Measuring the H i Content of Individual Galaxies Out to the Epoch of Reionization with [C ii]

The H i gas content is a key ingredient in galaxy evolution, the study of which has been limited to moderate cosmological distances for individual galaxies due to the weakness of the hyperfine H i 21 cm transition. Here we present a new approach that allows us to infer the H i gas mass M HI of individual galaxies up to z ≈ 6, based on a direct measurement of the [C ii]-to-H i conversion factor in star-forming galaxies at z ≳ 2 using γ-ray burst afterglows. By compiling recent [C ii]-158 μm emission line measurements we quantify the evolution of the H i content in galaxies through cosmic time. We find that M HI starts to exceed the stellar mass M ⋆ at z ≳ 1, and increases as a function of redshift. The H i fraction of the total baryonic mass increases from around 20% at z = 0 to about 60% at z ∼ 6. We further uncover a universal relation between the H i gas fraction M HI/M ⋆ and the gas-phase metallicity, which seems to hold from z ≈ 6 to z = 0. The majority of galaxies at z > 2 are observed to have H i depletion times, t dep,HI = M HI/SFR, less than ≈2 Gyr, substantially shorter than for z ∼ 0 galaxies. Finally, we use the [C ii]-to-H i conversion factor to determine the cosmic mass density of H i in galaxies, ρ HI, at three distinct epochs: z ≈ 0, z ≈ 2, and z ∼ 4–6. These measurements are consistent with previous estimates based on 21 cm H i observations in the local universe and with damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs) at z ≳ 2, suggesting an overall decrease by a factor of ≈5 in ρ HI(z) from the end of the reionization epoch to the present.

Maximum baryon masses for static neutron stars in f(R) gravity

We investigate the upper mass limit predictions of the baryonic mass for static neutron stars in the context of f(R) gravity. We use the most popular f(R) gravity model, namely the R2gravity, and calculate the maximum baryon mass of static neutron stars adopting several realistic equations of state and one ideal equation of state, namely that of causal limit. Our motivation is based on the fact that neutron stars with baryon masses larger than the maximum mass for static neutron star configurations inevitably collapse to black holes. Thus with our analysis, we want further to enlighten the predictions for the maximum baryon masses of static neutron stars in R2gravity, which, in turn, further strengthens our understanding of the mysterious mass-gap region. As we show, the baryon masses of most of the equations of states studied in this paper, lie in the lower limits of the mass-gap region M ∼ 2.5 − 5M⊙, but intriguingly enough, the highest value of the maximum baryon masses we found is of the order of M ∼ 3M⊙. This upper mass limit also appears as a maximum static neutron star gravitational mass limit in other contexts. Combining the two results which refer to baryon and gravitational masses, we point out that the gravitational mass of static neutron stars cannot be larger than three solar masses, while based on maximum baryon masses results of the present work, we can conspicuously state that it is highly likely the lower mass limits of astrophysical black holes in the range of M ∼ 2.5 − 3M⊙. This, in turn, implies that maximum neutron star masses in the context of R2gravity are likely to be in the lower limits of the range of M ∼ 2.4 − 3M⊙.

Rotation curves and scaling relations of extremely massive spiral galaxies

We study the kinematics and scaling relations of a sample of 43 giant spiral galaxies that have stellar masses exceeding 1011 M⊙ and optical discs up to 80 kpc in radius. We use a hybrid 3D-1D approach to fit 3D kinematic models to long-slit observations of the Hα-$\rm{[N\, \small {II}]}$ emission lines and we obtain robust rotation curves of these massive systems. We find that all galaxies in our sample seem to reach a flat part of the rotation curve within the outermost optical radius. We use the derived kinematics to study the high-mass end of the two most important scaling relations for spiral galaxies: the stellar/baryonic mass Tully-Fisher relation and the Fall (mass-angular momentum) relation. All galaxies in our sample, with the possible exception of the two fastest rotators, lie comfortably on both these scaling relations determined at lower masses, without any evident break or bend at the high-mass regime. When we combine our high-mass sample with lower-mass data from the Spitzer Photometry & Accurate Rotation Curves catalog, we find a slope of α = 4.25 ± 0.19 for the stellar Tully-Fisher relation and a slope of γ = 0.64 ± 0.11 for the Fall relation. Our results indicate that most, if not all, of these rare, giant spiral galaxies are scaled up versions of less massive discs and that spiral galaxies are a self-similar population of objects up to the very high-mass end.

The origin of rest-mass energy

Today we have a solid, if incomplete, physical picture of how inertia is created in the standard model. We know that most of the visible baryonic ‘mass’ in the Universe is due to gluonic back-reaction on accelerated quarks, the latter of which attribute their own inertia to a coupling with the Higgs field – a process that elegantly and self-consistently also assigns inertia to several other particles. But we have never had a physically viable explanation for the origin of rest-mass energy, in spite of many attempts at understanding it towards the end of the nineteenth century, culminating with Einstein’s own landmark contribution in his Annus Mirabilis. Here, we introduce to this discussion some of the insights we have garnered from the latest cosmological observations and theoretical modeling to calculate our gravitational binding energy with that portion of the Universe to which we are causally connected, and demonstrate that this energy is indeed equal to $$mc^2$$ m c 2 when the inertia m is viewed as a surrogate for gravitational mass.

