433 research outputs found
Galaxy surface photometry
We describe galaxy surface photometry based on fitting ellipses to the
isophotes of the galaxies. Example galaxies with different isophotal shapes are
used to illustrate the process, including how the deviations from elliptical
isophotes are quantified using Fourier expansions. We show how the definitions
of the Fourier coefficients employed by different authors are linked. As
examples of applications of surface photometry we discuss the determination of
the relative disk luminosities and the inclinations for E and S0 galaxies. We
also describe the color-magnitude and color-color relations. When using both
near-infrared and optical photometry, the age-metallicity degeneracy may be
broken. Finally we discuss the Fundamental Plane where surface photometry is
combined with spectroscopy. It is shown how the FP can be used as a sensitive
tool to study galaxy evolution.Comment: 40 pages. Lectures given at the Nordic-Baltic Research Course in
Applied Astrophysical Photometry, held September 1999 at the Moletai
Observatory, Lithuania. Baltic Astronomy, 8, 535 (1999), in press. Note the
year. The paper with Fig. 2, 14 and 15 in original (high) resolution is
available at http://www.astro.ku.dk/~milvang/papers/BA_MJ_J.ps.gz or
http://www.gemini.edu/documentation/preprints/pre58.htm
The Tully-Fisher relation of distant field galaxies
We examine the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) using a sample of
89 field spirals, with 0.1 < z < 1, for which we have measured confident
rotation velocities (Vrot). By plotting the residuals from the local TFR versus
redshift, or alternatively fitting the TFR to our data in several redshift
bins, we find evidence that luminous spiral galaxies are increasingly offset
from the local TFR with redshift, reaching a brightening of -1.0+-0.5 mag, for
a given Vrot, by approximately z = 1. Since selection effects would generally
increase the fraction of intrinsically-bright galaxies at higher redshifts, we
argue that the observed evolution is probably an upper limit.
Previous studies have used an observed correlation between the TFR residuals
and Vrot to argue that low mass galaxies have evolved significantly more than
those with higher mass. However, we demonstrate that such a correlation may
exist purely due to an intrinsic coupling between the Vrot scatter and TFR
residuals, acting in combination with the TFR scatter and restrictions on the
magnitude range of the data, and therefore it does not necessarily indicate a
physical difference in the evolution of galaxies with different Vrot.
Finally, if we interpret the luminosity evolution derived from the TFR as due
to the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) in these luminous spiral
galaxies, we find that SFR(z) is proportional to (1+z)^(1.7+-1.1), slower than
commonly derived for the overall field galaxy population. This suggests that
the rapid evolution in the SFR density of the universe observed since
approximately z = 1 is not driven by the evolution of the SFR in individual
bright spiral galaxies. (Abridged.)Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA
Probing the truncation of galaxy dark matter halos in high density environments from hydrodynamical N-body simulations
We analyze high resolution, N-body hydrodynamical simulations of fiducial
galaxy clusters to probe tidal stripping of the dark matter subhalos. These
simulations include a prescription for star formation allowing us to track the
fate of the stellar component as well. We investigate the effect of tidal
stripping on cluster galaxies hosted in these dark matter subhalos as a
function of cluster-centric radius. To quantify the extent of the dark matter
halos of cluster galaxies, we introduce the half mass radius r_half as a
diagnostic, and study its evolution with projected cluster-centric distance R
as a function of redshift. We find a well defined trend for (r_half,R): the
closer the galaxies are to the center of the cluster, the smaller the half mass
radius. Interestingly, this trend is inferred in all redshift frames examined
in this work ranging from z=0 to z=0.7. At z=0, galaxy halos in the central
regions of clusters are found to be highly truncated, with the most compact
half mass radius of 10 kpc. We also find that r_half depends on luminosity and
we present scaling relations of r_half with galaxy luminosity. The
corresponding total mass of the cluster galaxies is also found to increase with
projected cluster-centric distance and luminosity, but with more scatter than
the (r_half,R) trend. Comparing the distribution of stellar mass to total mass
for cluster galaxies, we find that the dark matter component is preferentially
stripped, whereas the stellar component remains protected by the halo and is
much less affected by tidal forces. We compare these results with galaxy-galaxy
lensing probes of r_half and find qualitative agreement. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Star formation rates and chemical abundances of emission line galaxies in intermediate-redshift clusters
We examine the evolutionary status of luminous, star-forming galaxies in
intermediate-redshift clusters by considering their star formation rates and
the chemical and ionsiation properties of their interstellar emitting gas. Our
sample consists of 17 massive, star-forming, mostly disk galaxies with
M_{B}<-20, in clusters with redshifts in the range 0.31< z <0.59, with a median
of =0.42. We compare these galaxies with the identically selected and
analysed intermediate-redshift field sample of Mouhcine et al. (2006), and with
local galaxies from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey of Jansen et al. (2000).
