Super star cluster candidates in the star-forming regions of luminous infrared galaxies

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-90).We report on a study of super star cluster (SSC) candidates in the star-forming regions of a representative sample of local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) using KS-band near-infrared (NIR) adaptive optics imaging with GEMINI/ALTAIR and VLT/NACO instruments. The evolution of the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR) indicates its rapid decline in the local Universe

Formation of young massive star clusters: a high-resolution multi-wavelength study of intensely star-formation galaxies

Super star clusters (SSCs) represent the youngest and most massive form of known gravitationally bound star clusters in the Universe. They are born abundantly in environments that trigger strong and violent star formation (SF) such as in galaxy mergers and interacting systems. SSCs are thus used as fundamental tools to understand the context of massive SF and galaxy evolution in general. This thesis investigates properties of these young, massive and dense star clusters in a sample of 42 nearby starbursts and luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) ..

Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging of infrared luminous galaxies: the brightest cluster magnitude - star formation rate relation

We have established a relation between the brightest super star cluster magnitude in a galaxy and the host star formation rate (SFR) for the first time in the near infrared (NIR). The data come from a statistical sample of ~ 40 luminous IR galaxies (LIRGs) and starbursts utilizing K-band adaptive optics imaging. While expanding the observed relation to longer wavelengths, less affected by extinction effects, it also pushes to higher SFRs. The relation we find, M_K ~ - 2.6 log SFR, is similar to that derived previously in the optical and at lower SFRs. It does not, however, fit the optical relation with a single optical to NIR color conversion, suggesting systematic extinction and/or age effects. While the relation is broadly consistent with a size-of-sample explanation, we argue physical reasons for the relation are likely as well. In particular, the scatter in the relation is smaller than expected from pure random sampling strongly suggesting physical constraints. We also derive a quantifiable relation tying together cluster-internal effects and host SFR properties to possibly explain the observed brightest SSC magnitude vs. SFR dependency.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Star formation and AGN activity in a sample of local Luminous Infrared Galaxies through multi-wavelength characterization

Nuclear starbursts and AGN activity are the main heating processes in luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and their relationship is fundamental to understand galaxy evolution. In this paper, we study the star-formation and AGN activity of a sample of 11 local LIRGs imaged with subarcsecond angular resolution at radio (8.4GHz) and near-infrared ($2.2\mu$m) wavelengths. This allows us to characterize the central kpc of these galaxies with a spatial resolution of $\simeq100$pc. In general, we find a good spatial correlation between the radio and the near-IR emission, although radio emission tends to be more concentrated in the nuclear regions. Additionally, we use an MCMC code to model their multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) using template libraries of starburst, AGN and spheroidal/cirrus models, determining the luminosity contribution of each component, and finding that all sources in our sample are starburst-dominated, except for NGC6926 with an AGN contribution of $\simeq64$\%. Our sources show high star formation rates ($40$ to $167M_\odot\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$), supernova rates (0.4 to $2.0\mathrm{SN}\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$), and similar starburst ages (13 to $29\mathrm{Myr}$), except for the young starburst (9Myr) in NGC6926. A comparison of our derived star-forming parameters with estimates obtained from different IR and radio tracers shows an overall consistency among the different star formation tracers. AGN tracers based on mid-IR, high-ionization line ratios also show an overall agreement with our SED model fit estimates for the AGN. Finally, we use our wide-band VLA observations to determine pixel-by-pixel radio spectral indices for all galaxies in our sample, finding a typical median value ($\alpha\simeq-0.8$) for synchrotron-powered LIRGs.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 20 pages, 12 figure

J1615+5452: a remnant radio galaxy in the ELAIS-N1 field

We report the discovery of a remnant radio active galactic nucleus (AGN) J1615+5452 in the field of ELAIS-N1. GMRT continuum observations at 150, 325, and 610 MHz combined with archival data from the 1.4 GHz NVSS survey were used to derive the radio spectrum of the source. At a redshift z ∼ 0.33, J1615+5452 has a linear size of ∼100 kpc and spectral indices ranging between α1400610<−1.5 and α325150=−0.61±0.12⁠. While the source has a diffuse radio emission at low frequencies, we do not find evidence of core, jets, or hotspots in the 1.4 GHz VLA data of ∼5 arcsec angular resolution

Spectral age distribution for radio-loud active galaxies in the XMM-LSS field

Jets of energetic particles, as seen in FR type-I and FR type-II sources, ejected from the centre of radio-loud AGN affect the sources surrounding the intracluster medium/intergalactic medium. Placing constraints on the age of such sources is important in order to measure the jet powers and determine the effects on feedback. To evaluate the age of these sources using spectral age models, we require high-resolution multiwavelength data. The new sensitive and high-resolution MIGHTEE survey of the XMM-LSS field, along with data from the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) provide data taken at different frequencies with similar resolution, which enables us to determine the spectral age distribution for radio-loud AGN in the survey field. In this study, we present a sample of 28 radio galaxies with their best-fitting spectral age distribution analysed using the Jaffe–Perola (JP) model on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Fits are generally good, and objects in our sample show maximum ages within the range of 2.8 to 115 Myr with a median of 8.71 Myr. High-resolution maps over a range of frequencies are required to observe detailed age distributions for small sources, and high-sensitivity maps will be needed in order to observe fainter extended emission. We do not observe any correlation between the total physical size of the sources and their age, and we speculate that both dynamical models and the approach to spectral age analysis may need some modification to account for our observations