The cosmic history of hot gas cooling and radio active galactic nucleus activity in massive early-type galaxies

We study the X-ray properties of 393 optically selected early-type galaxies (ETGs) over the redshift range of z≈ 0.0–1.2 in the Chandra Deep Fields (CDFs). To measure the average X-ray properties of the ETG population, we use X-ray stacking analyses with a subset of 158 passive ETGs (148 of which were individually undetected in X-ray). This ETG subset was constructed to span the redshift ranges of z= 0.1–1.2 in the ≈4 Ms CDF-South and ≈2 Ms CDF-North and z= 0.1–0.6 in the ≈250 ks Extended-CDF-South where the contribution from individually undetected active galactic nuclei (AGN) is expected to be negligible in our stacking. We find that 55 of the ETGs are detected individually in X-ray, and 12 of these galaxies have properties consistent with being passive hot-gas-dominated systems (i.e. systems not dominated by an X-ray bright AGN). On the basis of our analyses, we find little evolution in the mean 0.5–2 keV to B-band luminosity ratio (LX/LB∝ [1 +z]1.2) since z≈ 1.2, implying that some heating mechanism prevents the gas from cooling in these systems. We consider that feedback from radio-mode AGN activity could be responsible for heating the gas. We select radio AGN in the ETG population using their far-infrared/radio flux ratio. Our radio observations allow us to constrain the duty cycle history of radio AGN activity in our ETG sample. We estimate that if scaling relations between radio and mechanical power hold out to z≈ 1.2 for the ETG population being studied here, the average mechanical power from AGN activity is a factor of ≈1.4–2.6 times larger than the average radiative cooling power from hot gas over the redshift range z≈ 0–1.2. The excess of inferred AGN mechanical power from these ETGs is consistent with that found in the local Universe for similar types of galaxies

The dynamics of z = 0.8 Hα-selected star-forming galaxies from KMOS/CF-HiZELS

We present the spatially resolved Hα dynamics of 16 star-forming galaxies at z ~ 0.81 using the new KMOS multi-object integral field spectrograph on the ESO Very Large Telescope. These galaxies, selected using 1.18 μm narrowband imaging from the 10 deg2 CFHT-HiZELS survey of the SA 22 hr field, are found in a ~4 Mpc overdensity of Hα emitters and likely reside in a group/intermediate environment, but not a cluster. We confirm and identify a rich group of star-forming galaxies at z = 0.813 ± 0.003, with 13 galaxies within 1000 km s–1 of each other, and seven within a diameter of 3 Mpc. All of our galaxies are "typical" star-forming galaxies at their redshift, 0.8 ± 0.4 SFR$^*_{z = 0.8}$, spanning a range of specific star formation rates (sSFRs) of 0.2-1.1 Gyr–1 and have a median metallicity very close to solar of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.62 ± 0.06. We measure the spatially resolved Hα dynamics of the galaxies in our sample and show that 13 out of 16 galaxies can be described by rotating disks and use the data to derive inclination corrected rotation speeds of 50-275 km s–1. The fraction of disks within our sample is 75% ± 8%, consistent with previous results based on Hubble Space Telescope morphologies of Hα-selected galaxies at z ~ 1 and confirming that disks dominate the SFR density at z ~ 1. Our Hα galaxies are well fitted by the z ~ 1-2 Tully-Fisher (TF) relation, confirming the evolution seen in the zero point. Apart from having, on average, higher stellar masses and lower sSFRs, our group galaxies at z = 0.81 present the same mass-metallicity and TF relation as z ~ 1 field galaxies and are all disk galaxies

A relationship between specific star formation rate and metallicity gradient within z ∼ 1 galaxies from KMOS-HiZELS

