184 research outputs found
Probing the AGN Unification Model at redshift z 3 with MUSE observations of giant Ly nebulae
A prediction of the classic active galactic nuclei (AGN) unification model is
the presence of ionisation cones with different orientations depending on the
AGN type. Confirmations of this model exist for present times, but it is less
clear in the early Universe. Here, we use the morphology of giant Ly
nebulae around AGNs at redshift z3 to probe AGN emission and therefore
the validity of the AGN unification model at this redshift. We compare the
spatial morphology of 19 nebulae previously found around type I AGNs with a new
sample of 4 Ly nebulae detected around type II AGNs. Using two
independent techniques, we find that nebulae around type II AGNs are more
asymmetric than around type I, at least at radial distances ~physical kpc
(pkpc) from the ionizing source. We conclude that the type I and type II AGNs
in our sample show evidence of different surrounding ionising geometries. This
suggests that the classical AGN unification model is also valid for
high-redshift sources. Finally, we discuss how the lack of asymmetry in the
inner parts (r30 pkpc) and the associated high values of the HeII to
Ly ratios in these regions could indicate additional sources of (hard)
ionizing radiation originating within or in proximity of the AGN host galaxies.
This work demonstrates that the morphologies of giant Ly nebulae can be
used to understand and study the geometry of high redshift AGNs on
circum-nuclear scales and it lays the foundation for future studies using much
larger statistical samples.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The Fundamental Plane of star formation in galaxies revealed by the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulations
We investigate correlations between different physical properties of star-forming galaxies in the âEvolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environmentsâ (EAGLE) cosmological hydrodynamical simulation suite over the redshift range 0 †z †4.5. A principal component analysis reveals that neutral gas fraction (fgas,neutral), stellar mass (Mstellar) and star formation rate (SFR) account for most of the variance seen in the population, with galaxies tracing a two-dimensional, nearly flat, surface in the three-dimensional space of fgas, neutralâMstellarâSFR with little scatter. The location of this plane varies little with redshift, whereas galaxies themselves move along the plane as their fgas, neutral and SFR drop with redshift. The positions of galaxies along the plane are highly correlated with gas metallicity. The metallicity can therefore be robustly predicted from fgas, neutral, or from the Mstellar and SFR. We argue that the appearance of this âFundamental Plane of star formationâ is a consequence of self-regulation, with the plane's curvature set by the dependence of the SFR on gas density and metallicity. We analyse a large compilation of observations spanning the redshift range 0 âČ z âČ 3, and find that such a plane is also present in the data. The properties of the observed Fundamental Plane of star formation are in good agreement with EAGLE's predictions
Equivalent widths of Lyman emitters in MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep
The aim of this study is to better understand the connection between the
Lyman rest-frame equivalent width (EW) and spectral properties as
well as ultraviolet (UV) continuum morphology by obtaining reliable EW
histograms for a statistical sample of galaxies and by assessing the fraction
of objects with large equivalent widths. We used integral field spectroscopy
from MUSE combined with broad-band data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
to measure EW. We analysed the emission lines of Lyman
emitters (LAEs) detected in the full MUSE-Wide (one hour exposure time) and
MUSE-Deep (ten hour exposure time) surveys and found UV continuum counterparts
in archival HST data. We fitted the UV continuum photometric images using the
Galfit software to gain morphological information on the rest-UV emission and
fitted the spectra obtained from MUSE to determine the double peak fraction,
asymmetry, full-width at half maximum, and flux of the Lyman line. The
two surveys show different histograms of Lyman EW. In MUSE-Wide,
of objects have EW \r{A}, while this fraction is only
in MUSE-Deep and for the full sample. This includes objects
without HST continuum counterparts (one-third of our sample), for which we give
lower limits for EW. The object with the highest securely measured EW
has EW \r{A} (the highest lower limit being EW \r{A}).
We investigate the connection between EW and Lyman spectral or UV
continuum morphological properties. The survey depth has to be taken into
account when studying EW distributions. We find that in general, high
EW objects can have a wide range of spectral and UV morphological
properties, which might reflect that the underlying causes for high EW
values are equally varied. (abridged)Comment: 28 pages, 21 + 1 figures, 7 + 1 tables, accepted for publication in
A&
Ectoparasites associated with the Bushveld gerbil (Gerbilliscus leucogaster) and the role of the host and habitat in shaping ectoparasite diversity and infestations
Rodents are known hosts for various ectoparasite taxa such as fleas, lice, ticks and mites. South Africa is recognized for its animal diversity, yet little is published about the parasite diversity associated with wild rodent species. By focusing on a wildlife-human/domestic animal interface, the study aims to record ectoparasite diversity and levels of infestations of the Bushveld gerbil, Gerbilliscus leucogaster, and to establish the relationship between ectoparasite infestation parameters and host- and habitat factors. Rodents (n = 127) were trapped in 2 habitat types (natural and agricultural) during 2014â2020. More than 6500 individuals of 32 epifaunistic species represented by 21 genera and belonging to 5 taxonomic groups (fleas, sucking lice, ticks, mesostigmatan mites and trombiculid mites) were collected. Mesostigmatan mites and lice were the most abundant and fleas and mesostigmatan mites the most prevalent groups. Flea and mesostigmatan mite numbers and mesostigmatan mite species richness was significantly higher on reproductively active male than female rodents. Only ticks were significantly associated with habitat type, with significantly higher tick numbers and more tick species on rodents in the natural compared to the agricultural habitat. We conclude that the level of infestation by ectoparasites closely associated with the host (fleas and mites) was affected by host-associated factors, while infestation by ectoparasite that spend most of their life in the external environment (ticks) was affected by habitat type
Recommended from our members
The Lensed Lyman-Alpha MUSE Arcs Sample (LLAMAS): I. Characterisation of extended Lyman-alpha halos and spatial offsets
Aims. We present the Lensed Lyman-Alpha MUSE Arcs Sample (LLAMAS) selected from MUSE and HST observations of 17 lensing clusters. The sample consists of 603 continuum-faint (23 < MUV<-14) lensed Lyman-α emitters (producing 959 images) with secure spectroscopic redshifts between 2.9 and 6.7. Combining the power of cluster magnification with 3D spectroscopic observations, we were able to reveal the resolved morphological properties of 268 Lyman-α emitters. Methods. We used a forward-modeling approach to model both Lyman-α and rest-frame UV continuum emission profiles in the source plane and measure spatial extent, ellipticity, and spatial offsets between UV and Lyman-α emission. Results. We find a significant correlation between UV continuum and Lyman-α spatial extent. Our characterization of the Lyman-α halos indicates that the halo size is linked to the physical properties of the host galaxy (SFR, Lyman-α equivalent width, Lyman-α line FWHM). We find that 48% of Lyman-α halos are best fit by an elliptical emission distribution with a median axis ratio of q =0.48. We observe that 60% of galaxies detected both in UV and Lyman-α emission show a significant spatial offset (ÎLyα-UV). We measure a median offset of ÎLyα-UV=0.58± 0.14 kpc for the entire sample. By comparing the spatial offset values with the size of the UV component, we show that 40% of the offsets could be due to star-forming sub-structures in the UV component, while the larger offsets (60%) are more likely due to greater-distance processes such as scattering effects inside the circumgalactic medium or emission from faint satellites or merging galaxies. Comparisons with a zoom-in radiative hydrodynamics simulation of a typical Lyman-α emitting galaxy show a very good agreement with LLAMAS galaxies and indicate that bright star-formation clumps and satellite galaxies could produce a similar spatial offset distribution
Recovery and analysis of rest-frame UV emission lines in 2052 galaxies observed with MUSE at 1.5 < z < 6.4
Rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) emission lines probe electron densities, gas-phase abundances, metallicities, and ionization parameters of the emitting star-forming galaxies and their environments. The strongest main UV emission line, Lyα, has been instrumental in advancing the general knowledge of galaxy formation in the early universe. However, observing Lyα emission becomes increasingly challenging at zââłâ6 when the neutral hydrogen fraction of the circumgalactic and intergalactic media increases. Secondary weaker UV emission lines provide important alternative methods for studying galaxy properties at high redshift. We present a large sample of rest-frame UV emission line sources at intermediate redshift for calibrating and exploring the connection between secondary UV lines and the emitting galaxiesâ physical properties and their Lyα emission. The sample of 2052 emission line sources with 1.5â<âzâ<â6.4 was collected from integral field data from the MUSE-Wide and MUSE-Deep surveys taken as part of Guaranteed Time Observations. The objects were selected through untargeted source detection (i.e., no preselection of sources as in dedicated spectroscopic campaigns) in the three-dimensional MUSE data cubes. We searched optimally extracted one-dimensional spectra of the full sample for UV emission features via emission line template matching, resulting in a sample of more than 100 rest-frame UV emission line detections. We show that the detection efficiency of (non-Lyα) UV emission lines increases with survey depth, and that the emission line strength of HeâŻIIλ1640 Ă
