Evolution of the Luminosity Function, Star Formation Rate, Morphology, and Size of Star‐forming Galaxies Selected at Rest‐Frame 1500 and 2800 A

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.

The integrated colors of distant galaxies provide a means for interpreting the properties of their stellar content. Here we use rest-frame UV-to-optical colors to constrain the spectral energy distributions and stellar populations of color-selected, B-dropout galaxies at z ~ 4 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). We combine the Advanced Camera for Surveys data with ground-based near-infrared images, which extend the coverage of galaxies at z ~ 4 to the rest-frame B band. We observe a color-magnitude trend in the rest-frame m(UV)-B versus B diagram for the z ~ 4 galaxies that has a fairly well-defined blue envelope, and is strikingly similar to that of color-selected, U-dropout galaxies at z ~ 3. We also find that although the co-moving luminosity density at rest-frame UV wavelengths (1600 A) is roughly comparable at z ~ 3 and ~4, the luminosity density at rest-frame optical wavelengths increases by about one-third from z ~ 4 to ~3. Although the star formation histories of individual galaxies may involve complex and stochastic events, the evolution in the global luminosity density of the UV-bright galaxy population corresponds to an average star formation history with a star formation rate that is constant or increasing over these redshifts. This suggests that the evolution in the luminosity density corresponds to an increase in the stellar mass density of 33%.

Using Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based U through Ks photometry from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey, we measure the evolution of the luminosity function and luminosity density in the rest-frame optical (U, B, and R) to z ~ 2, bridging the poorly explored desert between z ~ 1 and ~2. We also use deep near-infrared observations to measure the evolution in the rest-frame J band to z ~ 1. Compared to local measurements from the SDSS, we find a brightening of the characteristic magnitude, M*, by ~2.1, ~0.8, and ~0.7 mag between z ~ 0.1 and ~1.9, in U, B, and R, respectively. The evolution of M* in the J band is in the opposite sense, showing a dimming between redshifts z ~ 0.4 and 0.9. This is consistent with a scenario in which the mean star formation rate in galaxies was higher in the past, while the mean stellar mass was lower, in qualitative agreement with hierarchical galaxy formation models. We find that the shape of the luminosity function is strongly dependent on spectral type and that there is strong evolution with redshift in the relative contribution from the different spectral types to the luminosity density. We find good agreement with previous measurements, supporting an increase in the B-band luminosity density by a factor of ~2 between the local value and z ~ 1, and little evolution between z ~ 1 and ~2. We provide estimates of the uncertainty in our luminosity density measurements due to cosmic variance. We find good agreement in the luminosity function derived from an R-selected and a Ks-selected sample at z ~ 1, suggesting that optically selected surveys of similar depth (R 24) are not missing a significant fraction of objects at this redshift relative to a near-infrared-selected sample. We compare the rest-frame B-band luminosity functions from z = 0 to 2 with the predictions of a semianalytic hierarchical model of galaxy formation and find qualitatively good agreement. In particular, the model predicts at least as many optically luminous galaxies at z ~ 1-2 as are implied by our observations.

We investigate the evolution of the galaxy Star Formation Rate Function (SFRF) and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density (CSFRD) of $z\sim 0-8 $ galaxies in the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) simulations. In addition, we present a compilation of UV, IR and H$\alpha$ SFRFs and compare these with the predictions from the EAGLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the constraints implied by different indicators are inconsistent with each other for the highest star-forming objects at z < 2, a problem that is possibly related to selection biases and the uncertainties of dust attenuation effects. EAGLE's feedback parameters were calibrated to reproduce realistic galaxy sizes and stellar masses at z = 0.1. In this work we test if and why those choices yield realistic Star Formation Rates (SFRs) for $z \sim 0-8$ as well. We demonstrate that SNe feedback plays a major role at setting the abundance of galaxies at all star-forming regimes, especially at high redshifts. On the contrary, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback becomes more prominent at lower redshifts and is a major mechanism that affects only the highest star-forming systems. Furthermore, we find that galaxies with SFR $\sim 1-10 \, {\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$ dominate the CSFRD at redshifts z < 5, while rare high star-forming galaxies (SFR $\sim 10-100 \,{\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$) contribute significantly only briefly around the peak era ($z \sim 2$) and then are quenched by AGN feedback. In the absence of this prescription objects with SFR $\sim 10-100 \,{\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$ would dominate the CSFRD, while the cosmic budget of star formation would be extremely high. Finally, we demonstrate that the majority of the cosmic star formation occurs in relatively rare high mass halos ($ {\rm M_{Halo}} \sim 10^{11-13} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$) even at the earliest epochs.

