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

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.

Download Full-text

Identification of galaxies that experienced a recent major drop of star formation

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201832715 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 615 ◽

pp. A61 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

L. Ciesla ◽

D. Elbaz ◽

C. Schreiber ◽

E. Daddi ◽

T. Wang

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Active Regions ◽

Star Formation History ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Star Forming ◽

Star Formation Activity ◽

Main Driver ◽

Stellar Masses

Variations of star formation activity may happen on a large range of timescales and some of them are expected to be short, that is, a few hundred million years. The study of the physical processes linked to these rapid variations requires large statistical samples to pinpoint galaxies undergoing such transformations. Building upon a previous study, we define a method to blindly identify galaxies that have undergone, and may still be undergoing, a fast downfall of their star formation activity, that is, a more than 80% drop in star formation rate (SFR) occurring in less than 500 Myr. Modeling galaxies’ spectral energy distribution (SED) with a delayed-τ star formation history, with and without allowing an instantaneous SFR drop within the last hundred million years, we isolate 102 candidates out of a subsample of 6680 galaxies classified as “star forming” from the UVJ criterion in the ZFOURGE catalogs. These galaxies are mostly located in the lower part of the SFR-M* main sequence (MS) and extend up to a factor 100 below it. They also lie close to the limit between the passive and active regions on the UVJ diagram, indicating that they are in a transition phase. We show that the selected candidates have different physical properties compared to galaxies with similar UVJ colors, namely, lower SFRs and different stellar masses. The morphology of the candidates shows no preference for a particular type. Among the 102 candidates, only 4 show signs of a active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity (from X-ray luminosity or ultraviolet–infrared (UV–IR) SED fitting decomposition). This low fraction of AGNs among the candidates implies that AGN activity may not be the main driver of the recent downfall, although timescale differences and duty cycle must be taken into account. We finally attempt to recover the past position of these galaxies on the SFR-M* plane, before the downfall of their star formation and show that some of them were in the starburst region before, and are now back on the MS. These candidates constitute a promising sample that needs more investigation in order to understand the different mechanisms at the origin of the star formation decrease of the Universe since z ~ 2.

Download Full-text

The high-redshift SFR–M* relation is sensitive to the employed star formation rate and stellar mass indicators: towards addressing the tension between observations and simulations

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa157 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 492 (4) ◽

pp. 5592-5606 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

A Katsianis ◽

V Gonzalez ◽

D Barrientos ◽

X Yang ◽

C D P Lagos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Star Formation Rate ◽

High Redshift ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Stellar Mass ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Distribution Fitting ◽

Star Forming ◽

Stellar Masses

ABSTRACT There is a severe tension between the observed star formation rate (SFR)–stellar mass (M⋆) relations reported by different authors at z = 1–4. In addition, the observations have not been successfully reproduced by state-of-the-art cosmological simulations that tend to predict a factor of 2–4 smaller SFRs at a fixed M⋆. We examine the evolution of the SFR–M⋆ relation of z = 1–4 galaxies using the skirt simulated spectral energy distributions of galaxies sampled from the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments simulations. We derive SFRs and stellar masses by mimicking different observational techniques. We find that the tension between observed and simulated SFR–M⋆ relations is largely alleviated if similar methods are used to infer the galaxy properties. We find that relations relying on infrared wavelengths (e.g. 24 ${\rm \, \mu m}$, MIPS – 24, 70, and 160 ${\rm \, \mu m}$ or SPIRE – 250, 350, and 500 ${\rm \, \mu m}$) have SFRs that exceed the intrinsic relation by 0.5 dex. Relations that rely on the spectral energy distribution fitting technique underpredict the SFRs at a fixed stellar mass by −0.5 dex at z ∼ 4 but overpredict the measurements by 0.3 dex at z ∼ 1. Relations relying on dust-corrected rest-frame ultraviolet luminosities, are flatter since they overpredict/underpredict SFRs for low/high star-forming objects and yield deviations from the intrinsic relation from 0.10 to −0.13 dex at z ∼ 4. We suggest that the severe tension between different observational studies can be broadly explained by the fact that different groups employ different techniques to infer their SFRs.

Download Full-text

Constraining the Milky Way’s ultraviolet to infrared SED with Gaussian Process Regression

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab2618 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Catherine E Fielder ◽

Jeffrey A Newman ◽

Brett H Andrews ◽

Gail Zasowski ◽

Nicholas F Boardman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Gaussian Process ◽

Milky Way ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Gaussian Process Regression ◽

Axial Ratio ◽

Star Formation History ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Star Forming

Abstract Improving our knowledge of global Milky Way (MW) properties is critical for connecting the detailed measurements only possible from within our Galaxy to our understanding of the broader galaxy population. We here train Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) models on SDSS galaxies to map from galaxy properties (stellar mass, apparent axial ratio, star formation rate, bulge-to-total ratio, disk scale length, and bar vote fraction) to UV (GALEX FUV/NUV), optical (SDSS ugriz) and IR (2MASS JHKs and WISE W1/W2/W3/W4) fluxes and uncertainties. With these models we estimate the photometric properties of the MW, resulting in a full UV-to-IR spectral energy distribution (SED) as it would be measured externally, viewed face-on. We confirm that the Milky Way lies in the green valley in optical diagnostic diagrams, but show for the first time that the MW is in the star-forming region in standard UV and IR diagnostics—characteristic of the population of red spiral galaxies. Although our GPR method predicts one band at a time, the resulting MW UV–IR SED is consistent with SEDs of local spirals with characteristics broadly similar to the MW, suggesting that these independent predictions can be combined reliably. Our UV–IR SED will be invaluable for reconstructing the MW’s star formation history using the same tools employed for external galaxies, allowing comparisons of results from in situ measurements to those from the methods used for extra-galactic objects.

Download Full-text

Towards a census of high-redshift dusty galaxies with Herschel

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201731888 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 614 ◽

pp. A33 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

D. Donevski ◽

V. Buat ◽

F. Boone ◽

C. Pappalardo ◽

M. Bethermin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Galaxy Evolution ◽

High Redshift ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Far Infrared ◽

Virgo Cluster ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Distribution Fitting ◽

Redshift Distribution ◽

Star Forming

Context. Over the last decade a large number of dusty star-forming galaxies has been discovered up to redshift z = 2 − 3 and recent studies have attempted to push the highly confused Herschel SPIRE surveys beyond that distance. To search for z ≥ 4 galaxies they often consider the sources with fluxes rising from 250 μm to 500 μm (so-called “500 μm-risers”). Herschel surveys offer a unique opportunity to efficiently select a large number of these rare objects, and thus gain insight into the prodigious star-forming activity that takes place in the very distant Universe. Aims. We aim to implement a novel method to obtain a statistical sample of 500 μm-risers and fully evaluate our selection inspecting different models of galaxy evolution. Methods. We consider one of the largest and deepest Herschel surveys, the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey. We develop a novel selection algorithm which links the source extraction and spectral energy distribution fitting. To fully quantify selection biases we make end-to-end simulations including clustering and lensing. Results. We select 133 500 μm-risers over 55 deg2, imposing the criteria: S500 > S350 > S250, S250 > 13.2 mJy and S500 > 30 mJy. Differential number counts are in fairly good agreement with models, displaying a better match than other existing samples. The estimated fraction of strongly lensed sources is 24+6-5% based on models. Conclusions. We present the faintest sample of 500 μm-risers down to S250 = 13.2 mJy. We show that noise and strong lensing have an important impact on measured counts and redshift distribution of selected sources. We estimate the flux-corrected star formation rate density at 4 < z < 5 with the 500 μm-risers and find it to be close to the total value measured in far-infrared. This indicates that colour selection is not a limiting effect to search for the most massive, dusty z > 4 sources.

Download Full-text

Kinematics and dynamics of the luminous infrared galaxy pair NGC 5257/58 (Arp 240)

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201834159 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 621 ◽

pp. A25 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

I. Fuentes-Carrera ◽

M. Rosado ◽

P. Amram ◽

E. Laurikainen ◽

H. Salo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Energy Distribution ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Star Formation History ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Kinematics And Dynamics ◽