We have observed a sample of typical z ∼ 1 star-forming galaxies, selected from the HiZELS survey, with the new K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) near-infrared, multi-integral field unit instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), in order to obtain their dynamics and metallicity gradients. The majority of our galaxies have a metallicity gradient consistent with being flat or negative (i.e. higher metallicity cores than outskirts). Intriguingly, we find a trend between metallicity gradient and specific star formation rate (sSFR), such that galaxies with a high sSFR tend to have relatively metal poor centres, a result which is strengthened when combined with data sets from the literature. This result appears to explain the discrepancies reported between different high-redshift studies and varying claims for evolution. From a galaxy evolution perspective, the trend we see would mean that a galaxy's sSFR is governed by the amount of metal-poor gas that can be funnelled into its core, triggered either by merging or through efficient accretion. In fact, merging may play a significant role as it is the starburst galaxies at all epochs, which have the more positive metallicity gradients. Our results may help to explain the origin of the fundamental metallicity relation, in which galaxies at a fixed mass are observed to have lower metallicities at higher star formation rates, especially if the metallicity is measured in an aperture encompassing only the central regions of the galaxy. Finally, we note that this study demonstrates the power of KMOS as an efficient instrument for large-scale resolved galaxy surveys

The clustering of H β\beta + [O III] and [O II] emitters since z \tilde 5: dependencies with line luminosity and stellar mass

We investigate the clustering properties of ∼7000 H β + [O III] and [O II] narrowband-selected emitters at z ∼ 0.8–4.7 from the High-z Emission Line Survey. We find clustering lengths, r0, of 1.5–4.0 h−1 Mpc and minimum dark matter halo masses of 1010.7–12.1 M⊙ for our z = 0.8–3.2 H β + [O III] emitters and r0 ∼ 2.0–8.3 h−1 Mpc and halo masses of 1011.5–12.6 M⊙ for our z = 1.5–4.7 [O II] emitters. We find r0 to strongly increase both with increasing line luminosity and redshift. By taking into account the evolution of the characteristic line luminosity, L⋆(z), and using our model predictions of halo mass given r0, we find a strong, redshift-independent increasing trend between L/L⋆(z) and minimum halo mass. The faintest H β + [O III] emitters are found to reside in 109.5 M⊙ haloes and the brightest emitters in 1013.0 M⊙ haloes. For [O II] emitters, the faintest emitters are found in 1010.5 M⊙ haloes and the brightest emitters in 1012.6 M⊙ haloes. A redshift-independent stellar mass dependency is also observed where the halo mass increases from 1011 to 1012.5 M⊙ for stellar masses of 108.5 to 1011.5 M⊙, respectively. We investigate the interdependencies of these trends by repeating our analysis in a Lline−Mstar grid space for our most populated samples (H β + [O III] z = 0.84 and [O II] z = 1.47) and find that the line luminosity dependency is stronger than the stellar mass dependency on halo mass. For L > L⋆ emitters at all epochs, we find a relatively flat trend with halo masses of 1012.5–13 M⊙, which may be due to quenching mechanisms in massive haloes that is consistent with a transitional halo mass predicted by models

A Multiwavelength Photometric Census of AGN and Star Formation Activity in the Brightest Cluster Galaxies of X-ray Selected Clusters

Despite their reputation as being ‘red and dead’, the unique environment inhabited by brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) can often lead to a self-regulated feedback cycle between radiatively cooling intracluster gas and star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in the BCG. However the prevalence of ‘active’ BCGs, and details of the feedback involved, are still uncertain. We have performed an optical, UV and mid-IR photometric analysis of the BCGs in 981 clusters at 0.03 < z < 0.5, selected from the ROSAT All Sky Survey. Using Pan-STARRS PS1 3π, GALEX and WISE survey data we look for BCGs with photometric colours which deviate from that of the bulk population of passive BCGs – indicative of AGN and/or star formation activity within the BCG. We find that whilst the majority of BCGs are consistent with being passive, at least 14 per cent of our BCGs show a significant colour offset from passivity in at least one colour index. And, where available, supplementary spectroscopy reveals the majority of these particular BCGs show strong optical emission lines. On comparing BCG ‘activity’ with the X-ray luminosity of the host cluster, we find that BCGs showing a colour offset are preferentially found in the more X-ray luminous clusters, indicative of the connection between BCG ‘activity’ and the intracluster medium

The KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS): the Tully–Fisher relation at z ∼ 1

