Systematically Measuring Ultra-diffuse Galaxies (SMUDGes). II. Expanded Survey Description and the Stripe 82 Catalog

We present 226 large ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) candidates (r e > 5.″3, μ 0,g > 24 mag arcsec−2) in the SDSS Stripe 82 region recovered using our improved procedure developed in anticipation of processing the entire Legacy Surveys footprint. The advancements include less constrained structural parameter fitting, expanded wavelet filtering criteria, consideration of Galactic dust, estimates of parameter uncertainties and completeness based on simulated sources, and refinements of our automated candidate classification. We have a sensitivity ∼1 mag fainter in μ 0,g than the largest published catalog of this region. Using our completeness-corrected sample, we find that (1) there is no significant decline in the number of UDG candidates as a function of μ 0,g to the limit of our survey (∼26.5 mag arcsec−2); (2) bluer candidates have smaller Sérsic n; (3) most blue (g–r < 0.45 mag) candidates have μ 0,g ≲ 25 mag arcsec−2 and will fade to populate the UDG red sequence we observe to ∼26.5 mag arcsec−2; (4) any red UDGs that exist significantly below our μ 0,g sensitivity limit are not descendent from blue UDGs in our sample; and (5) candidates with lower μ 0,g tend to smaller n. We anticipate that the final SMUDGes sample will contain ∼30 × as many candidates.

On the Properties of Spectroscopically Confirmed Ultra-diffuse Galaxies across Environments

We present new redshift measurements for 19 candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) from the Systematically Measuring Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (SMUDGes) survey after conducting a long-slit spectroscopic follow-up campaign on 23 candidates with the Large Binocular Telescope. We combine these results with redshift measurements from other sources for 29 SMUDGes and 20 non-SMUDGes candidate UDGs. Together, this sample yields 44 spectroscopically confirmed UDGs (r e ≥ 1.5 kpc and μ g (0) ≥ 24 mag arcsec−2 within uncertainties) and spans cluster and field environments, with all but one projected on the Coma cluster and environs. We find no statistically significant differences in the structural parameters of cluster and noncluster confirmed UDGs, although there are hints of differences among the axis ratio distributions. Similarly, we find no significant structural differences among those in locally dense or sparse environments. However, we observe a significant difference in color with respect to projected clustercentric radius, confirming trends observed previously in statistical UDG samples. This trend strengthens further when considering whether UDGs reside in either cluster or locally dense environments, suggesting starkly different star formation histories for UDGs residing in high- and low-density environments. Of the 16 large (r e ≥ 3.5 kpc) UDGs in our sample, only one is a field galaxy that falls near the early-type galaxy red sequence. No other field UDGs found in low-density environments fall near the red sequence. This finding, in combination with our detection of Galaxy Evolution Explorer NUV flux in nearly half of the UDGs in sparse environments, suggests that field UDGs are a population of slowly evolving galaxies.

AGN and star formation properties of inside–out assembled galaxy candidates at z < 0.1

ABSTRACT We study a sample of 48 127 galaxies selected from the SDSS MPA-JHU catalogue, with log M⋆/M⊙ = 10.73−11.03 and z &lt; 0.1. Local galaxies in this stellar mass range have been shown to have systematically shorter assembly times within their inner regions (&lt;0.5 R50) when compared to that of the galaxy as a whole, contrary to lower or higher mass galaxies that show consistent assembly times at all radii. Hence, we refer to these galaxies as Inside-Out Assembled Galaxy (IOAG) candidates. We find that the majority of IOAG candidates with well-detected emission lines are classified as either active galactic nucleus (AGN; 40 per cent) or composite (40 per cent) in the BPT (Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich) diagram. We also find that the majority of our sources are located below the main sequence of star formation, and within the green valley or red sequence. Most BPT-classified star-forming IOAG candidates have spiral morphologies and are in the main sequence, whereas Seyfert 2 and composites have mostly spiral morphologies but quiescent star formation rates (SFRs). We argue that a high fraction of IOAG candidates seem to be in the process of quenching, moving from the blue cloud to the red sequence. Those classified as AGN have systematically lower SFRs than star-forming galaxies, suggesting that AGN activity may be related to this quenching. However, the spiral morphology of these galaxies remains in place, suggesting that the central star formation is suppressed before the morphological transformation occurs.

An expanded catalogue of low surface brightness galaxies in the Coma cluster using Subaru/Suprime-Cam

ABSTRACT We present a catalogue of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies in the Coma cluster obtained from deep Subaru/Suprime-Cam V- and R-band imaging data within a region of $\mathord {\sim }4$ deg2. We increase the number of LSB galaxies presented in Yagi et al. (2016) by a factor of $\mathord {\sim }3$ and report the discovery of 29 new ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs). We compile the largest sample of UDGs with colours and structural parameters in the Coma cluster. While most UDGs lie along the red-sequence relation of the colour–magnitude diagram, $\mathord {\sim }16$ per cent are outside (bluer or redder) the red-sequence region of Coma cluster galaxies. Our analyses show that there is no special distinction in the basic photometric parameters between UDGs and other LSB galaxies. We investigate the clustercentric colour distribution and find a remarkable transition at a projected radius of $\mathord {\sim }0.6$ Mpc. Within this cluster core region and relative to the red-sequence of galaxies, LSB galaxies are on average redder than co-spatial higher surface brightness galaxies at the 2σ level, highlighting how vulnerable LSB galaxies are to the physical processes at play in the dense central region of the cluster. The position of the transition radius agrees with expectations from recent cosmological simulation of massive galaxy clusters within which ancient infalls are predicted to dominate the LSB galaxy population.

