Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We present initial results of an ongoing survey with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array targeting the CO($J$ = 1-0) transition in a sample of 30 submillimeter-selected, dusty star-forming galaxies at $z =$ 2-5 with existing mid--$J$ CO detections from ALMA and NOEMA, of which 17 have been fully observed. We detect CO(1-0) emission in 11 targets, along with three tentative ($\sim$1.5-2$\sigma$) detections; three galaxies are undetected. Our results yield total molecular gas masses of 6-23$\times$10$^{10}$ ($\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$/1) M$_\odot$, with gas mass fractions, $f_\mathrm{gas}$=$M_\mathrm{mol}$/($M_*$+$M_\mathrm{mol}$), of 0.1-0.8 and a median depletion time of (140$\pm$70) Myr. We find median CO excitation ratios of $r_{31}$ = 0.75$\pm$0.39 and $r_{41}$ = 0.63$\pm$0.44, with a significant scatter. We find no significant correlation between the excitation ratio and a number of key parameters such as redshift, CO(1-0) line width or $\Sigma_\mathrm{SFR}$. We only find a tentative positive correlation between $r_{41}$ and the star-forming efficiency, but we are limited by our small sample size. Finally, we compare our results to predictions from the SHARK semi-analytical model, finding a good agreement between the molecular gas masses, depletion times and gas fractions of our sources and their SHARK counterparts. Our results highlight the heterogeneous nature of the most massive star-forming galaxies at high-redshift, and the importance of CO(1--0) observations to robustly constrain their total molecular gas content and ISM properties.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: In the protogalactic density field, diffuse gas and collision-less cold dark matter (DM) are often assumed sufficiently mixed that both components experience identical tidal torques. However, haloes in cosmological simulations consistently end up with a higher specific angular momentum (sAM) in gas, even in simulations without radiative cooling and galaxy formation physics. We refine this result by analysing the spin distributions of gas and DM in $\sim$50,000 well-resolved haloes in a non-radiative cosmological simulation from the SURFS suite. The sAM of the halo gas on average ends up $\sim$40\% above that of the DM. This can be pinned down to an excess AM in the inner halo ($<$50\% virial radius), paralleled by a more coherent rotation pattern in the gas. We uncover the leading driver for this AM difference through a series of control simulations of a collapsing ellipsoidal top-hat, where gas and DM are initially well mixed. These runs reveal that the pressurised inner gas shells collapse more slowly, causing the DM ellipsoid to spin ahead of the gas ellipsoid. The arising torque generally transfers AM from the DM to the gas. The amount of AM transferred via this mode depends on the initial spin, the initial axes ratios and the collapse factor. These quantities can be combined in a single dimensionless parameter, which robustly predicts the AM transfer of the ellipsoidal collapse. This simplistic model can quantitatively explain the average AM excess of the gas found in the more complex non-radiative cosmological simulation.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We select and characterise a sample of massive
(log(M$_{*}/$M$_{\odot})>10.6$) quiescent galaxies (QGs) at $3
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We present ALMA deep spectroscopy for a lensed galaxy at $z_{\rm spec}=8.496$ with $\log(M_{\rm star}/M_{\odot})\sim7.8$ whose optical nebular lines and stellar continuum are detected by JWST/NIRSpec and NIRCam Early Release Observations in SMACS0723. Our ALMA spectrum shows [OIII]88$\mu$m and [CII]158$\mu$m line detections at $4.0\sigma$ and $4.5\sigma$, respectively. The redshift and position of the [OIII] line coincide with those of the JWST source, while the [CII] line is blue-shifted by 90 km s$^{-1}$ with a spatial offset of $0.''5$ ($\approx0.5$ kpc in source plane) from the JWST source. The NIRCam F444W image, including [OIII]$\lambda$5007 and H$\beta$ line emission, spatially extends beyond the stellar components by a factor of $>8$. This indicates that the $z=8.5$ galaxy has already experienced strong outflows whose oxygen and carbon produce the extended [OIII]$\lambda$5007 and the offset [CII] emission, which would promote ionizing photon escape and facilitate reionization. With careful slit-loss corrections and removals of emission spatially outside the galaxy, we evaluate the [OIII]88$\mu$m/$\lambda$5007 line ratio, and derive the electron density $n_{\rm e}$ by photoionization modeling to be $220^{+170}_{-100}$ cm$^{-3}$, which is comparable with those of $z\sim2-3$ galaxies. We estimate an [OIII]88$\mu$m/[CII]158$\mu$m line ratio in the galaxy of $>4$, as high as those of known $z\sim6-9$ galaxies. This high [OIII]88$\mu$m/[CII]158$\mu$m line ratio is generally explained by the high $n_{\rm e}$ as well as the low metallicity ($Z_{\rm gas}/Z_{\odot}=0.04^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$), high ionization parameter ($\log U > -2.27$), and low carbon-to-oxygen abundance ratio ($\log$(C/O) $=[-0.52:-0.24]$) obtained from the JWST/NIRSpec data; further [CII] follow-up observations will constrain the covering fraction of photodissociation regions.