High Star Formation Rate Research Articles

Star formation and environment: a step in understanding the formation and evolution of local dwarf galaxies

AbstractWe present here the results obtained from studying the resolved stellar populations of two dwarf irregular galaxies in the nearby Universe. These galaxies, DDO 68 and NGC 4449, were studied within the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey, an HST program aimed to uncover the many ways in which the star formation (SF) process occurs at different scales. Thanks to the deep photometry obtained in different bands (from λ2704 Å to λ8057 Å), we were able to connect the location and timescales of the star forming regions within the galaxies to merging and interaction with gas clouds and satellites, a crucial aspect of galaxy evolution, even in such small systems. From the color-magnitude diagrams of the analyzed galaxies we were able to recover their star formation history (up to ∼ 2 − 3 Gyr ago since we do not observe the oldest main sequence turn-off or horizontal branch, due to the systems’ distance), finding that the SF never really stopped, but proceeded continuously even with the succession of high and low activity. The time intervals where we find higher SF rates in the two galaxies well agree with the dynamical timescales of previous interactions events, which might represent a major channel for triggering the SF in relatively isolated galaxies.

Correcting for peculiar velocities of Type Ia supernovae in clusters of galaxies

Context. Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are widely used to measure the expansion of the Universe. To perform such measurements the luminosity and cosmological redshift (z) of the SNe Ia have to be determined. The uncertainty on z includes an unknown peculiar velocity, which can be very large for SNe Ia in the virialized cores of massive clusters. Aims. We determine which SNe Ia exploded in galaxy clusters using 145 SNe Ia from the Nearby Supernova Factory. We then study how the correction for peculiar velocities of host galaxies inside the clusters improves the Hubble residuals. Methods. We found 11 candidates for membership in clusters. We applied the biweight technique to estimate the redshift of a cluster. Then, we used the galaxy cluster redshift instead of the host galaxy redshift to construct the Hubble diagram. Results. For SNe Ia inside galaxy clusters, the dispersion around the Hubble diagram when peculiar velocities are taken into account is smaller compared with a case without peculiar velocity correction, which has a wRMS = 0.130 ± 0.038 mag instead of wRMS = 0.137 ± 0.036 mag. The significance of this improvement is 3.58σ. If we remove the very nearby Virgo cluster member SN2006X (z < 0.01) from the analysis, the significance decreases to 1.34σ. The peculiar velocity correction is found to be highest for the SNe Ia hosted by blue spiral galaxies. Those SNe Ia have high local specific star formation rates and smaller stellar masses, which is seemingly counter to what might be expected given the heavy concentration of old, massive elliptical galaxies in clusters. Conclusions. As expected, the Hubble residuals of SNe Ia associated with massive galaxy clusters improve when the cluster redshift is taken as the cosmological redshift of the supernova. This fact has to be taken into account in future cosmological analyses in order to achieve higher accuracy for cosmological redshift measurements. We provide an approach to do so.

Cosmic ray heating of intergalactic medium: patchy or uniform?

We study the heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM) surrounding high redshift star forming galaxies due to cosmic rays (CR). We take into account the diffusion of low energy cosmic rays and study the patchiness of the resulting heating. We discuss the case of IGM heating around a high redshift minihalo ($z\sim 10\hbox{--}20$, M$\sim 10^5\hbox{--}10^7$ M$_\odot$),and put an upper limit on the diffusion coefficient $D\le 1\times 10^{26}$ cm$^2$ s$^{-1}$ for the heating to be inhomogeneous at $z\sim 10$ and $D\le 5\hbox{--}6 \times 10^{26}$ cm$^2$ s$^{-1}$ at $z\sim 20$. For typical values of $D$, our results suggest uniform heating by CR at high redshift, although there are uncertainties in magnetic field and other CR parameters. We also discuss two cases with continuous star formation, one in which the star formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy is high enough to make the IGM in the vicinity photoionized, and another in which the SFR is low enough to keep it neutral but high enough to cause significant heating by cosmic ray protons. In the neutral case (low SFR), we find that the resulting heating can make the gas hotter than the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation for $D < 10^{30}$ cm$^2$ s$^{-1}$, within a few kpc of the galaxy, and unlikely to be probed by near future radio observations. In the case of photoionized IGM (high SFR), the resulting heating of the gas in the vicinity of high redshift ($z\sim 4)$ galaxies of mass $\ge 10^{12}$ M$_\odot$ can suppress gas infall into the galaxy. At lower redshifts ($z\sim 0$), an SFR of $\sim 1$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ can suppress the infall into galaxies of mass $\le 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$.

