Determining the stellar masses of submillimetre galaxies: the critical importance of star formation histories

Submillimetre (submm) galaxies are among the most rapidly star-forming and most massive high-redshift galaxies; thus, their properties provide important constraints on galaxy evolution models. However, there is still a debate about their stellar masses and their nature in the context of the general galaxy population. To test the reliability of their stellar mass determinations, we used a sample of simulated submm galaxies for which we derived stellar masses via spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling (with Grasil, Magphys, Hyperz and LePhare) adopting various star formation histories (SFHs). We found that the assumption of SFHs with two independent components leads to the most accurate stellar masses. Exponentially declining SFHs (tau) lead to lower masses (albeit still consistent with the true values), while the assumption of single-burst SFHs results in a significant mass underestimation. Thus, we conclude that studies based on the higher masses inferred from fitting the SEDs of real submm galaxies with double SFHs are most likely to be correct, implying that submm galaxies lie on the high-mass end of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. This conclusion appears robust to assumptions of whether or not submm galaxies are driven by major mergers, since the suite of simulated galaxies modelled here contains examples of both merging and isolated galaxies. We identified discrepancies between the true and inferred stellar ages (rather than the dust attenuation) as the primary determinant of the success/failure of the mass recovery. Regardless of the choice of SFH, the SED-derived stellar masses exhibit a factor of ~2 scatter around the true value; this scatter is an inherent limitation of the SED modelling due to simplified assumptions. Finally, we found that the contribution of active galactic nuclei does not have any significant impact on the derived stellar masses.Comment: Accepted to A&A. 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. V2 main changes: 1) discussion of the stellar age as the main parameter influencing the success of an SED model (Fig. 4, 5, 7); 2) discussion of the age-dust degeneracy (Fig 9); 3) the comparison of real and simulated submm galaxies (Fig 1

Distinct Modulation of Spontaneous and GABA-Evoked Gating by Flurazepam Shapes Cross-Talk Between Agonist-Free and Liganded GABAA Receptor Activity

GABAA receptors (GABAARs) play a crucial inhibitory role in the CNS. Benzodiazepines (BDZs) are positive modulators of specific subtypes of GABAARs, but the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Early studies demonstrated the major impact of BDZs on binding and more recent investigations indicated gating, but it is unclear which transitions are affected. Moreover, the upregulation of GABAAR spontaneous activity by BDZs indicates their impact on receptor gating but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, we investigated the effect of a BDZ (flurazepam) on the spontaneous and GABA-induced activity for wild-type (WT, α1β2γ2) and mutated (at the orthosteric binding site α1F64) GABAARs. Surprisingly, in spite of the localization at the binding site, these mutations increased the spontaneous activity. Flurazepam (FLU) upregulated this activity for mutants and WT receptors to a similar extent by affecting opening/closing transitions. Spontaneous activity affected GABA-evoked currents and is manifested as an overshoot after agonist removal that depended on the modulation by BDZs. We explain the mechanism of this phenomenon as a cross-desensitization of ligand-activated and spontaneously active receptors. Moreover, due to spontaneous activity, FLU-pretreatment and co-application (agonist + FLU) protocols yielded distinct results. We provide also the first evidence that GABAAR may enter the desensitized state in the absence of GABA in a FLU-dependent manner. Based on our data and model simulations, we propose that FLU affects agonist-induced gating by modifying primarily preactivation and desensitization. We conclude that the mechanisms of modulation of spontaneous and ligand-activated GABAAR activity concerns gating but distinct transitions are affected in spontaneous and agonist-evoked activity

Resolved Neutral Outflow from a Lensed Dusty Star Forming Galaxy at z=2.09

We report the detection of a massive neutral gas outflow in the z=2.09 gravitationally lensed Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy HATLASJ085358.9+015537 (G09v1.40), seen in absorption with the OH+(1_1-1_0) transition using spatially resolved (0.5"x0.4") Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations. The blueshifted OH+ line is observed simultaneously with the CO(9-8) emission line and underlying dust continuum. These data are complemented by high angular resolution (0.17"x0.13") ALMA observations of CH+(1-0) and underlying dust continuum, and Keck 2.2 micron imaging tracing the stellar emission. The neutral outflow, dust, dense molecular gas and stars all show spatial offsets from each other. The total atomic gas mass of the observed outflow is 6.7x10^9 M_sun, >25% as massive as the gas mass of the galaxy. We find that a conical outflow geometry best describes the OH+ kinematics and morphology and derive deprojected outflow properties as functions of possible inclination (0.38 deg-64 deg). The neutral gas mass outflow rate is between 83-25400 M_sun/yr, exceeding the star formation rate (788+/-300 M_sun/yr) if the inclination is >3.6 deg (mass-loading factor = 0.3-4.7). Kinetic energy and momentum fluxes span 4.4-290x10^9 L_sun and 0.1-3.7x10^37 dyne, respectively (energy-loading factor = 0.013-16), indicating that the feedback mechanisms required to drive the outflow depend on the inclination assumed. We derive a gas depletion time between 29 and 1 Myr, but find that the neutral outflow is likely to remain bound to the galaxy, unless the inclination is small, and may be re-accreted if additional feedback processes do not occur.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figure

