Galaxy pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - XII: The fuelling mechanism of low excitation radio-loud AGN

We investigate whether the fuelling of low excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) is linked to major galaxy interactions. Our study utilizes a sample of 10,800 spectroscopic galaxy pairs and 97 post-mergers selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with matches to multi-wavelength datasets. The LERG fraction amongst interacting galaxies is a factor of 3.5 higher than that of a control sample matched in local galaxy density, redshift and stellar mass. However, the LERG excess in pairs does not depend on projected separation and remains elevated out to at least 500 kpc, suggesting that major mergers are not their main fuelling channel. In order to identify the primary fuelling mechanism of LERGs, we compile samples of control galaxies that are matched in various host galaxy and environmental properties. The LERG excess is reduced, but not completely removed, when halo mass or D4000 are included in the matching parameters. However, when BOTH M_halo and D4000 are matched, there is no LERG excess and the 1.4 GHz luminosities (which trace jet mechanical power) are consistent between the pairs and control. In contrast, the excess of optical and mid-IR selected AGN in galaxy pairs is unchanged when the additional matching parameters are implemented. Our results suggest that whilst major interactions may trigger optically and mid-IR selected AGN, the gas which fuels the LERGs has two secular origins: one associated with the large scale environment, such as accretion from the surrounding medium or minor mergers, plus an internal stellar mechanism, such as winds from evolved stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters; 5 page

Star Formation History in Barred Spiral Galaxies. AGN Feedback

We present a numerical study of the impact of AGN accretion and feedback on the star formation history of barred disc galaxies. Our goal is to determine whether the effect of feedback is positive (enhanced star formation) or negative (quenched star formation), and to what extent. We performed a series of 12 hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies, 10 barred and 2 unbarred, with various initial gas fractions and AGN feedback prescriptions. In barred galaxies, gas is driven toward the centre of the galaxy and causes a starburst, followed by a slow decay, while in unbarred galaxies the SFR increases slowly and steadily. AGN feedback suppresses star formation near the central black hole. Gas is pushed away from the black hole, and collides head-on with inflowing gas, forming a dense ring at a finite radius where star formation is enhanced. We conclude that both negative and positive feedback are present, and these effects mostly cancel out. There is no net quenching or enhancement in star formation, but rather a displacement of the star formation sites to larger radii. In unbarred galaxies, where the density of the central gas is lower, quenching of star formation near the black hole is more efficient, and enhancement of star formation at larger radii is less efficient. As a result, negative feedback dominates. Lowering the gas fraction reduces the star formation rate at all radii, whether or not there is a bar or an AGN.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Clues to the Origin of the Mass-Metallicity Relation: Dependence on Star Formation Rate and Galaxy Size

We use a sample of 43,690 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 to study the systematic effects of specific star formation rate (SSFR) and galaxy size (as measured by the half light radius, r_h) on the mass-metallicity relation. We find that galaxies with high SSFR or large r_h for their stellar mass have systematically lower gas phase-metallicities (by up to 0.2 dex) than galaxies with low SSFR or small r_h. We discuss possible origins for these dependencies, including galactic winds/outflows, abundance gradients, environment and star formation rate efficiencies.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letter

The Dynamics of Galaxy Pairs in a Cosmological Setting

We use the Millennium Simulation, and an abundance-matching framework, to investigate the dynamical behaviour of galaxy pairs embedded in a cosmological context. Our main galaxy-pair sample, selected to have separations under 250 kpc/h, consists of over 1.3 million pairs at redshift z = 0, with stellar masses greater than 10^9 Msun, probing mass ratios down to 1:1000. We use dark matter halo membership and energy to classify our galaxy pairs. In terms of halo membership, central-satellite pairs tend to be in isolation (in relation to external more massive galaxies), are energetically- bound to each other, and are also weakly-bound to a neighbouring massive galaxy. Satellite-satellite pairs, instead, inhabit regions in close proximity to a more massive galaxy, are energetically-unbound, and are often bound to that neighbour. We find that 60% of our paired galaxies are bound to both their companion and to a third external object. Moreover, only 9% of our pairs resemble the kind of systems described by idealised binary merger simulations in complete isolation. In sum, we demonstrate the importance of properly connecting galaxy pairs to the rest of the Universe.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, accepted by MNRA

A Sub-Damped Lyα\alpha Absorber with Unusual Abundances: Evidence of Gas Recycling in a Low-Redshift Galaxy Group

Using Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph G140M spectroscopy, we investigate an absorption-line system at $z$=0.07489 in the spectrum of the quasi-stellar object PG 1543+489 ($z_{QSO}$=0.401). The sightline passes within $\rho = 66$ kpc of an edge-on $2L^*$ disk galaxy at a similar redshift, but the galaxy belongs to a group with four other galaxies within $\rho =160$ kpc. We detect H I [log $N$(H I/$cm^{-2}$) = 19.12$\pm$0.04] as well as N I, Mg II, Si II, and Si III, from which we measure a gas-phase abundance of [N/H] = $-1.0\pm 0.1$. Photoionization models indicate that the nitrogen-to-silicon relative abundance is solar, yet magnesium is underabundant by a factor of $\approx$ 2. We also report spatially resolved emission-line spectroscopy of the nearby galaxy, and we extract its rotation curve. The galaxy's metallicity is $\approx 8 \times$ higher than [N/H] in the absorber, and interestingly, the absorber velocities suggest that the gas at $\rho =$ 66 kpc is corotating with the galaxy's stellar disk, possibly with an inflow component. These characteristics could indicate that this sub-damped Ly$\alpha$ absorber system arises in a "cold-accretion" flow. However, the absorber abundance patterns are peculiar. We hypothesize that the gas was ejected from its galaxy of origin (or perhaps is a result of tidal debris from interactions between the group galaxies) with a solar nitrogen abundance, but that subsequently mixed with (and was diluted by) gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) or group. If the gas is bound to the nearby galaxy, this system may be an example of the gas "recycling" predicted by theoretical galaxy simulations. Our hypothesis is testable with future observations.Comment: 16 pages (in print): The Astrophysical Journal, vol 872, 12

Mapping galaxy encounters in numerical simulations: The spatial extent of induced star formation

We employ a suite of 75 simulations of galaxies in idealised major mergers (stellar mass ratio ~2.5:1), with a wide range of orbital parameters, to investigate the spatial extent of interaction-induced star formation. Although the total star formation in galaxy encounters is generally elevated relative to isolated galaxies, we find that this elevation is a combination of intense enhancements within the central kpc and moderately suppressed activity at large galacto-centric radii. The radial dependence of the star formation enhancement is stronger in the less massive galaxy than in the primary, and is also more pronounced in mergers of more closely aligned disc spin orientations. Conversely, these trends are almost entirely independent of the encounter's impact parameter and orbital eccentricity. Our predictions of the radial dependence of triggered star formation, and specifically the suppression of star formation beyond kph-scales, will be testable with the next generation of integral-field spectroscopic surveys.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted by MNRA