695 research outputs found
The Cosmic Evolution of Faint Satellite Galaxies as a Test of Galaxy Formation and the Nature of Dark Matter
The standard cosmological model based on cold dark matter (CDM) predicts a
large number of subhalos for each galaxy-size halo. It is well known that
matching the subhalos to the observed properties of luminous satellites of
galaxies in the local universe poses a significant challenge to our
understanding of the astrophysics of galaxy formation. We show that the cosmic
evolution and host mass dependence of the luminosity function of satellites
provides a powerful new diagnostic to disentangle astrophysical effects from
variations in the underlying dark matter mass function. We illustrate this by
comparing the results of recent observations of satellites out to based
on Hubble Space Telescope images with the predictions of three different sets
of state-of-the art semi-analytic models with underlying CDM power spectra and
one semi-analytic model with an underlying Warm Dark Matter (WDM) power
spectrum. We find that even though CDM models provide a reasonable fit to the
local luminosity function of satellites around galaxies comparable or slightly
larger than the Milky Way, they do not reproduce the data as well for different
redshift and host galaxy stellar mass. This tension indicates that further
improvements are likely to be needed in the description of star formation if
the models are to be reconciled with the data. The WDM model matches the
observed mass dependence and redshift evolution of satellite galaxies more
closely than any of the CDM models, indicating that a modification of the
underlying power spectrum may offer an alternative solution to this tension. We
conclude by presenting predictions for the color magnitude relation of
satellite galaxies to demonstrate how future observations will be able to
further distinguish between these models and help constrain baryonic and
non-baryonic physics.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, revised to incorporate referee
comment
The Structure & Dynamics of Massive Early-type Galaxies: On Homology, Isothermality and Isotropy inside one Effective Radius
Based on 58 SLACS strong-lens early-type galaxies with direct total-mass and
stellar-velocity dispersion measurements, we find that inside one effective
radius massive elliptical galaxies with M_eff >= 3x10^10 M_sun are
well-approximated by a power-law ellipsoid with an average logaritmic density
slope of = -dlog(rho_tot)/dlog(r)=2.085^{+0.025}_{-0.018} (random
error on mean) for isotropic orbits with beta_r=0, +-0.1 (syst.) and
sigma_gamma' <= 0.20^{+0.04}_{-0.02} intrinsic scatter (all errors indicate the
68 percent CL). We find no correlation of gamma'_LD with galaxy mass (M_eff),
rescaled radius (i.e. R_einst/R_eff) or redshift, despite intrinsic differences
in density-slope between galaxies. Based on scaling relations, the average
logarithmic density slope can be derived in an alternative manner, fully
independent from dynamics, yielding =1.959 +- 0.077. Agreement
between the two values is reached for =0.45 +- 0.25, consistent with
mild radial anisotropy. This agreement supports the robustness of our results,
despite the increase in mass-to-light ratio with total galaxy mass: M_eff ~
L_{V,eff}^(1.363+-0.056). We conclude that massive early-type galaxies are
structurally close-to homologous with close-to isothermal total density
profiles (<=10 percent intrinsic scatter) and have at most some mild radial
anisotropy. Our results provide new observational limits on galaxy formation
and evolution scenarios, covering four Gyr look-back time.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJL; 4 pages, 2 figure
The initial mass function of early-type galaxies
We determine an absolute calibration of the initial mass function (IMF) of
early-type galaxies, by studying a sample of 56 gravitational lenses identified
by the SLACS Survey. Under the assumption of standard Navarro, Frenk & White
dark matter halos, a combination of lensing, dynamical, and stellar population
synthesis models is used to disentangle the stellar and dark matter
contribution for each lens. We define an "IMF mismatch" parameter
\alpha=M*(L+D)/M*(SPS) as the ratio of stellar mass inferred by a joint lensing
and dynamical models (M*(L+D)) to the current stellar mass inferred from
stellar populations synthesis models (M*(SPS)). We find that a Salpeter IMF
provides stellar masses in agreement with those inferred by lensing and
dynamical models (=0.00+-0.03+-0.02), while a Chabrier IMF
underestimates them (=0.25+-0.03+-0.02). A tentative trend is
found, in the sense that \alpha appears to increase with galaxy velocity
dispersion. Taken at face value, this result would imply a non universal IMF,
perhaps dependent on metallicity, age, or abundance ratios of the stellar
populations. Alternatively, the observed trend may imply non-universal dark
matter halos with inner density slope increasing with velocity dispersion.
