GHASP: an H{\alpha} kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies -- IX. The NIR, stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relations

We studied, for the first time, the near infrared, stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relations for a sample of field galaxies taken from an homogeneous Fabry-Perot sample of galaxies (the GHASP survey). The main advantage of GHASP over other samples is that maximum rotational velocities were estimated from 2D velocity fields, avoiding assumptions about the inclination and position angle of the galaxies. By combining these data with 2MASS photometry, optical colors, HI masses and different mass-to-light ratio estimators, we found a slope of 4.48\pm0.38 and 3.64\pm0.28 for the stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, respectively. We found that these values do not change significantly when different mass-to-light ratios recipes were used. We also point out, for the first time, that rising rotation curves as well as asymmetric rotation curves show a larger dispersion in the Tully-Fisher relation than flat ones or than symmetric ones. Using the baryonic mass and the optical radius of galaxies, we found that the surface baryonic mass density is almost constant for all the galaxies of this sample. In this study we also emphasize the presence of a break in the NIR Tully-Fisher relation at M(H,K)\sim-20 and we confirm that late-type galaxies present higher total-to-baryonic mass ratios than early-type spirals, suggesting that supernova feedback is actually an important issue in late-type spirals. Due to the well defined sample selection criteria and the homogeneity of the data analysis, the Tully-Fisher relation for GHASP galaxies can be used as a reference for the study of this relation in other environments and at higher redshifts.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Evolution of the mass, size, and star formation rate in high-redshift merging galaxies MIRAGE - A new sample of simulations with detailed stellar feedback

We aim at addressing the questions related to galaxy mass assembly through major and minor wet merging processes in the redshift range 1<z<2. A consequent fraction of Milky Way like galaxies are thought to have undergone an unstable clumpy phase at this early stage. Using the adaptive mesh refinement code RAMSES, with a recent physically-motivated implementation of stellar feedback, we build the Merging and Isolated high-Redshift Adaptive mesh refinement Galaxies (MIRAGE) sample. It is composed of 20 mergers and 3 isolated idealized disks simulations with global physical properties in accordance with the 1<z<2 mass complete sample MASSIV. The numerical hydrodynamical resolution reaches 7 parsecs in the smallest Eulerian cells. Our simulations include: star formation, metal line cooling, metallicity advection, and a recent implementation of stellar feedback which encompasses OB-type stars radiative pressure, photo-ionization heating, and supernovae. The initial conditions are set to match the z~2 observations, thanks to a new public code DICE. The numerical resolution allows us to follow the formation and evolution of giant clumps formed in-situ from Jeans instabilities triggered by high initial gas fraction. The star formation history of isolated disks shows stochastic star formation rate, which proceeds from the complex behavior of the giant clumps. Our minor and major gas-rich merger simulations do not trigger starbursts, suggesting a saturation of the star formation in a turbulent and clumpy interstellar medium fed by substantial accretion from the circum-galactic medium. Our simulations are close to the normal regime of the disk-like star formation on a Schmidt-Kennicutt diagram. The mass-size relation and its rate of evolution matches observations, suggesting that the inside-out growth mechanisms of the stellar disk do not necessarily require to be achieved through a cold accretion.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures. Accepted in A&

Velocity measurement in the extensive [OIII] emission region 1.2{\deg} south-east of M31

The discovery of a broad, $\sim$1.5$^{\circ}$ long filamentary [OIII] 5007 emission $\sim$1.2$^{\circ}$ south-east of the M31 nucleus has recently been reported. More than 100 hours of exposures of a wide field (3.48$^{\circ} \times 2.32^{\circ}$) have allowed this pioneering detection based on 30 \AA\ narrow-band filters and several small refractors equipped with large cameras. We report a first velocity measurement in this extensive [OIII] emission line region. We used the low-resolution spectrograph MISTRAL (R $\sim$ 750), a facility of the Haute-Provence Observatory 193 cm telescope. The velocity measurement is based on the H$\alpha$, [NII], [SII] and [OIII] lines. The best solution to fit the spectrum indicates that the H$\alpha$ and [OIII] emissions are at the same heliocentric line-of-sight velocity of -96$\pm$4 km s$^{-1}$. This was measured within an area of $\sim$250 arcsec$^2$ selected on a bright knot along the long filament of $\sim$1.5$^{\circ}$, together with a [OIII]5007 surface brightness of 4.2$\pm$2.1 10$^{-17}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$. This agrees moderately well with the previous measurement. We also estimated the H$\alpha$/[NII] line ratio as $\sim$1.1. The radial velocities at which the H$\alpha$ and [OIII] lines were detected seem to show that these hydrogen and oxygen atoms belong to the same layer, but we cannot exclude that another weaker [OIII] line, belonging to another structure, that is, at another velocity, is below our detection threshold. Different scenarios have been considered to explain this filamentary structure...Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, A&A letters, Accepte

