Astrophysics

The diffuse interstellar medium is dynamic, and its chemistry and evolution is determined by shock fronts as well as photodissociation. Shocks are implied by the supersonic motions and velocity dispersion often statistically called "turbulence". We compare models of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shocks, with speeds typical of cloud motions through the ISM (3-25 km/s) and densities typical of cold neutral gas (~ 100 cm-3), to archival observations of the atomic hydrogen 21-cm line for gas kinematics, far-infrared emission for dust mass, and mid-infrared emission for high-resolution morphology, to identify shock fronts in three high-latitude clouds pairs with masses of order 50 suns. The clouds have `heads' with extended `tails', and high-resolution images show arcs on the leading edges of the "heads" that could be individual shocks. The HI shows higher-velocity gas at the leading edges due to shock-accelerated material. For two cloud pairs, one cloud has an active shock indicated by broad and offset HI, while the other cloud has already been shocked and is predominantly `CO-dark' molecular hydrogen. Two-dimensional MHD simulations for shocks parallel to the magnetic field for pairs of clouds show a remarkable similarity to observed cloud features, including merged "tails" due to aligned flow and magnetic field, which leads to lateral confinement downstream. A parallel alignment between magnetic field and gas flow may lead to formation of small molecular clouds.

The transformation of late-type galaxies has been suggested as the origin of early-type dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters. Venhola et al. analysed correlations between colour and surface brightness for galaxies in the Fornax cluster binned by luminosity or stellar mass. In the bins with M ??< 10 8 M ??, the authors identified a correlation of redness with fainter surface brightness and interpreted it as a consequence of the quenching of star formation by ram pressure stripping in the dwarf galaxies. We carry out a corresponding analysis for the Virgo cluster and find great similarities in these correlations between surface brightness and colour for the two clusters, despite expected differences in the strength of the ram pressure. Furthermore, we extend the analysis to a wider range of optical colours for both clusters and contrast the results with expectations for fading and reddening stellar populations. Overall the slopes of the surface brightness-colour relations are consistent with these models. In addition the sizes of the early- and late-type galaxies at these low masses are comparable. These two results are compatible with a transformation scenario. However, when analysing early- and late-type galaxies separately, the consistency of the slope of the surface brightness-colour relations with the model expectations for fading and reddening stellar population applies only to the late types. The lack of this imprint for the early-type dwarfs calls for some additional explanation, for which we discuss several possibilities. Finally, the Virgo cluster is an atypical cluster with a low fraction of quiescent early-type galaxies at all galaxy masses despite its large cluster mass. (abridged)

We study the outer regions of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC6981 from publicly available BV photometry and new Dark Energy Camera (DECam) observations, both reaching nearly 4 mag below the cluster main sequence (MS) turnoff. While the BV data sets reveal the present of extra-tidal features around the cluster, the much larger field of view of DECam observations allowed us to identify some other tidal features, which extend from the cluster toward the opposite direction to the Milky Way center. These cluster structural features arise from stellar density maps built using MS stars, once the cluster color-magnitude diagram was cleaned from the contamination of field stars. We also performed N -body simulations in order to help us to understand the spatial distribution of the extra-tidal debris. The outcomes reveal the presenceof long trailing and leading tails mostly parallel to the direction of the cluster velocity vector. We found that the cluster has lost most of its mass by tidal disruption during its perigalactic passages, that lasted nearly 20 Myr each. Hence, a decrease in the density of escaping stars near the cluster is expected from our N -body simulations, which in turn means that stronger extra-tidal features could be found out by exploring much larger areas around NGC6891.

We report a large difference in neutral hydrogen (H I) and metal column densities between the two sight lines probing opposite sides of the lensing galaxy at z lens = 0.83 toward the doubly lensed quasar SBS 0909+532. Using archival HST-STIS and Keck HIRES spectra of the lensed quasar images, we measure log N HI = 18.77 ± 0.12 cm ?? toward the brighter image ( A ) at an impact parameter of r A = 3.15 kpc and log N HI = 20.38 ± 0.20 cm ?? toward the fainter image ( B ) at an impact parameter of r B = 5.74 kpc. This difference by a factor of ??41 is the highest difference between sight lines for a lens galaxy in which H I has been measured, suggesting patchiness and/or anisotropy on these scales. We estimate an average Fe abundance gradient between the sight lines to be ??+0.35 dex kpc ?? . The N FeII / N MgII ratios for the individual components detected in the Keck HIRES spectra have supersolar values for all components in sight line A and for 11 out of 18 components in sight line B , suggesting that Type Ia supernovae may have contributed to the chemical enrichment of the galaxy's environment. Additionally, these observations provide complementary information to detections of cold gas in early-type galaxies and the tension between these and some models of cloud survival.

Using three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we investigate the formation of multiple stellar populations (MSPs) in globular clusters (GCs) within the context of their parent galaxies. In our scenario, the second generation (2G) of stars originate from both asymptotic giant branch (AGB) polluters and pristine gas accreted from the host galaxy. Previous theoretical and numerical studies have demonstrated that this 'AGB with dilution' model has the potential to alleviate several problems faced by the classical AGB scenario. However, the accretion of pristine gas on to the GC has yet to be investigated within the context of the parent galaxy. This paper presents the preliminary results from our original simulation code which models GC formation from giant molecular clouds in a host galaxy, and subsequent gas accretion on to the GC. By simulating the genesis of the 2G over a 370 Myr time frame, we demonstrate that the fraction of 2G stars are inextricably linked to the GC's environment. Our simulations rationalize the wide variety of abundance patterns, kinematics, and 2G concentrations by altering the initial conditions of both the GC progenitor and the host galaxy itself. Most notably, we reproduce a positive correlation between the fraction of 2G stars and the initial mass of the cluster. We discuss the physical implications of our scenario and compare our simulations with observations of the Galactic GC 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc). Finally, we present scaling relations that encompass the wider GC population and serve as a reference for future observations.

