99 research outputs found
High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies
High spatial and spectral resolution observations of star formation and
kinematics in early galaxies have shown that two-thirds are massive rotating
disk galaxies with the remainder being less massive non-rotating objects. The
line of sight averaged velocity dispersions are typically five times higher
than in today's disk galaxies. This has suggested that
gravitationally-unstable, gas-rich disks in the early Universe are fuelled by
cold, dense accreting gas flowing along cosmic filaments and penetrating hot
galactic gas halos. However these accreting flows have not been observed, and
cosmic accretion cannot power the observed level of turbulence. Here we report
on a new sample of rare high-velocity-dispersion disk galaxies we have
discovered in the nearby Universe where cold accretion is unlikely to drive
their high star-formation rates. We find that the velocity dispersion is most
fundamentally correlated with their star-formation rates, and not their mass
nor gas fraction, which leads to a new picture where star formation itself is
the energetic driver of galaxy disk turbulence at all cosmic epochs.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Supplimentary Info available at:
http://pulsar.swin.edu.au/~agreen/nature/sigma_mean_arXiv.pdf. Accepted for
publication in Natur
Early-type galaxies in the SDSS. I. The sample
A sample of nearly 9000 early-type galaxies, in the redshift range 0.01 < z <
0.3, was selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using morphological and
spectral criteria. This paper describes how the sample was selected, presents
examples of images and seeing corrected fits to the observed surface brightness
profiles, describes our method for estimating K-corrections, and shows that the
SDSS spectra are of sufficiently high quality to measure velocity dispersions
accurately. It also provides catalogs of the measured photometric and
spectroscopic parameters. In related papers, these data are used to study how
early-type galaxy observables, including luminosity, effective radius, surface
brightness, color, and velocity dispersion, are correlated with one another.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures. Accepted by AJ (scheduled for April 2003). This
paper is part I of a revised version of astro-ph/0110344. The full version of
Tables 2 and 3, i.e. the tables listing the photometric and spectroscopic
parameters of ~ 9000 galaxies, are available at
http://astrophysics.phys.cmu.edu/~bernardi/SDSS/Etypes/TABLE
The Intermediate-Scale Clustering of Luminous Red Galaxies
We report the intermediate-scale (0.3 to 40 Mpc/h) clustering of 35,000
luminous early-type galaxies at redshifts 0.16 to 0.44 from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey. We present the redshift-space two-point correlation function
\xi(s), the projected correlation function w_p(r_p), and the deprojected
real-space correlation function \xi(r), for approximately volume-limited
samples. As expected, the galaxies are highly clustered, with the correlation
length varying from 9.8 +/- 0.2 Mpc/h to 11.2 +/- 0.2 Mpc/h, dependent on the
specific luminosity range. For the -23.2 < Mg < -21.2 sample, the inferred bias
relative to that of L* galaxies is 1.84 +/- 0.11 for 1 Mpc/h < r_p < 10 Mpc/h,
with yet stronger clustering on smaller scales. We detect luminosity-dependent
bias within the sample but see no evidence for redshift evolution between z=0.2
and z=0.4. We find a clear indication for deviations from a power-law in the
real-space correlation function, with a dip at ~ 2 Mpc/h scales and an upturn
on smaller scales. The precision measurements of these clustering trends offer
new avenues for the study of the formation and evolution of these massive
galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
Spectroscopic Target Selection for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Luminous Red Galaxy Sample
We describe the target selection and resulting properties of a spectroscopic
sample of luminous, red galaxies (LRG) from the imaging data of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). These galaxies are selected on the basis of color
and magnitude to yield a sample of luminous, intrinsically red galaxies that
extends fainter and further than the main flux-limited portion of the SDSS
galaxy spectroscopic sample. The sample is designed to impose a
passively-evolving luminosity and rest-frame color cut to a redshift of 0.38.
Additional, yet more luminous, red galaxies are included to a redshift of 0.5.
