85 research outputs found
High Resolution Molecular Gas Maps of M33
New observations of CO (J=1->0) line emission from M33, using the 25 element
BEARS focal plane array at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45-m telescope, in
conjunction with existing maps from the BIMA interferometer and the FCRAO 14-m
telescope, give the highest resolution (13'') and most sensitive (RMS ~ 60 mK)
maps to date of the distribution of molecular gas in the central 5.5 kpc of the
galaxy. A new catalog of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) has a completeness limit
of 1.3 X 10^5 M_sun. The fraction of molecular gas found in GMCs is a strong
function of radius in the galaxy, declining from 60% in the center to 20% at
galactocentric radius R_gal ~ 4 kpc. Beyond that radius, GMCs are nearly
absent, although molecular gas exists. Most (90%) of the emission from low mass
clouds is found within 100 pc projected separation of a GMC. In an annulus 2.1<
R_gal <4.1 kpc, GMC masses follow a power law distribution with index -2.1.
Inside that radius, the mass distribution is truncated, and clouds more massive
than 8 X 10^5 M_sun are absent. The cloud mass distribution shows no
significant difference in the grand design spiral arms versus the interarm
region. The CO surface brightness ratio for the arm to interarm regions is 1.5,
typical of other flocculent galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted in ApJ. Some tables poorly typeset in
emulateapj; see source files for raw dat
The Bursty Star Formation Histories of Low-mass Galaxies at Revealed by Star Formation Rates Measured from H and FUV
We investigate the burstiness of star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies
at by using the ratio of star formation rates (SFRs) measured from
H and FUV (1500 \AA) (H--to--FUV ratio). Our sample contains 164
galaxies down to stellar mass (M*) of 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 H- and FUV-derived SFRs is measured, dust extinction
correction is negligible (except for very dusty galaxies) with the Calzetti
attenuation curve. The H--to--FUV ratio of our sample increases with M*
and SFR. The median ratio is 0.7 at M* (or SFR) and increases to 1 at M* (or SFR
). At M*, our median H--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
H--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
Aerosol Microdroplets Exhibit a Stable pH Gradient
Suspended aqueous aerosol droplets (\u3c50 μm) are microreactors for many important atmospheric reactions. In droplets and other aquatic environments, pH is arguably the key parameter dictating chemical and biological processes. The nature of the droplet air/ water interface has the potential to significantly alter droplet pH relative to bulk water. Historically, it has been challenging to measure the pH of individual droplets because of their inaccessibility to conventional pH probes. In this study, we scanned droplets containing 4-mercaptobenzoic acid–functionalized gold nanoparticle pH nanoprobes by 2D and 3D laser confocal Raman microscopy. Using surface-enhanced Raman scattering, we acquired the pH distribution inside approximately 20-μm-diameter phosphate-buffered aerosol droplets and found that the pH in the core of a droplet is higher than that of bulk solution by up to 3.6 pH units. This finding suggests the accumulation of protons at the air/water interface and is consistent with recent thermodynamic model results. The existence of this pH shift was corroborated by the observation that a catalytic reaction that occurs only under basic conditions (i.e., dimerization of 4-aminothiophenol to produce dimercaptoazobenzene) occurs within the high pH core of a droplet, but not in bulk solution. Our nanoparticle probe enables pH quantification through the cross-section of an aerosol droplet, revealing a spatial gradient that has implications for acid-base–catalyzed atmospheric chemistry
