The hunt for red AGN: a new infrared diagnostic

We introduce a new infrared diagnostic to separate galaxies on the basis of their dominant infrared emission: stellar or nuclear. The main novelty with respect to existing diagnostics, is the usage of a broad band encompassing at the same time the 9.7micron Silicate absorption feature and one of the adjacent broad PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) features. This provides a robust estimate of the near- to mid-infrared continuum slope and enables a clear distinction among different classes of galaxies up to a redshift z=2.5. The diagnostic can be applied to a wealth of archival data from the ISO, Spitzer, and Akari surveys as well as future JWST surveys. Based on data in the GOODS, Lockman Hole, and North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) fields, we find out that approximately 70% active galactic nuclei detected with X-ray and optical spectroscopy dominate the total mid-infrared emission. Finally, we estimate that AGN contribute less than 30% of the mid-infrared extragalactic integrated emission.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The extragalactic optical-infrared background radiations, their time evolution and the cosmic photon-photon opacity

The background radiations in the optical and the infrared constitute a relevant cause of energy loss in the propagation of high energy particles through space. In particular, TeV observations with Cherenkov telescopes of extragalactic sources are influenced by the opacity effects due to the interaction of the very high-energy source photons with the background light. With the aim of assessing with the best possible detail these opacity terms, we have modelled the extragalactic optical and IR backgrounds using available information on cosmic sources in the universe from far-UV to sub-mm wavelengths over a wide range of cosmic epochs. We have exploited the relevant cosmological survey data - including number counts, redshift distributions, luminosity functions - from ground-based observatories in the optical, near-IR, and sub-mm, as well as multi-wavelength information coming from space telescopes, HST, ISO and Spitzer. Additional constraints have been used from direct measurements or upper limits on the extragalactic backgrounds by dedicated missions (COBE). All data were fitted and interpolated with a multi-wavelength backward evolutionary model, allowing us to estimate the background photon density and its redshift evolution. From the redshift-dependent background spectrum, the photon-photon opacities for sources of high-energy emission at any redshifts were then computed. The same results can also be used to compute the optical depths for any kind of processes in the intergalactic space involving interactions with background photons (like scattering of cosmic-ray particles). We have applied our photon-photon opacity estimates to the analysis of spectral data at TeV energies on a few BLAZARs of particular interest. [abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The current paper has been corrected for a small error in eq.(13) appearing in the previous versio

The hunt for red active galactic nuclei: a new infrared diagnostic

We introduce a new infrared diagnostic to separate galaxies on the basis of their dominant infrared emission: stellar or nuclear. The main novelty with respect to existing diagnostics is the use of a broad band encompassing at the same time the 9.7-μm silicate absorption feature and one of the adjacent broad polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features. This provides a robust estimate of the near- to mid-infrared continuum slope and enables a clear distinction among different classes of galaxies up to a redshift z ∼ 2.5. The diagnostic can be applied to a wealth of archival data from the ISO, Spitzer and Akari surveys, as well as future James Webb Space Telescope surveys. Based on data in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), Lockman Hole and North Ecliptic Pole fields, we find that approximately 70 per cent of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected with X-ray and optical spectroscopy dominate the total mid-infrared emission. Finally, we estimate that AGNs contribute less than 30 per cent of the mid-infrared extragalactic integrated emission

Star formation and quenching among the most massive galaxies at z~1.7

We have conducted a detailed object-by-object study of a mass-complete (M*>10^11 M_sun) sample of 56 galaxies at 1.4 < z < 2 in the GOODS-South field, showing that an accurate de-blending in MIPS/24um images is essential to properly assign to each galaxy its own star formation rate (SFR), whereas an automatic procedure often fails. This applies especially to galaxies with SFRs below the Main Sequence (MS) value, which may be in their quenching phase. After that, the sample splits evenly between galaxies forming stars within a factor of 4 of the MS rate (~45%), and sub-MS galaxies with SFRs ~10-1000 times smaller (~55%). We did not find a well defined class of intermediate, transient objects below the MS, suggesting that the conversion of a massive MS galaxy into a quenched remnant may take a relatively short time (<1 Gyr), though a larger sample should be analyzed in the same way to set precise limits on the quenching timescale. X-ray detected AGNs represent a ~30% fraction of the sample, and are found among both star-forming and quenched galaxies. The morphological analysis revealed that ~50% of our massive objects are bulge-dominated, and almost all MS galaxies with a relevant bulge component host an AGN. We also found sub-MS SFRs in many bulge-dominated systems, providing support to the notion that bulge growth, AGN activity and quenching of star formation are closely related to each other.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA

Mightee-hi: Evolution of hi scaling relations of star-forming galaxies at z < 0.5*

