We present new Spectrographic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae (SAURON) integral-field spectroscopy and Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) observations of molecular outflow host ...galaxy NGC 1266 that indicate NGC 1266 has experienced a rapid cessation of star formation. Both the SAURON maps of stellar population age and the Swift UVOT observations demonstrate the presence of young (<1 Gyr) stellar populations within the central 1 kpc, while existing Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy CO(1-0) maps indicate that the sites of current star formation are constrained to only the inner few hundred parsecs of the galaxy. The optical spectrum of NGC 1266 from Moustakas & Kennicutt reveal a characteristic poststarburst (K+A) stellar population, and Davis et al. confirm that ionized gas emission in the system originate from a shock. Galaxies with K+A speetta and shock-like ionized gas line ratios may comprise an important, overlooked segment of the poststarburst population, containing exactly those objects in which the active galactic nucleus (AGN) is actively expelling the star-forming material. While AGN activity is not the likely driver of the poststarburst event that occurred 500 Myr ago, the faint spiral structure seen in the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-field Camera 3 Y-, J-and H-band imaging seems to point to the possibility of gravitational torques being the culprit. If the molecular gas were driven into the center at the same time as the larger scale galaxy disk underwent quenching, the AGN might be able to sustain the presence of molecular gas for gap1 Gyr by cyclically injecting turbulent energy into the dense molecular gas via a radio jet, inhibiting star formation.
ABSTRACT
We use the Spectrographic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae and Gemini Multi‐Object Spectrograph integral‐field spectrographs to observe the active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered ...outflow in NGC 1266. This unusual
galaxy is relatively nearby (D = 30 Mpc), allowing us to investigate the process of AGN feedback in action. We present maps of the kinematics and line strengths of the ionized gas emission lines Hα, Hβ, O iii, O i, N ii and S ii, and report on the detection of sodium D absorption. We use these tracers to explore the structure of the source, derive the ionized and atomic gas kinematics, and investigate the gas excitation and physical conditions. NGC 1266 contains two ionized gas components along most lines of sight, tracing the ongoing outflow and a component closer to the galaxy systemic, the origin of which is unclear. This gas appears to be disturbed by a nascent AGN jet. We confirm that the outflow in NGC 1266 is truly multiphase, containing radio plasma, atomic, molecular and ionized gas and X‐ray emitting plasma. The outflow has velocities of up to ±900 km s−1 away from the systemic velocity and is very likely to remove significant amount of cold gas from the galaxy. The low‐ionization nuclear emission region‐like line emission in NGC 1266 is extended, and it likely arises from fast shocks caused by the interaction of the radio jet with the interstellar medium. These shocks have velocities of up to 800 km s−1, which match well with the observed velocity of the outflow. Sodium D equivalent width profiles are used to set constraints on the size and orientation of the outflow. The ionized gas morphology correlates with the nascent radio jets observed in 1.4 and 5 GHz continuum emission, supporting the suggestion that an AGN jet is providing the energy required to drive the outflow.
We report the discovery of a powerful molecular wind from the nucleus of the non-interacting nearby S0 field galaxy NGC 1266. The single-dish CO profile exhibits emission to ?400 km s--1 and requires ...a nested Gaussian fit to be properly described. Interferometric observations reveal a massive, centrally concentrated molecular component with a mass of 1.1 X 109 M and a molecular outflow with a molecular mass of 2.4 X 107 M . The molecular gas close to the systemic velocity consists of a rotating, compact nucleus with a mass of about 4.1 X 108 M within a radius of 60 pc. This compact molecular nucleus has a surface density of 2.7 X 104 M pc--2, more than two orders of magnitude larger than that of giant molecular clouds in the disk of the Milky Way, and it appears to sit on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation despite its extreme kinematics and energetic activity. We interpret this nucleus as a disk that confines the outflowing wind. A mass outflow rate of 13 M yr--1 leads to a depletion timescale of 85 Myr. The star formation in NGC 1266 is insufficient to drive the outflow, and thus it is likely driven by the active galactic nucleus. The concentration of the majority of the molecular gas in the central 100 pc requires an extraordinary loss of angular momentum, but no obvious companion or interacting galaxy is present to enable the transfer. NGC 1266 is the first known outflowing molecular system that does not show any evidence of a recent interaction.