Evolution of LMC/M33-mass dwarf galaxies in the eagle simulation

We investigate the population of dwarf galaxies with stellar masses similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and M33 in the EAGLE galaxy formation simulation. In the field, galaxies reside in haloes with stellar-to-halo mass ratios of $1.03^{+0.50}_{-0.31}\times10^{-2}$ (68% confidence level); systems like the LMC, which have an SMC-mass satellite, reside in haloes about 1.3 times more massive, which suggests an LMC halo mass at infall, $M_{200}=3.4^{+1.8}_{-1.2}\times10^{11}M_\odot$ (68% confidence level). The colour distribution of dwarfs is bimodal, with the red galaxies ($g-r>0.6$) being mostly satellites. The fraction of red LMC-mass dwarfs is 15% for centrals, and for satellites this fraction increases rapidly with host mass: from 10% for satellites of Milky Way (MW)-mass haloes to nearly 90% for satellites of groups and clusters. The quenching timescale, defined as the time after infall when half of the satellites have acquired red colours, decreases with host mass from ${>}5$ Gyrs for MW-mass hosts to $2.5$ Gyrs for cluster mass hosts. The satellites of MW-mass haloes have higher star formation rates and bluer colours than field galaxies. This is due to enhanced star formation triggered by gas compression shortly after accretion. Both the LMC and M33 have enhanced recent star formation that could be a manifestation of this process. After infall into their MW-mass hosts, the $g-r$ colours of LMC-mass dwarfs become bluer for the first 2 Gyrs, after which they rapidly redden. LMC-mass dwarfs fell into their MW-mass hosts only relatively recently, with more than half having an infall time of less than 3.5 Gyrs.

Field spheroid-dominated galaxies in a Λ-CDM Universe

Context. Understanding the formation and evolution of early-type, spheroid-dominated galaxies is an open question within the context of the hierarchical clustering scenario, particularly in low-density environments. Aims. Our goal is to study the main structural, dynamical, and stellar population properties and assembly histories of field spheroid-dominated galaxies formed in a Λ-cold dark matter (Λ-CDM) scenario to assess to what extent they are consistent with observations. Methods. We selected spheroid-dominated systems from a Λ-CDM simulation that includes star formation (SF), chemical evolution, and supernova feedback. The sample is made up of 18 field systems with MStar ≲ 6 × 1010M⊙ that are dominated by the spheroid component. For this sample we estimated the fundamental relations of ellipticals and compared them with current observations. Results. The simulated spheroid galaxies have sizes that are in good agreement with observations. The bulges follow a Sersic law with Sersic indexes that correlate with the bulge-to-total mass ratios. The structural-dynamical properties of the simulated galaxies are consistent with observed Faber–Jackson, fundamental plane, and Tully–Fisher relations. However, the simulated galaxies are bluer and with higher star formation rates (SFRs) than the observed isolated early-type galaxies. The archaeological mass growth histories show a slightly delayed formation and more prominent inside-out growth mode than observational inferences based on the fossil record method. Conclusions. The main structural and dynamical properties of the simulated spheroid-dominated galaxies are consistent with observations. This is remarkable since our simulation has not been calibrated to match them. However, the simulated galaxies are blue and star-forming, and with later stellar mass growth histories compared to observational inferences. This is mainly due to the persistence of extended discs in the simulations. The need for more efficient quenching mechanisms able to avoid further disc growth and SF is required in order to reproduce current observational trends.