GHASP: an Hα\alpha kinematic survey of spiral galaxies - X. Surface photometry, decompositions and the Tully-Fisher relation in the Rc-band

We present Rc-band surface photometry for 170 of the 203 galaxies in GHASP, Gassendi H-Alpha survey of SPirals, a sample of late-type galaxies for which high-resolution Fabry-Perot H{\alpha} maps have previously been obtained. Our data set is constructed by new Rc-band observations taken at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP), supplemented with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) archival data, obtained with the purpose of deriving homogeneous photometric profiles and parameters. Our results include Rc-band surface brightness profiles for 170 galaxies and $ugriz$ profiles for 108 of these objects. We catalogue several parameters of general interest for further reference, such as total magnitude, effective radius and isophotal parameters -- magnitude, position angle, ellipticity and inclination. We also perform a structural decomposition of the surface brightness profiles using a multi-component method in order to separate disks from bulges and bars, and to observe the main scaling relations involving luminosities, sizes and maximum velocities. We determine the Rc-band Tully Fisher relation using maximum velocities derived solely from H$\alpha$ rotation curves for a sample of 80 galaxies, resulting in a slope of $-8.1 \pm 0.5$, zero point of $-3.0 \pm 1.0$ and an estimated intrinsic scatter of $0.28 \pm 0.07$. We note that, different from the TF-relation in the near-infrared derived for the same sample, no change in the slope of the relation is seen at the low-mass end (for galaxies with $V_{max} < 125$ km/s). We suggest that this different behaviour of the Tully Fisher relation (with the optical relation being described by a single power-law while the near-infrared by two) may be caused by differences in the stellar mass to light ratio for galaxies with $V_{max} < 125$ km/s.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure

Integral field spectroscopy with SINFONI of VVDS galaxies. II. The mass-metallicity relation at 1.2 < z < 1.6

This work aims to provide a first insight into the mass-metallicity (MZ) relation of star-forming galaxies at redshift z~1.4. To reach this goal, we present a first set of nine VVDS galaxies observed with the NIR integral-field spectrograph SINFONI on the VLT. Oxygen abundances are derived from empirical indicators based on the ratio between strong nebular emission-lines (Halpha, [NII]6584 and [SII]6717,6731). Stellar masses are deduced from SED fitting with Charlot & Bruzual (2007) population synthesis models, and star formation rates are derived from [OII]3727 and Halpha emission-line luminosities. We find a typical shift of 0.2-0.4 dex towards lower metallicities for the z~1.4 galaxies, compared to the MZ-relation in the local universe as derived from SDSS data. However, this small sample of eight galaxies does not show any clear correlation between stellar mass and metallicity, unlike other larger samples at different redshift (z~0, z~0.7, and z~2). Indeed, our galaxies lie just under the relation at z~2 and show a small trend for more massive galaxies to be more metallic (~0.1 logarithmic slope). There are two possible explanations to account for these observations. First, the most massive galaxies present higher specific star formation rates when compared to the global VVDS sample which could explain the particularly low metallicity of these galaxies as already shown in the SDSS sample. Second, inflow of metal-poor gas due to tidal interactions could also explain the low metallicity of these galaxies as two of these three galaxies show clear signatures of merging in their velocity fields. Finally, we find that the metallicity of 4 galaxies is lower by ~0.2 to 0.4 dex if we take into account the N/O abundance ratio in their metallicity estimate.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted in A&A Comments: Comments: more accurate results with better stellar mass estimate

High star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies

High spatial and spectral resolution observations of star formation and kinematics in early galaxies have shown that two-thirds are massive rotating disk galaxies with the remainder being less massive non-rotating objects. The line of sight averaged velocity dispersions are typically five times higher than in today's disk galaxies. This has suggested that gravitationally-unstable, gas-rich disks in the early Universe are fuelled by cold, dense accreting gas flowing along cosmic filaments and penetrating hot galactic gas halos. However these accreting flows have not been observed, and cosmic accretion cannot power the observed level of turbulence. Here we report on a new sample of rare high-velocity-dispersion disk galaxies we have discovered in the nearby Universe where cold accretion is unlikely to drive their high star-formation rates. We find that the velocity dispersion is most fundamentally correlated with their star-formation rates, and not their mass nor gas fraction, which leads to a new picture where star formation itself is the energetic driver of galaxy disk turbulence at all cosmic epochs.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Supplimentary Info available at: http://pulsar.swin.edu.au/~agreen/nature/sigma_mean_arXiv.pdf. Accepted for publication in Natur

