We present ALMA Band 9 observations of the C II158 μm emission for a sample of 10 main-sequence galaxies at redshift z ˜ 2, with typical stellar masses (log M⋆/M⊙ ˜ 10.0-10.9) and star formation ...rates (˜35-115 M⊙ yr-1). Given the strong and well-understood evolution of the interstellar medium from the present to z = 2, we investigate the behaviour of the C II emission and empirically identify its primary driver. We detect C II from six galaxies (four secure and two tentative) and estimate ensemble averages including non-detections. The C II-to-infrared luminosity ratio (C II/LIR) of our sample is similar to that of local main-sequence galaxies (˜2 × 10-3), and ˜10 times higher than that of starbursts. The C II emission has an average spatial extent of 4-7 kpc, consistent with the optical size. Complementing our sample with literature data, we find that the C II luminosity correlates with galaxies' molecular gas mass, with a mean absolute deviation of 0.2 dex and without evident systematics: the C II-to-H2 conversion factor (α _C II ˜ 30 M⊙/L⊙) is largely independent of galaxies' depletion time, metallicity, and redshift. C II seems therefore a convenient tracer to estimate galaxies' molecular gas content regardless of their starburst or main-sequence nature, and extending to metal-poor galaxies at low and high redshifts. The dearth of C II emission reported for z > 6-7 galaxies might suggest either a high star formation efficiency or a small fraction of ultraviolet light from star formation reprocessed by dust.
Aims. We use high-resolution continuum images obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to probe the surface density of star formation in z ~ 2 galaxies and study the different physical ...properties between galaxies within and above the star-formation main sequence of galaxies. Methods. We use ALMA images at 870 μm with 0.2 arcsec resolution in order to resolve star formation in a sample of eight star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 selected among the most massive Herschel galaxies in the GOODS-South field. This sample is supplemented with eleven galaxies from the public data of the 1.3 mm survey of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, HUDF. We derive dust and gas masses for the galaxies, compute their depletion times and gas fractions, and study the relative distributions of rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) and far-infrared (FIR) light. Results. ALMA reveals systematically dense concentrations of dusty star formation close to the center of the stellar component of the galaxies. We identify two different starburst regimes: (i) the classical population of starbursts located above the SFR-M⋆ main sequence, with enhanced gas fractions and short depletion times and (ii) a sub-population of galaxies located within the scatter of the main sequence that experience compact star formation with depletion timescales typical of starbursts of ~150 Myr. In both starburst populations, the FIR and UV are distributed in distinct regions and dust-corrected star formation rates (SFRs) estimated using UV-optical-near-infrared data alone underestimate the total SFR. Starbursts hidden in the main sequence show instead the lowest gas fractions of our sample and could represent the last stage of star formation prior to passivization. Being Herschel-selected, these main sequence galaxies are located in the high-mass end of the main sequence, hence we do not know whether these “starbursts hidden in the main sequence” also exist below 1011 M⊙. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are found to be ubiquitous in these compact starbursts, suggesting that the triggering mechanism also feeds the central black hole or that the active nucleus triggers star formation.
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The strong time-dependence of the dynamics of galactic bars yields a complex and rapidly evolving distribution of dense gas and star forming regions. Although bars mainly host regions void of any ...star formation activity, their extremities can gather the physical conditions for the formation of molecular complexes and mini-starbursts. Using a sub-parsec resolution hydrodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy, we probe these conditions to explore how and where bar (hydro-)dynamics favours the formation or destruction of molecular clouds and stars. The interplay between the kpc-scale dynamics (gas flows, shear) and the parsec-scale (turbulence) is key to this problem. We find a strong dichotomy between the leading and trailing sides of the bar, in term of cloud fragmentation and in the age distribution of the young stars. After orbiting along the bar edge, these young structures slow down at the extremities of the bar, where orbital crowding increases the probability of cloud–cloud collision. We find that such events increase the Mach number of the cloud, leading to an enhanced star formation efficiency and finally the formation of massive stellar associations, in a fashion similar to galaxy–galaxy interactions. We highlight the role of bar dynamics in decoupling young stars from the clouds in which they form, and discuss the implications on the injection of feedback into the interstellar medium (ISM), in particular in the context of galaxy formation.
