Abstract
We study the gas phase metallicity (O/H) and nitrogen abundance gradients traced by star-forming regions in a representative sample of 550 nearby galaxies in the stellar mass range ...109–1011.5 M⊙ with resolved spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey. Using strong-line ratio diagnostics (R23 and O3N2 for metallicity and N2O2 for N/O) and referencing to the effective (half-light) radius (Re), we find that the metallicity gradient steepens with stellar mass, lying roughly flat among galaxies with log (M⋆/M⊙) = 9.0 but exhibiting slopes as steep as −0.14 dex $R_{\rm e}^{-1}$ at log (M⋆/M⊙) = 10.5 (using R23, but equivalent results are obtained using O3N2). At higher masses, these slopes remain typical in the outer regions of our sample (R > 1.5Re), but a flattening is observed in the central regions (R < 1Re). In the outer regions (R > 2.0Re), we detect a mild flattening of the metallicity gradient in stacked profiles, although with low significance. The N/O ratio gradient provides complementary constraints on the average chemical enrichment history. Unlike the oxygen abundance, the average N/O profiles do not flatten out in the central regions of massive galaxies. The metallicity and N/O profiles both depart significantly from an exponential form, suggesting a disconnect between chemical enrichment and stellar mass surface density on local scales. In the context of inside-out growth of discs, our findings suggest that central regions of massive galaxies today have evolved to an equilibrium metallicity, while the nitrogen abundance continues to increase as a consequence of delayed secondary nucleosynthetic production.
ABSTRACT
We analyse the chemical properties of three z∼ 8 galaxies behind the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3-7327, observed as part of the Early Release Observations programme of the James Webb Space ...Telescope. Exploiting O iiiλ4363 auroral line detections in NIRSpec spectra, we robustly apply the direct Te method for the very first time at such high redshift, measuring metallicities ranging from extremely metal poor (12 + log(O/H)≈ 7) to about one-third solar. We also discuss the excitation properties of these sources, and compare them with local strong-line metallicity calibrations. We find that none of the considered diagnostics match simultaneously the observed relations between metallicity and strong-line ratios for the three sources, implying that a proper re-assessment of the calibrations may be needed at these redshifts. On the mass–metallicity plane, the two galaxies at z ∼ 7.6 ($\rm log(M_*/M_{\odot }) = 8.1, 8.7$) have metallicities that are consistent with the extrapolation of the mass–metallicity relation at z∼2–3, while the least massive galaxy at z ∼ 8.5 ($\rm log(M_*/M_{\odot }) = 7.8$) shows instead a significantly lower metallicity. The three galaxies show different level of offset relative to the Fundamental Metallicity Relation, with two of them (at z∼ 7.6) being marginally consistent, while the z∼ 8.5 source deviating significantly, being probably far from the smooth equilibrium between gas flows, star formation, and metal enrichment in place at later epochs.
SDSS-IV MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is the largest integral-field unit (IFU) spectroscopy survey to date, aiming to observe a statistically representative sample of ...10,000 low-redshift galaxies. In this paper, we study the reliability of the emission-line fluxes and kinematic properties derived by the MaNGA Data Analysis Pipeline (DAP). We describe the algorithmic choices made in the DAP with regards to measuring emission-line properties, and the effect of our adopted strategy of simultaneously fitting the continuum and line emission. The effects of random errors are quantified by studying various fit-quality metrics, idealized recovery simulations, and repeat observations. This analysis demonstrates that the emission lines are well fit in the vast majority of the MaNGA data set and the derived fluxes and errors are statistically robust. The systematic uncertainty on emission-line properties introduced by the choice of continuum templates is also discussed. In particular, we test the effect of using different stellar libraries and simple stellar-population models on the derived emission-line fluxes and the effect of introducing different tying prescriptions for the emission-line kinematics. We show that these effects can generate large (>0.2 dex) discrepancies at low signal-to-noise ratio and for lines with low equivalent width (EW); however, the combined effect is noticeable even for H EW > 6 . We provide suggestions for optimal use of the data provided by SDSS data release 15 and propose refinements on the DAP for future MaNGA data releases.
Abstract
We present PHANGS–ALMA, the first survey to map CO
J
= 2 → 1 line emission at ∼1″ ∼100 pc spatial resolution from a representative sample of 90 nearby (
d
≲ 20 Mpc) galaxies that lie on or ...near the
z
= 0 “main sequence” of star-forming galaxies. CO line emission traces the bulk distribution of molecular gas, which is the cold, star-forming phase of the interstellar medium. At the resolution achieved by PHANGS–ALMA, each beam reaches the size of a typical individual giant molecular cloud, so that these data can be used to measure the demographics, life cycle, and physical state of molecular clouds across the population of galaxies where the majority of stars form at
z
= 0. This paper describes the scientific motivation and background for the survey, sample selection, global properties of the targets, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations, and characteristics of the delivered data and derived data products. As the ALMA sample serves as the parent sample for parallel surveys with MUSE on the Very Large Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, AstroSat, the Very Large Array, and other facilities, we include a detailed discussion of the sample selection. We detail the estimation of galaxy mass, size, star formation rate, CO luminosity, and other properties, compare estimates using different systems and provide best-estimate integrated measurements for each target. We also report the design and execution of the ALMA observations, which combine a Cycle 5 Large Program, a series of smaller programs, and archival observations. Finally, we present the first 1″ resolution atlas of CO emission from nearby galaxies and describe the properties and contents of the first PHANGS–ALMA public data release.
