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Mid-Infrared (IR) silicate dust bands observed in heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) include information on the mineralogical properties of silicate dust. We aim to investigate the mineralogical picture of the circumnuclear region of heavily obscured AGNs to reveal obscured AGN activities through the picture. In our previous study Tsuchikawa et al. (2021), we investigated the properties of silicate dust in heavily obscured AGNs focusing on the mineralogical composition and the crystallinity with Spitzer/IRS 5.3-12 micron spectra. In this study, we model the full-range Spitzer/IRS 5-30 micron spectra of 98 heavily obscured AGNs using a one-dimensional radiative transfer calculation with four dust species in order to evaluate wider ranges of the properties of silicate dust more reliably. Comparing fitting results between four dust models with a different size and porosity, 95 out of the 98 galaxies prefer a porous silicate dust model without micron-sized large grains. The pyroxene mass fraction and the crystallinity are overall consistent with but significantly different from the previous results for the individual galaxies. The pyroxene-poor composition, small dust size and high porosity are similar to newly formed dust around mass-loss stars as seen in our Galaxy, which presumably originates from the recent circumnuclear starburst activity. The high crystallinity on average suggests dust processing induced by AGN activities., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

In the BH-galaxy co-evolution framework, most of the star-formation (SF) and the black hole (BH) accretion is expected to take place in highly obscured conditions. Thus, obscured AGN are difficult to identify in optical or X-ray bands, but shine bright in the IR. Moreover, X-ray background (XRB) synthesis models predict that a large fraction of the yet-unresolved XRB is due to the most obscured (Compton thick, CT) of these AGN. In this work, we investigate the synergies between putative IR missions (using SPICA, proposed for ESA/M5 but withdrawn in October 2020, and Origins Space Telescope, OST, as `templates') and the X-ray mission Athena, which should fly in early 2030s, in detecting and characterizing AGN, with a particular focus on the most obscured ones. Using an XRB synthesis model, we estimated the number of AGN and the number of those which will be detected in the X-rays. For each AGN we associated an optical-to-FIR SED from observed AGN with both X-ray data and SED decomposition, and used these SEDs to check if the AGN will be detected by SPICA-like or OST at IR wavelengths. We expect that, with the deepest Athena and SPICA-like (or OST) surveys, we will be able to detect in the IR more than $90\,\%$ of all the AGN (down to L$_{2-10\text{keV}} \sim 10^{42}\,$erg/s and up to $z \sim 10$) predicted by XRB synthesis modeling, and we will detect at least half of them in the X-rays. Athena will be extremely powerful in detecting and discerning moderate- and high-luminosity AGN. We find that the most obscured and elusive CT-AGN will be exquisitely sampled by SPICA-like mission or OST and that Athena will allow a fine characterization of the most-luminous ones. This will provide a significant step forward in the process of placing stronger constraints on the yet-unresolved XRB and investigating the BH accretion rate evolution up to very high redshift ($z \ge 4$)., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASA

Heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are known to show deep silicate absorption features in the mid-infrared (IR) wavelength range of 10--20~$\mu$m. The detailed profiles of the features reflect the properties of silicate dust, which are likely to include information on AGN activities obscured by large amounts of dust. In order to reveal AGN activities obscured by large amounts of dust, we select 115 mid-IR spectra of heavily obscured AGNs observed by Spitzer/IRS, and systematically analyze the composition of silicate dust by spectral fitting using the 10~$\mu$m amorphous and 23~$\mu$m crystalline bands. We find that the main component of the silicate dust obscuring AGNs is amorphous olivine, the median mass column density of which is one order of magnitude higher than those of the minor components of amorphous pyroxene and crystalline forsterite. The median mass fraction of the amorphous pyroxene, $\sim$2\%, is significantly lower than that of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) dust in our Galaxy, while the median mass fraction of the crystalline forsterite, $\sim$6\%, is higher than that of the diffuse ISM dust. We also find that the mass fractions of the amorphous pyroxene and the crystalline forsterite positively correlate with each other. The low mass fraction of the amorphous pyroxene suggests that the obscuring silicate dust is newly formed, originating from starburst activities. The relatively high mass fraction of crystalline forsterite implies that the silicate dust is processed in the high temperature environment close to the nucleus and transported to outer cooler regions by molecular outflows. The positive correlation between the mass fractions can be naturally explained considering that amorphous pyroxene is transformed from crystalline forsterite by ion bombardments., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Aims: To investigate properties of [CII]158 $\mu$m emission of RCW36 in a dense filamentary cloud. Methods: [CII] observations of RCW36 covering an area of ~30 arcmin$\times$30 arcmin were carried out with a Fabry-P\'{e}rot spectrometer aboard a 100-cm balloon-borne far-infrared (IR) telescope with an angular resolution of 90 arcsec. By using AKARI and Herschel images, the spatial distribution of the [CII] intensity was compared with those of emission from the large grains and PAH. Results: The [CII] emission is spatially in good agreement with shell-like structures of a bipolar lobe observed in IR images, which extend along the direction perpendicular to the direction of a cold dense filament. We found that the [CII]--160 $\mu$m relation for RCW36 shows higher brightness ratio of [CII]/160 $\mu$m than that for RCW 38, while the [CII]--9 $\mu$m relation for RCW36 is in good agreement with that for RCW38. Conclusions: The [CII] emission spatially well correlates with PAH and cold dust emissions. This means that the observed [CII] emission dominantly comes from PDRs. Moreover, the L_[CII]/L_FIR ratio shows large variation compared with the L_[CII]/L_PAH ratio. In view of the observed tight correlation between L_[CII]/L_FIR and the optical depth at $\lambda$=160 $\mu$m, the large variation in L_[CII]/L_FIR can be simply explained by the geometrical effect, viz., L_FIR has contributions from the entire dust-cloud column along the line of sight, while L_[CII] has contributions from far-UV illuminated cloud surfaces. Based on the picture of the geometry effect, the enhanced brightness ratio of [CII]/160 $\mu$m is attributed to the difference in gas structures where massive stars are formed: filamentary (RCW36) and clumpy (RCW38) molecular clouds and thus suggests that RCW36 is dominated by far-UV illuminated cloud surfaces compared with RCW38., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Centaurus A (Cen A) is one of the most famous galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN), where the interaction between AGN activities and surrounding interstellar and intergalactic media has been investigated. Recent studies reported detections of the H{\alpha} emission from clouds in the galactic halo toward the northeast and southwest of the nucleus of Cen A, suggesting that AGN jets may have triggered star formation there. We performed near-infrared line mapping of Cen A with the IRSF 1.4-m telescope, using the narrow-band filter tuned for Pa{\beta}, from which we find that the Pa{\beta} emission is not detected significantly from either northeast or southwest regions. The upper limit of the Pa{\beta}/H{\alpha} ratio in the northeast region is compatible with that expected for a typical HII region, in line with the scenario that AGNs have triggered star formation there. On the other hand, the upper limit of Pa{\beta}/H{\alpha} in the southwest region is significantly lower than that expected for a typical HII region. A possibility to explain the low Pa{\beta}/H{\alpha} ratio in the southwest region is the scattering of H{\alpha} and Pa{\beta} photons from the center of Cen A by dust grains in the halo clouds. From the upper limit of Pa{\beta}/H{\alpha} in the southwest region, we obtain constraints on the dust size distribution, which is found to be compatible with those seen in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ, typos corrected

