therefore its stars share the same age and chemical composition. The formation and evolution of star

Constraining the Galaxy's dark halo with RAVE stars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Piffl, T.; Binney, J.; McMillan, P. J.; Steinmetz, M.; Helmi, A.; Wyse, R. F. G.; Bienaymé, O.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Freeman, K.; Gibson, B.; Gilmore, G.; Grebel, E. K.; Kordopatis, G.; Navarro, J. F.; Parker, Q.; Reid, W. A.; Seabroke, G.; Siebert, A.; Watson, F.; Zwitter, T.

2014-01-01

We use the kinematics of ˜200 000 giant stars that lie within ˜1.5 kpc of the plane to measure the vertical profile of mass density near the Sun. We find that the dark mass contained within the isodensity surface of the dark halo that passes through the Sun ((6 ± 0.9) × 1010 M⊙), and the surface

Star/galaxy separation at faint magnitudes: Application to a simulated Dark Energy Survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soumagnac, M.T.; et al.

2013-06-21

We address the problem of separating stars from galaxies in future large photometric surveys. We focus our analysis on simulations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In the first part of the paper, we derive the science requirements on star/galaxy separation, for measurement of the cosmological parameters with the Gravitational Weak Lensing and Large Scale Structure probes. These requirements are dictated by the need to control both the statistical and systematic errors on the cosmological parameters, and by Point Spread Function calibration. We formulate the requirements in terms of the completeness and purity provided by a given star/galaxy classifier. In order to achieve these requirements at faint magnitudes, we propose a new method for star/galaxy separation in the second part of the paper. We first use Principal Component Analysis to outline the correlations between the objects parameters and extract from it the most relevant information. We then use the reduced set of parameters as input to an Artificial Neural Network. This multi-parameter approach improves upon purely morphometric classifiers (such as the classifier implemented in SExtractor), especially at faint magnitudes: it increases the purity by up to 20% for stars and by up to 12% for galaxies, at i-magnitude fainter than 23.

Star/galaxy separation at faint magnitudes: application to a simulated Dark Energy Survey

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soumagnac, M. T.; Abdalla, F. B.; Lahav, O.; Kirk, D.; Sevilla, I.; Bertin, E.; Rowe, B. T. P.; Annis, J.; Busha, M. T.; Da Costa, L. N.; Frieman, J. A.; Gaztanaga, E.; Jarvis, M.; Lin, H.; Percival, W. J.; Santiago, B. X.; Sabiu, C. G.; Wechsler, R. H.; Wolz, L.; Yanny, B.

2015-04-14

We address the problem of separating stars from galaxies in future large photometric surveys. We focus our analysis on simulations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In the first part of the paper, we derive the science requirements on star/galaxy separation, for measurement of the cosmological parameters with the gravitational weak lensing and large-scale structure probes. These requirements are dictated by the need to control both the statistical and systematic errors on the cosmological parameters, and by point spread function calibration. We formulate the requirements in terms of the completeness and purity provided by a given star/galaxy classifier. In order to achieve these requirements at faint magnitudes, we propose a new method for star/galaxy separation in the second part of the paper. We first use principal component analysis to outline the correlations between the objects parameters and extract from it the most relevant information. We then use the reduced set of parameters as input to an Artificial Neural Network. This multiparameter approach improves upon purely morphometric classifiers (such as the classifier implemented in SExtractor), especially at faint magnitudes: it increases the purity by up to 20 per cent for stars and by up to 12 per cent for galaxies, at i-magnitude fainter than 23.

Star Formation, Quenching And Chemical Enrichment In Local Galaxies From Integral Field Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Belfiore, Francesco

2017-08-01

Within the currently well-established ΛCDM cosmological framework we still lack a satisfactory understanding of the processes that trigger, regulate and eventually quench star formation on galactic scales. Gas flows (including inflows from the cosmic web and supernovae-driven outflows) are considered to act as self-regulatory mechanisms, generating the scaling relations between stellar mass, star formation rate and metallicity observed in the local Universe by large spectroscopic surveys. These surveys, however, have so far been limited by the availability of only one spectrum per galaxy. The aim of this dissertation is to expand the study of star formation and chemical abundances to resolved scales within galaxies by using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data, mostly from the ongoing SDSS-IV MaNGA survey. In the first part of this thesis I demonstrate the ubiquitous presence of extended low ionisation emission-line regions (LIERs) in both late- and early-type galaxies. By studying the Hα equivalent width and diagnostic line ratios radial profiles, together with tracers of the underlying stellar population, I show that LIERs are not due to a central point source but to hot evolved (post-asymptotic giant branch) stars. In light of this, I suggest a new classification scheme for galaxies based on their line emission. By analysing the colours, star formation rates, morphologies, gas and stellar kinematics and environmental properties of galaxies with substantial LIER emission, I identify two distinct populations. Galaxies where the central regions are LIER-like, but show star formation at larger radii are late types in which star formation is slowly quenched inside-out. This transformation is associated with massive bulges. Galaxies dominated by LIER emission at all radii, on the other hand, are red-sequence galaxies harbouring a residual cold gas component, acquired mostly via external accretion. Quiescent galaxies devoid of line emission reside in denser

THE ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH AND THE TIP OF THE RED GIANT BRANCH AS PROBES OF STAR FORMATION HISTORY: THE NEARBY DWARF IRREGULAR GALAXY KKH 98

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melbourne, J.; Williams, B.; Dalcanton, J.; Ammons, S. M.; Max, C.; Koo, D. C.; Girardi, Leo; Dolphin, A.

2010-01-01

We investigate the utility of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and the red giant branch (RGB) as probes of the star formation history (SFH) of the nearby (D = 2.5 Mpc) dwarf irregular galaxy, KKH 98. Near-infrared (near-IR) Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (AO) images resolve 592 IR-bright stars reaching over 1 mag below the tip of the RGB. Significantly deeper optical (F475W and F814W) Hubble Space Telescope images of the same field contain over 2500 stars, reaching to the red clump and the main-sequence turnoff for 0.5 Gyr old populations. Compared to the optical color-magnitude diagram (CMD), the near-IR CMD shows significantly tighter AGB sequences, providing a good probe of the intermediate-age (0.5-5 Gyr) populations. We match observed CMDs with stellar evolution models to recover the SFH of KKH 98. On average, the galaxy has experienced relatively constant low-level star formation (5 x 10 -4 M sun yr -1 ) for much of cosmic time. Except for the youngest main-sequence populations (age <0.1 Gyr), which are typically fainter than the AO data flux limit, the SFH estimated from the 592 IR-bright stars is a reasonable match to that derived from the much larger optical data set. Differences between the optical- and IR-derived SFHs for 0.1-1 Gyr populations suggest that current stellar evolution models may be overproducing the AGB by as much as a factor of 3 in this galaxy. At the depth of the AO data, the IR-luminous stars are not crowded. Therefore, these techniques can potentially be used to determine the stellar populations of galaxies at significantly further distances.

Multicolor photometry of the merging galaxy cluster A2319: Dynamics and star formation properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yan, Peng-Fei; Yuan, Qi-Rong [Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023 (China); Zhang, Li [QuFu Education Bureau, QuFu 273100 (China); Zhou, Xu, E-mail: pfyan0822@sina.com, E-mail: yuanqirong@njnu.edu.cn [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

2014-05-01

Asymmetric X-ray emission and a powerful cluster-scale radio halo indicate that A2319 is a merging cluster of galaxies. This paper presents our multicolor photometry for A2319 with 15 optical intermediate filters in the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC) system. There are 142 galaxies with known spectroscopic redshifts within the viewing field of 58' × 58' centered on this rich cluster, including 128 member galaxies (called sample I). A large velocity dispersion in the rest frame, 1622{sub −70}{sup +91} km s{sup –1}, suggests merger dynamics in A2319. The contour map of projected density and localized velocity structure confirm the so-called A2319B substructure, at ∼10' northwest to the main concentration A2319A. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of more than 30,000 sources are obtained in our BATC photometry down to V ∼ 20 mag. A u-band (∼3551 Å) image with better seeing and spatial resolution, obtained with the Bok 2.3 m telescope at Kitt Peak, is taken to make star-galaxy separation and distinguish the overlapping contamination in the BATC aperture photometry. With color-color diagrams and photometric redshift technique, 233 galaxies brighter than h {sub BATC} = 19.0 are newly selected as member candidates after an exclusion of false candidates with contaminated BATC SEDs by eyeball-checking the u-band Bok image. The early-type galaxies are found to follow a tight color-magnitude correlation. Based on sample I and the enlarged sample of member galaxies (called sample II), subcluster A2319B is confirmed. The star formation properties of cluster galaxies are derived with the evolutionary synthesis model, PEGASE, assuming a Salpeter initial mass function and an exponentially decreasing star formation rate (SFR). A strong environmental effect on star formation histories is found in the manner that galaxies in the sparse regions have various star formation histories, while galaxies in the dense regions are found to have

GALAXY DOWNSIZING AND THE REDSHIFT EVOLUTION OF OXYGEN AND NITROGEN ABUNDANCES: ORIGIN OF THE SCATTER IN THE N/H-O/H DIAGRAM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pilyugin, Leonid S.; Thuan, Trinh X.

2011-01-01

The oxygen and nitrogen abundance evolutions with redshift of emission-line galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are considered for four intervals of galaxy stellar masses, ranging from 10 11.3 M sun to 10 10.2 M sun . We have measured their line fluxes and derived the O and N abundances using recent calibrations. The evolution of O and N abundances with redshift clearly shows the galaxy downsizing effect, where enrichment (and hence star formation) ceases in high-mass galaxies at earlier times and shifts to lower-mass galaxies at later epochs. The origin of the scatter in the N/H-O/H diagram has been examined. The most massive galaxies, where O and N enrichment and star formation have already stopped, occupy a narrow band in the N/H-O/H diagram, defining an upper envelope. The less massive galaxies which are still undergoing star formation at the current epoch are shifted downward, toward lower N/H values in the N/H-O/H diagram. This downward shift is caused by the time delay between N and O enrichment. This time delay together with the different star formation histories in galaxies is responsible for the large scatter in the N/H-O/H diagram.

THE METALLICITY DEPENDENCE OF THE CO {yields} H{sub 2} CONVERSION FACTOR IN z {>=} 1 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Genzel, R.; Tacconi, L. J.; Schreiber, N. M. Foerster; Gracia-Carpio, J.; Lutz, D.; Saintonge, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Giessenbachstr. 1, 85748 Garching (Germany); Combes, F. [Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, CNRS, 61 Av. de l' Observatoire, F-75014 Paris (France); Bolatto, A. [Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421 (United States); Neri, R.; Cox, P. [IRAM, 300 Rue de la Piscine, 38406 St. Martin d' Heres, Grenoble (France); Sternberg, A. [Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel); Cooper, M. C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Frederick Reines Hall, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-4575 (United States); Bouche, N. [Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Broida Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States); Bournaud, F. [Service d' Astrophysique, DAPNIA, CEA/Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Burkert, A. [Universitaetssternwarte der Ludwig-Maximiliansuniversitaet, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 Muenchen (Germany); Comerford, J. [Department of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory, 1 University Station, C1402 Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States); Davis, M.; Newman, S. [Department of Astronomy, Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Garcia-Burillo, S. [Observatorio Astronomico Nacional-OAN, Apartado 1143, 28800 Alcala de Henares- Madrid (Spain); Naab, T., E-mail: genzel@mpe.mpg.de, E-mail: linda@mpe.mpg.de [Max-Planck Institut fuer Astrophysik (MPA), Karl Schwarzschildstrasse 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); and others

2012-02-10

We use the first systematic samples of CO millimeter emission in z {>=} 1 'main-sequence' star-forming galaxies to study the metallicity dependence of the conversion factor {alpha}{sub CO,} from CO line luminosity to molecular gas mass. The molecular gas depletion rate inferred from the ratio of the star formation rate (SFR) to CO luminosity, is {approx}1 Gyr{sup -1} for near-solar metallicity galaxies with stellar masses above M{sub S} {approx} 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun }. In this regime, the depletion rate does not vary more than a factor of two to three as a function of molecular gas surface density or redshift between z {approx} 0 and 2. Below M{sub S} the depletion rate increases rapidly with decreasing metallicity. We argue that this trend is not caused by starburst events, by changes in the physical parameters of the molecular clouds, or by the impact of the fundamental-metallicity-SFR-stellar mass relation. A more probable explanation is that the conversion factor is metallicity dependent and that star formation can occur in 'CO-dark' gas. The trend is also expected theoretically from the effect of enhanced photodissociation of CO by ultraviolet radiation at low metallicity. From the available z {approx} 0 and z {approx} 1-3 samples we constrain the slope of the log({alpha}{sub CO})-log (metallicity) relation to range between -1 and -2, fairly insensitive to the assumed slope of the gas-SFR relation. Because of the lower metallicities near the peak of the galaxy formation activity at z {approx} 1-2 compared to z {approx} 0, we suggest that molecular gas masses estimated from CO luminosities have to be substantially corrected upward for galaxies below M{sub S}.