Approximately 12 of these galaxies per square degree are targeted for
spectroscopy, so the sample will number over 100,000 with the full survey. SDSS
commissioning data indicate that the algorithm efficiently selects luminous
(M_g=-21.4), red galaxies, that the spectroscopic success rate is very high,
and that the resulting set of galaxies is approximately volume-limited out to
z=0.38. When the SDSS is complete, the LRG spectroscopic sample will fill over
1h^-3 Gpc^3 with an approximately homogeneous population of galaxies and will
therefore be well suited to studies of large-scale structure and clusters out
to z=0.5.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX. Accepted to the Astronomical Journa
An ammonia spectral map of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud. I. Physical properties of filaments and dense cores
We present deep NH3 observations of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud covering over a 3° angular range using the K-band focal plane array on the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. The L1495-B218 filaments form an interconnected, nearby, large complex extending over 8 pc. We observed NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) with a spectral resolution of 0.038 km s−1 and a spatial resolution of 31''. Most of the ammonia peaks coincide with intensity peaks in dust continuum maps at 350 and 500 μm. We deduced physical properties by fitting a model to the observed spectra. We find gas kinetic temperatures of 8–15 K, velocity dispersions of 0.05–0.25 km s−1, and NH3 column densities of 5 × 1012 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. The CSAR algorithm, which is a hybrid of seeded-watershed and binary dendrogram algorithms, identifies a total of 55 NH3 structures, including 39 leaves and 16 branches. The masses of the NH3 sources range from 0.05 to 9.5 . The masses of NH3 leaves are mostly smaller than their corresponding virial mass estimated from their internal and gravitational energies, which suggests that these leaves are gravitationally unbound structures. Nine out of 39 NH3 leaves are gravitationally bound, and seven out of nine gravitationally bound NH3 leaves are associated with star formation. We also found that 12 out of 30 gravitationally unbound leaves are pressure confined. Our data suggest that a dense core may form as a pressure-confined structure, evolve to a gravitationally bound core, and undergo collapse to form a protostar
The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and
represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will
continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217
million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of
galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging
data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth
Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the
present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes
repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and
the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data
from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the
Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including
photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions
of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey
geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS
Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurements of the growth of structure and expansion rate at z=0.57 from anisotropic clustering
We analyze the anisotropic clustering of massive galaxies from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data
Release 9 (DR9) sample, which consists of 264,283 galaxies in the redshift
range 0.43 < z < 0.7 spanning 3,275 square degrees. Both peculiar velocities
and errors in the assumed redshift-distance relation ("Alcock-Paczynski
effect") generate correlations between clustering amplitude and orientation
with respect to the line-of-sight. Together with the sharp baryon acoustic
oscillation (BAO) standard ruler, our measurements of the broadband shape of
the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions simultaneously constrain the
comoving angular diameter distance (2190 +/- 61 Mpc) to z=0.57, the Hubble
expansion rate at z=0.57 (92.4 +/- 4.5 km/s/Mpc), and the growth rate of
structure at that same redshift (d sigma8/d ln a = 0.43 +/- 0.069). Our
analysis provides the best current direct determination of both DA and H in
galaxy clustering data using this technique. If we further assume a LCDM
expansion history, our growth constraint tightens to d sigma8/d ln a = 0.415
+/- 0.034. In combination with the cosmic microwave background, our
measurements of DA, H, and growth all separately require dark energy at z >
0.57, and when combined imply \Omega_{\Lambda} = 0.74 +/- 0.016, independent of
the Universe's evolution at z<0.57. In our companion paper (Samushia et al.
prep), we explore further cosmological implications of these observations.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments welcom
Fitting the integrated Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
Fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies is an almost
universally used technique that has matured significantly in the last decade.
Model predictions and fitting procedures have improved significantly over this
time, attempting to keep up with the vastly increased volume and quality of
available data. We review here the field of SED fitting, describing the
modelling of ultraviolet to infrared galaxy SEDs, the creation of
multiwavelength data sets, and the methods used to fit model SEDs to observed
galaxy data sets. We touch upon the achievements and challenges in the major
ingredients of SED fitting, with a special emphasis on describing the interplay
between the quality of the available data, the quality of the available models,
and the best fitting technique to use in order to obtain a realistic
measurement as well as realistic uncertainties. We conclude that SED fitting
can be used effectively to derive a range of physical properties of galaxies,
such as redshift, stellar masses, star formation rates, dust masses, and
metallicities, with care taken not to over-interpret the available data. Yet
there still exist many issues such as estimating the age of the oldest stars in
a galaxy, finer details ofdust properties and dust-star geometry, and the
influences of poorly understood, luminous stellar types and phases. The
challenge for the coming years will be to improve both the models and the
observational data sets to resolve these uncertainties. The present review will
be made available on an interactive, moderated web page (sedfitting.org), where
the community can access and change the text. The intention is to expand the
text and keep it up to date over the coming years.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics &
Space Scienc
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the
scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a
larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys
of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as
i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7.
Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000
quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5.
Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale
three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection
from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive
galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield
measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at
redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the
same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a
measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate
D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey
is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic
targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of
BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A
Active Galactic Nuclei in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: II. Emission-Line Luminosity Function
The emission line luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is
measured from about 3000 AGN included in the main galaxy sample of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey within a redshift range of . The \Ha and
[OIII] luminosity functions for Seyferts cover luminosity range
of in H and the shapes are well fit by broken power
laws, without a turnover at fainter nuclear luminosities. Assuming a universal
conversion from emission line strength to continuum luminosity, the inferred B
band magnitude luminosity function is comparable both to the AGN luminosity
function of previous studies and to the low redshift quasar luminosity function
derived from the 2dF redshift survey. The inferred AGN number density is
approximately 1/5 of all galaxies and about of the total
light of galaxies in the -band comes from the nuclear activity. The numbers
of Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 2s are comparable at low luminosity, while at high
luminosity, Seyfert 1s outnumber Seyfert 2s by a factor of 2-4. In making the
luminosity function measurements, we assumed that the nuclear luminosity is
independent of the host galaxy luminosity, an assumption we test {\it a
posteriori}, and show to be consistent with the data. Given the relationship
between black hole mass and host galaxy bulge luminosity, the lack of
correlation between nuclear and host luminosity suggests that the main variable
that determines the AGN luminosity is the Eddington ratio, not the black hole
mass. This appears to be different from luminous quasars, which are most likely
to be shining near the Eddington limit.Comment: AASTeX v5.02 preprint; 35 pages, including 2 table and 12 figures. To
appear in the April 2005 issue of AJ. See astro-ph/0501059 for Paper
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