Ionized Gas ◽

Star Forming ◽

External Perturbations ◽

Formation History

Context. Encounters between galaxies modify their morphology, kinematics, and star formation history. The relation between these changes and external perturbations is not straightforward. The great number of parameters involved requires both the study of large samples and individual encounters where particular features, motions, and perturbations can be traced and analysed in detail. Aims. We analysed the morphology, kinematics, and dynamics of two luminous infrared spiral galaxies of almost equal mass, NGC 5257 and NGC 5258, in which star formation is mostly confined to the spiral arms, in order to understand interactions between galaxies of equivalent masses and star-forming processes during the encounter. Methods. Using scanning Fabry–Perot interferometry, we studied the contribution of circular and non-circular motions and the response of the ionized gas to external perturbations. We compared the kinematics with direct images and traced the star-forming processes and gravitational effects due to the presence of the other galaxy. The spectral energy distribution of each member of the pair was fitted. A mass model was fitted to the rotation curve of each galaxy. Results. Large, non-circular motions detected in both galaxies are associated with a bar, spiral arms, and HII regions for the inner parts of the galaxies, and with the tidal interaction for the outer parts of the discs. Bifurcations in the rotation curves indicate that the galaxies have recently undergone pericentric passage. The pattern speed of a perturbation of one of the galaxies is computed. Location of a possible corotation seems to indicate that the gravitational response of the ionized gas in the outer parts of the disc is related to the regions where ongoing star formation is confined. The spectral energy distribution fit indicates slightly different star formation history for each member of the pair. For both galaxies, a pseudo-isothermal halo better fits the global mass distribution.

Download Full-text

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z ∼ 1

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201832788 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 631 ◽

pp. A156 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

L. A. Díaz-García ◽

A. J. Cenarro ◽

C. López-Sanjuan ◽

I. Ferreras ◽

M. Cerviño ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Rest Frame ◽

Stellar Population ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Stellar Mass ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Population Parameters ◽

Star Forming ◽

Set Constraints

Aims. Our aim is to determine the distribution of stellar population parameters (extinction, age, metallicity, and star formation rates) of quiescent galaxies within the rest-frame stellar mass–colour diagrams and UVJ colour–colour diagrams corrected for extinction up to z ∼ 1. These novel diagrams reduce the contamination in samples of quiescent galaxies owing to dust-reddened galaxies, and they provide useful constraints on stellar population parameters only using rest-frame colours and/or stellar mass. Methods. We set constraints on the stellar population parameters of quiescent galaxies combining the ALHAMBRA multi-filter photo-spectra with our fitting code for spectral energy distribution, MUlti-Filter FITting (MUFFIT), making use of composite stellar population models based on two independent sets of simple stellar population (SSP) models. The extinction obtained by MUFFIT allowed us to remove dusty star-forming (DSF) galaxies from the sample of red UVJ galaxies. The distributions of stellar population parameters across these rest-frame diagrams are revealed after the dust correction and are fitted by LOESS, a bi-dimensional and locally weighted regression method, to reduce uncertainty effects. Results. Quiescent galaxy samples defined via classical UVJ diagrams are typically contaminated by a ∼20% fraction of DSF galaxies. A significant part of the galaxies in the green valley are actually obscured star-forming galaxies (∼30–65%). Consequently, the transition of galaxies from the blue cloud to the red sequence, and hence the related mechanisms for quenching, seems to be much more efficient and faster than previously reported. The rest-frame stellar mass–colour and UVJ colour–colour diagrams are useful for constraining the age, metallicity, extinction, and star formation rate of quiescent galaxies by only their redshift, rest-frame colours, and/or stellar mass. Dust correction plays an important role in understanding how quiescent galaxies are distributed in these diagrams and is key to performing a pure selection of quiescent galaxies via intrinsic colours.

Download Full-text

Stellar populations of HII galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201732275 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 615 ◽

pp. A55 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Eduardo Telles ◽

Jorge Melnick

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Stellar Population ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Age Determination ◽

Stellar Mass ◽

Star Formation History ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Formation History ◽

Star Formation Histories

Aims. We present a UV to mid-IR spectral energy distribution (SED) study of a large sample of SDSS DR13 HII galaxies. These galaxies are selected as starbursts (EW(Hα) > 50Å) and for their high-excitation locus in the upper left region of the BPT diagram. Their photometry was derived from the cross-matched GALEX, SDSS, UKDISS, and WISE catalogs. Methods. We used CIGALE modeling and a SED fitting routine with the parametrization of a three-burst star formation history, and a comprehensive analysis of all other model parameters. We were able to estimate the contribution of the underlying old stellar population to the observed equivalent width of Hβ, and allow for more accurate burst age determination. Results. We found that the star formation histories of HII Galaxies can be reproduced remarkably well by three major eras of star formation. In addition, the SED fitting results indicate that in all cases the current burst produces a small percent of the total stellar mass, i.e., the bulk of stellar mass in HII galaxies has been produced by the past episodes of star formation, and also indicate that at a given age the Hβ luminosity depends only on the mass of young stars favoring a universal IMF for massive stars. Most importantly, the current star formation episodes are maximum starbursts that produce stars at the highest possible rate.

