scholarly journals ALMA observations of local analogs of high-redshift star-forming galaxies

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S352) ◽  
pp. 314-314
Author(s):  
Thiago Gonçalves

AbstractI will present the result of two observational projects using ALMA to investigate the properties of the molecular gas in low-redshift (z ∼ 0.2) ultraviolet-luminous galaxies. These objects are extremely dense, highly star-forming and very metal-poor compared to other galaxies of similar stellar mass at the same redshifts, justifying their use as analogues to distant main-sequence galaxies in an attempt to understand the interplay between gas and star formation under similar conditions in the early universe. Firstly, we have observed the most metal-poor objects in our sample, in order to determine whether metallicity plays a role in CO emissivity of the molecular regions in these galaxies. Our four non-detections, with stringent upper limits, shows that CO is severely depleted, even under turbulent conditions. We have also observed one object with high spatial resolution, comparing data from CO emission and hydrogen recombination lines down to a resolution of ∼ 400 pc, allowing for a detailed analysis of the conversion of gas into new stars. We are able to compare star formation laws in individual clumps and the surrounding ISM, highlighting the difference between star formation efficiencies in each environment within the galaxy. Finally, the high-resolution data offers interesting insights on the growth of supermassive black holes in these galaxies: our combined multiwavelength data shows that there must be a low-mass (105 Mȯ) black hole in the center of the galaxy, while bolometric luminosity in the central region is dominated by star formation activity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (4) ◽  
pp. 4992-5005
Author(s):  
A Fraser-McKelvie ◽  
L Cortese ◽  
J van de Sande ◽  
J J Bryant ◽  
B Catinella ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Galaxy internal structure growth has long been accused of inhibiting star formation in disc galaxies. We investigate the potential physical connection between the growth of dispersion-supported stellar structures (e.g. classical bulges) and the position of galaxies on the star-forming main sequence at z ∼ 0. Combining the might of the SAMI and MaNGA galaxy surveys, we measure the λRe spin parameter for 3289 galaxies over $9.5 \lt \log M_{\star } [\rm {M}_{\odot }] \lt 12$. At all stellar masses, galaxies at the locus of the main sequence possess λRe values indicative of intrinsically flattened discs. However, above $\log M_{\star }[\rm {M}_{\odot }]\sim 10.5$ where the main sequence starts bending, we find tantalizing evidence for an increase in the number of galaxies with dispersion-supported structures, perhaps suggesting a connection between bulges and the bending of the main sequence. Moving above the main sequence, we see no evidence of any change in the typical spin parameter in galaxies once gravitationally interacting systems are excluded from the sample. Similarly, up to 1 dex below the main sequence, λRe remains roughly constant and only at very high stellar masses ($\log M_{\star }[\rm {M}_{\odot }]\gt 11$), do we see a rapid decrease in λRe once galaxies decline in star formation activity. If this trend is confirmed, it would be indicative of different quenching mechanisms acting on high- and low-mass galaxies. The results suggest that whilst a population of galaxies possessing some dispersion-supported structure is already present on the star-forming main sequence, further growth would be required after the galaxy has quenched to match the kinematic properties observed in passive galaxies at z ∼ 0.


2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A60 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Cañameras ◽  
N. P. H. Nesvadba ◽  
M. Limousin ◽  
H. Dole ◽  
R. Kneissl ◽  
...  

We report the discovery of a molecular wind signature from a massive intensely star-forming clump of a few 109 M⊙, in the strongly gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxy “the Emerald” (PLCK_G165.7+49.0) at z = 2.236. The Emerald is amongst the brightest high-redshift galaxies on the submillimeter sky, and was initially discovered with the Planck satellite. The system contains two magnificient structures with projected lengths of 28.5″ and 21″ formed by multiple, near-infrared arcs, falling behind a massive galaxy cluster at z = 0.35, as well as an adjacent filament that has so far escaped discovery in other wavebands. We used HST/WFC3 and CFHT optical and near-infrared imaging together with IRAM and SMA interferometry of the CO(4–3) line and 850 μm dust emission to characterize the foreground lensing mass distribution, construct a lens model with LENSTOOL, and calculate gravitational magnification factors between 20 and 50 in most of the source. The majority of the star formation takes place within two massive star-forming clumps which are marginally gravitationally bound and embedded in a 9 × 1010 M⊙, fragmented disk with 20% gas fraction. The stellar continuum morphology is much smoother and also well resolved perpendicular to the magnification axis. One of the clumps shows a pronounced blue wing in the CO(4–3) line profile, which we interpret as a wind signature. The mass outflow rates are high enough for us to suspect that the clump might become unbound within a few tens of Myr, unless the outflowing gas can be replenished by gas accretion from the surrounding disk. The velocity offset of –200 km s−1 is above the escape velocity of the clump, but not that of the galaxy overall, suggesting that much of this material might ultimately rain back onto the galaxy and contribute to fueling subsequent star formation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S341) ◽  
pp. 226-230
Author(s):  
Christian Binggeli ◽  
Erik Zackrisson ◽  
Xiangcheng Ma ◽  
Akio K. Inoue ◽  
Anton Vikaeus ◽  
...  

