Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Research Articles

All Puffed Up: Exploring Ultra-diffuse Galaxy Origins Through Galaxy Interactions

We present new follow-up observations of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) selected for their distorted morphologies and tidal features, suggestive of tidal influence. Using Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys F555W and F814W imaging, we identify 8 ± 2 globular clusters in KUG 0203-Dw1 and 6 ± 2 in KDG 013, abundances typical for normal dwarf galaxies of similar stellar mass. Jansky Very Large Array data reveal a clear H i detection of KUG 0203-Dw1 with a gas mass estimate of logMHI/M⊙≲7.4 and evidence of active stripping by the host, while KDG 013 has no clear gas detection. The UDGs likely originated as normal dwarf galaxies that have been subjected to significant stripping and tidal heating, causing them to become more diffuse. These two UDGs complete a sample of five exhibiting tidal features in the full Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey area (∼1502 deg). These tidally influenced UDGs exhibit diverse properties; one stands out as a potential result of a dwarf merger, while the remainder suggest tidal heating origins. We also cannot conclusively rule out that these galaxies became UDGs in the field before processing by the group environment, underscoring the need for broader searches of diffuse galaxies to better understand the impact of galaxy interactions.

Multimodality for improved CNN photometric redshifts

Photometric redshift estimation plays a crucial role in modern cosmological surveys for studying the universe’s large-scale structures and the evolution of galaxies. Deep learning has emerged as a powerful method to produce accurate photometric redshift estimates from multiband images of galaxies. Here, we introduce a multimodal approach consisting of the parallel processing of several subsets of prior image bands, the outputs of which are then merged for further processing through a convolutional neural network (CNN). We evaluate the performance of our method using three surveys: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS), and the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). By improving the model’s ability to capture information embedded in the correlation between different bands, our technique surpasses state-of-the-art photometric redshift precision. We find that the positive gain does not depend on the specific architecture of the CNN and that it increases with the number of photometric filters available.

The Preexplosion Environments and the Progenitor of SN 2023ixf from the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX)

Supernova (SN) 2023ixf was discovered on 2023 May 19. The host galaxy, M101, was observed by the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment collaboration over the period 2020 April 30–2020 July 10, using the Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (3470 ≲ λ ≲ 5540 Å) on the 10 m Hobby–Eberly Telescope. The fiber filling factor within ±30″ of SN 2023ixf is 80% with a spatial resolution of 1″. The r < 5.″5 surroundings are 100% covered. This allows us to analyze the spatially resolved preexplosion local environments of SN 2023ixf with nebular emission lines. The two-dimensional maps of the extinction and the star formation rate (SFR) surface density (ΣSFR) show weak increasing trends in the radial distributions within the r < 5.″5 regions, suggesting lower values of extinction and SFR in the vicinity of the progenitor of SN 2023ixf. The median extinction and that of the surface density of SFR within r < 3″ are E(B − V) = 0.06 ± 0.14, and There is no significant change in extinction before and after the explosion. The gas metallicity does not change significantly with the separation from SN 2023ixf. The metal-rich branch of the R 23 calculations indicates that the gas metallicity around SN 2023ixf is similar to the solar metallicity (∼Z ☉). The archival deep images from the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) show a clear detection of the progenitor of SN 2023ixf in the z band at 22.778 ± 0.063 mag, but nondetections in the remaining four bands of CFHTLS (u, g, r, i). The results suggest a massive progenitor of ≈22 M ☉.

The Infrared Medium-deep Survey. IX. Discovery of Two New z ∼ 6 Quasars and Space Density Down to M 1450 ∼ −23.5 mag

We present the result of the Infrared Medium-deep Survey (IMS) z ∼ 6 quasar survey, using the combination of the IMS near-infrared images and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey optical images. The traditional color selection method results in 25 quasar candidates over 86 deg2. We introduce the corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc) with the high-redshift quasar and late-type star models to prioritize the candidates efficiently. Among the color-selected candidates, seven plausible candidates finally passed the AICc selection, of which three are known quasars at z ∼ 6. The follow-up spectroscopic observations for the remaining four candidates were carried out, and we confirmed that two out of four are z ∼ 6 quasars. With this complete sample, we revisited the quasar space density at z ∼ 6 down to M 1450 ∼ −23.5 mag. Our result supports the low quasar space density at the luminosity where the quasar’s ultraviolet ionizing emissivity peaks, favoring a minor contribution of quasars to the cosmic reionization.