From our optical spectra we measure the equivalent widths of OII, Hbeta and
OIII emission lines to determine diagnostic line ratios, oxygen abundances, and
extinction-corrected star formation rates. The star-forming galaxies in
intermediate-redshift clusters display emission line equivalent widths which
are, on average, significantly smaller than measured for field galaxies at
comparable redshifts. However, a contrasting fraction of our cluster galaxies
have equivalent widths similar to the highest observed in the field. This
tentatively suggests a bimodality in the star-formation rates per unit
luminosity for galaxies in distant clusters. We find no evidence for further
bimodalities, or differences between our cluster and field samples, when
examining additional diagnostics and the oxygen abundances of our galaxies.
This maybe because no such differences exist, perhaps because the cluster
galaxies which still display signs of star-formation have recently arrived from
the field. In order to examine this topic with more certainty, and to further
investigate the way in which any disparity varies as a function of cluster
properties, larger spectroscopic samples are needed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, MNRAS in pres
The Optically Unbiased GRB Host (TOUGH) survey. IV. Lyman-alpha emitters
We report the results of a spectroscopic search for Lyman-alpha emission from
gamma-ray burst host galaxies. Based on the well-defined TOUGH sample of 69
X-ray selected Swift GRBs, we have targeted the hosts of a subsample of 20 GRBs
known from afterglow spectroscopy to be in the redshift range 1.8-4.5. We
detect Lya emission from 7 out of the 20 hosts, with the typical limiting
3sigma line flux being 8E-18 erg/cm2/s, corresponding to a Lya luminosity of
6E41 erg/s at z=3. The Lya luminosities for the 7 hosts in which we detect Lya
emission are in the range (0.6-2.3)E42 erg/s corresponding to star-formation
rates of 0.6-2.1 Msun/yr (not corrected for extinction). The rest-frame Lya
equivalent widths (EWs) for the 7 hosts are in the range 9-40A. For 6 of the 13
hosts for which Lya is not detected we place fairly strong 3sigma upper limits
on the EW (<20A), while for others the EW is either unconstrained or has a less
constraining upper limit. We find that the distribution of Lya EWs is
inconsistent with being drawn from the Lya EW distribution of bright Lyman
break galaxies at the 98.3% level, in the sense that the TOUGH hosts on average
have larger EWs than bright LBGs. We can exclude an early indication, based on
a smaller, heterogeneous sample of pre-Swift GRB hosts, that all GRB hosts are
Lya emitters. We find that the TOUGH hosts on average have lower EWs than the
pre-Swift GRB hosts, but the two samples are only inconsistent at the 92%
level. The velocity centroid of the Lya line is redshifted by 200-700 km/s with
respect to the systemic velocity, similar to what is seen for LBGs, possibly
indicating star-formation driven outflows from the host galaxies. There seems
to be a trend between the Lya EW and the optical to X-ray spectral index of the
afterglow (beta_OX), hinting that dust plays a role in the observed strength
and even presence of Lya emission. [ABRIDGED]Comment: ApJ accepted (v2: minor changes in the Subject headings and reference
list
The Tully-Fisher relation of intermediate redshift field and cluster galaxies from Subaru spectroscopy
We have carried out spectroscopic observations in 4 cluster fields using
Subaru's FOCAS multi-slit spectrograph and obtained spectra for 103 bright disk
field and cluster galaxies at . Seventy-seven of these
show emission lines, and 33 provide reasonably-secure determinations of the
galaxies' rotation velocity. The rotation velocities, luminosities, colours and
emission-line properties of these galaxies are used to study the possible
effects of the cluster environment on the star-formation history of the
galaxies. Comparing the Tully-Fisher relations of cluster and field galaxies at
similar reshifts we find no measurable difference in rest-frame -band
luminosity at a given rotation velocity (the formal difference is mag). The colours of the cluster emission line galaxies are only marginally
redder in rest-frame (by mag) than the field galaxies in
our sample. Taken at face value, these results seem to indicate that bright
star-forming cluster spirals are similar to their field counterparts in their
star-formation properties. However, we find that the fraction of disk galaxies
with absorption-line spectra (i.e., with no current star formation) is larger
in clusters than in the field by a factor of --5. This suggests that the
