136 research outputs found
Analysis of the SFR - M* plane at z<3: single fitting versus multi-Gaussian decomposition
The analysis of galaxies on the star formation rate - stellar mass (SFR-M*)
plane is a powerful diagnostic for galaxy evolution at different cosmic times.
We consider a sample of 24463 galaxies from the CANDELS/GOODS-S survey to
conduct a detailed analysis of the SFR-M* relation at redshifts 0.53 over more than three dex in stellar mass. To obtain SFR estimates, we
utilise mid- and far-IR photometry when available, and rest-UV fluxes for all
the other galaxies. We perform our analysis in different redshift bins, with
two different methods: 1) a linear regression fitting of all star-forming
galaxies, defined as those with specific star formation rates , similarly to what is typically done in the
literature; 2) a multi-Gaussian decomposition to identify the galaxy main
sequence (MS), the starburst sequence and the quenched galaxy cloud. We find
that the MS slope becomes flatter when higher stellar mass cuts are adopted,
and that the apparent slope change observed at high masses depends on the SFR
estimation method. In addition, the multi-Gaussian decomposition reveals the
presence of a starburst population which increases towards low stellar masses
and high redshifts. We find that starbursts make up ~5% of all galaxies at
z=0.5-1.0, while they account for ~16% of galaxies at 23 with
log8.25-11.25. We conclude that the dissection of the SFR-M* in
multiple components over a wide range of stellar masses is necessary to
understand the importance of the different modes of star formation through
cosmic time.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in A&A, after
addressing referee report. Main changes with respect to v1: two new
appendixes to investigate the impact of redshift outliers and to test a
two-Gaussian component fit to the sSFR distribution. No conclusion change
Recovering the properties of high redshift galaxies with different JWST broad-band filters
Imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will allow for observing
the bulk of distant galaxies at the epoch of reionisation. The recovery of
their properties, such as age, color excess E(B-V), specific star formation
rate (sSFR) and stellar mass, will mostly rely on spectral energy distribution
fitting, based on the data provided by JWST's two imager cameras, namely the
Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Mid Infrared Imager (MIRI). In this work
we analyze the effect of choosing different combinations of NIRCam and MIRI
broad-band filters, from 0.6 {\mu}m to 7.7 {\mu}m, on the recovery of these
galaxy properties. We performed our tests on a sample of 1542 simulated
galaxies, with known input properties, at z=7-10. We found that, with only 8
NIRCam broad-bands, we can recover the galaxy age within 0.1 Gyr and the color
excess within 0.06 mag for 70% of the galaxies. Besides, the stellar masses and
sSFR are recovered within 0.2 and 0.3 dex, respectively, at z=7-9. Instead, at
z=10, no NIRCam band traces purely the {\lambda}> 4000 {\AA} regime and the
percentage of outliers in stellar mass (sSFR) increases by > 20% (> 90%), in
comparison to z=9. The MIRI F560W and F770W bands are crucial to improve the
stellar mass and the sSFR estimation at z=10. When nebular emission lines are
present, deriving correct galaxy properties is challenging, at any redshift and
with any band combination. In particular, the stellar mass is systematically
overestimated in up to 0.3 dex on average with NIRCam data alone and including
MIRI observations improves only marginally the estimation.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication at the ApJ
Simulating the infrared sky with a S PRITZ