, [OâŻIII] λ1661 + OâŻIII] λ1666, and [SiâŻIII] λ1883 + SiâŻIII] λ1892 correlate with the strength of [CâŻIII] λ1907 + CâŻIII] λ1909. The rest-frame equivalent width (EW0) of [CâŻIII] λ1907 + CâŻIII] λ1909 is found to be roughly 0.22 ± 0.18 of EW0(Lyα). We measured the velocity offsets of resonant emission lines with respect to systemic tracers. For CâŻIVλ1548 + CâŻIVλ1551 we find that ÎvCâŻIV âČ 250 km sâ1, whereas ÎvLyα falls in the range of 250â500 km sâ1 which is in agreement with previous results from the literature. The electron density ne measured from [SiâŻIII] λ1883 + SiâŻIII] λ1892 and [CâŻIII] λ1907 + CâŻIII] λ1909 line flux ratios is generally < 105 cmâ3 and the gas-phase abundance is below solar at 12â
+â
log10(O/H)â8. Lastly, we used âPhotoIonization Model Probability Density Functionsâ to infer physical parameters of the full sample and individual systems based on photoionization model parameter grids and observational constraints from our UV emission line searches. This reveals that the UV line emitters generally have ionization parameter log10(U)ââââ2.5 and metal mass fractions that scatter around Zâââ10â2, that is Zâââ0.66âZâ. Value-added catalogs of the full sample of MUSE objects studied in this work and a collection of UV line emitters from the literature are provided with this paper
MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) IX. The impact of gas flows on the relations between the mass, star formation rate and metallicity of galaxies
We study the link between gas flow events and key galaxy scaling relations:
the relations between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (the main
sequence, MS), gas metallicity and stellar mass (the mass-metallicity relation,
MZR) and gas metallicity, stellar mass and SFR (the fundamental metallicity
relation, FMR). Using all star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in the 22 MUSE fields of
the MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) survey, we derive the MS, MZR and FMR
scaling relations for 385 SFGs with at
redshifts 0.35 < z < 0.85. Using the MUSE data and complementary X-Shooter
spectra at 0.85 < z < 1.4, we determine the locations of 21 SFGs associated
with inflowing or outflowing circumgalactic gas (i.e. with strong MgII
absorption in background quasar spectra) relative to these scaling relations.
Compared to a control sample of galaxies without gas flows (i.e., without MgII
absorption within 70 kpc of the quasar), SFGs with inflow events (i.e., MgII
absorption along the major axis) are preferentially located above the MS, while
SFGs with ouflow events (i.e., MgII absorption along the minor axis) are
preferentially more metal rich. Our observations support the scenario in which
gas accretion increases the SFR while diluting the metal content and where
circumgalactic outflows are found in more metal-rich galaxies.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
The Lensed Lyman-Alpha MUSE Arcs Sample (LLAMAS)
Aims. We present the Lensed Lyman-Alpha MUSE Arcs Sample (LLAMAS) selected from MUSE and HST observations of 17 lensing clusters. The sample consists of 603 continuum-faint (â23â<âMUVâ<ââ14) lensed Lyman-α emitters (producing 959 images) with secure spectroscopic redshifts between 2.9 and 6.7. Combining the power of cluster magnification with 3D spectroscopic observations, we were able to reveal the resolved morphological properties of 268 Lyman-α emitters. Methods. We used a forward-modeling approach to model both Lyman-α and rest-frame UV continuum emission profiles in the source plane and measure spatial extent, ellipticity, and spatial offsets between UV and Lyman-α emission. Results. We find a significant correlation between UV continuum and Lyman-α spatial extent. Our characterization of the Lyman-α halos indicates that the halo size is linked to the physical properties of the host galaxy (SFR, Lyman-α equivalent width, Lyman-α line FWHM). We find that 48% of Lyman-α halos are best fit by an elliptical emission distribution with a median axis ratio of qâ=â0.48. We observe that 60% of galaxies detected both in UV and Lyman-α emission show a significant spatial offset (ÎLyαâ
ââ
UV). We measure a median offset of ÎLyαâ
ââ
UVâ=â0.58â
屉
0.14 kpc for the entire sample. By comparing the spatial offset values with the size of the UV component, we show that 40% of the offsets could be due to star-forming sub-structures in the UV component, while the larger offsets (60%) are more likely due to greater-distance processes such as scattering effects inside the circumgalactic medium or emission from faint satellites or merging galaxies. Comparisons with a zoom-in radiative hydrodynamics simulation of a typical Lyman-α emitting galaxy show a very good agreement with LLAMAS galaxies and indicate that bright star-formation clumps and satellite galaxies could produce a similar spatial offset distribution
Comparative phylogeography between two generalist flea species reveal a complex interaction between parasite life history and host vicariance: parasite-host association matters
- âŠ