A UNIVERSAL, LOCAL STAR FORMATION LAW IN GALACTIC CLOUDS, NEARBY GALAXIES, HIGH-REDSHIFT DISKS, AND STARBURSTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krumholz, Mark R.; Dekel, Avishai; McKee, Christopher F.

2012-01-01

Star formation laws are rules that relate the rate of star formation in a particular region, either an entire galaxy or some portion of it, to the properties of the gas, or other galactic properties, in that region. While observations of Local Group galaxies show a very simple, local star formation law in which the star formation rate per unit area in each patch of a galaxy scales linearly with the molecular gas surface density in that patch, recent observations of both Milky Way molecular clouds and high-redshift galaxies apparently show a more complicated relationship in which regions of equal molecular gas surface density can form stars at quite different rates. These data have been interpreted as implying either that different star formation laws may apply in different circumstances, that the star formation law is sensitive to large-scale galaxy properties rather than local properties, or that there are high-density thresholds for star formation. Here we collate observations of the relationship between gas and star formation rate from resolved observations of Milky Way molecular clouds, from kpc-scale observations of Local Group galaxies, and from unresolved observations of both disk and starburst galaxies in the local universe and at high redshift. We show that all of these data are in fact consistent with a simple, local, volumetric star formation law. The apparent variations stem from the fact that the observed objects have a wide variety of three-dimensional size scales and degrees of internal clumping, so even at fixed gas column density the regions being observed can have wildly varying volume densities. We provide a simple theoretical framework to remove this projection effect, and we use it to show that all the data, from small solar neighborhood clouds with masses ∼10 3 M ☉ to submillimeter galaxies with masses ∼10 11 M ☉ , fall on a single star formation law in which the star formation rate is simply ∼1% of the molecular gas mass per local

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-12-01

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

Scaling Relations between Gas and Star Formation in Nearby Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Bigiel, Frank; Leroy, Adam; Walter, Fabian

2011-04-01

High resolution, multi-wavelength maps of a sizeable set of nearby galaxies have made it possible to study how the surface densities of H i, H2 and star formation rate (ΣHI, ΣH2, ΣSFR) relate on scales of a few hundred parsecs. At these scales, individual galaxy disks are comfortably resolved, making it possible to assess gas-SFR relations with respect to environment within galaxies. ΣH2, traced by CO intensity, shows a strong correlation with ΣSFR and the ratio between these two quantities, the molecular gas depletion time, appears to be constant at about 2 Gyr in large spiral galaxies. Within the star-forming disks of galaxies, ΣSFR shows almost no correlation with ΣHI. In the outer parts of galaxies, however, ΣSFR does scale with ΣHI, though with large scatter. Combining data from these different environments yields a distribution with multiple regimes in Σgas - ΣSFR space. If the underlying assumptions to convert observables to physical quantities are matched, even combined datasets based on different SFR tracers, methodologies and spatial scales occupy a well define locus in Σgas - ΣSFR space.

Undergraduate ALFALFA Team: Analysis of Spatially-Resolved Star-Formation in Nearby Galaxy Groups and Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Finn, Rose; Collova, Natasha; Spicer, Sandy; Whalen, Kelly; Koopmann, Rebecca A.; Durbala, Adriana; Haynes, Martha P.; Undergraduate ALFALFA Team

2017-01-01

As part of the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team, we are conducting a survey of the gas and star-formation properties of galaxies in 36 groups and clusters in the local universe. The galaxies in our sample span a large range of galactic environments, from the centers of galaxy groups and clusters to the surrounding infall regions. One goal of the project is to map the spatial distribution of star-formation; the relative extent of the star-forming and stellar disks provides important information about the internal and external processes that deplete gas and thus drive galaxy evolution. We obtained wide-field H-alpha observations with the WIYN 0.9m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory for galaxies in the vicinity of the MKW11 and NRGb004 galaxy groups and the Abell 1367 cluster. We present a preliminary analysis of the relative size of the star-forming and stellar disks as a function of galaxy morphology and local galaxy density, and we calculate gas depletion times using star-formation rates and HI gas mass. We will combine these results with those from other UAT members to determine if and how environmentally-driven gas depletion varies with the mass and X-ray properties of the host group or cluster. This work has supported by NSF grants AST-0847430, AST-1211005 and AST-1637339.

CONSTRAINTS ON FEEDBACK PROCESSES DURING THE FORMATION OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trevisan, M. [Departamento de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas, Universidade de Sao Paulo/IAG, Sao Paulo (Brazil); Ferreras, I. [MSSL, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT (United Kingdom); De La Rosa, I. G. [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); La Barbera, F. [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Napoli (Italy); De Carvalho, R. R., E-mail: trevisan@astro.iag.usp.br [Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais/MCT, S. J. dos Campos (Brazil)

2012-06-20

Galaxies are found to obey scaling relations between a number of observables. These relations follow different trends at the low- and high-mass ends. The processes driving the curvature of scaling relations remain uncertain. In this Letter, we focus on the specific family of early-type galaxies, deriving the star formation histories of a complete sample of visually classified galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 over the redshift range 0.01 < z < 0.025, covering a stellar mass interval from 10{sup 9} to 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun }. Our sample features the characteristic 'knee' in the surface brightness versus mass distribution at M{sub *} {approx} 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun} . We find a clear difference between the age and metallicity distributions of the stellar populations above and beyond this knee, which suggests a sudden transition from a constant, highly efficient mode of star formation in high-mass galaxies, gradually decreasing toward the low-mass end of the sample. At fixed mass, our early-type sample is more efficient in building up the stellar content at early times in comparison to the general population of galaxies, with half of the stars already in place by redshift z {approx} 2 for all masses. The metallicity-age trend in low-mass galaxies is not compatible with infall of metal-poor gas, suggesting instead an outflow-driven relation.

INSIGHTS INTO PRE-ENRICHMENT OF STAR CLUSTERS AND SELF-ENRICHMENT OF DWARF GALAXIES FROM THEIR INTRINSIC METALLICITY DISPERSIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leaman, Ryan

2012-01-01

Star clusters are known to have smaller intrinsic metallicity spreads than dwarf galaxies due to their shorter star formation timescales. Here we use individual spectroscopic [Fe/H] measurements of stars in 19 Local Group dwarf galaxies, 13 Galactic open clusters, and 49 globular clusters to show that star cluster and dwarf galaxy linear metallicity distributions are binomial in form, with all objects showing strong correlations between their mean linear metallicity Z-bar and intrinsic spread in metallicity σ(Z) 2 . A plot of σ(Z) 2 versus Z-bar shows that the correlated relationships are offset for the dwarf galaxies from the star clusters. The common binomial nature of these linear metallicity distributions can be explained with a simple inhomogeneous chemical evolution model, where the star cluster and dwarf galaxy behavior in the σ(Z) 2 - Z-bar diagram is reproduced in terms of the number of enrichment events, covering fraction, and intrinsic size of the enriched regions. The inhomogeneity of the self-enrichment sets the slope for the observed dwarf galaxy σ(Z) 2 - Z-bar correlation. The offset of the star cluster sequence from that of the dwarf galaxies is due to pre-enrichment, and the slope of the star cluster sequence represents the remnant signature of the self-enriched history of their host galaxies. The offset can be used to separate star clusters from dwarf galaxies without a priori knowledge of their luminosity or dynamical mass. The application of the inhomogeneous model to the σ(Z) 2 - Z-bar relationship provides a numerical formalism to connect the self-enrichment and pre-enrichment between star clusters and dwarf galaxies using physically motivated chemical enrichment parameters. Therefore we suggest that the σ(Z) 2 - Z-bar relationship can provide insight into what drives the efficiency of star formation and chemical evolution in galaxies, and is an important prediction for galaxy simulation models to reproduce.

Tracing the first stars and galaxies of the Milky Way

Science.gov (United States)

Griffen, Brendan F.; Dooley, Gregory A.; Ji, Alexander P.; O'Shea, Brian W.; Gómez, Facundo A.; Frebel, Anna

2018-02-01

We use 30 high-resolution dark matter haloes of the Caterpillar simulation suite to probe the first stars and galaxies of Milky Way-mass systems. We quantify the environment of the high-z progenitors of the Milky Way and connect them to the properties of the host and satellites today. We identify the formation sites of the first generation of Population III (Pop III) stars (z ˜ 25) and first galaxies (z ˜ 22) with several different models based on a minimum halo mass. This includes a simple model for radiative feedback, the primary limitation of the model. Through this method we find approximately 23 000 ± 5000 Pop III potentially star-forming sites per Milky Way-mass host, though this number is drastically reduced to ˜550 star-forming sites if feedback is included. The majority of these haloes identified form in isolation (96 per cent at z = 15) and are not subject to external enrichment by neighbouring haloes (median separation ˜1 kpc at z = 15), though half merge with a system larger than themselves within 1.5 Gyr. Using particle tagging, we additionally trace the Pop III remnant population to z = 0 and find an order of magnitude scatter in their number density at small (i.e. r 50 kpc) galactocentric radii. We provide fitting functions for determining the number of progenitor minihalo and atomic cooling halo systems that present-day satellite galaxies might have accreted since their formation. We determine that observed dwarf galaxies with stellar masses below 104.6 M⊙ are unlikely to have merged with any other star-forming systems.

The Rise and Fall of Star Formation Histories of Blue Galaxies at Redshifts 0.2 < z < 1.4

Science.gov (United States)

Pacifici, Camilla; Kassin, Susan A.; Weiner, Benjamin; Charlot, Stephane; Gardner, Jonathan P.

2012-01-01

Popular cosmological scenarios predict that galaxies form hierarchically from the merger of many progenitor, each with their own unique star formation history (SFH). We use the approach recently developed by Pacifici et al. to constrain the SFHs of 4517 blue (presumably star-forming) galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the range O.2 galaxies rise and fall in a roughly symmetric bell-shaped manner, while those of low-mass galaxies rise progressively in time, consistent with the typically stronger activity of star formation in low-mass compared to high-mass galaxies. For galaxies of all masses, the star formation activity rises more rapidly at high than at low redshift. These findings imply that the standard approximation of exponentially declining SFHs wIdely used to interpret observed galaxy spectral energy distributions is not appropriate to constrain the physical parameters of star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts.

Collateral Damage: the Implications of Utrecht Star Cluster Astrophysics for Galaxy Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Kruijssen, J. M. D.

2013-01-01

Until the early 2000s, the research portfolio of the Astronomical Institute in Utrecht (SIU) did not include galaxy evolution. Somewhat serendipitously, this changed with the advent of the star cluster group. In only a few years, a simple framework was developed to describe and quantify the properties of dynamically evolving star cluster populations. Since then, the ‘Utrecht cluster disruption model’ has shown that the galactic environment plays an important role in setting the evolution of stellar clusters. From this simple result, it follows that cluster populations bear some imprint of the characteristics and histories of their host galaxies, and that star clusters can be used to trace galaxy evolution—an aim for which the Utrecht star cluster models were never designed, but which they are well-capable of fulfilling. I review some of the work in this direction, with a strong emphasis on the contributions from the SIU.

