1,357 research outputs found
Pure Luminosity Evolution models for faint field galaxy samples
We have examined a set of pure luminosity evolution (PLE) models in order to
explore up to what extent the rapidly increasing observational constraints from
faint galaxy samples can be understood in this simple framework. We find that a
PLE model, in which galaxies evolve mildly in time even in the rest frame UV,
can reproduce most of the observed properties of faint galaxies assuming an
open () universe. In particular, such a model is able to fit
reasonably well the number counts in the , and bands, as
well as the colour and redshift distributions derived from most of the existing
samples. The most significant discrepancy between the predictions of this model
and the data is the distribution of faint -selected galaxies.
Significantly worse fits are obtained with PLE models for the theoretically
attractive value of , although a simple number luminosity evolution
model with a significant amount of merger events fits the data also in this
cosmology.Comment: 15 pages, plain tex (insert encapsulated postscript figures), plus an
extra figure Fig3c.ps and the tex-macro mn.tex uuencoded, gzipp'ed tar file
-- accepted by MNRA
A substructure analysis of the A3558 cluster complex
The "algorithm driven by the density estimate for the identification of
clusters" (DEDICA, Pisani 1993, 1996) is applied to the A3558 cluster complex
in order to find substructures. This complex, located at the center of the
Shapley Concentration supercluster, is a chain formed by the ACO clusters
A3556, A3558 and A3562 and the two poor clusters SC 1327-312 and SC 1329-313.
We find a large number of clumps, indicating that strong dynamical processes
are active. In particular, it is necessary to use a fully three-dimensional
sample(i.e. using the galaxy velocity as third coordinate) in order to recover
also the clumps superimposed along the line of sight. Even if a great number of
detected substructures were already found in a previous analysis (Bardelli et
al. 1998), this method is more efficient and faster when compared with the use
of a wide battery of tests and permits the direct estimate of the detection
significance. Almost all subclusters previously detected by the wavelet
analyses found in the literature are recognized by DEDICA.
On the basis of the substructure analysis, we also briefly discuss the origin
of the A3558 complex by comparing two hypotheses: 1) the structure is a
cluster-cluster collision seen just after the first core-core encounter; 2)
this complex is the result of a series of incoherent group-group and
cluster-group mergings, focused in that region by the presence of the
surrounding supercluster. We studied the fraction of blue galaxies in the
detected substructures and found that the bluest groups reside between A3562
and A3558, i.e. in the expected position in the scenario of the cluster-cluster
collision.Comment: 10 pages with 12 encapsulated figures; MNRAS in pres
A new photometric technique for the joint selection of star-forming and passive galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5
A simple two color selection based on B-, z-, and K- band photometry is
proposed for culling galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in K-selected samples and
classifying them as star-forming or passive systems. The method is calibrated
on the highly complete spectroscopic redshift database of the K20 survey,
verified with simulations and tested on other datasets. Requiring
BzK=(z-K)-(B-z)>-0.2 (AB) allows to select actively star-forming galaxies at
z>1.4, independently on their dust reddening. Instead, objects with BzK<-0.2
and (z-K)>2.5 (AB) colors include passively evolving galaxies at z>1.4, often
with spheroidal morphologies. Simple recipes to estimate the reddening, SFRs
and masses of BzK-selected galaxies are derived, and calibrated on K<20
galaxies. Based on their UV (reddening-corrected), X-ray and radio
luminosities, the BzK-selected star-forming galaxies with K<20 turn out to have
average SFR ~ 200 Msun yr^-1, and median reddening E(B-V)~0.4. Besides missing
the passively evolving galaxies, the UV selection appears to miss some relevant
fraction of the z~2 star-forming galaxies with K<20, and hence of the
(obscured) star-formation rate density at this redshift. The high SFRs and
masses add to other existing evidence that these z=2 star-forming galaxies may
be among the precursors of z=0 early-type galaxies. Theoretical models cannot
reproduce simultaneously the space density of both passively evolving and
highly star-forming galaxies at z=2. In view of Spitzer Space Telescope
observations, an analogous technique based on the RJL photometry is proposed to
complement the BzK selection and to identify massive galaxies at 2.5<z<4.0.