Context. Although heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been found by many observational studies, the properties of the surrounding dust are poorly understood. Using AKARI/IRC spectroscopy, we discover a new sample of a heavily obscured AGN in LEDA 1712304 which shows a deep spectral absorption feature due to silicate dust. Aims. We study the infrared (IR) spectral properties of circumnuclear silicate dust in LEDA 1712304. Methods. We perform IR spectral fitting, considering silicate dust properties such as composition, porosity, size and crystallinity. Spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting is also performed to the flux densities in the UV to sub-millimeter range to investigate the global spectral properties. Results. The best-fit model indicates 0.1 $\mu$m-sized porous amorphous olivine (${\rm Mg_{2x}Fe_{2-2x}SiO_4}$; $x=0.4$) with $4\%$ crystalline pyroxene. The optical depth is $\tau_{\rm sil}{\sim}2.3$, while the total IR luminosity and stellar mass are estimated to be $L_{\rm IR}=(5\pm1){\times}10^{10}\,L_{\odot}$ and $M_{\rm star}=(2.7\pm0.8){\times}10^{9}\,M_{\odot}$, respectively. In such low $L_{\rm IR}$ and $M_{\rm star}$ ranges, there are few galaxies which show that large ${\tau}_{\rm sil}$. Conclusions. The silicate dust in the AGN torus of LEDA 1712304 has properties notably similar to those in other AGNs as a whole, but slightly different in the wing shape of the absorption profile. The porosity of the silicate dust suggests dust coagulation or processing in the circumnuclear environments, while the crystallinity suggests that the silicate dust is relatively fresh., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Deep MIR surveys have revealed numerous strongly star-forming galaxies at redshift z~<2. Their MIR fluxes are produced by a combination of continuum and PAH emission features. The PAH features can dominate the total MIR flux, but are difficult to measure without spectroscopy. We aim to study star-forming galaxies by using a blind spectroscopic survey at MIR wavelengths to understand evolution of their star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR up to z~=0.5, by paying particular attention to their PAH properties. We conducted a low-resolution (R~=50) slitless spectroscopic survey at 5-13um of 9um flux-selected sources (>0.3 mJy) around the North Ecliptic Pole with the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI. After removing 11 AGN candidates by using the IRC photometry, we identified 48 PAH galaxies with PAH 6.2, 7.7, and 8.6um features at z<0.5. The rest-frame optical-MIR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) based on CFHT and AKARI/IRC imaging covering 0.37-18um were produced, and analysed in conjunction with the PAH spectroscopy. We defined the PAH enhancement by using the luminosity ratio of the 7.7um PAH feature over the 3.5um stellar component of the SEDs. The rest-frame SEDs of all PAH galaxies have a universal shape with stellar and 7.7um bumps, except that the PAH enhancement significantly varies as a function of the PAH luminosities. We identified a PAH-enhanced population at z~>0.35, whose SEDs and luminosities are typical of luminous infrared galaxies. They show particularly larger PAH enhancement at high luminosity, implying that they are vigorous star-forming galaxies with elevated specific SFR. Our composite starburst model that combines a very young and optically very thick starburst with a very old population can successfully reproduce most of their SED characteristics, although we could not confirm this optically thick component from our spectral analysis., Comment: 61 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

The recent updates of the North Ecliptic Pole deep (0.5~deg$^2$, NEP-Deep) multi-wavelength survey covering from X-ray to radio-wave is presented. The NEP-Deep provides us with several thousands of 15~$\mu$m or 18~$\mu$m selected sample of galaxies, which is the largest sample ever made at this wavelengths. A continuous filter coverage in the mid-infrared wavelength (7, 9, 11, 15, 18, and 24~$\mu$m) is unique and vital to diagnose the contributions from starbursts and AGNs in the galaxies out to $z$=2.The new goal of the project is to resolve the nature of the cosmic star formation history at the violent epoch (e.g. $z$=1--2), and to find a clue to understand its decline from $z$=1 to present universe by utilizing the unique power of the multi-wavelength survey. The progress in this context is briefly mentioned., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, AKARI conference proceedings; accepted to PKAS

