8 research outputs found
Kinematic Clues to Bar Evolution for Galaxies in the Local Universe: Why the Fastest Rotating Bars are Rotating Most Slowly
We have used Spitzer images of a sample of 68 barred spiral galaxies in the local universe to make systematic measurements of bar length and bar strength. We combine these with precise determinations of the corotation radii associated with the bars, taken from our previous study, which used the phase change from radial inflow to radial outflow of gas at corotation, based on high-resolution two-dimensional velocity fields in Hα taken with a Fabry-Pérot spectrometer. After presenting the histograms of the derived bar parameters, we study their dependence on the galaxy morphological type and on the total stellar mass of the host galaxy, and then produce a set of parametric plots. These include the bar pattern speed versus bar length, the pattern speed normalized with the characteristic pattern speed of the outer disk versus the bar strength, and the normalized pattern speed versus R, the ratio of corotation radius to bar length. To provide guidelines for our interpretation, we used recently published simulations, including disk and dark matter halo components. Our most striking conclusion is that bars with values of R < 1.4, previously considered dynamically fast rotators, can be among the slowest rotators both in absolute terms and when their pattern speeds are normalized. The simulations confirm that this is because as the bars are braked, they can grow longer more quickly than the outward drift of the corotation radius. We conclude that dark matter halos have indeed slowed down the rotation of bars on Gyr timescales. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Euclid preparation XXVIII. Forecasts for ten different higher-order weak lensing statistics
Recent cosmic shear studies have shown that higher-order statistics (HOS) developed by independent teams now outperform standard two-point estimators in terms of statistical precision thanks to their sensitivity to the non-Gaussian features of large-scale structure. The aim of the Higher-Order Weak Lensing Statistics (HOWLS) project is to assess, compare, and combine the constraining power of ten different HOS on a common set of Euclid-like mocks, derived from N-body simulations. In this first paper of the HOWLS series, we computed the nontomographic (Ωm, Ï8) Fisher information for the one-point probability distribution function, peak counts, Minkowski functionals, Betti numbers, persistent homology Betti numbers and heatmap, and scattering transform coefficients, and we compare them to the shear and convergence two-point correlation functions in the absence of any systematic bias. We also include forecasts for three implementations of higher-order moments, but these cannot be robustly interpreted as the Gaussian likelihood assumption breaks down for these statistics. Taken individually, we find that each HOS outperforms the two-point statistics by a factor of around two in the precision of the forecasts with some variations across statistics and cosmological parameters. When combining all the HOS, this increases to a 4.5 times improvement, highlighting the immense potential of HOS for cosmic shear cosmological analyses with Euclid. The data used in this analysis are publicly released with the paper
Euclid preparation. TBD. Forecast impact of super-sample covariance on 3x2pt analysis with Euclid
Deviations from Gaussianity in the distribution of the fields probed by
large-scale structure surveys generate additional terms in the data covariance
matrix, increasing the uncertainties in the measurement of the cosmological
parameters. Super-sample covariance (SSC) is among the largest of these
non-Gaussian contributions, with the potential to significantly degrade
constraints on some of the parameters of the cosmological model under study --
especially for weak lensing cosmic shear. We compute and validate the impact of
SSC on the forecast uncertainties on the cosmological parameters for the Euclid
photometric survey, obtained with a Fisher matrix analysis, both considering
the Gaussian covariance alone and adding the SSC term -- computed through the
public code PySSC. The photometric probes are considered in isolation and
combined in the `32pt' analysis. We find the SSC impact to be
non-negligible -- halving the Figure of Merit of the dark energy parameters
(, ) in the 32pt case and substantially increasing the
uncertainties on , and for cosmic shear;
photometric galaxy clustering, on the other hand, is less affected due to the
lower probe response. The relative impact of SSC does not show significant
changes under variations of the redshift binning scheme, while it is smaller
for weak lensing when marginalising over the multiplicative shear bias nuisance
parameters, which also leads to poorer constraints on the cosmological
parameters. Finally, we explore how the use of prior information on the shear
and galaxy bias changes the SSC impact. Improving shear bias priors does not
have a significant impact, while galaxy bias must be calibrated to sub-percent
level to increase the Figure of Merit by the large amount needed to achieve the
value when SSC is not included.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figure
Euclid preparation TBD. The effect of baryons on the Halo Mass Function
The Euclid photometric survey of galaxy clusters stands as a powerful
cosmological tool, with the capacity to significantly propel our understanding
of the Universe. Despite being sub-dominant to dark matter and dark energy, the
baryonic component in our Universe holds substantial influence over the
structure and mass of galaxy clusters. This paper presents a novel model to
precisely quantify the impact of baryons on galaxy cluster virial halo masses,
using the baryon fraction within a cluster as proxy for their effect.
