Abstract
We use the energy-balance code magphys to determine stellar and dust masses, and dust corrected star formation rates for over 200 000 GAMA galaxies, 170 000 G10-COSMOS galaxies, and 200 000 ...3D-HST galaxies. Our values agree well with previously reported measurements and constitute a representative and homogeneous data set spanning a broad range in stellar-mass (108–1012 M⊙), dust-mass (106–109 M⊙), and star formation rates (0.01–100 M⊙yr−1), and over a broad redshift range (0.0 < z < 5.0). We combine these data to measure the cosmic star formation history (CSFH), the stellar-mass density (SMD), and the dust-mass density (DMD) over a 12 Gyr timeline. The data mostly agree with previous estimates, where they exist, and provide a quasi-homogeneous data set using consistent mass and star formation estimators with consistent underlying assumptions over the full time range. As a consequence our formal errors are significantly reduced when compared to the historic literature. Integrating our CSFH we precisely reproduce the SMD
with an interstellar medium replenishment factor of 0.50 ± 0.07, consistent with our choice of Chabrier initial mass function plus some modest amount of stripped stellar mass. Exploring the cosmic dust density evolution, we find a gradual increase in dust density with lookback time. We build a simple phenomenological model from the CSFH to account for the dust-mass evolution, and infer two key conclusions: (1) For every unit of stellar mass which is formed 0.0065–0.004 units of dust mass is also formed. (2) Over the history of the Universe approximately 90–95 per cent of all dust formed has been destroyed and/or ejected.
Interstellar dust in galaxies can be traced either through its extinction effects on the star light or through its thermal emission at infrared wavelengths. Recent radiative transfer studies of ...several nearby edge-on galaxies have found an apparent inconsistency in the dust energy balance: the radiative transfer models that successfully explain the optical extinction underestimate the observed fluxes by an average factor of 3. We investigate the dust energy balance for IC 4225 and NGC 5166, two edge-on spiral galaxies observed by the Herschel Space Observatory in the frame of the H-ATLAS survey. We start from models which were constrained from optical data and extend them to construct the entire spectral energy distribution of our galaxies. These predicted values are subsequently compared to the observed far-infrared fluxes. We find that including a young stellar population in the modelling is necessary as it plays a non-negligible part in the heating of the dust grains. While the modelling approach for both galaxies is nearly identical, we find two very different results. As is often seen in other edge-on spiral galaxies, the far-infrared emission of our radiative transfer model of IC 4225 underestimates the observed fluxes by a factor of about 3. For NGC 5166 on the other hand, we find that both the predicted spectral energy distribution as well as the simulated images match the observations particularly well. We explore possible reasons for this difference and conclude that it is unlikely that one single mechanism is the cause of the dust energy balance problem in spiral galaxies. We discuss the different approaches that can be considered in order to get a conclusive answer on the origin this discrepancy.
In this work we present IRAM 30-m telescope observations of a sample of bulge-dominated galaxies with large dust lanes, which have had a recent minor merger. We find these galaxies are very gas rich, ...with H2 masses between 4 × 108 and 2 × 1010 M⊙. We use these molecular gas masses, combined with atomic gas masses from an accompanying paper, to calculate gas-to-dust and gas-to-stellar-mass ratios. The gas-to-dust ratios of our sample objects vary widely (between ≈50 and 750), suggesting many objects have low gas-phase metallicities, and thus that the gas has been accreted through a recent merger with a lower mass companion. We calculate the implied minor companion masses and gas fractions, finding a median predicted stellar mass ratio of ≈40:1. The minor companion likely had masses between ≈107 and 1010 M⊙. The implied merger mass ratios are consistent with the expectation for low-redshift gas-rich mergers from simulations. We then go on to present evidence that (no matter which star formation rate indicator is used) our sample objects have very low star formation efficiencies (star formation rate per unit gas mass), lower even than the early-type galaxies from ATLAS3D which already show a suppression. This suggests that minor mergers can actually suppress star formation activity. We discuss mechanisms that could cause such a suppression, include dynamical effects induced by the minor merger.
We present a detailed study of how the star formation rate (SFR) relates to the interstellar medium (ISM) of M31 at ~ 140 pc scales. The SFR is calculated using the far-ultraviolet and 24 mum ...emission, corrected for the old stellar population in M31. We find a global value for the SFR of (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) M sub(middot in circle) sub() yr super(-1) and compare this with the SFR found using the total far-infrared luminosity. There is general agreement in regions where young stars dominate the dust heating. Atomic hydrogen (H I) and molecular gas (traced by carbon monoxide, CO) or the dust mass is used to trace the total gas in the ISM. We show that the global surface densities of SFR and gas mass place M31 among a set of low-SFR galaxies in the plot of Kennicutt. The relationship between SFR and gas surface density is tested in six radial annuli across M31, assuming a power law relationship with index, N. The star formation (SF) law using total gas traced by H I and CO gives a global index of N = 2.03 + or - 0.04, with a significant variation with radius; the highest values are observed in the 10 kpc ring. We suggest that this slope is due to H i turning molecular at Sigma sub(Gas) ~ 10 M sub(middot in circle) pc super(-2). When looking at H sub(2) regions, we measure a higher mean SFR suggesting a better spatial correlation between H sub(2) and SF. We find N ~ 0.6 with consistent results throughout the disk-this is at the low end of values found in previous work and argues against a superlinear SF law on small scales.
Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at are luminous in the far-infrared, and have star formation rates, SFR, of hundreds to thousands of solar masses per year. However, it is unclear whether they are true ...analogs of local ULIRGs or whether the mode of their star formation is more similar to that in local disk galaxies. We target these questions by using Herschel-PACS to examine the conditions in the interstellar medium (ISM) in far-infrared luminous SMGs at -4. We present 70-160 m photometry and spectroscopy of the O iv26 m, Fe ii26 m, S iii33 m, Si ii34 m, O iii52 m, N iii57 m, and O i63 m fine-structure lines and the S(0) and S(1) hydrogen rotational lines in 13 lensed SMGs identified by their brightness in early Herschel data. Most of the 13 targets are not individually spectroscopically detected; we instead focus on stacking these spectra with observations of an additional 32 SMGs from the Herschel archive-representing a complete compilation of PACS spectroscopy of SMGs. We detect O i63 m, Si ii34 m, and N iii57 m at in the stacked spectra, determining that the average strengths of these lines relative to the far-IR continuum are , , and , respectively. Using the O iii52 m/N iii57 m emission line ratio, we show that SMGs have average gas-phase metallicities . By using PDR modeling and combining the new spectral measurements with integrated far-infrared fluxes and existing C ii158 m data, we show that SMGs have average gas densities, n, of and FUV field strengths, (in Habing units: ), consistent with both local ULIRGs and lower luminosity star-forming galaxies.
We directly measure redshift evolution in the mean physical properties (far-infrared luminosity, temperature, and mass) of the galaxies that produce the cosmic infrared background (CIB), using ...measurements from the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST), and Spitzer which constrain the CIB emission peak. This sample is known to produce a surface brightness in the BLAST bands consistent with the full CIB, and photometric redshifts are identified for all of the objects. We find that most of the 70 Delta *mm background is generated at z 1 and the 500 Delta *mm background generated at z 1. A significant growth is observed in the mean luminosity from ~109-1012 L, and in the mean temperature by 10 K, from redshifts 0 < z < 3. However, there is only weak positive evolution in the comoving dust mass in these galaxies across the same redshift range. We also measure the evolution of the far-infrared luminosity density, and the star formation rate history for these objects, finding good agreement with other infrared studies up to z ~ 1, exceeding the contribution attributed to optically selected galaxies.
Using infrared imaging from the Herschel Space Observatory, observed as part of the Very Nearby Galaxies Survey, we investigate the spatially resolved dust properties of the interacting Whirlpool ...galaxy system (NGC 5194 and NGC 5195), on physical scales of ~1 kpc. Spectral energy distribution modeling of the new infrared images in combination with archival optical and near- through mid-infrared images confirms that both galaxies underwent a burst of star formation ~370-480 Myr ago and provides spatially resolved maps of the stellar and dust mass surface densities. The resulting average dust-to-stellar mass ratios are comparable to other spiral and spheroidal galaxies studied with Herschel, with NGC 5194 at log (M sub(dust)/Ml ow *) = -2.5 + or - 0.2 and NGC 5195 at log (M sub(dust)/Ml ow *) = -3.5 + or - 0.3. The dust-to-stellar mass ratio is constant across NGC 5194 suggesting the stellar and dust components are coupled. In contrast, the mass ratio increases with radius in NGC 5195 with decreasing stellar mass density. Archival mass surface density maps of the neutral and molecular hydrogen gas are also folded into our analysis, revealing a fairly constant gas-to-dust mass ratio, 94 + or - 17 across the system. Somewhat surprisingly, we find the dust in NGC 5195 is heated by a strong interstellar radiation field (ISRF), over 20 times that of the ISRF in the Milky Way, resulting in relatively high characteristic dust temperatures (~30 K). This post-starburst galaxy contains a substantial amount of low-density molecular gas and displays a gas-to-dust ratio (73 + or - 35) similar to spiral galaxies. It is unclear why the dust in NGC 5195 is heated to such high temperatures as there is no star formation in the galaxy and its active galactic nucleus is 5-10 times less luminous than the one in NGC 5194, which exhibits only a modest enhancement in the amplitude of its ISRF.
We combine new dust continuum observations of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC4565 in all Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (250, 350 and 500μm) wavebands, obtained as part of the ...Herschel Reference Survey, and a large set of ancillary data (Spitzer, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Galaxy Evolution Explorer) to analyse its dust energy balance. We fit a radiative transfer model for the stars and dust to the optical maps with the fitting algorithm fitskirt. To account for the observed ultraviolet and mid-infrared emission, this initial model was supplemented with both obscured and unobscured star-forming regions. Even though these star-forming complexes provide an additional heating source for the dust, the far-infrared/submillimetre emission long wards of 100μm is underestimated by a factor of 3-4. This inconsistency in the dust energy budget of NGC4565 suggests that a sizable fraction (two-thirds) of the total dust reservoir (Md 2.9 × 108M) consists of a clumpy distribution with no associated young stellar sources. The distribution of those dense dust clouds would be in such a way that they remain unresolved in current far-infrared/submillimetre observations and hardly contribute to the attenuation at optical wavelengths. More than two-thirds of the dust heating in NGC4565 is powered by the old stellar population, with localized embedded sources supplying the remaining dust heating in NGC4565. The results from this detailed dust energy balance study in NGC4565 are consistent with that of similar analyses of other edge-on spirals. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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