scholarly journals Surrogate modelling the Baryonic Universe – I. The colour of star formation

2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (2) ◽  
pp. 2088-2104
Author(s):  
Jonás Chaves-Montero ◽  
Andrew Hearin

ABSTRACT The spectral energy distribution of a galaxy emerges from the complex interplay of many physical ingredients, including its star formation history (SFH), metallicity evolution, and dust properties. Using galaxpy, a new galaxy spectral prediction tool, and SFHs predicted by the empirical model universemachine and the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG, we isolate the influence of SFH on optical and near-infrared colours from 320 to 1080 Å at z = 0. By carrying out a principal component analysis, we show that physically motivated SFH variations modify galaxy colours along a single direction in colour space: the SFH-direction. We find that the projection of a galaxy’s present-day colours on to the SFH-direction is almost completely regulated by the fraction of stellar mass that the galaxy formed over the last billion years. Together with cosmic downsizing, this results in galaxies becoming redder as their host halo mass increases. We additionally study the change in galaxy colours due to variations in metallicity, dust attenuation, and nebular emission lines, finding that these properties vary broad-band colours along distinct directions in colour space relative to the SFH-direction. Finally, we show that the colours of low-redshift Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies span an ellipsoid with significant extent along two independent dimensions, and that the SFH-direction is well-aligned with the major axis of this ellipsoid. Our analysis supports the conclusion that variations in SFH are the dominant influence on present-day galaxy colours, and that the nature of this influence is strikingly simple.

2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (4) ◽  
pp. 5653-5661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom O Zick ◽  
Daniel R Weisz ◽  
Bruno Ribeiro ◽  
Mariska T Kriek ◽  
Benjamin D Johnson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy from Keck/Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE) to study the substructure around the progenitor of a Milky Way-mass galaxy in the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF). Specifically, we study an $r_\mathrm{ e} = 40^{+70}_{-30}$ pc, $M_{\star } \sim 10^{8.2} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ rest-frame ultraviolet luminous ‘clump’ at a projected distance of ∼100 pc from a M⋆ ∼ 109.8 M⊙ galaxy at z = 2.36 with a magnification μ = 5.21. We measure the star formation history of the clump and galaxy by jointly modelling the broad-band spectral energy distribution from HST photometry and Hα from MOSFIRE spectroscopy. Given our inferred properties (e.g. mass, metallicity, dust) of the clump and galaxy, we explore scenarios in which the clump formed in situ (e.g. a star-forming complex) or ex situ (e.g. a dwarf galaxy being accreted). If it formed in situ, we conclude that the clump is likely a single entity as opposed to a aggregation of smaller star clusters, making it one of the most dense star clusters catalogued. If it formed ex situ, then we are witnessing an accretion event with a 1:40 stellar mass ratio. However, our data alone are not informative enough to distinguish between in situ and ex situ scenarios to a high level of significance. We posit that the addition of high-fidelity metallicity information, such as [O iii] 4363 Å, which can be detected at modest signal-to-noise ratio with only a few hours of James Webb Space Telescope(JWST)/Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) time, may be a powerful discriminant. We suggest that studying larger samples of moderately lensed substructures across cosmic time can provide unique insight into the hierarchical formation of galaxies like the Milky Way.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3240-3253
Author(s):  
Amanda R Lopes ◽  
Eduardo Telles ◽  
Jorge Melnick

