Gianfranco De Zotti

A Physical Model for the Coevolution of QSOs and Their Spheroidal Hosts

We present a physically motivated model for the early coevolution of massive spheroidal galaxies and active nuclei at their centers. Within dark matter halos, forming at the rate predicted by the canonical hierarchical clustering scenario, the gas evolution is controlled by gravity, radiative cooling, and heating by feedback from supernovae and from the growing active nucleus. Supernova heating is increasingly effective with decreasing binding energy in slowing down the star formation and in driving gas outflows. The more massive protogalaxies virializing at earlier times are thus the sites of the faster star formation. The correspondingly higher radiation drag fastens the angular momentum loss by the gas, resulting in a larger accretion rate onto the central black hole. In turn, the kinetic energy carried by outflows driven by active nuclei can unbind the residual gas, thus halting both the star formation and the black hole growth, in a time again shorter for larger halos. For the most massive galaxies the gas unbinding time is short enough for the bulk of the star formation to be completed before Type Ia supernovae can substantially increase the Fe abundance of the interstellar medium, thus accounting for the α-enhancement seen in the largest galaxies. The feedback from supernovae and from the active nucleus also determines the relationship between the black hole mass and the mass, or the velocity dispersion, of the host galaxy, as well as the black hole mass function. In both cases the model predictions are in excellent agreement with the observational data. Coupling the model with GRASIL (Silva et al. 1998), the code computing in a self-consistent way the chemical and spectrophotometric evolution of galaxies over a very wide wavelength interval, we have obtained predictions in excellent agreement with observations for a number of observables that proved to be extremely challenging for all the current semianalytic models, including the submillimeter counts and the corresponding redshift distributions, and the epoch-dependent K-band luminosity function of spheroidal galaxies.

The properties of extragalactic radio sources selected at 20 GHz

We present some first results on the variability, polarization and general properties of radio sources selected at 20 GHz, the highest frequency at which a sensitive radio survey has been carried out over a large area of sky. Sources with flux densities above 100 mJy in the Australia

The Australia Telescope 20-GHz (AT20G) Survey: the Bright Source Sample

The Australia Telescope 20-GHz (AT20G) Survey is a blind survey of the whole southern sky at 20GHz (with follow-up observations at 4.8 and 8.6 GHz) carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array from 2004 to 2007. The Bright Source Sample (BSS) is a complete flux-limited subsample of the AT20G Survey catalogue comprising 320 extragalactic (|b| > 1°.5) radio sources south of δ = -15° with S 20GHz > 0.50 Jy. Of these, 218 have near simultaneous observations at 8 and 5 GHz. In this paper we present an analysis of radio spectral properties in total intensity and polarization, size, optical identifications and redshift distribution of the BSS sources. The analysis of the spectral behaviour shows spectral curvature in most sources with spectral steepening that increases at higher frequencies (the median spectral index a, assuming S oc v α , decreases from α 8.6 4.8 = 0.11 between 4.8 and 8.6 GHz to α 20 8.6 = -0.16 between 8.6 and 20 GHz), even if the sample is dominated by flat spectra sources (85 per cent of the sample has α 20 8.6 > -0.5). The almost simultaneous spectra in total intensity and polarization allowed us a comparison of the polarized and total intensity spectra: polarized fraction slightly increases with frequency, but the shapes of the spectra have little correlation. Optical identifications provided an estimation of redshift for 186 sources with a median value of 1.20 and 0.13, respectively, for QSO and galaxies.

A model for the cosmological evolution of low-frequency radio sources

We present a new evolutionary model that describes the population properties of radio sources at frequencies ≲5 GHz, thus complementing the De Zotti et al. model, holding at higher frequencies. We find that simple analytic luminosity evolution is still sufficient to fit the wealth of available data on local luminosity functions, multifrequency source counts and redshift distributions. However, the fit requires a luminosity-dependent decline of source luminosities at high redshifts, at least for steep-spectrum sources, thus confirming earlier indications of a ‘downsizing’ also for radio sources. The upturn of source counts at sub-mJy levels is accounted for by a straightforward extrapolation, using the empirical far-infrared (far-IR)/radio correlation, of evolutionary models matching the far-IR counts and redshift distributions of star-forming galaxies. We also discuss the implications of the new model for the interpretation of data on large-scale clustering of radio sources and on the integrated Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) effect, and for the investigation of the contribution of discrete sources to the extragalactic background. As for the ISW effect, a new analysis, exploiting a very clean cosmic microwave background map, yields at a substantially higher significance than reported before.

Dynamical and Photometric Imprints of Feedback Processes on the Formation and Evolution of E/S0 Galaxies

We show that the observed velocity dispersion function of E/S0 galaxies matches strikingly well the distribution function of virial velocities of massive halos virializing at z ? 1.5, as predicted by the standard hierarchical clustering scenario in a ?CDM cosmology, for a constant ratio ?/Vvir 0.55 ? 0.05, which is close to the value expected at virialization if it typically occurred at z 3. This strongly suggests that dissipative processes and later merging events had little impact on the matter density profile. Adopting the above ?/Vvir ratio, the observed relationships between photometric and dynamical properties that define the fundamental plane of elliptical galaxies, such as the luminosity-? (Faber-Jackson) and the luminosity-effective radius relations, as well as the MBH-? relation, are nicely reproduced. Their shapes turn out to be determined by the mutual feedback of star formation (and supernova explosions) and nuclear activity, along the lines discussed by Granato and coworkers. To our knowledge, this is the first semianalytic model for which simultaneous fits of the fundamental plane relations and of the epoch-dependent luminosity function of spheroidal galaxies have been presented.