The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Molecular Gas Properties

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Galaxy interactions are often accompanied by an enhanced star formation rate (SFR). Since molecular gas is essential for star formation, it is vital to establish whether and by how much galaxy interactions affect the molecular gas properties. We investigate the effect of interactions on global molecular gas properties by studying a sample of 58 galaxies in pairs and 154 control galaxies. Molecular gas properties are determined from observations with the JCMT, PMO, and CSO telescopes and supplemented with data from the xCOLD GASS and JINGLE surveys at 12CO(1-0) and 12CO(2-1). The SFR, gas mass (), and gas fraction (f gas) are all enhanced in galaxies in pairs by ∼2.5 times compared to the controls matched in redshift, mass, and effective radius, while the enhancement of star formation efficiency (SFE ≡SFR/) is less than a factor of 2. We also find that the enhancements in SFR, and f gas, increase with decreasing pair separation and are larger in systems with smaller stellar mass ratio. Conversely, the SFE is only enhanced in close pairs (separation <20 kpc) and equal-mass systems; therefore, most galaxies in pairs lie in the same parameter space on the SFR- plane as controls. This is the first time that the dependence of molecular gas properties on merger configurations is probed statistically with a relatively large sample and a carefully selected control sample for individual galaxies. We conclude that galaxy interactions do modify the molecular gas properties, although the strength of the effect is dependent on merger configuration.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: the nature of bright submm galaxies from 2 deg2 of 850-μm imaging

We present physical properties [redshifts (z), star-formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses ( Mstar Mstar )] of bright (S850 ≥ 4 mJy) submm galaxies in the ≃2 deg2 COSMOS and UDS fields selected with SCUBA-2/JCMT. We complete the galaxy identification process for all (≃2000) S/N ≥ 3.5 850-μm sources, but focus our scientific analysis on a high-quality subsample of 651 S/N ≥ 4 sources with complete multiwavelength coverage including 1.1-mm imaging. We check the reliability of our identifications, and the robustness of the SCUBA-2 fluxes by revisiting the recent ALMA follow-up of 29 sources in our sample. Considering >4 mJy ALMA sources, our identification method has a completeness of ≃86 per cent with a reliability of ≃92 per cent, and only ≃15–20 per cent of sources are significantly affected by multiplicity (when a secondary component contributes >1/3 of the primary source flux). The impact of source blending on the 850-μm source counts as determined with SCUBA-2 is modest; scaling the single-dish fluxes by ≃0.9 reproduces the ALMA source counts. For our final SCUBA-2 sample, we find median z=2.40+0.10−0.04 z=2.40−0.04+0.10 , SFR = 287 ± 6 M⊙  yr− 1 and log(Mstar/M⊙)=11.12±0.02 log⁡(Mstar/M⊙)=11.12±0.02 (the latter for 349/651 sources with optical identifications). These properties clearly locate bright submm galaxies on the high-mass end of the ‘main sequence’ of star-forming galaxies out to z ≃ 6, suggesting that major mergers are not a dominant driver of the high-redshift submm-selected population. Their number densities are also consistent with the evolving galaxy stellar mass function. Hence, the submm galaxy population is as expected, albeit reproducing the evolution of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies remains a challenge for theoretical models/simulations

AzTEC half square degree survey of the SHADES fields — II. Identifications, redshifts and evidence for large-scale structure