We present a first analysis of deep 24 μm observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope of a sample of nearly 1500 galaxies in a thin redshift slice, 0.65 ≤ z < 0.75. We combine the infrared data with redshifts, rest-frame luminosities, and colors from COMBO-17 and with morphologies from Hubble Space Telescope images collected by the Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and SEDs (GEMS) and Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) projects. To characterize the decline in star formation rate (SFR) since z ~ 0.7, we estimate the total thermal IR luminosities, SFRs, and stellar masses for the galaxies in this sample. At z ~ 0.7, nearly 40% of intermediate- and high-mass galaxies (with stellar masses ≥2 × 1010 M☉) are undergoing a period of intense star formation above their past-averaged SFR. In contrast, less than 1% of equally massive galaxies in the local universe have similarly intense star formation activity. Morphologically undisturbed galaxies dominate the total infrared luminosity density and SFR density: at z ~ 0.7, more than half of the intensely star-forming galaxies have spiral morphologies, whereas less than ~30% are strongly interacting. Thus, a decline in major merger rate is not the underlying cause of the rapid decline in cosmic SFR since z ~ 0.7. Physical properties that do not strongly affect galaxy morphology—for example, gas consumption and weak interactions with small satellite galaxies—appear to be responsible.

The high-frequency radio sky has historically remained largely unexplored due to the typical faintness of sources in this regime, and the modest survey speed compared to observations at lower frequencies. However, high-frequency radio surveys offer an invaluable tracer of high-redshift star formation, as they directly target the faint radio free–free emission. We present deep continuum observations at 34 GHz in the COSMOS and GOODS-North fields from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), as part of the COLDz survey. The deep COSMOS mosaic spans down to σ = 1.3 μJy beam−1, while the wider GOODS-N observations cover to σ = 5.3 μJy beam−1. We detect a total of 18 galaxies at 34 GHz, of which nine show radio emission consistent with being powered by star formation; although for two sources, this is likely due to thermal emission from dust. Utilizing deep ancillary radio data at 1.4, 3, 5, and 10 GHz, we decompose the spectra of the remaining seven star-forming galaxies into their synchrotron and thermal free–free components, and find typical thermal fractions and synchrotron spectral indices comparable to those observed in local star-forming galaxies. We further determine free–free star formation rates (SFRs), and show that these are in agreement with SFRs from spectral energy distribution-fitting and the far-infrared/radio correlation. Our observations place strong constraints on the high-frequency radio emission in typical galaxies at high redshift, and provide some of the first insights into what is set to become a key area of study with future radio facilities, such as the Square Kilometer Array Phase 1 and next-generation VLA.

We study the impact of black hole nuclear activity on both the global and radial star formation rate (SFR) profiles in X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the field of miniJPAS, the precursor of the much wider J-PAS project. Our sample includes 32 AGN with z &lt; 0.3 detected via the XMM-Newton and Chandra surveys. For comparison, we assembled a control sample of 71 star-forming (SF) galaxies with similar magnitudes, sizes, and redshifts. To derive the global properties of both the AGN and the control SF sample, we used CIGALE to fit the spectral energy distributions derived from the 56 narrowband and 4 broadband filters from miniJPAS. We find that AGN tend to reside in more massive galaxies than their SF counterparts. After matching samples based on stellar mass and comparing their SFRs and specific SFRs (sSFRs), no significant differences appear. This suggests that the presence of AGN does not strongly influence overall star formation. However, when we used miniJPAS as an integral field unit (IFU) to dissect galaxies along their position angle, a different picture emerges. We find that AGN tend to be more centrally concentrated in mass with respect to SF galaxies. Moreover, we find a suppression of the sSFR up to 1Re and then an enhancement beyond 1Re, strongly contrasting with the decreasing radial profile of sSFRs in SF galaxies. This could point to an inside-out quenching of AGN host galaxies. Additionally, we examined how the radial profiles of the sSFRs in AGN and SF galaxies depend on galaxy morphology, by dividing our sample into disk-dominated (DD), pseudo-bulge (PB), and bulge-dominated (BD) systems. In DD systems, AGN exhibit a flat sSFR profile in the central regions and enhanced star formation beyond 1Re, contrasting with SF galaxies. In PB systems, SF galaxies show a decreasing sSFR profile, while AGN hosts exhibit an inside-out quenching scenario. In BD systems, both populations demonstrate consistent flat sSFR profiles. These findings suggest that the reason we do not see differences on a global scale is because star formation is suppressed in the central regions and enhanced in the outer regions of AGN host galaxies. While limited in terms of sample size, this work highlights the potential of the upcoming J-PAS as a wide-field low-resolution IFU for thousands of nearby galaxies and AGN.