A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF A STRONGLY LENSED PLANCK-ASSOCIATED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu Hai; Cooray, A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Jullo, E. [Observatoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille-Provence, 38 rue Frederic Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille (France); Bussmann, R. S. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Ivison, R. J. [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Perez-Fournon, I. [Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Djorgovski, S. G.; Scoville, N.; Yan, L.; Riechers, D. A.; Bradford, M. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Aguirre, J. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Auld, R. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom); Baes, M. [Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium); Baker, A. J. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Cava, A. [Departamento de Astrofisica, Facultad de CC. Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid (Spain); Clements, D. L. [Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Dannerbauer, H. [Institut fuer Astronomie, Universitaet Wien, Tuerkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1160 Wien (Austria); Dariush, A. [Physics Department, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); De Zotti, G., E-mail: haif@uci.edu [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); and others

2012-07-10

We present high-resolution maps of stars, dust, and molecular gas in a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 3.259. HATLAS J114637.9-001132 is selected from the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) as a strong lens candidate mainly based on its unusually high 500 {mu}m flux density ({approx}300 mJy). It is the only high-redshift Planck detection in the 130 deg{sup 2} H-ATLAS Phase-I area. Keck Adaptive Optics images reveal a quadruply imaged galaxy in the K band while the Submillimeter Array and the Jansky Very Large Array show doubly imaged 880 {mu}m and CO(1{yields}0) sources, indicating differentiated distributions of the various components in the galaxy. In the source plane, the stars reside in three major kpc-scale clumps extended over {approx}1.6 kpc, the dust in a compact ({approx}1 kpc) region {approx}3 kpc north of the stars, and the cold molecular gas in an extended ({approx}7 kpc) disk {approx}5 kpc northeast of the stars. The emissions from the stars, dust, and gas are magnified by {approx}17, {approx}8, and {approx}7 times, respectively, by four lensing galaxies at z {approx} 1. Intrinsically, the lensed galaxy is a warm (T{sub dust} {approx} 40-65 K), hyper-luminous (L{sub IR} {approx} 1.7 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 13} L{sub Sun }; star formation rate (SFR) {approx}2000 M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1}), gas-rich (M{sub gas}/M{sub baryon} {approx} 70%), young (M{sub stellar}/SFR {approx} 20 Myr), and short-lived (M{sub gas}/SFR {approx} 40 Myr) starburst. With physical properties similar to unlensed z > 2 SMGs, HATLAS J114637.9-001132 offers a detailed view of a typical SMG through a powerful cosmic microscope.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Almeida, J.; Dalla Vecchia, C.

2018-06-01

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

DETECTION OF MOLECULAR GAS IN VOID GALAXIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR STAR FORMATION IN ISOLATED ENVIRONMENTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Das, M.; Honey, M. [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore (India); Saito, T. [Department of Astronomy, Graduate school of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 133-0033 (Japan); Iono, D. [Chile Observatory, NAOJ (Japan); Ramya, S., E-mail: mousumi@iiap.res.in [Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Shanghai (China)

2015-12-10

We present the detection of molecular gas from galaxies located in nearby voids using the CO(1–0) line emission as a tracer. The observations were performed using the 45 m single dish radio telescope of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory. Void galaxies lie in the most underdense parts of our universe and a significant fraction of them are gas rich, late-type spiral galaxies. Although isolated, they have ongoing star formation but appear to be slowly evolving compared to galaxies in denser environments. Not much is known about their star formation properties or cold gas content. In this study, we searched for molecular gas in five void galaxies. The galaxies were selected based on their relatively high IRAS fluxes or Hα line luminosities, both of which signify ongoing star formation. All five galaxies appear to be isolated and two lie within the Bootes void. We detected CO(1–0) emission from four of the five galaxies in our sample and their molecular gas masses lie between 10{sup 8} and 10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙}. We conducted follow-up Hα imaging observations of three detected galaxies using the Himalayan Chandra Telescope and determined their star formation rates (SFRs) from their Hα fluxes. The SFR varies from 0.2 to 1 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}; which is similar to that observed in local galaxies. Our study indicates that although void galaxies reside in underdense regions, their disks contain molecular gas and have SFRs similar to galaxies in denser environments. We discuss the implications of our results.

THE AVERAGE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF THE UV-BRIGHTEST STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT z ∼ 3.7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kyoung-Soo; Glikman, Eilat; Dey, Arjun; Reddy, Naveen; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Brown, Michael J. I.; Gonzalez, Anthony H.; Cooper, Michael C.; Fan Xiaohui; Bian Fuyan; Stern, Daniel; Brodwin, Mark; Cooray, Asantha

2011-01-01

We investigate the average physical properties and star formation histories (SFHs) of the most UV-luminous star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 3.7. Our results are based on the average spectral energy distributions (SEDs), constructed from stacked optical-to-infrared photometry, of a sample of the 1913 most UV-luminous star-forming galaxies found in 5.3 deg 2 of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. We find that the shape of the average SED in the rest optical and infrared is fairly constant with UV luminosity, i.e., more UV-luminous galaxies are, on average, also more luminous at longer wavelengths. In the rest UV, however, the spectral slope β (≡ dlogF λ /dlogλ; measured at 0.13 μm rest UV and thus star formation rates (SFRs) scale closely with stellar mass such that more UV-luminous galaxies are also more massive, (2) the median ages indicate that the stellar populations are relatively young (200-400 Myr) and show little correlation with UV luminosity, and (3) more UV-luminous galaxies are dustier than their less-luminous counterparts, such that L ∼ 4-5L* galaxies are extincted up to A(1600) = 2 mag while L ∼ L* galaxies have A(1600) = 0.7-1.5 mag. We argue that the average SFHs of UV-luminous galaxies are better described by models in which SFR increases with time in order to simultaneously reproduce the tight correlation between the UV-derived SFR and stellar mass and their universally young ages. We demonstrate the potential of measurements of the SFR-M * relation at multiple redshifts to discriminate between simple models of SFHs. Finally, we discuss the fate of these UV-brightest galaxies in the next 1-2 Gyr and their possible connection to the most massive galaxies at z ∼ 2.

STAR FORMATION RATES FOR STARBURST GALAXIES FROM ULTRAVIOLET, INFRARED, AND RADIO LUMINOSITIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sargsyan, Lusine A.; Weedman, Daniel W.

2009-01-01

We present a comparison of star formation rates (SFR) determined from mid-infrared 7.7 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) luminosity [SFR(PAH)], from 1.4 GHz radio luminosity [SFR(radio)], and from far-ultraviolet luminosity [SFR(UV)] for a sample of 287 starburst galaxies with z ν (7.7 μm)] - 42.57 ± 0.2, for SFR in M sun yr -1 and νL ν (7.7 μm) the luminosity at the peak of the 7.7 μm PAH feature in erg s -1 , is found to agree with SFR(radio). Comparing with SFR(UV) determined independently from ultraviolet observations of the same sources with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission (not corrected for dust extinction), the median log [SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV)] = 1.67, indicating that only 2% of the ultraviolet continuum typically escapes extinction by dust within a starburst. This ratio SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV) depends on infrared luminosity, with the form log [SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV)] = (0.53 ± 0.05)log [νL ν (7.7 μm)] - 21.5 ± 0.18, indicating that more luminous starbursts are also dustier. Using our adopted relation between νL ν (7.7 μm) and L ir , this becomes log [SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV)]= (0.53 ± 0.05)log L ir - 4.11 ± 0.18, for L ir in L sun . Only blue compact dwarf galaxies show comparable or greater SFR(UV) compared to SFR(PAH). We also find that the ratio SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV) is similar to that in infrared-selected starbursts for a sample of Markarian starburst galaxies originally selected using optical classification, which implies that there is no significant selection effect in SFR(PAH)/SFR(UV) using starburst galaxies discovered by Spitzer. These results indicate that SFRs determined with ultraviolet luminosities require dust corrections by a factor of ∼10 for typical local starbursts but this factor increases to >700 for the most luminous starbursts at z ∼ 2.5. Application of this factor explains why the most luminous starbursts discovered by Spitzer at z ∼ 2.5 are optically faint; with this amount of extinction, the optical magnitude of a starburst

Is life most likely around Sun-like stars?

Science.gov (United States)

Lingam, Manasvi; Loeb, Abraham

2018-05-01

We consider the habitability of Earth-analogs around stars of different masses, which is regulated by the stellar lifetime, stellar wind-induced atmospheric erosion, and biologically active ultraviolet (UV) irradiance. By estimating the timescales associated with each of these processes, we show that they collectively impose limits on the habitability of Earth-analogs. We conclude that planets orbiting most M-dwarfs are not likely to host life, and that the highest probability of complex biospheres is for planets around K- and G-type stars. Our analysis suggests that the current existence of life near the Sun is slightly unusual, but not significantly anomalous.

Cool carbon stars in the halo and in dwarf galaxies: Hα, colours, and variability

Science.gov (United States)

Mauron, N.; Gigoyan, K. S.; Berlioz-Arthaud, P.; Klotz, A.

2014-02-01

The population of cool carbon (C) stars located far from the galactic plane is probably made of debris of small galaxies such as the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr), which are disrupted by the gravitational field of the Galaxy. We aim to know this population better through spectroscopy, 2MASS photometric colours, and variability data. When possible, we compared the halo results to C star populations in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy, Sgr, and the solar neighbourhood. We first present a few new discoveries of C stars in the halo and in Fornax. The number of spectra of halo C stars is now 125. Forty percent show Hα in emission. The narrow location in the JHK diagram of the halo C stars is found to differ from that of similar C stars in the above galaxies. The light curves of the Catalina and LINEAR variability databases were exploited to derive the pulsation periods of 66 halo C stars. A few supplementary periods were obtained with the TAROT telescopes. We confirm that the period distribution of the halo strongly resembles that of Fornax, and we found that it is very different from the C stars in the solar neighbourhood. There is a larger proportion of short-period Mira/SRa variables in the halo than in Sgr, but the survey for C stars in this dwarf galaxy is not complete, and the study of their variability needs to be continued to investigate the link between Sgr and the cool halo C stars. Based on observations made with the NTT and 3.6 m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla, Chile; programs 084.D-0302 and 070.D-0203), with the TAROT telescopes at La Silla and at Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (France), and on the exploitation of the Catalina Sky Survey and the LINEAR variability databases.Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

A SPECTROSCOPICALLY CONFIRMED EXCESS OF 24 μm SOURCES IN A SUPER GALAXY GROUP AT z = 0.37: ENHANCED DUSTY STAR FORMATION RELATIVE TO THE CLUSTER AND FIELD ENVIRONMENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran, Kim-Vy H.; Saintonge, Amelie; Moustakas, John; Bai, Lei; Zaritsky, Dennis; Gonzalez, Anthony H.; Kautsch, Stefan J.; Holden, Bradford P.

2009-01-01

To trace how dust-obscured star formation varies with environment, we compare the fraction of 24 μm sources in a super galaxy group to the field and a rich galaxy cluster at z ∼ 0.35. We draw on multi-wavelength observations 9 Based on observations made with (1) The ESO telescopes at Paranal Observatories under program IDs 072.A-0367, 076.B-0362, 078.B-0409; (2) the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (GO-10499); STScI is operated by the association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under the NASA contract NAS 5-26555; (3) the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA; support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech (GO-20683); (4) the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of the National Aeronautics Space Administration under contract NAS8-03060; and (5) the Magellan 6.5 m telescope operated by OCIW. that combine Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer imaging with extensive optical spectroscopy (>1800 redshifts) to isolate galaxies in each environment and thus ensure a uniform analysis. We focus on the four galaxy groups (σ 1D = 303-580 km s -1 ) in supergroup 1120-12 that will merge to form a galaxy cluster comparable in mass to Coma. We find that (1) the fraction of supergroup galaxies with SFR IR ≥ 3 M sun yr -1 is 4 times higher than in the cluster (32% ± 5% versus 7% ± 2%); (2) the supergroup's infrared luminosity function confirms that it has a higher density of IR members compared to the cluster and includes bright IR sources (log(L IR )[erg s -1 ] >45) not found in galaxy clusters at z ∼ * )[M sun ] IR ≥ 3 M sun yr -1 members that are outside the group cores (R proj ≥ 0.5 Mpc); once their star formation is quenched, most will evolve into faint red galaxies. Our analysis indicates that the supergroup's 24 μm population also differs from

THE OCCURRENCE RATE OF EARTH ANALOG PLANETS ORBITING SUN-LIKE STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catanzarite, Joseph; Shao, Michael

2011-01-01

Kepler is a space telescope that searches Sun-like stars for planets. Its major goal is to determine η Earth , the fraction of Sun-like stars that have planets like Earth. When a planet 'transits' or moves in front of a star, Kepler can measure the concomitant dimming of the starlight. From analysis of the first four months of those measurements for over 150,000 stars, Kepler's Science Team has determined sizes, surface temperatures, orbit sizes, and periods for over a thousand new planet candidates. In this paper, we characterize the period probability distribution function of the super-Earth and Neptune planet candidates with periods up to 132 days, and find three distinct period regimes. For candidates with periods below 3 days, the density increases sharply with increasing period; for periods between 3 and 30 days, the density rises more gradually with increasing period, and for periods longer than 30 days, the density drops gradually with increasing period. We estimate that 1%-3% of stars like the Sun are expected to have Earth analog planets, based on the Kepler data release of 2011 February. This estimate of η Earth is based on extrapolation from a fiducial subsample of the Kepler planet candidates that we chose to be nominally 'complete' (i.e., no missed detections) to the realm of the Earth-like planets, by means of simple power-law models. The accuracy of the extrapolation will improve as more data from the Kepler mission are folded in. Accurate knowledge of η Earth is essential for the planning of future missions that will image and take spectra of Earth-like planets. Our result that Earths are relatively scarce means that a substantial effort will be needed to identify suitable target stars prior to these future missions.

