82 research outputs found

    The Bursty Star Formation Histories of Low-mass Galaxies at 0.4<z<10.4<z<1 Revealed by Star Formation Rates Measured from Hβ\beta and FUV

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    We investigate the burstiness of star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies at 0.4<z<10.4<z<1 by using the ratio of star formation rates (SFRs) measured from Hβ\beta and FUV (1500 \AA) (Hβ\beta--to--FUV ratio). Our sample contains 164 galaxies down to stellar mass (M*) of 108.5M⊙10^{8.5} M_\odot in the CANDELS GOODS-N region, where Team Keck Redshift Survey DEIMOS spectroscopy and HST/WFC3 F275W images from CANDELS and Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey are available. When the {\it ratio} of Hβ\beta- and FUV-derived SFRs is measured, dust extinction correction is negligible (except for very dusty galaxies) with the Calzetti attenuation curve. The Hβ\beta--to--FUV ratio of our sample increases with M* and SFR. The median ratio is ∼\sim0.7 at M*∼108.5M⊙\sim10^{8.5} M_\odot (or SFR∼0.5M⊙/yr\sim 0.5 M_\odot/yr) and increases to ∼\sim1 at M*∼1010M⊙\sim10^{10} M_\odot (or SFR ∼10M⊙/yr\sim 10 M_\odot/yr). At M*<109.5M⊙<10^{9.5} M_\odot, our median Hβ\beta--to--FUV ratio is lower than that of local galaxies at the same M*, implying a redshift evolution. Bursty SFH on a timescale of a few tens of megayears on galactic scales provides a plausible explanation of our results, and the importance of the burstiness increases as M* decreases. Due to sample selection effects, our Hβ\beta--to--FUV ratio may be an upper limit of the true value of a complete sample, which strengthens our conclusions. Other models, e.g., non-universal initial mass function or stochastic star formation on star cluster scales, are unable to plausibly explain our results.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. ApJ accepted. The main conclusions are not changed. Major modifications include: (1) to be consistent with the literature, now reporting H\beta--to--FUV ratio (rather than FUV--to--H\beta\ in the first version); (2) detailed discussions on dust extinction correction; (3) new SF bustiness calculation; and (4) enriched discussions in Introductio

    Stellar Mass--Gas-phase Metallicity Relation at 0.5≤z≤0.70.5\leq z\leq0.7: A Power Law with Increasing Scatter toward the Low-mass Regime

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    We present the stellar mass (M∗M_{*})--gas-phase metallicity relation (MZR) and its scatter at intermediate redshifts (0.5≤z≤0.70.5\leq z\leq0.7) for 1381 field galaxies collected from deep spectroscopic surveys. The star formation rate (SFR) and color at a given M∗M_{*} of this magnitude-limited (R≲24R\lesssim24 AB) sample are representative of normal star-forming galaxies. For masses below 109M⊙10^9 M_\odot, our sample of 237 galaxies is ∼\sim10 times larger than those in previous studies beyond the local universe. This huge gain in sample size enables superior constraints on the MZR and its scatter in the low-mass regime. We find a power-law MZR at 108M⊙<M∗<1011M⊙10^{8} M_\odot < M_{*} < 10^{11} M_\odot: 12+log(O/H)=(5.83±0.19)+(0.30±0.02)log(M∗/M⊙){12+log(O/H) = (5.83\pm0.19) + (0.30\pm0.02)log(M_{*}/M_\odot)}. Our MZR shows good agreement with others measured at similar redshifts in the literature in the intermediate and massive regimes, but is shallower than the extrapolation of the MZRs of others to masses below 109M⊙10^{9} M_\odot. The SFR dependence of the MZR in our sample is weaker than that found for local galaxies (known as the Fundamental Metallicity Relation). Compared to a variety of theoretical models, the slope of our MZR for low-mass galaxies agrees well with predictions incorporating supernova energy-driven winds. Being robust against currently uncertain metallicity calibrations, the scatter of the MZR serves as a powerful diagnostic of the stochastic history of gas accretion, gas recycling, and star formation of low-mass galaxies. Our major result is that the scatter of our MZR increases as M∗M_{*} decreases. Our result implies that either the scatter of the baryonic accretion rate or the scatter of the M∗M_{*}--MhaloM_{halo} relation increases as M∗M_{*} decreases. Moreover, our measures of scatter at z=0.7z=0.7 appears consistent with that found for local galaxies.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by ApJ. Typos correcte