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We apply a spectral stacking technique to Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope observations to measure the neutral atomic hydrogen content (HI) of nearby galaxies in and around galaxy groups at $z < 0.11$. Our sample includes 577 optically-selected galaxies (120 isolated galaxies and 457 satellites) covering stellar masses between 10$^{10}$ and 10$^{11.5}$ M$_{\odot}$, cross-matched with Yang's group catalogue, with angular and redshift positions from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that the satellites in the centres of groups have lower HI masses at fixed stellar mass and morphology (characterised by the inverse concentration index) relative to those at larger radii. These trends persist for satellites in both high-mass ($M_{\rm halo} > 10^{13.5}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$) and low-mass ($M_{\rm halo} \leqslant 10^{13.5}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$) groups, but disappear if we only consider group members in low local density ($\Sigma <$ 5 gal/Mpc$^{-2}$) environments. Similar trends are found for the specific star formation rate. Interestingly, we find that the radial trends of decreasing HI mass with decreasing group-centric radius extend beyond the group virial radius, as isolated galaxies close to larger groups lack HI compared with those located more than $\sim$3.0 $R_{180}$ away from the center of their nearest group. We also measure these trends in the late-type subsample and obtain similar results. Our results suggest that the HI reservoir of galaxies can be affected before galaxies become group satellites, indicating the existence of pre-processing in the infalling isolated galaxies.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: Due to their extremely dust-obscured nature, much uncertainty still exists surrounding the stellar mass growth and content in dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at $z>1$. In this work, we present a numerical model built using empirical data on DSFGs to estimate their stellar mass contributions across the first $\sim$10 Gyr of cosmic time. We generate a dust-obscured stellar mass function that extends beyond the mass limit of star-forming stellar mass functions in the literature, and predict that massive DSFGs constitute as much as $50-100\%$ of all star-forming galaxies with M $\ge10^{11}$M$_\odot$ at $z>1$. We predict the number density of massive DSFGs and find general agreement with observations, although more data is needed to narrow wide observational uncertainties. We forward model mock massive DSFGs to their quiescent descendants and find remarkable agreement with observations from the literature demonstrating that, to first order, massive DSFGs are a sufficient ancestral population to describe the prevalence of massive quiescent galaxies at $z>1$. We predict that massive DSFGs and their descendants contribute as much as $25-60\%$ to the cosmic stellar mass density during the peak of cosmic star formation, and predict an intense epoch of population growth during the $\sim1$ Gyr from $z=6$ to 3 during which the majority of the most massive galaxies at high-$z$ grow and then quench. Future studies seeking to understand massive galaxy growth and evolution in the early Universe should strategize synergies with data from the latest observatories (e.g. JWST and ALMA) to better include the heavily dust-obscured galaxy population.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We present SKiLLS, a suite of multi-band image simulations for the weak lensing analysis of the complete Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), dubbed KiDS-Legacy analysis. The resulting catalogues enable joint shear and redshift calibration, enhancing the realism and hence accuracy over previous efforts. To create a large volume of simulated galaxies with faithful properties and to a sufficient depth, we integrated cosmological simulations with high-quality imaging observations. We also improved the realism of simulated images by allowing the point spread function (PSF) to differ between CCD images, including stellar density variations and varying noise levels between pointings. Using realistic variable shear fields, we accounted for the impact of blended systems at different redshifts. Although the overall correction is minor, we found a clear redshift-bias correlation in the blending-only variable shear simulations, indicating the non-trivial impact of this higher-order blending effect. We also explored the impact of the PSF modelling errors and found a small yet noticeable effect on the shear bias. Finally, we conducted a series of sensitivity tests, including changing the input galaxy properties. We conclude that our fiducial shape measurement algorithm, lensfit, is robust within the requirements of lensing analyses with KiDS. As for future weak lensing surveys with tighter requirements, we suggest further investments in understanding the impact of blends at different redshifts, improving the PSF modelling algorithm and developing the shape measurement method to be less sensitive to the galaxy properties.