Decision trees and decision committee applied to star/galaxy separation problem

Science.gov (United States)

Vasconcellos, Eduardo Charles

Vasconcellos et al [1] study the efficiency of 13 diferente decision tree algorithms applied to photometric data in the Sloan Digital Sky Digital Survey Data Release Seven (SDSS-DR7) to perform star/galaxy separation. Each algorithm is defined by a set fo parameters which, when varied, produce diferente final classifications trees. In that work we extensively explore the parameter space of each algorithm, using the set of 884,126 SDSS objects with spectroscopic data as the training set. We find that Functional Tree algorithm (FT) yields the best results by the mean completeness function (galaxy true positive rate) in two magnitude intervals:14=19 (82.1%). We compare FT classification to the SDSS parametric, 2DPHOT and Ball et al (2006) classifications. At the faintest magnitudes (r > 19), our classifier is the only one that maintains high completeness (>80%) while simultaneously achieving low contamination ( 2.5%). We also examine the SDSS parametric classifier (psfMag - modelMag) to see if the dividing line between stars and galaxies can be adjusted to improve the classifier. We find that currently stars in close pairs are often misclassified as galaxies, and suggest a new cut to improve the classifier. Finally, we apply our FT classifier to separate stars from galaxies in the full set of 69,545,326 SDSS photometric objects in the magnitude range 14 train six FT classifiers with random selected objects from the same 884,126 SDSS-DR7 objects with spectroscopic data that we use before. Both, the decision commitee and our previous single FT classifier will be applied to the new ojects from SDSS data releses eight, nine and ten. Finally we will compare peformances of both methods in this new data set. [1] Vasconcellos, E. C.; de Carvalho, R. R.; Gal, R. R.; LaBarbera, F. L.; Capelato, H. V.; Fraga Campos Velho, H.; Trevisan, M.; Ruiz, R. S. R.. Decision Tree Classifiers for Star/Galaxy Separation. The Astronomical Journal, Volume 141, Issue 6, 2011.

SPITZER IMAGING OF STRONGLY LENSED HERSCHEL-SELECTED DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ma, Brian; Cooray, Asantha; Calanog, J. A.; Nayyeri, H.; Timmons, N.; Casey, C. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Baes, M. [Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium); Chapman, S. [Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2 (Canada); Dannerbauer, H. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu-CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, pt courrier 131, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Da Cunha, E. [Center for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn VIC 3122 (Australia); De Zotti, G. [INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Dunne, L.; Michałowski, M. J.; Oteo, I. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Farrah, D. [Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (United States); Fu, Hai [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Van Allen Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Gonzalez-Nuevo, J. [Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Oviedo C/ Calvo Sotelo, s/n, E-33007 Oviedo (Spain); Magdis, G. [Department of Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Riechers, D. A. [Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 220 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Scott, D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); and others

2015-11-20

We present the rest-frame optical spectral energy distribution (SED) and stellar masses of six Herschel-selected gravitationally lensed dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at 1 < z < 3. These galaxies were first identified with Herschel/SPIRE imaging data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) and the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES). The targets were observed with Spitzer/IRAC at 3.6 and 4.5 μm. Due to the spatial resolution of the IRAC observations at the level of 2″, the lensing features of a background DSFG in the near-infrared are blended with the flux from the foreground lensing galaxy in the IRAC imaging data. We make use of higher resolution Hubble/WFC3 or Keck/NIRC2 Adaptive Optics imaging data to fit light profiles of the foreground lensing galaxy (or galaxies) as a way to model the foreground components, in order to successfully disentangle the foreground lens and background source flux densities in the IRAC images. The flux density measurements at 3.6 and 4.5 μm, once combined with Hubble/WFC3 and Keck/NIRC2 data, provide important constraints on the rest-frame optical SED of the Herschel-selected lensed DSFGs. We model the combined UV- to millimeter-wavelength SEDs to establish the stellar mass, dust mass, star formation rate, visual extinction, and other parameters for each of these Herschel-selected DSFGs. These systems have inferred stellar masses in the range 8 × 10{sup 10}–4 × 10{sup 11} M{sub ⊙} and star formation rates of around 100 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}. This puts these lensed submillimeter systems well above the SFR-M* relation observed for normal star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts. The high values of SFR inferred for these systems are consistent with a major merger-driven scenario for star formation.

Neutrinos from the Sun, pollution of the Galaxy by the products of stellar nucleosynthesis and the terrestrial ice ages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuchowicz, B.

1978-01-01

One of the possible explanations of Davis' observational results on solar neutrinos is the hypothesis stating that the metal abundance Z is extremely low throughout the whole Sun, with the exception of its surface layers. Accretion of interstellar matter during the voyage of the Sun in the Galaxy should be responsible for the higher abundance of the heavy elements of the solar surface. The matter which was accreted by the Sun might have contained a higher percentage of the heavy elements than the matter out of which the Sun was born. Periods of enhanced accretion during the passage of the Sun through the spiral arms of the Galaxy can be ralated to the successive ages in the history of the Earth. (author)

Brightness Variations of Sun-like Stars: The Mystery Deepens - Astronomers facing Socratic "ignorance"

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

An extensive study made with ESO's Very Large Telescope deepens a long-standing mystery in the study of stars similar to the Sun. Unusual year-long variations in the brightness of about one third of all Sun-like stars during the latter stages of their lives still remain unexplained. Over the past few decades, astronomers have offered many possible explanations, but the new, painstaking observations contradict them all and only deepen the mystery. The search for a suitable interpretation is on. "Astronomers are left in the dark, and for once, we do not enjoy it," says Christine Nicholls from Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australia, lead author of a paper reporting the study. "We have obtained the most comprehensive set of observations to date for this class of Sun-like stars, and they clearly show that all the possible explanations for their unusual behaviour just fail." The mystery investigated by the team dates back to the 1930s and affects about a third of Sun-like stars in our Milky Way and other galaxies. All stars with masses similar to our Sun become, towards the end of their lives, red, cool and extremely large, just before retiring as white dwarfs. Also known as red giants, these elderly stars exhibit very strong periodic variations in their luminosity over timescales up to a couple of years. "Such variations are thought to be caused by what we call 'stellar pulsations'," says Nicholls. "Roughly speaking, the giant star swells and shrinks, becoming brighter and dimmer in a regular pattern. However, one third of these stars show an unexplained additional periodic variation, on even longer timescales - up to five years." In order to find out the origin of this secondary feature, the astronomers monitored 58 stars in our galactic neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud, over two and a half years. They acquired spectra using the high resolution FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope and combined them with images from other telescopes [1

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

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Renzini, Alvio [INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Peng, Ying-jie, E-mail: alvio.renzini@oapd.inaf.it, E-mail: y.peng@mrao.cam.ac.uk [Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 19 J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE (United Kingdom)

2015-03-10

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

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renzini, Alvio; Peng, Ying-jie

2015-01-01

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

Dying Stars Indicate Lots of Dark Matter in Giant Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

1994-04-01

making larger and larger bodies as time progresses. But how sure can we be that this theory is correct ? It turns out that a crucial test is to measure how the matter now moves in the outskirts of these huge galaxies, at distances of 100,000 light-years or more from their centres. MOTIONS IN GIANT GALAXIES Swirling motion, or rotation, in galaxies comes originally from clumps of matter raising tides on each other through their gravitational pull, just as the Moon raises tides on the Earth. The tug of these tides makes the clumps spin. When the swirling clumps come together in computer simulations of what is going on in a newborn galaxy, they keep interacting, and the amount of swirling motion (``angular momentum'') is gradually shifted outward into the far outer regions of the new galaxy. If this theory is correct, we should therefore now see slow swirling motion or rotation in the inner parts of the giant galaxies, but quite rapid motion in their far outer regions. The first part is not so difficult to check observationally: the inner parts of giant galaxies are relatively bright and we can easily measure their rotation from the observed Doppler shift of the light from the stars and nebulae which are located here. However, to measure the rotation in the outer parts has, until now, proved impossible, because out there the light from the galaxy is just too faint to be observed, even with large astronomical telescopes. PLANETARY NEBULAE AS BEACONS Fortunately, a few years ago it was realised that there are some excellent beacons that we can use to measure the swirling motion far out in giant galaxies. These are the planetary nebulae that are created during the last dying act of stars like the Sun. Such objects are rare, because the planetary nebula phase does not last long in astronomical terms, but in these huge galaxies a few hundred of them may still be present in the outer regions at any time. The shining gas in a planetary nebula emits most of its light at one

Star formation and galactic evolution. I. General expressions and applications to our galaxy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaufman, M.

1979-01-01

The study of galactic evolution involves three mechanisms for triggering star formation in interstellar clouds: (i) star formation triggered by a galactic spiral density wave, (ii) star formation triggered by shock waves from supernovae, and (iii) star formation triggered by an expanding H II region. Useful analytic approximations to the birthrate per unit mass are obtained by treating the efficiencies of these various mechanisms as time independent. In situations where shock waves from high-mass stars (either expanding H II regions or supernova explosions) are the only important star-forming mechanisms, the birthrate is exponential in time. This case is appropriate for the past evolution of an elliptical galaxy, nuclear bulge, or galactic halo. In the disk of a spiral galaxy where all three mechanisms operate, the birthrate consists of an exponential term plus a time-independent term. In both situations, the value of the time constant T in the exponential term is directly related to the efficiency of the shock waves from massive stars in initiating star formation.For our Galaxy, this simplified model is used to compute the radial distributions of young objects and low-mass stars in the disk, and the past and present birthrates in the solar-neighborhood shell

THE LEO IV DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY: COLOR-MAGNITUDE DIAGRAM AND PULSATING STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moretti, Maria Ida; Dall'Ora, Massimo; Ripepi, Vincenzo

2009-01-01

We present the first V, B - V color-magnitude diagram of the Leo IV dwarf spheroidal galaxy, a faint Milky Way satellite recently discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have obtained B, V time-series photometry reaching about half a magnitude below the Leo IV turnoff, which we detect at V = 24.7 mag, and have performed the first study of the variable star population. We have identified three RR Lyrae stars (all fundamental-mode pulsators, RRab) and one SX Phoenicis variable in the galaxy. In the period-amplitude diagram the Leo IV RR Lyrae stars are located close to the loci of Oosterhoff type I systems and the evolved fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars in the Galactic globular cluster M3. However, their mean pulsation period, (Pab) = 0.655 days, would suggest an Oosterhoff type II classification for this galaxy. The RR Lyrae stars trace very well the galaxy's horizontal branch, setting its average magnitude at (V RR ) = 21.48 ± 0.03 mag (standard deviation of the mean). This leads to a distance modulus of μ 0 = 20.94 ± 0.07 mag, corresponding to a distance of 154 ± 5 kpc, by adopting for the Leo IV dSph a reddening E(B - V) = 0.04 ± 0.01 mag and a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -2.31 ± 0.10.

Chemical Abundances of New Member Stars in the Tucana II Dwarf Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Chiti, Anirudh; Frebel, Anna; Ji, Alexander P.; Jerjen, Helmut; Kim, Dongwon; Norris, John E.

2018-04-01

We present chemical abundance measurements for seven stars with metallicities ranging from Fe/H] = ‑3.3 to [Fe/H] = ‑2.4 in the Tucana II ultra-faint dwarf galaxy (UFD), based on high-resolution spectra obtained with the MIKE spectrograph on the 6.5 m Magellan-Clay Telescope. For three stars, we present detailed chemical abundances for the first time. Of those, two stars are newly discovered members of Tucana II and were selected as probable members from deep narrowband photometry of the Tucana II UFD taken with the SkyMapper telescope. This result demonstrates the potential for photometrically identifying members of dwarf galaxy systems based on chemical composition. One new star was selected from the membership catalog of Walker et al. The other four stars in our sample have been reanalyzed, following additional observations. Overall, six stars have chemical abundances that are characteristic of the UFD stellar population. The seventh star shows chemical abundances that are discrepant from the other Tucana II members and an atypical, higher strontium abundance than what is expected for typical UFD stars. While unlikely, its strontium abundance raises the possibility that it may be a foreground metal-poor halo star with the same systemic velocity as Tucana II. If we were to exclude this star, Tucana II would satisfy the criteria to be a surviving first galaxy. Otherwise, this star implies that Tucana II has likely experienced somewhat extended chemical evolution. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Supermassive Black Holes as the Regulators of Star Formation in Central Galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terrazas, Bryan A.; Bell, Eric F. [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Woo, Joanna; Henriques, Bruno M. B. [Department of Physics, Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland)

2017-08-01

We present the relationship between the black hole mass, stellar mass, and star formation rate (SFR) 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 SFR 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 SFRs, implying that both transitioning and steady-state galaxies live within this region that is 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.

Supermassive Black Holes as the Regulators of Star Formation in Central Galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

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

2017-01-01

We present the relationship between the black hole mass, stellar mass, and star formation rate (SFR) 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 SFR 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 SFRs, implying that both transitioning and steady-state galaxies live within this region that is 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.

Cosmic Dawn: The First Star in the Universe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abel, Tom

2008-04-29

What was the first thing in the Universe? A black hole or a star? How did it form? Even our biggest and best telescopes cannot tell us. Direct calculation with supercomputers, however, can. The first luminous objects in the Universe were very massive stars shining one million times as brightly as our sun. They died quickly and seeded the cosmos with the chemical elements necessary for life. One star at a time, galaxies started to assemble just one hundred million years after the Big Bang, and they are still growing now. Join Dr. Abel in a fascinating journey through the early universe, where he uses the latest computer animations of early star formation, supernovae explosions and the buildup of the first galaxies.

Tidal interaction, star formation and chemical evolution in blue compact dwarf galaxy Mrk 22

Science.gov (United States)

Paswan, A.; Omar, A.; Jaiswal, S.

2018-02-01

The optical spectroscopic and radio interferometric H I 21 cm-line observations of the blue compact dwarf galaxy Mrk 22 are presented. The Wolf-Rayet (WR) emission-line features corresponding to high ionization lines of He II λ4686 and C IV λ5808 from young massive stars are detected. The ages of two prominent star-forming regions in the galaxy are estimated as ∼10 and ∼ 4 Myr. The galaxy has non-thermal radio deficiency, which also indicates a young starburst and lack of supernovae events from the current star formation activities, consistent with the detection of WR emission-line features. A significant N/O enrichment is seen in the fainter star-forming region. The gas-phase metallicities [12 + log(O/H)] for the bright and faint regions are estimated as 7.98±0.07 and 7.46±0.09, respectively. The galaxy has a large diffuse H I envelop. The H I images reveal disturbed gas kinematics and H I clouds outside the optical extent of the galaxy, indicating recent tidal interaction or merger in the system. The results strongly indicate that Mrk 22 is undergoing a chemical and morphological evolution due to ongoing star formation, most likely triggered by a merger.

OBSERVATIONS OF INTENSITY FLUCTUATIONS ATTRIBUTED TO GRANULATION AND FACULAE ON SUN-LIKE STARS FROM THE KEPLER MISSION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karoff, C. [Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Campante, T. L. [Centro de Astrofisica and Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal); Ballot, J. [CNRS, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400, Toulouse (France); Kallinger, T. [Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, K. U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Gruberbauer, M. [Institute for Computational Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary' s University, B3H 3C3 Halifax (Canada); Garcia, R. A. [Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universit Paris Diderot, IRFU/SAp, Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Caldwell, D. A.; Christiansen, J. L. [SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Kinemuchi, K., E-mail: karoff@phys.au.dk [Bay Area Environmental Research Inst./NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)

2013-04-10

Sun-like stars show intensity fluctuations on a number of timescales due to various physical phenomena on their surfaces. These phenomena can convincingly be studied in the frequency spectra of these stars-while the strongest signatures usually originate from spots, granulation, and p-mode oscillations, it has also been suggested that the frequency spectrum of the Sun contains a signature of faculae. We have analyzed three stars observed for 13 months in short cadence (58.84 s sampling) by the Kepler mission. The frequency spectra of all three stars, as for the Sun, contain signatures that we can attribute to granulation, faculae, and p-mode oscillations. The temporal variability of the signatures attributed to granulation, faculae, and p-mode oscillations was analyzed and the analysis indicates a periodic variability in the granulation and faculae signatures-comparable to what is seen in the Sun.

Density wave induced star formation: The optical surface brightness of galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bash, F.N.

1979-01-01

A model for the galactic orbits of molecular clouds has been devised. The molecular clouds are assumed to be launched from the two-armed spiral-shock wave, to orbit in the Galaxy like ballistic particles with gravitational perturbations due to the density-wave spiral-potential, and each cloud is assumed to produce a cluster of stars. Each cloud radiates detectable 12 C 16 O (J=0→1) spectral line radiation from birth for 40 million years. Stars are seen in the cloud about 25 million years after birth, and the star cluster is assumed to continue in ballistic orbit around the Galaxy.The model has been tested by comparing its predicted velocity-longitude diagram for CO against that observed for the Galaxy and by comparing the model's predicted distribution of light in the UBV photometric bands against observed surface photometry for Sb and SC galaxies. The interpolation of the initial velocities in the model was corrected, and the model was examined to see whether preshock or postshock initial velocities better fit the observations. The model gives very good general agreement and reproduces many of the features observed in the CO velocity-longitude diagram

COSMIC EVOLUTION OF STAR FORMATION ENHANCEMENT IN CLOSE MAJOR-MERGER GALAXY PAIRS SINCE z = 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, C. K.; Shupe, D. L.; Bock, J.; Bridge, C.; Cooray, A.; Lu, N.; Schulz, B.; Béthermin, M.; Aussel, H.; Elbaz, D.; Le Floc'h, E.; Riguccini, L.; Berta, S.; Lutz, D.; Magnelli, B.; Conley, A.; Franceschini, A.; Marsden, G.; Oliver, S. J.; Pozzi, F.

2012-01-01

The infrared (IR) emission of 'M * galaxies' (10 10.4 ≤ M star ≤ 10 11.0 M ☉ ) in galaxy pairs, derived using data obtained in Herschel (PEP/HerMES) and Spitzer (S-COSMOS) surveys, is compared to that of single-disk galaxies in well-matched control samples to study the cosmic evolution of the star formation enhancement induced by galaxy-galaxy interaction. Both the mean IR spectral energy distribution and mean IR luminosity of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in SFG+SFG (S+S) pairs in the redshift bin of 0.6 < z < 1 are consistent with no star formation enhancement. SFGs in S+S pairs in a lower redshift bin of 0.2 < z < 0.6 show marginal evidence for a weak star formation enhancement. Together with the significant and strong sSFR enhancement shown by SFGs in a local sample of S+S pairs (obtained using previously published Spitzer observations), our results reveal a trend for the star formation enhancement in S+S pairs to decrease with increasing redshift. Between z = 0 and z = 1, this decline of interaction-induced star formation enhancement occurs in parallel with the dramatic increase (by a factor of ∼10) of the sSFR of single SFGs, both of which can be explained by the higher gas fraction in higher-z disks. SFGs in mixed pairs (S+E pairs) do not show any significant star formation enhancement at any redshift. The difference between SFGs in S+S pairs and in S+E pairs suggests a modulation of the sSFR by the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the dark matter halos hosting these pairs.

STAR FORMATION AND RELAXATION IN 379 NEARBY GALAXY CLUSTERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cohen, Seth A.; Hickox, Ryan C.; Wegner, Gary A.

2015-01-01

We investigate the relationship between star formation (SF) and level of relaxation in a sample of 379 galaxy clusters at z < 0.2. We use data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to measure cluster membership and level of relaxation, and to select star-forming galaxies based on mid-infrared emission detected with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. For galaxies with absolute magnitudes M r < −19.5, we find an inverse correlation between SF fraction and cluster relaxation: as a cluster becomes less relaxed, its SF fraction increases. Furthermore, in general, the subtracted SF fraction in all unrelaxed clusters (0.117 ± 0.003) is higher than that in all relaxed clusters (0.097 ± 0.005). We verify the validity of our SF calculation methods and membership criteria through analysis of previous work. Our results agree with previous findings that a weak correlation exists between cluster SF and dynamical state, possibly because unrelaxed clusters are less evolved relative to relaxed clusters

Global helioseismology (WP4.1): From the Sun to the stars & solar analogs

Science.gov (United States)

García, Rafael A.

2017-10-01

Sun-as-a star observations put our star as a reference for stellar observations. Here, I review the activities in which the SPACEINN global seismology team (Working Package WP4.1) has worked during the past 3 years. In particular, we will explain the new deliverables available on the SPACEINN seismic+ portal. Moreover, special attention will be given to surface dynamics (rotation and magnetic fields). After characterizing the rotation and the magnetic properties of around 300 solar-like stars and defining proper metrics for that, we use their seismic properties to characterize 18 solar analogues for which we study their surface magnetic and seismic properties. This allows us to put the Sun into context compared to its siblings.

The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). Star formation history of passive red galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Siudek, M.; Małek, K.; Scodeggio, M.; Garilli, B.; Pollo, A.; Haines, C. P.; Fritz, A.; Bolzonella, M.; de la Torre, S.; Granett, B. R.; Guzzo, L.; Abbas, U.; Adami, C.; Bottini, D.; Cappi, A.; Cucciati, O.; De Lucia, G.; Davidzon, I.; Franzetti, P.; Iovino, A.; Krywult, J.; Le Brun, V.; Le Fèvre, O.; Maccagni, D.; Marchetti, A.; Marulli, F.; Polletta, M.; Tasca, L. A. M.; Tojeiro, R.; Vergani, D.; Zanichelli, A.; Arnouts, S.; Bel, J.; Branchini, E.; Ilbert, O.; Gargiulo, A.; Moscardini, L.; Takeuchi, T. T.; Zamorani, G.

2017-01-01

Aims: We trace the evolution and the star formation history of passive red galaxies, using a subset of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). The detailed spectral analysis of stellar populations of intermediate-redshift passive red galaxies allows the build up of their stellar content to be followed over the last 8 billion years. Methods: We extracted a sample of passive red galaxies in the redshift range 0.4 quality. The spectra of passive red galaxies were stacked in narrow bins of stellar mass and redshift. We use the stacked spectra to measure the 4000 Å break (D4000) and the Hδ Lick index (HδA) with high precision. These spectral features are used as indicators of the star formation history of passive red galaxies. We compare the results with a grid of synthetic spectra to constrain the star formation epochs of these galaxies. We characterize the formation redshift-stellar mass relation for intermediate-redshift passive red galaxies. Results: We find that at z 1 stellar populations in low-mass passive red galaxies are younger than in high-mass passive red galaxies, similar to what is observed at the present epoch. Over the full analyzed redshift range 0.4 web site is http://www.vipers.inaf.it/

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

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jabran Zahid, H. [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Ho, I-Ting [University of Hawaii at Manoa, Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Conroy, Charlie [Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138 (United States); Andrews, Brett, E-mail: zahid@cfa.harvard.edu [PITT PACC, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States)

2017-09-20

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

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

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jabran Zahid, H.; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Ho, I-Ting; Conroy, Charlie; Andrews, Brett

2017-01-01

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

Elevation or Suppression? The Resolved Star Formation Main Sequence of Galaxies with Two Different Assembly Modes

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qing; Wang, Enci; Lin, Zesen; Gao, Yulong; Liu, Haiyang; Berhane Teklu, Berzaf; Kong, Xu

2018-04-01

We investigate the spatially resolved star formation main sequence in star-forming galaxies using Integral Field Spectroscopic observations from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory survey. We demonstrate that the correlation between the stellar mass surface density (Σ*) and star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR) holds down to the sub-galactic scale, leading to the sub-galactic main sequence (SGMS). By dividing galaxies into two populations based on their recent mass assembly modes, we find the resolved main sequence in galaxies with the “outside-in” mode is steeper than that in galaxies with the “inside-out” mode. This is also confirmed on a galaxy-by-galaxy level, where we find the distributions of SGMS slopes for individual galaxies are clearly separated for the two populations. When normalizing and stacking the SGMS of individual galaxies on one panel for the two populations, we find that the inner regions of galaxies with the “inside-out” mode statistically exhibit a suppression in star formation, with a less significant trend in the outer regions of galaxies with the “outside-in” mode. In contrast, the inner regions of galaxies with “outside-in” mode and the outer regions of galaxies with “inside-out” mode follow a slightly sublinear scaling relation with a slope ∼0.9, which is in good agreement with previous findings, suggesting that they are experiencing a universal regulation without influences of additional physical processes.

Star Formation Histories of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies. (Ludwig Biermann Award Lecture 1996)

Science.gov (United States)

Grebel, E. K.