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (4) ◽  
pp. 5596-5605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin H W Cook ◽  
Luca Cortese ◽  
Barbara Catinella ◽  
Aaron Robotham

ABSTRACT We use our catalogue of structural decomposition measurements for the extended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (xGASS) to study the role of bulges both along and across the galaxy star-forming main sequence (SFMS). We show that the slope in the sSFR–M⋆ relation flattens by ∼0.1 dex per decade in M⋆ when re-normalizing specifice star formation rate (sSFR) by disc stellar mass instead of total stellar mass. However, recasting the sSFR–M⋆ relation into the framework of only disc-specific quantities shows that a residual trend remains against disc stellar mass with equivalent slope and comparable scatter to that of the total galaxy relation. This suggests that the residual declining slope of the SFMS is intrinsic to the disc components of galaxies. We further investigate the distribution of bulge-to-total ratios (B/T) as a function of distance from the SFMS (ΔSFRMS). At all stellar masses, the average B/T of local galaxies decreases monotonically with increasing ΔSFRMS. Contrary to previous works, we find that the upper envelope of the SFMS is not dominated by objects with a significant bulge component. This rules out a scenario in which, in the local Universe, objects with increased star formation activity are simultaneously experiencing a significant bulge growth. We suggest that much of the discrepancies between different works studying the role of bulges originate from differences in the methodology of structurally decomposing galaxies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
pp. A15 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Girard ◽  
M. Dessauges-Zavadsky ◽  
D. Schaerer ◽  
J. Richard ◽  
K. Nakajima ◽  
...  

Observations have shown that massive star-forming clumps are present in the internal structure of high-redshift galaxies. One way to study these clumps in detail with a higher spatial resolution is by exploiting the power of strong gravitational lensing which stretches images on the sky. In this work, we present an analysis of the clumpy galaxy A68-HLS115 at z = 1.5858, located behind the cluster Abell 68, but strongly lensed by a cluster galaxy member. Resolved observations with SINFONI/VLT in the near-infrared (NIR) show Hα, Hβ, [NII], and [OIII] emission lines. Combined with images covering the B band to the far-infrared (FIR) and CO(2–1) observations, this makes this galaxy one of the only sources for which such multi-band observations are available and for which it is possible to study the properties of resolved star-forming clumps and to perform a detailed analysis of the integrated properties, kinematics, and metallicity. We obtain a stability of υrot/σ0 = 2.73 by modeling the kinematics, which means that the galaxy is dominated by rotation, but this ratio also indicates that the disk is marginally stable. We find a high intrinsic velocity dispersion of 80 ± 10 km s−1 that could be explained by the high gas fraction of fgas = 0.75 ± 0.15 observed in this galaxy. This high fgas and the observed sSFR of 3.12 Gyr−1 suggest that the disk turbulence and instabilities are mostly regulated by incoming gas (available gas reservoir for star formation). The direct measure of the Toomre stability criterion of Qcrit = 0.70 could also indicate the presence of a quasi-stable thick disk. Finally, we identify three clumps in the Hα map which have similar velocity dispersions, metallicities, and seem to be embedded in the rotating disk. These three clumps contribute together to ∼40% on the SFRHα of the galaxy and show a star formation rate density about ∼100 times higher than HII regions in the local Universe.


Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6406) ◽  
pp. 1016-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Spilker ◽  
M. Aravena ◽  
M. Béthermin ◽  
S. C. Chapman ◽  
C.-C. Chen ◽  
...  

Galaxies grow inefficiently, with only a small percentage of the available gas converted into stars each free-fall time. Feedback processes, such as outflowing winds driven by radiation pressure, supernovae, or supermassive black hole accretion, can act to halt star formation if they heat or expel the gas supply. We report a molecular outflow launched from a dust-rich star-forming galaxy at redshift 5.3, 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The outflow reaches velocities up to 800 kilometers per second relative to the galaxy, is resolved into multiple clumps, and carries mass at a rate within a factor of 2 of the star formation rate. Our results show that molecular outflows can remove a large fraction of the gas available for star formation from galaxies at high redshift.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 423-424
Author(s):  
K. Menéndez-Delmestre ◽  
A. W. Blain ◽  
I. Smail ◽  
D. M. Alexander ◽  
S. C. Chapman ◽  
...  

