Qiusheng Gu

The star formation history of Seyfert 2 nuclei

We present a study of the stellar populations in the central ∼200 pc of a large and homogeneous sample comprising 79 nearby galaxies, most of which are Seyfert 2s. The star formation history of these nuclei is reconstructed by means of state-of-the-art population synthesis modelling of their spectra in the 3500‐5200 A interval. A quasar-like featureless continuum (FC) is added to the models to account for possible scattered light from a hidden active galactic nucleus (AGN). We find the following. (1) The star formation history of Seyfert 2 nuclei is remarkably heterogeneous: young starbursts, intermediate-age and old stellar populations all appear in significant and widely varying proportions. (2) A significant fraction of the nuclei show a strong FC component, but this FC is not always an indication of a hidden AGN: it can also betray the presence of a young, dusty starburst. (3) We detect weak broad Hβ emission in several Seyfert 2s after cleaning the observed spectrum by subtracting the synthesis model. These are most likely the weak scattered lines from the hidden broad-line region envisaged in the unified model, given that in most of these cases independent spectropolarimetry data find a hidden Seyfert 1. (4) The FC strengths obtained by the spectral decomposition are substantially larger for the Seyfert 2s which present evidence of broad lines, implying that the scattered nonstellar continuum is also detected. (5) There is no correlation between the star formation in the nucleus and either the central or overall morphology of the parent galaxies. Ke yw ords: galaxies: active ‐ galaxies: Seyfert ‐ galaxies: statistics ‐ galaxies: stellar content.

Inefficient star formation in extremely metal poor galaxies

The first galaxies contain stars born out of gas with few or no ‘metals’ (that is, elements heavier than helium). The lack of metals is expected to inhibit efficient gas cooling and star formation, but this effect has yet to be observed in galaxies with an oxygen abundance (relative to hydrogen) below a tenth of that of the Sun. Extremely metal poor nearby galaxies may be our best local laboratories for studying in detail the conditions that prevailed in low metallicity galaxies at early epochs. Carbon monoxide emission is unreliable as a tracer of gas at low metallicities, and while dust has been used to trace gas in low-metallicity galaxies, low spatial resolution in the far-infrared has typically led to large uncertainties. Here we report spatially resolved infrared observations of two galaxies with oxygen abundances below ten per cent of the solar value, and show that stars formed very inefficiently in seven star-forming clumps in these galaxies. The efficiencies are less than a tenth of those found in normal, metal rich galaxies today, suggesting that star formation may have been very inefficient in the early Universe.

Emission-line properties of Seyfert 2 nuclei

This is the third paper of a series devoted to the study of the global properties of Joguet’s sample of 79 nearby galaxies observable from the southern hemisphere, of which 65 are Seyfert 2 galaxies. We use the population synthesis models of Paper II to derive ‘pure’ emission-line spectra for the Seyfert 2 galaxies in the sample, and thus explore the statistical properties of the nuclear nebular components and their relation to the stellar populations. We find that the emission-line clouds suffer substantially more extinction than the starlight, and we confirm the correlations between stellar and nebular velocity dispersions and between emission-line luminosity and velocity dispersions, although with substantial scatter. Nuclear luminosities correlate with stellar velocity dispersions, but Seyferts with conspicuous star-forming activity deviate systematically towards higher luminosities. Removing the contribution of young stars to the optical continuum produces a tighter and steeper relation, L ∝ σ 4 , consistent with the Faber‐Jackson law. Emission-line ratios indicative of the gas excitation such as [O III]/Hβ and [O III]/[O II] are statistically smaller for Seyferts with significant star formation, implying that ionization by massive stars is responsible for a substantial and sometimes even a dominant fraction of the Hβ and [O II] fluxes. We use our models to constrain the maximum fraction of the ionizing power that can be generated by a hidden active galactic nucleus (AGN). We correlate this fraction with classical indicators of AGN photoionization (i.e. X-ray luminosity and nebular excitation), but find no significant correlations. Thus, while there is a strong contribution of starbursts to the excitation of the nuclear nebular emission in low-luminosity Seyferts, the contribution of the hidden AGN remains elusive even in hard X-rays.

