3D-HST EMISSION LINE GALAXIES ATz∼ 2: DISCREPANCIES IN THE OPTICAL/UV STAR FORMATION RATES

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We use Hubble Space Telescope near-IR grism spectroscopy to examine the H-beta line strengths of 260 star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 1.90 < z < 2.35. We show that at these epochs, the H-beta star formation rate (SFR) is a factor of ~1.8 higher than what would be expected from the systems' rest-frame UV flux density, suggesting a shift in the standard conversion between these quantities and star formation rate. We demonstrate that at least part of this shift can be attributed to metallicity, as H-beta is more greatly enhanced in systems with lower oxygen abundance. This offset must be considered when measuring the star formation rate history of the universe. We also show that the relation between stellar and nebular extinction in our z ~ 2 sample is consistent with that observed in the local universe.

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  • 10.1093/mnras/stae869
The mass–metallicity and fundamental metallicity relations in non-AGN and AGN-host galaxies
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  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • Song-Lin Li + 7 more

Galaxies’ stellar masses, gas-phase oxygen abundances (metallicity), and star formation rates (SFRs) obey a series of empirical correlations, most notably the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) and fundamental metallicity relation (FZR), which relates oxygen abundance to a combination of stellar mass and SFR. However, due to the difficulty of measuring oxygen abundances and SFRs in galaxies that host powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN), to date it is unknown to what extent AGN-host galaxies also follow these correlations. In this work, we apply Bayesian methods to the MaNGA integral field spectrographic (IFS) survey that allow us to measure oxygen abundances and SFRs in AGN hosts, and use these measurements to explore how the MZR and FZR differ between galaxies that do and do not host AGN. We find similar MZRs at stellar masses above $10^{10.5} \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, but that at lower stellar masses AGN hosts show up to $\sim 0.2$ dex higher oxygen abundances. The offset in the FZR is significantly smaller, suggesting that the larger deviation in the MZR is a result of AGN-host galaxies having systematically lower SFRs at fixed stellar mass. However, within the AGN-host sample there is little correlation between SFR and oxygen abundance. These findings support a scenario in which an AGN can halt efficient gas accretion, which drives non-AGN host galaxies to both higher SFR and lower oxygen abundance, resulting in the galaxy evolving off the star-forming main sequence (SFMS). As a consequence, as the SFR declines for an individual system its metallicity remains mostly unchanged.

  • Research Article
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  • 10.1023/a:1002170316825
The Evolution of Star-Forming Galaxies: The SFR Density of the Universe
  • Jun 1, 1998
  • Astrophysics and Space Science
  • Jesús Gallego

The evolution of the Star Formation Rate (SFR) density of the Universe as a function of look-back time is a fundamental parameter in order to understand the formation and evolution of galaxies. The current picture, only outlined in the last years, is that the global SFR density has dropped by about an order of magnitude from a redshift of z∼1.5 to the current value at z=0. Because these SFR density studies are now extended to the whole range in redshift, it becomes mandatory to combine data from different SFR tracers. At low redshifts, optical emission lines are the most widely used. Using Hα as current-SFR tracer, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Survey provided the first estimation of the global SFR density in the Local Universe. The Hα flux in emission is directly related to the number of ionizing photons and, modulo IMF, to the total mass of stars formed. Metallic lines like [OII]λ3727 and [OIII]λ5007 are affected by metallicity and excitation. Beyond redshifts z∼0.4, Hα is not observable in the optical and [OII]λ3727 or UV luminosities have to be used. The UCM galaxy sample has been used to obtain a calibration between [OII]λ3727 luminosity and SFR specially suitable for the different types of star-forming galaxies found by deep spectroscopic surveys in redshifts up to z∼1.5. These calibrations, when applied to recent deep redshift surveys confirm the drop of the SFR density of the Universe since z∼1 previously infered in the UV. However, the fundamental parameter that determines galactic evolution is mass, not luminosity. The mass function for local star-forming galaxies is critical for any future comparison with other galaxy populations of different evolutionary status. Hα velocity-widths for UCM galaxies indicate that besides a small fraction of 1010-1011 M⊙ starburst nuclei spirals, the majority have dynamical masses in the ∼109 M⊙ range. A comparison with published data for faint blue galaxies suggests that star-forming galaxies at z∼1 would have SFR per unit mass and burst strengths similar to those at z=0, but being intrinsically more massive.

