Wildlife tourism in Scotland – the example of grouse shooting

Wildlife tourism in Scotland has seen a recent increase in profile, with two reports providing new figures on the economic value of the activity. The reports, by the Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), seem likely to generate policy responses to further develop the sector

A Public Ks-selected Catalog in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Field: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Population Parameters

We present a catalog covering 1.62 deg^2 of the COSMOS/UltraVISTA field with PSF-matched photometry in 30 photometric bands. The catalog covers the wavelength range 0.15um - 24um including the available GALEX, Subaru, CFHT, VISTA and Spitzer data. Catalog sources have been selected from the DR1 UltraVISTA Ks band imaging that reaches a depth of K_{s,tot} = 23.4 AB (90% completeness). The PSF-matched catalog is generated using position-dependent PSFs ensuring accurate colors across the entire field. Also included is a catalog of photometric redshifts (z_phot) for all galaxies computed with the EAZY code. Comparison with spectroscopy from the zCOSMOS 10k bright sample shows that up to z ~ 1.5 the z_phot are accurate to dz/(1 + z) = 0.013, with a catastrophic outlier fraction of only 1.6%. The z_phot also show good agreement with the z_phot from the NEWFIRM Medium Band Survey (NMBS) out to z ~ 3. A catalog of stellar masses and stellar population parameters for galaxies determined using the FAST spectral energy distribution fitting code is provided for all galaxies. Also included are rest-frame U-V and V-J colors, L_2800 and L_IR. The UVJ color-color diagram confirms that the galaxy bi-modality is well-established out to z ~ 2. Star-forming galaxies also obey a star forming "main sequence" out to z ~ 2.5, and this sequence evolves in a manner consistent with previous measurements. The COSMOS/UltraVISTA Ks-selected catalog covers a unique parameter space in both depth, area, and multi-wavelength coverage and promises to be a useful tool for studying the growth of the galaxy population out to z ~ 3 - 4.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures. Accepted to the ApJSS. Catalog data products available for download here: http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/galaxyevolution/ULTRAVISTA

Stellar mass functions of galaxies at 4<z<7 from an IRAC-selected sample in COSMOS/UltraVISTA: limits on the abundance of very massive galaxies

We build a Spitzer IRAC complete catalog of objects, obtained by complementing the $K_\mathrm{s}$-band selected UltraVISTA catalog with objects detected in IRAC only. With the aim of identifying massive (i.e., $\log(M_*/M_\odot)>11$) galaxies at $4<z<7$, we consider the systematic effects on the measured photometric redshifts from the introduction of an old and dusty SED template and from the introduction of a bayesian prior taking into account the brightness of the objects, as well as the systematic effects from different star formation histories (SFHs) and from nebular emission lines in the recovery of stellar population parameters. We show that our results are most affected by the bayesian luminosity prior, while nebular emission lines and SFHs only introduce a small dispersion in the measurements. Specifically, the number of $4<z<7$ galaxies ranges from 52 to 382 depending on the adopted configuration. Using these results we investigate, for the first time, the evolution of the massive end of the stellar mass functions (SMFs) at $4<z<7$. Given the rarity of very massive galaxies in the early universe, major contributions to the total error budget come from cosmic variance and poisson noise. The SMF obtained without the introduction of the bayesian luminosity prior does not show any evolution from $z\sim6.5$ to $z\sim 3.5$, implying that massive galaxies could already be present when the Universe was $\sim0.9$~Gyr old. However, the introduction of the bayesian luminosity prior reduces the number of $z>4$ galaxies with best fit masses $\log(M_*/M_\odot)>11$ by 83%, implying a rapid growth of very massive galaxies in the first 1.5 Gyr of cosmic history. From the stellar-mass complete sample, we identify one candidate of a very massive ($\log(M_*/M_\odot)\sim11.5$), quiescent galaxy at $z\sim5.4$, with MIPS $24\mu$m detection suggesting the presence of a powerful obscured AGN.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures. ApJ accepte

The Progenitors of Local Ultra-massive Galaxies Across Cosmic Time: from Dusty Star-bursting to Quiescent Stellar Populations

Using the UltraVISTA catalogs, we investigate the evolution in the 11.4~Gyr since $z=3$ of the progenitors of local ultra-massive galaxies ($\log{(M_{\rm star}/M_{\odot})}\approx11.8$; UMGs), providing a complete and consistent picture of how the most massive galaxies at $z=0$ have assembled. By selecting the progenitors with a semi-empirical approach using abundance matching, we infer a growth in stellar mass of 0.56$^{+0.35}_{-0.25}$ dex, 0.45$^{+0.16}_{-0.20}$~dex, and 0.27$^{+0.08}_{-0.12}$ dex from $z=3$, $z=2$, and $z=1$, respectively, to $z=0$. At $z<1$, the progenitors of UMGs constitute a homogeneous population of only quiescent galaxies with old stellar populations. At $z>1$, the contribution from star-forming galaxies progressively increases, with the progenitors at $2<z<3$ being dominated by massive ($M_{\rm star} \approx 2 \times 10^{11}$M$_{\odot}$), dusty ($A_{\rm V}\sim$1--2.2 mag), star-forming (SFR$\sim$100--400~M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$) galaxies with a large range in stellar ages. At $z=2.75$, $\sim$15\% of the progenitors are quiescent, with properties typical of post-starburst galaxies with little dust extinction and strong Balmer break, and showing a large scatter in color. Our findings indicate that at least half of the stellar content of local UMGs was assembled at $z>1$, whereas the remaining was assembled via merging from $z\sim 1$ to the present. Most of the quenching of the star-forming progenitors happened between $z=2.75$ and $z=1.25$, in good agreement with the typical formation redshift and scatter in age of $z=0$ UMGs as derived from their fossil records. The progenitors of local UMGs, including the star-forming ones, never lived on the blue cloud since $z=3$. We propose an alternative path for the formation of local UMGs that refines previously proposed pictures and that is fully consistent with our findings.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures (6 of which in appendix); accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Evolution of the Stellar Mass Functions of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies to z = 4 from the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Survey

We present measurements of the stellar mass functions (SMFs) of star-forming and quiescent galaxies to z = 4 using a sample of 95 675 galaxies in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA field. Sources have been selected from the DR1 UltraVISTA K_{s}-band imaging which covers a unique combination of a wide area (1.62 deg^2), to a significant depth (K_{s,tot} = 23.4). The SMFs of the combined population are in good agreement with previous measurements and show that the stellar mass density of the universe was only 50%, 10% and 1% of its current value at z ~ 0.75, 2.0, and 3.5, respectively. The quiescent population drives most of the overall growth, with the stellar mass density of these galaxies increasing by 2.71^{+0.93}_{-0.22} dex since z = 3.5. At z > 2.5, star-forming galaxies dominate the total SMF at all stellar masses, although a nonzero population of quiescent galaxies persists to z = 4. Comparisons of the K_{s}-selected star-forming galaxy SMFs to UV-selected SMFs at 2.5 < z < 4 show reasonable agreement and suggests UV-selected samples are representative of the majority of the stellar mass density at z > 3.5. We estimate the average mass growth of individual galaxies by selecting galaxies at fixed cumulative number density. The average galaxy with Log(M_{*}/M_{sun}) = 11.5 at z = 0.3 has grown in mass by only 0.2 dex (0.3 dex) since z = 2.0(3.5), whereas those with Log(M_{*}/M_{sun}) = 10.5 have grown by > 1.0 dex since z = 2. At z < 2, the time derivatives of the mass growth are always larger for lower-mass galaxies, which demonstrates that the mass growth in galaxies since that redshift is mass-dependent and primarily bottom-up. Lastly, we examine potential sources of systematic uncertainties on the SMFs and find that those from photo-z templates, SPS modeling, and the definition of quiescent galaxies dominate the total error budget in the SMFs.Comment: 18 pages paper, 12 pages appendix, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in the Ap

In-depth analysis of defects in TiO2 compact electron transport layers and impact on performance and hysteresis of planar perovskite devices at low light

Properties of the electron transport layer (ETL) are known to influence the performance of lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). But so far very little emphasis has been given on the increased impact of this layer at low light. In this work we compare the effect of thickness and coverage of a TiO2 compact layer on the performance and hysteresis of methyl ammonium lead iodide planar devices tested under 200 lux vs. 1 sun illumination. Standard TiO2 layers are produced with incremental thickness and coverage using sequential spray pyrolysis of a Ti-acetylacetonate precursor (0–50 sprays, 1 spray ~ 1 nm TiO2). Thorough materials characterisation combining FEG-SEM, XPS, and cyclic voltammetry shows that a crystalline, nearly pin-hole free TiO2 layer is achieved by deposition of ≥15 sprays over small to large areas (0.2 mm2–1 cm2). Device performance is affected by two main parameters, namely the coverage yield and thickness of the TiO2 layer, especially under 200 lux illumination. A 25 vs. 50 sprays-TiO2 layer is found to provide the best compromise between coverage and thickness and avoid charge recombination at the TiO2/perovskite interface whilst minimizing resistive losses with 11.7% average PCE at 200 lux vs 7.8% under 1 sun. Finally, the analysis of I/V forward vs. reverse scans and open circuit voltage decay data suggests that hysteresis is greatly affected by the capacitive properties of the ETL at low light, whilst other phenomena such as ion migrations may dominate under 1 sun

Combined analysis of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect and cosmological implications

We present a global measurement of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect obtained by cross-correlating all relevant large scale galaxy data sets with the cosmic microwave background radiation map provided by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. With these measurements, the overall ISW signal is detected at the ~ 4.5 sigma level. We also examine the cosmological implications of these measurements, particularly the dark energy equation of state w, its sound speed, and the overall curvature of the Universe. The flat LCDM model is a good fit to the data and, assuming this model, we find that the ISW data constrain Omega_m = 0.20 +0.19 -0.11 at the 95% confidence level. When we combine our ISW results with the latest baryon oscillation and supernovae measurements, we find that the result is still consistent with a flat LCDM model with w = -1 out to redshifts z > 1.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures. Version accepted by PRD. Improved quasar data, revised parameter constraint

How to Measure Galaxy Star Formation Histories. I. Parametric Models

Parametric models for galaxy star-formation histories (SFHs) are widely used, though they are known to impose strong priors on physical parameters. This has consequences for measurements of the galaxy stellar-mass function (GSMF), star-formation-rate density (SFRD) and star-forming main sequence (SFMS). We investigate the effects of the exponentially declining, delayed exponentially declining, lognormal and double power law SFH models using BAGPIPES. We demonstrate that each of these models imposes strong priors on specific star-formation rates (sSFRs), potentially biasing the SFMS, and also imposes a strong prior preference for young stellar populations. We show that stellar mass, SFR and mass-weighted age inferences from high-quality mock photometry vary with the choice of SFH model by at least 0.1, 0.3 and 0.2 dex respectively. However the biases with respect to the true values depend more on the true SFH shape than the choice of model. We also demonstrate that photometric data cannot discriminate between SFH models, meaning it is important to perform independent tests to find well-motivated priors. We finally fit a low-redshift, volume-complete sample of galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) Survey with each model. We demonstrate that our stellar masses and SFRs at redshift, $z\sim0.05$ are consistent with other analyses. However, our inferred cosmic SFRDs peak at $z\sim0.4$, approximately 6 Gyr later than direct observations suggest, meaning our mass-weighted ages are significantly underestimated. This makes the use of parametric SFH models for understanding mass assembly in galaxies challenging. In a companion paper we consider non-parametric SFH models.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, ApJ accepte

A massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.658

A. C. Carnall thanks the Leverhulme Trust for their support via a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. R. J. McLure, J. S. Dunlop, D. J. McLeod, V. Wild, R. Begley, C. T. Donnan and M. L. Hamadouche acknowledge the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. F. Cullen acknowledges support from a UKRI Frontier Research Guarantee Grant (grant reference EP/X021025/1). A. Cimatti acknowledges support from the grant PRIN MIUR 2017 - 20173ML3WW 001.The extremely rapid assembly of the earliest galaxies during the first billion years of cosmic history is a major challenge for our understanding of galaxy formation physics (1; 2; 3; 4; 5). The advent of JWST has exacerbated this issue by confirming the existence of galaxies in significant numbers as early as the first few hundred million years (6; 7; 8). Perhaps even more surprisingly, in some galaxies, this initial highly efficient star formation rapidly shuts down, or quenches, giving rise to massive quiescent galaxies as little as 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang (9; 10), however, due to their faintness and red colour, it has proven extremely challenging to learn about these extreme quiescent galaxies, or to confirm whether any exist at earlier times. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of a massive quiescent galaxy, GS-9209, at redshift, z = 4.658, just 1.25 billion years after the Big Bang, using JWST NIRSpec. From these data we infer a stellar mass of M∗ = 3.8 ± 0.2 × 1010 M⊙, which formed over a ≃ 200 Myr period before this galaxy quenched its star formation activity at z=6.5+0.2−0.5, when the Universe was ≃ 800 million years old. This galaxy is both a likely descendent of the highest-redshift submillimetre galaxies and quasars, and a likely progenitor for the dense, ancient cores of the most massive local galaxies.PostprintPeer reviewe