1,987 research outputs found
HI and Star Formation Properties of Massive Galaxies: First Results from the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey
The GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) is an ambitious program designed to
investigate the cold gas properties of massive galaxies, a challenging
population for HI studies. Using the Arecibo radio telescope, GASS is gathering
high-quality HI-line spectra for an unbiased sample of ~1000 galaxies with
stellar masses greater than 10^10 Msun and redshifts 0.025 < z < 0.05,
uniformly selected from the SDSS spectroscopic and GALEX imaging surveys. The
galaxies are observed until detected or until a low gas mass fraction limit
(1.5-5%) is reached. We present initial results based on the first Data
Release, which consists of ~20% of the final GASS sample. We use this data set
to explore the main scaling relations of HI gas fraction with galaxy structure
and NUV-r colour, and show our best fit plane describing the relation between
gas fraction, stellar mass surface density and NUV-r colour. Interesting
outliers from this plane include gas-rich red sequence galaxies that may be in
the process of regrowing their disks, as well as blue, but gas-poor spirals.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in "Hunting for the Dark: The Hidden
Side of Galaxy Formation", Malta, 19-23 Oct. 2009, eds. V.P. Debattista &
C.C. Popescu, AIP Conf. Se
The Formation of Low-Mass Cluster Galaxies and the Universal Initial Galaxy Mass Function
Clusters of galaxies have an observed over-density of low-luminosity systems
in comparison to the field, although it is not yet agreed whether this effect
is the result of initial galaxy mass functions that vary with environment or
galaxy evolutionary effects. In this letter we argue that this over-density is
the result of low-mass systems with red colors that are over-populating the
faint-end of the observed luminosity function in the nearby rich cluster Abell
0426. We show that the luminosity function of Abell 0426 becomes steeper, from
the field value alpha = -1.25+/-0.05 to alpha=-1.44+/-0.04, due to a recently
identified population of red low-mass cluster galaxies that are possibly the
remnants of dynamical stripped high-mass systems. We further demonstrate,
through simple models of stripping effects, how cluster luminosity functions
can become artificially steep over time from the production of these low-mass
cluster galaxies.Comment: Accepted to ApJ letter
Does the Number Density of Elliptical Galaxies Change at z<1?
We have performed a detailed V/Vmax test for a sample of the Canada-France
Redshift Survey (CFRS) for the purpose of examining whether the comoving number
density of field galaxies changes significantly at redshifts of z<1. Taking
into account the luminosity evolution of galaxies which depends on their
morphological type through different history of star formation, we obtain
\sim 0.5 in the range of 0.3<z<0.8, where reliable redshifts were
secured by spectroscopy of either absorption or emission lines for the CFRS
sample. This indicates that a picture of mild evolution of field galaxies
without significant mergers is consistent with the CFRS data. Early-type
galaxies, selected by their (V-I)_{AB} color, become unnaturally deficient in
number at z>0.8 due to the selection bias, thereby causing a fictitious
decrease of . We therefore conclude that a reasonable choice of upper
bound of redshift z \sim 0.8 in the V/Vmax test saves the picture of passive
evolution for field ellipticals in the CFRS sample, which was rejected by
Kauffman, Charlot, & White (1996) without confining the redshift range.