Distribution of Baryonic and Dark Matter in Spiral Galaxies

In the present paper, the distributions of baryonic and dark matter are derived for 24 northern sky spiral galaxies. The baryonic mass surface density profile is derived, and the component of the galaxies' observed rotation due to the baryons (stars and gas) is computed. Thus, the baryonic rotation curve of each sampled galaxy is separated from the observed rotation curve given in data base (Stapehane Courteau).

Black hole shadows in Verlinde’s emergent gravity

ABSTRACT We study the effect of baryonic matter and apparent dark matter on black hole (BH) shadow in Verlinde’s emergent gravity. To do so, we consider different baryonic mass profiles and an optically-thin disc region described by a gas in a radial free fall around the BH. Assuming that most of the baryonic matter in the galaxy is located near the Galactic Centre surrounding a supermassive BH, we use two models of power law mass profile for the baryonic matter to study the effect of apparent dark matter on the shadow and the corresponding intensity. We find that the effect of the surrounding matter on the shadow size using observational values is small; however, it becomes significant when the surrounding baryonic matter increases. To this end, we show that the effect of simple power law function in the limit of constant baryonic mass in Verlinde’s theory implies an apparent dark matter effect that is similar to the standard gravity having an isothermal dark matter profile. We also find the intensity of the electromagnetic flux radiation depending on the surrounding mass.

Magnetic deformation of neutron stars in scalar-tensor theories

Scalar-tensor theories are among the most promising alternatives to general relativity that have been developed to account for some long-standing issues in our understanding of gravity. Some of these theories predict the existence of a non-linear phenomenon that is spontaneous scalarisation, which can lead to the appearance of sizable modifications to general relativity in the presence of compact matter distributions, namely neutron stars. On the one hand, one of the effects of the scalar field is to modify the emission of gravitational waves that are due to both variations in the quadrupolar deformation of the star and the presence of additional modes of emission. On the other hand, neutron stars are known to harbour extremely powerful magnetic fields which can affect their structure and shape, leading, in turn, to the emission of gravitational waves – in this case due to a magnetic quadrupolar deformation. In this work, we investigate how the presence of spontaneous scalarisation can affect the magnetic deformation of neutron stars and their emission of quadrupolar gravitational waves, both of tensor and scalar nature. We show that it is possible to provide simple parametrisations of the magnetic deformation and gravitational wave power of neutron stars in terms of their baryonic mass, circumferential radius, and scalar charge, while also demonstrating that a universal scaling exists independently of the magnetic field geometry and of the parameters of the scalar-tensor theory. Finally, we comment on the observability of the deviations in the strain of gravitational waves from general relativity by current and future observatories.

On ancient solar-type stars – II

We report on the progress of our survey on ancient solar-type stars down to main-sequence effective temperatures Teff ≥ 5300 K and within 42 pc of the Sun. High signal-to-noise, high-resolution spectroscopy is presented for a second major subset of the Population II (τ ≥ 12 Gyr) and the intermediate-disc stars (τ ≃ 10 Gyr) within that volume. In conjunction with updates and the analyses of the single and composite sample spectra, we discuss evidence for new companions or candidates from their radial velocities, chromospheric activities, lithium and barium enrichments, and we also draw attention to related sources in the Gaia DR2 data. Among the Population II stars we note a substantial fraction of degenerates, mass transfer, and merger systems that possibly amount to about 20 per cent of that population, with inherently important consequences on the involved stellar ages and the baryonic mass budget. At the present stage, the survey has reached a two-thirds level of local volume-completeness. Key to that objective will be the forthcoming Gaia data, in terms of new companions, companion masses, and precision parallaxes from orbital solutions, in particular at the sample periphery, where many of the sources inevitably reside. In an appendix we describe a subset of about fifty a priori survey candidates, whose analyses discard them as Population I stars.

An ALMA/NOEMA survey of the molecular gas properties of high-redshift star-forming galaxies

We have used ALMA and NOEMA to study the molecular gas reservoirs in 61 ALMA-identified submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the COSMOS, UDS and ECDFS fields. We detect 12CO (Jup = 2–5) emission lines in 50 sources, and [C i](3P1 − 3P0) emission in eight, at z = 1.2–4.8 and with a median redshift of 2.9 ± 0.2. By supplementing our data with literature sources we construct a statistical CO spectral line energy distribution and find that the 12CO line luminosities in SMGs peak at Jup ∼ 6, consistent with similar studies. We also test the correlations of the CO, [C i] and dust as tracers of the gas mass, finding the three to correlate well, although the CO and dust mass as estimated from the 3-mm continuum are preferable. We estimate that SMGs lie mostly on or just above the star-forming main sequence, with a median gas depletion timescale, tdep = Mgas/SFR, of 210 ± 40 Myr for our sample. Additionally, tdep declines with redshift across z ∼ 1–5, while the molecular gas fraction, μgas = Mgas/M*, increases across the same redshift range. Finally, we demonstrate that the distribution of total baryonic mass and dynamical line width, Mbaryon–σ, for our SMGs is consistent with that followed by early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster, providing strong support to the suggestion that SMGs are progenitors of massive local spheroidal galaxies. On the basis of this we suggest that the SMG populations above and below an 870-μm flux limit of S870 ∼ 5 mJy may correspond to the division between slow- and fast-rotators seen in local early-type galaxies.