The mid-infrared (IR) range contains many spectral features associated with large molecules and dust grains such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and silicates. These are usually very strong compared to fine-structure gas lines, and thus valuable in studying the spectral properties of faint distant galaxies. In this paper, we evaluate the capability of low-resolution mid-IR spectroscopic surveys of galaxies that could be performed by SPICA. The surveys are designed to address the question how star formation and black hole accretion activities evolved over cosmic time through spectral diagnostics of the physical conditions of the interstellar/circumnuclear media in galaxies. On the basis of results obtained with Herschel far-IR photometric surveys of distant galaxies and Spitzer and AKARI near- to mid-IR spectroscopic observations of nearby galaxies, we estimate the numbers of the galaxies at redshift z > 0.5, which are expected to be detected in the PAH features or dust continuum by a wide (10 deg^2) or deep (1 deg^2) blind survey, both for a given observation time of 600 hours. As by-products of the wide blind survey, we also expect to detect debris disks, through the mid-IR excess above the photospheric emission of nearby main-sequence stars, and we estimate their number. We demonstrate that the SPICA mid-IR surveys will efficiently provide us with unprecedentedly large spectral samples, which can be studied further in the far-IR with SPICA., Comment: Paper accepted for publication on PASA on 18th October 2017, as part of the SPICA Special Issue

IR spectroscopy in the range 12-230 micron with the SPace IR telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) will reveal the physical processes that govern the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes through cosmic time, bridging the gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) at shorter wavelengths and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) at longer wavelengths. SPICA, with its 2.5-m telescope actively-cooled to below 8K, will obtain the first spectroscopic determination, in the mid-IR rest-frame, of both the star-formation rate and black hole accretion rate histories of galaxies, reaching lookback times of 12 Gyr, for large statistically significant samples. Densities, temperatures, radiation fields and gas-phase metallicities will be measured in dust-obscured galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN), sampling a large range in mass and luminosity, from faint local dwarf galaxies to luminous quasars in the distant Universe. AGN and starburst feedback and feeding mechanisms in distant galaxies will be uncovered through detailed measurements of molecular and atomic line profiles. SPICA's large-area deep spectrophotometric surveys will provide mid-IR spectra and continuum fluxes for unbiased samples of tens of thousands of galaxies, out to redshifts of z~6. Furthermore, SPICA spectroscopy will uncover the most luminous galaxies in the first few hundred million years of the Universe, through their characteristic dust and molecular hydrogen features., Comment: Paper accepted for publication on PASA on 21st September 2017, as part of the SPICA Special Issue

The physical processes driving the chemical evolution of galaxies in the last $\sim 11\, \rm{Gyr}$ cannot be understood without directly probing the dust-obscured phase of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei. This phase, hidden to optical tracers, represents the bulk of star formation and black hole accretion activity in galaxies at $1 < z < 3$. Spectroscopic observations with a cryogenic infrared (IR) observatory like SPICA will be sensitive enough to peer through the dust-obscured regions of galaxies and access the rest-frame mid- to far-IR range in galaxies at high-$z$. This wavelength range contains a unique suite of spectral lines and dust features that serve as proxies for the abundances of heavy elements and the dust composition, providing tracers with a feeble response to both extinction and temperature. In this work, we investigate how SPICA observations could be exploited to understand key aspects in the chemical evolution of galaxies: the assembly of nearby galaxies based on the spatial distribution of heavy element abundances, the global content of metals in galaxies reaching the knee of the luminosity function up to $z \sim 3$, and the dust composition of galaxies at high-$z$. Possible synergies with facilities available in the late 2020s are also discussed., Comment: In press. This paper belongs to the "SPICA Special Issue" on PASA

We present an analysis of the blank sky spectra observed with the Faint Object Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We study the diffuse sky emission from ultraviolet to optical wavelengths, which is composed of the zodiacal light (ZL), diffuse Galactic light (DGL), and residual emission. The observations were performed toward 54 fields distributed widely over the sky, with the spectral coverage from 0.2 to 0.7 um. In order to avoid contaminating light from the earthshine, we use the data collected only in orbital nighttime. The observed intensity is decomposed into the ZL, DGL, and residual emission, in eight photometric bands spanning our spectral coverage. We found that the derived ZL reflectance spectrum is flat in the optical, which indicates major contribution of C-type asteroids to the interplanetary dust (IPD). In addition, the ZL reflectance spectrum has an absorption feature at ~0.3 um. The shape of the DGL spectrum is consistent with those found in earlier measurements and model predictions. While the residual emission contains a contribution from the extragalactic background light, we found that the spectral shape of the residual looks similar to the ZL spectrum. Moreover, its optical intensity is much higher than that measured from beyond the IPD cloud by Pioneer10/11, and also than that of the integrated galaxy light. These findings may indicate the presence of an isotropic ZL component, which is missed in the conventional ZL models., Comment: This paper is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Kimiaki Kawara; accepted for publication in PASJ

