Fraction Of Galaxies Research Articles

HETDEX-LOFAR Spectroscopic Redshift Catalog∗ ∗Based on observations obtained with the Hobby–Eberly Telescope, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

We combine the power of blind integral field spectroscopy from the Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) with sources detected by the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) to construct the HETDEX-LOFAR Spectroscopic Redshift Catalog. Starting from the first data release of the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey, including a value-added catalog with photometric redshifts, we extracted 28,705 HETDEX spectra. Using an automatic classifying algorithm, we assigned each object a star, galaxy, or quasar label along with a velocity/redshift, with supplemental classifications coming from the continuum and emission-line catalogs of the internal, fourth data release from HETDEX (HDR4). We measured 9087 new redshifts; in combination with the value-added catalog, our final spectroscopic redshift sample is 9710 sources. This new catalog contains the highest substantial fraction of LOFAR galaxies with spectroscopic redshift information; it improves archival spectroscopic redshifts and facilitates research to determine the [O ii] emission properties of radio galaxies from 0.0 < z < 0.5, and the Lyα emission characteristics of both radio galaxies and quasars from 1.9 < z < 3.5. Additionally, by combining the unique properties of LOFAR and HETDEX, we are able to measure star formation rates (SFRs) and stellar masses. Using the Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph, we measure the emission lines of [O iii], [Ne iii], and [O ii] and evaluate line-ratio diagnostics to determine whether the emission from these galaxies is dominated by active galactic nuclei or star formation and fit a new SFR–L 150MHz relationship.

Multiwavelength Constraints on the Local Black Hole Occupation Fraction

The fraction of dwarf galaxies hosting central, intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at low redshifts is an important observational probe of black hole seeding at high redshift. Detections of nuclear accretion signatures in dwarf galaxies provides strong evidence for the presence of these IMBHs. We develop a Bayesian model to infer the black hole occupation fraction assuming a broken power-law Eddington ratio distribution function. Our approach accounts for nondetections, incompleteness, and contamination from star-forming-related emission. We apply this model to galaxies with X-ray data from the Chandra Source Catalog at distances <50 Mpc, radio data from the Very Large Array Sky Survey at <50 Mpc, and optical variability data from the Palomar Transient Factory at z < 0.055. We find a black hole occupation fraction of at least 90% at stellar masses of M ⋆ = 108 M ⊙ and at least 39% at M ⋆ = 107 M ⊙ (95% confidence intervals). We show the resulting black hole mass function. These constraints on the IMBH population have implications for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission and for cosmological models of black hole seeding and growth. We also constrain the extremely low-luminosity end (L bol ≲ 1040 erg s−1) of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity functions at z = 0. Our AGN luminosity functions are broadly consistent with an extrapolation of the shallow slope of the AGN luminosity functions from previous work.

Galaxy evolution in the post-merger regime. II – Post-merger quenching peaks within 500 Myr of coalescence

Mechanisms for quenching star formation in galaxies remain hotly debated, with galaxy mergers an oft-proposed pathway. In Ellison et al. (2022) we tested this scenario by quantifying the fraction of recently and rapidly quenched post-starbursts (PSBs) in a sample of post-merger galaxies identified in the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS). Compared with a control sample of non-interacting galaxies, Ellison et al. (2022) found PSBs to be a factor of 30-60 more common in the post-mergers, demonstrating that mergers can lead to quenching. However, the exact timing of this post-merger quenching was unconstrained. Thanks to our recent development of the Multi-Model Merger Identifier (MUMMI) neural network ensemble (Ferreira et al. 2024a,b), we are now able to predict the time since coalescence ( TPM) for the UNIONS post-merger galaxies up to TPM=1.8 Gyr, allowing us to further dissect the merger sequence and measure more precisely when quenching occurs. Based on a sample of 5927 z&lt;0.3 post-mergers identified in UNIONS, we find that the post-coalescence population evolves from one dominated by star-forming (and starbursting) galaxies at 0&lt;TPM&lt;0.16 Gyr, through to a population that is dominated by quenched galaxies by TPM∼1.5 Gyr. By combining the post-mergers with a sample of 15,831 spectroscopic galaxy pairs with projected separations rp&lt;100 kpc we are able to trace the evolution of quenching during the full merger sequence. We find a PSB excess throughout the post-merger regime, but with a clear peak at 0.16&lt;TPM&lt;0.48 Gyr. In this post-merger time range PSBs are more common than in control galaxies by factors of 30-100 (depending on PSB selection method), an excess that drops sharply at longer times since merger. We also quantify the fraction of PSBs that are mergers and find that the majority (75 per cent) of classically selected E+A are identified as either pairs or post-mergers, with a lower merger fraction (60 per cent) amongst PCA selected PSBs. The merger fraction of PSB galaxies also correlates strongly with stellar mass. Taken together, our results demonstrate that 1) galaxy-galaxy interactions can lead to rapid post-merger quenching within 0.5 Gyr of coalescence, 2) the majority of (but not all) PSBs at low z are linked to mergers and 3) quenching pathways are diverse, with different PSB selection techniques likely identifying galaxies quenched by different physical processes with an additional dependence on stellar mass.

