Search

We analyse the radio-to-submillimetre spectral energy distribution (SED) for the central pseudo-bulge of NGC 1365 using archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Array. This analysis shows that free–free emission dominates the continuum emission at 50–120 GHz and produces about 75 per cent of the 103 GHz continuum emission. However, the fraction of 103 GHz continuum emission originating from free–free emission varies significantly among different subregions in the pseudo-bulge, particularly for an outflow from the active galactic nuclei (AGN) on the eastern pseudo-bulge where the synchrotron emission produces half of the 103 GHz continuum emission. Free–free emission also dominates at 103 GHz within the central 400 pc diameter region, but this emission is associated with the AGN rather than star formation. The star formation rate (SFR) within the pseudo-bulge derived from the ALMA free–free emission is 8.9 ± 1.1 M⊙ yr−1. This is comparable to the SFR from the mid-infrared emission but higher than the SFR from the extinction-corrected H α line emission, mainly because the pseudo-bulge is heavily dust obscured. The 1.5 GHz emission yields a comparable SFR for the pseudo-bulge but may have lower SFRs within subregions of the pseudo-bulge because of the diffusion outside of these regions of the electrons producing the synchrotron radiation. We propose that applying a correction factor of 75 per cent to the 80–110 GHz continuum emission could provide valuable estimates of the free–free emission without performing any SED decomposition, which could derive extinction-free SFRs within 20 per cent accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation mechanism of high-concentration dwarf galaxies is still a mystery. We perform a comparative study of the intrinsic shape of nearby low-mass galaxies with different stellar concentration. The intrinsic shape is parameterized by the intermediate-to-major axis ratios B/A and the minor-to-major axis ratios C/A of triaxial ellipsoidal models. Our galaxies (107.5 M ⊙ < M ⋆ < 1010.0 M ⊙) are selected to have spectroscopic redshift from SDSS or GAMA and have broadband optical images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) wide-layer survey. The deep HSC-SSP images allow to measure the apparent axis ratios q at galactic radii beyond the central star-forming area of our galaxies. We infer the intrinsic axis ratios based on the q distributions. We find that (1) our galaxies have typical intrinsic shape similarly close to be oblate (μ B/A ∼ 0.9–1), regardless of the concentration, stellar mass, star formation activity, and local environment (being central or satellite); (2) galaxies with the highest concentration tend to have intrinsic thickness similar to or (in virtually all cases) slightly thinner (i.e., smaller mean μ C/A or equivalently lower triaxiality) than ordinary galaxies, regardless of other properties explored here. This appears to be in contrast with the expectation of the classic merger scenario for high-concentration galaxies. Given the lack of a complete understanding of dwarf–dwarf merger, we cannot draw a definite conclusion about the relevance of mergers in the formation of high-concentration dwarfs. Other mechanisms such as halo spin may also play important roles in the formation of high-concentration dwarf galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of 85.69- and 99.02-GHz continuum emission and H42α and H40α lines emission from the central 1 kpc of NGC 1808. These forms of emission are tracers of photoionizing stars but unaffected by dust obscuration that we use to test the applicability of other commonly star formation metrics. An analysis of the spectral energy distributions shows that free–free emission contributes about 60–90 per cent of the continuum emission in the 85–100-GHz frequency range, dependent on the region. The star formation rate (SFR) derived from the ALMA free–free emission is 3.1 ± 0.3 M⊙ yr−1. This is comparable to the SFRs measured from the infrared emission, mainly because most of the bolometric energy from the heavily obscured region is emitted as infrared emission. The radio 1.5-GHz emission yields an SFR 25 per cent lower than the ALMA value, probably because of the diffusion of the electrons producing the synchrotron emission beyond the star-forming regions. The SFRs measured from the extinction-corrected H α line emission are about 40–65 per cent of the SFR derived from the ALMA data, likely because this metric was not calibrated for high-extinction regions. Some SFRs based on extinction-corrected ultraviolet emission are similar to those from ALMA and infrared data, but given that the ultraviolet terms in the extinction correction equations are very small, these metrics seem inappropriate to apply to this dusty starburst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The physical mechanisms driving starbursts in dwarf galaxies are unclear, and the effects of mergers on star formation in these galaxies are still uncertain. Aims. We explore how the merger process affects star formation in metal-poor dwarf galaxies by analyzing high spatial resolution (∼70 pc) integral field spectrograph observations of ionized gas. Methods. We used archival data from the Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer to map the spatial distribution of strong emission lines (e.g., Hβ, Hα, [O III] λ5007, and [N II] λ6583) in the nearby merging star-forming dwarf galaxy system NGC 4809/4810. Results. We identify 112 star-forming knots scattered among the two galaxies, where the gas-phase metallicity distribution is inhomogeneous and mixes with metal-poor and metal-rich ionized gas. Star-forming knots at the interacting region show lower metallicity, the highest star formation rates (SFRs), and the highest ratio of the SFR to the resolved main-sequence relation (rMSR). Ionized gas exhibits an obvious northeast–southwest velocity gradient in NGC 4809, but appears to be mixed in NGC 4810. The high virial parameters and the stellar mass-size relation of the H II regions indicate that these regions are dominated by direct radiation pressure from massive stars (or clusters) and expand persistently. We find two different relations of the stellar mass surface density to stellar age in NGC 4809 and NGC 4810, and the stellar ages of NGC 4810 are systematically younger than those in NGC 4809. Conclusions. Our study suggests that the merging stage of two dwarf galaxies can induce starburst activities in the interaction areas despite the metal-deficient environment. Considering the high specific SFRs and different stellar ages, we propose that the interaction initially triggered star formation in NGC 4809 and then drove star formation in NGC 4810. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We select a disk-like galaxy sample with observations of the H I, H2, and dust from the Herschel Reference Survey, and derive inner H I masses within the optical radius. We find that the inner gas-to-dust ratio is almost independent of gas-phase metallicity, and confirm that the inner gas mass (H I+H2) shows a tighter relation with dust mass and monochromatic 500 μ m luminosity than the integral gas mass. It supports that dust is more closely associated with cospatial cold gas than the overall cold gas. Based on the newly calibrated relationship between inner gas mass and dust mass, we predict dust masses for disk-dominated galaxies from the xCOLD GASS sample. The predicted dust masses show scaling relations consistent with fiducial ones in the literature, supporting their robustness. Additionally, we find that at a given dust mass and star formation rate (SFR), the galactic Wide-field Infrared Explorer W3 luminosities show a significant dependence on the [N ii ] luminosity and the stellar mass surface density. Such dependence highlights the caveat of using the W3 luminosity as an integral SFR indicator, and is consistent with findings of studies that target star-forming regions in more nearby galaxies and accurately derive dust masses based on mapping-mode spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effects of environment in the quenching phase, we study the empirical relations for green valley (GV) galaxies between overdensity and other physical properties (i.e., effective radius r e, Sérsic indices n, and specific star formation rate (sSFR)). Based on five 3D-HST/CANDELS fields, we construct a large sample of 2126 massive (M ⋆ > 1010 M ☉) GV galaxies at 0.5 < z < 2.5 and split it into the higher overdensity quarter and the lower overdensity quarter. The results shows that GV galaxies in denser environments have higher n values and lower sSFR at 0.5 < z < 1, while there is no discernible distinction at 1 < z < 2.5. No significant enlarging or shrinking is found for GV galaxies in different environments within the same redshift bin. This suggests that a dense environment would promote the growth of bulges and suppress star formation activity of GV galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.5 but would not affect the galaxy size. We also study the dependence of the fraction of three populations (blue cloud, GV, and red sequence) on both environments and M ⋆. At a given M ⋆, blue cloud fraction goes down with increasing environment density, while red sequence fraction is opposite. For the most massive GV galaxies, a sharp drop appears in the denser environment. Coupled with the mass dependence of three fractions in different redshift bins, our result implies that stellar mass and environments jointly promote the quenching process. Such a dual effect is also confirmed by recalculating the new effective GV fraction as the number of GV galaxies over the number of nonquiescent galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use 789 disk-like, star-forming galaxies (with 596 H i detections) from H i follow-up observations for the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey to study the possible role of inner H i gas in causing secondary dependences in the massâ€"gas-phase metallicity relation. We use the gas-phase metallicity derived at the effective radii of the galaxies. We derive the inner H i mass within the optical radius, but also use the total H i mass and star formation rate (SFR) for a comparison. We confirm the anticorrelation between the total H i mass and gas-phase metallicity at fixed stellar mass, but the anticorrelation is significantly strengthened when the total H i mass is replaced by the inner H i mass. Introducing a secondary relation with the inner H i mass can produce