Observed dust surface density across cosmic times Péroux, Céline; De Cia, Annalisa; Howk, J Christopher
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
05/2023, Volume:
522, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
ABSTRACT
Our ability to interpret observations of galaxies and trace their stellar, gas, and dust content over cosmic time critically relies on our understanding of how the dust abundance and ...properties vary with environment. Here, we compute the dust surface density across cosmic times to put novel constraints on simulations of the build-up of dust. We provide observational estimates of the dust surface density consistently measured through depletion methods across a wide range of environments, going from the Milky Way up to z = 5.5 galaxies. These conservative measurements provide complementary estimates to extinction-based observations. In addition, we introduce the dust surface density distribution function – in analogy with the cold gas column density distribution functions. We fit a power law of the form log f(ΣDust) = −1.92 × log ΣDust − 3.65, which proves slightly steeper than that for neutral gas and metal absorbers. This observed relation, which can be computed by simulations predicting resolved dust mass functions through 2D projection, provides new constraints on modern dust models.
Most Type I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) reported to date have been identified by their high peak luminosities and spectra lacking obvious signs of hydrogen. We demonstrate that these events ...can be distinguished from normal-luminosity SNe (including Type Ic events) solely from their spectra over a wide range of light-curve phases. We use this distinction to select 19 SLSNe-I and four possible SLSNe-I from the Palomar Transient Factory archive (including seven previously published objects). We present 127 new spectra of these objects and combine these with 39 previously published spectra, and we use these to discuss the average spectral properties of SLSNe-I at different spectral phases. We find that Mn ii most probably contributes to the ultraviolet spectral features after maximum light, and we give a detailed study of the O ii features that often characterize the early-time optical spectra of SLSNe-I. We discuss the velocity distribution of O ii, finding that for some SLSNe-I this can be confined to a narrow range compared to relatively large systematic velocity shifts. Mg ii and Fe ii favor higher velocities than O ii and C ii, and we briefly discuss how this may constrain power-source models. We tentatively group objects by how well they match either SN 2011ke or PTF12dam and discuss the possibility that physically distinct events may have been previously grouped together under the SLSN-I label.
The interstellar medium (ISM) comprises gases at different temperatures and densities, including ionized, atomic and molecular species, and dust particles
. The neutral ISM is dominated by neutral ...hydrogen
and has ionization fractions of up to eight per cent
. The concentration of chemical elements heavier than helium (metallicity) spans orders of magnitudes in Galactic stars
, because they formed at different times. However, the gas in the vicinity of the Sun is assumed to be well mixed and to have a solar metallicity in traditional chemical evolution models
. The ISM chemical abundances can be accurately measured with ultraviolet absorption-line spectroscopy. However, the effects of dust depletion
-which removes part of the metals from the observable gaseous phase and incorporates it into solid grains-have prevented, until recently, a deeper investigation of the ISM metallicity. Here we report the dust-corrected metallicity of the neutral ISM measured towards 25 stars in our Galaxy. We find large variations in metallicity over a factor of ten (with an average of 55 ± 7 per cent solar metallicity and a standard deviation of 0.28 dex), including many regions of low metallicity, down to about 17 per cent solar metallicity and possibly below. Pristine gas falling onto the Galactic disk in the form of high-velocity clouds can cause the observed chemical inhomogeneities on scales of tens of parsecs. Our results suggest that this low-metallicity accreting gas does not efficiently mix into the ISM, which may help us understand metallicity deviations in nearby coeval stars.
Abstract
The evolution of the metal content of the universe can be tracked through rest-frame UV spectroscopy of damped Ly
α
systems (DLAs). Gas-phase abundances in DLAs must be corrected for dust ...depletion effects, which can be accomplished by calibrating the relation between abundance ratios such as Zn/Fe and depletions (the fraction of metals in gas, as opposed to dust). Using samples of gas-phase abundances and depletions in the Milky Way (MW), LMC, and SMC, we demonstrate that the relation between Zn/Fe and other abundance ratios does not change significantly between these local galaxies and DLAs, indicating that Zn/Fe should trace depletions of heavy elements in those systems. The availability of photospheric abundances in young massive stars, a proxy for the total (gas+dust) metallicity of neutral gas, in the MW, LMC, and SMC allows us to calibrate the relation between Zn/Fe and depletions in these nearby galaxies. We apply the local calibrations of depletions to DLAs. We find that the fraction of metals in dust, the dust-to-gas ratio, and total abundances are 2–5 times lower than inferred from previous depletion calibrations based on MW measurements and a different formalism. However, the trend of dust abundance versus metallicity remains only slightly sublinear for all existing depletion calibrations, contrary to what is inferred from far-IR (FIR), 21 cm, and CO emission in nearby galaxies and predicted by chemical evolution models. Observational constraints on the FIR dust opacity and depletions at metallicities lower than 20% solar will be needed to resolve this tension.
We investigate the light-curve properties of a sample of 26 spectroscopically confirmed hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) in the Palomar Transient Factory survey. These events are ...brighter than SNe Ib/c and SNe Ic-BL, on average, by about 4 and 2 mag, respectively. The peak absolute magnitudes of SLSNe-I in rest-frame g band span −22 Mg −20 mag, and these peaks are not powered by radioactive 56Ni, unless strong asymmetries are at play. The rise timescales are longer for SLSNe than for normal SNe Ib/c, by roughly 10 days, for events with similar decay times. Thus, SLSNe-I can be considered as a separate population based on photometric properties. After peak, SLSNe-I decay with a wide range of slopes, with no obvious gap between rapidly declining and slowly declining events. The latter events show more irregularities (bumps) in the light curves at all times. At late times, the SLSN-I light curves slow down and cluster around the 56Co radioactive decay rate. Powering the late-time light curves with radioactive decay would require between 1 and 10 M of Ni masses. Alternatively, a simple magnetar model can reasonably fit the majority of SLSNe-I light curves, with four exceptions, and can mimic the radioactive decay of 56Co, up to ∼400 days from explosion. The resulting spin values do not correlate with the host-galaxy metallicities. Finally, the analysis of our sample cannot strengthen the case for using SLSNe-I for cosmology.
Context. The presence of dust in the neutral interstellar medium (ISM) dramatically changes the metal abundances that we measure. Understanding the metal content in the neutral ISM, and a direct ...comparison between different environments, has been hampered to date because of the degeneracy to the observed ISM abundances caused by the effects of metallicity, the presence of dust, and nucleosynthesis. Aims. We study the metal and dust content in the neutral ISM consistently in different environments, and assess the universality of recently discovered sequences of relative abundances. We also intend to assess the validity of Zn/Fe as a tracer of dust in the ISM. This has recently been cast into doubt based on observations of stellar abundances, and needs to be addressed before we can safely use it to study the ISM. Methods. In this letter we present a simple comparison of relative abundances observed in the neutral ISM in the Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, and damped Lyman-α absorbers (DLAs). The main novelty in this comparison is the inclusion of the Magellanic Clouds. Results. The same sequences of relative abundances are valid for the Galaxy, Magellanic Clouds, and DLAs. These sequences are driven by the presence of dust in the ISM and seem “universal”. Conclusions. The metal and dust properties in the neutral ISM appear to follow a similar behaviour in different environments. This suggests that a dominant fraction of the dust budget is built up from grain growth in the ISM depending of the physical conditions and regardless of the star formation history of the system. In addition, the DLA gas behaves like the neutral ISM, at least from a chemical point of view. Finally, despite the deviations in Zn/Fe observed in stellar abundances, Zn/Fe is a robust dust tracer in the ISM of different environments, from the Galaxy to DLAs.
ABSTRACT We present the light curves of the hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe I) PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc, discovered by the (intermediate) Palomar Transient Factory. Both show excess ...emission at early times and a slowly declining light curve at late times. The early bump in PTF 12dam is very similar in duration (∼10 days) and brightness relative to the main peak (2-3 mag fainter) compared to that observed in other SLSNe I. In contrast, the long-duration (>30 days) early excess emission in iPTF 13dcc, whose brightness competes with that of the main peak, appears to be of a different nature. We construct bolometric light curves for both targets, and fit a variety of light-curve models to both the early bump and main peak in an attempt to understand the nature of these explosions. Even though the slope of the late-time decline in the light curves of both SLSNe is suggestively close to that expected from the radioactive decay of 56Ni and 56Co, the amount of nickel required to power the full light curves is too large considering the estimated ejecta mass. The magnetar model including an increasing escape fraction provides a reasonable description of the PTF 12dam observations. However, neither the basic nor the double-peaked magnetar model is capable of reproducing the light curve of iPTF 13dcc. A model combining a shock breakout in an extended envelope with late-time magnetar energy injection provides a reasonable fit to the iPTF 13dcc observations. Finally, we find that the light curves of both PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc can be adequately fit with the model involving interaction with the circumstellar medium.