    AEGIS: Demographics of X-ray and Optically Selected AGNs

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    We develop a new diagnostic method to classify galaxies into AGN hosts, star-forming galaxies, and absorption-dominated galaxies by combining the [O III]/Hbeta ratio with rest-frame U-B color. This can be used to robustly select AGNs in galaxy samples at intermediate redshifts (z<1). We compare the result of this optical AGN selection with X-ray selection using a sample of 3150 galaxies with 0.3<z<0.8 and I_AB<22, selected from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey and the All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). Among the 146 X-ray sources in this sample, 58% are classified optically as emission-line AGNs, the rest as star-forming galaxies or absorption-dominated galaxies. The latter are also known as "X-ray bright, optically normal galaxies" (XBONGs). Analysis of the relationship between optical emission lines and X-ray properties shows that the completeness of optical AGN selection suffers from dependence on the star formation rate and the quality of observed spectra. It also shows that XBONGs do not appear to be a physically distinct population from other X-ray detected, emission-line AGNs. On the other hand, X-ray AGN selection also has strong bias. About 2/3 of all emission-line AGNs at L_bol>10^44 erg/s in our sample are not detected in our 200 ks Chandra images, most likely due to moderate or heavy absorption by gas near the AGN. The 2--7 keV detection rate of Seyfert 2s at z~0.6 suggests that their column density distribution and Compton-thick fraction are similar to that of local Seyferts. Multiple sample selection techniques are needed to obtain as complete a sample as possible.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, submitted to ApJ. Version 2 matches the ApJ accepted version. Sec 3 was reorganized and partly rewritten with one additional figure (Fig.3

    Deep ugrizY imaging and DEEP2/3 spectroscopy: a photometric redshift testbed for LSST and public release of data from the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey

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    We present catalogues of calibrated photometry and spectroscopic redshifts in the Extended Groth Strip, intended for studies of photometric redshifts (photo-z’s). The data includes ugriz photometry from Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and Y-band photometry from the Subaru Suprime camera, as well as spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and 3D-HST surveys. These catalogues incorporate corrections to produce effectively matched-aperture photometry across all bands, based upon object size information available in the catalogue and Moffat profile point spread function fits. We test this catalogue with a simple machine learning-based photometric redshift algorithm based upon Random Forest regression, and find that the corrected aperture photometry leads to significant improvement in photo-z accuracy compared to the original SEXTRACTOR catalogues from CFHTLS and Subaru. The deep ugrizY photometry and spectroscopic redshifts are well suited for empirical tests of photometric redshift algorithms for LSST. The resulting catalogues are publicly available at http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36064/. We include a basic summary of the strategy of the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey to accompany the recent public release of DEEP3 data

    Stellar Mass–Gas-Phase Metallicity Relation at 0.5 ≤ \u3cem\u3ez\u3c/em\u3e ≤ 0.7: A Power Law with Increasing Scatter Toward the Low-Mass Regime

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    We present the stellar mass (M*)–gas-phase metallicity relation (MZR) and its scatter at intermediate redshifts (0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.7) for for 1381 field galaxies collected from deep spectroscopic surveys. The star formation rate (SFR) and color at a given M* of this magnitude-limited (R ≲ 24 AB) sample are representative of normal star-forming galaxies. For masses below 109 M☉ our sample of 237 galaxies is ~10 times larger than those in previous studies beyond the local universe. This huge gain in sample size enables superior constraints on the MZR and its scatter in the low-mass regime. We find a power-law MZR at 108 at M☉ \u3c M* \u3c 1011 M☉: 12 + log(O/H) = (5.83 ± 0.19) + (0.30 ± 0.02) log(M*/M☉). At 109 M☉ \u3c M* \u3c 1010.5 M☉, our MZR shows agreement with others measured at similar redshifts in the literature. Our power-law slope is, however, shallower than the extrapolation of the MZRs of others to masses below 109 M☉. The SFR dependence of the MZR in our sample is weaker than that found for local galaxies (known as the fundamental metallicity relation). Compared to a variety of theoretical models, the slope of our MZR for low-mass galaxies agrees well with predictions incorporating supernova energy-driven winds. Being robust against currently uncertain metallicity calibrations, the scatter of the MZR serves as a powerful diagnostic of the stochastic history of gas accretion, gas recycling, and star formation of low-mass galaxies. Our major result is that the scatter of our MZR increases as M* decreases. Our result implies that either the scatter of the baryonic accretion rate (σ Ṁ) or the scatter of the M* –Mhalo relation (σ SHMR) increases as M* decreases. Moreover, our measure of scatter at z = 0.7 appears consistent with that found for local galaxies. This lack of redshift evolution constrains models of galaxy evolution to have both σ Ṁ and σ SHMR remain unchanged from z = 0.7 to z = 0
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