P. Natarajan

First Stars, Very Massive Black Holes, and Metals

Recent studies suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars (Population III) is likely to have been extremely top-heavy, unlike what is observed at present. We propose a scenario to generate fragmentation to lower masses once the first massive stars have formed and derive constraints on the primordial IMF. We estimate the mass fraction of pair-unstable supernovae (SN??), shown to be the dominant sources of the first heavy elements. These metals enrich the surrounding gas up to ?10-4 Z?, when a transition to efficient cooling-driven fragmentation producing 1 M? clumps occurs. We argue that the remaining fraction of the first stars ends up in ?100 M? VMBHs (very massive black holes). If we further assume that all these VMBHs are likely to end up in the centers of galactic nuclei constituting the observed supermassive black holes (SMBHs), then ?6% of the first stars contributed to the initial metal enrichment and the IMF remained top-heavy down to a redshift z ? 18.5%. Interestingly, this is the epoch at which the cool metals detected in the Ly? forest at z ? 3 must have been ejected from galaxies. At the other extreme, if none of these VMBHs has as yet ended up in SMBHs, we expect them to be either (1) en route toward galactic nuclei, thereby accounting for the X-ray-bright off-center sources detected locally by ROSAT, or (2) the dark matter candidate composing the entire baryonic halos of galaxies. For case 1 we expect all but a negligible fraction of the primordial stars to produce metals, causing the transition at the maximum possible redshift of 22.1, and for case 2, ~3 ? 105, a very negligible fraction of the initial stars produce the metals and the transition redshift occurs at zf 5.4. In this paper, we present a framework (albeit one that is not stringently constrained at present) that relates the first episode of star formation to the fate of their remnants at late times. Clearly, further progress in understanding the formation and fragmentation of Population III stars within the cosmological context will provide tighter constraints in the future. We conclude with a discussion of several hitherto unexplored implications of a high-mass-dominated star formation mode in the early universe.

A mean redshift of 2.8 for swift gamma-ray bursts

The exceptionally high luminosities of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), gradually emerging as extremely useful probes of star formation, make them promising tools for exploration of the high-redshift Universe. Here we present a carefully selected sample of Swift GRBs, intended to estimate in an unbiased way the GRB mean redshift (z(mean)), constraints on the fraction of high-redshift bursts and an upper limit on the fraction of heavily obscured afterglows. We find that z(mean) = 2.8 and that at least 7% of GRBs originate at z > 5. In addition, consistent with pre-Swift observations, at most 20% of afterglows can be heavily obscured. The redshift distribution of the sample is qualitatively consistent with models where the GRB rate is proportional to the star formation rate in the Universe. We also report optical, near-infrared and X-ray observations of the afterglow of GRB 050814, which was seen to exhibit very red optical colours. By modelling its spectral energy distribution we find that z = 5.3 +/- 0.3. The high mean redshift of GRBs and their wide redshift range clearly demonstrates their suitability as efficient probes of galaxies and the intergalactic medium over a significant fraction of the history of the Universe. (Less)

SN 2006aj and the Nature of Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts

We present SMARTS consortium optical/IR light curves of SN 2006aj, associated with GRB 060218. We find that this event is broadly similar to two previously observed events, SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 and SN 2003lw/GRB 031203. In particular, all of these events are greatly underluminous in gamma rays compared with typical long-duration GRBs. We find that the observation by Swift of even one such event implies a large enough true event rate to create difficulties in interpreting these events as typical GRBs observed off-axis. Thus, these events appear to be intrinsically different from and much more common than high-luminosity GRBs, which have been observed in large numbers out to a redshift of at least 6.3. The existence of a range of intrinsic energies of GRBs may present challenges to using GRBs as standard candles.

