Integrated star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (SFR/M
*), derived from the spectroscopic data obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 4 (DR4), are used to ...show that the star formation activity in galaxies (M
r
≤ −20.5) found on the outskirts (1-2r
200) of some nearby clusters (0.02 ≤ z ≤ 0.15) is enhanced. By comparing the mean SFR of galaxies in a sample of clusters with at least one starburst galaxy (log SFR/M
* ≥ −10 yr−1
and SFR ≥ 10 M⊙yr−1) to a sample of clusters without such galaxies ('comparison' clusters), we find that despite the expected decline in the mean SFR of galaxies towards the cluster core, the SFR profile of the two samples is different. Compared to the clusters with at least one starburst galaxy on their outskirts, the galaxies in the 'comparison' clusters show a lower mean SFR at all radius (≤3r
200) from the cluster centre. Such an increase in the SFR of galaxies is more likely to be seen in dynamically unrelaxed (σv ≳ 500 km s−1) clusters. It is also evident that these unrelaxed clusters are currently being assembled via galaxies falling in through straight filaments, resulting in high velocity dispersions. On the other hand, 'comparison' clusters are more likely to be fed by relatively low density filaments. We find that the starburst galaxies on the periphery of clusters are in an environment of higher local density than other cluster galaxies at similar radial distances from the cluster centre. We conclude that a relatively high galaxy density in the infalling regions of clusters promotes interactions amongst galaxies, leading to momentary bursts of star formation. Such interactions play a crucial role in exhausting the fuel for star formation in a galaxy, before it is expelled due to the environmental processes that are operational in the dense interiors of the cluster.
At modest radii from the centre of galaxy clusters, individual galaxies may be infalling to the cluster for the first time, or have already visited the cluster core and are coming back out again. ...This latter population of galaxies is known as the backsplash population. Differentiating them from the infalling population presents an interesting challenge for observational studies of galaxy evolution. To attempt to do this, we assemble a sample of 14 redshift-isolated and spatially isolated galaxy clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We clean this sample of cluster-cluster mergers to ensure that the galaxies contained within them are (to an approximation) only backsplashing from the centre of their parent clusters and are not being processed in subclumps. By stacking them together to form a composite cluster, we find evidence for both categories of galaxies at intermediate radii from the cluster centre. Application of mixture modelling to this sample then serves to differentiate the infalling galaxies (which we model on galaxies from the cluster outskirts) from the backsplash ones (which we model on galaxies in the high-density core with low-velocity offsets from the cluster mean). We find that the fraction of galaxies with populations similar to the low-velocity cluster core galaxies is f=−0.052R/R
virial+ 0.612 ± 0.06, which we interpret as being the backsplash population fraction at 1 < R/R
virial < 2. Although some interlopers may be affecting our results, the results are demonstrated to be in concordance with earlier studies in this area that support density-related mechanisms as being the prime factor in determining the star formation rate of a galaxy.
We present the mid-infrared star formation rates of 245 X-ray selected, nearby (z < 0.1) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). A homogeneous and volume limited sample of BCGs was created by X-ray ...selecting clusters with Lx
> 1 × 1044 erg s− 1. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All WISE Data Release provides the first measurement of the 12 μm star formation indicator for all BCGs in the nearby Universe. Perseus A and Cygnus A are the only galaxies in our sample to have star formation rates of > 40 M⊙ yr− 1, indicating that these two galaxies are highly unusual at current times. Stellar populations of 99 ± 0.6 per cent of local BCGs are (approximately) passively evolving, with star formation rates of < 10 M⊙ yr− 1. We find that in general, star formation produces only modest BCG growth at the current epoch.