We present $Spitzer$/IRS mid-infrared spectral maps of the Galactic star-forming region M17 as well as IRSF/SIRIUS Br$\gamma$ and Nobeyama 45-m/FOREST $^{13}$CO ($J$=1--0) maps. The spectra show prominent features due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at wavelengths of 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.3, 12.0, 12.7, 13.5, and 14.2 $\mu$m. We find that the PAH emission features are bright in the region between the HII region traced by Br$\gamma$ and the molecular cloud traced by $^{13}$CO, supporting that the PAH emission originates mostly from photo-dissociation regions. Based on the spatially-resolved $Spitzer$/IRS maps, we examine spatial variations of the PAH properties in detail. As a result, we find that the interband ratio of PAH 7.7 $\mu$m/PAH 11.3 $\mu$m varies locally near M17SW, but rather independently of the distance from the OB stars in M17, suggesting that the degree of PAH ionization is mainly controlled by local conditions rather than the global UV environments determined by the OB stars in M17. We also find that the interband ratios of the PAH 12.0 $\mu$m, 12.7 $\mu$m, 13.5 $\mu$m, and 14.2 $\mu$m features to the PAH 11.3 $\mu$m feature are high near the M17 center, which suggests structural changes of PAHs through processing due to intense UV radiation, producing abundant edgy irregular PAHs near the M17 center., Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, ApJ accepted

We present a method of selection of 24~$\mu$m galaxies from the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Deep Field down to $150 \mbox{ }\mu$Jy and measurements of their two-point correlation function. We aim to associate various 24 $\mu$m selected galaxy populations with present day galaxies and to investigate the impact of their environment on the direction of their subsequent evolution. We discuss using of Support Vector Machines (SVM) algorithm applied to infrared photometric data to perform star-galaxy separation, in which we achieve an accuracy higher than 80\%. The photometric redshift information, obtained through the CIGALE code, is used to explore the redshift dependence of the correlation function parameter ($r_{0}$) as well as the linear bias evolution. This parameter relates galaxy distribution to the one of the underlying dark matter. We connect the investigated sources to their potential local descendants through a simplified model of the clustering evolution without interactions. We observe two different populations of star-forming galaxies, at $z_{med}\sim 0.25$, $z_{med}\sim 0.9$. Measurements of total infrared luminosities ($L_{TIR}$) show that the sample at $z_{med}\sim 0.25$ is composed mostly of local star-forming galaxies, while the sample at $z_{med}\sim0.9$ is composed of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with $L_{TIR}\sim 10^{11.62}L_{\odot}$. We find that dark halo mass is not necessarily correlated with the $L_{TIR}$: for subsamples with $L_{TIR}= 10^{11.15} L_{\odot}$ at $z_{med}\sim 0.7$ we observe a higher clustering length ($r_{0}=6.21\pm0.78$ $[h^{-1} \mbox{Mpc}]$) than for a subsample with mean $L_{TIR}=10^{11.84} L_{\odot}$ at $z_{med}\sim1.1$ ($r_{0}=5.86\pm0.69$ $h^{-1} \mbox{Mpc}$). We find that galaxies at $z_{med}\sim 0.9$ can be ancestors of present day $L_{*}$ early type galaxies, which exhibit a very high $r_{0}\sim 8$~$h^{-1} \mbox{Mpc}$., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