Identification and properties of isolated field elliptical galaxies from CFHTLS-W1

Abstract We present a catalogue of isolated field elliptical (IfE) galaxies drawn from the W1 field of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). 228 IfEs were identified from a flux-limited $(r&lt;21.8)$ galaxy catalogue which corresponds to a density of 3 IfE/sq.deg. For comparison we consider a sample of elliptical galaxies living in dense environments, based on identification of the brightest cluster galaxies (BGCs) in the same survey. Using the same dataset for the comparison sample ensures a uniform selection, including in the redshift range as IfEs (i.e. $0.1&lt;z&lt;0.9$ ). A comparison of elliptical galaxies in different environments reveals that IfEs and BCGs have similar behaviours in their colours, star formation activities, and scaling relations of mass–size and size–luminosity. IfEs and BCGs have similar slopes in the scaling relations with respect to cluster ellipticals within the $-24 \leq M_{r} \leq -22$ magnitude and $10.2&lt; \textrm{log}(M_{*}/ \textrm M_\odot)\leq12.0$ mass ranges. Three IfEs identified in this study can be associated with fossil groups found in the same survey area which gives clues for future studies.

The PAU survey: measurement of narrow-band galaxy properties with approximate bayesian computation

Narrow-band imaging surveys allow the study of the spectral characteristics of galaxies without the need of performing their spectroscopic follow-up. In this work, we forward-model the Physics of the Accelerating Universe Survey (PAUS) narrow-band data. The aim is to improve the constraints on the spectral coefficients used to create the galaxy spectral energy distributions (SED) of the galaxy population model in Tortorelli et al. 2020. In that work, the model parameters were inferred from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) data using Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC). This led to stringent constraints on the B-band galaxy luminosity function parameters, but left the spectral coefficients only broadly constrained. To address that, we perform an ABC inference using CFHTLS and PAUS data. This is the first time our approach combining forward-modelling and ABC is applied simultaneously to multiple datasets. We test the results of the ABC inference by comparing the narrow-band magnitudes of the observed and simulated galaxies using Principal Component Analysis, finding a very good agreement. Furthermore, we prove the scientific potential of the constrained galaxy population model to provide realistic stellar population properties by measuring them with the SED fitting code CIGALE. We use CFHTLS broad-band and PAUS narrow-band photometry for a flux-limited (i < 22.5) sample of galaxies up to redshift z ∼ 0.8. We find that properties like stellar masses, star-formation rates, mass-weighted stellar ages and metallicities are in agreement within errors between observations and simulations. Overall, this work shows the ability of our galaxy population model to correctly forward-model a complex dataset such as PAUS and the ability to reproduce the diversity of galaxy properties at the redshift range spanned by CFHTLS and PAUS.

The Role of Dust, UV Luminosity and Large-scale Environment on the Escape of Lyα Photons: A Case Study of a Protocluster Field at z = 3.1

Abstract We present a detailed characterization of the Lyα properties for 93 Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z ∼ 3.1 selected from the D1 field of the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey, including 24 members of a massive protocluster. The median-stacked Lyα image shows an extended Lyα halo (LAH) surrounding the galaxy with the exponential scale length 4.9 ± 0.7 kpc, which accounts for roughly half of the total line flux. Accounting for the LAH contribution, the total Lyα escape fraction, f esc, is 40% ± 26%. Combining the data set with existing measurements, we find a dependence of f esc on the galaxy’s UV slope (β) and UV luminosity (L UV). The simultaneous use of both parameters allows prediction of f esc within 0.18 dex, a substantial improvement over 0.23 dex when only β is used. The correlation between f esc and E(B − V) suggests that Lyα photons undergo interstellar dust attenuation in a similar manner to continuum photons. Yet, Lyα transmission is typically higher than that expected for continuum photons at a similar wavelength by a factor, which depends on UV luminosity, up to 2 in the samples we studied. These results hint at complex geometries and physical conditions of the interstellar medium, which affect the Lyα transmission or production. Alternatively, the dust law may change with luminosity leading to an over- or underestimation of f esc. Finally, we report that protocluster LAEs tend to be bluer and more UV luminous than their field cousins, resulting in systematically higher f esc values. We speculate that it may be due to the widespread formation of young low-mass galaxies in dense gas-rich environments.