However, about 10% of the CFRS sample consists of galaxies having colors much
bluer than predicted for irregular galaxies, and their \avmax is significantly
larger than 0.5. We discuss this population of extremely blue galaxies in terms
of starburst that has just turned on at their observed redshifts.Comment: 11 pages including 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letter
Milky Way type galaxies in a LCDM cosmology
We analyse a sample of 52,000 Milky Way (MW) type galaxies drawn from the
publicly available galaxy catalogue of the Millennium Simulation with the aim
of studying statistically the differences and similarities of their properties
in comparison to our Galaxy. Model galaxies are chosen to lie in haloes with
maximum circular velocities in the range 200-250 km/seg and to have
bulge-to-disk ratios similar to that of the Milky Way. We find that model MW
galaxies formed quietly through the accretion of cold gas and small satellite
systems. Only 12 per cent of our model galaxies experienced a major merger
during their lifetime. Most of the stars formed in situ, with only about 15 per
cent of the final mass gathered through accretion. Supernovae and AGN feedback
play an important role in the evolution of these systems. At high redshifts,
when the potential wells of the MW progenitors are shallower, winds driven by
supernovae explosions blow out a large fraction of the gas and metals. As the
systems grow in mass, SN feedback effects decrease and AGN feedback takes over,
playing a more important role in the regulation of the star formation activity
at lower redshifts. Although model Milky Way galaxies have been selected to lie
in a narrow range of maximum circular velocities, they nevertheless exhibit a
significant dispersion in the final stellar masses and metallicities. Our
analysis suggests that this dispersion results from the different accretion
histories of the parent dark matter haloes. Statically, we also find evidences
to support the Milky Way as a typical Sb/Sc galaxy in the same mass range,
providing a suitable benchmark to constrain numerical models of galaxy
formationComment: 10 pages, 7 figures, mne2.cls, MNRAS, replaced with accepted versio
XMM-Newton temperature maps for five intermediate redshift clusters of galaxies
We have analyzed XMM-Newton archive data for five clusters of galaxies
(redshifts 0.223 to 0.313) covering a wide range of dynamical states, from
relaxed objects to clusters undergoing several mergers. We present here
temperature maps of the X-ray gas together with a preliminary interpretation of
the formation history of these clusters.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figs. Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the
36th COSPAR Scientific Assembl
Morphological Evolution and the Ages of Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters
Morphological and spectroscopic studies of high redshift clusters indicate
that a significant fraction of present-day early-type galaxies was transformed
from star forming galaxies at z<1. On the other hand, the slow luminosity
evolution of early-type galaxies and the low scatter in their color-magnitude
relation indicate a high formation redshift of their stars. In this paper we
construct models which reconcile these apparently contradictory lines of
evidence, and we quantify the effects of morphological evolution on the
observed photometric properties of early-type galaxies in distant clusters. We
show that in the case of strong morphological evolution the apparent luminosity
and color evolution of early-type galaxies are similar to that of a single age
stellar population formed at z=infinity, irrespective of the true star
formation history of the galaxies. Furthermore, the scatter in age, and hence
the scatter in color and luminosity, is approximately constant with redshift.
These results are consequences of the ``progenitor bias'': the progenitors of
the youngest low redshift early-type galaxies drop out of the sample at high
redshift. We construct models which reproduce the observed evolution of the
number fraction of early-type galaxies in rich clusters and their color and
luminosity evolution simultaneously. Our modelling indicates that approx. 50%
of early-type galaxies were transformed from other galaxy types at z<1, and
their progenitor galaxies may have had roughly constant star formation rates
prior to morphological transformation. After correcting the observed evolution
of the mean M/L_B ratio for the maximum progenitor bias we find that the mean
luminosity weighted formation redshift of stars in early-type galaxies
z_*=2.0^{+0.3}_{-0.2} for Omega_m=0.3 and Omega_Lambda=0.7. [ABRIDGED]Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 13 pages, 6
figure
The Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies in Distant Clusters III.: M/L_V Ratios in the z=0.33 Cluster CL1358+62
Keck spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 imaging over a 1.5x1.5 Mpc
field of CL1358+62 at z=0.33 are used to study the Fundamental Plane of
galaxies based on a new, large sample of 53 galaxies. First, we have
constructed the Fundamental Plane for the 30 E and S0 galaxies and find that it
has the following shape: r_e = sigma**(1.31+-0.13) * _e**(-0.86+-0.10),
similar to that found locally. The 1-sigma intrinsic scatter about this plane
is 14% in M/L(V), comparable to that observed in Coma. We conclude that these E
and S0 galaxies are structurally mature and homogeneous, like those observed in
nearby clusters. The M/L(V) ratios of these early-type galaxies are offset from
the Coma Fundamental Plane by delta log M/L(V) = -0.13+- 0.03 (q0=0.1),
indicative of mild luminosity evolution. This evolution suggests a formation
epoch for the stars of z > 1. We have also analyzed the M/L(V) ratios of
galaxies of type S0/a and later. These early-type spirals follow a different
plane from the E and S0 galaxies, with a scatter that is twice as large as the
scatter for the E/S0s. The difference in the tilt between the plane of the
spirals and the plane of the E/S0s is shown to be due to a systematic
correlation of velocity dispersion with residual from the plane of the
early-type galaxies. These residuals also correlate with the residuals from the
Color-Magnitude relation. Thus for spirals in clusters, we see a systematic
variation in the luminosity-weighted mean properties of the stellar populations
with central velocity dispersion. If this is a relative age trend, then
luminosity-weighted age is positively correlated with dispersion. [abridged
version]Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures; revised version, accepted by ApJ on 13 August
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