MAGAZ3NE: Evidence for Galactic Conformity in z ≳ 3 Protoclusters*

Abstract We examine the quiescent fractions of massive galaxies in six z ≳ 3 spectroscopically confirmed protoclusters in the COSMOS field, one of which is newly confirmed and presented here. We report the spectroscopic confirmation of MAGAZ3NE J100143+023021 at z = 3.122 − 0.004 + 0.007 by the Massive Ancient Galaxies At z &gt; 3 NEar-infrared (MAGAZ3NE) survey. MAGAZ3NE J100143+023021 contains a total of 79 protocluster members (28 spectroscopic and 51 photometric). Three spectroscopically confirmed members are star-forming ultramassive galaxies (UMGs; log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) &gt; 11), the most massive of which has log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) = 11.15 − 0.06 + 0.05 . Combining Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopy and the COSMOS2020 photometric catalog, we use a weighted Gaussian kernel density estimator to map the protocluster and measure its total mass 2.25 − 0.65 + 1.55 × 10 14 M ⊙ in the dense “core” region. For each of the six COSMOS protoclusters, we compare the quiescent fraction to the status of the central UMG as star-forming or quiescent. We observe that galaxies in these protoclusters appear to obey galactic conformity: Elevated quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters with UVJ-quiescent UMGs and low quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters containing UVJ star-frming UMGs. This correlation of star formation/quiescence in UMGs and the massive galaxies nearby in these protoclusters is the first evidence for the existence of galactic conformity at z &gt; 3. Despite disagreements over mechanisms behind conformity at low redshifts, its presence at these early cosmic times would provide strong constraints on the physics proposed to drive galactic conformity.

Investigating the Star Formation Characteristics of Radio Active Galactic Nuclei

The coevolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies represents a fundamental question in astrophysics. One approach to investigating this question involves comparing the star formation rates (SFRs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with those of typical star-forming galaxies. At relatively low redshifts (z ≲ 1), radio AGNs manifest diminished SFRs, indicating suppressed star formation, but their behavior at higher redshifts is unclear. To examine this, we leveraged galaxy and radio-AGN data from the well-characterized W-CDF-S, ELAIS-S1, and XMM-LSS fields. We established two mass-complete reference star-forming galaxy samples and two radio-AGN samples, consisting of 1763 and 6766 radio AGNs, the former being higher in purity and the latter more complete. We subsequently computed star-forming fractions (f SF; the fraction of star-forming galaxies to all galaxies) for galaxies and radio-AGN host galaxies and conducted a robust comparison between them up to z ≈ 3. We found that the tendency for radio AGNs to reside in massive galaxies primarily accounts for their low f SF, which also shows a strong negative dependence upon M ⋆ and a strong positive evolution with z. To investigate further the star formation characteristics of those star-forming radio AGNs, we constructed the star-forming main sequence (MS) and investigated the behavior of the position of AGNs relative to the MS at z ≈ 0–3. Our results reveal that radio AGNs display lower SFRs than star-forming galaxies in the low-z and high-M ⋆ regime and, conversely, exhibit comparable or higher SFRs than MS star-forming galaxies at higher redshifts or lower M ⋆.