The submillimetre properties of gamma-ray burst host galaxies

Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) accompany the deaths of some massive stars and hence, since massive stars are short lived, are a tracer of star formation activity. Given that GRBs are bright enough to be seen to very high redshifts, and detected even in dusty environments, they should therefore provide a powerful probe of the global star formation history of the universe. The potential of this approach can be investigated via submm photometry of GRB host galaxies. Submm luminosity also correlates with star formation rate, so the distribution of host galaxy submm fluxes should allow us to test the two methods for consistency. Here, we report new JCMT/SCUBA 850μm measurements for 15 GRB hosts. Combining these data with results from previous studies we construct a sample of 21 hosts with < 1.4 mJy errors. We show that the distribution of apparent 850μm flux densities of this sample is reasonably consistent with model predictions, but there is tentative evidence of a dearth of submm bright (> 4 mJy) galaxies. Furthermore, the optical/infrared properties of the submm brightest GRB hosts are not typical of the galaxy population selected in submm surveys, although the sample size is still small. Possible selection effects and physical mechanisms which may explain these discrepancies are discussed.

Truncation of galaxy dark matter halos in high density environments

Aims. Our aim is to constrain the properties of dark matter halos inhabiting high density environments, such as is the case in massive galaxy clusters. Methods. We use galaxy-galaxy lensing techniques that utilize a maximum likelihood method to constrain the parameters of the lenses. It has been demonstrated that such a technique provides strong constraints on the parameters that characterize a galaxy halo, as well as on the aperture mass of these halos. In this analysis, we only use weak shear data and do not include strong lensing constraints. Results. We present the results of a study of galaxy-galaxy lensing in a homogeneous sample of massive x-ray luminous clusters at z ∼ 0.2. These have been observed in three bands with the cfh12k instrument. We find dark matter halos in these clusters to be compact compared to those inferred around isolated field galaxies of equivalent luminosity at this redshift: the half mass radius is found to be smaller than 50 kpc, with a mean total mass of order 0.2× 10 12 M� . This is in good agreement with previous galaxy-galaxy lensing results and with numerical simulations, in particular with the tidal stripping scenario. We thus provide a strong confirmation of tidal truncation from a homogeneous sample of galaxy clusters. Moreover, it is the first time that cluster galaxies are probed successfully using galaxy-galaxy lensing techniques from ground based data.

Spitzer Number Counts of Active Galactic Nuclei in the GOODS Fields

We present mid-infrared observations of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the GOODS fields, performed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. These are the deepest infrared and X-ray fields to date and cover a total area of ~0.1 deg2. AGNs are selected on the basis of their hard (2-8 keV) X-ray emission. The median AGN infrared luminosity is at least 10 times larger than the median for normal galaxies with the same redshift distribution, suggesting that the infrared emission is dominated by the central nucleus. The X-ray-to-infrared luminosity ratios of GOODS AGNs, most of which are at 0.5 z 1.5, are similar to the values obtained for AGNs in the local universe. The observed infrared flux distribution has an integral slope of ~1.5, and there are 1000 sources per square degree brighter than ~50 ?Jy at ~3-6 ?m. The counts approximately match the predictions of models based on AGN unification, in which the majority of AGNs are obscured. This agreement confirms that the faintest X-ray sources, which are dominated by the host galaxy light in the optical, are obscured AGNs. Using these Spitzer data, the AGN contribution to the extragalactic infrared background light is calculated by correlating the X-ray and infrared catalogs. This is likely to be a lower limit given that the most obscured AGNs are missed in X-rays. We estimate the contribution of AGNs missed in X-rays, using a population synthesis model, to be ~45% of the observed AGN contribution, making the AGN contribution to the infrared background at most ~2%-10% in the 3-24 ?m range, depending on wavelength, lower than most previous estimates. The AGN contribution to the infrared background remains roughly constant with source flux in the IRAC bands but decreases with decreasing flux in the MIPS 24 ?m band, where the galaxy population becomes more important.

