Alberto D. Bolatto

High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star-forming galaxies in the young universe

Stars form from cold molecular interstellar gas. As this is relatively rare in the local Universe, galaxies like the Milky Way form only a few new stars per year. Typical massive galaxies in the distant Universe formed stars an order of magnitude more rapidly. Unless star formation was significantly more efficient, this difference suggests that young galaxies were much more molecular-gas rich. Molecular gas observations in the distant Universe have so far largely been restricted to very luminous, rare objects, including mergers and quasars, and accordingly we do not yet have a clear idea about the gas content of more normal (albeit massive) galaxies. Here we report the results of a survey of molecular gas in samples of typical massive-star-forming galaxies at mean redshifts <z> of about 1.2 and 2.3, when the Universe was respectively 40% and 24% of its current age. Our measurements reveal that distant star forming galaxies were indeed gas rich, and that the star formation efficiency is not strongly dependent on cosmic epoch. The average fraction of cold gas relative to total galaxy baryonic mass at z = 2.3 and z = 1.2 is respectively about 44% and 34%, three to ten times higher than in today’s massive spiral galaxies. The slow decrease between z ≈ 2 and z ≈ 1 probably requires a mechanism of semi-continuous replenishment of fresh gas to the young galaxies.

A study of the gas–star formation relation over cosmic time★

We use the first systematic data sets of CO molecular line emission in z∼ 1–3 normal star-forming galaxies (SFGs) for a comparison of the dependence of galaxy-averaged star formation rates on molecular gas masses at low and high redshifts, and in different galactic environments. Although the current high-z samples are still small and biased towards the luminous and massive tail of the actively star-forming ‘main-sequence’, a fairly clear picture is emerging. Independent of whether galaxy-integrated quantities or surface densities are considered, low- and high-z SFG populations appear to follow similar molecular gas–star formation relations with slopes 1.1 to 1.2, over three orders of magnitude in gas mass or surface density. The gas-depletion time-scale in these SFGs grows from 0.5 Gyr at z∼ 2 to 1.5 Gyr at z∼ 0. The average corresponds to a fairly low star formation efficiency of 2 per cent per dynamical time. Because star formation depletion times are significantly smaller than the Hubble time at all redshifts sampled, star formation rates and gas fractions are set by the balance between gas accretion from the halo and stellar feedback. In contrast, very luminous and ultraluminous, gas-rich major mergers at both low and high z produce on average four to 10 times more far-infrared luminosity per unit gas mass. We show that only some fraction of this difference can be explained by uncertainties in gas mass or luminosity estimators; much of it must be intrinsic. A possible explanation is a top-heavy stellar mass function in the merging systems but the most likely interpretation is that the star formation relation is driven by global dynamical effects. For a given mass, the more compact merger systems produce stars more rapidly because their gas clouds are more compressed with shorter dynamical times, so that they churn more quickly through the available gas reservoir than the typical normal disc galaxies. When the dependence on galactic dynamical time-scale is explicitly included, disc galaxies and mergers appear to follow similar gas-to-star formation relations. The mergers may be forming stars at slightly higher efficiencies than the discs.