Evidence for Mass-dependent Evolution of Transitional Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

Abstract The presence of transitional dwarf galaxies in cluster environments supports the hypothesis that infalling star-forming galaxies are transformed into quiescent early-type dwarf galaxies (ETdGs) through environmental effects. We present a study on the evolution of transitional dwarf galaxies, specifically dwarf lenticulars (dS0s) and early-type dwarfs with blue cores (ETdG(bc)s), driven by environmental processes in the Virgo cluster utilizing the Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog. We investigated the morphological fraction and stellar mass of transitional dwarf galaxies in relation to the clustercentric distance, compared to dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs) and dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrrs). We found that dS0s beyond 0.7R vir exhibit a similar trend in the morphology-clustercentric distance relation to dEs, demonstrating a decreasing fraction with clustercentric distance, whereas ETdG(bc)s display an opposite trend to dS0s but a similar trend to dIrrs. The spatial distributions of transitional dwarf galaxies and dEs correlate with the mass, in which fractions of bright, massive galaxies increase toward the central region of the Virgo cluster. In the mass-clustercentric distance plane, dS0s exhibit a skewed distribution that favors more massive galaxies than dEs at a given clustercentric distance. In the projected phase-space diagram, dS0s are scarce in the stripped region, whereas ETdG(bc)s are absent in both the stripped and virialized regions. In addition, the dS0s in the virialized region are predominantly brighter and more massive than the dEs, indicating that the transformation of dS0s into dEs depends on the stellar mass. We propose that the majority of observed dS0s constitute a population that has settled into the Virgo cluster, whereas ETdG(bc)s represent a recently accreted population. We discuss the impact of ram pressure stripping effects on mass-dependent morphological evolution, as well as the time delay between star formation quenching and morphological transformation in dwarf galaxies.

A comparative study of galaxy evolution with four different active galactic nucleus torus models and two different host geometries

Abstract Estimating physical quantities such as the star formation rate, stellar mass and active galactic nucleus (AGN) fraction of galaxies is a key step in understanding galaxy formation and evolution. In order to estimate the uncertainties in the predicted values for these quantities, in this paper we explore the impact of adopting four different AGN torus models in fitting the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions (SED) of galaxies. We also explore the impact of adopting two different geometries for the host, a spheroidal geometry, more appropriate for late-stage mergers, and a disc geometry, more appropriate for galaxies forming stars with secular processes. We use optical to submillimeter photometry from the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) and utilize a Markov chain Monte Carlo SED-fitting code. We use exclusively radiative transfer models for the AGN torus as well as for the starburst and host galaxy. We concentrate on a sample of 200 galaxies at z ≈ 2, selected in the ELAIS-N1 field. All galaxies have a detection at 250μm which ensures the presence of a starburst. We find that the stellar mass and star formation rate of the galaxies can be robustly estimated by the SED fitting but the AGN fraction depends very much on the adopted torus model. We also find that the vast majority of the galaxies in our sample are better fitted by a spheroidal geometry and lie above the main sequence. Our method predicts systematically higher SFR and lower stellar mass than the popular energy balance method CIGALE.

