scholarly journals The time-scales probed by star formation rate indicators for realistic, bursty star formation histories from the FIRE simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A Flores Velázquez ◽  
Alexander B Gurvich ◽  
Claude-André Faucher-Giguére ◽  
James S Bullock ◽  
Tjitske K Starkenburg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Best Fitting ◽  
Far Ultraviolet ◽  
Star Formation Histories

Abstract Understanding the rate at which stars form is central to studies of galaxy formation. Observationally, the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies are measured using the luminosity in different frequency bands, often under the assumption of a time-steady SFR in the recent past. We use star formation histories (SFHs) extracted from cosmological simulations of star-forming galaxies from the FIRE project to analyze the time-scales to which the Hα and far-ultraviolet (FUV) continuum SFR indicators are sensitive. In these simulations, the SFRs are highly time variable for all galaxies at high redshift, and continue to be bursty to z = 0 in dwarf galaxies. When FIRE SFHs are partitioned into their bursty and time-steady phases, the best-fitting FUV time-scale fluctuates from its ∼10 Myr value when the SFR is time-steady to ≳100 Myr immediately following particularly extreme bursts of star formation during the bursty phase. On the other hand, the best-fitting averaging time-scale for Hα is generally insensitive to the SFR variability in the FIRE simulations and remains ∼ 5 Myr at all times. These time-scales are shorter than the 100 Myr and 10 Myr time-scales sometimes assumed in the literature for FUV and Hα, respectively, because while the FUV emission persists for stellar populations older than 100 Myr, the time-dependent luminosities are strongly dominated by younger stars. Our results confirm that the ratio of SFRs inferred using Hα vs. FUV can be used to probe the burstiness of star formation in galaxies.

scholarly journals The roles of atomic and molecular gas on the redshift evolution of star formation and metallicity in galaxy formation models

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S292) ◽  
pp. 245-245
Author(s):  
Jian Fu ◽  
Guinevere Kauffmann
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Formation Time ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Mass Relation

AbstractWe study the redshift evolution of neutral and molecular gas in the interstellar medium with the results from semi-analytic models of galaxy formation and evolution, which track the cold gas related physical processes in radially resolved galaxy disks. Two kinds of prescriptions are adopted to describe the conversion between molecular and neutral gas in the ISM: one is related to the gas surface density and gas metallicity based on the model results by Krumholz, Mckee & Tumlinson; the other is related the pressure of ISM. We try four types of star formation laws in the models to study the effect of the molecular gas component and the star formation time scale on the model results, and find that the H2 dependent star formation rate with constant star formation efficiency is the preferred star formation law. We run the models based on both Millennium and Millennium II Simulation haloes, and the model parameters are adjusted to fit the observations at z = 0 from THINGS/HERACLES and ALFALFA/COLD GASS. We give predictions for the redshift evolution of cosmic star formation density, H2 to HI cosmic ratios, gas to star mass ratios and gas metallicity vs stellar mass relation. Based on the model results, we find that: (i) the difference in the H2 to HI ratio at z > 3 between the two H2 fraction prescriptions can help future observations to test which prescription is better; (ii) a constant redshift independent star formation time scale will postpone the star formation processes at high redshift and cause obvious redshift evolution for the relation between gas metallicity and stellar mass in galaxies at z < 3.

scholarly journals The effects of star formation history in the SFR–M* relation of H ii galaxies

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3240-3253
Author(s):  
Amanda R Lopes ◽  
Eduardo Telles ◽  
Jorge Melnick
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Spectral Energy Distribution ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Formation History ◽  
Spectral Energy ◽  
Distribution Fitting ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Star Formation Histories

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 &lt; 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 &lt; 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 &lt;0.1 dex.

scholarly journals Quasi-equilibrium models of high-redshift disc galaxy evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 3394-3412
Author(s):  
Steven R Furlanetto
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Quasi Equilibrium ◽  
Mass Relation ◽  
Disc Galaxy