We present the first measurements of H I galaxy scaling relations from a blind survey at z > 0.15. We perform spectral stacking of 9023 spectra of star-forming galaxies undetected in H I at 0.23 < z < 0.49, extracted from MIGHTEE-H I Early Science data cubes, acquired with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We stack galaxies in bins of galaxy properties (stellar mass M*, star formation rateSFR, and specific star formation rate sSFR, with sSFR ≡ M*/SFR), obtaining 5σ detections in most cases, the strongest H I-stacking detections to date in this redshift range. With these detections, we are able to measure scaling relations in the probed redshift interval, finding evidence for a moderate evolution from the median redshift of our sample zmed ∼ 0.37 to z ∼ 0. In particular, low-M* galaxies ( ~ * log 9 10( ) M M ) experience a strong H I depletion (∼0.5 dex in log10( ) M M H I ), while massive galaxies ( ~ * log 11 10( ) M M ) keep their H I mass nearly unchanged. When looking at the star formation activity, highly star-forming galaxies evolve significantly in MH I ( fH I, where fH I ≡ MH I/M*) at fixed SFR (sSFR), while at the lowest probed SFR (sSFR) the scaling relations show no evolution

NIR Spectroscopy of Luminous Infrared Galaxies and the Hydrogen Recombination Photon Deficit

We report on near-infrared medium-resolution spectroscopy of a sample of luminous and ultra luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs-ULIRGs), carried out with SOFI at the ESO 3.5m New Technology Telescope. Because of wavelength dependence of the attenuation, the detection of the Pa_alfa or Br_gamma line in the Ks band should provide relevant constraints on SFR and the contribution of an AGN. We find, however, that the intensities of the Pa_alfa and Br_gamma lines, even corrected for slit losses, are on average only 10% and 40%, respectively, of that expected from a normal starburst of similar bolometric luminosity. The corresponding star formation rates, after correcting for the attenuation derived from the NIR-optical emission line ratios, are 14% and 60% of that expected if the far infrared luminosity were entirely powered by the starburst. This confirms the existence of a recombination photon deficit, particularly in the case of the Pa_alfa line, already found in the Br_gamma line in other infrared galaxies of similar luminosity. In discussing the possible causes of the discrepancy, we find unlikely that it is due to the presence of an AGN, though two objects show evidence of broadening of the Pa_alfa line and of the presence of coronal line emission. In fact, from our own observations and data collected from the literature we argue that the studied galaxies appear to be predominantly powered by a nuclear starburst. Two scenarios compatible with the present data are that either there exists a highly attenuated nuclear star forming region, and/or that a significant fraction of the ionizing photons are absorbed by dust within the HII regions. We suggest that observations in the Br_alpha spectral region could constitute a powerful tool to disentangle these two possibilities.Comment: 14 pages, accepted by A&

ISOCAM observations in the Lockman Hole - I The 14.3 micron shallow survey: data reduction, catalogue, and optical identifications

We present the image and catalogue of the 14.3 micron shallow survey of 0.55 square degrees in the region of the Lockman Hole (10h52m03s +57d21m46s, J2000) with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The data have been analyzed with the recent algorithm by Lari et al. (2001) conceived to exploit ISO data in an optimal way, especially in the case of shallow surveys with low redundancy. Photometry has been accurately evaluated through extensive simulations and also the absolute calibration has been checked using a set of 21 stars detected at 14.3 micron, optical, and near-IR bands. On the basis of simulations, we evaluate that the survey is 80%, 50%, and 20% complete at 0.8, 0.6, and 0.45 mJy, respectively. Below the 20% completeness limit, fluxes are generally overestimated since the sources are preferentially detected if their positions correspond to positive oscillations of the noise. Moreover, from a comparison with the deep survey, we estimate that only sources brighter than 0.45 mJy are highly reliable. Only 5% of these sources do not have optical counterparts down to r'=25. Since none of the Spitzer imaging bands cover the 14.3 micron wavelength range, this data set will remain unique until the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, A&A accepte

Deep HST imaging surveys and the formation of spheroidal galaxies

We have extended our previous analysis of morphologically selected elliptical and S0 galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) North to include HST data in the HDF South and the HDFS-NICMOS areas. Our final sample amounts to 69 E/S0 galaxies with $K<20.15$ over an area of 11 square arcmins. Although a moderately small number over a modest sky area, this sample benefits of the best imaging and photometric data available on high-redshift galaxies. Multi-waveband photometry allows us to estimate with good accuracy the redshifts for the majority of these galaxies which lack a spectroscopic measure. We confirm our previous findings that massive E/S0s tend to disappear from flux-limited samples at $z>1.4$. This adds to the evidence that the rest-frame colours and SEDs of the numerous objects found at $0.8<z<1.2$ are inconsistent with a very high redshift of formation for the bulk of stars, while they are better consistent with protracted (either continuous or episodic) star-formation down to $z \le 1$. These results based on high-quality imaging on a small field can be complemented with data from colour-selected EROs on much larger sky areas: our claimed demise of E/S0s going from $z=1$ to $z=1.5$ is paralleled by a similarly fast decrease in the areal density of EROs when the colour limit is changed from $(R-K)=5$ to $(R-K)=6$ (corresponding to $z\simeq 1$ and $z\simeq 1.3$ respectively). Altogether, the redshift interval from 1 to 2 seems to correspond to a very active phase for the assembly of massive E/S0 galaxies in the field, and also probably one where a substantial fraction of their stars are formed.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures -- Version accepted by MNRA