Star-forming galaxies are predicted to lie on a fundamental plane of mass, star formation rate, and α-enhancement

ABSTRACT Observations show that star-forming galaxies reside on a tight 3D plane between mass, gas-phase metallicity, and star formation rate (SFR), which can be explained by the interplay between metal-poor gas inflows, SFR and outflows. However, different metals are released on different time-scales, which may affect the slope of this relation. Here, we use central, star-forming galaxies with Mstar = 109.0–10.5 M⊙ from the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulation to examine 3D relations between mass, SFR, and chemical enrichment using absolute and relative C, N, O, and Fe abundances. We show that the scatter is smaller when gas-phase α-enhancement is used rather than metallicity. A similar plane also exists for stellar α-enhancement, implying that present-day specific SFRs are correlated with long time-scale star formation histories. Between $z$ = 0 and 1, the α-enhancement plane is even more insensitive to redshift than the plane using metallicity. However, it evolves at $z$ &amp;gt; 1 due to lagging iron yields. At fixed mass, galaxies with higher SFRs have star formation histories shifted towards late times, are more α-enhanced, and this α-enhancement increases with redshift as observed. These findings suggest that relations between physical properties inferred from observations may be affected by systematic variations in α-enhancements.

Dust Attenuation, Bulge Formation, and Inside-out Quenching of Star Formation in Star-forming Main Sequence Galaxies at z ∼ 2*

Abstract We derive 2D dust attenuation maps at ∼1 kpc resolution from the UV continuum for 10 galaxies on the z ∼ 2 star-forming main sequence (SFMS). Comparison with IR data shows that 9 out of 10 galaxies do not require further obscuration in addition to the UV-based correction, though our sample does not include the most heavily obscured, massive galaxies. The individual rest-frame V-band dust attenuation (A V) radial profiles scatter around an average profile that gently decreases from ∼1.8 mag in the center down to ∼0.6 mag at ∼3–4 half-mass radii. We use these maps to correct UV- and Hα-based star formation rates (SFRs), which agree with each other. At masses , the dust-corrected specific SFR (sSFR) profiles are on average radially constant at a mass-doubling timescale of ∼300 Myr, pointing at a synchronous growth of bulge and disk components. At masses , the sSFR profiles are typically centrally suppressed by a factor of ∼10 relative to the galaxy outskirts. With total central obscuration disfavored, this indicates that at least a fraction of massive z ∼ 2 SFMS galaxies have started their inside-out star formation quenching that will move them to the quenched sequence. In combination with other observations, galaxies above and below the ridge of the SFMS relation have, respectively, centrally enhanced and centrally suppressed sSFRs relative to their outskirts, supporting a picture where bulges are built owing to gas “compaction” that leads to a high central SFR as galaxies move toward the upper envelope of the SFMS.

BlueTides simulation: establishing black hole−galaxy relations at high redshift

The scaling relations between the mass of supermassive black holes ($M_{\bullet}$) and host galaxy properties (stellar mass, $M_{\star}$, and velocity dispersion, $\sigma$), provide a link between the growth of black holes (BHs) and that of their hosts. Here we investigate if and how the BH-galaxy relations are established in the high-$z$ universe using \textsc{BlueTides}, a high-resolution large volume cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. We find the $M_{\bullet}-M_{\star}$ and $M_{\bullet}-\sigma$ relations at $z=8$: $\log_{10}(M_{\bullet}) = 8.25 + 1.10 \ \log_{10}(M_{\star}/10^{11}M_{\odot})$ and $\log_{10}(M_{\bullet}) = 8.35 + 5.31 \ \log_{10}(\sigma/200kms^{-1})$ at $z=8$, both fully consistent with the local measurements. The slope of the $M_{\bullet}-\sigma$ relation is slightly steeper for high star formation rate and $M_{\star}$ galaxies while it remains unchanged as a function of Eddington accretion rate onto the BH. The intrinsic scatter in $M_{\bullet}-\sigma$ relation in all cases ($\epsilon \sim 0.4$) is larger at these redshifts than inferred from observations and larger than in $M_{\bullet}-M_{\star}$ relation ($\epsilon \sim 0.14$). We find the gas-to-stellar ratio $f=M_{\rm gas}/M_{\star}$ in the host (which can be very high at these redshifts) to have the most significant impact setting the intrinsic scatter of $M_{\bullet}-\sigma$. The scatter is significantly reduced when galaxies with high gas fractions ($\epsilon = 0.28$ as $f<10$) are excluded (making the sample more comparable to low-$z$ galaxies); these systems have the largest star formation rates and black hole accretion rates, indicating that these fast-growing systems are still moving toward the relation at these high redshifts. Examining the evolution (from $z=10$ to 8) of high mass black holes in $M_{\bullet}-\sigma$ plane confirms this trend.

Painting galaxies into dark matter haloes using machine learning

We develop a machine learning (ML) framework to populate large dark matter-only simulations with baryonic galaxies. Our ML framework takes input halo properties including halo mass, environment, spin, and recent growth history, and outputs central galaxy and halo baryonic properties including stellar mass ($M_*$), star formation rate (SFR), metallicity ($Z$), neutral ($\rm HI$) and molecular ($\rm H_2$) hydrogen mass. We apply this to the MUFASA cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, and show that it recovers the mean trends of output quantities with halo mass highly accurately, including following the sharp drop in SFR and gas in quenched massive galaxies. However, the scatter around the mean relations is under-predicted. Examining galaxies individually, at $z=0$ the stellar mass and metallicity are accurately recovered ($\sigma\lesssim 0.2$~dex), but SFR and $\rm HI$ show larger scatter ($\sigma\gtrsim 0.3$~dex); these values improve somewhat at $z=1,2$. Remarkably, ML quantitatively recovers second parameter trends in galaxy properties, e.g. that galaxies with higher gas content and lower metallicity have higher SFR at a given $M_*$. Testing various ML algorithms, we find that none perform significantly better than the others, nor does ensembling improve performance, likely because none of the algorithms reproduce the large observed scatter around the mean properties. For the random forest algorithm, we find that halo mass and nearby ($\sim 200$~kpc) environment are the most important predictive variables followed by growth history, while halo spin and $\sim$Mpc scale environment are not important. Finally we study the impact of additionally inputting key baryonic properties $M_*$, SFR and $Z$, as would be available e.g. from an equilibrium model, and show that particularly providing the SFR enables $\rm HI$ to be recovered substantially more accurately.

The Origin of Faint Tidal Features around Galaxies in the RESOLVE Survey

Abstract We study tidal features around galaxies in the REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey. Our sample consists of 1048 RESOLVE galaxies that overlap with the DECam Legacy Survey, which reaches an r-band 3σ depth of ∼27.9 mag arcsec−2 for a 100 arcsec2 feature. Images were masked, smoothed, and inspected for tidal features such as streams, shells, or tails/arms. We find tidal features in 17±2% of our galaxies, setting a lower limit on the true frequency. The frequency of tidal features in the gas-poor (gas-to-stellar mass ratio &lt;0.1) subsample is lower than in the gas-rich subsample (13±3% versus 19±2%). Within the gas-poor subsample, galaxies with tidal features have higher stellar and halo masses, ∼3× closer distances to nearest neighbors (in the same group), and possibly fewer group members at fixed halo mass than galaxies without tidal features, but similar specific star formation rates. These results suggest tidal features in gas-poor galaxies are typically streams/shells from dry mergers or satellite disruption. In contrast, the presence of tidal features around gas-rich galaxies does not correlate with stellar or halo mass, suggesting these tidal features are often tails/arms from resonant interactions. Similar to tidal features in gas-poor galaxies, tidal features in gas-rich galaxies imply 1.7× closer nearest neighbors in the same group; however, they are associated with diskier morphologies, higher star formation rates, and higher gas content. In addition to interactions with known neighbors, we suggest that tidal features in gas-rich galaxies may arise from accretion of cosmic gas and/or gas-rich satellites below the survey limit.

An H i study of the collisional ring galaxy NGC 922

We present new atomic hydrogen (HI) observations of the collisional ring galaxy NGC 922 obtained using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Our observations reveal for the first time the vast extent of the HI disc of this galaxy. The HI morphology and kinematics of NGC 922 show that this galaxy is not the product of a simple drop-through interaction, but has a more complex interaction history. The integrated HI flux density of NGC 922 from our observations is 24.7 Jy km s$^{-1}$, which is within the error of the flux value obtained using the $64$-m Parkes radio telescope. This flux density translates to a total HI mass of $1.1*10^{10}$ M$_{\circ}$ and corresponds to an HI to total mass fraction (M$_{HI}$/M$_{tot}$) of approximately $0.11$. The gaseous structures of NGC 922 are more extended to the north and include an HI tail that has a projected physical length of $8$ kpc. Gas warps are also evident in the velocity field of NGC 922 and are more prominent on the approaching and the western side of the disc. In comparison with a large sample of star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, NGC 922 possesses a high gas fraction relative to galaxies with a similar stellar mass of ~$10^{10.4}$ M$_{\circ}$, and exhibits a high specific star formation rate.

