66 research outputs found
The detection of the imprint of filaments on cosmic microwave background lensing
Galaxy redshift surveys, such as 2dF, SDSS, 6df, GAMA and VIPERS, have shown
that the spatial distribution of matter forms a rich web, known as the cosmic
web. The majority of galaxy survey analyses measure the amplitude of galaxy
clustering as a function of scale, ignoring information beyond a small number
of summary statistics. Since the matter density field becomes highly
non-Gaussian as structure evolves under gravity, we expect other statistical
descriptions of the field to provide us with additional information. One way to
study the non-Gaussianity is to study filaments, which evolve non-linearly from
the initial density fluctuations produced in the primordial Universe. In our
study, we report the first detection of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background)
lensing by filaments and we apply a null test to confirm our detection.
Furthermore, we propose a phenomenological model to interpret the detected
signal and we measure how filaments trace the matter distribution on large
scales through filament bias, which we measure to be around 1.5. Our study
provides a new scope to understand the environmental dependence of galaxy
formation. In the future, the joint analysis of lensing and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
observations might reveal the properties of `missing baryons', the vast
majority of the gas which resides in the intergalactic medium and has so far
evaded most observations
Large-scale structure in the Lyman-alpha forest II: analysis of a group of ten QSOs
The spatial distribution of Ly-alpha forest absorption systems towards ten
QSOs has been analysed to search for large-scale structure over the redshift
range 2.2 < z < 3.4. The QSOs form a closely spaced group on the sky and are
concentrated within a 1 deg^2 field. We have employed a technique based on the
first and second moments of the transmission probability density function which
is capable of identifying and assessing the significance of regions of over- or
underdense Ly-alpha absorption. We find evidence for large-scale structure in
the distribution of Ly-alpha forest absorption at the > 99 per cent confidence
level. In individual spectra we find overdense Ly-alpha absorption on scales of
up to 1200 km s^-1. There is also strong evidence for correlated absorption
across line of sight pairs separated by < 3 h^-1 proper Mpc (q_0 = 0.5). For
larger separations the cross-correlation signal becomes progressively less
significant.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, 6 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in
MNRA
Herschel-ATLAS/GAMA: A difference between star formation rates in strong-line and weak-line radio galaxies
We have constructed a sample of radio-loud objects with optical spectroscopy from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) project over the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (Herschel-ATLAS) Phase 1 fields. Classifying the radio sources in terms of their optical spectra, we find that strong-emission-line sources ('high-excitation radio galaxies') have, on average, a factor of ~4 higher 250-ÎŒm Herschel luminosity than weak-line ('lowexcitation') radio galaxies and are also more luminous than magnitude-matched radio-quiet galaxies at the same redshift. Using all five H-ATLAS bands, we show that this difference in luminosity between the emission-line classes arises mostly from a difference in the average dust temperature; strong-emission-line sources tend to have comparable dust masses to, but higher dust temperatures than, radio galaxies with weak emission lines. We interpret this as showing that radio galaxies with strong nuclear emission lines are much more likely to be associated with star formation in their host galaxy, although there is certainly not a one-to-one relationship between star formation and strong-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. The strong-line sources are estimated to have star formation rates at least a factor of 3-4 higher than those in the weak-line objects. Our conclusion is consistent with earlier work, generally carried out using much smaller samples, and reinforces the general picture of high-excitation radio galaxies as being located in lower-mass, less evolved host galaxies than their low-excitation counterparts.Peer reviewe
The VIRMOS deep imaging survey II: CFH12K BVRI optical data for the 0226-04 deep field
(abridged) In this paper we describe in detail the reduction, preparation and
reliability of the photometric catalogues which comprise the 1.2 deg^2
CFH12K-VIRMOS deep field. The survey reaches a limiting magnitude of BAB~26.5,
VAB~26.2, RAB~25.9 IAB~25.0 and contains 90,729 extended sources in the
magnitude range 18.0<IAB<24.0. We demonstrate our catalogues are free from
systematic biases and are complete and reliable down these limits. We estimate
that the upper limit on bin-to-bin systematic photometric errors for the I-
limited sample is ~10% in this magnitude range. We estimate that 68% of the
catalogues sources have absolute per co-ordinate astrometric uncertainties less
than ~0.38" and ~0.32" (alpha,delta). Our internal (filter-to-filter) per
co-ordinate astrometric uncertainties are 0.08" and 0.08" (alpha,delta). We
quantify the completeness of our survey in the joint space defined by object
total magnitude and peak surface brightness. Finally, we present numerous
comparisons between our catalogues and published literature data: galaxy and
star counts, galaxy and stellar colours, and the clustering of both point-like
and extended populations. In all cases our measurements are in excellent
agreement with literature data to IAB<24.0. This combination of depth and areal
coverage makes this multi-colour catalogue a solid foundation to select
galaxies for follow-up spectroscopy with VIMOS on the ESO-VLT and a unique
database to study the formation and evolution of the faint galaxy population to
