No need for extreme stellar masses at z~7: a test-case study for COS-87259

Recent controversy regarding the existence of massive ($\log(M_*/M_\odot) \gtrsim 11$) galaxies at $z>6$ is posing a challenge for galaxy formation theories. Hence, it is of critical importance to understand the effects of SED fitting methods on stellar mass estimates of Epoch of Re-ionisation galaxies. In this work, we perform a case study on the AGN-host galaxy candidate COS-87259 with spectroscopic redshift $z_{\rm spec}=6.853$, that is claimed to have an extremely high stellar mass of $\log(M_*/M_\odot) \sim 11.2$. We test a suite of different SED fitting algorithms and stellar population models on our independently measured photometry in 17 broad bands for this source. Between five different code set-ups, the stellar mass estimates for COS-87259 span $\log(M_*/M_\odot) = 10.24$--11.00, whilst the reduced $\chi^2$ values of the fits are all close to unity within $\Delta\chi^2_\nu=0.9$, so that the quality of the SED fits is basically indistinguishable. Only the Bayesian inference code Prospector using a non-parametric star formation history model yields a stellar mass exceeding $\log(M_*/M_\odot)=11$. As this SED fitting prescription is becoming increasingly popular for James Webb Space Telescope high-redshift science, we stress the absolute importance to test various SED fitting routines particularly on apparently very massive galaxies at such high redshifts. Ultimately, we conclude that the extremely high stellar mass estimate for COS-87259 is not necessary, deriving equally good fits with stellar masses $\sim 1$ dex lower.Comment: Submitted to ApJ

ALMA Millimeter/Submillimeter Sources among Spitzer SMUVS Galaxies at z > 2 in the COSMOS Field

Submillimeter observations reveal the star formation activity obscured by dust in the young Universe. It still remains unclear how galaxies detected at submillimeter wavelengths are related to ultraviolet/optical-selected galaxies in terms of their observed quantities, physical properties, and evolutionary stages. Deep near- and mid-infrared observational data are crucial to characterize the stellar properties of galaxies detected with submillimeter emission. In this study, we make use of a galaxy catalog from the Spitzer Matching survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes. By crossmatching with a submillimeter source catalog constructed with archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we search for galaxies at z &gt; 2 with a submillimeter detection in our galaxy catalog. We find that the ALMA-detected galaxies at z &gt; 2 are systematically massive and have redder K s -[4.5] colors than the nondetected galaxies. The redder colors are consistent with the larger dust reddening values of the ALMA-detected galaxies obtained from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We also find that the ALMA-detected galaxies tend to have brighter 4.5 μm magnitudes. This may suggest that they tend to have smaller mass-to-light ratios and thus to be younger than star-forming galaxies fainter at submillimeter wavelengths with similar stellar masses. We identify starburst galaxies with high specific star formation rates among both ALMA-detected and nondetected SMUVS sources. Irrespective of their brightness at submillimeter wavelengths, these populations have similar dust reddening values, which may suggest a variety of dust SED shapes among the starburst galaxies at z &gt; 2.</p

ALMA sub-/millimeter sources among SpitzerSpitzer SMUVS galaxies at z>2z>2 in the COSMOS field

Sub-millimeter observations reveal the star-formation activity obscured by dust in the young Universe. It still remains unclear how galaxies detected at sub-millimeter wavelengths are related to ultraviolet/optical-selected galaxies in terms of their observed quantities, physical properties, and evolutionary stages. Deep near- and mid-infrared observational data are crucial to characterize the stellar properties of galaxies detected with sub-millimeter emission. In this study, we make use of a galaxy catalog from the $Spitzer$ Matching Survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes. By cross-matching with a sub-millimeter source catalog constructed with the archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we search for galaxies at $z>$ 2 with a sub-millimeter detection in our galaxy catalog. We find that the ALMA-detected galaxies at $z>$ 2 are systematically massive and have redder $K_s$-[4.5] colors than the non-detected galaxies. The redder colors are consistent with the larger dust reddening values of the ALMA-detected galaxies obtained from SED fitting. We also find that the ALMA-detected galaxies tend to have brighter 4.5 $\mu$m magnitudes. This may suggest that they tend to have smaller mass-to-light ratios, and thus, to be younger than star-forming galaxies fainter at sub-millimeter wavelengths with similar stellar masses. We identify starburst galaxies with high specific star-formation rates among both ALMA-detected and non-detected SMUVS sources. Irrespective of their brightness at sub-millimeter wavelengths, these populations have similar dust reddening values, which may suggest a variety of dust SED shapes among the starburst galaxies at $z>2$.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap

ALMA Millimeter/Submillimeter Sources among Spitzer SMUVS Galaxies at z &gt; 2 in the COSMOS Field