Obscured Star Formation in the Host Galaxies of Superluminous Supernovae

Abstract We present the results of 3 GHz radio continuum observations of the eight host galaxies of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) at 0.1 &lt; z &lt; 0.3 by using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. Four host galaxies are detected significantly, and two of them are found to have high star formation rates (SFRs &gt; 20 M ⊙ yr−1) derived from radio emission, making them the most intensely star-forming host galaxies among SLSN host galaxies. We compare radio SFRs and optical SFRs, and find that three host galaxies have an excess in radio SFRs by a factor of &gt;2, suggesting the existence of dust-obscured star formation, which cannot be traced by optical studies. Two of the three host galaxies, which are located in the galaxy main sequence based on optical SFRs, are found to be above the main sequence based on their radio SFRs. This suggests a higher fraction of starburst galaxies in SLSN hosts than estimated in previous studies. We calculate extinction from the ratio between radio SFRs and dust-uncorrected optical SFRs and find that the hosts are on the trend of increasing extinction with metallicity, which is consistent with the relation in local star-forming galaxies. We also place a constraint on a pulsar-driven SN model, which predicts quasi-steady synchrotron radio emission.

Deep JVLA Imaging of GOODS-N at 20 cm

Abstract New wideband continuum observations in the 1–2 GHz band of the GOODS-N field using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) are presented. The best image with an effective frequency of 1525 MHz reaches an rms noise in the field center of 2.2 μJy, with 1.″6 resolution. A catalog of 795 sources is presented covering a radius of 9 arcminutes centered near the nominal center for the GOODS-N field, very near the nominal VLA pointing center for the observations. Optical/NIR identifications and redshift estimates both from ground-based and HST observations are discussed. Using these optical/NIR data, it is most likely that fewer than 2% of the sources without confusion problems do not have a correct identification. A large subset of the detected sources have radio sizes &gt;1″. It is shown that the radio orientations for such sources correlate well with the HST source orientations, especially for z &lt; 1. This suggests that a least a large subset of the 10 kpc-scale disks of luminous infrared/ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRG/ULIRG) have strong star formation, not just in the nucleus. For the half of the objects with z &gt; 1, the sample must be some mixture of very high star formation rates, typically 300 M ⊙ yr−1, assuming pure star formation, and an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a mixed AGN/star formation population.

Red, redder, reddest: SCUBA-2 imaging of colour-selected Herschel sources

High-redshift, luminous, dusty star forming galaxies (DSFGs) constrain the extremity of galaxy formation theories. The most extreme are discovered through follow-up on candidates in large area surveys. Here we present 850 $\mu$m SCUBA-2 follow-up observations of 188 red DSFG candidates from the \textit{Herschel} Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) Large Mode Survey, covering 274 deg$^2$. We detected 87 per cent with a signal-to-noise ratio $>$ 3 at 850~$\mu$m. We introduce a new method for incorporating the confusion noise in our spectral energy distribution fitting by sampling correlated flux density fluctuations from a confusion limited map. The new 850~$\mu$m data provide a better constraint on the photometric redshifts of the candidates, with photometric redshift errors decreasing from $\sigma_z/(1+z)\approx0.21$ to $0.15$. Comparison spectroscopic redshifts also found little bias ($\langle (z-z_{\rm spec})/(1+z_{\rm spec})\rangle = 0.08 $). The mean photometric redshift is found to be 3.6 with a dispersion of $0.4$ and we identify 21 DSFGs with a high probability of lying at $z > 4$. After simulating our selection effects we find number counts are consistent with phenomenological galaxy evolution models. There is a statistically significant excess of WISE-1 and SDSS sources near our red galaxies, giving a strong indication that lensing may explain some of the apparently extreme objects. Nevertheless, our sample should include examples of galaxies with the highest star formation rates in the Universe ($\gg10^3$ M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$).