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  • 10.1051/0004-6361/201014803
A fundamental plane for field star-forming galaxies
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  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • M A Lara-López + 8 more

Star formation rate (SFR), metallicity and stellar mass are within the important parameters of star--forming galaxies that characterize their formation and evolution. They are known to be related to each other at low and high redshift in the mass--metallicity, mass--SFR, and metallicity--SFR relations. In this work we demonstrate the existence of a plane in the 3D space defined by the axes SFR [log(SFR)(M_sun yr^-1)], gas metallicity [12+log(O/H)], and stellar mass [log(M_star/M_sun)] of star-forming galaxies. We used star--forming galaxies from the "main galaxy sample" of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey--Data Release 7 (SDSS-DR7) in the redshift range 0.04 < z < 0.1 and r-magnitudes between 14.5 and 17.77. Metallicities, SFRs, and stellar masses were taken from the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics-John Hopkins University (MPA-JHU) emission line analysis database. From a final sample of 44214 galaxies, we find for the first time a fundamental plane for field galaxies relating the SFR, gas metallicity, and stellar mass for star--forming galaxies in the local universe. One of the applications of this plane would be estimating stellar masses from SFR and metallicity. High redshift data from the literature at redshift ~2.2 and 3.5, do not show evidence for evolution in this fundamental plane.

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An empirical calibration of star formation rate estimators
  • May 1, 2002
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • Daniel Rosa-González + 2 more

ABSTRA C T The observational determination of the behaviour of the star formation rate (SFR) with lookback time or redshift has two main weaknesses: (i) the large uncertainty of the dust/extinction corrections, and (ii) that systematic errors may be introduced by the fact that the SFR is estimated using different methods at different redshifts. Most frequently, the luminosity of the Ha emission line, that of the forbidden line [O II] l3727 and that of the far-ultraviolet continuum are used with low-, intermediate- and high-redshift galaxies, respectively. To assess the possible systematic differences among the different SFR estimators and the role of dust, we have compared SFR estimates using Ha ,[ OII] l3727 A ˚ , ultraviolet (UV) and far-infrared (FIR) luminosities [SFR(Ha), SFR(O II), SFR(UV) and SFR(FIR), respectively] of a sample comprising the 31 nearby star-forming galaxies that have high-quality photometric data in the UV, optical and FIR. We review the different ‘standard’ methods for the estimation of the SFR and find that while the standard method provides good agreement between SFR(Ha) and SFR(FIR), both SFR(O II) and SFR(UV) are systematically higher than SFR(FIR), irrespective of the extinction law. We show that the excess in the SFR(O II) and SFR(UV) is mainly due to an overestimation of the extinction resulting from the effect of underlying stellar Balmer absorptions in the measured emission line fluxes. Taking this effect into consideration in the determination of the extinction brings the SFR(O II) and SFR(UV) in line with the SFR(FIR), and simultaneously reduces the internal scatter of the SFR estimations. Based on these results, we have derived ‘unbiased’ SFR expressions for the SFR(UV), SFR(O II) and SFR(Ha). We have used these estimators to recompute the SFR history of the Universe using the results of published surveys. The main results are that the use of the unbiased SFR estimators brings into agreement the results of all surveys. Particularly important is the agreement achieved for the SFR derived from the FIR/millimetre and optical/UV surveys. The ‘unbiased’ star formation history of the Universe shows a steep rise in the SFR from za 0t oza 1 with SFR/O1a zU 4:5 , followed by a decline for z . 2 where SFR/O1a zU 21:5 . Galaxy formation models tend to have a much flatter slope from za 0t o za 1.