cluster environment has the overall effect of switching off star formation in
(at least) some spiral galaxies. To interpret these observational results, we
carry out simulations of the possible effects of the cluster environment on the
star-formation history of disk galaxies and thus their photometric and
spectroscopic properties. Finally, we evaluate the evolution of the rest-frame
absolute -band magnitude per unit redshift at fixed rotation velocity.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The sizes of disc galaxies in intermediate-redshift clusters
We examine how the location of star formation within disc galaxies depends on
environment at intermediate redshift. This is achieved by comparing
emission-line (r_em) and restframe B-band (r_B) scalelengths for matched
samples of 50 field and 19 cluster star-forming, disc galaxies, with 0.25 < z <
1.0 and M_B < -19.5 mag. We find that at a given r_B the majority of our
cluster galaxies have r_em smaller than those in the field, by 25 percent on
average. These results are compared with studies of local galaxies, which find
a very similar behaviour. From the relations of r_em and r_B versus B-band
absolute magnitude (M_B) we infer that the difference between the
intermediate-z cluster and field samples is mostly attributable to variation in
r_em at a given M_B, while the r_B versus M_B relation is similar for the two
samples.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
The Redshift Distribution of the TOUGH Survey
We present the redshift results from a Very Large Telescope program aimed at
optimizing the legacy value of the Swift mission: to characterize a
homogeneous, X-ray selected, sample of 69 GRB host galaxies. 19 new redshifts
have been secured, resulting in a 83% (57/69) redshift completion, making the
survey the most comprehensive in terms of redshift completeness of any sample
to the full Swift depth, available to date. We present the cumulative redshift
distribution and derive a conservative, yet small, associated uncertainty. We
constrain the fraction of Swift GRBs at high redshift to a maximum of 10% (5%)
for z > 6 (z > 7). The mean redshift of the host sample is assessed to be >
2.2. Using this more complete sample, we confirm previous findings that the GRB
rate at high redshift (z > 3) appears to be in excess of predictions based on
assumptions that it should follow conventional determinations of the star
formation history of the universe, combined with an estimate of its likely
metallicity dependence. This suggests that either star formation at high
redshifts has been significantly underestimated, for example due to a dominant
contribution from faint, undetected galaxies, or that GRB production is
enhanced in the conditions of early star formation, beyond those usually
ascribed to lower metallicity.Comment: 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 34 in eConf
Proceedings C130414
Spitzer bright, UltraVISTA faint sources in COSMOS: the contribution to the overall population of massive galaxies at z=3-7
We have analysed a sample of 574 Spitzer 4.5 micron-selected galaxies with
[4.5]24 (AB) over the UltraVISTA ultra-deep COSMOS field. Our
aim is to investigate whether these mid-IR bright, near-IR faint sources
contribute significantly to the overall population of massive galaxies at
redshifts z>=3. By performing a spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis
using up to 30 photometric bands, we have determined that the redshift
distribution of our sample peaks at redshifts z~2.5-3.0, and ~32% of the
galaxies lie at z>=3. We have studied the contribution of these sources to the
galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) at high redshifts. We found that the
[4.5]24 galaxies produce a negligible change to the GSMF
previously determined for Ks_auto<24 sources at 3=<z<4, but their contribution
is more important at 4=~50% of the galaxies with stellar
masses Mst>~6 x 10^10 Msun. We also constrained the GSMF at the highest-mass
end (Mst>~2 x 10^11 Msun) at z>=5. From their presence at 5=<z<6, and virtual
absence at higher redshifts, we can pinpoint quite precisely the moment of
appearance of the first most massive galaxies as taking place in the ~0.2 Gyr
of elapsed time between z~6 and z~5. Alternatively, if very massive galaxies
existed earlier in cosmic time, they should have been significantly
dust-obscured to lie beyond the detection limits of current, large-area, deep
near-IR surveys.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Updated to match version in press at
the Ap
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