Aims. Current hydrodynamical and semi-empirical simulations of galaxy formation and evolution have difficulties in reproducing the number densities of infrared-detected galaxies. Therefore, a phenomenological simulation tool that is new and versatile is necessary to reproduce current and predict future observations at infrared (IR) wavelengths. Methods. In this work we generate simulated catalogues starting from the Herschel IR luminosity functions of different galaxy populations to consider different populations of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) in a consistent way. We associated a spectral energy distribution and physical properties, such as stellar mass, star formation rate, and AGN contribution, with each simulated galaxy using a broad set of empirical relations. We compared the resulting simulated galaxies, extracted up to z = 10, with a broad set of observational relations. Results. Spectro-Photometric Realisations of IR-Selected Targets at all-z (SPRITZ) simulations allow us to obtain, in a fully consistent way, simulated observations for a broad set of current and future facilities with photometric capabilities as well as low-resolution IR spectroscopy, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or the Origin Space Telescope (OST). The derived simulated catalogue contains galaxies and AGN that by construction reproduce the observed IR galaxy number density, but this catalogue also agrees with the observed number counts from UV to far-IR wavelengths, the observed stellar mass function, the star formation rate versus stellar mass plane, and the luminosity function from the radio to X-ray wavelengths. The proposed simulation is therefore ideal to make predictions for current and future facilities, in particular, but not limited to, those operating at IR wavelengths
Star formation in galaxies at z~4-5 from the SMUVS survey: a clear starburst/main-sequence bimodality for Halpha emitters on the SFR-M* plane
We study a large galaxy sample from the Spitzer Matching Survey of the
UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes (SMUVS) to search for sources with enhanced 3.6
micron fluxes indicative of strong Halpha emission at z=3.9-4.9. We find that
the percentage of "Halpha excess" sources reaches 37-40% for galaxies with
stellar masses log10(M*/Msun) ~ 9-10, and decreases to <20% at log10(M*/Msun) ~
10.7. At higher stellar masses, however, the trend reverses, although this is
likely due to AGN contamination. We derive star formation rates (SFR) and
specific SFR (sSFR) from the inferred Halpha equivalent widths (EW) of our
"Halpha excess" galaxies. We show, for the first time, that the "Halpha excess"
galaxies clearly have a bimodal distribution on the SFR-M* plane: they lie on
the main sequence of star formation (with log10(sSFR/yr^{-1})<-8.05) or in a
starburst cloud (with log10(sSFR/yr^{-1}) >-7.60). The latter contains ~15% of
all the objects in our sample and accounts for >50% of the cosmic SFR density
at z=3.9-4.9, for which we derive a robust lower limit of 0.066 Msun yr^{-1}
Mpc^{-3}. Finally, we identify an unusual >50sigma overdensity of z=3.9-4.9
galaxies within a 0.20 x 0.20 sq. arcmin region. We conclude that the SMUVS
unique combination of area and depth at mid-IR wavelengths provides an
unprecedented level of statistics and dynamic range which are fundamental to
reveal new aspects of galaxy evolution in the young Universe.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. Re-submitted to the ApJ, after
addressing referee report. Main changes with respect to v1: a new section and
a new appendix have been added to investigate further the origin and
robustness of the sSFR bimodality. No conclusion change
Calibration Scheme for Large Kinetic Inductance Detector Arrays Based on Readout Frequency Response
Microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) provides a way to build large
ground based sub-mm instruments such as NIKA and A-MKID. For such instruments,
therefore, it is important to understand and characterize the response to
ensure good linearity and calibration over wide dynamic range. We propose to
use the MKID readout frequency response to determine the MKID responsivity to
an input optical source power. A signal can be measured in a KID as a change in
the phase of the readout signal with respect to the KID resonant circle.
Fundamentally, this phase change is due to a shift in the KID resonance
frequency, in turn due to a radiation induced change in the quasiparticle
number in the superconducting resonator. We show that shift in resonant
frequency can be determined from the phase shift by using KID phase versus
frequency dependence using a previously measured resonant frequency. Working in
this calculated resonant frequency, we gain near linearity and constant
calibration to a constant optical signal applied in a wide range of operating
points on the resonance and readout powers. This calibration method has three
particular advantages: first, it is fast enough to be used to calibrate large
arrays, with pixel counts in the thousand of pixels; second, it is based on
data that are already necessary to determine KID positions; third, it can be
done without applying any optical source in front of the array.Comment: Accepted to Journal of Low Temperature Physics LTD16 Special Issue,
Low Temperature Detector 16 Conference Proceedings,manuscript number:
#JLTP-D-15-00356R1, 6 pages, 5 figure
SPRITZ is sparkling: Simulated CO and [C II] luminosities
Aims. We present a new prediction for the luminosity functions (LFs) of the [C II] line at 158 mu M, of the CO lines from J = 0 to J = 24, and of the molecular gas mass density up to z = 10, using the Spectro-Photometric Realisations of Infrared-selected Targets at all-z (SPRITz) simulation.Methods. We update the state-of-the-art phenomenological simulation SPRITZ to include both the CO (J <= 24) and the [C II] line luminosities. This has been performed using different empirical and theoretical relations to convert the total infrared luminosity (or star formation rate, SFR) to the [C II] or CO luminosity. The resulting line LFs were compared for validation with a large set of observations available in the literature. We then used the derived CO and [C II] line luminosities to estimate the molecular gas mass density and compare it with available observations.Results. The CO and [C II] LFs presented here are in good agreement with all the available observations. In particular, the best results for [C II] are obtained deriving the [C II] luminosity directly from the SFR, but considering a dependence of this relation on the gas metallicity. For all the CO LFs, the estimates favoured by the data are derived considering different relations, depending on the ionisation mechanism dominating each galaxy, namely star formation or active galactic nuclei, and, moreover, by deriving the J >= 4 CO lines directly from the [C II] luminosity. However, further data are necessary to fully distinguish between models. Finally, the best agreements with observations of the molecular gas mass density are derived by converting the [C II] luminosity to H-2 mass, using a [C II]-to-H-2 conversion similar to 130 M-circle dot/L-circle dot. All the line LFs, useful for planning and interpreting future observations, are made publicly available
Simulating the infrared sky with a Spritz
Current hydrodynamical and semi-empirical simulations of galaxy formation and
evolution have difficulties in reproducing the number densities of IR-detected
galaxies. Therefore, a versatile, phenomenological new simulation tool is
necessary to reproduce current and predict future observations at IR
wavelengths. In this work we generate simulated catalogues starting from the
Herschel infrared luminosity functions of different galaxy populations, in
order to consider in a consistent way different populations of galaxies and
active galactic nuclei. We associated a spectral energy distribution and
physical properties, such as stellar mass, star-formation-rate and AGN
contribution, to each simulated galaxy using a broad set of empirical
relations. We compare the resulting simulated galaxies, extracted up to z10,
with a broad set of observational relations. The Spectro-Photometric
Realisations of Infrared-selected Targets at all-z (SPRITZ) simulation will
allow us to obtain in a fully consistent way simulated observations for a broad
set of current and future facilities with photometric capabilities as well as
low-resolution IR spectroscopy, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) or
the Origin Space Telescope (OST). The derived simulated catalogue contains
galaxies and active galactic nuclei that by construction reproduce the observed
IR galaxy number density, but it is also in agreement with the observed number
counts from UV to far-IR wavelengths, the observed stellar mass function, the
star-formation-rate vs. stellar mass plane and the luminosity function from the
radio to the X-ray. The proposed simulation is therefore ideal to make
predictions for current and future facilities, in particular, but not limited
to, those operating at IR wavelengths. The SPRITZ simulation will be publicly
available.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 32 pages, 30 figure
Simulating infrared spectro-photometric surveys with a S pritz