Morphologies of galaxies within voids

Among the largest structures in which matter is distributed in the Universe, we find cosmic voids, which are large, under-dense regions almost devoid of galaxies. The study of these structures and the galaxies that inhabit them, the void galaxies, provides key information for understanding galaxy evolution. In this work we investigate the effects of the environment on the evolution of void galaxies. In particular, we study their morphology and explore its dependence on the location within the void where the galaxies reside, as well as on the properties of the void, such as its size and the galaxy number density. The sample of void galaxies that we use in this study is based on the catalogue of cosmic voids and void galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS-DR7). As we are interested in studying the morphology of void galaxies, we select galaxies in the redshift range of 0.005\,leq \,z\,leq \,0.080, and use the public galaxy morphologies of the SDSS sample together with deep learning algorithms to divide the sample into early- and late-type void galaxies. We analyse the fractions of galaxies of each morphological type as a function of the void-centric distance, the size of the voids, and the density of galaxies in each void. There is a higher abundance of late-type galaxies with respect to early-type galaxies within voids, which remains nearly constant from the inner to the outer part of the voids. We do not find any dependence of the fraction of early- and late-type galaxies on void size or on the number-density of galaxies in the voids. Galaxies in voids follow the morphology--density relation, in the sense that the majority of the galaxies in voids (the most under-dense large-scale environments) are late-type galaxies. However, we find no difference between voids with lower or higher volume number-density of galaxies: the fractions of early- and late-type galaxies do not depend on the density of the voids. The physical processes responsible for the evolution from late towards earlier types (such as external environmental quenching) are not sufficiently effective in voids or are so slow (internal secular quenching) that their contributions do not appear in the morphology--density relation.

Radio Active Galactic Nuclei Activity in Low Redshift Galaxies Is Not Directly Related to Star Formation Rates

We examine the demographics of radio-emitting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the local Universe as a function of host galaxy properties, most notably both stellar mass (M ⋆) and star formation rate (SFR). Radio AGN activity is theoretically implicated in helping reduce the SFR of galaxies, and therefore it is natural to investigate the relationship between these two galaxy properties. We use the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) optical IFU catalog in conjunction with the NVSS and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty radio catalogs. MaNGA's high precision determinations of SFR allow us to impose a clean cut to reliably identify radio AGN from star formers. Using this sample of AGN, the well-measured stellar velocity dispersions from MaNGA, and the black hole M–σ relationship, we examine the Eddington ratio distribution (ERD) and its dependence on M ⋆ and SFR. We find that the ERD depends strongly on M ⋆, with more massive galaxies having larger Eddington ratios (λ). Interpreting our model fit to the data leads to a completeness-corrected estimate of F AGN(λ > 0.001), the fraction of galaxies with radio AGN with λ > 0.001. At logM⋆/M⊙∼11 , we estimate F AGN = 0.02. The AGN fraction increases rapidly with M ⋆, and at logM⋆/M⊙∼12 , we estimate F AGN ∼ 0.24. We do not find any dependence on SFR, specific star formation rate, or velocity dispersion when controlling for stellar mass. We conclude that galaxy SFRs appear to be unrelated to the presence or absence of a radio AGN, which may be useful in constraining theoretical models of AGN feedback.

Modeling the Multiwavelength Detection of Protoclusters. I. An Excess of Submillimeter Galaxies in Protocluster Cores

Studies of galaxy protoclusters yield insights into galaxy cluster formation complementary to those obtained via “archaeological” studies of present-day galaxy clusters. Submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) are one class of sources used to find high-redshift protoclusters. However, due to the rarity of protoclusters (and thus the large simulation volume required) and the complexity of modeling dust emission from galaxies, the relationship between SMGs and protoclusters has not been adequately addressed in the theoretical literature. In this work, we apply the L-GALAXIES semianalytic model (SAM) to the Millennium N-body simulation. We assign submillimeter flux densities to the model galaxies using a scaling relation from previous work, in which dust radiative transfer was performed on high-resolution galaxy zoom simulations. We find that the fraction of model galaxies that are submillimeter-bright is higher in protocluster cores than in both protocluster “outskirts” and the field; the fractions for the latter two are similar. This excess is not driven by an enhanced starburst frequency. Instead, the primary reason is that overdense environments have a relative overdensity of high-mass halos and thus “oversample” the high-mass end of the star formation main sequence relative to less-dense environments. The fraction of SMGs that are optically bright is dependent on stellar mass and redshift but independent of the environment. The fraction of galaxies for which the majority of star formation is dust-obscured is higher in protocluster cores, primarily due to the dust-obscured fraction being correlated with stellar mass. Our results can be used to guide and interpret multiwavelength studies of galaxy populations in protoclusters.