  • Research Article
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  • 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19240.x
Star formation in a stellar mass-selected sample of galaxies to z= 3 from the GOODS-NICMOS Survey
  • Sep 13, 2011
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • A E Bauer + 6 more

We present a study of the star-forming properties of a stellar mass-selected sample of galaxies in the GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS), based on deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the GOODS North and South fields. Using a stellar mass selected sample, combined with HST/ACS and Spitzer data to measure both UV and infrared derived star formation rates (SFR), we investigate the star forming properties of a complete sample of ~1300 galaxies down to log M*=9.5 at redshifts 1.5<z<3. Eight percent of the sample is made up of massive galaxies with M*>10^11 Msun. We derive optical colours, dust extinctions, and ultraviolet and infrared SFR to determine how the star formation rate changes as a function of both stellar mass and time. Our results show that SFR increases at higher stellar mass such that massive galaxies nearly double their stellar mass from star formation alone over the redshift range studied, but the average value of SFR for a given stellar mass remains constant over this 2 Gyr period. Furthermore, we find no strong evolution in the SFR for our sample as a function of mass over our redshift range of interest, in particular we do not find a decline in the SFR among massive galaxies, as is seen at z < 1. The most massive galaxies in our sample (log M*>11) have high average SFRs with values, SFR(UV,corr) = 103+/-75 Msun/yr, yet exhibit red rest-frame (U-B) colours at all redshifts. We conclude that the majority of these red high-redshift massive galaxies are red due to dust extinction. We find that A(2800) increases with stellar mass, and show that between 45% and 85% of massive galaxies harbour dusty star formation. These results show that even just a few Gyr after the first galaxies appear, there are strong relations between the global physical properties of galaxies, driven by stellar mass or another underlying feature of galaxies strongly related to the stellar mass.

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Interactions and mergers play a crucial role in shaping the physical properties of galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are the dominant galaxy population at all redshifts, and the majority of mergers are expected to occur between them. The effect of dwarf-dwarf mergers on star formation in these systems is not yet fully understood. In this context, we studied the star formation properties of a sample of 6,155 isolated (i.e., with no massive galaxy, M_* $&gt;$ 10^10 M_⊙, within a 1 Mpc^3 volume) dwarf galaxies consisting of 194 post-merger and 5,961 non-interacting galaxies, spanning a stellar mass range of $ 10^ M_⊙ $ and a redshift range of 0.01 -- 0.12. The post-merger galaxies studied here were identified in a past study in the literature, which found galaxies with signatures of recent merger activity (in the form of tidal features) in deep optical images. We used the far-ultraviolet imaging data from the GALEX mission and estimated the star formation rate (SFR) of our sample galaxies. To investigate the impact of interactions on star formation, we estimated the difference in log(SFR) between a post-merger galaxy and the median of its corresponding control sample matched in stellar mass and redshift. The offset in our sample has a range of -2 to $+$2 dex, indicating both enhancement and suppression of star formation in these recent merger galaxies. Around 67% of the sample (130 galaxies) shows an enhancement in SFR. The median offset (enhancement) of the sample is 0.24 dex (1.73 times), indicating an ∼ 70% increase in the SFR of recent merger galaxies compared to their non-interacting counterparts. Out of 194 post-merger dwarfs, around 44%, 20%, and 9% show twofold, fivefold, and tenfold enhancements in SFR, respectively. Overall, we found a moderate enhancement in the median SFR of the post-merger sample, compared to that of the non-interacting dwarfs, by a factor of nearly two. This factor is comparable to the average enhancement factor observed in massive post-merger galaxies. However, we observed widespread star formation across the sample of dwarf galaxies. Star formation is found to be enhanced in both the central (6" diameter region at the centre) and outer regions of the post-merger galaxies compared to their non-interacting counterparts, and the factor of enhancement was found to be similar. This is in contrast to what is observed in massive galaxies, where the merger-triggered star formation is more significant in the central regions. Furthermore, we did not observe any significant dependence of the enhancement factor on stellar mass across the sample. Additionally, we found that in the given small redshift range, post-merger dwarfs exhibit a higher median specific star formation rate compared to their non-interacting counterparts. About 33% of the galaxies in our post-merger dwarf sample are quenched. These galaxies could be at a later stage of the post-merger regime, where quenching can happen as observed in massive galaxies. This study suggests that dwarf-dwarf mergers can affect star formation in the local Universe. A more comprehensive study of post-merger dwarfs is required to understand their evolution.