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We study environmental quenching using the spatial distribution of current star-formation and stellar population ages with the full SAMI Galaxy Survey. By using a star-formation concentration index [C-index, defined as log10(r_{50,Halpha}/r_{50,cont})], we separate our sample into regular galaxies (C-index>-0.2) and galaxies with centrally concentrated star-formation (SF-concentrated; C-index<-0.2). Concentrated star-formation is a potential indicator of galaxies currently undergoing `outside-in' quenching. Our environments cover ungrouped galaxies, low-mass groups (M_200<10^12.5 M_sun), high-mass groups (M_200 in the range 10^{12.5-14} M_sun) and clusters (M_200>10^14 M_sun). We find the fraction of SF-concentrated galaxies increases as halo mass increases with 9\pm2 per cent, 8\pm3 per cent, 19\pm4 per cent and 29\pm4 per cent for ungrouped galaxies, low-mass groups, high-mass groups and clusters, respectively. We interpret these results as evidence for `outside-in' quenching in groups and clusters. To investigate the quenching time-scale in SF-concentrated galaxies, we calculate light-weighted age (Age_L) and mass-weighted age (Age_M) using full spectral fitting, as well as the Dn4000 and Hdelta_A indices. We assume that the average galaxy age radial profile before entering a group or cluster is similar to ungrouped regular galaxies. At large radius (1-2 R_e), SF-concentrated galaxies in high-mass groups have older ages than ungrouped regular galaxies with an age difference of 1.83\pm0.38 Gyr for Age_L and 1.34\pm0.56 Gyr for Age_M. This suggests that while `outside-in' quenching can be effective in groups, the process will not quickly quench the entire galaxy. In contrast, the ages at 1-2 R_e of cluster SF-concentrated galaxies and ungrouped regular galaxies are consistent (0.19\pm0.21 Gyr for Age_L, 0.40\pm0.61 Gyr for Age_M), suggesting the quenching process must be rapid.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: We present a statistical study of 180 dust continuum sources identified in 33 massive cluster fields by the ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey (ALCS) over a total of 133 arcmin$^{2}$ area, homogeneously observed at 1.2 mm. ALCS enables us to detect extremely faint mm sources by lensing magnification, including near-infrared (NIR) dark objects showing no counterparts in existing {\it Hubble Space Telescope} and {\it Spitzer} images. The dust continuum sources belong to a blind sample ($N=141$) with S/N $\gtrsim$ 5.0 (a purity of $>$ 0.99) or a secondary sample ($N=39$) with S/N= $4.0-5.0$ screened by priors. With the blind sample, we securely derive 1.2-mm number counts down to $\sim7$ $\mu$Jy, and find that the total integrated 1.2mm flux is 20.7$^{+8.5}_{-6.5}$ Jy deg$^{-2}$, resolving $\simeq$ 80 % of the cosmic infrared background light. The resolved fraction varies by a factor of $0.6-1.1$ due to the completeness correction depending on the spatial size of the mm emission. We also derive infrared (IR) luminosity functions (LFs) at $z=0.6-7.5$ with the $1/V_{\rm max}$ method, finding the redshift evolution of IR LFs characterized by positive luminosity and negative density evolution. The total (=UV+IR) cosmic star-formation rate density (SFRD) at $z>4$ is estimated to be $161^{+25}_{-21}$ % of the established measurements, which were almost exclusively based on optical$-$NIR surveys. Although our general understanding of the cosmic SFRD is unlikely to change beyond a factor of 2, these results add to the weight of evidence for an additional ($\approx 60$ %) SFRD component contributed by the faint-mm population, including NIR dark objects.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract: Black hole feedback has been widely implemented as the key recipe to quench star formation in massive galaxies in modern semi-analytic models and hydrodynamical simulations. As the theoretical details surrounding the accretion and feedback of black holes continue to be refined, various feedback models have been implemented across simulations, with notable differences in their outcomes. Yet, most of these simulations have successfully reproduced some observations, such as stellar mass function and star formation rate density in the local Universe. We use the recent observation on the change of neutral hydrogen gas mass (including both ${\rm H_2}$ and ${\rm HI}$) with star formation rate of massive central disc galaxies as a critical constraint of black hole feedback models across several simulations. We find that the predictions of IllustrisTNG agree with the observations much better than the other models tested in this work. This favors IllustrisTNG's treatment of active galactic nuclei - where kinetic winds are driven by black holes at low accretion rates - as more plausible amongst those we test. In turn, this also indirectly supports the idea that the massive central disc galaxy population in the local Universe was likely quenched by AGN feedback.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review