Context. Measuring how the physical properties of galaxies change across cosmic times is essential to understand galaxy formation and evolution. With the advent of numerous ground-based and ...space-borne instruments launched over the past few decades we now have exquisite multi-wavelength observations of galaxies from the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to the radio domain. To tap into this mine of data and obtain new insight into the formation and evolution of galaxies, it is essential that we are able to extract information from their spectral energy distribution (SED). Aims. We present a completely new implementation of Code Investigating GALaxy Emission (CIGALE). Written in python, its main aims are to easily and efficiently model the FUV to radio spectrum of galaxies and estimate their physical properties such as star formation rate, attenuation, dust luminosity, stellar mass, and many other physical quantities. Methods. To compute the spectral models, CIGALE builds composite stellar populations from simple stellar populations combined with highly flexible star formation histories, calculates the emission from gas ionised by massive stars, and attenuates both the stars and the ionised gas with a highly flexible attenuation curve. Based on an energy balance principle, the absorbed energy is then re-emitted by the dust in the mid- and far-infrared domains while thermal and non-thermal components are also included, extending the spectrum far into the radio range. A large grid of models is then fitted to the data and the physical properties are estimated through the analysis of the likelihood distribution. Results. CIGALE is a versatile and easy-to-use tool that makes full use of the architecture of multi-core computers, building grids of millions of models and analysing samples of thousands of galaxies, both at high speed. Beyond fitting the SEDs of galaxies and parameter estimations, it can also be used as a model-generation tool or serve as a library to build new applications.
ABSTRACT
Code Investigating GALaxy Emission (cigale) is a powerful multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code for extragalactic studies. However, the current version of cigale is ...not able to fit X-ray data, which often provide unique insights into active galactic nucleus (AGN) intrinsic power. We develop a new X-ray module for cigale, allowing it to fit SEDs from the X-ray to infrared (IR). We also improve the AGN fitting of cigale from UV-to-IR wavelengths. We implement a modern clumpy two-phase torus model, skirtor. To account for moderately extincted type 1 AGNs, we implement polar-dust extinction. We publicly release the source code (named ‘x-cigale’). We test x-cigale with X-ray detected AGNs in SDSS, COSMOS, and AKARI-NEP. The fitting quality (as indicated by reduced χ2) is good in general, indicating that x-cigale is capable of modelling the observed SED from X-ray to IR. We discuss constrainability and degeneracy of model parameters in the fitting of AKARI-NEP, for which excellent mid-IR photometric coverage is available. We also test fitting a sample of AKARI-NEP galaxies for which only X-ray upper limits are available from Chandra observations, and find that the upper limit can effectively constrain the AGN SED contribution for some systems. Finally, using x-cigale, we assess the ability of Athena to constrain the AGN activity in future extragalactic studies.
Context.
The chemical enrichment in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies is regulated by several physical processes: star birth and death, grain formation and destruction, and galactic inflows ...and outflows. Understanding such processes and their relative importance is essential to following galaxy evolution and the chemical enrichment through the cosmic epochs, and to interpreting current and future observations. Despite the importance of such topics, the contribution of different stellar sources to the chemical enrichment of galaxies, for example massive stars exploding as Type II supernovae (SNe) and low-mass stars, as well as the mechanisms driving the evolution of dust grains, such as for example grain growth in the ISM and destruction by SN shocks, remain controversial from both observational and theoretical viewpoints.
Aims.
In this work, we revise the current description of metal and dust evolution in the ISM of local low-metallicity dwarf galaxies and develop a new description of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) which are considered to be their high-redshift counterparts in terms of star formation, stellar mass, and metallicity. Our goal is to reproduce the observed properties of such galaxies, in particular (i) the peak in dust mass over total stellar mass (sMdust) observed within a few hundred million years; and (ii) the decrease in sMdust at a later time.
Methods.
We fitted spectral energy distribution of dwarf galaxies and LBGs with the “Code Investigating GALaxies Emission”, through which the total stellar mass, dust mass, and star formation rate are estimated. For some of the dwarf galaxies considered, the metal and gas content are available from the literature. We computed different prescriptions for metal and dust evolution in these systems (e.g. different initial mass functions for stars, dust condensation fractions, SN destruction, dust accretion in the ISM, and inflow and outflow efficiency), and we fitted the properties of the observed galaxies through the predictions of the models.