ABSTRACT We discuss the implications of assuming different star formation histories (SFH) in the relation between star formation rate (SFR) and mass derived by the spectral energy distribution fitting (SED). Our analysis focuses on a sample of H ii galaxies, dwarf starburst galaxies spectroscopically selected through their strong narrow emission lines in SDSS DR13 at z < 0.4, cross-matched with photometric catalogues from GALEX, SDSS, UKIDSS, and WISE. We modelled and fitted the SEDs with the code CIGALE adopting different descriptions of SFH. By adding information from different independent studies, we find that H ii galaxies are best described by episodic SFHs including an old (10 Gyr), an intermediate age (100−1000 Myr) and a recent population with ages < 10 Myr. H ii galaxies agree with the SFR−M* relation from local star-forming galaxies, and only lie above such relation when the current SFR is adopted as opposed to the average over the entire SFH. The SFR−M* demonstrated not to be a good tool to provide additional information about the SFH of H ii galaxies, as different SFH present a similar behaviour with a spread of <0.1 dex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 487 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kynoch ◽  
Hermine Landt ◽  
Martin J Ward ◽  
Chris Done ◽  
Catherine Boisson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a multifrequency study of PKS J1222+0413 (4C +04.42), currently the highest redshift γ-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 (γ-NLS1). We assemble a broad spectral energy distribution (SED) including previously unpublished datasets: X-ray data obtained with the NuSTAR and Neil Gehrels Swift observatories; near-infrared, optical, and UV spectroscopy obtained with VLT X-shooter; and multiband radio data from the Effelsberg telescope. These new observations are supplemented by archival data from the literature. We apply physical models to the broad-band SED, parametrizing the accretion flow and jet emission to investigate the disc–jet connection. PKS J1222+0413 has a much greater black hole mass than most other NLS1s, MBH ≈ 2 × 108 M$\odot$, similar to those found in flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). Therefore this source provides insight into how the jets of γ-NLS1s relate to those of FSRQs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-222
Author(s):  
F Marin ◽  
J Le Cam ◽  
E Lopez-Rodriguez ◽  
M Kolehmainen ◽  
B L Babler ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT NGC 4151 is among the most well-studied Seyfert galaxies that does not suffer from strong obscuration along the observer’s line of sight. This allows to probe the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) engine with photometry, spectroscopy, reverberation mapping, or interferometry. Yet, the broad-band polarization from NGC 4151 has been poorly examined in the past despite the fact that polarimetry gives us a much cleaner view of the AGN physics than photometry or spectroscopy alone. In this paper, we compile the 0.15–89.0 μm total and polarized fluxes of NGC 4151 from archival and new data in order to examine the physical processes at work in the heart of this AGN. We demonstrate that, from the optical to the near-infrared (IR) band, the polarized spectrum of NGC 4151 shows a much bluer power-law spectral index than that of the total flux, corroborating the presence of an optically thick, locally heated accretion flow, at least in its near-IR emitting radii. Specific signatures from the atmosphere of the accretion structure are tentatively found at the shortest ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, before the onset of absorption opacity. Otherwise, dust scattering appears to be the dominant contributor from the near-UV to near-IR polarized spectrum, superimposed on to a weaker electron component. We also identify a change in the polarization processes from the near-IR to the mid-IR, most likely associated with the transition from Mie scattering to dichroic absorption from aligned dust grains in the dusty torus or narrow-line region. Finally, we present and discuss the very first far-infrared polarization measurement of NGC 4151 at 89 μm.


2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (4) ◽  
pp. 5581-5603
Author(s):  
Sabine Bellstedt ◽  
Aaron S G Robotham ◽  
Simon P Driver ◽  
Jessica E Thorne ◽  
Luke J M Davies ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We apply the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code ProSpect to multiwavelength imaging for ∼7000 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z < 0.06, in order to extract their star formation histories. We combine a parametric description of the star formation history with a closed-box evolution of metallicity where the present-day gas-phase metallicity of the galaxy is a free parameter. We show with this approach that we are able to recover the observationally determined cosmic star formation history (CSFH), an indication that stars are being formed in the correct epoch of the Universe, on average, for the manner in which we are conducting SED fitting. We also show the contribution to the CSFH of galaxies of different present-day visual morphologies and stellar masses. Our analysis suggests that half of the mass in present-day elliptical galaxies was in place 11 Gyr ago. In other morphological types, the stellar mass formed later, up to 6 Gyr ago for present-day irregular galaxies. Similarly, the most massive galaxies in our sample were shown to have formed half their stellar mass by 11 Gyr ago, whereas the least massive galaxies reached this stage as late as 4 Gyr ago (the well-known effect of ‘galaxy downsizing’). Finally, our metallicity approach allows us to follow the average evolution in gas-phase metallicity for populations of galaxies and extract the evolution of the cosmic metal mass density in stars and in gas, producing results in broad agreement with independent, higher redshift observations of metal densities in the Universe.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S266) ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
Rémy Indebetouw ◽  
Rosie Chen ◽  
Crystal Brogan ◽  
Barbara Whitney ◽  
Thomas Robitaille ◽  
...  