The Frontier Fields: Survey Design

The Frontier Fields are a directors discretionary time campaign with HST and the Spitzer Space Telescope to see deeper into the universe than ever before. The Frontier Fields combine the power of HST and Spitzer with the natural gravitational telescopes of massive high-magnification clusters of galaxies to produce the deepest observations of clusters and their lensed galaxies ever obtained. Six clusters - Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403, MACSJ0717.5+3745, MACSJ1149.5+2223, Abell S1063, and Abell 370 - were selected based on their lensing strength, sky darkness, Galactic extinction, parallel field suitability, accessibility to ground-based facilities, HST, Spitzer and JWST observability, and pre-existing ancillary data. These clusters have been targeted by the HST ACS/WFC and WFC3/IR with coordinated parallels of adjacent blank fields for over 840 HST orbits. The Spitzer Space Telescope has dedicated > 1000 hours of directors discretionary time to obtain IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 micron imaging to ~26.5, 26.0 ABmag 5-sigma point-source depths in the six cluster and six parallel Frontier Fields. The Frontier Field parallel fields are the second-deepest observations thus far by HST with ~29th ABmag 5-sigma point source depths in seven optical - near-infrared bandpasses. Galaxies behind the Frontier Field cluster lenses experience typical magnification factors of a few, with small regions near the critical curves magnified by factors 10-100. Therefore, the Frontier Field cluster HST images achieve intrinsic depths of ~30-33 magnitudes over very small volumes. Early studies of the Frontier Fields have probed galaxies fainter than any seen before during the epoch of reionization 6 < z < 10, mapped out the cluster dark matter to unprecedented resolution, and followed lensed transient events.

Hubble Frontier Fields: a high-precision strong-lensing analysis of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 using ∼180 multiple images

We present a high-precision mass model of galaxy cluster Abell 2744, based on a strong gravitational-lensing analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields (HFF) imaging data, which now include both Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 observations to the final depth. Taking advantage of the unprecedented depth of the visible and near-infrared data, we identify 34 new multiply imaged galaxies, bringing the total to 61, comprising 181 individual lensed images. In the process, we correct previous erroneous identifications and positions of multiple systems in the northern part of the cluster core. With the LENSTOOL software and the new sets of multiple images, we model the cluster using two cluster-scale dark matter haloes plus galaxy-scale haloes for the cluster members. Our best-fitting model predicts image positions with an rms error of 0.79 arcsec, which constitutes an improvement by almost a factor of 2 over previous parametric models of this cluster. We measure the total projected mass inside a 200 kpc aperture as (2.162 +/- 0.005) x10(14) M-circle dot, thus reaching 1 per cent level precision for the second time, following the recent HFF measurement of MACSJ0416.1-2403. Importantly, the higher quality of the mass model translates into an overall improvement by a factor of 4 of the derived magnification factor. Together with our previous HFF gravitational lensing analysis, this work demonstrates that the HFF data enables high-precision mass measurements for massive galaxy clusters and the derivation of robust magnification maps to probe the early Universe.

SCUBA observations of the host galaxies of four dark gamma-ray bursts

We present the results of a search for submillimetre-luminous host galaxies of optically dark gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We made photometry measurements of the 850-µm flux at the location of four ‘dark bursts’, which are those with no detected optical afterglow despite rapid deep searches, and which may therefore be within galaxies containing substantial amounts of dust. We were unable to detect any individual source significantly. Our results are consistent with predictions for the host galaxy population as a whole, rather than for a subset of dusty hosts. This indicates that optically dark GRBs are not especially associated with very submillimetre-luminous galaxies and so cannot be used as reliable indicators of dust-enshrouded massive star formation activity. Further observations are required to establish the relationship between the wider GRB host galaxy population and SCUBA galaxies.

The host galaxy and optical light curve of the gamma-ray burst GRB 980703

We present deep HST /STIS and ground-based photometry of the host galaxy of the gamma-ray burst GRB 980703 taken 17, 551, 710, and 716 days after the burst. We find that the host is a blue, slightly over-luminous galaxy with