Results.
Only some combinations of models are able to reproduce the observed trend and simultaneously fit the observed properties of the galaxies considered. In particular, we show that (i) a top-heavy initial mass function that favours the formation of massive stars and a dust condensation fraction for Type II SNe of around 50% or more help to reproduce the peak of sMdust observed after ≈100 Myr from the beginning of the baryon cycle for both dwarf galaxies and LBGs; (ii) galactic outflows play a crucial role in reproducing the observed decline in sMdust with age and are more efficient than grain destruction from Type II SNe both in local galaxies and at high-redshift; (iii) a star formation efficiency (mass of gas converted into stars) of a few percent is required to explain the observed metallicity of local dwarf galaxies; and (iv) dust growth in the ISM is not necessary in order to reproduce the values of sMdust derived for the galaxies under study, and, if present, the effect of this process would be erased by galactic outflows.
Context. Deep far-infrared (FIR) cosmological surveys are known to be affected by source confusion, causing issues when examining the main sequence (MS) of star forming galaxies. In the past this has ...typically been partially tackled by the use of stacking. However, stacking only provides the average properties of the objects in the stack. Aims. This work aims to trace the MS over 0.2 ≤ z < 6.0 using the latest de-blended Herschel photometry, which reaches ≈10 times deeper than the 5σ confusion limit in SPIRE. This provides more reliable star formation rates (SFRs), especially for the fainter galaxies, and hence a more reliable MS. Methods. We built a pipeline that uses the spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling and fitting tool CIGALE to generate flux density priors in the Herschel SPIRE bands. These priors were then fed into the de-blending tool XID+ to extract flux densities from the SPIRE maps. In the final step, multi-wavelength data were combined with the extracted SPIRE flux densities to constrain SEDs and provide stellar mass (M⋆) and SFRs. These M⋆ and SFRs were then used to populate the SFR-M⋆ plane over 0.2 ≤ z < 6.0. Results. No significant evidence of a high-mass turn-over was found; the best fit is thus a simple two-parameter power law of the form log(SFR) = αlog(M⋆) − 10.5 + β. The normalisation of the power law increases with redshift, rapidly at z ≲ 1.8, from 0.58 ± 0.09 at z ≈ 0.37 to 1.31 ± 0.08 at z ≈ 1.8. The slope is also found to increase with redshift, perhaps with an excess around 1.8 ≤ z < 2.9. Conclusions. The increasing slope indicates that galaxies become more self-similar as redshift increases. This implies that the specific SFR of high-mass galaxies increases with redshift, from 0.2 to 6.0, becoming closer to that of low-mass galaxies. The excess in the slope at 1.8 ≤ z < 2.9, if present, coincides with the peak of the cosmic star formation history.
Abstract
In this work, we investigate the far-ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (NIR) shape of the dust attenuation curve of a sample of IR-selected dust obscured (ultra)luminous IR galaxies at z ∼ ...2. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are fitted with Code Investigating GALaxy Emission, a physically motivated spectral-synthesis model based on energy balance. Its flexibility allows us to test a wide range of different analytical prescriptions for the dust attenuation curve, including the well-known Calzetti and Charlot & Fall curves, and modified versions of them. The attenuation curves computed under the assumption of our reference double power-law model are in very good agreement with those derived, in previous works, with radiative transfer (RT) SED fitting. We investigate the position of our galaxies in the IRX–β diagram and find this to be consistent with greyer slopes, on average, in the UV. We also find evidence for a flattening of the attenuation curve in the NIR with respect to more classical Calzetti-like recipes. This larger NIR attenuation yields larger derived stellar masses from SED fitting, by a median factor of ∼1.4 and up to a factor ∼10 for the most extreme cases. The star formation rate appears instead to be more dependent on the total amount of attenuation in the galaxy. Our analysis highlights the need for a flexible attenuation curve when reproducing the physical properties of a large variety of objects.