a small but noticeable decrease (16%) in the scatter of the massâ€"gas-phase metallicity relation, in contrast to the negligible effect with the SFR. The correlation with the inner H i mass is robust when using different diagnostics of metallicity, but the correlation with SFR is not. The correlation with the inner H i mass becomes much weaker when the gas-phase metallicity is derived in the central region instead of at the effective radius. These results support the idea that the scatter in the massâ€"metallicity relation is regulated by gas accretion, and not directly by the SFR, and stress the importance of deriving the gas mass and the metallicity from roughly the same region. The new relation between inner H i mass and gas-phase metallicity will provide new constraints for chemical and galaxy evolution models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several mechanisms for the transformation of blue star-forming to red quiescent galaxies have been proposed, and the green valley (GV) galaxies amid them are widely accepted in a transitional phase. Thus, comparing the morphological and environmental differences of the GV galaxies with early-type disks (ETDs; bulge dominated and having a disk) and late-type disks (LTDs; disk dominated) is suitable for distinguishing the corresponding quenching mechanisms. A large population of massive (M* ≥ 1010 M⊙) GV galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 1.5 in 3D-HST/CANDELS is selected using extinction-corrected (U–V)rest color. After eliminating any possible active galactic nucleus candidates and considering the "mass-matching," we finally construct two comparable samples of GV galaxies with either 319 ETD or 319 LTD galaxies. Compared to the LTD galaxies, it is found that the ETD galaxies possess higher concentration index and lower specific star formation rate, whereas the environments surrounding them are not different. This may suggest that the morphological quenching may dominate the star formation activity of massive GV galaxies rather than the environmental quenching. To quantify the correlation between the galaxy morphology and the star formation activity, we define a dimensionless morphology quenching efficiency Qmor and find that Qmor is not sensitive to the stellar mass and redshift. When the difference between the average star formation rate of ETD and LTD galaxies is about 0.7 M⊙ yr−1, the probability of Qmor ≳ 0.2 is higher than 90%, which implies that the degree of morphological quenching in GV galaxies might be described by Qmor ≳ 0.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution observations of ionized and molecular gas in the nuclear regions of galaxies are indispensable for delineating the interplay of star formation, gaseous inflows, stellar radiation, and feedback processes. Combining our new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array band 3 mapping and archival Very Large Telescope/MUSE data, we present a spatially resolved analysis of molecular and ionized gas in the central 5.4 kpc region of NGC 1365. We find the star formation rate/efficiency (SFR/SFE) in the inner circumnuclear ring is about 0.4/1.1 dex higher than in the outer regions. At a linear resolution of 180 pc, we obtain a superlinear Kennicutt–Schmidt law, demonstrating a steeper slope (1.96 ± 0.14) than previous results presumably based on lower-resolution observations. Compared to the northeastern counterpart, the southwestern dust lane shows lower SFE, but denser molecular gas and larger virial parameters. This is consistent with an interpretation of negative feedback from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and/or starburst, in the sense that the radiation/winds can heat and interact with the molecular gas even in relatively dense regions. After subtracting the circular motion component of the molecular gas and the stellar rotation, we detect two prominent noncircular motion components of molecular and ionized hydrogen gas, reaching a line-of-sight velocity of up to 100 km s−1. We conclude that the winds or shocked gas from the central AGN may expel the low-density molecular gas and diffuse ionized gas on the surface of the rotating disk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the lifetimes of red sequence (RS), blue cloud (BC), and green valley (GV) galaxies, we derive their lifetimes using clustering analyses at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.5 in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA field. Several essentials that may influence the lifetime estimation have been explored, including the dark matter (DM) halo mass function (HMF), the width of the redshift bin, the growth of DM halos within each redshift bin, and the stellar mass. We find that the HMF difference results in scatters of ∼0.2 dex on the lifetime estimation, adopting a redshift bin width of Δz = 0.5 is good enough to estimate the lifetime, and no significant effect on lifetime estimation is found due to the growth of DM halos within each redshift bin. The galaxy subsamples with higher stellar masses generally have shorter lifetimes, but the lifetimes in different subsamples at z > 1.5 tend to be independent of stellar mass. Consistently, the clustering-based lifetime for each galaxy subsample agrees well with