79 research outputs found
Morphology and Size Differences between Local & High Redshift Luminous Infrared Galaxies
We show that the star-forming regions in high-redshift luminous and
ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs) and submillimeter galaxies
(SMGs) have similar physical scales to those in local normal star-forming
galaxies. To first order, their higher infrared (IR) luminosities result from
higher luminosity surface density. We also find a good correlation between the
IR luminosity and IR luminosity surface density in starburst galaxies across
over five orders of magnitude of IR luminosity from local normal galaxies to z
~ 2 SMGs. The intensely star-forming regions of local ULIRGs are significantly
smaller than those in their high-redshift counterparts and hence diverge
significantly from this correlation, indicating that the ULIRGs found locally
are a different population from the high-redshift ULIRGs and SMGs. Based on
this relationship, we suggest that luminosity surface density should serve as a
more accurate indicator for the IR emitting environment, and hence the
observable properties, of star-forming galaxies than their IR luminosity. We
demonstrate this approach by showing that ULIRGs at z ~ 1 and a lensed galaxy
at z ~ 2.5 exhibit aromatic features agreeing with local LIRGs that are an
order of magnitude less luminous, but have similar IR luminosity surface
density. A consequence of this relationship is that the aromatic emission
strength in star-forming galaxies will appear to increase at z > 1 for a given
IR luminosity compared to their local counterparts.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 13 pages, 7
figures; Online materials available at
http://inthanon.as.arizona.edu/~wiphu/Rujopakarn_2010
Gemini Deep Deep Survey VI: Massive Hdelta-strong galaxies at z=1
We show that there has been a dramatic decline in the abundance of massive
galaxies with strong Hdelta stellar absorption lines from z=1.2 to the present.
These ``Hdelta-strong'', or HDS, galaxies have undergone a recent and rapid
break in their star-formation activity. Combining data from the Gemini Deep
Deep and the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys to make mass-matched samples
(M*>=10^10.2 Msun), with 25 and 50,255 galaxies, respectively), we find that
the fraction of galaxies in an HDS phase has decreased from about 50% at z=1.2
to a few percent today. This decrease in fraction is due to an actual decrease
in the number density of massive HDS systems by a factor of 2-4, coupled with
an increase in the number density of massive galaxies by about 30 percent. We
show that this result depends only weakly on the threshold chosen for the
Hdelta equivalent width to define HDS systems (if greater than 4 A) and
corresponds to a (1+z)^{2.5\pm 0.7} evolution. Spectral synthesis studies of
the high-redshift population using the PEGASE code, treating Hdelta_A, EW[OII],
Dn4000, and rest-frame colors, favor models in which the Balmer absorption
features in massive Hdelta-strong systems are the echoes of intense episodes of
star-formation that faded about 1 Gyr prior to the epoch of observation. The
z=1.4-2 epoch appears to correspond to a time at which massive galaxies are in
transition from a mode of sustained star formation to a relatively quiescent
mode with weak and rare star-formation episodes. We argue that the most likely
local descendants of the distant massive HDS galaxies are passively evolving
massive galaxies in the field and small groups.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, uses emulateapj.sty; updated to match
the version accepted by ApJ. One figure added, conclusions unchange
No More Active Galactic Nuclei in Clumpy Disks Than in Smooth Galaxies at z~2 in CANDELS / 3D-HST
We use CANDELS imaging, 3D-HST spectroscopy, and Chandra X-ray data to
investigate if active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are preferentially fueled by
violent disk instabilities funneling gas into galaxy centers at 1.3<z<2.4. We
select galaxies undergoing gravitational instabilities using the number of
clumps and degree of patchiness as proxies. The CANDELS visual classification
system is used to identify 44 clumpy disk galaxies, along with mass-matched
comparison samples of smooth and intermediate morphology galaxies. We note
that, despite being being mass-matched and having similar star formation rates,
the smoother galaxies tend to be smaller disks with more prominent bulges
compared to the clumpy galaxies. The lack of smooth extended disks is probably
a general feature of the z~2 galaxy population, and means we cannot directly
compare with the clumpy and smooth extended disks observed at lower redshift.
We find that z~2 clumpy galaxies have slightly enhanced AGN fractions selected
by integrated line ratios (in the mass-excitation method), but the spatially
resolved line ratios indicate this is likely due to extended phenomena rather
than nuclear AGNs. Meanwhile the X-ray data show that clumpy, smooth, and
intermediate galaxies have nearly indistinguishable AGN fractions derived from
both individual detections and stacked non-detections. The data demonstrate
that AGN fueling modes at z~1.85 - whether violent disk instabilities or
secular processes - are as efficient in smooth galaxies as they are in clumpy
galaxies.Comment: ApJ accepted. 17 pages, 17 figure
Triggered Star Formation in Galaxy Pairs at z=0.08-0.38
We measure the strength, frequency, and timescale of tidally triggered star
formation at redshift z=0.08-0.38 in a spectroscopically complete sample of
galaxy pairs drawn from the magnitude-limited redshift survey of 9,825
Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey (SHELS) galaxies with R<20.3. To examine
the evidence for tidal triggering, we identify a volume-limited sample of major
(|\Delta M_R|1/5) pair galaxies with $M_R <
-20.8 in the redshift range z=0.08-0.31. The size and completeness of the
spectroscopic survey allows us to focus on regions of low local density. The
spectrophotometric calibration enables the use of the 4000 Ang break (D_n4000),
the H\alpha specific star formation rate (SSFR_{H\alpha}), and population
models to characterize the galaxies. We show that D_n4000 is a useful
population classification tool; it closely tracks the identification of
emission line galaxies. The sample of major pair galaxies in regions of low
local density with low D_n4000 demonstrates the expected anti-correlation
between pair-wise projected separation and a set of star formation indicators
explored in previous studies. We measure the frequency of triggered star
formation by comparing the SSFR_{H\alpha} in the volume-limited sample in
regions of low local density: 32 +/-7% of the major pair galaxies have
SSFR_{H\alpha} at least double the median rate of the unpaired field galaxies.
Comparison of stellar population models for pair and for unpaired field
galaxies implies a timescale for triggered star formation of ~300-400 Myr.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to A
Impacts of agriculture on the parasite communities of northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) in southern Quebec, Canada
Given that numerous amphibians are suffering population declines, it is becoming increasingly important to examine the relationship between disease and environmental disturbance. Indeed, while many studies relate anthropogenic activity to changes in the parasitism of snails and fishes, little is known of the impact on the parasites of amphibians, particularly from agriculture. For 2 years, the parasite communities of metamorphic northern leopard frogs from 7 agricultural wetlands were compared with those from 2 reference wetlands to study differences in parasite community diversity and abundance of various species under pristine conditions and 3 categories of disturbance: only agricultural landscape, only pesticides, and agricultural landscape with pesticides. Agricultural (and urban) area was negatively related to species richness, and associated with the near absence of adult parasites and species that infect birds or mammals. We suggest that agriculture and urbanization may hinder parasite transmission to frogs by limiting access of other vertebrate hosts of their parasites to wetlands. The only parasite found at all localities was an unidentified echinostome infecting the kidneys. This parasite dominated communities in localities surrounded by the most agricultural land, suggesting generalist parasites may persist in disrupted habitats. Community composition was associated with dissolved organic carbon and conductivity, but few links were found with pesticides. Pollution effects may be masked by a strong impact of land use on parasite transmission
Nebular Attenuation in H\alpha-selected Star-forming Galaxies at z=0.8 from the NewH\alpha\ Survey
We present measurements of the dust attenuation of H\alpha-selected
emission-line galaxies at z=0.8 from the NewH\alpha\ narrowband survey. The
analysis is based on deep follow-up spectroscopy with Magellan/IMACS, which
captures the strong rest-frame optical emission lines from [OII] \lambda 3727
to [OIII] \lambda 5007. The spectroscopic sample used in this analysis consists
of 341 confirmed H\alpha\ emitters. We place constraints on the AGN fraction
using diagnostics which can be applied at intermediate redshift. We find that
at least 5% of the objects in our spectroscopic sample can be classified as AGN
and 2% are composite, i.e. powered by a combination of star-formation and AGN
activity. We measure the dust attenuation for individual objects from the
ratios of the higher order Balmer lines. The H\beta\ and H\gamma\ pair of lines
is detected with S/N>5 in 55 individual objects and the H\beta\ and H\delta\
pair is detected in 50 individual objects. We also create stacked spectra to
probe the attenuation in objects without individual detections. The median
attenuation at H\alpha\ based on the objects with individually detected lines
is A(H\alpha)=0.9+-1.0 magnitudes, in good agreement with the attenuation found