ABSTRACT
We present a new method of predicting the ages of galaxies using a machine learning (ML) algorithm with the goal of providing an alternative to traditional methods. We aim to match the ...ability of traditional models to predict the ages of galaxies by training an artificial neural network (ANN) to recognize the relationships between the equivalent widths of spectral indices and the mass-weighted ages of galaxies estimated by the magphys model in data release 3 (DR3) of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We discuss the optimization of our hyperparameters extensively and investigate the application of a custom loss function to reduce the influence of errors in our input data. To quantify the quality of our predictions we calculate the mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and R2 score for which we find MSE = 0.020, MAE = 0.108 and R2 = 0.530. We find our predicted ages have a similar distribution with standard deviation σp = 0.182 compared with the GAMA true ages σt = 0.207. This is achieved in approximately 23 s to train our ANN on an 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900H running at 2.50 GHz using 32 GB of RAM. We report our results for when light-weighted ages are used to train the ANN, which improves the accuracy of the predictions. Finally, we detail an evaluation of our method relating to physical properties and compare with other ML techniques to encourage future applications of ML techniques in astronomy.
We have identified a population of passive spiral galaxies from photometry and integral field spectroscopy. We selected z < 0.035 spiral galaxies that have WISE colours consistent with little ...mid-infrared emission from warm dust. Matched aperture photometry of 51 spiral galaxies in ultraviolet, optical and mid-infrared show these galaxies have colours consistent with passive galaxies. Six galaxies form a spectroscopic pilot study and were observed using the Wide-Field Spectrograph to check for signs of nebular emission from star formation. We see no evidence of substantial nebular emission found in previous red spiral samples. These six galaxies possess absorption-line spectra with 4000 Å breaks consistent with an average luminosity-weighted age of 2.3 Gyr. Our photometric and integral field spectroscopic observations confirm the existence of a population of local passive spiral galaxies, implying that transformation into early-type morphologies is not required for the quenching of star formation.
ABSTRACT
In Galaxy And Mass Assembly Data Release 4 (GAMA DR4), we make available our full spectroscopic redshift sample. This includes 248 682 galaxy spectra, and, in combination with earlier ...surveys, results in 330 542 redshifts across five sky regions covering ∼250 deg2. The redshift density, is the highest available over such a sustained area, has exceptionally high completeness (95 per cent to rKiDS = 19.65 mag), and is well-suited for the study of galaxy mergers, galaxy groups, and the low redshift (z < 0.25) galaxy population. DR4 includes 32 value-added tables or Data Management Units (DMUs) that provide a number of measured and derived data products including GALEX, ESO KiDS, ESO VIKING, WISE, and HerschelSpace Observatory imaging. Within this release, we provide visual morphologies for 15 330 galaxies to z < 0.08, photometric redshift estimates for all 18 million objects to rKiDS ∼ 25 mag, and stellar velocity dispersions for 111 830 galaxies. We conclude by deriving the total galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) and its sub-division by morphological class (elliptical, compact-bulge and disc, diffuse-bulge and disc, and disc only). This extends our previous measurement of the total GSMF down to 106.75 M$_{\odot } \, h_{70}^{-2}$ and we find a total stellar mass density of ρ* = (2.97 ± 0.04) × 108 M$_{\odot } \, h_{70}$ Mpc−3 or $\Omega _*=(2.17 \pm 0.03) \times 10^{-3} \, h_{70}^{-1}$. We conclude that at z < 0.1, the Universe has converted 4.9 ± 0.1 per cent of the baryonic mass implied by big bang Nucleosynthesis into stars that are gravitationally bound within the galaxy population.
Correlations between intrinsic shear and the density field on large scales, a potentially important contaminant for cosmic shear surveys, have been robustly detected at low redshifts with bright ...galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. Here we present a more detailed characterization of this effect, which can cause anticorrelations between gravitational lensing shear and intrinsic ellipticity (GI correlations). This measurement uses 36 278 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from the SDSS spectroscopic sample with 0.15 < z < 0.35, split by redshift and luminosity; 7758 LRGs from the 2dF‐SDSS LRG and QSO (2SLAQ) survey at 0.4 < z < 0.8; and a variety of other SDSS samples from previous, related work. We find >3σ detections of the effect on large scales (up to 60 h−1 Mpc) for all galaxy subsamples within the SDSS LRG sample; for the 2SLAQ sample, we find a 2σ detection for a bright subsample, and no detection for a fainter subsample. Fitting formulae are provided for the scaling of the GI correlations with luminosity, transverse separation and redshift (for which the 2SLAQ sample, while small, provides crucial constraints due to its longer baseline in redshift). We estimate contamination in the measurement of σ8 for future cosmic shear surveys on the basis of the fitted dependence of GI correlations on galaxy properties. We find contamination to the power spectrum ranging from −1.5 per cent (optimistic) to −33 per cent (pessimistic) for a toy cosmic shear survey using all galaxies to a depth of R= 24 using scales l≈ 500, though the central value of predicted contamination is −6.5 per cent. This corresponds to a bias in σ8 of Δσ8=−0.004 (optimistic), −0.02 (central) or −0.10 (pessimistic). We provide a prescription for inclusion of this error in cosmological parameter estimation codes. The principal uncertainty is in the treatment of the L≤L★ blue galaxies, for which we have no detection of the GI signal, but which could dominate the GI contamination if their GI amplitude is near our upper limits. Characterization of the tidal alignments of these galaxies, especially at redshifts relevant for cosmic shear, should be a high priority for the cosmic shear community.