These color criteria should help in completing the census of the stellar mass
and of the star-formation rate density at high redshift (abridged).Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, to appear on ApJ (20 December 2004 issue
The space density of Compton-thick AGN at z~0.8 in the zCOSMOS-Bright Survey
The obscured accretion phase in BH growth is a key ingredient in many models
linking the AGN activity with the evolution of their host galaxy. At present, a
complete census of obscured AGN is still missing. The purpose of this work is
to assess the reliability of the [NeV] emission line at 3426 A to pick up
obscured AGN up to z~1 by assuming that [NeV] is a reliable proxy of the
intrinsic AGN luminosity and using moderately deep X-ray data to characterize
the amount of obscuration. A sample of 69 narrow-line (Type 2) AGN at
z=0.65-1.20 were selected from the 20k-zCOSMOS Bright galaxy sample on the
basis of the presence of the [NeV] emission. The X-ray properties of these
galaxies were then derived using the Chandra-COSMOS coverage of the field; the
X-ray-to-[NeV] flux ratio, coupled with X-ray spectral and stacking analyses,
was then used to infer whether Compton-thin or Compton-thick absorption were
present in these sources. Then the [NeV] luminosity function was computed to
estimate the space density of Compton-thick (CT) AGN at z~0.8. Twenty-three
sources were detected by Chandra, and their properties are consistent with
moderate obscuration (on average, ~a few 10^{22} cm^-2). The X-ray properties
of the remaining 46 X-ray undetected Type 2 AGN were derived using X-ray
stacking analysis. Current data indicate that a fraction as high as ~40% of the
present sample is likely to be CT. The space density of CT AGN with
logL_2-10keV>43.5 at z=0.83 is (9.1+/-2.1) 10^{-6} Mpc^{-3}, in good agreement
with both XRB model expectations and the previously measured space density for
objects in a similar redshift and luminosity range. We regard our selection
technique for CT AGN as clean but not complete, since even a mild extinction in
the NLR can suppress [NeV] emission. Therefore, our estimate of their space
density should be considered as a lower limit.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, A&A, in pres
An exploratory study of the hard X-ray variability properties of PG quasars with RXTE
We have monitored with the RXTE PCA the variability pattern of the 2-20 keV
flux in four PG quasars (QSOs) from the Laor et al. (1994) sample. Six
observations of each target at regular intervals of 1 day were performed. The
sample comprises objects with extreme values of Balmer line width (and hence
soft X-ray steepness) and spans about one order of magnitude in luminosity. The
most robust result is that the variability amplitude decreases as energy
increases. Several options for a possible ultimate driver of the soft and hard
X-ray variability, such as the influx rate of Comptonizing relativistic
particles, instabilities in the accretion flow or the number of X-ray active
sites, are consistent with our results.Comment: Contributed talk presented at the Joint MPE,AIP,ESO workshop on
NLS1s, Bad Honnef, Dec. 1999, to appear in New Astronomy Reviews; also
available at http://wave.xray.mpe.mpg.de/conferences/nls1-worksho
Probing black hole accretion in quasar pairs at high redshift
Models and observations suggest that luminous quasar activity is triggered by
mergers, so it should preferentially occur in the most massive primordial dark
matter haloes, where the frequency of mergers is expected to be the highest.
Since the importance of galaxy mergers increases with redshift, we identify the
high-redshift Universe as the ideal laboratory for studying dual AGN. Here we
present the X-ray properties of two systems of dual quasars at z=3.0-3.3
selected from the SDSS-DR6 at separations of 6-8 arcsec (43-65kpc) and observed
by Chandra for 65ks each. Both members of each pair are detected with good
photon statistics to allow us to constrain the column density, spectral slope
and intrinsic X-ray luminosity. We also include a recently discovered dual
quasar at z=5 (separation of 21 arcsec, 136kpc) for which XMM-Newton archival
data allow us to detect the two components separately. Using optical spectra we
derived bolometric luminosities, BH masses and Eddington ratios that were
compared to those of luminous SDSS quasars in the same redshift ranges. We find
that the brighter component of both pairs at z=3.0-3.3 has high luminosities
compared to the distribution of SDSS quasars at similar redshift, with J1622A
having an order magnitude higher luminosity than the median. This source lies
at the luminous end of the z~3.3 quasar luminosity function. While we cannot
conclusively state that the unusually high luminosities of our sources are
related to their having a close companion, for J1622A there is only a 3%
probability that it is by chance.Comment: MNRAS, in pres
New Clues on the Nature of Extremely Red Galaxies
We present near-infrared VLT-UT1+ISAAC spectroscopy of a sample of 9
extremely red galaxies (ERGs) with R-K>5 and K<19.0. Neither strong emission
lines (F_lim<1-5 10^{-16} erg s^{-1}cm^{-2}) nor continuum breaks are detected.