We have combined multiwavelength observations of a selected sample of star-forming galaxies with galaxy evolution models in order to compare the results obtained for different star formation rate (SFR) tracers and to study the effect that the evolution of the star-forming regions has on them. We also aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the corrections due to extinction and nuclear activity on the derivation of the SFR. We selected the sample from Chandra data for the well studied region Chandra Deep Field-South (CDFS) and chose the objects that also have ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) Spitzer, respectively. Our main finding is that there is good agreement between the extinction corrected SFR(UV) and the SFR(X), and we confirm the use of X-ray luminosities as a trustful tracer of recent star formation activity. Nevertheless, at SFR(UV) larger than about 5 M⊙ yr−1 there are several galaxies with an excess of SFR(X) suggesting the presence of an obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) not detected in the optical spectra. We conclude that the IR luminosity is driven by recent star formation even in those galaxies where the SFR(X) is an order of magnitude higher than the SFR(UV) and therefore may harbour an AGN. One object shows SFR(X) much lower than expected based on the SFR(UV); this SFR(X) ‘deficit’ may be due to an early transient phase before most of the massive X-ray binaries were formed. An X-ray deficit could be used to select extremely young bursts in an early phase just after the explosion of the first supernovae associated with massive stars and before the onset of massive X-ray binaries.

High-resolution multi-wavelength photometry is crucial to explore the spatial distribution of star formation in galaxies and understand how these evolve. To this aim, in this paper we exploit the deep, multi-wavelength Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data available in the central parts of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields and study the distribution of star formation activity and mass in galaxies located at different positions with respect to the main sequence (MS) of star-forming galaxies. Our sample consists of galaxies with stellar mass ≥109.5 M⊙ in the redshift range 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 1.2. Exploiting 10-band photometry from the UV to the near-infrared at HST resolution, we derived spatially resolved maps of galaxy properties, such as stellar mass and star formation rate and specific star formation rate, with a resolution of ∼0.16 arcsec. We find that the star formation activity is centrally enhanced in galaxies above the MS and centrally suppressed below the MS, with quiescent galaxies (1 dex below the MS) characterised by the highest suppression. The specific star formation rate in the outer region does not show systematic trends of enhancement or suppression above or below the MS. The distribution of mass in MS galaxies indicates that bulges grow when galaxies are still on the MS relation. Galaxies below the MS are more bulge-dominated with respect to MS counterparts at fixed stellar mass, while galaxies in the upper envelope are more extended and have Sérsic indices that are always smaller than or comparable to their MS counterparts. The suppression of star formation activity in the central region of galaxies below the MS hints at inside-out quenching, as star formation is still ongoing in the outer regions.