We explore the relationships between the 3.3 {\mu}m polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties of a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGNs, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects, using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of them have measured X-ray spectra at $E \lesssim 10$ keV. These X-ray spectra provide measurements of the neutral hydrogen column density ($N_{\rm H}$) towards the AGNs. We use the 3.3 {\mu}m PAH luminosity ($L_{\rm 3.3{\mu}m}$) as a proxy for star formation activity and hard X-ray luminosity ($L_{\rm 14-195keV}$) as an indicator of the AGN activity. We search for possible difference of star-formation activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGNs. We have made several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our $\log(L_{\rm 14-195keV})$ versus $\log(L_{\rm 3.3{\mu}m})$ regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGNs is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGNs at a $3\sigma$ level. Also our analysis show that the circum-nuclear star-formation is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGNs than type 1/un-absorbed AGNs for low X-ray luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGNs, while there is no significant dependence of star-formation activities on the AGN type in the high X-ray luminosities/Eddington ratios., Comment: Accepted for publication at PASJ

We present the first galaxy counts at 18 microns using the Japanese AKARI satellite's survey at the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP), produced from the images from the NEP-Deep and NEP-Wide surveys covering 0.6 and 5.8 square degrees respectively. We describe a procedure using a point source filtering algorithm to remove background structure and a minimum variance method for our source extraction and photometry that delivers the optimum signal to noise for our extracted sources, confirming this by comparison with standard photometry methods. The final source counts are complete and reliable over three orders of magnitude in flux density, resulting in sensitivities (80 percent completeness) of 0.15mJy and 0.3mJy for the NEP-Deep and NEP-Wide surveys respectively, a factor of 1.3 deeper than previous catalogues constructed from this field. The differential source counts exhibit a characteristic upturn from Euclidean expectations at around a milliJansky and a corresponding evolutionary bump between 0.2-0.4 mJy consistent with previous mid-infrared surveys with ISO and Spitzer at 15 and 24 microns. We compare our results with galaxy evolution models confirming the striking divergence from the non-evolving scenario. The models and observations are in broad agreement implying that the source counts are consistent with a strongly evolving population of luminous infrared galaxies at redshifts higher than unity. Integrating our source counts down to the limit of the NEP survey at the 150 microJy level we calculate that AKARI has resolved approximately 55 percent of the 18 micron cosmic infrared background relative to the predictions of contemporary source count models., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We have conducted B, g, V, and R-band imaging in a 45x40 arcmin^2 field containing part of the high Galactic latitude translucent cloud MBM32, and correlated the intensity of diffuse optical light S_\nu(\lambda) with that of 100 micron emission S_\nu(100um). A chi^2 minimum analysis is applied to fit a linear function to the measured correlation and derive the slope parameter b(\lambda)= \Delta S_\nu(\lambda) / \Delta S_\nu(100um) of the best-fit linear function. Compiling a sample by combining our b(\lambda) and published ones, we show that the b(\lambda) strength varies from cloud to cloud by a factor of 4. Finding that b(\lambda) decreases as S_\nu(100um) increases in the sample, we suggest that a non-linear correlation including a quadratic term of S_\nu(100um)^2 should be fitted to the measured correlation. The variation of optical depth, which is A_V = 0.16 - 2.0 in the sample, can change b(\lambda) by a factor of 2 - 3. There would be some contribution to the large b(\lambda) variation from the forward-scattering characteristic of dust grains which is coupled to the non-isotropic interstellar radiation field (ISRF). Models of the scattering of diffuse Galactic light (DGL) underestimate the b(\lambda) values by a factor of 2. This could be reconciled by deficiency in UV photons in the ISRF or by a moderate increase in dust albedo. Our b(\lambda) spectrum favors a contribution from extended red emission (ERE) to the diffuse optical light; b(\lambda) rises from B to V faster than the models, seems to peak around 6000 \AA, and decreases towards long wavelengths. Such a characteristic is expected from the models in which the DGL is combined with ERE., Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