We present the data release 14 Quasar catalog (DR14Q) from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). This catalog includes all ...SDSS-IV/eBOSS objects that were spectroscopically targeted as quasar candidates and that are confirmed as quasars via a new automated procedure combined with a partial visual inspection of spectra, have luminosities Mi z = 2 < −20.5 $M_{\textrm{i}} \left z=2 \right < -20.5$ Mi z=2 <−20.5 (in a Λ CDM cosmology with H0 = 70 km s−1 Mpc−1, Ω M =0.3, and Ω Λ = 0.7), and either display at least one emission line with a full width at half maximum larger than 500 km s−1 or, if not, have interesting/complex absorption features. The catalog also includes previously spectroscopically-confirmed quasars from SDSS-I, II, and III. The catalog contains 526 356 quasars (144 046 are new discoveries since the beginning of SDSS-IV) detected over 9376 deg2 (2044 deg2 having new spectroscopic data available) with robust identification and redshift measured by a combination of principal component eigenspectra. The catalog is estimated to have about 0.5% contamination. Redshifts are provided for the Mg II emission line. The catalog identifies 21 877 broad absorption line quasars and lists their characteristics. For each object, the catalog presents five-band (u, g, r, i, z) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag. The catalog also contains X-ray, ultraviolet, near-infrared, and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra, covering the wavelength region 3610–10 140 Å at a spectral resolution in the range 1300 < R < 2500, can be retrieved from the SDSS Science Archiver Server.
ABSTRACT We construct the Schwarzschild dynamical models for 11 early-type galaxies with the SAURON and Mitchell stellar IFUs out to 2–4Re, and construct dynamical models with combined stellar and H ...i kinematics for a subsample of four galaxies with H i velocity fields out to 10Re obtained from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, thus robustly obtaining the dark matter content out to large radii for these galaxies. Adopting a generalized-NFW dark matter profile, we measure an NFW-like density cusp in the dark matter inner slopes for all sample galaxies, with a mean value of 1.00 ± 0.04 (rms scatter 0.15). The mean dark matter fraction for the sample is 0.2 within 1Re, and increases to 0.4 at 2Re, and 0.6 at 5Re. The dark matter fractions within 1Re of these galaxies are systematically lower than the predictions of both the TNG-100 and EAGLE simulations. For the dark matter fractions within 2Re and 5Re, 40 and 70 per cent galaxies are 1σ consistent with either the TNG-100 or the EAGLE predictions, while the remaining 60 and 30 per cent galaxies lie below the 1σ region. Combined with 36 galaxies with dark matter fractions measured out to 5Re in the literature, about 10 per cent of these 47 galaxies lie below the 3σ region of the TNG-100 or EAGLE predictions.
ABSTRACT The MaNGA Survey (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is one of three core programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV. It is obtaining integral field spectroscopy for ...10,000 nearby galaxies at a spectral resolution of R ∼ 2000 from 3622 to 10354 Å. The design of the survey is driven by a set of science requirements on the precision of estimates of the following properties: star formation rate surface density, gas metallicity, stellar population age, metallicity, and abundance ratio, and their gradients; stellar and gas kinematics; and enclosed gravitational mass as a function of radius. We describe how these science requirements set the depth of the observations and dictate sample selection. The majority of targeted galaxies are selected to ensure uniform spatial coverage in units of effective radius (Re) while maximizing spatial resolution. About two-thirds of the sample is covered out to 1.5Re (Primary sample), and one-third of the sample is covered to 2.5Re (Secondary sample). We describe the survey execution with details that would be useful in the design of similar future surveys. We also present statistics on the achieved data quality, specifically the point-spread function, sampling uniformity, spectral resolution, sky subtraction, and flux calibration. For our Primary sample, the median r-band signal-to-noise ratio is ∼70 per 1.4 Å pixel for spectra stacked between 1Re and 1.5Re. Measurements of various galaxy properties from the first-year data show that we are meeting or exceeding the defined requirements for the majority of our science goals.
The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is currently acquiring integral-field spectroscopy for the largest sample of galaxies to date. By 2020, the MaNGA Survey-which ...is one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)-will have observed a statistically representative sample of 104 galaxies in the local universe (z 0.15). In addition to a robust data-reduction pipeline (DRP), MaNGA has developed a data-analysis pipeline (DAP) that provides higher-level data products. To accompany the first public release of its code base and data products, we provide an overview of the MaNGA DAP, including its software design, workflow, measurement procedures and algorithms, performance, and output data model. In conjunction with our companion paper (Belfiore et al.), we also assess the DAP output provided for 4718 observations of 4648 unique galaxies in the recent SDSS Data Release 15 (DR15). These analysis products focus on measurements that are close to the data and require minimal model-based assumptions. Namely, we provide stellar kinematics (velocity and velocity dispersion), emission-line properties (kinematics, fluxes, and equivalent widths), and spectral indices (e.g., D4000 and the Lick indices). We find that the DAP provides robust measurements and errors for the vast majority (>99%) of analyzed spectra. We summarize assessments of the precision and accuracy of our measurements as a function of signal-to-noise. We also provide specific guidance to users regarding the limitations of the data. The MaNGA DAP software is publicly available and we encourage community involvement in its development.