AbstractWe would like to know how molecular clouds turn into stellar clusters, and with what efficiency massive stars form in those clusters, since massive stars are the main agents responsible for evolution of the interstellar medium of galaxies, and their subsequent star-formation history. The imprint of ‘precluster’ molecular cloud conditions can be observed, but only in the least evolved, most embedded clusters, necessarily at wavelengths that can penetrate more than 10 visual magnitudes of extinction. Mid-infrared photometric imaging, most recently and extensively from Spitzer, can be used to select young stellar objects in clustered star-formation environments in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies. Relatively sophisticated methods have been developed, but the fundamental principle remains the selection of sources that have excess infrared emission from circumstellar dust. By fitting radiative-transfer models to a source's spectral-energy distribution between ~1 and ~100μm, we constrain the circumstellar dust distribution and evolutionary state. We can explore many things with this protostellar distribution in mass/luminosity and time/evolutionary state. For example we do not see strong evidence for primordial mass segregation in initial studies. We find evidence of primordial hierarchical substructure, greater clustering at the youngest stages, and even imprints of the pre-stellar Jeans scale. We see correlation of the youngest sources with dense molecular clumps and constrain the timescales for chemical processing and dispersal of those clumps. We have only begun to mine the wealth of existing Spitzer, emerging Herschel and soon ALMA data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
pp. A67
Author(s):  
O. B. Kauffmann ◽  
O. Le Fèvre ◽  
O. Ilbert ◽  
J. Chevallard ◽  
C. C. Williams ◽  
...  

We present a new prospective analysis of deep multi-band imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In this work, we investigate the recovery of high-redshift 5 <  z <  12 galaxies through extensive image simulations of accepted JWST programs, including the Early Release Science in the EGS field and the Guaranteed Time Observations in the HUDF. We introduced complete samples of ∼300 000 galaxies with stellar masses of log(M*/M⊙) > 6 and redshifts of 0 <  z <  15, as well as galactic stars, into realistic mock NIRCam, MIRI, and HST images to properly describe the impact of source blending. We extracted the photometry of the detected sources, as in real images, and estimated the physical properties of galaxies through spectral energy distribution fitting. We find that the photometric redshifts are primarily limited by the availability of blue-band and near-infrared medium-band imaging. The stellar masses and star formation rates are recovered within 0.25 and 0.3 dex, respectively, for galaxies with accurate photometric redshifts. Brown dwarfs contaminating the z >  5 galaxy samples can be reduced to < 0.01 arcmin−2 with a limited impact on galaxy completeness. We investigate multiple high-redshift galaxy selection techniques and find that the best compromise between completeness and purity at 5 <  z <  10 using the full redshift posterior probability distributions. In the EGS field, the galaxy completeness remains higher than 50% at magnitudes mUV <  27.5 and at all redshifts, and the purity is maintained above 80 and 60% at z ≤ 7 and 10, respectively. The faint-end slope of the galaxy UV luminosity function is recovered with a precision of 0.1–0.25, and the cosmic star formation rate density within 0.1 dex. We argue in favor of additional observing programs covering larger areas to better constrain the bright end.