CALIBRATING EXTINCTION-FREE STAR FORMATION RATE DIAGNOSTICS WITH 33 GHz FREE-FREE EMISSION IN NGC 6946

Using free-free emission measured in the Ka band (26-40 GHz) for 10 star-forming regions in the nearby galaxy NGC 6946, including its starbursting nucleus, we compare a number of star formation rate (SFR) diagnostics that are typically considered to be unaffected by interstellar extinction. These diagnostics include non-thermal radio (i.e., 1.4 GHz), total infrared (IR; 8-1000 μm), and warm dust (i.e., 24 μm) emission, along with hybrid indicators that attempt to account for obscured and unobscured emission from star-forming regions including Hα + 24 μm and UV + IR measurements. The assumption is made that the 33 GHz free-free emission provides the most accurate measure of the current SFR. Among the extranuclear star-forming regions, the 24 μm, Hα + 24 μm, and UV + IR SFR calibrations are in good agreement with the 33 GHz free-free SFRs. However, each of the SFR calibrations relying on some form of dust emission overestimates the nuclear SFR by a factor of ~2 relative to the 33 GHz free-free SFR. This is more likely the result of excess dust heating through an accumulation of non-ionizing stars associated with an extended episode of star formation in the nucleus rather than increased competition for ionizing photons by dust. SFR calibrations using the non-thermal radio continuum yield values which only agree with the 33 GHz free-free SFRs for the nucleus and underestimate the SFRs from the extranuclear star-forming regions by an average factor of ~2 and ~4-5 before and after subtracting local background emission, respectively. This result likely arises from the cosmic-ray (CR) electrons decaying within the starburst region with negligible escape, whereas the transient nature of star formation in the young extranuclear star-forming complexes allows for CR electrons to diffuse significantly further than dust-heating photons, resulting in an underestimate of the true SFR. Finally, we find that the SFRs estimated using the total 33 GHz flux density appear to agree well with those estimated using free-free emission due to the large thermal fractions present at these frequencies even when local diffuse backgrounds are not removed. Thus, rest-frame 33 GHz observations may act as a reliable method to measure the SFRs of galaxies at increasingly high redshift without the need of ancillary radio data to account for the non-thermal emission.

High-resolution measurements of the halos of four dark matter-dominated galaxies: Deviations from a universal density profile

We derive rotation curves for four nearby, low-mass spiral galaxies and use them to constrain the shapes of their dark matter density profiles. This analysis is based on high-resolution two-dimensional Hα velocity fields of NGC 4605, NGC 5949, NGC 5963, and NGC 6689 and CO velocity fields of NGC 4605 and NGC 5963. In combination with our previous study of NGC 2976, the full sample of five galaxies contains density profiles that span the range from αDM = 0 to αDM = 1.20, where αDM is the power-law index describing the central density profile. The scatter in αDM from galaxy to galaxy is 0.44, 3 times as large as in cold dark matter (CDM) simulations, and the mean density profile slope is αDM = 0.73, shallower than that predicted by the simulations. These results call into question the hypothesis that all galaxies share a universal dark matter density profile. We show that one of the galaxies in our sample, NGC 5963, has a cuspy density profile that closely resembles those seen in CDM simulations, demonstrating that while galaxies with the steep central density cusps predicted by CDM do exist, they are in the minority. In spite of these differences between observations and simulations, the relatively cuspy density profiles we find do not suggest that this problem represents a crisis for CDM. Improving the resolution of the simulations and incorporating additional physics may resolve the remaining discrepancies. We also find that four of the galaxies contain detectable radial motions in the plane of the galaxy. We investigate the hypothesis that these motions are caused by a triaxial dark matter halo and place lower limits on the ellipticity of the orbits in the plane of the disk of 0.043-0.175.

KINGFISH—Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel: Survey Description and Image Atlas

The KINGFISH project (Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: a Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel) is an imaging and spectroscopic survey of 61 nearby (d < 30 Mpc) galaxies, chosen to cover a wide range of galaxy properties and local interstellar medium (ISM) environments found in the nearby universe. Its broad goals are to characterize the ISM of present-day galaxies, the heating and cooling of their gaseous and dust components, and to better understand the physical processes linking star formation and the ISM. KINGFISH is a direct descendant of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS), which produced complete Spitzer imaging and spectroscopic mapping and a comprehensive set of multiwavelength ancillary observations for the sample. The Herschel imaging consists of complete maps for the galaxies at 70, 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 μm. The spectral line imaging of the principal atomic ISM cooling lines ([O I] 63 μm, [O III] 88 μm, [N II] 122,205 μm, and [C II] 158 μm) covers the subregions in the centers and disks that already have been mapped in the mid-infrared with Spitzer. The KINGFISH and SINGS multiwavelength data sets combined provide panchromatic mapping of the galaxies sufficient to resolve individual star-forming regions, and tracing the important heating and cooling channels of the ISM, across a wide range of local extragalactic ISM environments. This article summarizes the scientific strategy for KINGFISH, the properties of the galaxy sample, the observing strategy, and data processing and products. It also presents a combined Spitzer and Herschel image atlas for the KINGFISH galaxies, covering the wavelength range 3.6–500 μm. All imaging and spectroscopy data products will be released to the Herschel user-generated product archives.