Infrared L Band Observations of the Trapezium Cluster: A Census of Circumstellar Disks and Candidate Protostars
We report the results of a sensitive near-infrared JHKL imaging survey of the
Trapezium cluster in Orion. We use the JHKL colors to obtain a census of
infrared excess stars in the cluster. Of (391) stars brighter than 12th
magnitude in the K and L bands, 80 +/- 7% are found to exhibit detectable
infrared excess on the J-H, K-L color-color diagram. Examination of a subsample
of 285 of these stars with published spectral types yields a slightly higher
infrared excess fraction of 85%. We find that 97% of the optical proplyds in
the cluster exhibit excess in the JHKL color-color diagram indicating that the
most likely origin of the observed infrared excesses is from circumstellar
disks. We interpret these results to indicate that the fraction of stars in the
cluster with circumstellar disks is between 80-85%. Moreover, we find that the
probability of finding an infrared excess/protoplanetary disk around a star is
independent of stellar mass over essentially the entire range of the stellar
mass function down to the hydrogen burning limit. We identify 78 stars in our
sample characterized by K-L colors suggestive of deeply embedded protostellar
objects. If even a modest fraction fraction (i.e., ~ 50%) of these objects are
protostars, then star formation could be continuing in the molecular ridge at a
rate comparable to that which produced the foreground Trapezium cluster.Comment: 33 pages plus 3 separate color figures. For higher resolution color
figures and a single file containing the entire paper, figures and tables see
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~gmuench/thesis/clusters/TRAP/traplband.html Used
AASTEX macros v 5.0. Paper will appear in December A
CANDELS Multi-wavelength Catalogs: Source Detection and Photometry in the GOODS-South Field
We present a UV-to-mid infrared multi-wavelength catalog in the
CANDELS/GOODS-S field, combining the newly obtained CANDELS HST/WFC3 F105W,
F125W, and F160W data with existing public data. The catalog is based on source
detection in the WFC3 F160W band. The F160W mosaic includes the data from
CANDELS deep and wide observations as well as previous ERS and HUDF09 programs.
The mosaic reaches a 5 limiting depth (within an aperture of radius
0.17 arcsec) of 27.4, 28.2, and 29.7 AB for CANDELS wide, deep, and HUDF
regions, respectively. The catalog contains 34930 sources with the
representative 50% completeness reaching 25.9, 26.6, and 28.1 AB in the F160W
band for the three regions. In addition to WFC3 bands, the catalog also
includes data from UV (U-band from both CTIO/MOSAIC and VLT/VIMOS), optical
(HST/ACS F435W, F606W, F775W, F814W, and F850LP), and infrared (HST/WFC3 F098M,
VLT/ISAAC Ks, VLT/HAWK-I Ks, and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0 m)
observations. The catalog is validated via stellar colors, comparison with
other published catalogs, zeropoint offsets determined from the best-fit
templates of the spectral energy distribution of spectroscopically observed
objects, and the accuracy of photometric redshifts. The catalog is able to
detect unreddened star-forming (passive) galaxies with stellar mass of
10^{10}M_\odot at a 50% completeness level to z3.4 (2.8), 4.6 (3.2), and
7.0 (4.2) in the three regions. As an example of application, the catalog is
used to select both star-forming and passive galaxies at z2--4 via the
Balmer break. It is also used to study the color--magnitude diagram of galaxies
at 0<z<4.Comment: The full resolution article is now published in ApJS (2013, 207, 24).