Constructed on the premise of quasi-adiabaticity, the model includes two
parameters calibrated using non-radiative cosmological hydrodynamical
simulations and a single large-scale simulation from the Magneticum set, which
includes the physical processes driving galaxy formation. As a main result of
our analysis, we demonstrate that this model delivers a remarkable one percent
relative accuracy in determining the virial dark matter-only equivalent mass of
galaxy clusters, starting from the corresponding total cluster mass and baryon
fraction measured in hydrodynamical simulations. Furthermore, we demonstrate
that this result is robust against changes in cosmological parameters and
against varying the numerical implementation of the sub-resolution physical
processes included in the simulations. Our work substantiates previous claims
about the impact of baryons on cluster cosmology studies. In particular, we
show how neglecting these effects would lead to biased cosmological constraints
for a Euclid-like cluster abundance analysis. Importantly, we demonstrate that
uncertainties associated with our model, arising from baryonic corrections to
cluster masses, are sub-dominant when compared to the precision with which
mass-observable relations will be calibrated using Euclid, as well as our
current understanding of the baryon fraction within galaxy clusters.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, 1 appendix, abstract abridged for
arXiv submissio
The truncation of the disk of NGC 4565: Detected up to z = 4 kpc, with star formation, and affected by the warp
Context. The hierarchical model of galaxy formation suggests that galaxies are continuously growing. However, our position inside the Milky Way prevents us from studying the disk edge. Truncations are low surface brightness features located in the disk outskirts of external galaxies. They indicate where the disk brightness abruptly drops, and their location is thought to change dynamically. In previous analyses of Milky Way-like galaxies, truncations were detected up to 3 kpc above the mid-plane, but whether they remain present beyond that height remains unclear. Aims. Our goal is to determine whether truncations can be detected above 3 kpc in height in the Milky Way-like galaxy NGC 4565 and thus establish the actual disk thickness. We also aim to study how the truncation relates to disk properties such as star formation activity or the warp. Methods. We performed a vertical study of the disk of the NGC 4565 edge in unprecedented detail. We explored the truncation radius at different heights above and below the disk mid-plane (0., < z <., 8 kpc) and at different wavelengths. We used new ultra-deep optical data (ÎŒg,lim = 30.5 mag arcsec2; 3Ă within 10 A - 10 arcsec2 boxes) in the g, r, and i broadbands, along with near-ultraviolet, far-ultraviolet, Hα, and H ÂŻI observations. Results. We detect the truncation up to 4 kpc in the g, r, and i ultra-deep bands, which is 1 kpc higher than in any previous study for any galaxy. The radial position of the truncation remains constant up to 3 kpc, while higher up it is located at a smaller radius. This result is independent of the wavelength but is affected by the presence of the warp. Conclusions. We propose an inside-out growth scenario for the formation of the disk of NGC 4565. Our results point towards the truncation feature being linked to a star-forming threshold and to the onset of the disk warp
Extragalactic Magnetism with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). IV. Program Overview and First Results on the Polarization Fraction
Abstract
We present the first data release of the Survey on extragALactic magnetiSm with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program) with a set of 14 nearby (<20 Mpc) galaxies with resolved imaging polarimetric observations using HAWC+ from 53 to 214 ÎŒm at a resolution of 5âłâ18âł (90 pcâ1 kpc). We introduce the definitions of and background on extragalactic magnetism and present the scientific motivation and sample selection of the program. Here we focus on the general trends in the emissive polarization fraction. Far-infrared polarimetric observations trace the thermal polarized emission of magnetically aligned dust grains across the galaxy disks with polarization fractions of P = 0%â15% in the cold, T
d = [19, 48] K, and dense,
log
10
(
N
H
I
+
H
2
[
cm
â
2
]
)
=
[
19.96
,
22.91
]
, interstellar medium. The spiral galaxies show a median ăP