AbstractUltra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs; L > 1012 L⊙) are quite rare in the local universe, but seem to dominate the co-moving energy density at z > 2. Many are optically-faint, dust-obscured galaxies that have been identified only relatively recently by the detection of their thermal dust emission redshifted into the sub-mm wavelengths. These submm galaxies (SMGs) have been shown to be a massive objects (M* ~ 1011 M⊙) undergoing intense star-formation(SFRs ~ 102 − 103 M⊙ yr−1) and the likely progenitors of massive ellipticals today. However, the AGN contribution to the far-IR luminosity had for years remained a caveat to these results. We used the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) to investigate the energetics of 24 radio-identified and spectroscopically-confirmed SMGs in the redshift range of 0.6 < z < 3.2. We find emission from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) – which are associated with intense star-formation activity – in >80% of our sample and find that the median mid-IR spectrum is well described by a starburst component with an additional power-law continuum representing < 32% AGN contribution to the far-IR luminosity. We also find evidence for a more extended distribution of warm dust in SMGs compared to the more compact nuclear bursts in local ULIRGs and starbursts, suggesting that SMGs are not simple high-redshift analogs of local ULIRGs or nuclear starbursts, but have star formation which resembles that seen in less-extreme star-forming environments at z ~ 0.


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (1) ◽  
pp. 1436-1450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhui Lian ◽  
Daniel Thomas ◽  
Cheng Li ◽  
Zheng Zheng ◽  
Claudia Maraston ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Within the standard model of hierarchical galaxy formation in a Λ cold dark matter universe, the environment of galaxies is expected to play a key role in driving galaxy formation and evolution. In this paper, we investigate whether and how the gas metallicity and the star formation surface density (ΣSFR) depend on galaxy environment. To this end, we analyse a sample of 1162 local, star-forming galaxies from the galaxy survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA). Generally, both parameters do not show any significant dependence on environment. However, in agreement with previous studies, we find that low-mass satellite galaxies are an exception to this rule. The gas metallicity in these objects increases while their ΣSFR decreases slightly with environmental density. The present analysis of MaNGA data allows us to extend this to spatially resolved properties. Our study reveals that the gas metallicity gradients of low-mass satellites flatten and their ΣSFR gradients steepen with increasing environmental density. By extensively exploring a chemical evolution model, we identify two scenarios that are able to explain this pattern: metal-enriched gas accretion or pristine gas inflow with varying accretion time-scales. The latter scenario better matches the observed ΣSFR gradients, and is therefore our preferred solution. In this model, a shorter gas accretion time-scale at larger radii is required. This suggests that ‘outside–in quenching’ governs the star formation processes of low-mass satellite galaxies in dense environments.


1991 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 138-138
Author(s):  
H. R. Butcher

Existing observations of the Magellanic Clouds suggest substantially different star-forming histories for the two systems. The reliability of this conclusion is discussed in the context of the uncertainties and age resolutions of various empirical methods of studying galaxy evolution. An attempt is also made to relate likely evolutionary scenarios for the Clouds to the histories of other Local Group systems, to the evolution seen in galaxies at high redshift, and to possible histories determined by interaction with the Galaxy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Cheng ◽  
Cong Kevin Xu ◽  
Lizhi Xie ◽  
Zhizheng Pan ◽  
Wei Du ◽  
...  

Context. Most of the massive star-forming galaxies are found to have “inside-out” stellar mass growth modes, which means the inner parts of the galaxies mainly consist of the older stellar population, while the star forming in the outskirt of the galaxy is still ongoing. Aims. The high-resolution HST images from Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey and Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey projects with the unprecedented depth in both F275W and F160W bands are the perfect data sets to study the forming and formed stellar distribution directly. Methods. We selected the low redshift (0.05 <  zspec <  0.3) galaxy sample from the GOODS-North field where the HST F275W and F160W images are available. Then we measured the half light radius in F275W and F160W bands, which are the indicators of the star formation and stellar mass. Results. By comparing the F275W and F160W half light radius, we find the massive galaxies are mainly follow the “inside-out” growth mode, which is consistent with the previous results. Moreover, the HST F275W and F160W images reveal that some of the low-mass galaxies (< 108 M⊙) have the “outside-in” growth mode: their images show a compact UV morphology, implying an ongoing star formation in the galaxy centre, while the stars in the outskirts of the galaxies are already formed. The two modes transit smoothly at stellar mass range about 108 − 9 M⊙ with a large scatter. We also try to identify the possible neighbour massive galaxies from the SDSS data, which represent the massive galaxy sample. We find that all of the spec-z selected galaxies have no massive galaxy nearby. Thus the “outside-in” mode we find in the low-mass galaxies are not likely originated from the environment.


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