HI 1225+01 is an intergalactic gas cloud located on the outskirts of Virgo cluster. Its main components are two large clumps of comparable HI masses (M_HI ~ 10^9 Msun) separated by about 100 kpc. One of the clumps hosts a blue low-surface-brightness galaxy J1227+0136, while the other has no identified stellar emission and is sometimes referred to as a promising candidate of a "dark galaxy", an optically invisible massive intergalactic system. We present a deep optical image covering the whole HI 1225+01 structure for the first time, as well as a collection of archival data from ultraviolet to far-infrared (IR) spectral region of the brightest knot "R1" in J1227+0136. We find that R1 has a young stellar population of age 10-100 Myr and mass ~ 10^6 Msun, near-IR excess brightness which may point to the presence of hot dust with color temperature ~ 600 K, and relatively faint mid- to far-IR fluxes corresponding to the dust mass of up to ~ 100 Msun. Overall, it seems to share the general properties with low-metallicity blue compact dwarf galaxies. On the other hand, no optical counterpart to the other clump is found in our deepest-ever image. Now the limiting surface brightness reaches down to R_AB > 28 mag/arcsec2 for any emission extended over 10" (comparable to R1), which is more than one hundred times fainter than the brightest part of the companion galaxy J1227+0136., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Corrected typos

We present the new constraints on the cosmic optical background (COB) obtained from an analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) data. After careful examination of data quality, the usable measurements free from the zodiacal light are integrated into sky maps at the blue (~0.44 um) and red (~0.64 um) bands. Accurate starlight subtraction is achieved by referring to all-sky star catalogs and a Galactic stellar population synthesis model down to 32.0 mag. We find that the residual light is separated into two components: one component shows a clear correlation with thermal 100 um brightness, while another betrays a constant level in the lowest 100 um brightness region. Presence of the second component is significant after all the uncertainties and possible residual light in the Galaxy are taken into account, thus it most likely has the extragalactic origin (i.e., the COB). The derived COB brightness is (1.8 +/- 0.9) x 10^(-9) and (1.2 +/- 0.9) x 10^(-9) erg/s/cm2/sr/A at the blue and red band, respectively, or 7.9 +/- 4.0 and 7.7 +/- 5.8 nW/m2/sr. Based on a comparison with the integrated brightness of galaxies, we conclude that the bulk of the COB is comprised of normal galaxies which have already been resolved by the current deepest observations. There seems to be little room for contributions of other populations including "first stars" at these wavelengths. On the other hand, the first component of the IPP residual light represents the diffuse Galactic light (DGL) - scattered starlight by the interstellar dust. We derive the mean DGL-to-100 um brightness ratios of 2.1 x 10^(-3) and 4.6 x 10^(-3) at the two bands, which are roughly consistent with the previous observations toward denser dust regions. Extended red emission in the diffuse interstellar medium is also confirmed., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; Typos corrected

