Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations -- II. Star-Forming Galaxies

Stellar population parameters correlate with a range of galaxy properties, but it is unclear which relations are causal and which are the result of another underlying trend. In this series, we quantitatively compare trends between stellar population properties and galaxy structural parameters in order to determine which relations are intrinsically tighter, and are therefore more likely to reflect a causal relation. Specifically, we focus on the galaxy structural parameters of mass $M$, gravitational potential $\Phi\sim M/R_e$, and surface mass density $\Sigma\sim M/R_e^2$. In Barone et al. (2018) we found that for early-type galaxies the age-$\Sigma$ and [Z/H]-$\Phi$ relations show the least intrinsic scatter as well as the least residual trend with galaxy size. In this work we study the ages and metallicities measured from full spectral fitting of 2085 star-forming galaxies from the SDSS Legacy Survey, selected so all galaxies in the sample are probed to one effective radius. As with the trends found in early-type galaxies, we find that in star-forming galaxies age correlates best with stellar surface mass density, and [Z/H] correlates best with gravitational potential. We discuss multiple mechanisms that could lead to these scaling relations. For the [Z/H]--$\Phi$ relation we conclude that gravitational potential is the primary regulator of metallicity, via its relation to the gas escape velocity. The age--$\Sigma$ relation is consistent with compact galaxies forming earlier, as higher gas fractions in the early universe cause old galaxies to form more compactly during their in-situ formation phase, and may be reinforced by compactness-related quenching mechanisms.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 20 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Ultraluminous Quasars At High Redshift Show Evolution In Their Radio-Loudness Fraction In Both Redshift And Ultraviolet Luminosity

We take a sample of 94 ultraluminous, optical quasars from the search of over 14,486 deg^2 by Onken et al. 2022 in the range 4.4<redshift<5.2 and match them against the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) observed on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). From this most complete sample of the bright end of the redshift ~5 quasar luminosity function, there are 10 radio continuum detections of which 8 are considered radio-loud quasars. The radio-loud fraction for this sample is 8.5 \pm 2.9 per cent. Jiang et al. 2007 found that there is a decrease in the radio-loud fraction of quasars with increasing redshift and an increase with increasing absolute magnitude at rest frame 2500 Angstroms. We show that the radio-loud fraction of our quasar sample is consistent with that predicted by Jiang et al. 2007, extending their result to higher redshifts.Comment: Accepted by MNRA

On the distribution of galaxy ellipticity in clusters

We study the distribution of projected ellipticity n(ϵ) for galaxies in a sample of 20 rich (Richness ≥ 2) nearby (z 0.4), therefore it is not a consequence of the increasing fraction of round slow rotator galaxies near cluster centers. Furthermore, the ϵ-R relation persists for just smooth flattened galaxies and for galaxies with de Vaucouleurs-like light profiles, suggesting that the variation of the spiral fraction with radius is not the underlying cause of the trend. We interpret our findings in light of the classification of early type galaxies (ETGs) as fast and slow rotators. We conclude that the observed trend of decreasing ϵ towards the centres of clusters is evidence for physical effects in clusters causing fast rotator ETGs to have a lower average intrinsic ellipticity near the centres of rich clusters

The gas-phase metallicities of star-forming galaxies in aperture-matched SDSS samples follow potential rather than mass or average surface density

We present a comparative study of the relation between the aperture-based gas-phase metallicity and three structural parameters of star-forming galaxies: mass ($\mathrm{M \equiv M_*}$), average potential ($\Phi \equiv \mathrm{M_*/R_e}$) and average surface mass density ($\Sigma \equiv \mathrm{M_*/R_e^2}$; where $\mathrm{R_e}$ is the effective radius). We use a volume-limited sample drawn from the publicly available SDSS DR7, and base our analysis on aperture-matched sampling by selecting sets of galaxies where the SDSS fibre probes a fixed fraction of $\mathrm{R_e}$. We find that between 0.5 and 1.5 $\mathrm{R_e}$, the gas-phase metallicity correlates more tightly with $\Phi$ than with either $\mathrm{M}$ or $\Sigma$, in that for all aperture-matched samples, the potential-metallicity relation has (i) less scatter, (ii) higher Spearman rank correlation coefficient and (iii) less residual trend with $\mathrm{R_e}$ than either the mass-metallicity relation and the average surface density-metallicity relation. Our result is broadly consistent with the current models of gas enrichment and metal loss. However, a more natural explanation for our findings is a local relation between the gas-phase metallicity and escape velocity.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 17 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