We present a self-consistent hydrodynamical simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy at a resolution of 0.05 pc. The model includes star formation and a new implementation of stellar feedback through ...photoionization, radiative pressure and supernovae. The simulation resolves the structure of the interstellar medium at sub-parsec resolution for a few cloud lifetimes and at 0.05 pc for about a cloud-crossing time. The turbulence cascade and gravitation from kpc scales are de facto included in smaller structures like molecular clouds. We show that the formation of a bar influences the dynamics of the central ∼100 pc by creating resonances. At larger radii, the spiral arms host the formation of regularly spaced clouds: beads on a string and spurs. These instabilities pump turbulent energy into the gas, generally in the supersonic regime. Because of asymmetric drift, the supernovae explode outside their gaseous nursery, which diminishes the effect of feedback on the structure of clouds. The evolution of clouds is thus mostly due to fragmentation and gas consumption, regulated mainly by supersonic turbulence. The transition from turbulence-supported to self-gravitating gas is detected in the gas density probability distribution function at ∼2000 cm−3. The power-spectrum density suggests that gravitation governs the hierarchical organization of structures from the galactic scale down to a few pc.
We model the intensity of emission lines from the CO molecule, based on hydrodynamic simulations of spirals, mergers, and high-redshift galaxies with very high resolutions (3 pc and 103 M⊙) and ...detailed models for the phase-space structure of the interstellar gas including shock heating, stellar feedback processes, and galactic winds. The simulations are analyzed with a large velocity gradient (LVG) model to compute the local emission in various molecular lines in each resolution element, radiation transfer, opacity effect, and the intensity emerging from galaxies to generate synthetic spectra for various transitions of the CO molecule. This model reproduces the known properties of CO spectra and CO-to-H2 conversion factors in nearby spirals and starbursting major mergers. The high excitation of CO lines in mergers is dominated by an excess of high-density gas, and the high turbulent velocities and compression that create this dense gas excess result in broad linewidths and low CO intensity-to-H2 mass ratios. When applied to high-redshift gas-rich disks galaxies, the same model predicts that their CO-to-H2 conversion factor is almost as high as in nearby spirals, and much higher than in starbursting mergers. High-redshift disk galaxies contain giant star-forming clumps that host a high-excitation component associated to gas warmed by the spatially concentrated stellar feedback sources, although CO(1−0) to CO(3−2) emission is dominated overall by low-excitation gas around the densest clumps. These results generally highlight a strong dependence of CO excitation and the CO-to-H2 conversion factor on galaxy type, even at similar star formation rates or densities. The underlying processes are driven by the interstellar medium structure and turbulence and its response to stellar feedback, which depend on global galaxy structure and in turn affect the CO emission properties.
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ABSTRACT
We investigate the contribution of clumps and satellites to the galaxy mass assembly. We analysed spatially resolved HubbleSpace Telescope observations (imaging and slitless spectroscopy) of ...53 star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 1–3. We created continuum and emission line maps and pinpointed residual ‘blobs’ detected after subtracting the galaxy disc. Those were separated into compact (unresolved) and extended (resolved) components. Extended components have sizes ∼2 kpc and comparable stellar mass and age as the galaxy discs, whereas the compact components are 1.5 dex less massive and 0.4 dex younger than the discs. Furthermore, the extended blobs are typically found at larger distances from the galaxy barycentre than the compact ones. Prompted by these observations and by the comparison with simulations, we suggest that compact blobs are in situ formed clumps, whereas the extended ones are accreting satellites. Clumps and satellites enclose, respectively, ∼20 per cent and ≲80 per cent of the galaxy stellar mass, ∼30 per cent and ∼20 per cent of its star formation rate. Considering the compact blobs, we statistically estimated that massive clumps (M⋆ ≳ 109 M⊙) have lifetimes of ∼650 Myr, and the less massive ones (108 < M⋆ < 109 M⊙) of ∼145 Myr. This supports simulations predicting long-lived clumps (lifetime ≳ 100 Myr). Finally, ≲30 per cent (13 per cent) of our sample galaxies are undergoing single (multiple) merger(s), they have a projected separation ≲10 kpc, and the typical mass ratio of our satellites is 1:5 (but ranges between 1:10 and 1:1), in agreement with literature results for close pair galaxies.
Abstract
We investigate the fraction of close pairs and morphologically identified mergers on and above the star-forming main sequence (MS) at 0.2 ≤ z ≤2.0. The novelty of our work lies in the use of ...a non-parametric morphological classification performed on resolved stellar mass maps, reducing the contamination by non-interacting, high-redshift clumpy galaxies. We find that the merger fraction rapidly rises to ≥70 per cent above the MS, implying that – already at z ≳ 1 – starburst (SB) events (ΔMS ≥ 0.6) are almost always associated with a major merger (1:1 to 1:6 mass ratio). The majority of interacting galaxies in the SB region are morphologically disturbed, late-stage mergers. Pair fractions show little dependence on MS offset and pairs are more prevalent than late-stage mergers only in the lower half of the MS. In our sample, major mergers on the MS occur with a roughly equal frequency of ∼5–10 per cent at all masses ≳ 1010 M⊙. The MS major merger fraction roughly doubles between z = 0.2 and 2, with morphological mergers driving the overall increase at z ≳ 1. The differential redshift evolution of interacting pairs and morphologically classified mergers on the MS can be reconciled by evolving observability time-scales for both pairs and morphological disturbances. The observed variation of the late-stage merger fraction with ΔMS follows the perturbative 2-Star Formation Mode model, where any MS galaxy can experience a continuum of different star formation rate enhancements. This points to an SB–merger connection not only for extreme events, but also more moderate bursts which merely scatter galaxies upward within the MS, rather than fully elevating them above it.