We present simultaneous measurements of emission from dust continuum at 230 GHz and the J=2-1 12 CO, 13 CO and C 18 O isotopologues at ??15 pc resolution from individual Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in the Andromeda galaxy (M31). These observations were obtained in an ongoing survey of this galaxy being conducted with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Initial results describing the continuum and 12 CO emission were published earlier. Here we primarily analyze the observations of 13 CO and C 18 O emission and compare them to the measurements of dust continuum and 12 CO emission. We also report additional dust continuum and CO measurements from newly added GMCs to the M31 sample. We detect spatially resolved 13 CO emission with high signal-to-noise in 31 objects. We find the extent of the 13 CO emission to be nearly comparable to that of 12 CO, typically covering 75\% of the area of the 12 CO emission. We derive 13 CO and C 18 O abundances of 2.9 ? 10 ?? and 4.4 ? 10 ?? relative to H 2 , respectively, by comparison with hydrogen column densities of the same regions derived from the dust continuum observations assuming a Milky Way gas-to-dust ratio. We find the isotopic abundance ratio [ 13 CO]/[C 18 O] = 6.7 ± 2.9 to be consistent with the Milky Way value (8.1). Finally, we derive the mass-to-light conversion factors for all three CO species to be α 12 =8.7±3.9 , α 13 =48.9±20.4 and α 18 = 345 +25 ??1 M ??(K km s ?? pc 2 ) ?? for the J=2-1 transitions of 12 CO, 13 CO and C 18 O, respectively.

The Solo (Solitary Local) Dwarf Galaxy survey is a volume limited, wide-field g- and i- band survey of all known nearby (<3 Mpc) and isolated (>300 kpc from the Milky Way or M31) dwarf galaxies. This set of 44 dwarfs are homogeneously analysed for quantitative comparisons to the satellite dwarf populations of the Milky Way and M31. In this paper, an analysis of the 12 closest Solo dwarf galaxies accessible from the northern hemisphere is presented, including derivation of their distances, spatial distributions, morphology, and extended structures, including their inner integrated light properties and their outer resolved star distributions. All 12 galaxies are found to be reasonably well described by two-dimensional Sersic functions, although UGC 4879 in particular shows tentative evidence of two distinct components. No prominent extended stellar substructures, that could be signs of either faint satellites or recent mergers, are identified in the outer regions of any of the systems examined.

Brightness-weighted differential source counts S 2 n(S) spanning the eight decades of flux density between 0.25μJy and 25 Jy at 1.4 GHz were measured from (1) the confusion brightness distribution in the MeerKAT DEEP2 image below 10μJy , (2) counts of DEEP2 sources between 10μJy and 2.5mJy , and (3) counts of NVSS sources stronger than 2.5mJy . We present our DEEP2 catalog of 1.7? 10 4 discrete sources complete above S=10μJy over Ω=1.04 deg 2 . The brightness-weighted counts converge as S 2 n(S)??S 1/2 below S=10μJy , so >99% of the ? T b ??.06K sky brightness produced by active galactic nuclei and ??6% of the ? T b ??.04K added by star-forming galaxies has been resolved into sources with S??.25μJy . The ? T b ??.4K excess brightness measured by ARCADE 2 cannot be produced by faint sources smaller than ??0kpc if they cluster like galaxies.

Using our HST/ACS observations of the recently found isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies, we homogeneously measured their star formation histories. We determined star formation rate as a function of time, as well as age and metallicity of the stellar populations. All objects demonstrate complex star formation history, with a significant portion of stars formed 10-13 Gyr ago. Nevertheless, stars of middle ages (1-8 Gyr) are presented. In order to understand how the star formation parameters influence the evolution of dSphs, we also studied a sample of nearest dSphs in different environment: isolated (d < 2 Mpc); beyond the Local Group virial radius (but within the Local Group zero velocity sphere); and the satellites of M 31 located within the virial zone (300 kpc). Using archival HST/ACS observations, we measured their star formation histories. A comparative analysis of the parameters obtained allow us to distinguish a possible effect of the spatial segregation on the dSphs evolution scenario.

We compare the star forming main sequence (SFMS) -- both integrated and resolved on 1kpc scales -- between the high-resolution TNG50 simulation of IllustrisTNG and observations from the 3D-HST slitless spectroscopic survey at z~1. Contrasting integrated star formation rates (SFRs), we find that the slope and normalization of the star-forming main sequence in TNG50 are quantitatively consistent with values derived by fitting observations from 3D-HST with the Prospector Bayesian inference framework. The previous offsets of 0.2-1dex between observed and simulated main sequence normalizations are resolved when using the updated masses and SFRs from Prospector. The scatter is generically smaller in TNG50 than in 3D-HST for more massive galaxies with M_*>10^10Msun, even after accounting for observational uncertainties. When comparing resolved star formation, we also find good agreement between TNG50 and 3D-HST: average specific star formation rate (sSFR) radial profiles of galaxies at all masses and radii below, on, and above the SFMS are similar in both normalization and shape. Most noteworthy, massive galaxies with M_*>10^10.5Msun, which have fallen below the SFMS due to ongoing quenching, exhibit a clear central SFR suppression, in both TNG50 and 3D-HST. In TNG this inside-out quenching is due to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) feedback model operating at low accretion rates. In contrast, the original Illustris simulation, without this same physical SMBH mechanism, does not reproduce the central SFR profile suppression seen in data. The observed sSFR profiles provide support for the TNG quenching mechanism and how it affects gas on kiloparsec scales in the centers of galaxies.