A giant central red disk galaxy at redshift z = 0.76: Challenge to theories of galaxy formation

We report a giant red central disk galaxy in the XMM-LSS north region. The region is covered with a rich variety of multiband photometric and spectroscopic observations. Using the photometric data of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and spectroscopic observation of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we find that the galaxy has a stellar mass of $\sim 10^{11.6}$ times of the solar mass $M_\odot$. The galaxy has a red color and has an old stellar population, and thus its star formation has stopped. With the photometric image data of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program, we demonstrate that its luminosity profile is perfectly described by a S\'ersic form with $n=1.22$ indicating disk morphology. We also analyze its environment based on the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) photometric catalog, and find that its close neighbors are all less massive, indicating that our observed galaxy is sitting at the center of its host halo. Existence of the giant red central disk galaxy seriously challenges the current standard paradigm of galaxy formation, as there is no known physical mechanism to explain the quenching of its star formation. This conclusion is supported by state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation.

Measurement of the B-band galaxy Luminosity Function with Approximate Bayesian Computation

The galaxy Luminosity Function (LF) is a key observable for galaxy formation, evolution studies and for cosmology. In this work, we propose a novel technique to forward model wide-field broad-band galaxy surveys using the fast image simulator UFig and measure the LF of galaxies in the B-band. We use Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) to constrain the galaxy population model parameters of the simulations and match data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). We define a number of distance metrics between the simulated and the survey data. By exploring the parameter space of the galaxy population model through ABC to find the set of parameters that minimize these distance metrics, we obtain constraints on the LFs of blue and red galaxies as a function of redshift. We find that M* fades by Δ M*0.1−1.0,b = 0.68 ± 0.52 and Δ M*0.1−1.0,r = 0.54 ± 0.48 magnitudes between redshift z = 1 and z = 0.1 for blue and red galaxies, respectively. We also find that ϕ* for blue galaxies stays roughly constant between redshift z = 0.1 and z=1, while for red galaxies it decreases of ∼ 35%. We compare our results to other measurements, finding good agreement at all redshifts, for both blue and red galaxies. To further test our results, we compare the redshift distributions for survey and simulated data. We use the spectroscopic redshift distribution from the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) and we apply the same selection in colours and magnitudes on our simulations. We find a good agreement between the survey and the simulated redshift distributions. We provide best-fit values and uncertainties for the parameters of the LF. This work offers excellent prospects for measuring other galaxy population properties as a function of redshift using ABC.

An obscured AGN population hidden in the VIPERS galaxies: identification through spectral energy distribution decomposition

ABSTRACT The detection of X-ray emission constitutes a reliable and efficient tool for the selection of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), although it may be biased against the most heavily absorbed AGNs. Simple mid-infrared (IR) broad-band selection criteria identify a large number of luminous and absorbed AGNs, yet again host contamination could lead to non-uniform and incomplete samples. Spectral energy distribution (SED) decomposition is able to decouple the emission from the AGN versus that from star-forming regions, revealing weaker AGN components. We aim to identify the obscured AGN population in the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey in the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey W1 field through SED modelling. We construct SEDs for 6860 sources and identify 160 AGNs at a high confidence level using a Bayesian approach. Using optical spectroscopy, we confirm the nature of ∼85 per cent of the AGNs. Our AGN sample is highly complete (∼92 per cent) compared to mid-IR colour-selected AGNs, including a significant number of galaxy-dominated systems with lower luminosities. In addition to the lack of X-ray emission (80 per cent), the SED fitting results suggest that the majority of the sources are obscured. We use a number of diagnostic criteria in the optical, IR, and X-ray regimes to verify these results. Interestingly, only 35 per cent of the most luminous mid-IR-selected AGNs have X-ray counterparts suggesting strong absorption. Our work emphasizes the importance of using SED decomposition techniques to select a population of type II AGNs, which may remain undetected by either X-ray or IR colour surveys.

LATIS: The Lyα Tomography IMACS Survey

Abstract We introduce LATIS, the Lyα Tomography IMACS Survey, a spectroscopic survey at Magellan designed to map the z = 2.2–2.8 intergalactic medium (IGM) in three dimensions by observing the Lyα forest in the spectra of galaxies and QSOs. Within an area of 1.7 deg2, we will observe approximately half of ≳L* galaxies at z = 2.2–3.2 for typically 12 hr, providing a dense network of sightlines piercing the IGM with an average transverse separation of 2.5 h −1 comoving Mpc (1 physical Mpc). At these scales, the opacity of the IGM is expected to be closely related to the dark matter density, and LATIS will therefore map the density field in the z ∼ 2.5 universe at ∼Mpc resolution over the largest volume to date. Ultimately, LATIS will produce approximately 3800 spectra of z = 2.2–3.2 galaxies that probe the IGM within a volume of 4 × 106 h −3 Mpc3, large enough to contain a representative sample of structures from protoclusters to large voids. Observations are already complete over one-third of the survey area. In this paper, we describe the survey design and execution. We present the largest IGM tomographic maps at comparable resolution yet made. We show that the recovered matter overdensities are broadly consistent with cosmological expectations based on realistic mock surveys, that they correspond to galaxy overdensities, and that we can recover structures identified using other tracers. LATIS is conducted in Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey fields, including COSMOS. Coupling the LATIS tomographic maps with the rich data sets collected in these fields will enable novel studies of environment-dependent galaxy evolution and the galaxy–IGM connection at cosmic noon.

Discovery of Protoclusters at z ∼ 3.7 and 4.9: Embedded in Primordial Superclusters

Abstract We have carried out follow-up spectroscopy on three overdense regions of g- and r-dropout galaxies in the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep Fields, finding two new protoclusters at z = 4.898 and 3.721 and a possible protocluster at z = 3.834. The z = 3.721 protocluster overlaps with a previously identified protocluster at z = 3.675. The redshift separation between these two protoclusters is Δz = 0.05, which is slightly larger than the size of typical protoclusters. Therefore, if they are not the progenitors of a &gt;1015 M ☉ halo, they would grow into closely located independent halos like a supercluster. The other protocluster at z = 4.898 is also surrounded by smaller galaxy groups. These systems including protoclusters and neighboring groups are regarded as the early phase of superclusters. We quantify the spatial distribution of member galaxies of the protoclusters at z = 3.675 and 3.721 by fitting triaxial ellipsoids, finding a tentative difference: one has a pancake-like shape, while the other is filamentary. This could indicate that these two protoclusters are in different stages of formation. We investigate the relation between redshift and the velocity dispersion of protoclusters, including other protoclusters from the literature, in order to compare their dynamical states. Although there is no significant systematic trend in the velocity dispersions of protoclusters with redshift, the distribution is skewed to higher velocity dispersion over the redshift range of z = 2–6. This could be interpreted as two phases of cluster formation, one dominated by the steady accretion of galaxies and the other by the merging between group-size halos, perhaps depending on the surrounding large-scale environments.

Pre-processing of galaxies in cosmic filaments around AMASCFI clusters in the CFHTLS

Context. Galaxy clusters and groups are thought to accrete material along the preferred direction of cosmic filaments. These structures have proven difficult to detect because their contrast is low, however, and only a few studies have focused on cluster infall regions. Aims. We detect cosmic filaments around galaxy clusters using photometric redshifts in the range 0.15 &lt; z &lt; 0.7. We characterise galaxy populations in these structures to study the influence of pre-processing by cosmic filaments and galaxy groups on star formation quenching. Methods. We detected cosmic filaments in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) T0007 data, focusing on regions around clusters of the AMASCFI CFHTLS cluster sample. The filaments were reconstructed with the discrete persistent structure extractor (DISPERSE) algorithm in photometric redshift slices. We show that this reconstruction is reliable for a CFHTLS-like survey at 0.15 &lt; z &lt; 0.7 using a mock galaxy catalogue. We split our galaxy catalogue into two populations (passive and star forming) using the LePhare spectral energy density fitting algorithm and worked with two redshift bins (0.15 &lt; z ≤ 0.4 and 0.4 &lt; z &lt; 0.7). Results. We showed that the AMASCFI cluster connectivity (i.e. the number of filaments that is connected to a cluster) increases with cluster mass M200. Filament galaxies outside R200 are found to be closer to clusters at low redshift, regardless of the galaxy type. Passive galaxies in filaments are closer to clusters than star-forming galaxies in the low redshift bin alone. The passive fraction of galaxies decreases with increasing clustercentric distance up to d ∼ 5 cMpc. Galaxy groups and clusters that are not located at nodes of our reconstruction are mainly found inside cosmic filaments. Conclusions. These results give clues for pre-processing in cosmic filaments that could be due to smaller galaxy groups. This trend could be further explored by applying this method to larger photometric surveys such as the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SPP) or Euclid.