We study the connection between the large-scale dynamics and the gas fuelling towards a central black hole via the analysis of a Milky Way-like simulation at subparsec resolution. This allows us to ...follow a set of processes at various scales (e.g. the triggering of inward gas motion towards inner resonances via the large-scale bar, the connection to the central black hole via minispirals) in a self-consistent manner. This simulation provides further insights on the role of shear for the inhibition of star formation within the bar in regions with significant amount of gas. We also witness the decoupling of the central gas and nuclear cluster from the large-scale disc, via interactions with the black hole. This break of symmetry in the mass distribution triggers the formation of gas clumps organized in a time-varying 250 pc ring-like structure, the black hole being offset by about 70 pc from its centre. Some clumps form stars, while most get disrupted or merge. Supernovae feedback further create bubbles and filaments, some of the gas being expelled to 100 pc or higher above the galaxy plane. This helps remove angular momentum from the gas, which gets closer to the central dark mass. Part of the gas raining down is being accreted, forming a 10 pc polar disc-like structure around the black hole, leading to an episode of star formation. This gives rise to multiple stellar populations with significantly different angular momentum vectors, and may lead to a natural intermittence in the fuelling of the black hole.
Starburst galaxies at the peak of cosmic star formation are among the most extreme star-forming engines in the Universe, producing stars over about 100 million years (ref. 2). The star-formation ...rates of these galaxies, which exceed 100 solar masses per year, require large reservoirs of cold molecular gas to be delivered to their cores, despite strong feedback from stars or active galactic nuclei. Consequently, starburst galaxies are ideal for studying the interplay between this feedback and the growth of a galaxy. The methylidyne cation, CH
, is a most useful molecule for such studies because it cannot form in cold gas without suprathermal energy input, so its presence indicates dissipation of mechanical energy or strong ultraviolet irradiation. Here we report the detection of CH
(J = 1-0) emission and absorption lines in the spectra of six lensed starburst galaxies at redshifts near 2.5. This line has such a high critical density for excitation that it is emitted only in very dense gas, and is absorbed in low-density gas. We find that the CH
emission lines, which are broader than 1,000 kilometres per second, originate in dense shock waves powered by hot galactic winds. The CH
absorption lines reveal highly turbulent reservoirs of cool (about 100 kelvin), low-density gas, extending far (more than 10 kiloparsecs) outside the starburst galaxies (which have radii of less than 1 kiloparsec). We show that the galactic winds sustain turbulence in the 10-kiloparsec-scale environments of the galaxies, processing these environments into multiphase, gravitationally bound reservoirs. However, the mass outflow rates are found to be insufficient to balance the star-formation rates. Another mass input is therefore required for these reservoirs, which could be provided by ongoing mergers or cold-stream accretion. Our results suggest that galactic feedback, coupled jointly to turbulence and gravity, extends the starburst phase of a galaxy instead of quenching it.
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Multiple, sequential mergers are unavoidable in the hierarchical build-up picture of galaxies, in particular for the minor mergers that are frequent and highly likely to have occured several times ...for most present-day galaxies. However, the effect of repeated minor mergers on galactic structure and evolution has not been studied systematically so far. We present a numerical study of multiple, subsequent, minor galaxy mergers, with various mass ratios ranging from 4:1 to 50:1. The N-body simulations include gas dynamics and star formation. We study the morphological and kinematical properties of the remnants, and show that several so-called “minor” mergers can lead to the formation of elliptical-like galaxies that have global morphological and kinematical properties similar to that observed in real elliptical galaxies. The properties of these systems are compared with those of elliptical galaxies produced by the standard scenario of one single major merger. We thus show that repeated minor mergers can theoretically form elliptical galaxies without major mergers, and can be more frequent than major mergers, in particular at moderate redshift. This process must then have formed some elliptical galaxies seen today, and could in particular explain the high boxiness of massive ellipticals, and some fundamental relations observed in ellipticals. In addition, because repeated minor mergers, even at high mass ratios, destroy disks into spheroids, these results indicate that spiral galaxies cannot have grown only by a succession of minor mergers.
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