While the degeneracy between the two interpretations cannot be broken without
additional information, the data imply that massive early-type galaxies cannot
have both a universal IMF and universal dark matter halos.Comment: 10 pages 4 figures. Resubmitted to ApJ taking into account referee's
comment
The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. IX. Colors, Lensing and Stellar Masses of Early-type Galaxies
We present the current photometric dataset for the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS)
Survey, including HST photometry from ACS, WFPC2, and NICMOS. These data have
enabled the confirmation of an additional 15 grade `A' (certain) lens systems,
bringing the number of SLACS grade `A' lenses to 85; including 13 grade `B'
(likely) systems, SLACS has identified nearly 100 lenses and lens candidates.
Approximately 80% of the grade `A' systems have elliptical morphologies while
~10% show spiral structure; the remaining lenses have lenticular morphologies.
Spectroscopic redshifts for the lens and source are available for every system,
making SLACS the largest homogeneous dataset of galaxy-scale lenses to date. We
have developed a novel Bayesian stellar population analysis code to determine
robust stellar masses with accurate error estimates. We apply this code to
deep, high-resolution HST imaging and determine stellar masses with typical
statistical errors of 0.1 dex; we find that these stellar masses are unbiased
compared to estimates obtained using SDSS photometry, provided that informative
priors are used. The stellar masses range from 10^10.5 to 10^11.8 M and
the typical stellar mass fraction within the Einstein radius is 0.4, assuming a
Chabrier IMF. The ensemble properties of the SLACS lens galaxies, e.g. stellar
masses and projected ellipticities, appear to be indistinguishable from other
SDSS galaxies with similar stellar velocity dispersions. This further supports
that SLACS lenses are representative of the overall population of massive
early-type galaxies with M* >~ 10^11 M, and are therefore an ideal
dataset to investigate the kpc-scale distribution of luminous and dark matter
in galaxies out to z ~ 0.5.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, 5 tables, published in Ap
Can dry merging explain the size evolution of early-type galaxies?
The characteristic size of early-type galaxies (ETGs) of given stellar mass
is observed to increase significantly with cosmic time, from redshift z>2 to
the present. A popular explanation for this size evolution is that ETGs grow
through dissipationless ("dry") mergers, thus becoming less compact. Combining
N-body simulations with up-to-date scaling relations of local ETGs, we show
that such an explanation is problematic, because dry mergers do not decrease
the galaxy stellar-mass surface-density enough to explain the observed size
evolution, and also introduce substantial scatter in the scaling relations.
Based on our set of simulations, we estimate that major and minor dry mergers
increase half-light radius and projected velocity dispersion with stellar mass
(M) as M^(1.09+/-0.29) and M^(0.07+/-0.11), respectively. This implies that: 1)
if the high-z ETGs are indeed as dense as estimated, they cannot evolve into
present-day ETGs via dry mergers; 2) present-day ETGs cannot have assembled
more than ~45% of their stellar mass via dry mergers. Alternatively, dry
mergers could be reconciled with the observations if there was extreme fine
tuning between merger history and galaxy properties, at variance with our
assumptions. Full cosmological simulations will be needed to evaluate whether
this fine-tuned solution is acceptable.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
The SL2S Galaxy-scale Lens Sample. II. Cosmic evolution of dark and luminous mass in early-type galaxies
We present a joint gravitational lensing and stellar-dynamical analysis of 11
early-type galaxies (median deflector redshift \zd=0.5) from Strong Lenses in
the Legacy Survey (SL2S). Using newly measured redshifts and stellar velocity
dispersions from Keck spectroscopy with lens models from Paper I, we derive the
total mass density slope inside the Einstein radius for each of the 11 lenses.