We take advantage of the sensitivity and resolution of Herschel at 100 and 160 micron to directly image the thermal dust emission and investigate the infrared luminosities, L(IR), and dust obscuration of typical star-forming (L*) galaxies at high redshift. Our sample consists of 146 UV-selected galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts 1.5<z<2.6 in the GOODS-North field. Supplemented with deep Very Large Array (VLA) and Spitzer imaging, we construct median stacks at the positions of these galaxies at 24, 100, and 160 micron, and 1.4 GHz. The comparison between these stacked fluxes and a variety of dust templates and calibrations implies that typical star-forming galaxies with UV luminosities L(UV)>1e10 Lsun at z~2 are luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with a median L(IR)=(2.2+/-0.3)e11 Lsun. Typical galaxies at 1.5<z<2.6 have a median dust obscuration L(IR)/L(UV) = 7.1+/-1.1, which corresponds to a dust correction factor, required to recover the bolometric star formation rate (SFR) from the unobscured UV SFR, of 5.2+/-0.6. This result is similar to that inferred from previous investigations of the UV, H-alpha, 24 micron, radio, and X-ray properties of the same galaxies studied here. Stacking in bins of UV slope implies that L* galaxies with redder spectral slopes are also dustier, and that the correlation between UV slope and dustiness is similar to that found for local starburst galaxies. Hence, the rest-frame 30 and 50 micron fluxes validate on average the use of the local UV attenuation curve to recover the dust attenuation of typical star-forming galaxies at high redshift. In the simplest interpretation, the agreement between the local and high redshift UV attenuation curves suggests a similarity in the dust production and stellar and dust geometries of starburst galaxies over the last 10 billion years.

The CLASH X-ray selected sample of 20 galaxy clusters contains ten brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) that exhibit significant ($>$5 $\sigma$) extinction-corrected star formation rates (SFRs). Star formation activity is inferred from photometric estimates of UV and H$\alpha$+[\ion{N}{2}] emission in knots and filaments detected in CLASH HST ACS and WFC3 observations. UV-derived SFRs in these BCGs span two orders of magnitude, including two with a SFR $\gtrsim$ 100 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. These measurements are supplemented with [\ion{O}{2}], [\ion{O}{3}], and H$\beta$ fluxes measured from spectra obtained with the SOAR telescope. We confirm that photoionization from ongoing star formation powers the line emission nebulae in these BCGs, although in many BCGs there is also evidence of a LINER-like contribution to the line emission. Coupling these data with Chandra X-ray measurements, we infer that the star formation occurs exclusively in low-entropy cluster cores and exhibits a correlation with gas properties related to cooling. We also perform an in-depth study of the starburst history of the BCG in the cluster RXJ1532.9+3021, and create 2D maps of stellar properties on scales down to $\sim$350 pc. These maps reveal evidence for an ongoing burst occurring in elongated filaments, generally on $\sim$ 0.5-1.0 Gyr timescales, although some filaments are consistent with much younger ($\lesssim$ 100 Myr) burst timescales and may be correlated with recent activity from the AGN. The relationship between BCG SFRs and the surrounding ICM gas properties provide new support for the process of feedback-regulated cooling in galaxy clusters and is consistent with recent theoretical predictions.

Photometry of the integrated H..cap alpha.. emission in a large sample of field spiral and irregular galaxies has been used to obtain quantitative estimates of the total star formation rate (SFR) in the galaxies. The photoionization properties of a stellar population have been modeled for a variety of choices for the initial mass function (IMF). The observed UBV colors and H..cap alpha.. emission equivalent widths place tight constraints on the slope of the IMF between 1 M /sub sun/ and 50 M /sub sun/ in the galaxies; excellent agreement with the observed galaxy colors and H..cap alpha.. emission is obtained with models using an IMF slope close to Salpeter's original value. The properties of late-type galaxies are not well reproduced by the Miller-Scalo solar neighborhood IMF. The extinction-corrected star formation rates are large, as high as 20 M /sub sun/ yr/sup -1/ in giant Sc galaxies (H/sub 0/ = 50 km s/sup -1/ Mpc/sup -1/). The current rates in late-type galaxies are comparable to the past rates averaged over the age of the disk; late-type disk galaxies have evolved at a nearly constant rate, confirming earlier models by Searle, Sargent, and Bagnuolo. Little evidence is found for a strong correlationmore » between the SFR and average gas density; if the SFR proportional rho/sup n/, then the exponent n must be much less than 1, corroborating earlier studies of star formation in the solar neighborhood by Miller, Scalo, and Twarog. Comparison of the present SFRs with the remaining supply of interstellar gas yields consumption time scales of only a few times 10/sup 9/ years in most cases, in agreement with the model estimates of Larson, Tinsley, and Caldwell.« less