that inferred using the spectral energy distribution modeling. Moreover, the lifetimes of the RS and BC galaxies also coincide well with their typical gas-depletion timescales attributed to the consumption of star formation. Interestingly, the distinct lifetime behaviors of the GV galaxies at z ≤ 1.5 and z > 1.5 cannot be fully accounted for by their gas-depletion timescales. Instead, this discrepancy between the lifetimes and gas-depletion timescales of the GV galaxies suggests that there are additional physical processes, such as feedback of active galactic nuclei, which accelerates the quenching of GV galaxies at high redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent simulation studies suggest that the compaction of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at high redshift might be a critical process, during which the central bulge is being rapidly built, followed by quenching of the star formation. To explore dust properties of SFGs with compact morphology, we investigate the dependence of dust temperature, Tdust, on their size and star formation activity, using a sample of massive SFGs with at 1 < z < 3, drawn from the 3D-HST/CANDELS database in combination with deep Herschel observations. Tdust is derived via fitting the mid-to-far-infrared photometry with a mid-infrared power law and a far-infrared modified blackbody. We find that both extended and compact SFGs generally follow a similar Tdust − z evolutionary track as that of the main-sequence galaxies. The compact SFGs seem to share similar dust temperature with extended SFGs. Despite the frequent occurrence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in compact SFGs, we do not observe any effect on dust caused by the presence of AGNs in these galaxies during the compaction. Our results disfavor different ISM properties between compact and extended SFGs, suggesting that a rapid and violent compaction process might be not necessary for the formation of compact SFGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M51 and NGC 5195 is an interacting system that can be explored in great details with ground-based telescopes. The H ii regions in M51 were observed using the 2.16 m telescope of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 6.5 m Multiple Mirror Telescope with spatial resolution of less than ∼100 pc. We obtain a total of 113 spectra across the galaxy and combine the literature data of Croxall et al. to derive a series of physical properties, including the gas-phase extinction, stellar population age, star formation rate (SFR) surface density, and oxygen abundance. The spatial distributions and radial profiles of these properties are investigated in order to study the characteristics of M51 and the clues to the formation and evolution of this galaxy. M51 presents a mild radial extinction gradient. The lower gas-phase extinction in the north spiral arms compared to the south arms are possibly caused by the past encounters with the companion galaxy of NGC 5195. A number of H ii regions have the stellar age between 50 and 500 Myr, consistent with the recent interaction history by simulations in the literatures. The SFR surface density presents a mild radial gradient, which is ubiquitous in spiral galaxies. There is a negative metallicity gradient of −0.08 dex in the disk region, which is also commonly found in many spiral galaxies. It is supported by the "inside-out" scenario of galaxy formation. We find a positive abundance gradient of 0.26 dex in the inner region. There are possible reasons causing the positive gradient, including the freezing of the chemical enrichment due to the star-forming quenching in the bulge and the gas infall and dilution due to the pseudobulge growth and/or galactic interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to probe the origin of surface brightness profile (SBP) breaks widely observed in nearby disk galaxies, we carry out a comparative study of stellar population profiles of 635 disk galaxies selected from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory spectroscopic survey. We classify our galaxies into single exponential (T i), down-bending (T ii), and up-bending (T iii) SBP types and derive their spin parameters and radial profiles of age/metallicity-sensitive spectral features. Most T ii (T iii) galaxies have down-bending (up-bending) star formation rate (SFR) radial profiles, implying that abrupt radial changes of SFR intensities contribute to the formation of both T ii and T iii breaks. Nevertheless, a comparison between our galaxies and simulations suggests that stellar migration plays a significant role in weakening down-bending Σ⋆ profile breaks. While there is a correlation between the break strengths of SBPs and age/metallicity-sensitive spectral features for T ii galaxies, no such correlation is found for T iii galaxies, indicating that stellar migration may not play a major role in shaping T iii breaks, as is also evidenced by a good correspondence between the break strengths of Σ⋆ and SBPs of T iii galaxies. We do not find evidence for galaxy spin being a relevant parameter for forming different SBP types, nor do we find significant differences between the asymmetries of galaxies with different SBP types, suggesting that environmental disturbances or