Misaligned Gas Acquisition as a Formation Pathway of S0 Galaxies

We analyze a sample of 753 S0 galaxies from the MPL-10 of Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey and investigate the gas–star kinematic misalignment and merger remnant fraction in galaxies with different morphological types. The misalignment fraction in S0s is the highest among all the morphological types for both young (global D n 4000 < 1.6, ∼15%) and old (global D n 4000 > 1.6, ∼10%) galaxies. We compare the properties of misaligned S0s with other types of galaxies, finding the following: (i) misaligned S0s and misaligned spirals have higher bulge luminosity, higher bulge-to-total light ratio, and larger Sérsic index compared to spirals; (ii) the misaligned S0s have lower bulge luminosity M r and smaller bulge size than merger remnant S0s, while aligned S0s have the widest coverage for these parameter distributions, which are overlapped with both misaligned S0s and merger remnant S0s; (iii) misaligned S0s have lower stellar mass M * and more isolated environment than aligned S0s and merger remnant S0s; and (iv) the young misaligned S0s have positive D n 4000 radial gradient, while the aligned S0s and merger remnant S0s show negative D n 4000 radial gradient. Combining all these observational results, we suggest misaligned gas acquisition as another efficient formation pathway for S0 galaxies. The redistribution of gas angular momentum during gas–gas collision between accreted and preexisting gas leads to gas inflow and the growth of the bulge component, while the lack of cold gas at the outskirts leads to fading of spiral arms.

The VANDELS Survey: Star formation and quenching in two over-densities at 3 &lt; z &lt; 4

Context. Exploring galaxy evolution in dense environments, such as proto-clusters, is pivotal for understanding the mechanisms that drive star formation and the quenching of star formation. Aims. This study provides insights into how two over-densities could have impacted the physical properties, such as the star formation rate, stellar mass, morphology, and the evolution of their members, particularly members characterised by a quenching of star formation. Methods. We focus on the over-densities identified at 3 &lt; z &lt; 4 in the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) and in the Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) regions of the VIMOS (VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph) Ultra Deep Survey (VANDELS). Our methodology involves the analysis of the spectral energy distribution of the members of the over-densities and of the galaxies in the field. We relied on Bayesian analysis techniques BEAGLE and BAGPIPES to study the best-fit physical parameters and the rest-frame U − V and V − J colours (UVJ). This approach allowed us to separate quenched and star-forming galaxies based on the UVJ diagram and by estimating their specific star formation rate (sSFR). We used the TNG300 simulation to interpret our results. Results. We find that two out of 13 over-densities host quenched galaxies, with red rest-frame U − V colour and low sSFR. The physical properties of them are consistent with those of massive passive galaxies from the literature. The quenched members are redder, older, more massive, and show a more compact morphology than the other galaxy members. The two over-densities, with the highest-density peaks at z ≃ 3.55 and z ≃ 3.43, respectively, have dark matter halo masses consistent with being proto-clusters at z ∼ 3 and they each host an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We found five AGNs in the structure at z ≃ 3.55 and three AGNs in the one at z ≃ 3.43. In comparison to quenched galaxies in the field, our massive quenched members show a higher local density environment. By using the IllustrisTNG simulation (TNG300), we find that proto-cluster structures with quenched galaxies at high redshift are likely to evolve into a structure with a higher fraction of passive galaxies by z = 1. Conclusions. The two over-densities studied here host massive quenched galaxies in their highest-density peaks and AGNs. By following the evolution of the passive galaxies in the simulated proto-clusters at z = 3 from the TNG300 simulation, we find that the median of their sSFRs was larger than 10−8 yr−1 at z = 6 and the median mass growth rate was 96% from z = 6 to z = 3. In 20% of the simulated proto-clusters, the passive galaxy had already accreted 10–20% of the mass at z = 6, with SFRs &gt; 100 M⊙ yr−1 at z = 8. The conditions for this favorable mass assembly could be the galaxy interactions and the high gas accretion rate in the dense environment. As a consequence, the quenching of the star formation at z = 3 could be driven by the black hole mass growth and AGN feedback. This scenario is consistent with the properties of the two quenched galaxies we find in our two over-densities at z ∼ 3.