We present the quasi-stellar object (QSO) luminosity function (LF) of the completed 2dF–SDSS LRG and QSO (2SLAQ) survey, based on QSOs photometrically selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) ...imaging data and then observed spectroscopically using the 2dF instrument on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We analyse 10 637 QSOs in the redshift range 0.4 < z < 2.6 to a g-band flux limit of 21.85 (extinction-corrected) and an absolute continuum magnitude of Mg(z= 2) < −21.5. This sample covers an area of 191.9 deg2. The binned QSO LF agrees with that of the brighter SDSS main QSO sample, but extends ∼2.5 mag fainter, clearly showing the flattening of the LF towards faint absolute magnitudes. 2SLAQ finds an excess of QSOs compared to the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey at g > 20.0, as found previously by Richards et al. The LF is consistent with other previous, much smaller, samples produced to the depth of 2SLAQ. By combining the 2SLAQ and SDSS QSO samples, we produce a QSO LF with an unprecedented combination of precision and dynamic range. With this we are able to accurately constrain both the bright and faint ends of the QSO LF. While the overall trends seen in the evolution of the QSO LF appear similar to pure luminosity evolution, the data show very significant departures from such a model. Most notably we see clear evidence that the number density of faint QSOs peaks at lower redshift than bright QSOs: QSOs with Mg > −23 have space densities which peak at z < 1, while QSOs at Mg < −26 peak at z > 2. By fitting simple LF models in narrow Mg intervals, we find that this downsizing is significant at the 99.98 per cent level. We show that LF models which follow the pure luminosity evolution form i.e. M*g≡M*g(z), but with a redshift-dependent bright-end slope and an additional density evolution term, Φ*≡Φ*(z), provide a much improved fit to the data. The bright-end slope, α, steepens from α≃−3.0 at z≃ 0.5 to α=−3.5 at z≃ 2.5. This steepening is significant at the 99.9 per cent level. We find a decline in Φ* from z≃ 0.5 to 2.5 which is significant at the 94 per cent level.
Abstract
The relationship between active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity and environment has been long discussed, but it is unclear if these relations extend into the dwarf galaxy mass regime—in part ...due to the limits in both observations and simulations. We aim to investigate if the merger histories and environments are significantly different between AGN and non-AGN dwarf galaxies in cosmological simulations, which may be indicative of the importance of these for AGN activity in dwarf galaxies, and whether these results are in line with observations. Using the IllustrisTNG flagship TNG100-1 run, 6771 dwarf galaxies are found with 3863 (∼57%) having some level of AGN activity. In order to quantify
environment
, two measures are used: (1) the distance to a galaxy’s 10th nearest neighbor at six redshifts and (2) the time since last merger for three different minimum merger mass ratios. A similar analysis is run on TNG50-1 and Illustris-1 to test for the robustness of the findings. Both measures yield significantly different distributions between AGN and non-AGN galaxies; more non-AGN than AGN galaxies have long term residence in dense environments, while recent (≤4 Gyr) minor mergers are more common for intermediate AGN activity. While no statements are made about the micro or macrophysics from these results, it is nevertheless indicative of a non-negligible role of mergers and environments.
PDF