The average total density slope is found to be (), with an intrinsic
scatter of . We also determine the dark matter fraction
for each lens within half the effective radius, and find the average projected
dark matter mass fraction to be with a scatter of
for a Salpeter IMF. By combining the SL2S results with
those from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey (median \zd=0.2) and the Lenses
Structure and Dynamics survey (median \zd=0.8), we investigate cosmic
evolution of and find a mild trend \partial/\partial\zd =
-0.25^{+0.10}_{-0.12}. This suggests that the total density profile of massive
galaxies has become slightly steeper over cosmic time. If this result is
confirmed by larger samples, it would indicate that dissipative processes
played some role in the growth of massive galaxies since .Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap
A Local Baseline of the Black Hole Mass Scaling Relations for Active Galaxies. I. Methodology and Results of Pilot Study
We present high-quality Keck/LRIS longslit spectroscopy of a pilot sample of
25 local active galaxies selected from the SDSS (0.0210^7 M_sun) to
study the relations between black hole mass (MBH) and host-galaxy properties.
We determine stellar kinematics of the host galaxy, deriving stellar-velocity
dispersion profiles and rotation curves from three spectral regions (including
CaH&K, MgIb triplet, and CaII triplet). In addition, we perform surface
photometry on SDSS images, using a newly developed code for joint multi-band
analysis. BH masses are estimated from the width of the Hbeta emission line and
the host-galaxy free 5100A AGN luminosity. Combining results from spectroscopy
and imaging allows us to study four MBH scaling relations: MBH-sigma,
MBH-L(sph), MBH-M(sph,*), MBH-M(sph,dyn). We find the following results. First,
stellar-velocity dispersions determined from aperture spectra (e.g. SDSS fiber
spectra or unresolved data from distant galaxies) can be biased, depending on
aperture size, AGN contamination, and host-galaxy morphology. However, such a
bias cannot explain the offset seen in the MBH-sigma relation at higher
redshifts. Second, while the CaT region is the cleanest to determine
stellar-velocity dispersions, both the MgIb region, corrected for FeII
emission, and the CaHK region, although often swamped by the AGN powerlaw
continuum and emission lines, can give results accurate to within a few
percent. Third, the MBH scaling relations of our pilot sample agree in slope
and scatter with those of other local active and inactive galaxies. In the next
papers of the series we will quantify the scaling relations, exploiting the
full sample of ~100 objects.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures. Final version, accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal (ApJ, 726, 59
Inference of the Cold Dark Matter substructure mass function at z=0.2 using strong gravitational lenses
We present the results of a search for galaxy substructures in a sample of 11
gravitational lens galaxies from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey. We find no
significant detection of mass clumps, except for a luminous satellite in the
system SDSS J0956+5110. We use these non-detections, in combination with a
previous detection in the system SDSS J0946+1006, to derive constraints on the
substructure mass function in massive early-type host galaxies with an average
redshift z ~ 0.2 and an average velocity dispersion of 270 km/s. We perform a
Bayesian inference on the substructure mass function, within a median region of
about 32 kpc squared around the Einstein radius (~4.2 kpc). We infer a mean
projected substructure mass fraction at the 68
percent confidence level and a substructure mass function slope < 2.93
at the 95 percent confidence level for a uniform prior probability density on
alpha. For a Gaussian prior based on Cold Dark Matter (CDM) simulations, we
infer and a slope of =
1.90 at the 68 percent confidence level. Since only one
substructure was detected in the full sample, we have little information on the
mass function slope, which is therefore poorly constrained (i.e. the Bayes
factor shows no positive preference for any of the two models).The inferred
fraction is consistent with the expectations from CDM simulations and with
inference from flux ratio anomalies at the 68 percent confidence level.Comment: Accepted for publication on MNRAS, some typos corrected and some
important references adde
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