We present the stellar mass (M*), and K-corrected K-band absolute magnitude (MK) Tully–Fisher relations (TFRs) for subsamples of the 584 galaxies spatially resolved in H α emission by the KMOS Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS). We model the velocity field of each of the KROSS galaxies and extract a rotation velocity, V80 at a radius equal to the major axis of an ellipse containing 80 per cent of the total integrated H α flux. The large sample size of KROSS allowed us to select 210 galaxies with well-measured rotation speeds. We extract from this sample a further 56 galaxies that are rotationally supported, using the stringent criterion V80/σ > 3, where σ is the flux weighted average velocity dispersion. We find the MK and M* TFRs for this subsample to be MK/mag=(−7.3±0.9)×[(log(V80/km s−1)−2.25]−23.4±0.2MK/mag=(−7.3±0.9)×[(log⁡(V80/km s−1)−2.25]−23.4±0.2, and log(M∗/M⊙)=(4.7±0.4)×[(log(V80/km s−1)−2.25]+10.0±0.3log⁡(M∗/M⊙)=(4.7±0.4)×[(log⁡(V80/km s−1)−2.25]+10.0±0.3, respectively. We find an evolution of the M* TFR zero-point of −0.41 ± 0.08 dex over the last ∼8 billion years. However, we measure no evolution in the MK TFR zero-point over the same period. We conclude that rotationally supported galaxies of a given dynamical mass had less stellar mass at z ∼ 1 than the present day, yet emitted the same amounts of K-band light. The ability of KROSS to differentiate, using integral field spectroscopy with KMOS, between those galaxies that are rotationally supported and those that are not explains why our findings are at odds with previous studies without the same capabilities

A critical analysis of high-redshift, massive galaxy clusters: I

We critically investigate current statistical tests applied to high redshift clusters of galaxies in order to test the standard cosmological model and describe their range of validity. We carefully compare a sample of high-redshift, massive, galaxy clusters with realistic Poisson sample simulations of the theoretical mass function, which include the effect of Eddington bias. We compare the observations and simulations using the following statistical tests: the distributions of ensemble and individual existence probabilities (in the >M,>z sense), the redshift distributions, and the 2d Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Using seemingly rare clusters from Hoyle et al. (2011), and Jee et al. (2011) and assuming the same survey geometry as in Jee et al. (2011, which is less conservative than Hoyle et al. 2011), we find that the (>M,>z) existence probabilities of all clusters are fully consistent with LCDM. However assuming the same survey geometry, we use the 2d K-S test probability to show that the observed clusters are not consistent with being the least probable clusters from simulations at >95% confidence, and are also not consistent with being a random selection of clusters, which may be caused by the non-trivial selection function and survey geometry. Tension can be removed if we examine only a X-ray selected sub sample, with simulations performed assuming a modified survey geometry.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, modified to match accepted version (JCAP); title changed, main analysis unchanged, additional analysi

To wet or not to wet: that is the question

Wetting transitions have been predicted and observed to occur for various combinations of fluids and surfaces. This paper describes the origin of such transitions, for liquid films on solid surfaces, in terms of the gas-surface interaction potentials V(r), which depend on the specific adsorption system. The transitions of light inert gases and H2 molecules on alkali metal surfaces have been explored extensively and are relatively well understood in terms of the least attractive adsorption interactions in nature. Much less thoroughly investigated are wetting transitions of Hg, water, heavy inert gases and other molecular films. The basic idea is that nonwetting occurs, for energetic reasons, if the adsorption potential's well-depth D is smaller than, or comparable to, the well-depth of the adsorbate-adsorbate mutual interaction. At the wetting temperature, Tw, the transition to wetting occurs, for entropic reasons, when the liquid's surface tension is sufficiently small that the free energy cost in forming a thick film is sufficiently compensated by the fluid- surface interaction energy. Guidelines useful for exploring wetting transitions of other systems are analyzed, in terms of generic criteria involving the "simple model", which yields results in terms of gas-surface interaction parameters and thermodynamic properties of the bulk adsorbate.Comment: Article accepted for publication in J. Low Temp. Phy