Astrophysics

We use the Keck Cosmic Web Imager integral-field unit spectrograph to: 1) measure the global stellar population parameters for the ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) Dragonfly 44 (DF44) to much higher precision than previously possible for any UDG, and 2) for the first time measure spatially-resolved stellar population parameters of a UDG. We find that DF44 falls below the mass--metallicity relation established by canonical dwarf galaxies both in and beyond the Local Group. We measure a flat radial age gradient ( m age ?? 0.01 +0.07 ??.08 log Gyr kpc ?? ) and a flat-to-positive metallicity gradient ( m [Fe/H] ?? 0.08 +0.11 ??.11 dex kpc ?? ), which are inconsistent with the gradients measured in similarly pressure-supported dwarf galaxies. We also measure a flat-to-negative [Mg/Fe] gradient ( m [Mg/Fe] ?��? 0.18 +0.17 ??.17 dex kpc ?? ) such that the central 1.5 kpc of DF44 has stellar population parameters comparable to metal-poor globular clusters. Overall, DF44 does not have internal properties similar to other dwarf galaxies and is inconsistent with it having been puffed up through a prolonged, bursty star-formation history, as suggested by some simulations. Rather, the evidence indicates that DF44 experienced an intense epoch of "inside-out" star formation and then quenched early and catastrophically, such that star-formation was cut off more quickly than in canonical dwarf galaxies.

While most simulations of the epoch of reionization have focused on single-stellar populations in star-forming dwarf galaxies, products of binary evolution are expected to significantly contribute to emissions of hydrogen-ionizing photons. Among these products are stripped stars (or helium stars), which have their envelopes stripped from interactions with binary companions, leaving an exposed helium core. Previous work has suggested these stripped stars can dominate the LyC photon output of high-redshift low luminosity galaxies. Other sources of hard radiation in the early universe include zero-metallicity Population III stars, which may have similar SED properties to galaxies with radiation dominated by stripped star emissions. Here, we use two metrics (the power-law exponent over wavelength intervals 240-500 ?, 600-900 ?, and 1200-2000 ?, and the ratio of total luminosity in FUV wavelengths to LyC wavelengths) to compare the SEDs of simulated galaxies with only single-stellar evolution, galaxies containing stripped stars, and galaxies containing Population III stars, with four different IMFs. We find that stripped stars significantly alter the SEDs in the LyC range of galaxies at the epoch of reionization. SEDs in galaxies with stripped stars present have lower power-law indices in the LyC range and lower FUV to LyC luminosity ratios. These differences in SEDs are present at all considered luminosities ( M UV >??5 , AB system), and are most pronounced for lower luminosity galaxies. We also find that SEDs of galaxies with stripped stars and Pop III stars are distinct from each other for all tested IMFs.

We present the results of high signal-to-noise ratio VLT spectropolarimetry of a representative sample of 25 bright type 1 AGN at z<0.37, of which nine are radio-loud. The sample covers uniformly the 5100 A optical luminosity at L 5100 ??10 44 ??10 46 erg s ?? , and H α width at FWHM ??000??0,000 ~ km/s. We derive the continuum and the H α polarization amplitude, polarization angle, and angle swing across the line, together with the radio properties. We find the following: 1. The broad line region (BLR) and continuum polarization are both produced by a single scattering medium. 2. The scattering medium is equatorial, and at right angle to the system axis. 3. The scattering medium is located at or just outside the BLR. The continuum polarization and the H α polarization angle swing, can both serve as an inclination indicator. The observed line width is found to be affected by inclination, which can lead to an underestimate of the black hole mass by a factor of ?? for a close-to face-on view. The line width measured in the polarized flux overcomes the inclination bias, and provides a close-to equatorial view of the BLR in all AGN, which allows to reduce the inclination bias in the BLR based black hole mass estimates.

The spectra of active galactic nuclei usually exhibit wings in some emission lines, such as [OIII] λλ 5007,4959, with these wings generally being blueshifted and related to strong winds and outflows. The aim of this work was to analyse the [OIII] emission lines in broad line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies in order to detect the presence of wings, and to study the [OIII] line properties and their possible connection with the central engine. In addition, we attempted to compare the black hole mass distribution in both BLS1 galaxies with symmetric and blue-asymmetric [OIII] profiles. For this purpose, we carried out a spectroscopic study of a sample of 45 nearby southern BLS1 galaxies from the 6 Degree Field Galaxy survey. The [OIII] emission lines were well fitted using a single Gaussian function in 23 galaxies, while 22 objects presented a wing component and required a double-Gaussian decomposition. By computing the radial velocity difference between the wing and core centroids (i.e. ? v), we found 18 galaxies exhibiting blueshifted wings, 2 objects presenting red wings and 2 galaxies showing symmetric wings ( ? v =0 ). Moreover, ? v was slightly correlated with the black hole mass. In addition, we computed the radial velocity difference of the blue-side full extension of the wing relative to the centroid of the core component through the \emph{blue emission} parameter, which revealed a correlation with black hole mass, in agreement with previous results reported for narrow line galaxies. Finally, in our sample, similar black hole mass distributions were observed in both BLS1 galaxies with symmetric and blueshifted asymmetric [OIII] profiles.

We present a new theoretical framework to predict average histograms of line-of-sight velocities over pairs of galaxies and galaxy clusters. Since the histogram can be measured at different galaxy-cluster separations, this observable is commonly referred to as the stacked phase-space density. We formulate the stacked phase density based on a halo-model approach so that the model can be applied to real samples of galaxies and clusters. We examine our model by using an actual sample of massive clusters with known weak-lensing masses and spectroscopic observations of galaxies around the clusters. A simple likelihood analysis with our model enables us to infer the three-dimensional velocity dispersion of observed galaxies in massive clusters. We find the velocity bias of galaxies surrounding clusters with their masses of ??10 15 h ?? M ??to be 1.09±0.245 at the 68\% confidence level (including systematic errors associated with our model uncertainties). Our results confirm that the relation between the galaxy velocity dispersion and the host cluster mass in our sample is consistent with the prediction in dark-matter-only N-body simulations. We measure the line-of-sight velocity dispersions of 16701 galaxies around 23 clusters on scales of <6 h ?? Mpc with a 10\% level precision. Our measurement of the line-of-sight velocity dispersion is in good agreement with the standard ? CDM prediction. Possible directions for improvement in the analysis are also discussed.

We study galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping in the Virgo cluster to examine whether we can identify any discernible trend in their star formation activity. We first use 48 galaxies undergoing different stages of stripping based on HI morphology, HI deficiency, and relative extent to the stellar disk, from the VIVA survey. We then employ a new scheme for galaxy classification which combines HI mass fractions and locations in projected phase space, resulting in a new sample of 365 galaxies. We utilize a variety of star formation tracers, which include g - r, WISE [3.4] - [12] colors, and starburstiness that are defined by stellar mass and star formation rates to compare the star formation activity of galaxies at different stripping stages. We find no clear evidence for enhancement in the integrated star formation activity of galaxies undergoing early to active stripping. We are instead able to capture the overall quenching of star formation activity with increasing degree of ram pressure stripping, in agreement with previous studies. Our results suggest that if there is any ram pressure stripping induced enhancement, it is at best locally modest, and galaxies undergoing enhancement make up a small fraction of the total sample. Our results also indicate that it is possible to trace galaxies at different stages of stripping with the combination of HI gas content and location in projected phase space, which can be extended to other galaxy clusters that lack high-resolution HI imaging.

We study star formation in the Center Ridge 1 (CR1) clump in the Vela C giant molecular cloud, selected as a high column density region that shows the lowest level of dust continuum polarization angle dispersion, likely indicating that the magnetic field is relatively strong. We observe the source with the ALMA 7m-array at 1.05~mm and 1.3~mm wavelengths, which enable measurements of dust temperature, core mass and astrochemical deuteration. A relatively modest number of eleven dense cores are identified via their dust continuum emission, with masses spanning from 0.17 to 6.7 Msun. Overall CR1 has a relatively low compact dense gas fraction compared with other typical clouds with similar column densities, which may be a result of the strong magnetic field and/or the very early evolutionary stage of this region. The deuteration ratios, Dfrac, of the cores, measured with N2H+(3-2) and N2D+(3-2) lines, span from 0.011 to 0.85, with the latter being one of the highest values yet detected. The level of deuteration appears to decrease with evolution from prestellar to protostellar phase. A linear filament, running approximately parallel with the large scale magnetic field orientation, is seen connecting the two most massive cores, each having CO bipolar outflows aligned orthogonally to the filament. The filament contains the most deuterated core, likely to be prestellar and located midway between the protostars. The observations permit measurement of the full deuteration structure of the filament along its length, which we present. We also discuss the kinematics and dynamics of this structure, as well as of the dense core population.

G0.253+0.016, aka 'the Brick', is one of the most massive (> 10^5 Msun) and dense (> 10^4 cm-3) molecular clouds in the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone. Previous observations have detected tentative signs of active star formation, most notably a water maser that is associated with a dust continuum source. We present ALMA Band 6 observations with an angular resolution of 0.13" (1000 AU) towards this 'maser core', and report unambiguous evidence of active star formation within G0.253+0.016. We detect a population of eighteen continuum sources (median mass ~ 2 Msun), nine of which are driving bi-polar molecular outflows as seen via SiO (5-4) emission. At the location of the water maser, we find evidence for a protostellar binary/multiple with multi-directional outflow emission. Despite the high density of G0.253+0.016, we find no evidence for high-mass protostars in our ALMA field. The observed sources are instead consistent with a cluster of low-to-intermediate-mass protostars. However, the measured outflow properties are consistent with those expected for intermediate-to-high-mass star formation. We conclude that the sources are young and rapidly accreting, and may potentially form intermediate and high-mass stars in the future. The masses and projected spatial distribution of the cores are generally consistent with thermal fragmentation, suggesting that the large-scale turbulence and strong magnetic field in the cloud do not dominate on these scales, and that star formation on the scale of individual protostars is similar to that in Galactic disc environments.

The mechanisms that bring galaxies to strongly reduce their star formation activity (star-formation quenching) is still poorly understood. To better study galaxy evolution, we propose a classification based on the maps of the ionised hydrogen distribution, traced by kpc-resolved, equivalent width of H α maps, and the nuclear activity of the galaxies using information from the BPT diagnostic diagrams. Using these tools, we group a sample of 238 galaxies from the CALIFA survey in six quenching stages (QS): objects dominated by recent star formation; systems that present a quiescent-nuclear-ring structure in their centre; galaxies that are centrally-quiescent; galaxies with no clear pattern in their ionisation gas distribution - mixed; systems that posses only a few star-forming regions - nearly-retired, or galaxies that are completely quiescent - fully-retired. Regarding their nuclear activity, we further divide the galaxies into two groups - active systems that host a weak or strong AGN in their centre, and non-active objects. Galaxies grouped into quenching stage classes occupy specific locations on the star-formation-rate versus stellar mass diagram. The "Blue cloud" is populated by the star-forming and the quiescent-nuclear-ring galaxies, the "Green valley" is populated by centrally-quiescent and mixed systems, "Red sequence" by the nearly- and fully-retired objects. Generally, galaxies that host a weak or strong AGN show properties, comparable to the non-active counterparts at the same quenching stages, except for the AGN-hosting star-forming systems. The degree of the star-formation quenching increases along the present emission-line pattern sequence from star-forming to fully-retired. The proposed emission-line classes reinforce the "inside-out" quenching scenario, which foresees that the suppression of the star-formation begins from the central regions of the galaxies.

Context: The number of known strong gravitational lenses is expected to grow substantially in the next few years. The statistical combination of large samples of lenses has the potential of providing strong constraints on the inner structure of galaxies. Aims: We investigate to what extent we can calibrate stellar mass measurements and constrain the average dark matter density profile of galaxies by statistically combining strong lensing data from thousands of lenses. Methods: We generate mock samples of axisymmetric lenses. We assume that, for each lens, we have measurements of two image positions of a strongly lensed background source, as well as magnification information from full surface brightness modelling, and a stellar population synthesis-based estimate of the lens stellar mass. We then fit models describing the distribution of the stellar population synthesis mismatch parameter α sps (the ratio between the true stellar mass and the stellar population synthesis-based estimate) and dark matter density profile of the population of lenses to an ensemble of 1000 mock lenses. Results: The average α sps , projected dark matter mass and dark matter density slope can be obtained with great precision and accuracy, compared with current constraints. A flexible model and the knowledge of the lens detection efficiency as a function of image configuration are required in order to avoid a biased inference. Conclusions: Statistical strong lensing inferences from upcoming surveys have the potential to calibrate stellar mass measurements and to constrain the inner dark matter density profile of massive galaxies.