scholarly journals A lack of evolution in the very bright end of the galaxy luminosity function from z ≃ 8 to 10

2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (2) ◽  
pp. 2059-2084 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A A Bowler ◽  
M J Jarvis ◽  
J S Dunlop ◽  
R J McLure ◽  
D J McLeod ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We utilize deep near-infrared survey data from the UltraVISTA fourth data release (DR4) and the VIDEO survey, in combination with overlapping optical and Spitzer data, to search for bright star-forming galaxies at z ≳ 7.5. Using a full photometric redshift fitting analysis applied to the ∼6 $\, {\rm deg}^2$ of imaging searched, we find 27 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), including 20 new sources, with best-fitting photometric redshifts in the range 7.4 < z < 9.1. From this sample, we derive the rest-frame UV luminosity function at z = 8 and z = 9 out to extremely bright UV magnitudes (MUV ≃ −23) for the first time. We find an excess in the number density of bright galaxies in comparison to the typically assumed Schechter functional form derived from fainter samples. Combined with previous studies at lower redshift, our results show that there is little evolution in the number density of very bright (MUV ∼ −23) LBGs between z ≃ 5 and z ≃ 9. The tentative detection of an LBG with best-fitting photometric redshift of z = 10.9 ± 1.0 in our data is consistent with the derived evolution. We show that a double power-law fit with a brightening characteristic magnitude (ΔM*/Δz ≃ −0.5) and a steadily steepening bright-end slope (Δβ/Δz ≃ −0.5) provides a good description of the z > 5 data over a wide range in absolute UV magnitude (−23 < MUV < −17). We postulate that the observed evolution can be explained by a lack of mass quenching at very high redshifts in combination with increasing dust obscuration within the first ${\sim}1 \, {\rm Gyr}$ of galaxy evolution.

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1935-1945
Author(s):  
Bomee Lee ◽  
Ranga-Ram Chary

ABSTRACT Cosmology and galaxy evolution studies with LSST, Euclid, and Roman, will require accurate redshifts for the detected galaxies. In this study, we present improved photometric redshift estimates for galaxies using a template library that populates three-colour space and is constrained by HST/CANDELS photometry. For the training sample, we use a sample of galaxies having photometric redshifts that allows us to train on a large, unbiased galaxy sample having deep, unconfused photometry at optical-to-mid infrared wavelengths. Galaxies in the training sample are assigned to cubes in 3D colour space, V − H, I − J, and z − H. We then derive the best-fitting spectral energy distributions of the training sample at the fixed CANDELS median photometric redshifts to construct the new template library for each individual colour cube (i.e. colour-cube-based template library). We derive photometric redshifts (photo-z) of our target galaxies using our new colour-cube-based template library and with photometry in only a limited set of bands, as expected for the aforementioned surveys. As a result, our method yields σNMAD of 0.026 and an outlier fraction of 6 per cent using only photometry in the LSST and Euclid/Roman bands. This is an improvement of ∼10 per cent on σNMAD and a reduction in outlier fraction of ∼13 per cent compared to other techniques. In particular, we improve the photo-z precision by about 30 per cent at 2 < z < 3. We also assess photo-z improvements by including K or mid-infrared bands to the ugrizYJH photometry. Our colour-cube-based template library is a powerful tool to constrain photometric redshifts for future large surveys.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (2) ◽  
pp. 1724-1736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinclaire M Manning ◽  
Caitlin M Casey ◽  
Chao-Ling Hung ◽  
Richard Battye ◽  
Michael L Brown ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present optical and near-infrared imaging covering a ∼1.53 deg2 region in the Super-Cluster Assisted Shear Survey (SuperCLASS) field, which aims to make the first robust weak lensing measurement at radio wavelengths. We derive photometric redshifts for ≈176 000 sources down to $i^\prime _{\rm AB}\sim 24$ and present photometric redshifts for 1.4 GHz expanded Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (e-MERLIN) and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) detected radio sources found in the central 0.26 deg2. We compile an initial catalogue of 149 radio sources brighter than S1.4 > 75 μJy and find their photometric redshifts span 0 < zphot < 4 with radio luminosities between 1021 and 1025 W Hz−1, with medians of $\langle z \rangle \, =0.55$ and $\langle L_{1.4}\rangle \, =1.9\times 10^{23}$ W Hz−1, respectively. We find 95 per cent of the μJy radio source sample (141/149) have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) best fit by star-forming templates while 5 per cent (8/149) are better fit by active galactic nuclei (AGN). Spectral indices are calculated for sources with radio observations from the VLA and Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 325 MHz, with an average spectral slope of α = 0.59 ± 0.04. Using the full photometric redshift catalogue, we construct a density map at the redshift of the known galaxy clusters, z = 0.20 ± 0.08. Four of the five clusters are prominently detected at $\gt 7\, \sigma$ in the density map and we confirm the photometric redshifts are consistent with previously measured spectra from a few galaxies at the cluster centres.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (28) ◽  
pp. 1550139
Author(s):  
Keji Shen ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Xin-He Meng

Counting galaxy number density with wide range sky surveys has been well adopted in researches focusing on revealing evolution pattern of different types of galaxies. As understood intuitively the astrophysics environment physics is intimately affected by cosmology priors with theoretical estimation or vice versa, or simply stating that the astrophysics effect couples the corresponding cosmology observations or the way backwards. In this paper, we try to quantify the influence on galaxy number density prediction at faint luminosity limit from the uncertainties in cosmology, and how much the uncertainties blur the detection of galaxy evolution, with the hope that this trying may indeed help for precise and physical cosmology study in near future or vice versa.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S325) ◽  
pp. 145-155
Author(s):  
Fionn Murtagh

AbstractThis work emphasizes that heterogeneity, diversity, discontinuity, and discreteness in data is to be exploited in classification and regression problems. A global a priori model may not be desirable. For data analytics in cosmology, this is motivated by the variety of cosmological objects such as elliptical, spiral, active, and merging galaxies at a wide range of redshifts. Our aim is matching and similarity-based analytics that takes account of discrete relationships in the data. The information structure of the data is represented by a hierarchy or tree where the branch structure, rather than just the proximity, is important. The representation is related to p-adic number theory. The clustering or binning of the data values, related to the precision of the measurements, has a central role in this methodology. If used for regression, our approach is a method of cluster-wise regression, generalizing nearest neighbour regression. Both to exemplify this analytics approach, and to demonstrate computational benefits, we address the well-known photometric redshift or ‘photo-z’ problem, seeking to match Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic and photometric redshifts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 629 ◽  
pp. A56 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Curran ◽  
J. P. Moss