Download Full-text

UV upturn versus UV weak galaxies: differences and similarities of their stellar populations unveiled by a de-biased sample

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa3447 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 500 (2) ◽

pp. 1870-1883

Author(s):

M L L Dantas ◽

P R T Coelho ◽

P Sánchez-Blázquez

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Stellar Population ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Principal Component ◽

Stellar Populations ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Two Samples ◽

Star Formation Histories ◽

Uv Upturn

ABSTRACT The ultraviolet (UV) upturn is characterized by an unexpected up-rise of the UV flux in quiescent galaxies between the Lyman limit and 2500 Å. By making use of colour–colour diagrams, one can subdivide UV bright red-sequence galaxies in two groups: UV weak and upturn. With these two groups, we propose a comparison between their stellar population properties with the goal of establishing differences and similarities between them. We make use of propensity score matching to mitigate potential biases between the two samples, by selecting similar objects in terms of redshift and stellar mass. Also, we take advantage of spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting results from magphys made available by the GAMA collaboration. The analyses are made by comparing the distributions from the SED fitting directly, as well as investigating the differences in correlations between their parameters, and finally by using principal component analysis. We explore important differences and similarities between UV weak and upturn galaxies in terms of several parameters, such as: metallicity, age, specific star formation rate, time of last burst of star-formation, to mention a few. Notable differences are those concerning (g − r) colour, metallicity, and time since last burst of star-formation: UV upturn are redder in the optical, more metallic, and their last burst of star-formation happened earlier in time. These differences suggest that UV upturn systems have shorter star-formation histories (i.e. have been evolving more passively) when compared to UV weak galaxies. Consequently, these last seem to have a higher diversity of stellar populations.

Download Full-text

Main sequence of star forming galaxies beyond the Herschel confusion limit

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201832821 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 615 ◽

pp. A146 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

W. J. Pearson ◽

L. Wang ◽

P. D. Hurley ◽

K. Małek ◽

V. Buat ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Power Law ◽

Main Sequence ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Far Infrared ◽

Star Formation History ◽

High Mass ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Star Forming ◽

Confusion Limit

Context. Deep far-infrared (FIR) cosmological surveys are known to be affected by source confusion, causing issues when examining the main sequence (MS) of star forming galaxies. In the past this has typically been partially tackled by the use of stacking. However, stacking only provides the average properties of the objects in the stack. Aims. This work aims to trace the MS over 0.2 ≤ z < 6.0 using the latest de-blended Herschel photometry, which reaches ≈10 times deeper than the 5σ confusion limit in SPIRE. This provides more reliable star formation rates (SFRs), especially for the fainter galaxies, and hence a more reliable MS. Methods. We built a pipeline that uses the spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling and fitting tool CIGALE to generate flux density priors in the Herschel SPIRE bands. These priors were then fed into the de-blending tool XID+ to extract flux densities from the SPIRE maps. In the final step, multi-wavelength data were combined with the extracted SPIRE flux densities to constrain SEDs and provide stellar mass (M⋆) and SFRs. These M⋆ and SFRs were then used to populate the SFR-M⋆ plane over 0.2 ≤ z < 6.0. Results. No significant evidence of a high-mass turn-over was found; the best fit is thus a simple two-parameter power law of the form log(SFR) = α[log(M⋆) − 10.5] + β. The normalisation of the power law increases with redshift, rapidly at z ≲ 1.8, from 0.58 ± 0.09 at z ≈ 0.37 to 1.31 ± 0.08 at z ≈ 1.8. The slope is also found to increase with redshift, perhaps with an excess around 1.8 ≤ z < 2.9. Conclusions. The increasing slope indicates that galaxies become more self-similar as redshift increases. This implies that the specific SFR of high-mass galaxies increases with redshift, from 0.2 to 6.0, becoming closer to that of low-mass galaxies. The excess in the slope at 1.8 ≤ z < 2.9, if present, coincides with the peak of the cosmic star formation history.

Download Full-text