PISCO: The PMAS/PPak Integral-field Supernova Hosts Compilation

Abstract We present the PMAS/PPak Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation (PISCO), which comprises integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of 232 supernova (SN) host galaxies that hosted 272 SNe, observed over several semesters with the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA). PISCO is the largest collection of SN host galaxies observed with wide-field IFS, totaling 466,347 individual spectra covering a typical spatial resolution of ∼380 pc. Focused studies regarding specific SN Ia-related topics will be published elsewhere; this paper aims to present the properties of the SN environments, using stellar population (SP) synthesis, and the gas-phase interstellar medium, providing additional results separating stripped-envelope SNe into their subtypes. With 11,270 H ii regions detected in all galaxies, we present for the first time a statistical analysis of H ii regions, which puts H ii regions that have hosted SNe in context with all other star-forming clumps within their galaxies. SNe Ic are associated with environments that are more metal-rich and have higher EW(Hα) and higher star formation rate within their host galaxies than the mean of all H ii regions detected within each host. This in contrast to SNe IIb, which occur in environments that are very different compared to other core-collapse SNe types. We find two clear components of young and old SPs at SNe IIn locations. We find that SNe II fast decliners tend to explode at locations where the ΣSFR is more intense. Finally, we outline how a future dedicated IFS survey of galaxies in parallel to an untargeted SN search would overcome the biases in current environmental studies.

CHANG-ES

Aim.The vertical halo scale height is a crucial parameter to understand the transport of cosmic-ray electrons (CRE) and their energy loss mechanisms in spiral galaxies. Until now, the radio scale height could only be determined for a few edge-on galaxies because of missing sensitivity at high resolution.Methods.We developed a sophisticated method for the scale height determination of edge-on galaxies. With this we determined the scale heights and radial scale lengths for a sample of 13 galaxies from the CHANG-ES radio continuum survey in two frequency bands.Results.The sample average values for the radio scale heights of the halo are 1.1 ± 0.3 kpc inC-band and 1.4 ± 0.7 kpc inL-band. From the frequency dependence analysis of the halo scale heights we found that the wind velocities (estimated using the adiabatic loss time) are above the escape velocity. We found that the halo scale heights increase linearly with the radio diameters. In order to exclude the diameter dependence, we defined a normalized scale heighth˜which is quite similar for all sample galaxies at both frequency bands and does not depend on the star formation rate or the magnetic field strength. However,h˜shows a tight anticorrelation with the mass surface density.Conclusions.The sample galaxies with smaller scale lengths are more spherical in the radio emission, while those with larger scale lengths are flatter. The radio scale height depends mainly on the radio diameter of the galaxy. The sample galaxies are consistent with an escape-dominated radio halo with convective cosmic ray propagation, indicating that galactic winds are a widespread phenomenon in spiral galaxies. While a higher star formation rate or star formation surface density does not lead to a higher wind velocity, we found for the first time observational evidence of a gravitational deceleration of CRE outflow, e.g. a lowering of the wind velocity from the galactic disk.

A Study of Two Dwarf Irregular Galaxies with AsymmetricalStar Formation Distributions

Abstract Two dwarf irregular galaxies, DDO 187 and NGC 3738, exhibit a striking pattern of star formation: intense star formation is taking place in a large region occupying roughly half of the inner part of the optical galaxy. We use data on the H i distribution and kinematics and stellar images and colors to examine the properties of the environment in the high star formation rate (HSF) halves of the galaxies in comparison with the low star formation rate halves. We find that the pressure and gas density are higher on the HSF sides by 30%–70%. In addition we find in both galaxies that the H i velocity fields exhibit significant deviations from ordered rotation and there are large regions of high-velocity dispersion and multiple velocity components in the gas beyond the inner regions of the galaxies. The conditions in the HSF regions are likely the result of large-scale external processes affecting the internal environment of the galaxies and enabling the current star formation there.