Mid- and far-infrared (IR) photometric and spectroscopic observations are fundamental to a full understanding of the dust-obscured Universe and the evolution of both star formation and black hole accretion in galaxies. In this work, using the specifications of the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) as a baseline, we investigate the capability to study the dust-obscured Universe of mid- and far-IR photometry at 34 and and low-resolution spectroscopy at using the state-of-the-art Spectro-Photometric Realisations of Infrared-selected Targets at all-z (Spritz) simulation. This investigation is also compared to the expected performance of the Origins Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Probe. The photometric view of the Universe of a SPICA-like mission could cover not only bright objects (e.g. 10^{12},{
m L}_{odot} ]]>) up to, but also normal galaxies ( L_{IR}) up to. At the same time, the spectroscopic observations of such mission could also allow us to estimate the redshifts and study the physical properties for thousands of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei by observing the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and a large set of IR nebular emission lines. In this way, a cold, 2.5-m size space telescope with spectro-photometric capability analogous to SPICA, could provide us with a complete three-dimensional (i.e. images and integrated spectra) view of the dust-obscured Universe and the physics governing galaxy evolution up to
Optical and mid-infrared line emission in nearby Seyfert galaxies
Line ratio diagnostics provide valuable clues on the source of ionizing
radiation in galaxies with intense black hole accretion and starbursting
events, such as local Seyfert or galaxies at the peak of the star formation
history. We aim to provide a reference joint optical and mid-IR analysis for
studying AGN identification via line ratios and testing predictions from
photoionization models. We obtained homogenous optical spectra with the
Southern Africa Large Telescope for 42 Seyfert galaxies with Spitzer/IRS
spectroscopy and X-ray to mid-IR multiband data available. After confirming the
power of the main optical ([OIII]) and mid-IR ([NeV], [OIV], [NeIII]) emission
lines in tracing AGN activity, we explore diagrams based on ratios of optical
and mid-IR lines by exploiting photoionization models of different ionizing
sources (AGN, star formation and shocks). We find that pure AGN photoionization
models are good at reproducing observations of Seyfert galaxies with an AGN
fractional contribution to the mid-IR (5-40 micron) emission larger than 50 per
cent. For targets with a lower AGN contribution these same models do not fully
reproduce the observed mid-IR line ratios. Mid-IR ratios like [NeV]/[NeII],
[OIV]/[NeII] and [NeIII]/[NeII] show a dependence on the AGN fractional
contribution to the mid-IR unlike optical line ratios. An additional source of
ionization, either from star formation or radiative shocks, can help explain
the observations in the mid-IR. Among combinations of optical and mid-IR
diagnostics in line ratio diagrams, only those involving the [OI]/Halpha ratio
are promising diagnostics for simultaneously unraveling the relative role of
AGN, star formation and, shocks. A proper identification of the dominant
ionizing source would require the exploitation of analysis tools based on
advanced statistical techniques as well as spatially resolved data.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
The role of SPICA-like missions and the Origins Space Telescope in the quest for heavily obscured AGN and synergies with Athena
In the BH-galaxy co-evolution framework, most of the star-formation (SF) and
the black hole (BH) accretion is expected to take place in highly obscured
conditions. Thus, obscured AGN are difficult to identify in optical or X-ray
bands, but shine bright in the IR. Moreover, X-ray background (XRB) synthesis
models predict that a large fraction of the yet-unresolved XRB is due to the
most obscured (Compton thick, CT) of these AGN. In this work, we investigate
the synergies between putative IR missions (using SPICA, proposed for ESA/M5
but withdrawn in October 2020, and Origins Space Telescope, OST, as
`templates') and the X-ray mission Athena, which should fly in early 2030s, in
detecting and characterizing AGN, with a particular focus on the most obscured
ones. Using an XRB synthesis model, we estimated the number of AGN and the
number of those which will be detected in the X-rays. For each AGN we
associated an optical-to-FIR SED from observed AGN with both X-ray data and SED
decomposition, and used these SEDs to check if the AGN will be detected by
SPICA-like or OST at IR wavelengths. We expect that, with the deepest Athena
and SPICA-like (or OST) surveys, we will be able to detect in the IR more than
of all the AGN (down to Lerg/s and
up to ) predicted by XRB synthesis modeling, and we will detect at
least half of them in the X-rays. Athena will be extremely powerful in
detecting and discerning moderate- and high-luminosity AGN. We find that the
most obscured and elusive CT-AGN will be exquisitely sampled by SPICA-like
mission or OST and that Athena will allow a fine characterization of the
most-luminous ones. This will provide a significant step forward in the process
of placing stronger constraints on the yet-unresolved XRB and investigating the
BH accretion rate evolution up to very high redshift ().Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS
- âŠ