The richness-to-mass relation of CAMIRA galaxy clusters from weak-lensing magnification in the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey

ABSTRACT We present a statistical weak-lensing magnification analysis on an optically selected sample of 3029 CAMIRA (Cluster finding Algorithm based on Multiband Identification of Red-sequence gAlaxies) galaxy clusters with richness N &gt; 15 at redshift 0.2 ≤ z &lt; 1.1 in the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey. We use two distinct populations of colour-selected, flux-limited background galaxies, namely the low-z and high-z samples at mean redshifts of ≈1.1 and ≈1.4, respectively, from which to measure the weak-lensing magnification signal by accounting for cluster contamination as well as masking effects. Our magnification bias measurements are found to be uncontaminated according to validation tests against the ‘null-test’ samples for which the net magnification bias is expected to vanish. The magnification bias for the full CAMIRA sample is detected at a significance level of 9.51σ, which is dominated by the high-z background. We forward-model the observed magnification data to constrain the normalization of the richness-to-mass (N–M) relation for the CAMIRA sample with informative priors on other parameters. The resulting scaling relation is N∝ (M500)0.92 ± 0.13(1 + z)−0.48 ± 0.69, with a characteristic richness of N = 17.72 ± 2.60 and intrinsic lognormal scatter of 0.15 ± 0.07 at M500 = 1014 h−1 M⊙. With the derived N–M relation, we provide magnification-calibrated mass estimates of individual CAMIRA clusters, with the typical uncertainty of ≈39 and ≈32 per cent at richness of ≈20 and ≈40, respectively. We further compare our magnification-inferred N–M relation with those from the shear-based results in the literature, finding good agreement.

Unveiling the afterlife of galaxies with ultraviolet data

Recent works have shown that early-type galaxies (ETGs) are much more complex than early studies suggested. We present early results from a combined analysis of optical spectra and ultraviolet photometry for a sample of 3453 red sequence galaxies in at z < 0.1 that are classified as elliptical by Galaxy Zoo. By measuring the Gini index of the star-formation histories derived by starlight, we investigate the complexity of the mixture of stellar populations required to describe ETGs in our sample. When fitting only optical spectra, starlight assigns more or less the same mixture of stellar populations to all ETGs, while the addition of UV data unveils a bimodallity in the star-formation histories of these galaxies. We find evidence for stellar populations younger than 1 Gyr in 17 per cent of our sample, indicating that some galaxies do not stay permanently quenched after reaching the red sequence.

UV bright red-sequence galaxies: how do UV upturn systems evolve in redshift and stellar mass?

ABSTRACT The so-called ultraviolet (UV) upturn of elliptical galaxies is a phenomenon characterized by the up-rise of their fluxes in bluer wavelengths, typically in the 1200–2500 Å range. This work aims at estimating the rate of occurrence of the UV upturn over the entire red-sequence population of galaxies that show significant UV emission. This assessment is made considering it as function of three parameters: redshift, stellar mass, and – what may seem counter-intuitive at first – emission-line classification. We built a multiwavelength spectrophotometric catalogue from the Galaxy Mass Assembly survey, together with aperture-matched data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer Medium-Depth Imaging Survey (MIS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey, covering the redshift range between 0.06 and 0.40. From this sample, we analyse the UV emission among UV bright galaxies, by selecting those that occupy the red-sequence locus in the (NUV− r) × (FUV−NUV) chart; then, we stratify the sample by their emission-line classes. To that end, we make use of emission-line diagnostic diagrams, focusing the analysis in retired/passive lineless galaxies. Then, a Bayesian logistic model was built to simultaneously deal with the effects of all galaxy properties (including emission-line classification or lack thereof). The main results show that retired/passive systems host an up-rise in the fraction of UV upturn for redshifts between 0.06 and 0.25, followed by an in-fall up to 0.35. Additionally, we show that the fraction of UV upturn hosts rises with increasing stellar mass.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Defining passive galaxy samples and searching for the UV upturn

ABSTRACT We use data from the GAMA and GALEX surveys to demonstrate that the UV upturn, an unexpected excess of ultraviolet flux from a hot stellar component, seen in the spectra of many early-type galaxies, arises from processes internal to individual galaxies with no measurable influence from the galaxies’ larger environment. We first define a clean sample of passive galaxies without a significant contribution to their UV flux from low-level star formation. We confirm that galaxies with the optical colours of red sequence galaxies often have signs of residual star formation, which, without other information, would prevent a convincing demonstration of the presence of UV upturns. However, by including (NUV−u) and WISE (W2–W3) colours, and FUV data where it exists, we can convincingly constrain samples to be composed of non-star-forming objects. Using such a sample, we examine GALEX photometry of low-redshift GAMA galaxies in a range of low-density environments, from groups to the general field, searching for UV upturns. We find a wide range of (NUV−r) colours, entirely consistent with the range seen – and attributed to the UV upturn – in low-redshift red sequence cluster galaxies. The range of colours is independent of group multiplicity or velocity dispersion, with isolated passive galaxies just as likely to have blue UV-to-optical colours, implying significant upturn components, as those in richer groups and in the previous data on clusters. This is supported by equivalent results for (FUV−r) colours which are clear indicators of upturn components.

Helium rich stars produce the UV upturn

We measure the evolution of the UV upturn color for galaxies on the red sequence in clusters at 0 < z < 0.7 and to luminosity levels L ∼ L*. We show that the UV upturn color does not change until at least z = 0.55 but becomes significantly redder at z = 0.7. This is the first detection of evolution in the UV upturn. Our observations are inconsistent with all models proposed for its origin except the presence of a population of helium enriched stars, with helium abundances above 42 % and formed at z > 4.