z~1 and beyond.Comment: 18 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The X-ray invisible Universe. A look into the halos undetected by eROSITA
The paper presents the analysis of GAMA spectroscopic groups and clusters
detected and undetected in the SRG/eROSITA X-ray map of the eFEDS (eROSITA
Final Equatorial Depth Survey) area, in the halo mass range
and at . We compare the X-ray surface brightness profiles
of the eROSITA detected groups with the mean stacked profile of the undetected
low-mass halos. Overall, we find that the undetected groups exhibit less
concentrated X-ray surface brightness, dark matter, and galaxy distributions
with respect to the X-ray detected halos. Consistently with the low mass
concentration, the magnitude gap indicates that these are younger systems. The
later assembly time is confirmed by the bluer average color of the BCG and of
the galaxy population with respect to the detected systems. They reside with a
higher probability in filaments while X-ray detected low-mass halos favor the
nodes of the Cosmic Web. Because of the suppressed X-ray central emission, the
undetected systems tend to be X-ray under-luminous at fixed halo mass, and to
lie below the relation. Interestingly, the X-ray detected
systems inhabiting the nodes scatter the less around the relation, while those
in filaments tend to lie below it. We do not observe any strong relation
between the properties of detected and undetected systems with the AGN
activity. The fraction of optically selected AGN in the galaxy population is
consistent in the two samples. More interestingly, the probability that the BCG
hosts a radio AGN is lower in the undetected groups. We, thus, argue that the
observed differences between X-ray detected and undetected groups are
ascribable to the Cosmic Web, and its role in the halo assembly bias. Our
results suggest that the X-ray selection is biased to favor the most
concentrated and old systems located in the nodes of the Cosmic Web.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, Submitted to MNRA
Chameleonic Generalized Brans--Dicke model and late-time acceleration
In this paper we consider Chameleonic Generalized Brans--Dicke Cosmology in
the framework of FRW universes. The bouncing solution and phantom crossing is
investigated for the model. Two independent cosmological tests: Cosmological
Redshift Drift (CRD) and distance modulus are applied to test the model with
the observation.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, to be published in Astrophys. Space Sci. (2011
A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws
A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their
models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article
reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a
contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical
galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits
and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy
envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust,
bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of
pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving
sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are
presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero'
relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe
today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies,
whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling.
For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact
elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to
appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar
Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references
incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to
Springer: 07-June-201
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): survey diagnostics and core data release
The Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey has been operating since 2008 February on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope using the AAOmega fibre-fed spectrograph facility to acquire spectra with a resolution of Râ 1300 for 120 862 Sloan Digital Sky Survey selected galaxies. The target catalogue constitutes three contiguous equatorial regions centred at 9h (G09), 12h (G12) and 14.5h (G15) each of 12 Ă 4 deg2 to limiting fluxes of rpet < 19.4, rpet < 19.8 and rpet < 19.4 mag, respectively (and additional limits at other wavelengths). Spectra and reliable redshifts have been acquired for over 98 per cent of the galaxies within these limits. Here we present the survey footprint, progression, data reduction, redshifting, re-redshifting, an assessment of data quality after 3 yr, additional image analysis products (including ugrizYJHK photometry, SĂ©rsic profiles and photometric redshifts), observing mask and construction of our core survey catalogue (GamaCore). From this we create three science-ready catalogues: GamaCoreDR1 for public release, which includes data acquired during year 1 of operations within specified magnitude limits (2008 February to April); GamaCoreMainSurvey containing all data above our survey limits for use by the GAMA Team and collaborators; and GamaCoreAtlasSV containing year 1, 2 and 3 data matched to Herschel-ATLAS science demonstration data. These catalogues along with the associated spectra, stamps and profiles can be accessed via the GAMA website: http://www.gama-survey.or
Cosmic Dynamics in Gravity
In this paper we consider FRW cosmology in gravity. It is shown
that in particular cases the bouncing behavior may appears in the model whereas
the equation of state (EoS) parameter may crosses the phantom divider. For the
dynamical universe, quantitatively we also find parameters in the model which
satisfies two independent tests:the model independent Cosmological Redshift
Drift (CRD) test and the type Ia supernova luminosity distances.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure
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