From near-infrared spectrophotometry, complemented with broad-band optical
and near-IR photometry, we estimate ``spectro-photometric'' redshifts to be in
the range of 0.8<z_sphot<1.8. We derive upper limits on the star formation
rates in range of SFR<6-30h_50^{-2} M_solar yr^{-1}. Two of the observed ERGs
are dusty starburst candidates because they require strong dust reddening to
reproduce their global spectral energy distributions. The other ERGs are
consistent with being dustless old passively evolved spheroidals at z>0.8. We
discuss the general implications of our findings in relation with the problem
of the formation of early type galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Astronomy & Astrophysics (Letters), in pres
The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey. Luminosity and stellar mass dependence of galaxy clustering at z~3
We present the study of the dependence of galaxy clustering on luminosity and
stellar mass in the redshift range 2z3.5 using 3236 galaxies with robust
spectroscopic redshifts from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). We measure the
two-point real-space correlation function for four volume-limited
stellar mass and four luminosity, M absolute magnitude selected,
sub-samples. We find that the scale dependent clustering amplitude
significantly increases with increasing luminosity and stellar mass indicating
a strong galaxy clustering dependence on these properties. This corresponds to
a strong relative bias between these two sub-samples of b/b=0.43.
Fitting a 5-parameter HOD model we find that the most luminous and massive
galaxies occupy the most massive dark matter haloes with
M = 10 h M. Similar to the
trends observed at lower redshift, the minimum halo mass M depends on
the luminosity and stellar mass of galaxies and grows from M
=10 hM to M=10 hM
from the faintest to the brightest among our galaxy sample, respectively. We
find the difference between these halo masses to be much more pronounced than
is observed for local galaxies of similar properties. Moreover, at z~3, we
observe that the masses at which a halo hosts, on average, one satellite and
one central galaxy is M4M over all luminosity ranges,
significantly lower than observed at z~0 indicating that the halo satellite
occupation increases with redshift. The luminosity and stellar mass dependence
is also reflected in the measurements of the large scale galaxy bias, which we
model as b(L)=1.92+25.36(L/L). We conclude our study
with measurements of the stellar-to-halo mass ratio (SHMR).Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, A&A in press, v2. revised discussion in sec.
5.5, changed Fig. 4 and Fig. 11, added reference
The cosmic growth of the active black hole population at 1<z<2 in zCOSMOS, VVDS and SDSS
We present a census of the active black hole population at 1<z<2, by
constructing the bivariate distribution function of black hole mass and
Eddington ratio, employing a maximum likelihood fitting technique. The study of
the active black hole mass function (BHMF) and the Eddington ratio distribution
function (ERDF) allows us to clearly disentangle the active galactic nuclei
(AGN) downsizing phenomenon, present in the AGN luminosity function, into its
physical processes of black hole mass downsizing and accretion rate evolution.
We are utilizing type-1 AGN samples from three optical surveys (VVDS, zCOSMOS
and SDSS), that cover a wide range of 3 dex in luminosity over our redshift
interval of interest. We investigate the cosmic evolution of the AGN population
as a function of AGN luminosity, black hole mass and accretion rate. Compared
to z = 0, we find a distinct change in the shape of the BHMF and the ERDF,
consistent with downsizing in black hole mass. The active fraction or duty
cycle of type-1 AGN at z~1.5 is almost flat as a function of black hole mass,
while it shows a strong decrease with increasing mass at z=0. We are witnessing
a phase of intense black hole growth, which is largely driven by the onset of
AGN activity in massive black holes towards z=2. We finally compare our results
to numerical simulations and semi-empirical models and while we find reasonable
agreement over certain parameter ranges, we highlight the need to refine these
models in order to match our observations.Comment: 31 pages, 28 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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