PHANGS–ALMA Data Processing and Pipeline Leroy, Adam K.; Hughes, Annie; Liu, Daizhong ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
07/2021, Letnik:
255, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
We describe the processing of the PHANGS–ALMA survey and present the PHANGS–ALMA pipeline, a public software package that processes calibrated interferometric and total power data into ...science-ready data products. PHANGS–ALMA is a large, high-resolution survey of CO(2–1) emission from nearby galaxies. The observations combine ALMA’s main 12 m array, the 7 m array, and total power observations, and use mosaics of dozens to hundreds of individual pointings. We describe the processing of the
u
−
v
data, imaging and deconvolution, linear mosaicking, combining interferometer and total power data, noise estimation, masking, data product creation, and quality assurance. Our pipeline has a general design and can also be applied to Very Large Array and ALMA observations of other spectral lines and continuum emission. We highlight our recipe for deconvolution of complex spectral line observations, which combines multiscale clean, single-scale clean, and automatic mask generation in a way that appears robust and effective. We also emphasize our two-track approach to masking and data product creation. We construct one set of “broadly masked” data products, which have high completeness but significant contamination by noise, and another set of “strictly masked” data products, which have high confidence but exclude faint, low signal-to-noise emission. Our quality assurance tests, supported by simulations, demonstrate that 12 m+7 m deconvolved data recover a total flux that is significantly closer to the total power flux than the 7 m deconvolved data alone. In the appendices, we measure the stability of the ALMA total power calibration in PHANGS–ALMA and test the performance of popular short-spacing correction algorithms.
We present an overview of a new integral field spectroscopic survey called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory), one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan ...Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) that began on 2014 July 1. MaNGA will investigate the internal kinematic structure and composition of gas and stars in an unprecedented sample of 10,000 nearby galaxies. We summarize essential characteristics of the instrument and survey design in the context of MaNGA's key science goals and present prototype observations to demonstrate MaNGA's scientific potential. MaNGA employs dithered observations with 17 fiber-bundle integral field units that vary in diameter from 12'' (19 fibers) to 32'' (127 fibers). Two dual-channel spectrographs provide simultaneous wavelength coverage over 3600-10300 Angstrom at R ~ 2000. With a typical integration time of 3 hr, MaNGA reaches a target r-band signal-to-noise ratio of 4-8 (Angstrom super(-1) per 2'' fiber) at 23 AB mag arcsec super(-2), which is typical for the outskirts of MaNGA galaxies. Targets are selected with Mlow * > ~ 10 super(9) M sub(middot in circle) using SDSS-I redshifts and i-band luminosity to achieve uniform radial coverage in terms of the effective radius, an approximately flat distribution in stellar mass, and a sample spanning a wide range of environments. Analysis of our prototype observations demonstrates MaNGA's ability to probe gas ionization, shed light on recent star formation and quenching, enable dynamical modeling, decompose constituent components, and map the composition of stellar populations. MaNGA's spatially resolved spectra will enable an unprecedented study of the astrophysics of nearby galaxies in the coming 6 yr.
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.
The origin of the star-forming main sequence (SFMS; i.e., the relation between star formation rate and stellar mass, globally or on kpc scales) remains a hotly debated topic in galaxy evolution. ...Using the ALMA-MaNGA QUEnching and STar formation (ALMaQUEST) survey, we show that for star-forming spaxels in the main-sequence galaxies, the three local quantities, star formation rate surface density ( SFR), stellar mass surface density ( *), and the H2 mass surface density ( ) are strongly correlated with one another and form a 3D linear (in log) relation with dispersion. In addition to the two well-known scaling relations, the resolved SFMS ( SFR versus *) and the Schmidt-Kennicutt (SK) relation ( SFR versus ), there is a third scaling relation between and *, which we refer to as the molecular gas main sequence (MGMS). The latter indicates that either the local gas mass traces the gravitational potential set by the local stellar mass or both quantities follow the underlying total mass distributions. The scatter of the resolved SFMS ( ∼ 0.25 dex) is the largest compared to those of the SK and MGMS relations ( ∼ 0.2 dex). A Pearson correlation test also indicates that the SK and MGMS relations are more strongly correlated than the resolved SFMS. Our result suggests a scenario in which the resolved SFMS is the least physically fundamental and is the consequence of the combination of the SK and the MGMS relations.
ABSTRACT
We investigate the nature of the scaling relations between the surface density of star formation rate (ΣSFR), stellar mass (Σ*), and molecular gas mass ($\Sigma _{\rm H_2}$), aiming at ...distinguishing between the relations that are primary, i.e. more fundamental, and those which are instead an indirect by-product of the other relations. We use the ALMA-MaNGA QUEnching and STar formation survey and analyse the data by using both partial correlations and random forest regression techniques. We unambiguously find that the strongest intrinsic correlation is between ΣSFR and $\Sigma _{\rm H_2}$ (i.e. the resolved Schmidt–Kennicutt relation), followed by the correlation between $\Sigma _{\rm H_2}$ and Σ* (resolved molecular gas main sequence, rMGMS). Once these two correlations are taken into account, we find that there is no evidence for any intrinsic correlation between ΣSFR and Σ*, implying that star formation rate (SFR) is entirely driven by the amount of molecular gas, while its dependence on stellar mass (i.e. the resolved star forming main sequence, rSFMS) simply emerges as a consequence of the relationship between molecular gas and stellar mass.
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