We study the star formation quenching mechanism in cluster galaxies by fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the Herschel Reference Survey, a complete volume-limited K-band-selected ...sample of nearby galaxies including objects in different density regions, from the core of the Virgo cluster to the general field. The SEDs of the target galaxies were fitted using the CIGALE SED modelling code. The truncated activity of cluster galaxies was parametrised using a specific star formation history with two free parameters, the quenching age QA and the quenching factor QF. These two parameters are crucial for the identification of the quenching mechanism, which acts on long timescales when starvation processes are at work, but is rapid and efficient when ram pressure occurs. To be sensitive to an abrupt and recent variation of the star formation activity, we combined twenty photometric bands in the UV to far-infrared in a new way with three age-sensitive Balmer line absorption indices extracted from available medium-resolution (R ~ 1000) integrated spectroscopy and with Hα narrow-band imaging data. The use of a truncated star formation history significantly increases the quality of the fit in HI-deficient galaxies of the sample, that is to say, in those objects whose atomic gas content has been removed during the interaction with the hostile cluster environment. The typical quenching age of the perturbed late-type galaxies is QA ≲ 300 Myr whenever the activity of star formation is reduced by 50% < QF ≤ 80% and QA ≲ 500 Myr for QF > 80%, while that of the quiescent early-type objects is QA ≃ 1−3 Gyr. The fraction of late-type galaxies with a star formation activity reduced by QF > 80% and with an HI-deficiency parameter HI−def > 0.4 drops by a factor of ~5 from the inner half virial radius of the Virgo cluster (R/Rvir < 0.5), where the hot diffuse X-ray emitting gas of the cluster is located, to the outer regions (R/Rvir > 4). The efficient quenching of the star formation activity observed in Virgo suggests that the dominant stripping process is ram pressure. We discuss the implication of this result in the cosmological context of galaxy evolution.
Context. Over the past few years the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) has detected dust-rich galaxies whose cold dust emission is spatially disconnected from the ultraviolet (UV) rest-frame ...emission. This represents a challenge for modeling their spectral energy distributions (SED) with codes based on an energy budget between the stellar and dust components. This could potentially weaken the solidity of the physical parameters measured with these modeling tools. Aims. We want to verify the validity of energy balance modeling on a sample of galaxies observed from the UV to the sub-millimeter rest frame with ALMA and decipher what information can be reliably retrieved from the analysis of the full SED and from subsets of wavelengths. Methods. We select 17 sources at z ≃ 2 in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) and in the GOODS-South field detected with ALMA and Herschel and for which UV to near-infrared rest-frame ancillary data are available. We fit the data with CIGALE exploring different configurations for dust attenuation and star formation histories, considering either the full dataset or one that is reduced to the stellar and dust emission. We compare estimates of the dust luminosities, star formation rates, and stellar masses. Results. The fit of the stellar continuum alone with the starburst attenuation law can only reproduce up to 50% of the total dust luminosity observed by Herschel and ALMA. This deficit is found to be marginally consistent with similar quantities estimated in the COSMOS field and is found to increase with the specific star formation rate. The combined stellar and dust SEDs are well fitted when different attenuation laws are introduced. Shallow attenuation curves are needed for the galaxies whose cold dust distribution is very compact compared to starlight. The stellar mass estimates are affected by the choice of the attenuation law. The star formation rates are robustly estimated as long as dust luminosities are available. The large majority of the galaxies are above the average main sequence of star forming galaxies and one source is a strong starburst.
Aims.
Dust is observed in the polar regions of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) and it is known to contribute substantially to their mid-IR emission and to the obscuration of their UV to optical ...emission. We aim to carry out a statistical test to check whether this component is a common feature based on an analysis of the integrated spectral energy distributions of these composite sources.
Methods.
We selected a sample of 1275 broad-line AGN in the XMM-XXL field, with optical to infrared photometric data. These AGN are seen along their polar direction and we expect a maximal impact of dust located around the poles when it is present. We used X-CIGALE, which introduces a dust component to account for obscuration along the polar directions, modeled as a foreground screen, and an extinction curve that is chosen as it steepens significantly at short wavelengths or is much grayer. By comparing the results of different fits, we are able to define subsamples of sources with positive statistical evidence in favor of or against polar obscuration (if present) and described using the gray or steep extinction curve.
