Tracing the formation of massive spheroids from high-z galaxy clustering

The high-z progenitors of local massive early-type galaxies should be characterized by a strong level of clustering, larger than that measured for z=3 Lyman Break Galaxies and comparable to that of z~1 EROs. First possible evidences for such strongly clustered objects at z~2 were found by the FIRES and K20 surveys, that have identified new classes of faint high-z K-selected galaxies. Some details are given here for the new population of massive star-forming galaxies at z~2, found by the K20 survey in the GOODS-South area. Because of their much redder UV continuum, most of these galaxies would not be selected by the Lyman Break criterion. Such objects are good candidates for the precursors of local ellipticals caught in their formation phase. We have calibrated a two color criterion to allow the identification of these highest redshift galaxies in bright K-limited samples.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, in "Multiwavelength Mapping of Galaxy Formation and Evolution" Venice, October 2003, conference proceeding

Neuroscienze e categorie penalistiche: tra teoria e prassi

L’elaborato propone, in prospettiva multidisciplinare ed interdisciplinare, un percorso analitico di studio ed approfondimento critico delle risultanze neuroscientifiche nel diritto penale, sostanziale e processuale. Dopo avere illustrato sinteticamente il panorama delle ricerche sperimentali in materia di libertà e coscienza delle proprie azioni e dei propri comportamenti, la tesi entra nel merito delle possibili influenze che i principi riduzionisti neuroscientifici, fautori e propugnatori della naturalizzazione della persona umana, potrebbero avere sulle fondamenta del diritto penale, dogmaticamente inteso, con l’intento di sondare l’esistenza di una terza via, compatibilista, tra il rigetto aprioristico delle acquisizioni neuroscientifiche e lo scientismo fiducioso di natura positivista, per mezzo dell’indagine attraverso la suitas della condotta, la colpevolezza e le finalità sanzionatorie penali. Condotto il confronto con le neuroscienze di seconda generazione, il progetto prosegue, nella seconda parte, dirigendo l’analisi verso la rielaborazione concreta delle ricerche sperimentali delle neuroscienze di prima generazione, sui soggetti affetti da lesioni cerebrali, con l’obiettivo di condurre la riflessione attraverso gli istituti dell’imputabilità e della pericolosità sociale, vagliando la possibilità di estrarre dalle neuroscienze elementi utili per affrontare la crisi del concetto di autore non imputabile pericoloso di reato, nel contesto del sistema a doppio binario

Revisiting the role of the Thermally-Pulsating Asymptotic Giant Branch phase in high-redshift galaxies

We study the debated contribution from thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars in evolutionary population synthesis models. We investigate the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of a sample of 51 spectroscopically confirmed, high-z ($1.3<z_{\rm spec}<2.7$), galaxies using three evolutionary population synthesis models with strong, mild and light TP-AGB. Our sample is the largest of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies on which such models are tested so far. Galaxies were selected as passive, but we model them using a variety of star formation histories in order not to be dependent on this pre-selection. We find that the observed SEDs are best fitted with a significant contribution of TP-AGB stars or with substantial dust attenuation. Without including reddening, TP-AGB-strong models perform better and deliver solutions consistent within $1\sigma$ from the best-fit ones in the vast majority of cases. Including reddening, all models perform similarly. Using independent constraints from observations in the mid- and far-IR, we show that low/negligible dust attenuation, i.e. $E(B-V)\lesssim 0.05$ , should be preferred for the SEDs of passively-selected galaxies. Given that TP-AGB-light models give systematically older ages for passive galaxies, we suggest number counts of passive galaxies at higher redshifts as a further test to discriminate among stellar population models.Comment: 48 pages, 17 figures, 10 Tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Three regimes of CO emission in galaxy mergers

The conversion factor $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ from the observable CO(1-0) luminosity to the mass of molecular gas is known to vary between isolated galaxies and some mergers, but the underlying reasons are not clearly understood. Thus, the value(s) of $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ to be adopted remain highly uncertain. To provide better constraints, we apply the large velocity gradient method to a series of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies and derive the evolution of $\alpha_{\rm CO}$. We report significant variations of $\alpha_{\rm CO}$, and identify three distinct regimes: disk galaxies, starbursts and post-burst phases. We show that estimating the star formation rate over 20 Myr smooths out some of these differences, but still maintains a distinction between disks and starbursts. We find a tighter correlation of $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ with the gas depletion time than with star formation rate, yet with deviations induced by the transitions to and from the starburst episodes. We conclude that $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ fluctuates because of both the feedback energy and the velocity dispersion. Identifying the phase of an interaction by classical means (e.g. morphology, luminosity) could then help selecting the relevant conversion factor to be used and get more accurate estimates of the molecular masses of galaxies.Comment: A&A accepted, 6 pages, 5 figure

Star formation and quenching among the most massive galaxies at z~1.7

We have conducted a detailed object-by-object study of a mass-complete (M*>10^11 M_sun) sample of 56 galaxies at 1.4 < z < 2 in the GOODS-South field, showing that an accurate de-blending in MIPS/24um images is essential to properly assign to each galaxy its own star formation rate (SFR), whereas an automatic procedure often fails. This applies especially to galaxies with SFRs below the Main Sequence (MS) value, which may be in their quenching phase. After that, the sample splits evenly between galaxies forming stars within a factor of 4 of the MS rate (~45%), and sub-MS galaxies with SFRs ~10-1000 times smaller (~55%). We did not find a well defined class of intermediate, transient objects below the MS, suggesting that the conversion of a massive MS galaxy into a quenched remnant may take a relatively short time (<1 Gyr), though a larger sample should be analyzed in the same way to set precise limits on the quenching timescale. X-ray detected AGNs represent a ~30% fraction of the sample, and are found among both star-forming and quenched galaxies. The morphological analysis revealed that ~50% of our massive objects are bulge-dominated, and almost all MS galaxies with a relevant bulge component host an AGN. We also found sub-MS SFRs in many bulge-dominated systems, providing support to the notion that bulge growth, AGN activity and quenching of star formation are closely related to each other.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA