LARgE survey – III. Environments of ultra-massive passive galaxies at cosmic noon: BCG progenitors growing through mergers

ABSTRACT We study the environments of a sample of 61 extremely rare $z\, \sim$1.6 Ultra-Massive Passively Evolving Galaxies (UMPEGs: stellar masses M⋆ >1011.5 M⊙) which – based on clustering analysis presented in Cheema et al. (2020) – appear to be associated with very massive (Mhalo ∼ 1014.1h−1 M⊙) dark matter haloes that are likely to be the progenitors of $z\, \sim$0 massive (Coma- and Virgo-like) galaxy clusters. We find that UMPEGs on average have fewer than one satellite galaxy with mass ratio $M_{\star }^{\text{sat}}$:$M_{\star }^{{\text{UMPEG}}}$ ≥ 1:5 (i.e. $M_{\star }^{\text{sat}}$$\gtrsim 10^{10.8}$ M⊙) within 0.5 Mpc; the large mass gap that we observe between the typical UMPEG and its most massive satellite implies that the $z\, \sim$1.6 UMPEGs assembled through major mergers. Using observed satellite counts with merger time-scales from the literature, we estimate the growth rate due to mergers with mass ratio of ≥1:4 to be ∼13 per cent Gyr−1 (with a $\sim \, 2 \times$ systematic uncertainty). This relatively low growth rate is unlikely to significantly affect the shape of the massive end of the stellar mass function, whose evolution must instead be driven by the quenching of new cohorts of ultra-massive star-forming galaxies. However, this growth rate is high enough that, if sustained to $z\, \sim$0, the typical $z\, \sim$1.6 $M_{\star }^{{\text{UMPEG}}}$ =1011.6 M⊙ UMPEG can grow into a M⋆ ≈1012 M⊙ brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of a present-day massive galaxy cluster. Our observations favour a scenario in which our UMPEGs are main-branch progenitors of some of the present-day BCGs that have first assembled through major mergers at high redshifts and grown further through (likely minor) merging at later times.

From “Mine” to “Ours”: Gendered Hierarchies of Authorship and the Limits of Taylor Swift’s Paratextual Feminism

This article analyzes paratextual strategies deployed by Taylor Swift in her transition from country to pop in the context of her articulation of her authorship as a female songwriter. This was a transition complicated by the gendered hierarchies of pop music, wherein male producers carry significant discursive weight. The article frames the “Voice Memos” included with her 2014 album 1989 as a form of paratextual feminism, reiterating the authenticity she developed as a country star and pushing back against claims her collaboration with male producers like Max Martin and Ryan Tedder threaten her autonomy as a female voice in the music industry. However, the article goes on to consider how these and other paratextual feminisms are inherently tied to neoliberal values of post-feminism, demonstrating that their potential as a gendered critique of the media industries is limited by the lack of actualization within Swift’s broader star text and industry practice.

‘I’m Once Again the Previous Me’

This chapter on Barbra Streisand’s first three film musicals considers how her star text affects the adaptation of the three Broadway musicals on which they are based. Although Streisand starred in Funny Girl on the stage, the screen version made significant changes to the musical, relating the story as a flashback so that it could be telescoped through her perspective. Most of the other characters’ songs were cut, a ploy that was also used in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever to emphasize Streisand as the star. In both films, as well as in Hello, Dolly!, Streisand was cast opposite men with weak singing voices, empowering her performance musically in each case. A good example of how this works is in the title song of On a Clear Day, where Yves Montand performs the number complete with a simple orchestration and staging, followed by Streisand’s much grander performance. Meanwhile, in Dolly! it was necessary to make changes to the title character in order to draw attention away from the fact that Streisand was much too young for the role; thus she is depicted as a general busybody in ‘Just Leave Everything to Me,’ which replaced ‘I Put My Hand In,’ which focuses on Dolly as a matchmaker.

hiss, a new tool for H i stacking: application to NIBLES spectra

H i stacking has proven to be a highly effective tool to statistically analyse average H i properties for samples of galaxies which may or may not be directly detected. With the plethora of H i data expected from the various upcoming H i surveys with the SKA Precursor and Pathfinder telescopes, it will be helpful to standardize the way in which stacking analyses are conducted. In this work we present a new python-based package, hiss, designed to stack H i (emission and absorption) spectra in a consistent and reliable manner. As an example, we use hiss to study the H i content in various galaxy sub-samples from the NIBLES survey of SDSS galaxies which were selected to represent their entire range in total stellar mass without a prior colour selection. This allowed us to compare the galaxy colour to average H i content in both detected and non-detected galaxies. Our sample, with a stellar mass range of $10^8 \lt {{ M}}_\star \, (\text{M}_\odot) \lt 10^{12}$, has enabled us to probe the H i-to-stellar mass gas fraction relationship more than half an order of magnitude lower than in previous stacking studies.

Evolution of Dada Uttam Kumar: Performing Masculinity and the Disillusioned Bhadralok Mahanayak in the 1970s’ Popular Melodramas

This essay focuses on a fragment of the Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar’s star text, the dada figure, to analyse the contours of melodramatic enunciations and masculinity that appear in the 1970s’ popular films. This decade is identified with the radical politics associated with the Naxal movement that erupted in varied expressions of rage and anger at institutional and systemic failures. Since Uttam typified a bhadralok masculine subjectivity, his evolution in domestic melodramas especially in male weepies from the period enables me to read the specifics of regional cinema and its response to social and political contexts of the times.

From Child Star to Diva

This chapter problematizes Japan’s premiere diva of popular song, Misora Hibari (1937–1989), as a child star who grows up in postwar Japan to become a transgressive diva. I ask what defines this female child star, this singing shōjo (young female) on stage? What kinds of gendered negotiations between childhood and adulthood does the child star have to make, in what kinds of historical contexts, and to what effects? And finally, how does the shōjo—here, the child star–turned–diva—help define the period? The remnants of the child star give poignancy to her adult divahood as the Japanese public stood witness to her continual transformations. And in witnessing these transformations, I contend that Misora Hibari’s star-text enacted postwar Japan’s supra-text, with the complexities of an era and a nation.

Russell Crowe and Maximal Projections in Noah (2014)

This chapter examines the biblical patriarch Noah as played by Russell Crowe in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah (2014). Starting from the foundation of Richard Dyer’s idea of a “star text” in which actors bring echoes of their old roles to new performances and thereby engage viewers on multiple levels, this chapter frames Crowe’s performance in Noah as what the author terms a “maximal projection.” Crowe brings his role as Maximus Decimus Meridius, the soldier who becomes a gladiator during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, to his later role as Noah. Through the repetition of things such as physical gestures, bodily movements, interactions with characters, and even sometimes dialogue, Crowe performs what the author terms “star-peats.”