The star formation histories of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group are reviewed. First the question of Local Group membership is considered based on various criteria. The properties of 31 (36) galaxies are consistent with likely (potential) Local Group membership. To study the star formation histories of these galaxies, a multi-parameter problem needs to be solved: Ages, metallicities, population fractions, and spatial variations must be determined, which depend crucially on the knowledge of reddening and distance. The basic methods for studying resolvable stellar populations are summarized. One method is demonstrated using the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. A comprehensive compilation of the star formation histories of dwarf irregulars, dwarf ellipticals, and dwarf spheroidals in the Local Group is presented and visualized through Hodge's population boxes. All galaxies appear to have differing fractions of old and intermediate-age populations, and those sufficiently massive and undisturbed to retain and recycle their gas are still forming stars today. Star formation has occurred either in distinct episodes or continuously over long periods of time. Metallicities and enrichment vary widely. Constraints on merger and remnant scenarios are discussed, and a unified picture based on the current knowledge is presented. Primary goals for future observations are: accurate age determinations based on turnoff photometry, detection of subpopulations distinct in age, metallicity, and/or spatial distribution; improved distances; and astrometric studies to derive orbits and constrain past and future interactions.

NGC 404: A REJUVENATED LENTICULAR GALAXY ON A MERGER-INDUCED, BLUEWARD EXCURSION INTO THE GREEN VALLEY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thilker, David A.; Bianchi, Luciana; Schiminovich, David; Gil de Paz, Armando; Seibert, Mark; Madore, Barry F.; Wyder, Ted; Barlow, Tom; Conrow, Tim; Forster, Karl; Friedman, Peter; Martin, Chris; Morrissey, Patrick; Small, Todd; Rich, R. Michael; Yi, Sukyoung; Neff, Susan

2010-01-01

We have discovered recent star formation in the outermost portion ((1-4) x R 25 ) of the nearby lenticular (S0) galaxy NGC 404 using Galaxy Evolution Explorer UV imaging. FUV-bright sources are strongly concentrated within the galaxy's H I ring (formed by a merger event according to del RIo et al.), even though the average gas density is dynamically subcritical. Archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging reveals resolved upper main-sequence stars and conclusively demonstrates that the UV light originates from recent star formation activity. We present FUV, NUV radial surface brightness profiles, and integrated magnitudes for NGC 404. Within the ring, the average star formation rate (SFR) surface density (Σ SFR ) is ∼2.2 x 10 -5 M sun yr -1 kpc -2 . Of the total FUV flux, 70% comes from the H I ring which is forming stars at a rate of 2.5 x 10 -3 M sun yr -1 . The gas consumption timescale, assuming a constant SFR and no gas recycling, is several times the age of the universe. In the context of the UV-optical galaxy color-magnitude diagram, the presence of the star-forming H I ring places NGC 404 in the green valley separating the red and blue sequences. The rejuvenated lenticular galaxy has experienced a merger-induced, disk-building excursion away from the red sequence toward bluer colors, where it may evolve quiescently or (if appropriately triggered) experience a burst capable of placing it on the blue/star-forming sequence for up to ∼1 Gyr. The green valley galaxy population is heterogeneous, with most systems transitioning from blue to red but others evolving in the opposite sense due to acquisition of fresh gas through various channels.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-07-10

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

RETIRED A STARS AND THEIR COMPANIONS. III. COMPARING THE MASS-PERIOD DISTRIBUTIONS OF PLANETS AROUND A-TYPE STARS AND SUN-LIKE STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowler, Brendan P.; Johnson, John Asher; Liu, Michael C.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Peek, Kathryn M. G.; Henry, Gregory W.; Fischer, Debra A.; Clubb, Kelsey I.; Reffert, Sabine; Schwab, Christian; Lowe, Thomas B.

2010-01-01

We present an analysis of ∼5 years of Lick Observatory radial velocity measurements targeting a uniform sample of 31 intermediate-mass (IM) subgiants (1.5 ∼ * /M sun ∼ +9 -8 %, which is significantly higher than the 5%-10% frequency observed around solar-mass stars. The median detection threshold for our sample includes minimum masses down to {0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 1.3} M Jup within {0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.0, 3.0} AU. To compare the properties of planets around IM stars to those around solar-mass stars we synthesize a population of planets based on the parametric relationship dN ∝ M α P β dlnMdlnP, the observed planet frequency, and the detection limits we derived. We find that the values of α and β for planets around solar-type stars from Cumming et al. fail to reproduce the observed properties of planets in our sample at the 4σ level, even when accounting for the different planet occurrence rates. Thus, the properties of planets around A stars are markedly different than those around Sun-like stars, suggesting that only a small (∼50%) increase in stellar mass has a large influence on the formation and orbital evolution of planets.

Direct Measurement of Dust Attenuation in z approx. 1.5 Star-Forming Galaxies from 3D-HST: Implications for Dust Geometry and Star Formation Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Sedona H.; Kriek, Mariska; Brammer, Gabriel B; Conroy, Charlie; Schreiber, Natascha M. Foerster; Franx, Marijn; Fumagalli, Mattia; Lundren, Britt; Momcheva, Ivelina; Nelson, Erica J.;

MASSIVE STARS IN THE Cl 1813-178 CLUSTER: AN EPISODE OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION IN THE W33 COMPLEX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Messineo, Maria; Davies, Ben; Figer, Donald F.; Trombley, Christine; Kudritzki, R. P.; Valenti, Elena; Najarro, F.; Michael Rich, R.

2011-01-01

Young massive (M > 10 4 M sun ) stellar clusters are a good laboratory to study the evolution of massive stars. Only a dozen of such clusters are known in the Galaxy. Here, we report about a new young massive stellar cluster in the Milky Way. Near-infrared medium-resolution spectroscopy with UIST on the UKIRT telescope and NIRSPEC on the Keck telescope, and X-ray observations with the Chandra and XMM satellites, of the Cl 1813-178 cluster confirm a large number of massive stars. We detected 1 red supergiant, 2 Wolf-Rayet stars, 1 candidate luminous blue variable, 2 OIf, and 19 OB stars. Among the latter, twelve are likely supergiants, four giants, and the faintest three dwarf stars. We detected post-main-sequence stars with masses between 25 and 100 M sun . A population with age of 4-4.5 Myr and a mass of ∼10, 000 M sun can reproduce such a mixture of massive evolved stars. This massive stellar cluster is the first detection of a cluster in the W33 complex. Six supernova remnants and several other candidate clusters are found in the direction of the same complex.

Complete Element Abundances of Nine Stars in the r-process Galaxy Reticulum II

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Alexander P.; Frebel, Anna; Simon, Joshua D.; Chiti, Anirudh

2016-10-01

We present chemical abundances derived from high-resolution Magellan/Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectra of the nine brightest known red giant members of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II (Ret II). These stars span the full metallicity range of Ret II (-3.5 contaminated known r-process pattern. The abundances of lighter elements up to the iron peak are otherwise similar to abundances of stars in the halo and in other ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. However, the scatter in abundance ratios is large enough to suggest that inhomogeneous metal mixing is required to explain the chemical evolution of this galaxy. The presence of low amounts of neutron-capture elements in other ultra-faint dwarf galaxies may imply the existence of additional r-process sites besides the source of r-process elements in Ret II. Galaxies like Ret II may be the original birth sites of r-process enhanced stars now found in the halo. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

'Death Star' Galaxy Black Hole Fires at Neighboring Galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

2008-12-01

This "death star" galaxy was discovered through the combined efforts of both space and ground-based telescopes. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope were part of the effort. The Very Large Array telescope, Socorro, N.M., and the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) telescopes in the United Kingdom also were needed for the finding. Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) Illustration of Jet Striking Galaxy (unlabeled) "We've seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we've seen one punch into another galaxy like we're seeing here," said Dan Evans, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the study. "This jet could be causing all sorts of problems for the smaller galaxy it is pummeling." Jets from super massive black holes produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays, which can be lethal in large quantities. The combined effects of this radiation and particles traveling at almost the speed of light could severely damage the atmospheres of planets lying in the path of the jet. For example, protective layers of ozone in the upper atmosphere of planets could be destroyed. X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 X-ray & Radio Full Field Image of 3C321 Jets produced by super massive black holes transport enormous amounts of energy far from black holes and enable them to affect matter on scales vastly larger than the size of the black hole. Learning more about jets is a key goal for astrophysical research. "We see jets all over the Universe, but we're still struggling to understand some of their basic properties," said co-investigator Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. "This system of 3C321 gives us a chance to learn how they're affected when they slam into something - like a galaxy - and what they do after that." Optical Image of 3C321 Optical Image of 3C321 The

Gravitational Waves from Stellar Black Hole Binaries and the Impact on Nearby Sun-like Stars

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lopes, Ilídio [Centro Multidisciplinar de Astrofísica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Silk, Joseph, E-mail: ilidio.lopes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt, E-mail: silk@astro.ox.ac.uk [Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, Paris F-75014 (France)

2017-07-20

We investigate the impact of resonant gravitational waves on quadrupole acoustic modes of Sun-like stars located nearby stellar black hole binary systems (such as GW150914 and GW151226). We find that the stimulation of the low-overtone modes by gravitational radiation can lead to sizeable photometric amplitude variations, much larger than the predictions for amplitudes driven by turbulent convection, which in turn are consistent with the photometric amplitudes observed in most Sun-like stars. For accurate stellar evolution models, using up-to-date stellar physics, we predict photometric amplitude variations of 1–10{sup 3} ppm for a solar mass star located at a distance between 1 au and 10 au from the black hole binary and belonging to the same multi-star system. The observation of such a phenomenon will be within the reach of the Plato mission because the telescope will observe several portions of the Milky Way, many of which are regions of high stellar density with a substantial mixed population of Sun-like stars and black hole binaries.

Dwarf Star Erupts in Giant Flare

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-01

This movie taken by NASA'S Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows one of the largest flares, or star eruptions, ever recorded at ultraviolet wavelengths. The star, called GJ 3685A, just happened to be in the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's field of view while the telescope was busy observing galaxies. As the movie demonstrates, the seemingly serene star suddenly exploded once, then even more intensely a second time, pouring out in total about one million times more energy than a typical flare from our Sun. The second blast of light constituted an increase in brightness by a factor of at least 10,000. Flares are huge explosions of energy stemming from a single location on a star's surface. They are caused by the brief destruction of a star's magnetic fields. Many types of stars experience them, though old, small, rapidly rotating 'red dwarfs' like GJ 3685A tend to flare more frequently and dramatically. These stars, called flare stars, can experience powerful eruptions as often as every few hours. Younger stars, in general, also erupt more often. One of the reasons astronomers study flare stars is to gain a better picture and history of flare events taking place on the Sun. A preliminary analysis of the GJ 3685A flare shows that the mechanisms underlying stellar eruptions may be more complex than previously believed. Evidence for the two most popular flare theories was found. Though this movie has been sped up (the actual flare lasted about 20 minutes), time-resolved data exist for each one-hundredth of a second. These observations were taken at 2 p.m. Pacific time, April 24, 2004. In the still image, the time sequence starts in the upper left panel, continues in the upper right, then moves to the lower left and ends in the lower right. The circular and linear features that appear below and to the right of GJ 3685A during the flare event are detector artifacts caused by the extreme brightness of the flare.

LOCAL BENCHMARKS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF MAJOR-MERGER GALAXIES-SPITZER OBSERVATIONS OF A K-BAND SELECTED SAMPLE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, C. Kevin; Cheng Yiwen; Lu Nanyao; Mazzarella, Joseph M.; Cutri, Roc; Domingue, Donovan; Huang Jiasheng; Gao Yu; Sun, W.-H.; Surace, Jason

2010-01-01

We present Spitzer observations for a sample of close major-merger galaxy pairs (KPAIR sample) selected from cross-matches between the Two Micron All Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3. The goals are to study the star formation activity in these galaxies and to set a local bench mark for the cosmic evolution of close major mergers. The Spitzer KPAIR sample (27 pairs, 54 galaxies) includes all spectroscopically confirmed spiral-spiral (S+S) and spiral-elliptical (S+E) pairs in a parent sample that is complete for primaries brighter than K = 12.5 mag, projected separations of 5 h -1 kpc ≤ s ≤ 20 h -1 kpc, and mass ratios ≤2.5. The Spitzer data, consisting of images in seven bands (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8, 24, 70, 160 μm), show very diversified IR emission properties. Compared to single spiral galaxies in a control sample, only spiral galaxies in S+S pairs show significantly enhanced specific star formation rate (sSFR = SFR/M), whereas spiral galaxies in S+E pairs do not. Furthermore, the SFR enhancement of spiral galaxies in S+S pairs is highly mass-dependent. Only those with M ∼> 10 10.5 M sun show significant enhancement. Relatively low-mass (M ∼ 10 10 M sun ) spirals in S+S pairs have about the same SFR/M compared to their counterparts in the control sample, while those with 10 11 M sun have on average a ∼3 times higher SFR/M than single spirals. There is evidence for a correlation between the global star formation activities (but not the nuclear activities) of the component galaxies in massive S+S major-merger pairs (the H olmberg effect ) . There is no significant difference in the SFR/M between the primaries and the secondaries, nor between spirals of SEP KPAIR =2.54 x 10 -4 (M sun yr -1 Mpc -3 ).