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Aperture-free star formation rate of SDSS star-forming galaxies
  • Mar 1, 2017
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  • S Duarte Puertas + 5 more

Large area surveys with a high number of galaxies observed have undoubtedly marked a milestone in the understanding of several properties of galaxies, such as star-formation history, morphology, and metallicity. However, in many cases, these surveys provide fluxes from fixed small apertures (e.g. fibre), which cover a scant fraction of the galaxy, compelling us to use aperture corrections to study the global properties of galaxies. In this work, we derive the current total star formation rate (SFR) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, using an empirically based aperture correction of the measured $\rm H\alpha$ flux for the first time, thus minimising the uncertainties associated with reduced apertures. All the $\rm H\alpha$ fluxes have been extinction-corrected using the $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ ratio free from aperture effects. The total SFR for $\sim$210,000 SDSS star-forming galaxies has been derived applying pure empirical $\rm H\alpha$ and $\rm H\alpha/H\beta$ aperture corrections based on the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. We find that, on average, the aperture-corrected SFR is $\sim$0.65dex higher than the SDSS fibre-based SFR. The relation between the SFR and stellar mass for SDSS star-forming galaxies (SFR--$\rm M_\star$) has been obtained, together with its dependence on extinction and $\rm H\alpha$ equivalent width. We compare our results with those obtained in previous works and examine the behaviour of the derived SFR in six redshift bins, over the redshift range $\rm 0.005 \leq z\leq 0.22$. The SFR--$\rm M_\star$ sequence derived here is in agreement with selected observational studies based on integral field spectroscopy of individual galaxies as well as with the predictions of recent theoretical models of disc galaxies.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 25
  • 10.3847/0004-637x/817/1/10
YOUNG, STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AND THEIR LOCAL COUNTERPARTS: THE EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP OF MASS–SFR–METALLICITY SINCE z ∼ 2.1
  • Jan 19, 2016
  • The Astrophysical Journal
  • Henry S Grasshorn Gebhardt + 7 more

We explore the evolution of the Stellar Mass–Star Formation Rate (SFR)–Metallicity relation using a set of 256 COSMOS and GOODS galaxies in the redshift range 1.90 &lt; z &lt; 2.35. We present the galaxies’ rest-frame optical emission-line fluxes derived from IR-grism spectroscopy with the Hubble Space Telescope and combine these data with SFRs and stellar masses obtained from deep, multi-wavelength (rest-frame UV to IR) photometry. We then compare these measurements to those for a local sample of galaxies carefully matched in stellar mass ( 7.5 &lsim; log ( M &ast; / M &CircleDot; ) &lsim; 10.5 ?> ) and SFR ( &minus; 0.5 &lsim; log ( SFR ) &lsim; 2.5 ?> in M ⊙ yr−1). We find that the distribution of z ∼ 2.1 galaxies in stellar mass–SFR–metallicity space is clearly different from that derived for our sample of similarly bright ( L H &beta; &gt; 3 &times; 10 40 ?> erg s−1) local galaxies, and this offset cannot be explained by simple systematic offsets in the derived quantities. At stellar masses above &sim; 10 9 M &CircleDot; ?> and SFRs above &sim; 10 M &CircleDot; ?> yr−1, the z ∼ 2.1 galaxies have higher oxygen abundances than their local counterparts, while the opposite is true for lower-mass, lower-SFR systems.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 473
  • 10.1088/0004-637x/706/1/599
COMPARISON OF Hα AND UV STAR FORMATION RATES IN THE LOCAL VOLUME: SYSTEMATIC DISCREPANCIES FOR DWARF GALAXIES
  • Nov 3, 2009
  • The Astrophysical Journal
  • Janice C Lee + 16 more