Chandra and ALMA observations of the nuclear activity in two strongly lensed star-forming galaxies

Aim. According to coevolutionary scenarios, nuclear activity and star formation play relevant roles in the early stages of galaxy formation. We aim at identifying them in high-redshift galaxies by exploiting high-resolution and high-sensitivity X-ray and millimeter-wavelength data to confirm the presence or absence of star formation and nuclear activity and describe their relative roles in shaping the spectral energy distributions and in contributing to the energy budgets of the galaxies. Methods. We present the data, model, and analysis in the X-ray and millimeter (mm) bands for two strongly lensed galaxies, SDP.9 (HATLAS J090740.0-004200) and SDP.11 (HATLAS J091043.1-000322), which we selected in the Herschel-ATLAS catalogs for their excess emission in the mid-IR regime at redshift ≳1.5. This emission suggests nuclear activity in the early stages of galaxy formation. We observed both of them with Chandra ACIS-S in the X-ray regime and analyzed the high-resolution mm data that are available in the ALMA Science Archive for SDP.9. By combining the information available in mm, optical, and X-ray bands, we reconstructed the source morphology. Results. Both targets were detected in the X-ray, which strongly indicates highly obscured nuclear activity. ALMA observations for SDP.9 for the continuum and CO(6-5) spectral line with high resolution (0.02 arcsec corresponding to ~65 pc at the distance of the galaxy) allowed us to estimate the lensed galaxy redshift to a better accuracy than pre-ALMA estimates (1.5753 ± 0.0003) and to model the emission of the optical, millimetric, and X-ray band for this galaxy. We demonstrate that the X-ray emission is generated in the nuclear environment, which strongly supports that this object has nuclear activity. On the basis of the X-ray data, we attempt an estimate of the black hole properties in these galaxies. Conclusions. By taking advantage of the lensing magnification, we identify weak nuclear activity associated with high-z galaxies with high star formation rates. This is useful to extend the investigation of the relationship between star formation and nuclear activity to two intrinsically less luminous high-z star-forming galaxies than was possible so far. Given our results for only two objects, they alone cannot constrain the evolutionary models, but provide us with interesting hints and set an observational path toward addressing the role of star formation and nuclear activity in forming galaxies.

The dependence of galaxy clustering on stellar mass, star-formation rate and redshift at z = 0.8–2.2, with HiZELS

The deep, near-infrared narrow-band survey HiZELS has yielded robust samples of H-alpha emitting star-forming galaxies within narrow redshift slices at z = 0.8, 1.47 and 2.23. In this paper, we distinguish the stellar mass and star-formation rate (SFR) dependence of the clustering of these galaxies. At high stellar masses (M/M_sol>2x10^10), where HiZELS selects galaxies close to the so-called star-forming main sequence, the clustering strength is observed to increase strongly with stellar mass (in line with the results of previous studies of mass-selected galaxy samples) and also with SFR. These two dependencies are shown to hold independently. At lower stellar masses, however, where HiZELS probes high specific SFR galaxies, there is little or no dependence of the clustering strength on stellar mass, but the dependence on SFR remains: high-SFR low-mass galaxies are found in more massive dark matter haloes than their lower SFR counterparts. We argue that this is due to environmentally driven star formation in these systems. We apply the same selection criteria to the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We find that, in EAGLE, the high-SFR low-mass galaxies are central galaxies in more massive dark matter haloes, in which the high SFRs are driven by a (halo-driven) increased gas content.

Dual Active Galactic Nuclei in Nearby Galaxies

Galaxy mergers play a crucial role in the formation of massive galaxies and the buildup of their bulges. An important aspect of the merging process is the in-spiral of the supermassive black-holes (SMBHs) to the centre of the merger remnant and the eventual formation of a SMBH binary. If both the SMBHs are accreting they will form a dual or binary active galactic nucleus (DAGN). The final merger remnant is usually very bright and shows enhanced star formation. In this paper we summarise the current sample of DAGN from previous studies and describe methods that can be used to identify strong DAGN candidates from optical and spectroscopic surveys. These methods depend on the Doppler separation of the double peaked AGN emission lines, the nuclear velocity dispersion of the galaxies and their optical/UV colours. We describe two high resolution, radio observations of DAGN candidates that have been selected based on their double peaked optical emission lines (DPAGN). We also examine whether DAGN host galaxies have higher star formation rates (SFRs) compared to merging galaxies that do not appear to have DAGN. We find that the SFR is not higher for DAGN host galaxies. This suggests that the SFRs in DAGN host galaxies is due to the merging process itself and not related to the presence of two AGN in the system.