COSMOS2020: Disentangling the Role of Mass and Environment in Star Formation Activity of Galaxies at 0.4 < z < 4

The role of internal and environmental factors in the star formation activity of galaxies is still a matter of debate, in particular at higher redshifts. Leveraging the most recent release of the COSMOS catalog, COSMOS2020, as well as density measurements from our previous study, we disentangle the impact of environment and stellar mass on the star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR) of a sample of ∼210,000 galaxies within a redshift range of 0.4 < z < 4, and present our findings in three cosmic epochs: (1) out to z ∼ 1, the average SFR and sSFR decline in extremely dense environments and at the high-mass end of the distribution, which is mostly due to the presence of the massive quiescent population; (2) at 1 < z < 2, the environmental dependence diminishes, while mass is still the dominant factor in star formation activity; and (3) beyond z ∼ 2, our sample is dominated by star-forming galaxies and we observe a reversal of the trends seen in the local Universe—the average SFR increases with increasing environmental density. Our analysis shows that both environmental and mass quenching efficiencies increase with stellar mass at all redshifts, with mass being the dominant quenching factor in massive galaxies compared to environmental effects. At 2 < z < 4, negative values of environmental quenching efficiency suggest that the fraction of star-forming galaxies in dense environments exceeds that in less-dense regions, likely due to the greater availability of cold gas, higher merger rates, and tidal effects that trigger star formation activity.

JADES: measuring reionization properties using Lyman-alpha emission

ABSTRACT Ly$\alpha$ is the transition to the ground state from the first excited state of hydrogen (the most common element). Resonant scattering of this line by neutral hydrogen greatly impedes its emergence from galaxies, so the fraction of galaxies emitting Ly$\alpha$ is a tracer of the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM), and thus the history of reionization. In previous works, we used early JWST/NIRSpec data from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) to classify and characterize Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies (LAEs). This survey is approaching completion, and the current sample is nearly an order of magnitude larger. From a sample of 795 galaxies in JADES at $4.0\lt z\lt 14.3$, we find evidence for Ly$\alpha$ emission in 150 sources. We reproduce the previously found correlation between Ly$\alpha$ escape fraction ($f\rm _{esc}^{Ly\alpha }$) – Ly$\alpha$ rest-frame equivalent width (${\rm REW}_{\rm Ly\alpha }$) and the negative correlation between Ly$\alpha$ velocity offset – $f\rm _{esc}^{Ly\alpha }$. Both $f\rm _{esc}^{Ly\alpha }$ and ${\rm REW}_{\rm Ly\alpha }$ decrease with redshift ($z\gtrsim 5.5$), indicating the progression of reionization on a population scale. Our data are used to demonstrate an increasing IGM transmission of Ly$\alpha$ from $z\sim 14-6$. We measure the completeness-corrected fraction of LAEs ($X\rm _{Ly\alpha }$) from $z=4-9.5$. An application of these $X\rm _{Ly\alpha }$ values to the results of previously utilized semi-analytical models suggests a high neutral fraction at $z=7$ (${X_{\rm HI}}\sim 0.8-0.9$). Using an updated fit to the intrinsic distribution of ${\rm REW}_{\rm Ly\alpha }$ results in a lower value in agreement with current works (${X_{\rm HI}}= 0.64_{-0.21}^{+0.13}$). This sample of LAEs will be paramount for unbiased population studies of galaxies in the EoR.