Using a complete sample of ∼300 star-forming galaxies within 11 Mpc of the Milky Way, we evaluate the consistency between star formation rates (SFRs) inferred from the far ultraviolet (FUV) non-ionizing continuum and Hα nebular emission, assuming standard conversion recipes in which the SFR scales linearly with luminosity at a given wavelength. Our analysis probes SFRs over 5 orders of magnitude, down to ultra-low activities on the order of ∼10−4 M☉ yr−1. The data are drawn from the 11 Mpc Hα and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey (11HUGS), which has obtained Hα fluxes from ground-based narrowband imaging, and UV fluxes from imaging with GALEX. For normal spiral galaxies (SFR ∼ 1 M☉ yr−1), our results are consistent with previous work which has shown that FUV SFRs tend to be lower than Hα SFRs before accounting for internal dust attenuation, but that there is relative consistency between the two tracers after proper corrections are applied. However, a puzzle is encountered at the faint end of the luminosity function. As lower luminosity dwarf galaxies, roughly less active than the Small Magellanic Cloud, are examined, Hα tends to increasingly underpredict the total SFR relative to the FUV. The trend is evident prior to corrections for dust attenuation, which affects the FUV more than the nebular Hα emission, so this general conclusion is robust to the effects of dust. Although past studies have suggested similar trends, this is the first time this effect is probed with a statistical sample for galaxies with SFR ≲ 0.1 M☉ yr−1. By SFR ∼ 0.003 M☉ yr−1, the average Hα-to-FUV flux ratio is lower than expected by a factor of two, and at the lowest SFRs probed, the ratio exhibits an order of magnitude discrepancy for the handful of galaxies that remain in the sample. A range of standard explanations does not appear to be able to fully account for the magnitude of the systematic. Some recent work has argued for a stellar initial mass function which is deficient in high-mass stars in dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies, and we also consider this scenario. Under the assumption that the FUV traces the SFR in dwarf galaxies more robustly, the prescription relating Hα luminosity to SFR is re-calibrated for use in the low SFR regime when FUV data are not available.

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Star Formation in the Local Universe from the CALIFA sample: calibration and contribution of disks to the SFR density
  • Jul 1, 2014
  • Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
  • Cristina Catalán-Torrecilla + 4 more

The study of the star formation rate (SFR) is crucial for understanding the birth and evolution of the galaxies (Kennicutt 1998), with this aim in mind, we make use of a well-characterized sample of 380 nearby galaxies from the CALIFA survey that fill the entire color-magnitude diagram in the Local Universe. The availability of wide-field CALIFA IFS ensures a proper determination of the underlying stellar continuum and, consequently, of the extiction-corrected Hα luminosity. We compare our integrated Hα-based SFRs with single and hybrids tracers at other wavelengths found in the literature (Calzetti 2013). Then, we provide a new set of single-band and hybrid calibrators anchored to the extinction-corrected Hα luminosities. In the case of the hybrid calibrators we determine the best fitting aIR coefficients for different combinations of observed (UV or Hα) and dust-reprocessed (22μm or TIR) SFR contributions (where SFR ∝ Lobs + aIR × L[IR]). This analysis allow us to provide, for the first time, a set of hybrid calibrations for different morphological types and masses. These are particularly useful in case that the sample to be analyzed shows a different bias in terms of morphology or, more commonly, luminosity or stellar mass. We also study the dependence of this coefficient with color and ionized-gas attenuation. The distributions of aIR values are quite wide in all cases. We found that not single physical property can by itself explain the variation found in aIR.Finally, we explore the spatial distribution of the SFR by measuring the contribution of disks to the total SFR in the Local Universe. Our preliminary spatially-resolved analysis shows that the disk to total (disk + spheroidal component) SFR ratio is on average ∼ 88%. The use of the 2D spectroscopic data is critical to properly determine the Hα luminosity function and SFR density in the Local Universe per galaxy components, the ultimate goal of this project.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 79
  • 10.1088/0004-637x/772/2/141
TESTING THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE FUNDAMENTAL METALLICITY RELATION AT HIGH REDSHIFT USING LOW-MASS GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES
  • Jul 17, 2013
  • The Astrophysical Journal
  • Sirio Belli + 3 more

We present rest-frame optical spectra for a sample of 9 low-mass star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 1.5 < z < 3 which are gravitationally lensed by foreground clusters. We used Triplespec, an echelle spectrograph at the Palomar 200-inch telescope that is very effective for this purpose as it samples the entire near-infrared spectrum simultaneously. By measuring the flux of nebular emission lines we derive gas phase metallicities and star formation rates, and by fitting the optical to infrared spectral energy distributions we obtain stellar masses. Taking advantage of the high magnification due to strong lensing we are able to probe the physical properties of galaxies with stellar masses in the range 7.8 < log M/Msun < 9.4 whose star formation rates are similar to those of typical star-forming galaxies in the local universe. We compare our results with the locally determined relation between stellar mass, gas metallicity and star formation rate. Our data are in excellent agreement with this relation, with an average offset <Delta log O/H> = 0.01 +/- 0.08, suggesting a universal relationship. Remarkably, the scatter around the fundamental metallicity relation is only 0.24 dex, smaller than that observed locally at the same stellar masses, which may provide an important additional constraint for galaxy evolution models.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 22
  • 10.1051/0004-6361/202142011
The Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS)
  • Mar 1, 2022
  • Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics
  • I Smirnova-Pinchukova + 19 more