Submillimeter observations reveal the star formation activity obscured by dust in the young Universe. It still remains unclear how galaxies detected at submillimeter wavelengths are related to ultraviolet/optical-selected galaxies in terms of their observed quantities, physical properties, and evolutionary stages. Deep near- and mid-infrared observational data are crucial to characterize the stellar properties of galaxies detected with submillimeter emission. In this study, we make use of a galaxy catalog from the Spitzer Matching survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes. By crossmatching with a submillimeter source catalog constructed with archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we search for galaxies at z &gt; 2 with a submillimeter detection in our galaxy catalog. We find that the ALMA-detected galaxies at z &gt; 2 are systematically massive and have redder K s -[4.5] colors than the nondetected galaxies. The redder colors are consistent with the larger dust reddening values of the ALMA-detected galaxies obtained from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We also find that the ALMA-detected galaxies tend to have brighter 4.5 μm magnitudes. This may suggest that they tend to have smaller mass-to-light ratios and thus to be younger than star-forming galaxies fainter at submillimeter wavelengths with similar stellar masses. We identify starburst galaxies with high specific star formation rates among both ALMA-detected and nondetected SMUVS sources. Irrespective of their brightness at submillimeter wavelengths, these populations have similar dust reddening values, which may suggest a variety of dust SED shapes among the starburst galaxies at z &gt; 2.</p

ALMA Millimeter/Submillimeter Sources among Spitzer SMUVS Galaxies at z &gt; 2 in the COSMOS Field

Submillimeter observations reveal the star formation activity obscured by dust in the young Universe. It still remains unclear how galaxies detected at submillimeter wavelengths are related to ultraviolet/optical-selected galaxies in terms of their observed quantities, physical properties, and evolutionary stages. Deep near- and mid-infrared observational data are crucial to characterize the stellar properties of galaxies detected with submillimeter emission. In this study, we make use of a galaxy catalog from the Spitzer Matching survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes. By crossmatching with a submillimeter source catalog constructed with archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we search for galaxies at z &gt; 2 with a submillimeter detection in our galaxy catalog. We find that the ALMA-detected galaxies at z &gt; 2 are systematically massive and have redder K s -[4.5] colors than the nondetected galaxies. The redder colors are consistent with the larger dust reddening values of the ALMA-detected galaxies obtained from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We also find that the ALMA-detected galaxies tend to have brighter 4.5 μm magnitudes. This may suggest that they tend to have smaller mass-to-light ratios and thus to be younger than star-forming galaxies fainter at submillimeter wavelengths with similar stellar masses. We identify starburst galaxies with high specific star formation rates among both ALMA-detected and nondetected SMUVS sources. Irrespective of their brightness at submillimeter wavelengths, these populations have similar dust reddening values, which may suggest a variety of dust SED shapes among the starburst galaxies at z &gt; 2.</p

ALMA Millimeter/Submillimeter Sources among Spitzer SMUVS Galaxies at z &gt; 2 in the COSMOS Field

Submillimeter observations reveal the star formation activity obscured by dust in the young Universe. It still remains unclear how galaxies detected at submillimeter wavelengths are related to ultraviolet/optical-selected galaxies in terms of their observed quantities, physical properties, and evolutionary stages. Deep near- and mid-infrared observational data are crucial to characterize the stellar properties of galaxies detected with submillimeter emission. In this study, we make use of a galaxy catalog from the Spitzer Matching survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes. By crossmatching with a submillimeter source catalog constructed with archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we search for galaxies at z &gt; 2 with a submillimeter detection in our galaxy catalog. We find that the ALMA-detected galaxies at z &gt; 2 are systematically massive and have redder K s -[4.5] colors than the nondetected galaxies. The redder colors are consistent with the larger dust reddening values of the ALMA-detected galaxies obtained from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We also find that the ALMA-detected galaxies tend to have brighter 4.5 μm magnitudes. This may suggest that they tend to have smaller mass-to-light ratios and thus to be younger than star-forming galaxies fainter at submillimeter wavelengths with similar stellar masses. We identify starburst galaxies with high specific star formation rates among both ALMA-detected and nondetected SMUVS sources. Irrespective of their brightness at submillimeter wavelengths, these populations have similar dust reddening values, which may suggest a variety of dust SED shapes among the starburst galaxies at z &gt; 2.</p

The Galaxy Starburst/Main-sequence Bimodality over Five Decades in Stellar Mass at z ≈ 3–6.5

We study the relation between stellar mass (M*) and star formation rate (SFR) for star-forming galaxies over approximately five decades in stellar mass (5.5 <~ log10(M*/Msun) <~ 10.5) at z ~ 3-6.5. This unprecedented coverage has been possible thanks to the joint analysis of blank non-lensed fields (COSMOS/SMUVS) and cluster lensing fields (Hubble Frontier Fields) which allow us to reach very low stellar masses. Previous works have revealed the existence of a clear bimodality in the SFR-M* plane with a star-formation Main Sequence and a starburst cloud at z ~ 4-5. Here we show that this bimodality extends to all star-forming galaxies and is valid in the whole redshift range z ~ 3-6.5. We find that starbursts constitute at least 20% of all star-forming galaxies with M* >~ 10^9 Msun at these redshifts and reach a peak of 40% at z=4-5. More importantly, 60% to 90% of the total SFR budget at these redshifts is contained in starburst galaxies, indicating that the starburst mode of star-formation is dominant at high redshifts. Almost all the low stellar-mass starbursts with log10(M*/Msun) <~ 8.5 have ages comparable to the typical timescales of a starburst event, suggesting that these galaxies are being caught in the process of formation. Interestingly, galaxy formation models fail to predict the starburst/main-sequence bimodality and starbursts overall, suggesting that the starburst phenomenon may be driven by physical processes occurring at smaller scales than those probed by these models.Comment: 24 pages, including 15 figures (17 files in total) and 4 tables. The manuscript has been accepted for publication in the Ap