On the distribution of galaxy ellipticity in clusters

open4We study the distribution of projected ellipticity n(ε) for galaxies in a sample of 20 rich (Richness ≥ 2) nearby (z 0.4), therefore it is not a consequence of the increasing fraction of round slow rotator galaxies near cluster centers. Furthermore, the ε-R relation persists for just smooth flattened galaxies and for galaxies with deVaucouleurs-like light profiles, suggesting that the variation of the spiral fractionwith radius is not the underlying cause of the trend. We interpret our findings in light of the classification of early type galaxies (ETGs) as fast and slow rotators. We conclude that the observed trend of decreasing ε towards the centres of clusters is evidence for physical effects in clusters causing fast rotator ETGs to have a lower average intrinsic ellipticity near the centres of rich clusters.openD'Eugenio F.; Houghton R.C.W.; Davies R.L.; Dalla Bonta' E.D'Eugenio, F.; Houghton, R. C. W.; Davies, R. L.; Dalla Bonta', E

SHα\alphaDE: Survey description and mass-kinematics scaling relations for dwarf galaxies

The Study of H$\alpha$ from Dwarf Emissions (SH$\alpha$DE) is a high spectral resolution (R=13500) H$\alpha$ integral field survey of 69 dwarf galaxies with stellar masses $10^6<M_\star<10^9 \,\rm{M_\odot}$. The survey used FLAMES on the ESO Very Large Telescope. SH$\alpha$DE is designed to study the kinematics and stellar populations of dwarf galaxies using consistent methods applied to massive galaxies and at matching level of detail, connecting these mass ranges in an unbiased way. In this paper we set out the science goals of SH$\alpha$DE, describe the sample properties, outline the data reduction and analysis processes. We investigate the $\log{M_{\star}}-\log{S_{0.5}}$ mass-kinematics scaling relation, which have previously shown potential for combining galaxies of all morphologies in a single scaling relation. We extend the scaling relation from massive galaxies to dwarf galaxies, demonstrating this relation is linear down to a stellar mass of $M_{\star}\sim10^{8.6}\,\rm{M_\odot}$. Below this limit, the kinematics of galaxies inside one effective radius appear to be dominated by the internal velocity dispersion limit of the H$\alpha$-emitting gas, giving a bend in the $\log{M_{\star}}-\log{S_{0.5}}$ relation. Replacing stellar mass with total baryonic mass using gas mass estimate reduces the severity but does not remove the linearity limit of the scaling relation. An extrapolation to estimate the galaxies' dark matter halo masses, yields a $\log{M_{h}}-\log{S_{0.5}}$ scaling relation that is free of any bend, has reduced curvature over the whole mass range, and brings galaxies of all masses and morphologies onto the virial relation.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables; published in MNRA

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Stellar-to-Dynamical Mass Relation I. Constraining the Precision of Stellar Mass Estimates

In this empirical work, we aim to quantify the systematic uncertainties in stellar mass $(M_\star)$ estimates made from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting through stellar population synthesis (SPS), for galaxies in the local Universe, by using the dynamical mass $(M_\text{dyn})$ estimator as an SED-independent check on stellar mass. We first construct a statistical model of the high dimensional space of galaxy properties; size $(R_e)$, velocity dispersion $(\sigma_e)$, surface brightness $(I_e)$, mass-to-light ratio $(M_\star/L)$, rest-frame colour, S\'ersic index $(n)$ and dynamical mass $(M_\text{dyn})$; accounting for selection effects and covariant errors. We disentangle the correlations among galaxy properties and find that the variation in $M_\star/M_\text{dyn}$ is driven by $\sigma_e$, S\'ersic index and colour. We use these parameters to calibrate an SED-independent $M_\star$ estimator, $\hat{M}_\star$. We find the random scatter of the relation $M_\star-\hat{M}_\star$ to be $0.108\text{dex}$ and $0.147\text{dex}$ for quiescent and star-forming galaxies respectively. Finally, we inspect the residuals as a function of SPS parameters (dust, age, metallicity, star formation rate) and spectral indices (H$\alpha$, H$\delta$, $D_n4000)$. For quiescent galaxies, $\sim65\%$ of the scatter can be explained by the uncertainty in SPS parameters, with dust and age being the largest sources of uncertainty. For star-forming galaxies, while age and metallicity are the leading factors, SPS parameters account for only $\sim13\%$ of the scatter. These results leave us with remaining unmodelled scatters of $0.055\text{dex}$ and $0.122\text{dex}$ for quiescent and star-forming galaxies respectively. This can be interpreted as a conservative limit on the precision in $M_\star$ that can be achieved via simple SPS-modelling.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal on 14 June 202