satellite accretion in the recent past do not significantly influence the break formation. By dividing our sample into early and late morphological types, we find that galaxies with different SBP types follow nearly the same tight stellar mass– relation, which makes the hypothesis that stellar migration alone can transform SBP types from T ii to T i and then to T iii highly unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the relations between gas-phase metallicity (Z), local stellar mass surface density (Σ*), and the local star formation surface density (ΣSFR) in a sample of 1120 star-forming galaxies from the MaNGA survey. At fixed Σ* the local metallicity increases as ΣSFR decreases or vice versa for metallicity calibrators of N2 and O3N2. Alternatively, at fixed ΣSFR metallicity increases as Σ* increases, but in the high mass region, the trend is flatter. However, the dependence of metallicity on ΣSFR nearly disappears for N2O2 and N2S2 calibrators. We investigate the local metallicity against ΣSFR with different metallicity calibrators and find negative/positive correlations depending on the choice of the calibrator. We demonstrate that the O32 ratio (or ionization parameter) is probably dependent on star formation rate at fixed local stellar mass surface density. Additionally, the shape of Σ*–Z–ΣSFR (fundamental metallicity relation; FMR) depends on metallicity calibrator and stellar mass range. Due to the large discrepancy between the empirical fitting-based (N2, O3N2) electronic temperature metallicity and the photoionization model-dependent (N2O2, N2S2) metallicity calibrations, we conclude that the selection of metallicity calibration affects the existence of FMR on ΣSFR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the star cluster catalogs from the Hubble Space Telescope program Legacy Extragalactic UV survey (LEGUS) and 8 μm images from the IRAC camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope for five galaxies within 5 Mpc, we investigate how the 8 μm dust luminosity correlates with the stellar age on the 30–50 pc scale of star-forming regions. We construct a sample of 97 regions centered at local peaks of 8 μm emission, each containing one or more young star cluster candidates from the LEGUS catalogs. We find a tight anticorrelation with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = −0.84 ± 0.05 between the mass-normalized dust-only 8 μm luminosity and the age of stellar clusters younger than 1 Gyr; the 8 μm luminosity decreases with increasing age of the stellar population. Simple assumptions on a combination of stellar and dust emission models reproduce the observed trend. We also explore how the scatter of the observed trend depends on assumptions of stellar metallicity, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) abundance, fraction of stellar light absorbed by dust, and instantaneous versus continuous star formation models. We find that variations in stellar metallicity have little effect on the scatter, while PAH abundance and the fraction of dust-absorbed light bracket the full range of the data. We also find that the trend is better explained by continuous star formation, rather than instantaneous burst models. We ascribe this result to the presence of multiple star clusters with different ages in many of the regions. Upper limits of the dust-only 8 μm emission as a function of age are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a study on the radial profiles of the D4000, luminosity-weighted stellar ages τL, and luminosity-weighted stellar metallicities [Z/H]L of 3654 nearby galaxies (0.01 < z < 0.15) using the IFU spectroscopic data from the MaNGA survey available in the SDSS DR15, in an effort to explore the connection between median stellar population radial gradients (i.e., ∇D4000, ∇τL, ∇[Z/H]L) out to ∼1.5 Re and various galaxy properties, including stellar mass (M⋆), specific star formation rate (sSFR), morphologies, and local environment. We find that M⋆ is the single most predictive physical property for ∇D4000 and ∇[Z/H]L. The most predictive properties for ∇τL are sSFR and, to a lesser degree, M⋆. The environmental parameters, including local galaxy overdensities and central–satellite division, have virtually no correlation with stellar population radial profiles for the whole sample, but the ∇D4000 of star-forming satellite galaxies with M⋆ ≲ 1010M⊙ exhibit a significant positive correlation with galaxy overdensities. Galaxies with lower sSFR have on average steeper negative stellar population gradients, and this sSFR dependence is stronger for more massive star-forming galaxies. The negative correlation between the median stellar population gradients and M⋆ are best described largely as segmented relationships, whereby median gradients of galaxies with log M⋆ ≲ 10.0 (with the exact value depending on sSFR) have much weaker mass dependence than galaxies with higher M⋆. While the dependence of the radial gradients of ages and metallicities on T-Types and central stellar mass surface densities are generally not significant, galaxies with later T-Types or lower central mass densities tend to have significantly lower D4000, younger τL, and lower [Z/H]L across the radial ranges probed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compile