Seyfert 2 Galaxies with Spectropolarimetric Observations

We present a compilation of radio, infrared, optical, and hard X-ray (2-10 keV) data for a sample of 90 Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2s) with spectropolarimetric observations (41 Sy2s with detection of polarized broad lines [PBLs] and 49 without PBLs). Compared to Sy2s without PBLs, Sy2s with PBLs tend to be earlier type spirals and show warmer midinfrared color and significant excess of emissions (including the hard X-ray [2-10 keV], [O III] λ5007, infrared [25 μm], and radio). Our analyses indicate that the majority of Sy2s without PBLs are those sources having less powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN) activities, most likely caused by a low accretion rate. It implies that the detectability of the polarized broad emission lines in Sy2s may depend on their central AGN activities in most cases. Based on the available data, we find no compelling evidence for the presence of two types of Sy2s; one of which has been proposed to be intrinsically different from Sy2s claimed in the unification model.

CANDELS: CORRELATIONS OF SPECTRAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS AND MORPHOLOGIES WITH STAR FORMATION STATUS FOR MASSIVE GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2

We present a study on spectral energy distributions, morphologies, and star formation for an IRAC-selected extremely red object sample in the GOODS Chandra Deep Field-South. This work was enabled by new HST/WFC3 near-IR imaging from the CANDELS survey as well as the deepest available X-ray data from Chandra 4xa0Ms observations. This sample consists of 133 objects with the 3.6 μm limiting magnitude of [3.6]xa0=xa021.5 and is approximately complete for galaxies with M * > 1011 M ☉ at 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.5. We classify this sample into two types, quiescent and star-forming galaxies (SFGs), in the observed infrared color-color ([3.6]–[24] versus K – [3.6]) diagram. The further morphological study of this sample shows a consistent result with the observed color classification. The classified quiescent galaxies are bulge dominated and SFGs in the sample have disk or irregular morphologies. Our observed infrared color classification is also consistent with the rest-frame color (U – V versus V – J) classification. We also found that quiescent and SFGs are well separated in the nonparametric morphology parameter (Gini versus M 20) diagram measuring their concentration and clumpiness: quiescent galaxies have a Gini coefficient higher than 0.58 and SFGs have a Gini coefficient lower than 0.58. We argue that the star formation quenching process must lead to or be accompanied by the increasing galaxy concentration. One prominent morphological feature of this sample is that disks are commonly seen in this massive galaxy sample at 1.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.5: 30% of quiescent galaxies and 70% of SFGs with M * > 1011 M ☉ have disks in their rest-frame optical morphologies. The prevalence of these extended, relatively undisturbed disks challenges the merging scenario as the main mode of massive galaxy formation.

The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey : 7 Ms Source Catalogs

We present X-ray source catalogs for the ≈7 Ms exposure of the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S), which covers a total area of 484.2 arcmin2. Utilizing wavdetect for initial source detection and ACIS Extract for photometric extraction and significance assessment, we create a main source catalog containing 1008 sources that are detected in up to three X-ray bands: 0.5-7.0 keV, 0.5-2.0 keV, and 2-7 keV. A supplementary source catalog is also provided, including 47 lower-significance sources that have bright (Ks ≤ 23) near-infrared counterparts. We identify multiwavelength counterparts for 992 (98.4%) of the main-catalog sources, and we collect redshifts for 986 of these sources, including 653 spectroscopic redshifts and 333 photometric redshifts. Based on the X-ray and multiwavelength properties, we identify 711 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the main-catalog sources. Compared to the previous ≈4 Ms CDF-S catalogs, 291 of the main-catalog sources are new detections. We have achieved unprecedented X-ray sensitivity with average flux limits over the central ≈1 arcmin2 region of ≈1.9 ×10-17, 6.4 ×10-18, and 2.7 ×10-17 erg cm-2 s-1 in the three X-ray bands, respectively. We provide cumulative number-count measurements observing, for the first time, that normal galaxies start to dominate the X-ray source population at the faintest 0.5-2.0 keV flux levels. The highest X-ray source density reaches ≈50,500 deg-2, and 47% ± 4% of these sources are AGNs (≈23,900 deg-2). (Less)

LUMINOSITY-METALLICITY RELATIONS FOR BLUE COMPACT DWARF GALAXIES IN THE OPTICAL AND NEAR-INFRARED

In this paper, we present systematic studies on the B-, R- and K(s)-band luminosity-metallicity (L-Z) relations for a set of metal-poor, blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs). Metallicity is derived by using both the empirical N2 and the direct T(e) methods. Our work reconciles contradictory results obtained by different authors and shows that the L-Z relationship does also hold for BCDs. The empirical N2-based slope of the L-Z relation, for each photometric band, is consistent with the T(e)-based one. We confirm that the slope of the L-Z relation is shallower in the near-infrared than that in the optical. Our investigations on the correlations between the LB-Z relation residuals and different galactic parameters show that the star formation activities could be a cause of the large scatter in the optical L-Z relationships, whereas the internal absorption might be another possible contributing factor.