We investigate FeII emission in Broad Line Region (BLR) of AGNs by analyzing the FeII(UV), FeII(4570) and MgII emission lines in 884 quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar catalog in a redshift range of 0.727 < z < 0.804. FeII(4570)/FeII(UV) is used to infer the column density of FeII-emitting clouds and explore the excitation mechanism of FeII emission lines. As suggested before in various works, the classical photoionization models fail to account for FeII(4570)/FeII(UV) by a factor of 10, which may suggest anisotropy of UV FeII emission; otherwise, an alternative heating mechanism like shock is working. The column density distribution derived from FeII(4570)/FeII(UV) indicates that radiation pressure plays an important role in BLR gas dynamics. We find a positive correlation between FeII(4570)/FeII(UV) and the Eddington ratio. We also find that almost all FeII-emitting clouds are to be under super-Eddington conditions unless ionizing photon fraction is much smaller than that previously suggested. Finally we propose a physical interpretation of a striking set of correlations between various emission-line properties, known as ``Eigenvector 1''., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the detection and measurement of the absolute brightness and spatial fluctuations of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) with the AKARI satellite. We have carried out observations at 65, 90, 140 and 160 um as a cosmological survey in AKARI Deep Field South (ADF-S), which is one of the lowest cirrus regions with contiguous area on the sky. After removing bright galaxies and subtracting zodiacal and Galactic foregrounds from the measured sky brightness, we have successfully measured the CIB brightness and its fluctuations across a wide range of angular scales from arcminutes to degrees. The measured CIB brightness is consistent with previous results reported from COBE data but significantly higher than the lower limits at 70 and 160 um obtained with the Spitzer satellite from the stacking analysis of 24-um selected sources. The discrepancy with the Spitzer result is possibly due to a new galaxy population at high redshift obscured by hot dust. From power spectrum analysis at 90 um, three components are identified: shot noise due to individual galaxies; Galactic cirrus emission dominating at the largest angular scales of a few degrees; and an additional component at an intermediate angular scale of 10-30 arcminutes, possibly due to galaxy clustering. The spectral shape of the clustering component at 90 um is very similar to that at longer wavelengths as observed by Spitzer and BLAST. Moreover, the color of the fluctuations indicates that the clustering component is as red as Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at high redshift, These galaxies are not likely to be the majority of the CIB emission at 90 um, but responsible for the clustering component. Our results provide new constraints on the evolution and clustering properties of distant infrared galaxies., Comment: 50 pages, 15 figures, submitted to ApJ

Using an AKARI multi-wavelength mid-infrared (IR) survey, we identify luminous starburst galaxies at z> 0.5 based on the PAH luminosity, and investigate the nature of these PAH-selected starbursts. An extragalactic survey with AKARI towards the north ecliptic pole (NEP), the NEP-Deep survey, is unique in terms of a comprehensive wavelength coverage from 2 to 24um using all 9 photometric bands of the InfraRed Camera (IRC). This survey allows us to photometrically identify galaxies whose mid-IR emission is clearly dominated by PAHs. We propose a single colour selection method to identify such galaxies, using two mid-IR flux ratios at 11-to-7um and 15-to-9um (PAH-to-continuum flux ratio in the rest-frame), which are useful to identify starburst galaxies at z~0.5 and 1, respectively. We perform a fitting of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from optical to mid-IR wavelengths, using an evolutionary starburst model with a proper treatment of radiative transfer (SBURT), in order to investigate their nature. The SBURT model reproduces observed optical-to-mid-IR SEDs of more than a half of PAH-selected galaxies. Based on the 8um luminosity, we find ultra luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) among PAH-selected galaxies. Their PAH luminosity is higher than local ULIRGs with a similar luminosity, and the PAH-to-total IR luminosity ratio is consistent with that of less luminous starburst galaxies. They are a unique galaxy population at high redshifts and we call these PAH-selected ULIRGs "PAH-luminous" galaxies. Although they are not as massive as submillimetre galaxies at z~2, they have the stellar mass of >3x10^{10} Msun and therefore moderately massive., Comment: Accepted to A&A, 15 pages, 14 figures

We present a comparison of the SCUBA Half Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) at 450, 850 and 1100 microns with deep guaranteed time 15 microns AKARI FU-HYU survey data and Spitzer guaranteed time data at 3.6-24 microns in the Lockman Hole East. The AKARI data was analysed using bespoke software based in part on the drizzling and minimum-variance matched filtering developed for SHADES, and was cross calibrated against Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) fluxes. Our stacking analyses find AKARI 15um galaxies with >~200 microJy contribute >10% of the 450 micron background, but only <4% of the 1100 micron background, suggesting that different populations contribute at mm-wavelengths. We confirm our earlier result that the ultra-deep 450 micron SCUBA-2 Cosmology Survey will be dominated by populations already detected by AKARI and Spitzer mid-infrared surveys. The superb mid-infrared wavelength coverage afforded by combining Spitzer and AKARI photometry is an excellent diagnostic of AGN contributions, and we find that (23-52)% of submm-selected galaxies have AGN bolometric fractions f_AGN>0.3., Comment: Accepted for Astronomy and Astrophysics AKARI special issue