ABSTRACT In recent years, simple models of galaxy formation have been shown to provide reasonably good matches to available data on high-redshift luminosity functions. However, these prescriptions are primarily phenomenological, with only crude connections to the physics of galaxy evolution. Here, we introduce a set of galaxy models that are based on a simple physical framework but incorporate more sophisticated models of feedback, star formation, and other processes. We apply these models to the high-redshift regime, showing that most of the generic predictions of the simplest models remain valid. In particular, the stellar mass–halo mass relation depends almost entirely on the physics of feedback (and is thus independent of the details of small-scale star formation) and the specific star formation rate is a simple multiple of the cosmological accretion rate. We also show that, in contrast, the galaxy’s gas mass is sensitive to the physics of star formation, although the inclusion of feedback-driven star formation laws significantly changes the naive expectations. While these models are far from detailed enough to describe every aspect of galaxy formation, they inform our understanding of galaxy formation by illustrating several generic aspects of that process, and they provide a physically grounded basis for extrapolating predictions to faint galaxies and high redshifts currently out of reach of observations. If observations show violations from these simple trends, they would indicate new physics occurring inside the earliest generations of galaxies.

scholarly journals Exploration of the high-redshift universe enabled by THESEUS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. R. Tanvir ◽  
E. Le Floc’h ◽  
L. Christensen ◽  
J. Caruana ◽  
R. Salvaterra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Chemical Enrichment ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Absorption Studies ◽  
Population Iii Stars ◽  
High Redshift Universe

AbstractAt peak, long-duration gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation known. Since their progenitors are massive stars, they provide a tracer of star formation and star-forming galaxies over the whole of cosmic history. Their bright power-law afterglows provide ideal backlights for absorption studies of the interstellar and intergalactic medium back to the reionization era. The proposed THESEUS mission is designed to detect large samples of GRBs at z > 6 in the 2030s, at a time when supporting observations with major next generation facilities will be possible, thus enabling a range of transformative science. THESEUS will allow us to explore the faint end of the luminosity function of galaxies and the star formation rate density to high redshifts; constrain the progress of re-ionisation beyond $z\gtrsim 6$ z ≳ 6 ; study in detail early chemical enrichment from stellar explosions, including signatures of Population III stars; and potentially characterize the dark energy equation of state at the highest redshifts.

scholarly journals The relationship between black hole mass and galaxy properties: examining the black hole feedback model in IllustrisTNG

2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (2) ◽  
pp. 1888-1906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan A Terrazas ◽  
Eric F Bell ◽  
Annalisa Pillepich ◽  
Dylan Nelson ◽  
Rachel S Somerville ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Black Hole Mass ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Stellar Radius ◽  
Accretion Rates ◽  
Hole Model ◽  
Galaxy Population

ABSTRACT Supermassive black hole feedback is thought to be responsible for the lack of star formation, or quiescence, in a significant fraction of galaxies. We explore how observable correlations between the specific star formation rate (sSFR), stellar mass (Mstar), and black hole mass (MBH) are sensitive to the physics of black hole feedback in a galaxy formation model. We use the IllustrisTNG simulation suite, specifically the TNG100 simulation and 10 model variations that alter the parameters of the black hole model. Focusing on central galaxies at z = 0 with Mstar &gt; 1010 M⊙, we find that the sSFR of galaxies in IllustrisTNG decreases once the energy from black hole kinetic winds at low accretion rates becomes larger than the gravitational binding energy of gas within the galaxy stellar radius. This occurs at a particular MBH threshold above which galaxies are found to sharply transition from being mostly star forming to mostly quiescent. As a result of this behaviour, the fraction of quiescent galaxies as a function of Mstar is sensitive to both the normalization of the MBH–Mstar relation and the MBH threshold for quiescence in IllustrisTNG. Finally, we compare these model results to observations of 91 central galaxies with dynamical MBH measurements with the caveat that this sample is not representative of the whole galaxy population. While IllustrisTNG reproduces the observed trend that quiescent galaxies host more massive black holes, the observations exhibit a broader scatter in MBH at a given Mstar and show a smoother decline in sSFR with MBH.

scholarly journals Observations of the Lyman-α Universe

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 617-659
Author(s):  
Masami Ouchi ◽  
Yoshiaki Ono ◽  
Takatoshi Shibuya
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Resonant Scattering ◽  
Dark Matter Halo ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
High Redshift Universe

Hydrogen Lyman-α (Lyα) emission has been one of the major observational probes for the high-redshift Universe since the first discoveries of high- z Lyα-emitting galaxies in the late 1990s. Due to the strong Lyα emission originated by resonant scattering and recombination of the most abundant element, Lyα observations witness not only Hii regions of star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) but also diffuse Hi gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and the intergalactic medium (IGM). Here, we review Lyα sources and present theoretical interpretations reached to date. We conclude the following: ▪  A typical Lyα emitter (LAE) at z ≳ 2 with a L* Lyα luminosity is a high- z counterpart of a local dwarf galaxy, a compact metal-poor star-forming galaxy (SFG) with an approximate stellar (dark matter halo) mass and star-formation rate of 108−9M⊙ (1010−11M⊙) and 1–10 M⊙ year−1, respectively. ▪  High- z SFGs ubiquitously have a diffuse Lyα-emitting halo in the CGM extending to the halo virial radius and beyond. ▪  Remaining neutral hydrogen at the epoch of cosmic reionization makes a strong dimming of Lyα emission for galaxies at z > 6 that suggests the late reionization history. The next-generation large-telescope projects will combine Lyα emission data with Hi Lyα absorptions and 21-cm radio data that map out the majority of hydrogen (Hi+Hii) gas, uncovering the exchanges of ( a) matter by outflow and inflow and ( b) radiation, relevant to cosmic reionization, between galaxies and the CGM/IGM.

Extreme variations in star formation activity in the first galaxies

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S341) ◽  
pp. 226-230
Author(s):  
Christian Binggeli ◽  
Erik Zackrisson ◽  
Xiangcheng Ma ◽  
Akio K. Inoue ◽  
Anton Vikaeus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Rest Frame ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
James Webb Space Telescope ◽  
Star Formation Activity ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
First Galaxies ◽  
Star Formation Histories

AbstractRecently, spectroscopic detections of O[III] 88 μm and Ly-α emission lines from the z ≍ 9.1 galaxy MACS1149-JD1 have been presented, and with these, some interesting properties of this galaxy were uncovered. One such property is that MACS1149-JD1 exhibits a significant Balmer break at around rest-frame 4000 Å, which may indicate that the galaxy has experienced large variations in star formation rate prior to z ∼ 9, with a rather long period of low star formation activity. While some simulations predict large variations in star formation activity in high-redshift galaxies, it is unclear whether the simulations can reproduce the kind of variations seen in MACS1149-JD1. Here, we utilize synthetic spectra of simulated galaxies from two simulation suites in order to study to what extent these can accurately reproduce the spectral features (specifically the Balmer break) observed in MACS1149-JD1. We show that while the simulations used in this study produce galaxies with varying star formation histories, galaxies such as MACS1149-JD1 would be very rare in the simulations. In principle, future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope may tell us if MACS1149-JD1 represents something rare, or if such galaxies are more common than predicted by current simulations.

scholarly journals The diversity and variability of star formation histories in models of galaxy evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 430-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kartheik G Iyer ◽  
Sandro Tacchella ◽  
Shy Genel ◽  
Christopher C Hayward ◽  
Lars Hernquist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Power Laws ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Star Formation Histories

ABSTRACT Understanding the variability of galaxy star formation histories (SFHs) across a range of time-scales provides insight into the underlying physical processes that regulate star formation within galaxies. We compile the SFHs of galaxies at z = 0 from an extensive set of models, ranging from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (Illustris, IllustrisTNG, Mufasa, Simba, EAGLE), zoom simulations (FIRE-2, g14, and Marvel/Justice League), semi-analytic models (Santa Cruz SAM) and empirical models (UniverseMachine), and quantify the variability of these SFHs on different time-scales using the power spectral density (PSD) formalism. We find that the PSDs are well described by broken power laws, and variability on long time-scales (≳1 Gyr) accounts for most of the power in galaxy SFHs. Most hydrodynamical models show increased variability on shorter time-scales (≲300 Myr) with decreasing stellar mass. Quenching can induce ∼0.4−1 dex of additional power on time-scales &gt;1 Gyr. The dark matter accretion histories of galaxies have remarkably self-similar PSDs and are coherent with the in situ star formation on time-scales &gt;3 Gyr. There is considerable diversity among the different models in their (i) power due to star formation rate variability at a given time-scale, (ii) amount of correlation with adjacent time-scales (PSD slope), (iii) evolution of median PSDs with stellar mass, and (iv) presence and locations of breaks in the PSDs. The PSD framework is a useful space to study the SFHs of galaxies since model predictions vary widely. Observational constraints in this space will help constrain the relative strengths of the physical processes responsible for this variability.

scholarly journals A redshift-dependent IRX–β dust attenuation relation for TNG50 galaxies

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (4) ◽  
pp. 4773-4794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schulz ◽  
Gergö Popping ◽  
Annalisa Pillepich ◽  
Dylan Nelson ◽  
Mark Vogelsberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Main Sequence ◽  
Infrared Excess ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Dust Composition ◽  
Metal Ratio ◽  
Stellar Masses ◽  
Dust Attenuation ◽  
Star Formation Histories

ABSTRACT We study the relation between the UV slope, β, and the ratio between the infrared- and UV luminosities (IRX) of galaxies from TNG50, the latest installment of the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation simulations. We select 7280 star-forming main-sequence (SFMS) galaxies with stellar mass ≥109 M⊙ at redshifts 0 ≤ z ≤ 4 and perform radiative transfer with skirt to model effects of interstellar medium dust on the emitted stellar light. Assuming a Milky Way dust type and a dust-to-metal ratio of 0.3, we find that TNG50 SFMS galaxies generally agree with observationally derived IRX–β relations at z ≲ 1. However, we find a redshift-dependent systematic offset with respect to empirically derived local relations, with the TNG50 IRX–β relation shifting towards lower β and steepening at higher redshifts. This is partially driven by variations in the dust-uncorrected UV slope of galaxies, due to different star formation histories of galaxies selected at different cosmic epochs; we suggest the remainder of the effect is caused by differences in the effective dust attenuation curves of galaxies as a function of redshift. We find a typical galaxy-to-galaxy variation of 0.3 dex in infrared excess (IRX) at fixed β, correlated with intrinsic galaxy properties: galaxies with higher star formation rates, star formation efficiencies, gas metallicities and stellar masses exhibit larger IRX values. We demonstrate a degeneracy between stellar age, dust geometry, and dust composition: z = 4 galaxies with a Small Magellanic Cloud dust type follow the same IRX–β relation as low-redshift galaxies with MW dust. We provide a redshift-dependent fitting function for the IRX–β relation for MW dust based on our models.

scholarly journals A multi-phase model for simulations of galaxy formation

2003 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 273-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Springel ◽  
Lars Hernquist
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Phase Structure ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Disk Galaxies ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Hot Gas ◽  
Feedback Model ◽  
Multi Phase

We discuss SPH simulations of galaxy formation which use a hybrid method to describe a two-phase structure of the star forming ISM on unresolved scales. Our modeling includes radiative cooling, heating due to a UV background, growth of cold clouds embedded in an ambient hot gas, star formation out of cloud material, feedback due to supernovae in the form of thermal heating and cloud evaporation, starbursts that can lead to galactic outflows, and metal enrichment. Our particular model for the treatment of the two-phase structure is based on a modified and extended version of the grid-based approach of Yepes et al. (1997). We discuss the properties of the feedback model and show how it stabilizes star forming disk galaxies and reduces the cosmic star formation rate to a level consistent with current observational constraints.

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