154 ÎŒmă = 3.3% ± 0.9% across the disks. We report the first polarized spectrum of starburst galaxies showing a minimum within 89â154 ÎŒm. The falling 53â154 ÎŒm polarized spectrum may be due to a decrease in the dust grain alignment efficiency produced by variations in dust temperatures along the line of sight in the galactic outflow. We find that the starburst galaxies and the star-forming regions within normal galaxies have the lowest polarization fractions. We find that 50% (seven out of 14) of the galaxies require a broken power law in the P â
N
H
I
+
H
2
and P â T
d relations with three different trends. Group 1 has a relative increase of anisotropic random B-fields produced by compression or shear of B-fields in the galactic outflows, starburst rings, and inner bars of galaxies, and groups 2 and 3 have a relative increase of isotropic random B-fields driven by star-forming regions in the spiral arms and/or an increase of dust grain alignment efficiency caused by shock-driven regions or evolutionary stages of a galaxy.</jats:p
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Extragalactic Magnetism with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). III. First Data Release and On-the-fly Polarization Mapping Characterization* * The SOFIA Legacy Program for Magnetic Fields in Galaxies (SALSA) provides a software repository at https://github.com/galmagfields/hawc and publicly available data at http://galmagfields.com/.
Abstract
We describe the data processing of the Survey on extragALactic magnetiSm with SOFIA (SALSA Legacy Program). This first data release presents 33% (51.34 hr out of 155.7 hr, including overheads) of the total awarded time from 2020 January to 2021 December. Our observations were performed using the newly implemented on-the-fly mapping (OTFMAP) technique in the polarimetric mode. We present the pipeline steps to obtain homogeneously reduced high-level data products of polarimetric maps of galaxies for use in scientific analysis. Our approach has a general design and can be applied to sources smaller than the field of view of the HAWC+ array in any given band. We estimate that the OTFMAP polarimetric mode offers a reduction of observing overheads by a factor 2.34 and an improvement in sensitivity by a factor 1.80 when compared to the same on-source time polarimetric observations using the chopping and nodding mode. The OTFMAP is a significant optimization of the polarimetric mode of HAWC+, as it ultimately reduces the cost of operations of HAWC+/SOFIA by increasing the science collected per hour of observation up to an overall factor of 2.49. The OTFMAP polarimetric mode is the standard observing strategy of SALSA. The results and quantitative analysis of this first data release are presented in Papers IV and V of the series.</jats:p
Euclid preparation XVI. Exploring the ultra-low surface brightness Universe with Euclid/VIS
Context. While Euclid is an ESA mission specifically designed to investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter, the planned unprecedented combination of survey area (âŒ15â000 deg2), spatial resolution, low sky-background, and depth also make Euclid an excellent space observatory for the study of the low surface brightness Universe. Scientific exploitation of the extended low surface brightness structures requires dedicated calibration procedures that are yet to be tested.
Aims. We investigate the capabilities of Euclid to detect extended low surface brightness structure by identifying and quantifying sky-background sources and stray-light contamination. We test the feasibility of generating sky flat-fields to reduce large-scale residual gradients in order to reveal the extended emission of galaxies observed in the Euclid survey.
Methods. We simulated a realistic set of Euclid/VIS observations, taking into account both instrumental and astronomical sources of contamination, including cosmic rays, stray-light, zodiacal light, interstellar medium, and the cosmic infrared background, while simulating the effects of background sources in the field of view.
Results. We demonstrate that a combination of calibration lamps, sky flats, and self-calibration would enable recovery of emission at a limiting surface brightness magnitude of ÎŒlim = 29.5â0.27+0.08 mag arcsecâ2 (3Ï, 10â
Ăâ
10 arcsec2) in the Wide Survey, and it would reach regions deeper by 2 mag in the Deep Surveys.
Conclusions.Euclid/VIS has the potential to be an excellent low surface brightness observatory. Covering the gap between pixel-to-pixel calibration lamp flats and self-calibration observations for large scales, the application of sky flat-fielding will enhance the sensitivity of the VIS detector at scales larger than 1âł, up to the size of the field of view, enabling Euclid to detect extended surface brightness structures below ÎŒlimâ=â31 mag arcsecâ2 and beyond