Test of Cosmic Web-feeding Model for Star Formation in Galaxy Clusters in the COSMOS Field

It is yet to be understood how large-scale environments influence star formation activity in galaxy clusters. One recently proposed mechanism is that galaxy clusters can remain star forming when fed by infalling groups and star-forming galaxies from large-scale structures (LSSs) surrounding them (the “web-feeding” model). Using the COSMOS2020 catalog that has half a million galaxies with high-accuracy (σ Δz/1+z ∼ 0.01) photometric redshifts, we study the relationship between star formation activities in galaxy clusters and their surrounding environment to test the web-feeding model. We first identify 68 cluster candidates at 0.3 ≤ z ≤ 1.4 with halo masses at 1013.0–1014.5 M ⊙ and the surrounding LSSs with the friends-of-friends algorithm. We find that clusters with low fractions of quiescent galaxies tend to be connected with extended LSSs as expected in the web-feeding model. We also investigated the time evolution of the web-feeding trend using the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation. Even though no clear correlation between the quiescent galaxy fraction of galaxy clusters and the significance of LSSs around them is found in the simulation, we verify that the quiescent galaxy fractions of infallers such as groups (M 200 ≥ 1012 M ⊙) and galaxies (M 200 < 1012 M ⊙) are smaller than the quiescent fraction of cluster members and that infallers can lower the quiescent fraction of clusters. These results imply that cluster-to-cluster variations of quiescent galaxy fraction at z ≤ 1 can at least partially be explained by feeding materials through cosmic webs to clusters.

A New Statistical Analysis of the Morphology of Spiral Galaxies

Morphology is the starting point for understanding galaxies. Elmegreen et al. classified spiral galaxies into flocculent, multiple-arm, and grand-design galaxies based on the regularity of their spiral arm structure. With the release of a vast number of clear spiral galaxy images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we conducted a morphological classification of 5093 blue spiral galaxies. A statistical analysis of this sample shows that the fractions of flocculent, multiple-arm, and grand-design galaxies are 38% ± 1%, 59% ± 1%, and 3% ± 1%, respectively. Redshift has no obvious influence on this classification. However, as the bulge size becomes larger, the fraction of multiple-arm galaxies increases, while that of flocculent galaxies decreases. In addition, we performed a statistical analysis of 3958 galaxies with a clear spiral arm structure, finding that 82% of these galaxies have two arms in their inner regions. We also found that the majority (74%) of the barred spiral galaxies exhibit the characteristics of two inner spiral arms and multiple outer spiral arms, and there is no barred spiral galaxy in this work with four continuous spiral arms from the inner to the outer regions. These results highlight that the spiral arm structure of the Milky Way, according to the current mainstream view of a four-arm galaxy with continuous arms extending from the inner to outer regions, is quite unique. However, our findings align with the spiral morphology of the Milky Way proposed by Xu et al., in which case our Galaxy can be considered typical.

The Potential for Long-lived Intermediate-mass Black Hole Binaries in the Lowest Density Dwarf Galaxies

Intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) mergers with masses 104–106 M ⊙ are expected to produce gravitational waves detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) with high signal-to-noise ratios from the present day to cosmic dawn. IMBH mergers are expected to take place within dwarf galaxies; however, the dynamics, timescales, and effect on their hosts are largely unexplored. In a previous study, we examined how IMBHs would pair and merge within nucleated dwarf galaxies. IMBHs in nucleated hosts evolve very efficiently, forming a binary system and coalescing within a few hundred million years. Although the fraction of dwarf galaxies (107 M ⊙ ≤ M ⋆ ≤ 1010 M ⊙) hosting nuclear star clusters is between 60% and 100%, this fraction drops to 20%–70% for lower-mass dwarfs (M ⋆ ≈ 107 M ⊙), with the largest drop in low-density environments. Here, we extend our previous study by performing direct N-body simulations to explore the dynamics and evolution of IMBHs within nonnucleated dwarf galaxies, under the assumption that IMBHs exist within these dwarfs. To our surprise, none of the IMBHs in our simulation suite merge within a Hubble time, despite many attaining high eccentricities e ∼ 0.7–0.95. We conclude that extremely low stellar density environments in the centers of nonnucleated dwarfs do not provide an ample supply of stars to interact with an IMBH binary, resulting in its stalling, in spite of triaxiality and high eccentricity, common means to drive a binary to coalescence. Our findings underline the importance of considering all detailed host properties to predict IMBH merger rates for LISA.