Comparison of the Stellar Populations of Bulges and Discs using the MaNGA Survey

We use the MaNGA integral-field spectroscopic survey of low-redshift galaxies to compare the stellar populations of the bulge and disc components, identified from their Sersic profiles, for various samples of galaxies. Bulge dominated regions tend to be more metal-rich and have slightly older stellar ages than their associated disc dominated regions. The metallicity difference is consistent with the deeper gravitational potential in bulges relative to discs, which allows bulges to retain more of the metals produced by stars. The age difference is due to star formation persisting longer in discs relative to bulges. Relative to galaxies with lower stellar masses, galaxies with higher stellar masses tend to have bulge dominated regions that are more metal-rich and older (in light-weighted measurements) than their disc dominated regions. This suggests high-mass galaxies quench from the inside out, while lower-mass galaxies quench across the whole galaxy simultaneously. Early-type galaxies tend to have bulge dominated regions the same age as their disc dominated regions, while late-type galaxies tend to have disc dominated regions significantly younger than their bulge dominated regions. Central galaxies tend to have a greater metallicity difference between their bulge dominated regions and disc dominated regions than satellite galaxies at similar stellar mass. This difference may be explained by central galaxies being subject to mergers or extended gas accretion bringing new, lower-metallicity gas to the disc, thereby reducing the average metallicity and age of the stars; quenching of satellite discs may also play a role.Comment: Accepted by PAS

The black hole mass metallicity relation and insights into galaxy quenching

One of the most important questions in astrophysics is what causes galaxies to stop forming stars. Previous studies have shown a tight link between quiescence and black hole mass. Other studies have revealed that quiescence is also associated with 'starvation', the halting of gas inflows, which results in the remaining gas being used up rapidly by star formation and in rapid chemical enrichment. In this work we find the final missing link between these two findings. Using a large sample of galaxies, we uncover the intrinsic dependencies of the stellar metallicity on galaxy properties. In the case of the star-forming galaxies, the stellar metallicity is driven by stellar mass. However, for passive galaxies the stellar metallicity is primarily driven by the black hole mass, as traced by velocity dispersion. This result finally reveals the connection between previous studies, where the integrated effect of black hole feedback prevents gas inflows, starving the galaxy, which is seen by the rapid increase in the stellar metallicity, leading to the galaxy becoming passive.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Nature Astronom

Stars, gas, and star formation of distant post-starburst galaxies

We present a comprehensive multi-wavelength study of 5 poststarburst galaxies with $M_\ast > 10^{11} M_\odot$ at $z\sim 0.7$, examining their stars, gas, and current and past star-formation activities. Using optical images from the Subaru telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, we observe a high incidence of companion galaxies and low surface brightness tidal features, indicating that quenching is closely related to interactions between galaxies. From optical spectra provided by the LEGA-C survey, we model the stellar continuum to derive the star-formation histories and show that the stellar masses of progenitors ranging from $2\times10^9 M_\odot$ to $10^{11} M_\odot$, undergoing a burst of star formation several hundred million years prior to observation, with a decay time scale of $\sim100$ million years. Our ALMA observations detect CO(2-1) emission in four galaxies, with the molecular gas spreading over up to $>1"$, or $\sim10$ kpc, with a mass of up to $\sim2 \times10^{10} M_\odot$. However, star-forming regions are unresolved by either the slit spectra or 3~GHz continuum observed by the Very Large Array. Comparisons between the star-formation rates and gas masses, and the sizes of CO emission and star-forming regions suggest a low star-forming efficiency. We show that the star-formation rates derived from IR and radio luminosities with commonly-used calibrations tend to overestimate the true values because of the prodigious amount of radiation from old stars and the contribution from AGN, as the optical spectra reveal weak AGN-driven outflows.Comment: Accepted by Ap