in local samples of star-forming galaxies. We find that the z=0.8 galaxies
occupy a similar locus of attenuation as a function of magnitude, mass and SFR
as a comparison sample drawn from the SDSS DR4. Both the results from the
individual z=0.8 galaxies and from the stacked spectra show consistency with
the mass -- attenuation and SFR -- attenuation relations found in the local
Universe, indicating that these relations are also applicable at intermediate
redshift.Comment: Submitted to AJ. Revised per referee's comment
Population Genomics of Intron Splicing in 38 Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome Sequences
Introns are a ubiquitous feature of eukaryotic genomes, and the dynamics of intron evolution between species has been extensively studied. However, comparatively few analyses have focused on the evolutionary forces shaping patterns of intron variation within species. To better understand the population genetic characteristics of introns, we performed an extensive population genetics analysis on key intron splice sequences obtained from 38 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As expected, we found that purifying selection is the dominant force governing intron splice sequence evolution in yeast, formally confirming that intron-containing alleles are a mutational liability. In addition, through extensive coalescent simulations, we obtain quantitative estimates of the strength of purifying selection (2Nes ≈ 19) and use diffusion approximations to provide insights into the evolutionary dynamics and sojourn times of newly arising splice sequence mutations in natural yeast populations. In contrast to previous functional studies, evolutionary analyses comparing the prevalence of introns in essential and nonessential genes suggest that introns in nonribosomal protein genes are functionally important and tend to be actively maintained in natural populations of S. cerevisiae. Finally, we demonstrate that heritable variation in splicing efficiency is common in intron-containing genes with splice sequence polymorphisms. More generally, our study highlights the advantages of population genomics analyses for exploring the forces that have generated extant patterns of genome variation and for illuminating basic biological processes
No More Active Galactic Nuclei in Clumpy Disks than in Smooth Galaxies at \u3cem\u3ez\u3c/em\u3e ~ 2 in CANDELS/3D-HST*
We use CANDELS imaging, 3D-HST spectroscopy, and Chandra X-ray data to investigate if active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are preferentially fueled by violent disk instabilities funneling gas into galaxy centers at 1.3 \u3c z \u3c 2.4. We select galaxies undergoing gravitational instabilities using the number of clumps and degree of patchiness as proxies. The CANDELS visual classification system is used to identify 44 clumpy disk galaxies, along with mass-matched comparison samples of smooth and intermediate morphology galaxies. We note that despite being mass-matched and having similar star formation rates, the smoother galaxies tend to be smaller disks with more prominent bulges compared to the clumpy galaxies. The lack of smooth extended disks is probably a general feature of the z ~ 2 galaxy population, and means we cannot directly compare with the clumpy and smooth extended disks observed at lower redshift. We find that z ~ 2 clumpy galaxies have slightly enhanced AGN fractions selected by integrated line ratios (in the mass-excitation method), but the spatially resolved line ratios indicate this is likely due to extended phenomena rather than nuclear AGNs. Meanwhile, the X-ray data show that clumpy, smooth, and intermediate galaxies have nearly indistinguishable AGN fractions derived from both individual detections and stacked non-detections. The data demonstrate that AGN fueling modes at z ~ 1.85—whether violent disk instabilities or secular processes—are as efficient in smooth galaxies as they are in clumpy galaxies
The Star Formation and Nuclear Accretion Histories of Normal Galaxies in the AGES Survey
We combine IR, optical and X-ray data from the overlapping, 9.3 square degree
NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS), AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES),
and XBootes Survey to measure the X-ray evolution of 6146 normal galaxies as a
function of absolute optical luminosity, redshift, and spectral type over the
largely unexplored redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.5. Because only the closest or
brightest of the galaxies are individually detected in X-rays, we use a
stacking analysis to determine the mean properties of the sample. Our results
suggest that X-ray emission from spectroscopically late-type galaxies is
dominated by star formation, while that from early-type galaxies is dominated
by a combination of hot gas and AGN emission. We find that the mean star
formation and supermassive black hole accretion rate densities evolve like
(1+z)^3, in agreement with the trends found for samples of bright, individually
detectable starburst galaxies and AGN. Our work also corroborates the results
of many previous stacking analyses of faint source populations, with improved
statistics.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
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