Results.
We find a similar fraction of sources with positive evidence for and against polar dust. Applying statistical corrections, we estimate that half of our sample could contain polar dust and among them, 60% exhibit a steep extinction curve and 40% a flat extinction curve; although these latter percentages are found to depend on the adopted extinction curves. The obscuration in the
V
-band is not found to correlate with the X-ray column density, while
A
V
/
N
H
ratios span a large range of values and higher dust temperatures are found with the flat, rather than with the steep extinction curve. Ignoring this polar dust component in the fit of the spectral energy distribution of these composite systems leads to an overestimation of the stellar contribution. A single fit with a polar dust component described with an SMC extinction curve efficiently overcomes this issue but it fails at identifying all the AGN with polar dust obscuration.
We present analyses of host galaxy properties of type 1 and type 2 X-ray selected Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the XMM-XXL field, which have an available optical spectroscopic classification. We ...modelled their optical to far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using the X-CIGALE code. X-CIGALE allows for the fitting of X-ray flux and accounts for the viewing angle of dusty torus and the attenuation from polar dust. By selecting matched type 1 and 2 sub-samples in the X-ray luminosity and redshift parameter space, we find that both types live in galaxies with similar star formation. However, type 2 AGN tend to reside in more massive systems (10.87
−0.12
+0.06
M
⊙
) compared to their type 1 counterparts (10.57
−0.12
+0.20
M
⊙
). In the second part of our analysis, we compare the spectroscopic classification with that from the SED fitting. X-CIGALE successfully identifies all spectroscopic type 2 sources either by estimating an inclination angle that corresponds to edge on viewing of the source or by measuring increased polar dust in these systems. Approximately 85% of spectroscopic type 1 AGN are also identified as such, based on the SED fitting analysis. There is a small number of sources (∼15% of the sample) that present broad lines in their spectra, but they show strong indications of obscuration, based on SED analysis. These could be systems that are viewed face on and have an extended dust component along the polar direction. The performance of X-CIGALE in classifying AGN is similar at low and high redshifts, under the condition that there is sufficient photometric coverage. Finally, the usage of optical/mid-IR colour criteria to identify optical red AGN (
u
−
W
3) suggests that these criteria are better suited for IR selected AGN and their efficiency drops for the low to moderate luminosity sources included in X-ray samples.
We use X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGN) observed by the
Chandra
X-ray Observatory within the 9.3 deg
2
Boötes field of the NDWFS to study whether there is a correlation between X-ray luminosity (
L
...X
) and star formation rate (SFR) of the host galaxy, at 0.5 <
z
< 2.0, with respect to the position of the galaxy to the main sequence (SFR
norm
). About half of the sources in the X-ray sample have spectroscopic redshifts. We also construct a reference galaxy catalogue. For both datasets we use photometric data from the optical to the far-infrared compiled by the HELP project, and apply spectral energy distribution fitting, using the X-CIGALE code. We exclude quiescent sources from both the X-ray and the reference samples. We also account for the mass completeness of our dataset, in different redshifts bins. Our analysis highlights the importance of studying the SFR–
L
X
relation in a uniform manner, taking into account systematics and selection effects. Our results suggest, in less massive galaxies (log
M
*
(
M
⊙
) ∼ 11), that an AGN enhances the SFR of the host galaxy by ∼50% compared to non-AGN systems. A flat relation is observed for the most massive galaxies. The SFR
norm
does not evolve with redshift. The results, although tentative, are consistent with a scenario where, in less massive systems, both AGN and star formation are fed by cold gas supplied by a merger event. In more massive galaxies the flat relation could be explained by a different supermasssive black hole fuelling mechanism that is decoupled from the star formation of the host galaxy (e.g., hot diffuse gas). Finally, we compare the host galaxy properties of X-ray absorbed and unabsorbed sources. Our results show no difference, which suggests that X-ray absorption is not linked with the properties of the galaxy.
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