ABSTRACT During the first few days after explosion, Type II supernovae (SNe) are dominated by relatively simple physics. Theoretical predictions regarding early-time SN light curves in the ...ultraviolet (UV) and optical bands are thus quite robust. We present, for the first time, a sample of 57 R-band SN II light curves that are well-monitored during their rise, with detections during the first 10 days after discovery, and a well-constrained time of explosion to within 1-3 days. We show that the energy per unit mass (E/M) can be deduced to roughly a factor of five by comparing early-time optical data to the 2011 model of Rabinak & Waxman, while the progenitor radius cannot be determined based on R-band data alone. We find that SN II explosion energies span a range of E/M = (0.2-20) × 1051 erg/(10 ), and have a mean energy per unit mass of erg/(10 ), corrected for Malmquist bias. Assuming a small spread in progenitor masses, this indicates a large intrinsic diversity in explosion energy. Moreover, E/M is positively correlated with the amount of 56Ni produced in the explosion, as predicted by some recent models of core-collapse SNe. We further present several empirical correlations. The peak magnitude is correlated with the decline rate ( ), the decline rate is weakly correlated with the rise time, and the rise time is not significantly correlated with the peak magnitude. Faster declining SNe are more luminous and have longer rise times. This limits the possible power sources for such events.
Recent works have demonstrated a surprisingly small variation of the dust-to-metals ratio in different environments and a correlation between dust extinction and the density of stars. Naively, one ...would interpret these findings as strong evidence of cosmic dust being produced mainly by stars. But other observational evidence suggest that there is a significant variation of the dust-to-metals ratio with metallicity. As we demonstrate in this paper, a simple star-dust scenario is problematic also in the sense that it requires that destruction of dust in the interstellar medium (e.g. due to passage of supernova shocks) must be highly inefficient. We suggest a model where stellar dust production is indeed efficient, but where interstellar dust growth is equally important and acts as a replenishment mechanism which can counteract the effects of dust destruction. This model appears to resolve the seemingly contradictive observations, given that the ratio of the effective (stellar) dust and metal yields is not universal and thus may change from one environment to another, depending on metallicity.
Interpreting abundances of damped Ly-α absorbers (DLAs) from absorption-line spectroscopy has typically been a challenge because of the presence of dust. Nevertheless, because DLAs trace distant ...gas-rich galaxies regardless of their luminosity, they provide an attractive way of measuring the evolution of the metallicity of the neutral gas with cosmic time. This has been done extensively so far, but typically not taking proper dust corrections into account. The aims of this paper are to: (i) provide a simplified way of calculating dust corrections, based on a single observed X/Fe, (ii) assess the importance of dust corrections for DLA metallicities and their evolution, and (iii) investigate the cosmic evolution of iron for a large DLA sample. We have derived dust corrections based on the observed Zn/Fe, Si/Fe, or S/Fe, and confirmed their robustness. We present dust-corrected metallicities in a scale of Fe/Htot for 236 DLAs over a broad range of z, and assess the extent of dust corrections for different metals at different metallicities. Dust corrections in DLAs are important even for Zn (typically of 0.1–0.2, and up to 0.5 dex), which is often neglected. Finally, we study the evolution of the dust-corrected metallicity with z. The DLA metallicities decrease with redshift, by a factor of 50–100 from today to ~12.6 billion years ago (z = 5). When including dust corrections, the average DLA metallicities are 0.4–0.5 dex higher than without corrections. The upper envelope of the relation between metallicity and z reaches solar metallicity at z ≲ 0.5, although some systems can have solar metallicity already out to z ~ 3.
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