EVOLUTION OF THE GALAXY-DARK MATTER CONNECTION AND THE ASSEMBLY OF GALAXIES IN DARK MATTER HALOS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang Xiaohu; Zhang Youcai; Han Jiaxin [Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Nandan Road 80, Shanghai 200030 (China); Mo, H. J. [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9305 (United States); Van den Bosch, Frank C., E-mail: xhyang@shao.ac.cn [Astronomy Department, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 (United States)

2012-06-10

We present a new model to describe the galaxy-dark matter connection across cosmic time, which unlike the popular subhalo abundance-matching technique is self-consistent in that it takes account of the facts that (1) subhalos are accreted at different times and (2) the properties of satellite galaxies may evolve after accretion. Using observations of galaxy stellar mass functions (SMFs) out to z {approx} 4, the conditional SMF at z {approx} 0.1 obtained from Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxy group catalogs, and the two-point correlation function (2PCF) of galaxies at z {approx} 0.1 as a function of stellar mass, we constrain the relation between galaxies and dark matter halos over the entire cosmic history from z {approx} 4 to the present. This relation is then used to predict the median assembly histories of different stellar mass components within dark matter halos (central galaxies, satellite galaxies, and halo stars). We also make predictions for the 2PCFs of high-z galaxies as function of stellar mass. Our main findings are the following: (1) Our model reasonably fits all data within the observational uncertainties, indicating that the {Lambda}CDM concordance cosmology is consistent with a wide variety of data regarding the galaxy population across cosmic time. (2) At low-z, the stellar mass of central galaxies increases with halo mass as M{sup 0.3} and M{sup {approx}>4.0} at the massive and low-mass ends, respectively. The ratio M{sub *,c}/M reveals a maximum of {approx}0.03 at a halo mass M {approx} 10{sup 11.8} h{sup -1} M{sub Sun }, much lower than the universal baryon fraction ({approx}0.17). At higher redshifts the maximum in M{sub *,c}/M remains close to {approx}0.03, but shifts to higher halo mass. (3) The inferred timescale for the disruption of satellite galaxies is about the same as the dynamical friction timescale of their subhalos. (4) The stellar mass assembly history of central galaxies is completely decoupled from the assembly history of its host

Distant galaxy formed stars only 250 million years after the Big Bang

Science.gov (United States)

Bouwens, Rychard

2018-05-01

Little is known about the star-birth activity of the earliest galaxies. Observations of a particularly distant galaxy provide evidence for such activity when the Universe was just 2% of its current age.

Stars Spring up Out of the Darkness

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Click on the image for movie of Stars Spring up Out of the Darkness This artist's animation illustrates the universe's early years, from its explosive formation to its dark ages to its first stars and mini-galaxies. Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found patches of infrared light splattered across the sky that might be the collective glow of clumps of the universe's first objects. Astronomers do not know if these first objects were stars or 'quasars,' which are black holes voraciously consuming surrounding gas. The movie begins with a flash of color that represents the birth of the universe, an explosion called the Big Bang that occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. A period of darkness ensues, where gas begins to clump together. The universe's first stars are then shown springing up out of the gas clumps, flooding the universe with light, an event that probably happened about a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Though these first stars formed out of gas alone, their deaths seeded the universe with the dusty heavy chemical elements that helped create future generations of stars. The first stars, called Population III stars (our star is a Population I star), were much bigger and brighter than any in our nearby universe, with masses about 1,000 times that of our sun. They grouped together into mini-galaxies, which then merged to form galaxies like our own mature Milky Way galaxy. The first quasars, not shown here, ultimately became the centers of powerful galaxies that are more common in the distant universe.

SDSS-IV MaNGA: constraints on the conditions for star formation in galaxy discs

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, David V.; Bundy, Kevin A.; Orr, Matthew E.; Hopkins, Philip F.; Westfall, Kyle; Bershady, Matthew; Li, Cheng; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Masters, Karen L.; Weijmans, Anne-Marie; Lacerna, Ivan; Thomas, Daniel; Drory, Niv; Yan, Renbin; Zhang, Kai

2018-02-01

Regions of disc galaxies with widespread star formation tend to be both gravitationally unstable and self-shielded against ionizing radiation, whereas extended outer discs with little or no star formation tend to be stable and unshielded on average. We explore what drives the transition between these two regimes, specifically whether discs first meet the conditions for self-shielding (parametrized by dust optical depth, τ) or gravitational instability (parametrized by a modified version of Toomre's instability parameters, Qthermal, which quantifies the stability of a gas disc that is thermally supported at T = 104 K). We first introduce a new metric formed by the product of these quantities, Qthermalτ, which indicates whether the conditions for disc instability or self-shielding are easier to meet in a given region of a galaxy, and we discuss how Qthermalτ can be constrained even in the absence of direct gas information. We then analyse a sample of 13 galaxies with resolved gas measurements and find that on average galaxies will reach the threshold for disc instabilities (Qthermal 1). Using integral field spectroscopic observations of a sample of 236 galaxies from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey, we find that the value of Qthermalτ in star-forming discs is consistent with similar behaviour. These results support a scenario where disc fragmentation and collapse occurs before self-shielding, suggesting that gravitational instabilities are the primary condition for widespread star formation in galaxy discs. Our results support similar conclusions based on recent galaxy simulations.

SHIELD: The Star Formation Law in Extremely Low-mass Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Teich, Yaron; McNichols, Andrew; Cannon, John M.; SHIELD Team

2016-01-01

The "Survey of HI in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs" (SHIELD) is a multiwavelength, legacy-class observational study of 12 low-mass dwarf galaxies discovered in Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey data products. Here we analyze the relationships between HI and star formation in these systems using multi-configuration, high spatial (~300 pc) and spectral (0.82 - 2.46 km s-1 ch-1) resolution HI observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, Hα imaging from the WIYN 3.5m telescope, and archival GALEX far-ultraviolet imaging. We compare the locations and intensities of star formation with the properties of the neutral ISM. We quantify the degree of local co-spatiality between star forming regions and regions of high HI column densities using the Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) relation. The values of the K-S index N vary considerably from system to system; because no single galaxy is representative of the sample, we instead focus on the narratives of the individual galaxies and their complex distribution of gaseous and stellar components. At the extremely faint end of the HI mass function, these systems are dominated by stochastic fluctuations in their interstellar media, which governs whether or not they show signs of recent star formation.Support for this work was provided by NSF grant AST-1211683 to JMC at Macalester College.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF BLUE GALAXIES AT REDSHIFTS 0.2 < z < 1.4

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pacifici, Camilla; Kassin, Susan A.; Gardner, Jonathan P.; Weiner, Benjamin; Charlot, Stéphane

2013-01-01

Popular cosmological scenarios predict that galaxies form hierarchically from the merger of many progenitors, each with their own unique star formation history (SFH). We use a sophisticated approach to constrain the SFHs of 4517 blue (presumably star-forming) galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the range 0.2 s bands and rest-frame optical emission-line luminosities with those of one million model spectral energy distributions. We explore the dependence of the resulting SFHs on galaxy stellar mass and redshift. We find that the average SFHs of high-mass galaxies rise and fall in a roughly symmetric bell-shaped manner, while those of low-mass galaxies rise progressively in time, consistent with the typically stronger activity of star formation in low-mass compared to high-mass galaxies. For galaxies of all masses, the star formation activity rises more rapidly at high than at low redshift. These findings imply that the standard approximation of exponentially declining SFHs widely used to interpret observed galaxy spectral energy distributions may not be appropriate to constrain the physical parameters of star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts.

LoCuSS: THE SLOW QUENCHING OF STAR FORMATION IN CLUSTER GALAXIES AND THE NEED FOR PRE-PROCESSING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haines, C. P. [Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Correo Central, Santiago (Chile); Pereira, M. J.; Egami, E.; Rawle, T. D. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Smith, G. P.; Ziparo, F.; McGee, S. L. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT (United Kingdom); Babul, A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 1A1 (Canada); Finoguenov, A. [Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, FI-0014 Helsinki (Finland); Okabe, N. [Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Moran, S. M., E-mail: cphaines@das.uchile.cl [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2015-06-10

We present a study of the spatial distribution and kinematics of star-forming galaxies in 30 massive clusters at 0.15 < z < 0.30, combining wide-field Spitzer 24 μm and GALEX near-ultraviolet imaging with highly complete spectroscopy of cluster members. The fraction (f{sub SF}) of star-forming cluster galaxies rises steadily with cluster-centric radius, increasing fivefold by 2r{sub 200}, but remains well below field values even at 3r{sub 200}. This suppression of star formation at large radii cannot be reproduced by models in which star formation is quenched in infalling field galaxies only once they pass within r{sub 200} of the cluster, but is consistent with some of them being first pre-processed within galaxy groups. Despite the increasing f{sub SF}-radius trend, the surface density of star-forming galaxies actually declines steadily with radius, falling ∼15× from the core to 2r{sub 200}. This requires star formation to survive within recently accreted spirals for 2–3 Gyr to build up the apparent over-density of star-forming galaxies within clusters. The velocity dispersion profile of the star-forming galaxy population shows a sharp peak of 1.44 σ{sub ν} at 0.3r{sub 500}, and is 10%–35% higher than that of the inactive cluster members at all cluster-centric radii, while their velocity distribution shows a flat, top-hat profile within r{sub 500}. All of these results are consistent with star-forming cluster galaxies being an infalling population, but one that must also survive ∼0.5–2 Gyr beyond passing within r{sub 200}. By comparing the observed distribution of star-forming galaxies in the stacked caustic diagram with predictions from the Millennium simulation, we obtain a best-fit model in which star formation rates decline exponentially on quenching timescales of 1.73 ± 0.25 Gyr upon accretion into the cluster.

A possible formation scenario for dwarf spheroidal galaxies - III. Adding star formation histories to the fiducial model

Science.gov (United States)

Alarcón Jara, A. G.; Fellhauer, M.; Matus Carrillo, D. R.; Assmann, P.; Urrutia Zapata, F.; Hazeldine, J.; Aravena, C. A.

2018-02-01

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are regarded as the basic building blocks in the formation of larger galaxies and are the most dark matter dominated systems in the Universe, known so far. There are several models that attempt to explain their formation and evolution, but they have problems modelling the formation of isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Here, we will explain a possible formation scenario in which star clusters form inside the dark matter halo of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. These star clusters suffer from low star formation efficiency and dissolve while orbiting inside the dark matter halo. Thereby, they build the faint luminous components that we observe in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. In this paper, we study this model by adding different star formation histories to the simulations and compare the results with our previous work and observational data to show that we can explain the formation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Direct Detection of The Lyman Continuum of Star-forming Galaxies at z~3

Science.gov (United States)

Vasei, Kaveh; Siana, Brian; Shapley, Alice; Alavi, Anahita; Rafelski, Marc

2018-01-01

Star-forming galaxies are widely believed to be responsible for the reionization of the Universe and much of the ionizing background at z>3. Therefore, there has been much interest in quantifying the escape fraction of the Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation of the star-forming galaxies. Yet direct detection of LyC has proven to be exceptionally challenging. Despite numerous efforts only 7 galaxies at z2 have been robustly confirmed as LyC leakers. To avoid these challenges many studies use indirect methods to infer the LyC escape fraction. We tested these indirect methods by attempting to detect escaping LyC with a 10-orbit Hubble near-UV (F275W) image that is just below the Lyman limit at the redshift of the Cosmic Horseshoe (a lensed galaxy at z=2.4). We concluded that the measured escape fraction is lower, by more than a factor of five, than the expected escape fraction based on the indirect methods. This emphasizes that indirect determinations should only be interpreted as upper-limits. We also investigated the deepest near-UV Hubble images of the SSA22 field to detect LyC leakage from a large sample of candidate star-forming galaxies at z~3.1, whose redshift was obtained by deep Keck/LRIS spectroscopy and for which Keck narrow-band imaging was showing possible LyC leakage. The high spatial resolution of Hubble images is crucial to confirm our detections are clean from foreground contaminating galaxies, and also to ascertain the escape fraction of our final candidates. We identify five clean LyC emitting star-forming galaxies. The follow up investigation of these galaxies will significantly increase our knowledge of the LyC escape fraction and the mechanisms allowing for LyC escape.