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2012 Michał J. Michałowski et al. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.The Astronomical Thermal Emission Camera (AzTEC) 1.1 mm survey of the two SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) fields is the largest (0.7 deg(2)) blank-field millimetre-wavelength (mm-wavelength) survey undertaken to date at a resolution of ≃18 arcsec and a depth of ≃1 mJy. We have used the deep optical to radio multiwavelength data in the SHADES Lockman Hole East and SXDF/UDS fields to obtain galaxy identifications for ≃64 per cent (≃80 per cent including tentative identifications) of the 148 AzTEC-SHADES 1.1 mm sources reported by Austermann et al., exploiting deep radio and 24 μm data complemented by methods based on 8 μm flux density and red optical–infrared (i − K) colour. This unusually high identification rate can be attributed to the relatively bright mm-wavelength flux density threshold, combined with the relatively deep supporting multifrequency data now available in these two well-studied fields. We have further exploited the optical–mid-infrared–radio data to derive an ≃60 per cent (≃75 per cent including tentative identifications) complete redshift distribution for the AzTEC-SHADES sources, yielding a median redshift of z ≃ 2.2, with a high-redshift tail extending to at least z ≃ 4. Despite the larger area probed by the AzTEC survey relative to the original SCUBA-SHADES imaging, the redshift distribution of the AzTEC sources is consistent with that displayed by the SCUBA sources, and reinforces tentative evidence that the redshift distribution of mm/submm sources in the Lockman Hole field is significantly different from that found in the SXDF/UDS field. Comparison with simulated surveys of similar scale extracted from semi-analytic models based on the Millennium simulation indicates that this is as expected if the mm/submm sources are massive (M > 1011 M⊙) star-forming galaxies tracing large-scale structures over scales of 10–20 Mpc. This confirms the importance of surveys covering several deg2 (as now underway with SCUBA2) to obtain representative samples of bright (sub)mm-selected galaxies. This work provides a foundation for the further exploitation of the Spitzer and Herschel data in the SHADES fields in the study of the stellar masses and specific star formation rates of the most active star-forming galaxies in cosmic history

A dusty, normal galaxy in the epoch of reionization

Candidates for the modest galaxies that formed most of the stars in the early universe, at redshifts $z > 7$, have been found in large numbers with extremely deep restframe-UV imaging. But it has proved difficult for existing spectrographs to characterise them in the UV. The detailed properties of these galaxies could be measured from dust and cool gas emission at far-infrared wavelengths if the galaxies have become sufficiently enriched in dust and metals. So far, however, the most distant UV-selected galaxy detected in dust emission is only at $z = 3.25$, and recent results have cast doubt on whether dust and molecules can be found in typical galaxies at this early epoch. Here we report thermal dust emission from an archetypal early universe star-forming galaxy, A1689-zD1. We detect its stellar continuum in spectroscopy and determine its redshift to be $z = 7.5\pm0.2$ from a spectroscopic detection of the Ly{\alpha} break. A1689-zD1 is representative of the star-forming population during reionisation, with a total star-formation rate of about 12M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. The galaxy is highly evolved: it has a large stellar mass, and is heavily enriched in dust, with a dust-to-gas ratio close to that of the Milky Way. Dusty, evolved galaxies are thus present among the fainter star-forming population at $z > 7$, in spite of the very short time since they first appeared.Comment: Nature in press. 14 pages, 10 figures, including methods sectio

A revised host galaxy association for GRB 020819B: a high-redshift dusty starburst, not a low-redshift gas-poor spiral

The purported spiral host galaxy of GRB 020819B at z = 0.41 has been seminal in establishing our view of the diversity of long-duration gamma-ray burst environments: Optical spectroscopy of this host provided evidence that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can form even at high metallicities, whereas millimetric observations suggested that GRBs may preferentially form in regions with minimal molecular gas. We report new observations from the Very Large Telescope (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer and X-shooter), which demonstrate that the purported host is an unrelated foreground galaxy. The probable radio afterglow is coincident with a compact, highly star forming, dusty galaxy at z = 1.9621. The revised redshift naturally explains the apparent non-detection of CO (3–2) line emission at the afterglow site from the Atacama Large Millimetre Observatory. There is no evidence that molecular gas properties in GRB host galaxies are unusual, and limited evidence that GRBs can form readily at a super-Solar metallicity

The causes of the red sequence, the blue cloud, the green valley, and the green mountain

The galaxies found in optical surveys fall in two distinct regions of a diagram of optical colour versus absolute magnitude: the red sequence and the blue cloud with the green valley in between. We show that the galaxies found in a submillimetre survey have almost the opposite distribution in this diagram, forming a `green mountain'. We show that these distinctive distributions follow naturally from a single, continuous, curved Galaxy Sequence in a diagram of specific star-formation rate versus stellar mass without there being the need for a separate star-forming galaxy Main Sequence and region of passive galaxies. The cause of the red sequence and the blue cloud is the geometric mapping between stellar mass/specific star-formation rate and absolute magnitude/colour, which distorts a continuous Galaxy Sequence in the diagram of intrinsic properties into a bimodal distribution in the diagram of observed properties. The cause of the green mountain is Malmquist bias in the submillimetre waveband, with submillimetre surveys tending to select galaxies on the curve of the Galaxy Sequence, which have the highest ratios of submillimetre-to-optical luminosity. This effect, working in reverse, causes galaxies on the curve of the Galaxy Sequence to be underrepresented in optical samples, deepening the green valley. The green valley is therefore not evidence (1) for there being two distinct populations of galaxies, (2) for galaxies in this region evolving more quickly than galaxies in the blue cloud and the red sequence, (c) for rapid quenching processes in the galaxy population