Relationship between molecular pathogen detection and clinical disease in febrile children across Europe: a multicentre, prospective observational study

BackgroundThe PERFORM study aimed to understand causes of febrile childhood illness by comparing molecular pathogen detection with current clinical practice.MethodsFebrile children and controls were recruited on presentation to hospital in 9 European countries 2016-2020. Each child was assigned a standardized diagnostic category based on retrospective review of local clinical and microbiological data. Subsequently, centralised molecular tests (CMTs) for 19 respiratory and 27 blood pathogens were performed.FindingsOf 4611 febrile children, 643 (14%) were classified as definite bacterial infection (DB), 491 (11%) as definite viral infection (DV), and 3477 (75%) had uncertain aetiology. 1061 controls without infection were recruited. CMTs detected blood bacteria more frequently in DB than DV cases for N. meningitidis (OR: 3.37, 95% CI: 1.92-5.99), S. pneumoniae (OR: 3.89, 95% CI: 2.07-7.59), Group A streptococcus (OR 2.73, 95% CI 1.13-6.09) and E. coli (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.02-6.71). Respiratory viruses were more common in febrile children than controls, but only influenza A (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.11-0.46), influenza B (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.37) and RSV (OR 0.16, 95% CI: 0.06-0.36) were less common in DB than DV cases. Of 16 blood viruses, enterovirus (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.72) and EBV (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56-0.90) were detected less often in DB than DV cases. Combined local diagnostics and CMTs respectively detected blood viruses and respiratory viruses in 360 (56%) and 161 (25%) of DB cases, and virus detection ruled-out bacterial infection poorly, with predictive values of 0.64 and 0.68 respectively.InterpretationMost febrile children cannot be conclusively defined as having bacterial or viral infection when molecular tests supplement conventional approaches. Viruses are detected in most patients with bacterial infections, and the clinical value of individual pathogen detection in determining treatment is low. New approaches are needed to help determine which febrile children require antibiotics.FundingEU Horizon 2020 grant 668303

New insights and predictions on high-redshift galaxies from wide-area infrared surveys

What do galaxies that formed right after the Big Bang look like? Are they as massive as the Milky Way is today? Do they already contain old stellar populations and galactic dust? In this PhD thesis, I used wide-area infrared galaxy surveys to investigate the presence and physical properties of galaxies billions of light years away. In Chapter 2, I simulated data for the newly-operating Euclid space telescope to assess its ability to identify early Universe galaxies, and how sample contamination from less distant galaxies with similar observational properties can be mitigated. In Chapter 3, I studied one particularly massive galaxy in the early Universe with various model fitting codes to quantify the effects of modelling assumptions on the stellar mass estimates. In Chapter 4, I studied a sample of infrared sources that are undetected at optical wavelengths with deep, high-resolution imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover their physical properties and study their Halpha emission. In Chapter 5, I placed the stellar properties of galaxies detected at sub-millimeter wavelengths in the context of comparable infrared galaxies that are undetected at such long wavelengths. In the final chapter, I summarize my findings on early Universe galaxies and discuss how synergies between existing and future infrared facilities will greatly increase statistics on these interesting sources

New insights and predictions on high-redshift galaxies from wide-area infrared surveys

What do galaxies that formed right after the Big Bang look like? Are they as massive as the Milky Way is today? Do they already contain old stellar populations and galactic dust? In this PhD thesis, I used wide-area infrared galaxy surveys to investigate the presence and physical properties of galaxies billions of light years away. In Chapter 2, I simulated data for the newly-operating Euclid space telescope to assess its ability to identify early Universe galaxies, and how sample contamination from less distant galaxies with similar observational properties can be mitigated. In Chapter 3, I studied one particularly massive galaxy in the early Universe with various model fitting codes to quantify the effects of modelling assumptions on the stellar mass estimates. In Chapter 4, I studied a sample of infrared sources that are undetected at optical wavelengths with deep, high-resolution imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover their physical properties and study their Halpha emission. In Chapter 5, I placed the stellar properties of galaxies detected at sub-millimeter wavelengths in the context of comparable infrared galaxies that are undetected at such long wavelengths. In the final chapter, I summarize my findings on early Universe galaxies and discuss how synergies between existing and future infrared facilities will greatly increase statistics on these interesting sources