ABSTRACT
Gas-rich galaxies are typically star forming. We make use of H i-MaNGA, a programme of H i follow-up for the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey of the Sloan ...Digital Sky Surveys, to construct a sample of unusual neutral hydrogen (H i, 21 cm)-rich galaxies that have low star formation rates (SFRs), using infrared colour from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer as a proxy for specific SFR. Out of a set of 1575 MaNGA galaxies with H i-MaNGA detections, we find that 83 (5 per cent) meet our selection criteria to be H i rich with low SFR. We construct two stellar mass-matched control samples: H i-rich galaxies with typical SFR (high SF control) and H i-poor galaxies with low SFR (low H i control). We investigate the properties of each of these samples, comparing physical parameters such as ionization state maps, stellar and ionized gas velocity and dispersion, environment measures, metallicity, and morphology to search for the reasons why these unusual H i-rich galaxies are not forming stars. We find evidence for recent external accretion of gas in some galaxies (via high counter-rotating fractions), along with some evidence for active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback (from a high central low-ionization emission-line region and/or red geyser fraction), and bar quenching (via an enhanced strong bar fraction). Some galaxies in the sample are consistent with simply having their H i in a high angular momentum, large-radius, low-density disc. We conclude that no single physical process can explain all H i-rich, low-SFR galaxies.
We present the first release of the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar), which is a large, well-calibrated, high-quality empirical library covering the wavelength range 3622-10354 at a resolving power of ...R ∼ 1800. The spectra were obtained using the same instrument as used by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) project, by piggybacking on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)/Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment 2-N (APOGEE-2N) observations. Compared to previous empirical libraries, the MaStar library will have a higher number of stars and a more comprehensive stellar-parameter coverage, especially of cool dwarfs, low-metallicity stars, and stars with different /Fe, achieved by a sophisticated target-selection strategy that takes advantage of stellar-parameter catalogs from the literature. This empirical library will provide a new basis for stellar-population synthesis and is particularly well suited for stellar-population analysis of MaNGA galaxies. The first version of the library contains 8646 high-quality per-visit spectra for 3321 unique stars. Compared to photometry, the relative flux calibration of the library is accurate to 3.9% in g − r, 2.7% in r − i, and 2.2% in i − z. The data are released as part of SDSS Data Release 15. We expect the final release of the library to contain more than 10,000 stars.
We study the H iK-band Tully-Fisher relation and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation for a sample of 16 early-type galaxies, taken from the ATLAS3D sample, which all have very regular H i disks ...extending well beyond the optical body (≳ 5 Reff). We use the kinematics of these disks to estimate the circular velocity at large radii for these galaxies. We find that the Tully-Fisher relation for our early-type galaxies is offset by about 0.5-0.7 mag from the relation for spiral galaxies, in the sense that early-type galaxies are dimmer for a given circular velocity. The residuals with respect to the spiral Tully-Fisher relation correlate with estimates of the stellar mass-to-light ratio, suggesting that the offset between the relations is mainly driven by differences in stellar populations. We also observe a small offset between our Tully-Fisher relation with the relation derived for the ATLAS3D sample based on CO data representing the galaxies’ inner regions (≲1 Reff). This indicates that the circular velocities at large radii are systematically 10% lower than those near 0.5−1 Reff, in line with recent determinations of the shape of the mass profile of early-type galaxies. The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation of our sample is distinctly tighter than the standard one, in particular when using mass-to-light ratios based on dynamical models of the stellar kinematics. We find that the early-type galaxies fall on the spiral baryonic Tully-Fisher relation if one assumes M/LK = 0.54 M⊙/L⊙ for the stellar populations of the spirals, a value similar to that found by recent studies of the dynamics of spiral galaxies. Such a mass-to-light ratio for spiral galaxies would imply that their disks are 60-70% of maximal. Our analysis increases the range of galaxy morphologies for which the baryonic Tully-Fisher relations holds, strengthening previous claims that it is a more fundamental scaling relation than the classical Tully-Fisher relation.