A simple estimate of the photometric redshift would prove invaluable to forthcoming continuum surveys on the next generation of large radio telescopes, as well as mitigating the existing bias towards the most optically bright sources. While there is a well-known correlation between the near-infrared K-band magnitude and redshift for galaxies, we find the K − z relation to break down for samples dominated by quasi-stellar objects. We hypothesise that this is due to the additional contribution to the near-infrared flux by the active galactic nucleus, and, as such, the K-band magnitude can only provide a lower limit to the redshift in the case of active galactic nuclei, which will dominate the radio surveys. From a large optical dataset, we find a tight relationship between the rest-frame (U − K)/(W2 − FUV) colour ratio and spectroscopic redshift over a sample of 17 000 sources, spanning z ≈ 0.1−5. Using the observed-frame ratios of (U − K)/(W2 − FUV) for redshifts of z ≲ 1, (I − W2)/(W3 − U) for 1 ≲ z ≲ 3, and (I − W2.5)/(W4 − R) for z ≳ 3, where W2.5 is the λ = 8.0 μm magnitude and the appropriate redshift ranges are estimated from the W2 (4.5 μm) magnitude, we find this to be a robust photometric redshift estimator for quasars. We suggest that the rest-frame U − K colour traces the excess flux from the AGN over this wide range of redshifts, although the W2 − FUV colour is required to break the degeneracy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (3) ◽  
pp. 3672-3701 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Boardman ◽  
G Zasowski ◽  
A Seth ◽  
J Newman ◽  
B Andrews ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The Milky Way provides an ideal laboratory to test our understanding of galaxy evolution, owing to our ability to observe our Galaxy over fine scales. However, connecting the Galaxy to the wider galaxy population remains difficult, due to the challenges posed by our internal perspective and to the different observational techniques employed. Here, we present a sample of galaxies identified as Milky Way analogues on the basis of their stellar masses and bulge-to-total ratios, observed as part of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey. We analyse the galaxies in terms of their stellar kinematics and populations as well as their ionized gas contents. We find our sample to contain generally young stellar populations in their outskirts. However, we find a wide range of stellar ages in their central regions, and we detect central active galactic nucleus-like or composite-like activity in roughly half of the sample galaxies, with the other half consisting of galaxies with central star-forming emission or emission consistent with old stars. We measure gradients in gas metallicity and stellar metallicity that are generally flatter in physical units than those measured for the Milky Way; however, we find far better agreement with the Milky Way when scaling gradients by galaxies’ disc scale lengths. From this, we argue much of the discrepancy in metallicity gradients to be due to the relative compactness of the Milky Way, with differences in observing perspective also likely to be a factor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (3) ◽  
pp. 3409-3430 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Simpson ◽  
Ian Smail ◽  
U Dudzevičiūtė ◽  
Y Matsuda ◽  
B-C Hsieh ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present an ALMA study of the ∼180 brightest sources in the SCUBA-2 850-μm map of the COSMOS field from the S2COSMOS survey, as a pilot study for AS2COSMOS – a full survey of the ∼1000 sources in this field. In this pilot study, we have obtained 870-μm continuum maps of an essentially complete sample of the brightest 182 sub-millimetre sources ($S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy) in COSMOS. Our ALMA maps detect 260 sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) spanning a range in flux density of $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}$ = 0.7–19.2 mJy. We detect more than one SMG counterpart in 34 ± 2 per cent of sub-millimetre sources, increasing to 53 ± 8 per cent for SCUBA-2 sources brighter than $S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 12 mJy. We estimate that approximately one-third of these SMG–SMG pairs are physically associated (with a higher rate for the brighter secondary SMGs, $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gtrsim$ 3 mJy), and illustrate this with the serendipitous detection of bright [C ii] 157.74-μm line emission in two SMGs, AS2COS 0001.1 and 0001.2 at z = 4.63, associated with the highest significance single-dish source. Using our source catalogue, we construct the interferometric 870-μm number counts at $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy. We use the extensive archival data of this field to construct the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of each AS2COSMOS SMG, and subsequently model this emission with magphys to estimate their photometric redshifts. We find a median photometric redshift for the $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy AS2COSMOS sample of z = 2.87 ± 0.08, and clear evidence for an increase in the median redshift with 870-μm flux density suggesting strong evolution in the bright end of the 870-μm luminosity function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 486 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
R M Bielby ◽  
J P Stott ◽  
F Cullen ◽  
T M Tripp ◽  
J N Burchett ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present the first results from a study of O vi absorption around galaxies at z < 1.44 using data from a near-infrared grism spectroscopic Hubble Space Telescope Large Programme, the Quasar Sightline and Galaxy Evolution (QSAGE) survey. QSAGE is the first grism galaxy survey to focus on the circumgalactic medium at z ∼ 1, providing a blind survey of the galaxy population. The galaxy sample is H α flux limited (f(H α) > 2 × 10−17 erg s−1 cm−2) at 0.68 < z < 1.44, corresponding to ≳0.2–0.8 M⊙ yr−1. In this first of 12 fields, we combine the galaxy data with high-resolution STIS and COS spectroscopy of the background quasar to study O vi in the circumgalactic medium. At z ∼ 1, we find O vi absorption systems up to b ∼ 350 kpc (∼4Rvir) from the nearest detected galaxy. Further, we find ${\sim }50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of ≳1 M⊙ yr−1 star-forming galaxies within 2Rvir show no associated O vi absorption to a limit of at least N(O vi) = 1013.9 cm−2. That we detect O vi at such large distances from galaxies and that a significant fraction of star-forming galaxies show no detectable O vi absorption disfavours outflows from ongoing star formation as the primary medium traced by these absorbers. Instead, by combining our own low- and high-redshift data with existing samples, we find tentative evidence for many strong (N(O vi) > 1014 cm−2) O vi absorption systems to be associated with M⋆ ∼ 109.5–10 M⊙ mass galaxies (Mhalo ∼ 1011.5–12 M⊙ dark matter haloes), and infer that they may be tracing predominantly collisionally ionized gas within the haloes of such galaxies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S284) ◽  
pp. 228-230
Author(s):  
Y. Toba ◽  
S. Oyabu ◽  
H. Matsuhara ◽  
D. Ishihara ◽  
M. Malkan ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present the first determination of the 18 μm luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.7 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected a 18 μm flux-limited sample of 243 galaxies from the catalogue in the SDSS spectroscopic region. We then classified the sample into four types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (including QSOs), Seyfert 2 galaxies, LINERs and Star-Forming galaxies using mainly [OIII]/Hβ vs. [NII]/Hα line ratios obtained from the SDSS.As a result of constructing Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 LFs, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Seyfert 2s to Seyfert 1s is 3.98 ± 0.41 obtained from Sy1 and Sy2 LFs; this value is larger than the results obtained from optical LFs. (ii) the fraction of Sy2s in the entire AGNs may be anti-correlated with 18 μm luminosity. These results suggest that the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity of AGNs and most of the AGNs in the local Universe are obscured by dust.


2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Masato Shirasaki ◽  
Tomoaki Ishiyama ◽  
Shin’ichiro Ando

Abstract We study halo mass functions with high-resolution N-body simulations under a ΛCDM cosmology. Our simulations adopt the cosmological model that is consistent with recent measurements of the cosmic microwave backgrounds with the Planck satellite. We calibrate the halo mass functions for 108.5 ≲ M vir/(h −1 M ⊙) ≲ 1015.0–0.45 z , where M vir is the virial spherical-overdensity mass and redshift z ranges from 0 to 7. The halo mass function in our simulations can be fitted by a four-parameter model over a wide range of halo masses and redshifts, while we require some redshift evolution of the fitting parameters. Our new fitting formula of the mass function has a 5%-level precision, except for the highest masses at z ≤ 7. Our model predicts that the analytic prediction in Sheth & Tormen would overestimate the halo abundance at z = 6 with M vir = 108.5–10 h −1 M ⊙ by 20%–30%. Our calibrated halo mass function provides a baseline model to constrain warm dark matter (WDM) by high-z galaxy number counts. We compare a cumulative luminosity function of galaxies at z = 6 with the total halo abundance based on our model and a recently proposed WDM correction. We find that WDM with its mass lighter than 2.71 keV is incompatible with the observed galaxy number density at a 2σ confidence level.


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