Deep ugrizY imaging and DEEP2/3 spectroscopy: a photometric redshift testbed for LSST and public release of data from the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey

ABSTRACT We present catalogues of calibrated photometry and spectroscopic redshifts in the Extended Groth Strip, intended for studies of photometric redshifts (photo-z’s). The data includes ugriz photometry from Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and Y-band photometry from the Subaru Suprime camera, as well as spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and 3D-HST surveys. These catalogues incorporate corrections to produce effectively matched-aperture photometry across all bands, based upon object size information available in the catalogue and Moffat profile point spread function fits. We test this catalogue with a simple machine learning-based photometric redshift algorithm based upon Random Forest regression, and find that the corrected aperture photometry leads to significant improvement in photo-z accuracy compared to the original SExtractor catalogues from CFHTLS and Subaru. The deep ugrizY photometry and spectroscopic redshifts are well suited for empirical tests of photometric redshift algorithms for LSST. The resulting catalogues are publicly available at http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36064/. We include a basic summary of the strategy of the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey to accompany the recent public release of DEEP3 data.

Using Surface Brightness Fluctuations to Study nearby Satellite Galaxy Systems: The Complete Satellite System of M101

Abstract We use surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements to constrain the distance to low surface brightness (LSB) dwarfs in the vicinity of M101. Recent work has discovered many LSB candidate satellite companions of M101. However, without accurate distances, it is problematic to identify these dwarfs as physical satellites of M101. We use CFHT Legacy Survey data to measure the SBF signal for 43 candidate dwarfs. The data are deep enough that we constrain 33 of these to be unassociated background galaxies by their lack of SBF. We measure high S/N SBF signals for two of the candidate dwarfs, which are consistent with being at the distance of M101. The remaining candidates are too LSB and/or small for their distances to be constrained. Still, by comparison with Local Group dwarfs, we argue that the M101 satellite system is likely now complete down to stellar masses of ∼5 × 105 M ⊙. We also provide a new SBF distance for the nearby dwarf UGC 8882, which suggests that it might be a physical satellite of M101; however, further study is merited. By constraining the distances to a majority of the candidates using only archival data, our work demonstrates the usefulness of SBF for nearby LSB galaxies and for studying the satellite systems of nearby massive galaxies.

AGN Activity in Brigtest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs)

The aim of our study is to classify the Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCG), which are the brightest and most massive galaxies in the universe and to determine fraction of BCGs showing AGN activity. Within the scope of the study, we combine BCGs from galaxy cluster catalogs which presented by Hao et al. (2010) and Wen et al. (2009) constructed from the SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) data and BCGs identified from CFHTLS (Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey) Deep fields (Alis, 2009). Our combined sample contains 42490 BCGs. We determine activity types of BCGs by means of BPT diagrams and WISE color-color diagrams. 140 BCGs show AGN activity out of 42490. In addition, we calculated star formation rates (SFR) by using Hα emission lines for 5569 BCGs with suitable spectral data and investigated the correlation between SFR and redshift.

The XXL Survey

Context. The luminosity function (LF) is a powerful statistical tool used to describe galaxies and learn about their evolution. In particular, the LFs of galaxies inside clusters allow us to better understand how galaxies evolve in these dense environments. Knowledge of the LFs of galaxies in clusters is also crucial for clusters studies in the optical and near-infrared (NIR) as they encode, along with their density profiles, most of their observational properties. However, no consensus has been reached yet about the evolution of the cluster galaxy LF with halo mass and redshift. Aims. The main goal of this study is to investigate the LF of a sample of 142 X-ray selected clusters, with spectroscopic redshift confirmation and a well defined selection function, spanning a wide redshift and mass range, and to test the LF dependence on cluster global properties, in a homogeneous and unbiased way. Methods. Our study is based on the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) photometric galaxy catalogue, associated with photometric redshifts. We constructed LFs inside a scaled radius using a selection in photometric redshift around the cluster spectroscopic redshift in order to reduce projection effects. The width of the photometric redshift selection was carefully determined to avoid biasing the LF and depended on both the cluster redshift and the galaxy magnitudes. The purity was then enhanced by applying a precise background subtraction. We constructed composite luminosity functions (CLFs) by stacking the individual LFs and studied their evolution with redshift and richness, analysing separately the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and non-BCG members. We fitted the dependences of the CLFs and BCG distributions parameters with redshift and richness conjointly in order to distinguish between these two effects. Results. We find that the usual photometric redshift selection methods can bias the LF estimate if the redshift and magnitude dependence of the photometric redshift quality is not taken into account. Our main findings concerning the evolution of the galaxy luminosity distribution with redshift and richness are that, in the inner region of clusters and in the redshift-mass range we probe (about 0 &lt; z &lt; 1 and 1013 M⊙ &lt; M500 &lt; 5 × 1014 M⊙), the bright part of the LF (BCG excluded) does not depend much on mass or redshift except for its amplitude, whereas the BCG luminosity increases both with redshift and richness.