Context. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are thought to be responsible for the suppression of star formation in massive ∼1010 M⊙ galaxies. While this process is a key feature in numerical simulations of galaxy formation, it has not been unambiguously confirmed in observational studies yet. Aims. The characterization of the star formation rate (SFR) in AGN host galaxies is challenging as AGN light contaminates most SFR tracers. Furthermore, the various SFR tracers are sensitive to different timescales of star formation from approximately a few to 100 Myr. We aim to obtain and compare SFR estimates from different tracers for AGN host galaxies in the Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS) to provide new observational insights into the recent SFR history of those systems. Methods. We constructed integrated panchromatic spectral energy distributions to measure the far infrared (FIR) luminosity as a tracer for the recent (&lt; 100 Myr) SFR. In addition we used the integral-field unit observation of the CARS targets to employ the Hα luminosity decontaminated by AGN excitation as a proxy for the current (&lt; 5 Myr) SFR. Results. We find that significant differences in specific SFR of the AGN host galaxies as compared with the larger galaxy population disappear once cold gas mass, in addition to stellar mass, is used to predict the SFR for a specific AGN host. Only a tentative trend with the inclination of the host galaxy remains, such that SFR appears slightly lower than expected when the galaxies of unobscured AGN appear more edge-on along our line-of-sight, particular for dust-insensitive FIR-based SFRs. We identify individual galaxies with a significant difference in their SFR which can be related to a recent enhancement or decline in their SFR history that might be related to various processes including interactions, gas consumption, outflows, and AGN feedback. Conclusions. AGN can be present in various stages of galaxy evolution which makes it difficult to relate the SFR solely to the impact of the AGN. Our study shows that stellar mass alone is an insufficient parameter to estimate the expected SFR of an AGN host galaxy compared to the underlying non-AGN galaxy population. We do not find any strong evidence for a global positive or negative AGN feedback in the CARS sample. However, there is tentative evidence that (1) the relative orientation of the AGN engine with respect to the host galaxies might alter the efficiency of AGN feedback and that (2) the recent SFH is an additional tool to identify rapid changes in galaxy growth driven by the AGN or other processes.

  • Research Article
  • 10.1017/s1743921320003233
Detailed characterisation of LINERs and retired galaxies in the local universe
  • Oct 1, 2019
  • Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
  • Daudi T Mazengo + 3 more

We present a detailed characterisation of physical properties of low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) and retired galaxies (RGs) in the local universe for redshift range 0 &lt; z &lt; 0.4 and two subranges z &lt; 0.4 and 0.1 &lt; z &lt; 0.4. Furthermore, we test the effectiveness of WHAN diagnostic diagram in separating the two populations. We used photometric data, public spectroscopic data and morphological classification from SDSS-DR8, MPA-JHU SDSS-DR8 catalogue and Galaxy Zoo survey, respectively. We studied the distribution of LINERs, RGs and AGN-LINERs in relation to luminosity, stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), colour, and their location on the SFR-stellar mass and colour-stellar mass diagrams. We then studied the morphologies of both populations. Results have shown that for higher redshift range, AGN-LINERs have higher apparent g magnitude, SFRs and dominate on/above the main sequence (MS) of star formation compared to RGs. However, both populations have similar stellar mass and luminosity distributions at all redshift ranges hence suggesting a significant difference in terms of star formation of RGs and AGN-LINERs with redshift. However, larger and more complete samples of LINERs are needed from the future surveys (e.g., LSST) and missions (e.g., JWST) to study in more details the properties of RGs and AGN-LINERs and find alternative methods of separating the two populations, since using simply WHAN diagram from our study we do not find it to be effective for separating the two populations.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 37
  • 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19559.x
The relationship between star formation rates, local density and stellar mass up to z ∼ 3 in the GOODS NICMOS Survey
  • Sep 19, 2011
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • R Grützbauch + 8 more