Bar Presence in Local Galaxies: Dependence on Morphology in Field Galaxies

We analyzed the fractions of barred galaxies in the local Universe using a volume-limited sample of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3. We examined 116 field galaxies with redshifts between 0.0207 and 0.030, using r and z-band images. Overall, the bar fraction was 26% in the r-band and 19% in the z-band. For distinct morphological groups, barred spiral galaxies had fractions of 33% in the r-band and 22% in the z-band, while barred lenticular galaxies had 25% in the r-band and 12% in the z-band. We observed that the bar fraction in spiral galaxies increases for stellar masses log (M */M ⊙) > 10.5 and for galaxies with red colors (u − r) > 2.0. Additionally, most barred galaxies have a bulge-to-total ratio B/T ≤ 0.2. Our results indicate that the bar fraction is more dependent on internal morphology than on the galaxy environment.

From outskirts to core: the suppression and activation of radio AGN around galaxy clusters

ABSTRACT To investigate how the radio-identified active galactic nuclei (AGN) fraction varies with cluster-centric radius, we present the projected and de-projected distributions of a large sample of Low-Frequency Array-identified radio AGN out to $30R_{500}$ around galaxy clusters. The AGN fraction experiences a ${\sim} 25~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ increase above the field fraction in the cluster outskirts at around $10R_{500}$, a ${\sim} 20~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ decrease around ${\sim} 0.5R_{500}$, and an increase of over three times the field fraction value in the very cluster core. We label these three radial windows the outer, intermediate, and inner regions respectively, and investigate how these radial trends might arise due to intrinsic properties of the AGN population. The only difference seen in host galaxy stellar mass is in the inner region, where there is a much higher fraction of massive host galaxies. Analysing AGN radio luminosity, regions with a higher AGN fraction tend to have more radio luminous AGN, and vice versa. We discuss the physical mechanisms that might be responsible for these results with reference to the literature.

The JWST-PRIMAL archival survey. A JWST/NIRSpec reference sample for the physical properties and Lyman-alpha absorption and emission of ~ 600 galaxies at z = 5:0 - 13:4

One of the surprising early findings with has been the discovery of a strong ``roll-over'' or a softening of the absorption edge of in a large number of galaxies at \(z 6\), in addition to systematic offsets from photometric redshift estimates and fundamental galaxy scaling relations. This has been interpreted as strong cumulative damped absorption (DLA) wings from high column densities of neutral atomic hydrogen ( signifying major gas accretion events in the formation of these galaxies. To explore this new phenomenon systematically, we assembled the PRImordial gas Mass AssembLy (PRIMAL) legacy survey of 584 galaxies at $z=5.0-13.4$, designed to study the physical properties and gas in and around galaxies during the reionization epoch. We characterized this benchmark sample in full and spectroscopically derived the galaxy redshifts, metallicities, star formation rates, and ultraviolet (UV) slopes. We defined a new diagnostic, the damping parameter to measure and quantify the net effect of emission strength, the fraction in the intergalactic medium, or the local column density for each source. The survey is based on the spectroscopic DAWN Archive (DJA-Spec). We describe DJA-Spec in this paper, detailing the reduction methods, the post-processing steps, and basic analysis tools. All the software, reduced spectra, and spectroscopically derived quantities and catalogs are made publicly available in dedicated repositories. We find that the fraction of galaxies showing strong integrated DLAs with $N_ HI $ only increases slightly from $ 60&lt;!PCT!&gt;$ at $z 6$ up to $ 65-90&lt;!PCT!&gt;$ at $z&gt;8$. Similarly, the prevalence and prominence of emission is found to increase with decreasing redshift, in qualitative agreement with previous observational results. Strong emitters (LAEs) are predominantly found to be associated with low-metallicity and UV faint galaxies. By contrast, strong DLAs are observed in galaxies with a variety of intrinsic physical properties, but predominantly at high redshifts and low metallicities. Our results indicate that strong DLAs likely reflect a particular early assembly phase of reionization-era galaxies, at which point they are largely dominated by pristine gas accretion. At $z=8-10$, this gas gradually cools and forms into stars that ionize their local surroundings, forming large ionized bubbles and producing strong observed emission at $z&lt;8$.