Complete IRAC Mapping of the CFHTLS-DEEP, MUSYC, and NMBS-II Fields

The IRAC mapping of the NMBS-II fields program is an imaging survey at 3.6 and 4.5 μm with the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). The observations cover three Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep (CFHTLS-D) fields, including one also imaged by AEGIS, and two MUSYC fields. These are then combined with archival data from all previous programs into deep mosaics. The resulting imaging covers a combined area of about 3 deg2, with at least ∼2 hr integration time for each field. In this work, we present our data reduction techniques and document the resulting coverage maps at 3.6 and 4.5 μm. All of the images are W-registered to the reference image, which is either the z-band stack image of the 25% best-seeing images from the CFHTLS-D for CFHTLS-D1, CFHTLS-D3, and CFHTLS-D4, or the K-band images obtained at the Blanco 4-m telescope at CTIO for MUSYC1030 and MUSYC1255. We make all images and coverage maps described here publicly available via the Spitzer Science Center.

Evidence for Ultra-diffuse Galaxy “Formation” through Galaxy Interactions

Abstract We report the discovery of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) that show clear evidence of an association with tidal material and an interaction with a larger galaxy halo, found during a search of the Wide portion of the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The two new UDGs, NGC 2708-Dw1 and NGC 5631-Dw1, are faint (M g = −13.7 and −11.8 mag), extended (r h = 2.60 and 2.15 kpc), and have low central surface brightness (μ(g, 0) = 24.9 and 27.3 mag arcsec−2), while the stellar stream associated with each has a surface brightness μ(g) ≳ 28.2 mag arcsec−2. These observations provide evidence that the origin of some UDGs may connect to galaxy interactions, either by transforming normal dwarf galaxies by expanding them, or because UDGs can collapse out of tidal material (i.e., they are tidal dwarf galaxies). Further work is needed to understand the fraction of the UDG population “formed” through galaxy interactions, and wide field searches for diffuse dwarf galaxies will provide further clues to the origin of these enigmatic stellar systems.

Color gradients of the galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1 I. Dependence on galaxy global properties

We investigate the color gradients of galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.0, using a sample of ∼35 000 galaxies with both spectroscopy from the final data release of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS), and photometry in ultraviolet/optical/near-infrared bands from the VIPERS-Multi-Lambda Survey (VIPERS-MLS) and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). We estimate rest-frame colors, stellar mass, star formation rate from fitting the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) for each galaxy, as well as a two-zone color Δ(u − r), defined as the difference in rest-frame (u − r) color between the outer and inner region of the galaxy. We find that the two-zone color shows weak or no correlations with all galaxy properties considered except stellar mass. On average, Δ(u − r) decreases with increasing stellar mass, indicating relatively red colors in galactic centers of more massive galaxies. We then compare the properties of “red-cored” and “blue-cored” galaxies, defined to have either a negative or a positive Δ(u − r) respectively. Although the two types of galaxies show similar distributions in most properties, we find massive red-cored galaxies with M* > 1010.5 M⊙ to have larger sizes at given stellar mass (thus lower surface mass densities), and less massive red-cored galaxies with M* < 1010.5 M⊙ to have lower central galaxy fraction. These findings can be understood if one assumes that the star formation process happens from inside out, in the same way as recently emphasized in studies of low-z galaxies. The similarity between the galaxies at intermediate redshifts and those at low redshifts supports the idea that galaxy evolution since z ∼ 1 has been mainly driven by secular processes internal to galaxies rather than galaxy mergers or external environment.