We investigate the relation between star formation rates and local galaxy environment for a stellar mass selected galaxy sample in the redshift range 1.5 < z < 3. We use near-infra-red imaging from an extremely deep Hubble Space Telescope survey, the GOODS-NICMOS Survey (GNS) to measure local galaxy densities based on the nearest neighbour approach, while star-formation rates are estimated from rest-frame UV-fluxes. Due to our imaging depth we can examine galaxies down to a colour-independent stellar mass completeness limit of log M\ast = 9.5 M\odot at z ~ 3. We find a strong dependence of star formation activity on galaxy stellar mass over the whole redshift range, which does not depend on local environment. The average star formation rates are largely independent of local environment apart from in the highest relative over-densities. Galaxies in over-densities of a factor of > 5 have on average lower star formation rates by a factor of 2 - 3, but only up to redshifts of z ~ 2. We do not see any evidence for AGN activity influencing these relations. We also investigate the influence of the very local environment on star-formation activity by counting neighbours within 30 kpc radius. This shows that galaxies with two or more close neighbours have on average significantly lower star formation rates as well as lower specific star formation rates up to z ~ 2.5. We suggest that this might be due to star formation quenching induced by galaxy merging processes.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 15
  • 10.1051/0004-6361/202142812
The miniJPAS survey: Identification and characterization of the emission line galaxies down to z &lt; 0.35 in the AEGIS field
  • May 1, 2022
  • Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics
  • Ginés Martínez-Solaeche + 13 more

The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) is expected to map thousands of square degrees of the northern sky with 56 narrowband filters (spectral resolution of R ∼ 60) in the upcoming years. This resolution allows us to study emission line galaxies (ELGs) with a minimum equivalent width of 10 Å in the Hα emission line for a median signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 5. This will make J-PAS a very competitive and unbiased emission line survey compared to spectroscopic or narrowband surveys with fewer filters. The miniJPAS survey covered 1 deg2, and it used the same photometric system as J-PAS, but the observations were carried out with the pathfinder J-PAS camera. In this work, we identify and characterize the sample of ELGs from miniJPAS with a redshift lower than 0.35, which is the limit to which the Hα line can be observed with the J-PAS filter system. Using a method based on artificial neural networks, we detect the ELG population and measure the equivalent width and flux of the Hα, Hβ, [O III], and [N II] emission lines. We explore the ionization mechanism using the diagrams [OIII]/Hβ versus [NII]/Hα (BPT) and EW(Hα) versus [NII]/Hα (WHAN). We identify 1787 ELGs (83%) from the parent sample (2154 galaxies) in the AEGIS field. For the galaxies with reliable EW values that can be placed in the WHAN diagram (2000 galaxies in total), we obtained that 72.8 ± 0.4%, 17.7 ± 0.4%, and 9.4 ± 0.2% are star-forming (SF), active galactic nucleus (Seyfert), and quiescent galaxies, respectively. The distribution of EW(Hα) is well correlated with the bimodal color distribution of galaxies. Based on the rest-frame (u − r)–stellar mass diagram, 94% of the blue galaxies are SF galaxies, and 97% of the red galaxies are LINERs or passive galaxies. The nebular extinction and star formation rate (SFR) were computed from the Hα and Hβ fluxes. We find that the star formation main sequence is described as log SFR [M⊙ yr−1] = 0.90−0.02+0.02 log M⋆[M⊙]−8.85−0.20+0.19 and has an intrinsic scatter of 0.20−0.01+0.01. The cosmic evolution of the SFR density (ρSFR) is derived at three redshift bins: 0 &lt; z ≤ 0.15, 0.15 &lt; z ≤ 0.25, and 0.25 &lt; z ≤ 0.35, which agrees with previous results that were based on measurements of the Hα emission line. However, we find an offset with respect to other estimates that were based on the star formation history obtained from fitting the spectral energy distribution of the stellar continuum. We discuss the origin of this discrepancy, which is probably a combination of several factors: the escape of ionizing photons, the SFR tracers, and dust attenuation, among others.

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