2021 ◽  
Vol 921 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Skarleth M. Motiño Flores ◽  
Tommy Wiklind ◽  
Rafael T. Eufrasio

Abstract Star-forming dwarf galaxies have properties similar to those expected in high-redshift galaxies. Hence, these local galaxies may provide insights into the evolution of the first galaxies and the physical processes at work. We present a sample of 11 potential local analogs to high-z (LAHz) galaxies. The sample consists of blue compact dwarf galaxies, selected to have spectral energy distributions that fit galaxies at 1.5 < z < 4. We use SOFIA-HAWC+ observations combined with optical and near-infrared data to characterize the dust properties, star formation rate (SFR), and star formation histories (SFHs) of the sample of LAHz galaxies. We employ Bayesian analysis to characterize the dust using two-component blackbody models. Using the Lightning package, we fit the spectral energy distribution of the LAHz galaxies over the far-UV−far-infrared wavelength range and derive the SFH in five time steps up to a look-back time of 13.3 Gyr. Of the 11 LAHz candidates, six galaxies have SFH consistent with no star formation activity at look-back times beyond 1 Gyr. The remaining galaxies show residual levels of star formation at ages ≳1 Gyr, making them less suitable as local analogs. The six young galaxies stand out in our sample by having the lowest gas-phase metallicities. They are characterized by warmer dust, having the highest specific SFR and the highest gas mass fractions. The young age of these six galaxies suggests that merging is less important as a driver of the star formation activity. The six LAHz candidates are promising candidates for studies of the gasdynamics role in driving star formation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S341) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
Maria Argudo-Fernández ◽  
Médéric Boquien ◽  
Shiyin Shen ◽  
Fangting Yuan ◽  
Jun Yin ◽  
...  

AbstractThe star formation history (SFH) of galaxies allow us to investigate when galaxies formed their stars and assembled their mass. We can constrain the SFH with high level of precision from galaxies with resolved stellar populations, since we are able to discriminate between stars of different ages from the spectrum they emit. However, the relative importance of secular evolution (nature) over nurture is not yet clear, and separating the effects of interaction-driven evolution in the observed galaxy properties is not trivial. The aim of this study is to use MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO) Integral Field Unit (IFU) data, in combination with multi-wavelength data, to constrain the SFH of nearby isolated galaxies. We present here the new techniques we are developing to constrain the SFH with high level of precision from Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fitting. This study is part of a China-Chile collaboration program where we are applying these new techniques to investigate how galaxies formed and evolve in different environments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (3) ◽  
pp. 4325-4369
Author(s):  
Andrés F Ramos Padilla ◽  
M L N Ashby ◽  
Howard A Smith ◽  
Juan R Martínez-Galarza ◽  
Aliza G Beverage ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is known to play an important role in the evolution of many galaxies including luminous and ultraluminous systems (U/LIRGs), as well as merging systems. However, the extent, duration, and exact effects of its influence are still imperfectly understood. To assess the impact of AGNs on interacting systems, we present a spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis of a sample of 189 nearby galaxies. We gather and systematically re-reduce archival broad-band imaging mosaics from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared using data from GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS, IRAS, WISE, Spitzer, and Herschel. We use spectroscopy from Spitzer/IRS to obtain fluxes from fine-structure lines that trace star formation and AGN activity. Utilizing the SED modelling and fitting tool cigale, we derive the physical conditions of the interstellar medium, both in star-forming regions and in nuclear regions dominated by the AGN in these galaxies. We investigate how the star formation rates (SFRs) and the fractional AGN contributions (fAGN) depend on stellar mass, galaxy type, and merger stage. We find that luminous galaxies more massive than about $10^{10} \,\rm {M}_{*}$ are likely to deviate significantly from the conventional galaxy main-sequence relation. Interestingly, infrared AGN luminosity and stellar mass in this set of objects are much tighter than SFR and stellar mass. We find that buried AGNs may occupy a locus between bright starbursts and pure AGNs in the fAGN–[Ne v]/[Ne ii] plane. We identify a modest correlation between fAGN and mergers in their later stages.


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