Macho project photometry of RR Lyrae stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alcock, C. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)]|[Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Allsman, R.A. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)]|[Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Weston, ACT 2611 (Australia); Alves, D.R. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)]|[Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 (United States); Axelrod, T.S. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)]|[Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Weston, ACT 2611 (Australia); Becker, A.C. [Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)]|[Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States); Bennett, D.P.; Cook, K.H. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)]|[Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Freeman, K.C. [Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Weston, ACT 2611 (Australia); Griest, K. [Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)]|[Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, California 92093 (United States); Guern, J.A.; Lehner, M.J. [Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, California 92093 (United States); Marshall, S.L.; Minniti, D. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States); Peterson, B.A. [Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Weston, ACT 2611 (Australia); Pratt, M.R.

1997-01-01

We report the discovery of 30 type a, b RR Lyrae (RRab) stars that are likely members of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr). Accurate positions, periods, amplitudes, and magnitudes are presented. Their distances are determined with respect to RRab stars in the Galactic bulge found also in the MACHO 1993 data. For R{sub {circle_dot}}=8kpc, the mean distance to these stars is D=22{plus_minus}1kpc, smaller than previous determinations for this galaxy. This indicates that Sgr has an elongated main body extending for more than 10 kpc, which is inclined along the line of sight, with its northern part (in Galactic coordinates) closer to us. The size and shape of Sgr give clues about the past history of this galaxy. If the shape of Sgr follows the direction of its orbit, the observed spatial orientation suggests that Sgr is moving away from the Galactic plane. Also, Sgr stars may be the sources of some of the microlensing events seen toward the bulge. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Astronomical Society}

The Universality of the Rapid Neutron-capture Process Revealed by a Possible Disrupted Dwarf Galaxy Star

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Andrew R.; Schlaufman, Kevin C.

2017-12-01

The rapid neutron-capture or r-process is thought to produce the majority of the heavy elements (Z> 30) in extremely metal-poor stars. The same process is also responsible for a significant fraction of the heavy elements in the Sun. This universality of the r-process is one of its characteristic features, as well as one of the most important clues to its astrophysical origin. We report the discovery of an extremely metal-poor field giant with [{Sr},{Ba}/{{H}}]≈ -6.0 and [{Sr},{Ba}/{Fe}]≈ -3.0, the lowest abundances of strontium and barium relative to iron ever observed. Despite its low abundances, the star 2MASS J151113.24-213003.0 has [{Sr}/{Ba}]=-0.11+/- 0.14, therefore its neutron-capture abundances are consistent with the main solar r-process pattern that has [{Sr}/{Ba}]=-0.25. It has been suggested that extremely low neutron-capture abundances are a characteristic of dwarf galaxies, and we find that this star is on a highly eccentric orbit with an apocenter ≳100 kpc that lies in the disk of satellites in the halo of the Milky Way. We show that other extremely metal-poor stars with low [Sr, Ba/H] and [Sr, Ba/Fe] plus solar [Sr/Ba] tend to have orbits with large apocenters, consistent with a dwarf galaxy origin for this class of object. The nucleosynthesis event that produced the neutron-capture elements in 2MASS J151113.24-213003.0 must produce both strontium and barium together in the solar ratio. We exclude contributions from the s-process in intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch or fast-rotating massive metal-poor stars, pair-instability supernovae, the weak r-process, and neutron-star mergers. We argue that the event was a Pop III or extreme Pop II core-collapse supernova explosion. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Global helioseismology (WP4.1: From the Sun to the stars & solar analogs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

García Rafael A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sun-as-a star observations put our star as a reference for stellar observations. Here, I review the activities in which the SPACEINN global seismology team (Working Package WP4.1 has worked during the past 3 years. In particular, we will explain the new deliverables available on the SPACEINN seismic+ portal. Moreover, special attention will be given to surface dynamics (rotation and magnetic fields. After characterizing the rotation and the magnetic properties of around 300 solar-like stars and defining proper metrics for that, we use their seismic properties to characterize 18 solar analogues for which we study their surface magnetic and seismic properties. This allows us to put the Sun into context compared to its siblings.

Ultrafaint dwarfs—star formation and chemical evolution in the smallest galaxies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Webster, David; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss [Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Sutherland, Ralph, E-mail: d.webster@physics.usyd.edu.au [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Road, Weston, ACT 2611 (Australia)

2014-11-20

In earlier work, we showed that a dark matter halo with a virial mass of 10{sup 7} M {sub ☉} can retain a major part of its baryons in the face of the pre-ionization phase and supernova (SN) explosion from a 25 M {sub ☉} star. Here, we expand on the results of that work, investigating the star formation and chemical evolution of the system beyond the first SN. In a galaxy with a mass M {sub vir} = 10{sup 7} M {sub ☉}, sufficient gas is retained by the potential for a second period of star formation to occur. The impact of a central explosion is found to be much stronger than that of an off-center explosion both in blowing out the gas and in enriching it, as in the off-center case most of the SN energy and metals escape into the intergalactic medium. We model the star formation and metallicity, given the assumption that stars form for 100, 200, 400, and 600 Myr, and discuss the results in the context of recent observations of very low-mass galaxies. We show that we can account for most features of the observed relationship between [α/Fe] and [Fe/H] in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies with the assumption that the systems formed at a low mass, rather than being remnants of much larger systems.

The Universe's Most Extreme Star-forming Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Casey, Caitlin

2017-06-01

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

CEMP Stars in the Halo and Their Origin in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Beers, Timothy C.

2018-06-01

The very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] 3.0) stars provide a direct view of Galactic chemical and dynamical evolution; detailed spectroscopic studies of these objects are the best way to identify and distinguish between various scenarios for the enrichment of early star-forming gas clouds soon after the Big Bang. It has been recognized that a large fraction of VMP (15-20%) and EMP stars (30-40%) possess significant over-abundances of carbon relative to iron, [C/Fe] > +0.7. This fraction rises to at least 80% for stars with [Fe/H] 3.0 belong to the CEMP-no sub-class, characterized by the lack of strong enhancements in the neutron-capture elements (e.g., [Ba/Fe] < 0.0). The CEMP-no abundance signature is commonly observed among stars ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies such as SEGUE-1. In addition, kinematic studies of CEMP-no stars strongly suggest an association with the outer-halo population of the Galaxy, which was likely formed from the accretion of low-mass mini-halos. These observations, and other lines of evidence, indicate that the CEMP-no stars of the Milky Way were born in low-mass dwarf galaxies, and later subsumed into the halo.

Further candidates of supermassive stars in other galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt-Kaler, Th.; Feitzinger, J.V.

1984-01-01

To look for other supermassive stars in other galaxies means to answer the question: what is the spectroscopic and morphological signature of such objects. The interpretation of WR sources found in other supergiant HII complexes depends basically on our picture of 30 Dor and in particular of R136a. The authors have undertaken a search of possible sites of such supermassive stars on the basis of the morphology of 30 Dor and NGC 604. (Auth.)

Clues on the hot star content and the ultraviolet output of elliptical galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greggio, L.; Renzini, A.

1990-01-01

Purely energetic arguments are used here to investigate the conditions under which old, low-mass stars could be responsible for the UV rising branch of elliptical galaxies. It is argued that presently available observational data are insufficient to unambiguously decide which of various candidates provide the dominant contribution. It is found that the possibility for metal-rich, low-mass stars to evolve through sufficiently hot stages, provide enough UV photons, and produce the observed UV-metallicity correlation is primarily controlled by two poorly known trends with increasing metallicity: helium enrichment and mass-loss rate during the red giant phases. The classical hydrogen-burning post-AGB stars do not appear able to burn enough fuel to account for the most UV-powerful galaxies. Other hot star candidates which appear more promising are identified. It is shown that a very important role is played by the actual metallicity distribution within individual galaxies. 154 refs

The shortest-known-period star orbiting our Galaxy's supermassive black hole.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, L; Ghez, A M; Schödel, R; Yelda, S; Boehle, A; Lu, J R; Do, T; Morris, M R; Becklin, E E; Matthews, K

2012-10-05

Stars with short orbital periods at the center of our Galaxy offer a powerful probe of a supermassive black hole. Over the past 17 years, the W. M. Keck Observatory has been used to image the galactic center at the highest angular resolution possible today. By adding to this data set and advancing methodologies, we have detected S0-102, a star orbiting our Galaxy's supermassive black hole with a period of just 11.5 years. S0-102 doubles the number of known stars with full phase coverage and periods of less than 20 years. It thereby provides the opportunity, with future measurements, to resolve degeneracies in the parameters describing the central gravitational potential and to test Einstein's theory of general relativity in an unexplored regime.

Direct Measurements of Dust Attenuation in z ~ 1.5 Star-forming Galaxies from 3D-HST: Implications for Dust Geometry and Star Formation Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Sedona H.; Kriek, Mariska; Brammer, Gabriel B.; Conroy, Charlie; Förster Schreiber, Natascha M.; Franx, Marijn; Fumagalli, Mattia; Lundgren, Britt; Momcheva, Ivelina; Nelson, Erica J.; Skelton, Rosalind E.; van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Whitaker, Katherine E.; Wuyts, Stijn

2014-06-01

The nature of dust in distant galaxies is not well understood, and until recently few direct dust measurements have been possible. We investigate dust in distant star-forming galaxies using near-infrared grism spectra of the 3D-HST survey combined with archival multi-wavelength photometry. These data allow us to make a direct comparison between dust around star-forming regions (A V, H II ) and the integrated dust content (A V, star). We select a sample of 163 galaxies between 1.36 =5 and measure Balmer decrements from stacked spectra to calculate A V, H II . First, we stack spectra in bins of A V, star, and find that A V, H II = 1.86 A V, star, with a significance of σ = 1.7. Our result is consistent with the two-component dust model, in which galaxies contain both diffuse and stellar birth cloud dust. Next, we stack spectra in bins of specific star formation rate (log SSFR), star formation rate (log SFR), and stellar mass (log M *). We find that on average A V, H II increases with SFR and mass, but decreases with increasing SSFR. Interestingly, the data hint that the amount of extra attenuation decreases with increasing SSFR. This trend is expected from the two-component model, as the extra attenuation will increase once older stars outside the star-forming regions become more dominant in the galaxy spectrum. Finally, using Balmer decrements we derive dust-corrected Hα SFRs, and find that stellar population modeling produces incorrect SFRs if rapidly declining star formation histories are included in the explored parameter space.

Variable Stars in (Not Only) Dwarf Galaxies : Key Tools to Constrain Distances and Stellar Content

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fiorentino, G.; Koleva, M; Prugniel, P; Vauglin,

2011-01-01

The important role of Cepheid and RR Lyrae variable stars and what they teach us about dwarf galaxies is discussed. Despite ever improving star formation histories of Local Group dwarf galaxies uncertainties remain, in particular in the identification and characterisation of the oldest stellar

Simulating neutron star mergers as r-process sources in ultrafaint dwarf galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Safarzadeh, Mohammadtaher; Scannapieco, Evan

2017-10-01

To explain the high observed abundances of r-process elements in local ultrafaint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, we perform cosmological zoom simulations that include r-process production from neutron star mergers (NSMs). We model star formation stochastically and simulate two different haloes with total masses ≈108 M⊙ at z = 6. We find that the final distribution of [Eu/H] versus [Fe/H] is relatively insensitive to the energy by which the r-process material is ejected into the interstellar medium, but strongly sensitive to the environment in which the NSM event occurs. In one halo, the NSM event takes place at the centre of the stellar distribution, leading to high levels of r-process enrichment such as seen in a local UFD, Reticulum II (Ret II). In a second halo, the NSM event takes place outside of the densest part of the galaxy, leading to a more extended r-process distribution. The subsequent star formation occurs in an interstellar medium with shallow levels of r-process enrichment that results in stars with low levels of [Eu/H] compared to Ret II stars even when the maximum possible r-process mass is assumed to be ejected. This suggests that the natal kicks of neutron stars may also play an important role in determining the r-process abundances in UFD galaxies, a topic that warrants further theoretical investigation.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, Tetsuya; Goto, Tomotsugu; Momose, Rieko

2018-04-01

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

Using photometrically selected metal-poor stars to study dwarf galaxies and the Galactic stellar halo

Science.gov (United States)

Youakim, Kris; Starkenburg, Else; Martin, Nicolas; Pristine Team

2018-06-01