a sample of about 157,000 spaxels from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at the Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey to derive the average dust attenuation curve for subgalactic star-forming regions of local star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in the optical wavelength, following the method of Calzetti et al. We obtain a -independent average attenuation curve for spaxels with 1.1 ≤ Dn(4000) < 1.3, which is similar to the one derived from either local starbursts or normal SFGs. We examine whether and how the shape of the average attenuation curve changes with several local and global physical properties. For spaxels with 1.2 ≤ Dn(4000) < 1.3, we find no dependence on either local or global physical properties for the shape of the average attenuation curve. However, for spaxels with younger stellar population (1.1 ≤ Dn(4000) < 1.2), shallower average attenuation curves are found for star-forming regions with smaller stellar mass surface density, smaller star formation rate surface density, or those residing in the outer region of galaxies. These results emphasize the risk of using one single attenuation curve to correct the dust reddening for all type of star-forming regions, especially for those with fairly young stellar population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the relation between the properties of the bulge/disc components and the H  i mass fraction of galaxies. We find that at fixed stellar mass, disc colours are correlated with the H  i mass fraction, while bulge colours are not. The lack of a correlation between the bulge colour and the H  i mass fraction is regardless whether the bulges are pseudo, or whether the galaxies host bars or are interacting with a neighbour. There is no strong correlation between the colours of the discs and bulges either. These results suggest that the current total amount of H  i is closely related to the formation of discs, but does not necessarily fuel the formation of (pseudo) bulges in an efficient way. We do not find evidence for the star formation in the discs to be quenched by the bulges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spectra of emission-line galaxies from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of the Sloan Digit Sky Survey (SDSS) are used to study the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) at z ∼ 0.8. The selected sample contains about 180,000 massive star-forming galaxies with 0.6 < z < 1.05 and. The spectra are stacked in bins of different parameters including redshift, stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), specific star formation rate (sSFR), half-light radius, mass density, and optical color. The average MZR at z ∼ 0.83 has a downward evolution in the MZR from the local to high-redshift universe, which is consistent with previous works. At a specified stellar mass, galaxies with higher SFR/sSFR and larger half-light radius have systematically lower metallicity. This behavior is reversed for galaxies with larger mass density and optical color. Among the above physical parameters, the MZR has the most significant dependency on SFR. Our galaxy sample at 0.6 < z < 1.05 approximately follows the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR) in the local universe, although the sample inhomogeneity and incompleteness might have an effect on our MZR and FMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using deep narrowband H2S1 and Ks-band imaging data obtained with CFHT/WIRCam, we identify a sample of 56 Hα emission-line galaxies (ELGs) at z = 2.24 with the 5σ depths of H2S1 = 22.8 and Ks = 24.8 (AB) over a 383 arcmin2 area in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. A detailed analysis is carried out with existing multi-wavelength data in this field. Three of the 56 Hα ELGs are detected in Chandra 4 Ms X-ray observations and two of them are classified as active galactic nuclei. The rest-frame UV and optical morphologies revealed by HST/ACS and WFC3 deep images show that nearly half of the Hα ELGs are either merging systems or have a close companion, indicating that the merging/interacting processes play a key role in regulating star formation at cosmic epoch z = 2-3. About 14% are too faint to be resolved in the rest-frame UV morphology due to high dust extinction. We estimate dust extinction from spectral energy distributions. We find that dust extinction is generally correlated with Hα luminosity and stellar mass. Our results suggest that Hα ELGs are representative of star-forming galaxies. Applying extinction corrections to individual objects, we examine the intrinsic Hα luminosity function (LF) at z = 2.24, obtaining a best-fit Schechter function characterized by a faint-end slope of α = – 1.3. This is shallower than the typical slope of α ≃ –1.6 in previous works based on constant extinction correction. We demonstrate that this difference is mainly due to the different extinction corrections. The proper extinction correction is thus the key to recovering the intrinsic LF as the extinction globally increases with Hα luminosity. Moreover, we find that our Hα LF mirrors the stellar mass function of star-forming galaxies at the same cosmic epoch. This finding indeed reflects the tight correlation between