Constraining primordial non-Gaussianity with high-redshift probes

We present an analysis of the constraints on the amplitude of primordial non-Gaussianity of local type described by the dimensionless parameter fNL. These constraints are set by the auto-correlation functions (ACFs) of two large scale structure probes, the radio sources from NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) and the QSO catalogue of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Release Six (SDSS DR6 QSOs), as well as by their cross-correlation functions (CCFs) with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature map (Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect). Several systematic effects that may affect the observational estimates of the ACFs and of the CCFs are investigated and conservatively accounted for. Our approach exploits the large-scale scale-dependence of the non-Gaussian halo bias. The derived constraints on {fNL} coming from the NVSS CCF and from the QSO ACF and CCF are weaker than those previously obtained from the NVSS ACF, but still consistent with them. Finally, we obtain the constraints on fNL = 53±25 (1 σ) and fNL = 58±24 (1 σ) from NVSS data and SDSS DR6 QSO data, respectively.

A Physical Model for the Evolving Ultraviolet Luminosity Function of High Redshift Galaxies and their Contribution to the Cosmic Reionization

ASI/INAF [1/072/09/0]; Millimeter and sub-millimeter spectroscopy for high resolution studies of primeval galaxies and clusters of galaxies

The Planck-ATCA Co-eval Observations project: the bright sample

The Planck-ATCA Co-eval Observations (PACO) have provided flux density measurements of well defined samples of AT20G radio sources at frequencies below and overlapping with Planck frequency bands, almost simultaneously with Planck observations. We have observed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) a total of 482 sources in the frequency range between 4.5 and 40 GHz in the period between July 2009 and August 2010. Several sources were observed more than once. In this paper we present the aims of the project, the selection criteria, and the observation and data reduction procedures. We also discuss the data in total intensity for a complete sample of 189 sources with S20GHz > 500 mJy, Galactic latitude |b| > 5 � , and declination � < 30 � , and some statistical analysis of the spectral behaviour and variability of this sample, referred to as the “bright PACO sample”. Finally we discuss how these data could be used to transfer absolute calibrations to ground based telescopes using the CMB dipole calibrated flux densities measured by the Planck satellite, and we provide some test fluxes on bright calibrators.

The Planck Surveyor mission: astrophysical prospects

Although the Planck Surveyor mission is optimized to map the cosmic microwave background anisotropies, it will also provide extremely valuable information on astrophysical phenomena. We review our present understanding of Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds relevant to the mission and discuss on one side, Planck’s impact on the study of their properties and, on the other side, to what extent foreground contamination may affect Planck’s ability to accurately determine cosmological parameters. Planck’s multifrequency surveys will be unique in their coverage of large areas of the sky (actually, of the full sky); this will extend by two or more orders of magnitude the flux density interval over which mm/sub-mm counts of extragalactic sources can be determined by instruments already available (like SCUBA) or planned for the next decade (like the LSA-MMA or the space mission FIRST), which go much deeper but over very limited areas. Planck will thus provide essential complementary information on the epoch-dep...

Herschel-ATLAS and ALMA - HATLAS J142935.3-002836, a lensed major merger at redshift 1.027

Context. The submillimetre-bright galaxy population is believed to comprise, aside from local galaxies and radio-loud sources, intrinsically active star-forming galaxies, the brightest of which are lensed gravitationally. The latter enable studies at a level of detail beyond what is usually possible by the observation facility. Aims. This work focuses on one of these lensed systems, HATLAS J142935.3−002836 (H1429−0028), selected in the Herschel-ATLAS field. Gathering a rich, multi-wavelength dataset, we aim to confirm the lensing hypothesis and model the background source’s morphology and dynamics, as well as to provide a full physical characterisation. Methods. Multi-wavelength high-resolution data is utilised to assess the nature of the system. A lensing-analysis algorithm that simultaneously fits different wavebands is adopted to characterise the lens. The background galaxy dynamical information is studied by reconstructing the 3D source plane of the ALMA CO (J:4 → 3) transition. Near-IR imaging from HST and Keck-AO allows to constrain rest-frame optical photometry independently for the foreground and background systems. Physical parameters (such as stellar and dust masses) are estimated via modelling of the spectral energy distribution taking source blending, foreground obscuration, and differential magnification into account. Results. The system comprises a foreground edge-on disk galaxy (at zsp = 0.218) with an almost complete Einstein ring around it. The background source (at zsp = 1.027) is magnified by a factor of μ ~ 8−10 depending on wavelength. It is comprised of two components and a tens-of-kpc-long tidal tail resembling the Antennae merger. As a whole, the background source is a massive stellar system (1.32-0.41+ 0.63 × 1011 M⊙) forming stars at a rate of 394 ± 90  M⊙ yr-1, and it has a significant gas reservoir MISM = 4.6 ± 1.7 × 1010 M⊙. Its depletion time due to star formation alone is thus expected to be τSF = MISM/ SFR = 117 ± 51 Myr. The dynamical mass of one of the components is estimated to be 5.8 ± 1.7 × 1010 M⊙, and, together with the photometric total mass estimate, it implies that H1429−0028 is a major merger system (1:2.8-1.5+1.8).