HERSCHEL FAR-INFRARED AND SUBMILLIMETER PHOTOMETRY FOR THE KINGFISH SAMPLE OF NEARBY GALAXIES

New far-infrared and submillimeter photometry from the Herschel Space Observatory is presented for 61 nearby galaxies from the Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel (KINGFISH) sample. The spatially integrated fluxes are largely consistent with expectations based on Spitzer far-infrared photometry and extrapolations to longer wavelengths using popular dust emission models. Dwarf irregular galaxies are notable exceptions, as already noted by other authors, as their 500 μm emission shows evidence for a submillimeter excess. In addition, the fraction of dust heating attributed to intense radiation fields associated with photodissociation regions is found to be (21 ± 4)% larger when Herschel data are included in the analysis. Dust masses obtained from the dust emission models of Draine & Li are found to be on average nearly a factor of two higher than those based on single-temperature modified blackbodies, as single blackbody curves do not capture the full range of dust temperatures inherent to any galaxy. The discrepancy is largest for galaxies exhibiting the coolest far-infrared colors.

The Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud: S3MC Imaging and Photometry in the Mid- and Far-Infrared Wave Bands

We present the initial results from the Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (S^3MC), which imaged the star-forming body of the SMC in all seven MIPS and IRAC wave bands. We find that the F_8/F_(24) ratio (an estimate of PAH abundance) has large spatial variations and takes a wide range of values that are unrelated to metallicity but anticorrelated with 24 μm brightness and F_(24)/F_(70) ratio. This suggests that photodestruction is primarily responsible for the low abundance of PAHs observed in star-forming low-metallicity galaxies. We use the S3MC images to compile a photometric catalog of ~400,000 mid- and far-infrared point sources in the SMC. The sources detected at the longest wavelengths fall into four main categories: (1) bright 5.8 μm sources with very faint optical counterparts and very red mid-infrared colors ([5.8] - [8.0] > 1.2), which we identify as YSOs; (2) bright mid-infrared sources with mildly red colors (0.16 ≾ [5.8] - [8.0] < 0.6), identified as carbon stars; (3) bright mid-infrared sources with neutral colors and bright optical counterparts, corresponding to oxygen-rich evolved stars; and (4) unreddened early B stars (B3-O9) with a large 24 μm excess. This excess is reminiscent of debris disks and is detected in only a small fraction of these stars (≾5%). The majority of the brightest infrared point sources in the SMC fall into groups 1-3. We use this photometric information to produce a catalog of 282 bright YSOs in the SMC with a very low level of contamination (~7%).

THE SPITZER SURVEY OF THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD: FAR-INFRARED EMISSION AND COLD GAS IN THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD

We present new FIR maps of the SMC at 24, 70, and 160 μm obtained as part of the Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (S^(3)MC). These maps cover most of the star formation in the SMC bar and wing. We combine our maps with literature data to derive the dust mass surface density across the SMC. We find a total dust mass of M_(dust) = 3 × 10^5 M_☉, implying a dust-to-hydrogen ratio over the region studied of log_(10)(D/H) = -2.86, or 1 : 700, which includes H_2. Assuming the dust to trace the total gas column, we derive H_2 surface densities across the SMC. We find a total H_2 mass M_(H_2) = 3.2 × 10^7 M_☉ in a distribution similar to that of the CO, but more extended. We compare profiles of CO and H_2 around six molecular peaks; on average H_2 is more extended than CO by a factor of ~1.3. The implied CO-to-H_2 conversion factor over the whole SMC is X_(CO) = (13 ± 1) × 10^(21) cm^(-2) (K km s^(-1))^(-1). Over the volume occupied by CO the conversion factor is lower, X_(CO) = (6 ± 1) × 10^(21) cm^(-2) (K km s^(-1))^(-1), but still a few times larger than that found using virial mass methods. The molecular peaks have H_2 surface densities Σ_(H_2) ≈ 180 ± 30 M pc^(-2), similar to those in Milky Way GMCs, and correspondingly low extinctions, A_V ~ 1-2 mag. The theory of photoionization-regulated star formation predicts A_V ~ 6, which would require the GMCs to be ~3 times smaller than our 46 pc resolution element. For a given hydrostatic gas pressure, the SMC has a 2-3 times lower ratio of molecular to atomic gas than spiral galaxies. Combined with lower mean densities, this results in this galaxy having only 10% of its gas in the molecular phase.

The Molecular Interstellar Medium of Dwarf Galaxies on Kiloparsec Scales: A New Survey for CO in Northern, IRAS-detected Dwarf Galaxies

We present a new survey for CO in dwarf galaxies using the ARO Kitt Peak 12 m telescope. This survey consists of observations of the central regions of 121 northern dwarfs with IRAS detections and no known CO emission. We detect CO in 28 of these galaxies and marginally detect another 16, increasing by about 50% the number of such galaxies known to have significant CO emission. The galaxies we detect are comparable in stellar and dynamical mass to the Large Magellanic Cloud, although somewhat brighter in CO and fainter in the far-IR. Within dwarfs, we find that the CO luminosity LCO is most strongly correlated with the K-band and the far-infrared luminosities. There are also strong correlations with the radio continuum (RC) and B-band luminosities and linear diameter. Conversely, we find that far-IR dust temperature is a poor predictor of CO emission within the dwarfs alone, although a good predictor of normalized CO content among a larger sample of galaxies. We suggest that LCO and LK correlate well because the stellar component of a galaxy dominates the midplane gravitational field and thus sets the pressure and density of the atomic gas, which control the formation of H2 from H I. We compare our sample with more massive galaxies and find that dwarfs and large galaxies obey the same relationship between CO and the 1.4 GHz RC surface brightness. This relationship is well described by a Schmidt law with ΣRC ∝ Σ. Therefore, dwarf galaxies and large spirals exhibit the same relationship between molecular gas and star formation rate (SFR). We find that this result is robust to moderate changes in the RC-to-SFR and CO-to-H2 conversion factors. Our data appear to be inconsistent with large (order of magnitude) variations in the CO-to-H2 conversion factor in the star-forming molecular gas.

Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally Stripped, Low Metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-SMC). I. Overview

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) provides a unique laboratory for the study of the lifecycle of dust given its low metallicity (~1/5 solar) and relative proximity (~60 kpc). This motivated the SAGE-SMC (Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally Stripped, Low Metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud) Spitzer Legacy program with the specific goals of studying the amount and type of dust in the present interstellar medium, the sources of dust in the winds of evolved stars, and how much dust is consumed in star formation. This program mapped the full SMC (30 deg^2) including the body, wing, and tail in seven bands from 3.6 to 160 μm using IRAC and MIPS on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The data were reduced and mosaicked, and the point sources were measured using customized routines specific for large surveys. We have made the resulting mosaics and point-source catalogs available to the community. The infrared colors of the SMC are compared to those of other nearby galaxies and the 8 μm/24 μm ratio is somewhat lower than the average and the 70 μm/160 μm ratio is somewhat higher than the average. The global infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) shows that the SMC has approximately 1/3 the aromatic emission/polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon abundance of most nearby galaxies. Infrared color-magnitude diagrams are given illustrating the distribution of different asymptotic giant branch stars and the locations of young stellar objects. Finally, the average SED of H II/star formation regions is compared to the equivalent Large Magellanic Cloud average H II/star formation region SED. These preliminary results will be expanded in detail in subsequent papers.