star formation rate and stellar mass for star-forming galaxies, i.e., the so-called main sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a sample of 24 μm sources in the Extended Groth Strip, we use 3.6-8 μm color criteria to select ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at z ∼ 2. Spectroscopy from 20-38 μm of 14 objects verifies their nature and gives their redshifts. Multi-wavelength data for these objects imply stellar masses >1011M☼ and star formation rates ⩾410 M☼ yr–1. Four objects of this sample observed at 1.6 μm (rest-frame visible) with Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 show diverse morphologies, suggesting that multiple formation processes create ULIRGs. Of the 14 objects, 4 show signs of active galactic nuclei, but the luminosity appears to be dominated by star formation in all cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We analyse the role of bars in the build-up of central mass concentrations in massive, disc galaxies. Our parent sample consists of 3757 face-on disc galaxies with redshifts between 0.01 and 0.05, selected from the seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. 1555 galaxies with bars are identified using the position angle and ellipticity profiles of the i-band light. We compare the ratio of the specific star formation rate measured in the 1-3 kpc central region of the galaxy to that measured for the whole galaxy. Galaxies with strong bars have centrally enhanced star formation; the degree of enhancement depends primarily on the ellipticity of the bar and not on the size of the bar or on the mass or structure of the host galaxy. The fraction of galaxies with strong bars is highest at stellar masses greater than 3 × 1010 M⊙, stellar surface densities less than 3 × 108 M⊙ and concentration indices less than 2.5. In this region of parameter space, galaxies with strong bars either have enhanced central star formation rates, or star formation that is suppressed compared to the mean. This suggests that bars may play a role in the eventual quenching of star formation in galaxies. Only 50 per cent of galaxies with strongly concentrated star formation have strong bars, indicating that other processes such as galaxy interactions also induce central starbursts. We also find that the ratio of the size of the bar to that of the disc depends mainly on the colour of the galaxy, suggesting that the growth and destruction of bars are regulated by gas accretion, as suggested by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on two-dimensional (2-D) properties of galaxies is a significant component of the study of galaxy formation and evolution. Through the spatial distribution of physical properties (derived from integrated luminosity and spectroscopy) of galaxies, we are allowed to realize the inner environment and evolution history of each individual galaxy and finally answer how galaxies were assembled. In this paper, with reviewing previous work, we present a proposal for study on 2-D properties of nearby galaxies. In our prospective work, we will make use of multi-wavelength data covering a range from ultraviolet to far-infrared to determine the distributions of properties such as age, metallicity and dust-reddening in nearby galaxies, and try to remove the degeneracy among them. Combining with surface photometry and spectroscopy, we will also analyze the distribution of HII regions and star formation properties in galaxies. In our future plan, the World Space Observatory for Ultraviolet ( WSO/UV) will be applied to our research and allow detail diagnosis of nearby galaxies at ultraviolet band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a simple two-color selection based on g-, z-, and K-band photometry, we choose from 1609 star-forming galaxies (sgzKs) and 422 passively evolving galaxies (pgzKs) at z ∼ 2 from a K-band-selected sample (KAB < 22.0) in an area of ∼0.44 deg2 of the All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey. The number of counts of pgzKs in our sample turn over at KAB ∼ 21.0, and both the number of faint and bright objects (including sgzKs and pgzKs) exceed the predictions of a recent semi-analytic model of galaxy formation; a more successful model is need to explain this diversity. We also find that the star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR) of sgzKs increases with redshift at all masses, implying that star-forming galaxies were much more active on average in the past. Moreover, the sSFR of massive galaxies is lower at all redshifts, suggesting that star formation contributes more to the mass growth of low-mass galaxies than to high-mass galaxies. From the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared imaging data we find that morphologies of z ∼ 2 galaxies not only have diffuse structures with lower G and higher M20 values, but also have single-object morphologies (higher G and lower M20), implying that there are morphological variety and different formation process for these galaxies at z ∼ 2. Finally, we also study the fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the gzKs, 82 of 828 gzKs with four IRAC bands can be classified as AGNs (∼10%). Most of these AGN candidates have L0.5-10 keV > 1041 erg s–1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]