The stellar population and star clusters around six regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are studied to understand the correlation between star formation and cluster formation rates. We used the stellar data base of the OGLE II LMC survey and the star cluster catalogues. The observed distributions of stellar density in the colour−magnitude diagrams (CMDs) were compared with synthetic ones generated from stellar evolutionary models. By minimising the reduced χ 2 values, the star formation history of the regions were obtained in terms of star formation rates (SFR). All the regions were found to show large SFRs between the ages 500−2 Gyr with lower values for younger and older ages. A correlated peak in the cluster and SFRs is found for ages ∼1 Gyr, and for ages less than 100 Myr. Five of the six regions show significant cluster formation in the age range of 100−300 Myr, when the SFRs were found to be very low. This indicates anti-correlation between star and cluster formation rates for the 100−300 Myr age range. A possible reason may be that the stars are predominantly formed in clusters, whether bound or unbound, as a result of star formation during the above age range. The enhanced cluster formation rate in the 100−300 Myr age range could be correlated with the encounter of the LMC with the Small Magellanic Cloud, while the enhanced star and cluster formation at ∼1 Gyr does not correspond to any interaction. This could indicate that the star formation induced by interactions is biased towards group or cluster formation of stars.

We present a study of the resolved star-forming properties of a sample of distant massive M_*>10^11M_solar galaxies in the GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS). We derive dust corrected UV star formation rates (SFRs) as a function of radius for 45 massive galaxies within the redshift range 1.5<z<3 in order to measure the spatial location of ongoing star formation. We find that the star formation rates present in different regions of a galaxy reflect the already existent stellar mass density, i.e. high density regions have higher star formation rates than lower density regions, on average. This observed star formation is extrapolated in several ways to the present day, and we measure the amount of new stellar mass that is created in individual portions of each galaxy to determine how the stellar mass added via star formation changes the observed stellar mass profile, the Sersic index (n) and effective radius (R_e) over time. We find that these massive galaxies fall into three broad classifications of star formation distribution. These different star formation distributions increase the effective radii over time, which are on average a factor of ~16pm5% larger, with little change in n (average Delta n=-0.9pm0.9) after evolution. We also implement a range of simple stellar migration models into the simulated evolutionary path of these galaxies in order to gauge its effect on the properties of our sample. This yields a larger increase in the evolved R_e than the pure static star formation model, with a maximum average increase of Delta R_e~54pm19%, but with little change in n, Delta n ~-1.1pm1.3. These results are not in agreement with the observed change in the R_e and n between z~2.5 and 0 obtained via various observational studies. We conclude that star formation and stellar migration alone cannot account for the observed change in structural parameters for this galaxy population (abridged).

Examining a sample of massive galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 with K_{Vega}<22 from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey, we compare photometry from Spitzer at mid- and far-IR, to submillimeter, radio and rest-frame ultraviolet wavelengths, to test the agreement between different tracers of star formation rates (SFRs) and to explore the implications for galaxy assembly. For z~2 galaxies with moderate luminosities(L_{8um}<10^{11}L_sun), we find that the SFR can be estimated consistently from the multiwavelength data based on local luminosity correlations. However,20--30% of massive galaxies, and nearly all those with L_{8um}>10^{11}L_sun, show a mid-IR excess which is likely due to the presence of obscured active nuclei, as shown in a companion paper. There is a tight and roughly linear correlation between stellar mass and SFR for 24um-detected galaxies. For a given mass, the SFR at z=2 was larger by a factor of ~4 and ~30 relative to that in star forming galaxies at z=1 and z=0, respectively. Typical ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at z=2 are relatively 'transparent' to ultraviolet light, and their activity is long lived (~400 Myr), unlike that in local ULIRGs and high redshift submillimeter-selected galaxies. ULIRGs are the common mode of star formation in massive galaxies at z=2, and the high duty cycle suggests that major mergers are not the dominant trigger for this activity.Current galaxy formation models underpredict the normalization of the mass-SFR correlation by about a factor of 4, and the space density of ULIRGs by an orderof magnitude, but give better agreement for z>1.4 quiescent galaxies.