VERY LARGE ARRAY OBSERVATIONS OF AMMONIA IN HIGH-MASS STAR FORMATION REGIONS

We report systematic mapping observations of the NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) inversion lines toward 62 high-mass star-forming regions using the Very Large Array (VLA) in its D and DnC array configurations. The VLA images cover a spatial dynamic range from 40 to 3, allowing us to trace gas kinematics from similar to 1 pc scales to less than or similar to 0.1 pc scales. Based on the NH3 morphology and the infrared nebulosity on 1 pc scales, we categorize three subclasses in the sample: filaments, hot cores, and NH3-dispersed sources. The ubiquitous gas filaments found on 1 pc scales have a typical width of similar to 0.1 pc and often contain regularly spaced fragments along the major axis. The spacing of the fragments and the column densities is consistent with the turbulent supported fragmentation of cylinders. Several sources show multiple filaments that converge toward a center where the velocity field in the filaments is consistent with gas flows. We derive rotational temperature maps for the entire sample. For the three hot core sources, we find a projected radial temperature distribution that is best fit by power-law indices from -0.18 to -0.35. We identify 174 velocity-coherent similar to 0.1 pc scale dense cores from the entire sample. The mean physical properties for these cores are 1.1 km s(-1) in intrinsic linewidth, 18 K in NH3 rotational temperature, 2.3 x 10(15) cm(-2) in NH3 gas column density, and 67M(circle dot) in molecular mass. The dense cores identified from the filamentary sources are closer to being virialized. Dense cores in the other two categories of sources appear to be dynamically unstable.

LARGE-SCALE KINEMATICS, ASTROCHEMISTRY, AND MAGNETIC FIELD STUDIES OF MASSIVE STAR-FORMING REGIONS THROUGH HC3N, HNC, AND C2H MAPPINGS

We have mapped 27 massive star-forming regions associated with water masers using three dense gas tracers: HC3N 10-9, HNC 1-0, and C2H 1-0. The FWHM sizes of HNC clumps and C2H clumps are about 1.5 and 1.6 times higher than those of HC3N, respectively, which can be explained by the fact that HC3N traces more dense gas than HNC and C2H. We found evidence for an increase in the optical depth of C2H with a radius from the center to the outer regions in some targets, supporting the chemical model of C2H. The C2H optical depth is found to decline as molecular clouds evolve to a later stage, suggesting that C2H might be used as a chemical clock for molecular clouds. The large-scale kinematic structure of clouds was investigated with three molecular lines. All of these sources show significant velocity gradients. The magnitudes of gradient are found to increase toward the inner region, indicating the differential rotation of clouds. Both the ratio of rotational to gravitational energy and the specific angular momentum seem to decrease toward the inner region, implying the obvious angular momentum transfer, which might be caused by magnetic braking. The average magnetic field strength and number density of molecular clouds is derived using the uniform magnetic sphere model. The derived magnetic field strengths range from 3 to 88 mu G, with a median value of 13 mu G. The mass-to-flux ratio of the molecular cloud is calculated to be much higher than the critical value with derived parameters, which agrees well with numerical simulations.

THE STELLAR POPULATION AND STAR FORMATION PROPERTIES OF BLUE COMPACT DWARF GALAXIES

We study stellar populations, star formation histories (SFIIs), and star formation properties for a sample of blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) selected by cross-correlating the Gil de Paz et al. sample with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6. The sample includes 31 BCDs, which span a large range of galactic parameters. Using a stellar population synthesis method, we derive stellar populations and reconstruct SFHs for these BCDs. Our studies confirm that BCDs are not young systems experiencing their first star formation, but old systems undergoing a starburst activity. The stellar mass-weighted ages can be up to 10 Gyr, while the luminosity-weighted ages might be up to approximately three orders of magnitude younger (similar to 10 Myr) for most galaxies. Based on multiwavelength data, we also study the integrated star formation properties. The star formation rate (SFR) for our sample galaxies spans nearly three orders of magnitude, from a few 10(-3) to similar to 1M(circle dot) yr(-1), with a median value of similar to 0.1M(circle dot) yr(-1). We find that about 90% of BCDs in our sample have their birthrate parameter (the ratio of the current SFR to the averaged past SFR) b > 2-3. We further discuss correlations of the current SFR with the integrated galactic stellar mass and explore the connection between SFR and metallicity.