22 pages, 21 figures, and 5 tables. The catalogue is available on the CANDELS
website: http://candels.ucolick.org/data_access/GOODS-S.html MAST:
http://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/candels and Rainbow Database:
https://arcoiris.ucolick.org/Rainbow_navigator_public and
https://rainbowx.fis.ucm.es/Rainbow_navigator_publi
Powerful Radio-Loud Quasars are Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in the Cosmic Bright Ages
While supermassive black holes are ubiquitous features of galactic nuclei,
only a small minority are observed during episodes of luminous accretion. The
physical mechanism(s) driving the onset of fueling and ignition in these active
galactic nuclei (AGN) are still largely unknown for many galaxies and
AGN-selection criteria. Attention has focused on AGN triggering by means of
major galaxy mergers gravitationally funneling gas towards the galactic center,
with evidence both for and against this scenario. However, several recent
studies have found that radio-loud AGN overwhelmingly reside in ongoing or
recent major galaxy mergers. In this study, we test the hypothesis that major
galaxy mergers are important triggers for radio-loud AGN activity in powerful
quasars during cosmic noon (1 < z < 2). To this end, we compare Hubble Space
Telescope WFC3/IR observations of the z > 1 3CR radio-loud broad-lined quasars
to three matched radio-quiet quasar control samples. We find strong evidence
for major-merger activity in nearly all radio-loud AGN, in contrast to the much
lower merger fraction in the radio-quiet AGN. These results suggest major
galaxy mergers are key ingredients to launching powerful radio jets. Given many
of our radio-loud quasars are blue, our results present a possible challenge to
the "blow-out" paradigm of galaxy evolution models in which blue quasars are
the quiescent end result following a period of red quasar feedback initiated by
a galaxy merger. Finally, we find a tight correlation between black hole mass
and host galaxy luminosity for these different high-redshift AGN samples
inconsistent with those observed for local elliptical galaxies.Comment: Published by Ap
UBVRI Light Curves of 44 Type Ia Supernovae
We present UBVRI photometry of 44 type-Ia supernovae (SN Ia) observed from
1997 to 2001 as part of a continuing monitoring campaign at the Fred Lawrence
Whipple Observatory of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The
data set comprises 2190 observations and is the largest homogeneously observed
and reduced sample of SN Ia to date, nearly doubling the number of
well-observed, nearby SN Ia with published multicolor CCD light curves. The
large sample of U-band photometry is a unique addition, with important
connections to SN Ia observed at high redshift. The decline rate of SN Ia
U-band light curves correlates well with the decline rate in other bands, as
does the U-B color at maximum light. However, the U-band peak magnitudes show
an increased dispersion relative to other bands even after accounting for
extinction and decline rate, amounting to an additional ~40% intrinsic scatter
compared to B-band.Comment: 84 authors, 71 pages, 51 tables, 10 figures. Accepted for publication
in the Astronomical Journal. Version with high-res figures and electronic
data at http://astron.berkeley.edu/~saurabh/cfa2snIa
The CANDELS/SHARDS multiwavelength catalog in GOODS-N : photometry, photometric redshifts, stellar masses, emission-line fluxes, and star formation rates
We present a WFC3 F160W (H-band) selected catalog in the CANDELS/GOODS-N field containing photometry from the ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared (IR), photometric redshifts, and stellar parameters derived from the analysis of the multiwavelength data. The catalog contains 35,445 sources over the 171 arcmin(2) of the CANDELS F160W mosaic. The 5 sigma detection limits (within an aperture of radius 0 ''.17) of the mosaic range between H = 27.8, 28.2, and 28.7 in the wide, intermediate, and deep regions, which span approximately 50%, 15%, and 35% of the total area. The multiwavelength photometry includes broadband data from the UV (U band from KPNO and LBC), optical (HST/ACS F435W, F606W, F775W, F814W, and F850LP), near-to-mid IR (HST/WFC3 F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W; Subaru/MOIRCS Ks; CFHT/Megacam K; and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 mu m), and far-IR (Spitzer/MIPS 24 mu m, HERSCHEL/PACS 100 and 160 mu m, SPIRE 250, 350 and 500 mu m) observations. In addition, the catalog also includes optical medium-band data (R similar to 50) in 25 consecutive bands, lambda = 500-950 nm, from the SHARDS survey and WFC3 IR spectroscopic observations with the G102 and G141 grisms (R similar to 210 and 130). The use of higher spectral resolution data to estimate photometric redshifts provides very high, and nearly uniform, precision from z = 0-2.5. The comparison to 1485 good-quality spectroscopic redshifts up to z similar to 3 yields Delta z/(1 + z(spec)) = 0.0032 and an outlier fraction of eta = 4.3%. In addition to the multiband photometry, we release value-added catalogs with emission-line fluxes, stellar masses, dust attenuations, UV- and IR-based star formation rates, and rest-frame colors
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