Kinematics of galaxies in Compact Groups. Studying the B-band Tully-Fisher relation

We obtained new Fabry-Perot data cubes and derived velocity fields, monochromatic and velocity dispersion maps for 28 galaxies in the Hickson compact groups 37, 40, 47, 49, 54, 56, 68, 79 and 93. We find that one third of the non-barred compact group galaxies have position angle misalignments between the stellar and gaseous components. This and the asymmetric rotation curves are clear signatures of kinematic perturbations, probably due to interactions among compact group galaxies. A comparison between the B-band Tully-Fisher relation for compact group galaxies and that for the GHASP field-galaxy sample shows that, despite the high fraction of compact group galaxies with asymmetric rotation curves, these lie on the Tully-Fisher relation defined by galaxies in less dense environments, although with more scatter. This is in agreement with previous results, but now confirmed for a larger sample of 41 galaxies. We confirm the tendency for compact group galaxies at the low-mass end of the Tully-Fisher relation (HCG 49b, 89d, 96c, 96d and 100c) to have either a magnitude that is too bright for its mass (suggesting brightening by star formation) and/or a low maximum rotational velocity for its luminosity (suggesting tidal stripping). These galaxies are outside the Tully Fisher relation, at the 1 sigma level, even when the minimum acceptable values of inclinations are used to compute their maximum velocities. The inclusion of such galaxies with v<100 km/s in the determination of the zero point and slope of the compact group B-band Tully-Fisher relation would strongly change the fit, making it different from the relation for field galaxies, a fact that has to be kept in mind when studying scaling relations of interacting galaxies, specially at high redshifts.Comment: 17 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Hickson compact groups Fabry-Perot data are available at http://fabryperot.oamp.fr/PerotFabry

MASSIV: Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS. IV. Fundamental relations of star-forming galaxies at 1<z< 1.6

How mass assembly occurs in galaxies and which process(es) contribute to this activity are among the most highly debated questions in galaxy formation theories. This has motivated our survey MASSIV of 0.9<z<1.9 star-forming galaxies selected from the purely flux-limited VVDS redshift survey. For the first time, we derive the relations between galaxy size, mass, and internal velocity, and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, from a statistically representative sample of star-forming galaxies. We find a dynamical mass that agrees with those of rotating galaxies containing a gas fraction of ~20%, perfectly consistent with the content derived using the Kennicutt-Schmidt formulation and the expected evolution. Non-rotating galaxies have more compact sizes for their stellar component, and are less massive than rotators, but do not have statistically different sizes for their gas-component. We measure a marginal evolution in the size-stellar mass and size-velocity relations in which discs become evenly smaller with cosmic time at fixed stellar mass or velocity, and are less massive at a given velocity than in the local Universe. The scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation is smaller when we introduce the S05 index, which we interpret as evidence of an increase in the contribution to galactic kinematics of turbulent motions with cosmic time. We report a persistently large scatter for rotators in our relations, that we suggest is intrinsic, and possibly caused by complex physical mechanism(s) at work in our stellar mass/luminosity regime and redshift range. Our results consistently point towards a mild, net evolution of these relations, comparable to those predicted by cosmological simulations of disc formation for at least 8Gyr and a dark halo strongly coupled with galactic spectrophotometric properties

The Physics and Mass Assembly of distant galaxies with the E-ELT

One of the main science goal of the future European Extremely Large Telescope will be to understand the mass assembly process in galaxies as a function of cosmic time. To this aim, a multi-object, AO-assisted integral field spectrograph will be required to map the physical and chemical properties of very distant galaxies. In this paper, we examine the ability of such an instrument to obtain spatially resolved spectroscopy of a large sample of massive (0.1<Mstellar<5e11Mo) galaxies at 2<z<6, selected from future large area optical-near IR surveys. We produced a set of about one thousand numerical simulations of 3D observations using reasonable assumptions about the site, telescope, and instrument, and about the physics of distant galaxies. These data-cubes were analysed as real data to produce realistic kinematic measurements of very distant galaxies. We then studied how sensible the scientific goals are to the observational (i.e., site-, telescope-, and instrument-related) and physical (i.e., galaxy-related) parameters. We specifically investigated the impact of AO performance on the science goal. We did not identify any breaking points with respect to the parameters (e.g., the telescope diameter), with the exception of the telescope thermal background, which strongly limits the performance in the highest (z>5) redshift bin. We find that a survey of Ngal galaxies that fulfil the range of science goals can be achieved with a ~90 nights program on the E-ELT, provided a multiplex capability M Ngal/8.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA