Context.
The star formation rate density (SFRD) evolution presents an area of great interest in the studies of galaxy evolution and reionization. The current constraints of SFRD at
z
> 5 are based ...on the rest-frame UV luminosity functions with the data from photometric surveys. The VIMOS UltraDeep Survey (VUDS) was designed to observe galaxies at redshifts up to ∼6 and opened a window for measuring SFRD at
z
> 5 from a spectroscopic sample with a well-controlled selection function.
Aims.
We establish a robust statistical description of the star-forming galaxy population at the end of cosmic HI reionization (5.0 ≤
z
≤ 6.6) from a large sample of 49 galaxies with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts. We determine the rest-frame UV and Ly
α
luminosity functions and use them to calculate SFRD at the median redshift of our sample
z
= 5.6.
Methods.
We selected a sample of galaxies at 5.0 ≤
z
spec
≤ 6.6 from the VUDS. We cleaned our sample from low redshift interlopers using ancillary photometric data. We identified galaxies with Ly
α
either in absorption or in emission, at variance with most spectroscopic samples in the literature where Ly
α
emitters (LAE) dominate. We determined luminosity functions using the 1/
V
max
method.
Results.
The galaxies in this redshift range exhibit a large range in their properties. A fraction of our sample shows strong Ly
α
emission, while another fraction shows Ly
α
in absorption. UV-continuum slopes vary with luminosity, with a large dispersion. We find that star-forming galaxies at these redshifts are distributed along the main sequence in the stellar mass vs. SFR plane, described with a slope
α
= 0.85 ± 0.05. We report a flat evolution of the specific SFR compared to lower redshift measurements. We find that the UV luminosity function is best reproduced by a double power law, while a fit with a Schechter function is only marginally inferior. The Ly
α
luminosity function is best fitted with a Schechter function. We derive a logSFRD
UV
(
M
⊙
yr
−1
Mpc
−3
) = −1.45
+0.06
−0.08
and logSFRD
Ly
α
(
M
⊙
yr
−1
Mpc
−3
) = −1.40
+0.07
−0.08
. The SFRD derived from the Ly
α
luminosity function is in excellent agreement with the UV-derived SFRD after correcting for IGM absorption.
Conclusions.
Our new SFRD measurements at a mean redshift of
z
= 5.6 are ∼0.2 dex above the mean SFRD reported in Madau & Dickinson (2014, ARA&A, 52, 415), but in excellent agreement with results from Bouwens et al. (2015a, ApJ, 803, 34). These measurements confirm the steep decline of the SFRD at
z
> 2. The bright end of the Ly
α
luminosity function has a high number density, indicating a significant star formation activity concentrated in the brightest LAE at these redshifts. LAE with equivalent width EW > 25 Å contribute to about 75% of the total UV-derived SFRD. While our analysis favors low dust content in 5.0 <
z
< 6.6, uncertainties on the dust extinction correction and associated degeneracy in spectral fitting will remain an issue, when estimating the total SFRD until future surveys extending spectroscopy to the NIR rest-frame spectral domain, such as with JWST.
Aims.
By means of the
r
-band luminosity function (LF) of galaxies in a sample of about 4000 clusters detected by the cluster finder AMICO in the KiDS-DR3 area of about 400 deg
2
, we studied the ...evolution with richness and redshift of the passive evolving (red), star-forming (blue), and total galaxy populations. This analysis was performed for clusters in the redshift range 0.1, 0.8 and in the mass range 10
13
M
⊙
, 10
15
M
⊙
.
Methods.
To compute LFs, we binned the luminosity distribution in magnitude and statistically subtracted the background. Then, we divided the cluster sample in bins of both redshift and richness/mass. We stacked LF counts in each 2D bin for the total, red, and blue galaxy populations; finally, we fitted the stacked LF with a Schechter function and studied the trend of its parameters with redshift and richness/mass.
Results.
We found a passive evolution with
z
for the bright part of the LF for the red and total populations and no significant trends for the faint galaxies. The mass/richness dependence is clear for the density parameter Φ
⋆
, increasing with richness, and for the total population faint end, which is shallower in the rich clusters.
Abstract
We present the C II 158
μ
m line luminosity functions (LFs) at
z
∼ 4–6 using the ALMA observations of 118 sources, which are selected to have UV luminosity
M
1500Å
< −20.2 and optical ...spectroscopic redshifts in COSMOS and ECDF-S. Of the 118 targets, 75 have significant C II detections and 43 are upper limits. This is by far the largest sample of C II detections, which allows us to set constraints on the volume density of C II emitters at
z
∼ 4–6. But because this is a UV-selected sample, we are missing C II-bright but UV-faint sources, making our constraints strict lower limits. Our derived LFs are statistically consistent with the
z
∼ 0 C II LF at 10
8.25
–10
9.75
L
⊙
. We compare our results with the upper limits of the C II LF derived from serendipitous sources in the ALPINE maps. We also infer the C II LFs based on published far-IR and CO LFs at
z
∼ 4–6. Combining our robust lower limits with these additional estimates, we set further constraints on the true number density of C II emitters at
z
∼ 4–6. These additional LF estimates are largely above our LF at
L
CII
> 10
9
L
⊙
, suggesting that UV-faint but C II-bright sources likely make significant contributions to the C II emitter volume density. When we include all the LF estimates, we find that available model predictions underestimate the number densities of C II emitters at
z
∼ 4–6. Finally, we set a constraint on the molecular gas mass density at
z
∼ 4–6, with
ρ
mol
∼ (2–7) × 10
7
M
⊙
Mpc
−3
. This is broadly consistent with previous studies.
ABSTRACT
We constrain the ΛCDM cosmological parameter σ8 by applying the extreme value statistics for galaxy cluster mass on the AMICO KiDS-DR3 catalogue. We sample the posterior distribution of the ...parameters by considering the likelihood of observing the largest cluster mass value in a sample of Nobs = 3644 clusters with intrinsic richness λ* > 20 in the redshift range z ∈ 0.10, 0.60. We obtain $\sigma _{8}=0.90_{-0.18}^{+0.20}$, consistent within 1σ with the measurements obtained by the Planck collaboration and with previous results from cluster cosmology exploiting AMICO KiDS-DR3. The constraints could improve by applying this method to forthcoming missions, such as Euclid and LSST, which are expected to deliver thousands of distant and massive clusters.
Aims. We present the first results of an ongoing project devoted to the search of giant radio halos in galaxy clusters located in the redshift range z =0.2-0.4. One of the main goals of our study is ...to measure the fraction of massive galaxy clusters in this redshift interval hosting a radio halo, and to constrain the expectations of the particle re-acceleration model for the origin of non-thermal radio emission in galaxy clusters. Methods. We selected 27 REFLEX clusters and here we present Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations at 610 MHz for 11 of them. The sensitivity (1\sigma) in our images is in the range 35-100 \muJy beam super(-1) for all clusters. Results. We found three new radio halos, doubling the number of halos known in the selected sample. In particular, giant radio halos were found in A 209 and RXCJ 2003.5-2323, and one halo (of smaller size) was found in RXCJ 1314.4-2515. Candidate extended emission on smaller scale was found around the central galaxy in A 3444 which deserves further investigation. Furthermore, a radio relic was found in A 521, and two relics were found in RXCJ 1314.5-2515. The remaining six clusters observed do not host extended emission of any kind.
The properties of stellar clumps in star-forming galaxies and their evolution over the redshift range 2 ≲ z ≲ 6 are presented and discussed in the context of the build-up of massive galaxies at early ...cosmic times. We focused on galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) and stellar masses log 10(M⋆/M⊙) > −0.204 × (z−4.5) + 9.35. We analyzed HST-ACS images to identify clumps within a 20 kpc radius using a method taking into account differential surface brightness dimming and luminosity evolution with redshift. We find that the population of galaxies with more than one clump is dominated by galaxies with two clumps, representing ~21–25% of the population, while the fraction of galaxies with three, or four and more, clumps is 8–11% and 7–9%, respectively. The fraction of clumpy galaxies is in the range ~35–55% over 2 < z < 6, increasing at higher redshifts, indicating that the fraction of irregular galaxies remains high up to the highest redshifts. The large and bright clumps (M⋆ ~ 109 up to ~1010 M⊙) are found to reside predominantly in galaxies with two clumps. Smaller and lower luminosity clumps (M⋆ < 109 M⊙) are found in galaxies with three clumps or more. We interpret these results as evidence for two different modes of clump formation working in parallel. The small low luminosity clumps are likely the result of disk fragmentation, with violent disk instabilities (VDI) forming several long-lived clumps in-situ as suggested from simulations. A fraction of these clumps is also likely coming from minor mergers as confirmed from spectroscopy in several cases. The clumps in the dominating population of galaxies with two clumps are significantly more massive and have properties akin to those in galaxy pairs undergoing massive merging observed at similar redshifts; they appear as more massive than the most massive clumps observed in numerical simulations of disks with VDI. We infer from these properties that the bright and large clumps are most likely the result of major mergers bringing-in ex situ matter onto a galaxy, and we derive a high major merger fraction of ~20%. The diversity of clump properties therefore suggests that the assembly of star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2–6 proceeds from several different dissipative processes including an important contribution from major and minor mergers.
We study the tomographic clustering properties of the photometric cluster catalogue derived from the third data release of the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), focusing on the angular correlation function ...and its spherical harmonic counterpart: the angular power spectrum. We measured the angular correlation function and power spectrum from a sample of 5162 clusters, with an intrinsic richness of
λ
*
≥ 15, in the photometric redshift range of
z
∈ 0.1, 0.6. We compared our measurements with theoretical models, within the framework of the Λ cold dark matter cosmology. We performed a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis to constrain the cosmological parameters, Ω
m
and
σ
8
, as well as the structure growth parameter,
S
8
≡
σ
8
√Ω
m
/0.3. We adopted Gaussian priors on the parameters of the mass-richness relation, based on the posterior distributions derived from a previous joint analysis of cluster counts and weak-lensing mass measurements carried out on the basis of the same catalogue. From the angular correlation function, we obtained Ω
m
= 0.32
−0.04
+0.05
,
σ
8
= 0.77
−0.09
+0.13
, and
S
8
= 0.80
−0.06
+0.08
, which are in agreement, within 1
σ
, with the 3D clustering result based on the same cluster sample and with existing complementary studies on other data sets. For the angular power spectrum, we checked the validity of the Poissonian shot noise approximation, also considering the mode-mode coupling induced by the mask. We derived statistically consistent results, in particular, Ω
m
= 0.24
−0.04
+0.05
and
S
8
= 0.93
−0.12
+0.11
; while the constraint on
σ
8
alone is weaker with respect to the one provided by the angular correlation function,
σ
8
= 1.01
−0.17
+0.25
. Our results show that the 2D clustering from photometric cluster surveys can provide competitive cosmological constraints with respect to the full 3D clustering statistics. We also demonstrate that they can be successfully applied to ongoing and forthcoming spectrometric and photometric surveys.
Context. To identify the galaxies responsible for the reionization of the Universe, we must rely on the investigation of the Lyman continuum (LyC) properties of z ≲ 5 star-forming galaxies, where we ...can still directly observe their ionizing radiation. Aims. The aim of this work is to explore the correlation between the LyC emission and some of the proposed indirect indicators of LyC radiation at z ~ 4 such as a bright Lyα emission and a compact UV continuum size. Methods. We selected a sample of 201 star-forming galaxies from the Vimos Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS) at 3.5 ≤ z ≤ 4.3 in the COSMOS, ECDFS, and VVDS-2h fields, including only those with reliable spectroscopic redshifts, a clean spectrum in the LyC range and clearly not contaminated by bright nearby sources in the same slit. For all galaxies we measured the Lyα EW, the Lyα velocity shift with respect to the systemic redshift, the Lyα spatial extension and the UV continuum effective radius. We then selected different sub-samples according to the properties predicted to be good LyC emission indicators: in particular we created sub-samples of galaxies with EW(Lyα) ≥ 70 Å, Lyαext ≤ 5.7 kpc, rUV ≤ 0.30 kpc and |ΔvLyα|≤ 200 km s−1. We stacked all the galaxies in each sub-sample and measured the flux density ratio (fλ(895)∕fλ(1470)), that we considered to be a proxy for LyC emission. We then compared these ratios to those obtained for the complementary samples. Finally, to estimate the statistical contamination from lower redshift inter-lopers in our samples, we performed dedicated Monte Carlo simulations using an ultradeep U-band image of the ECDFS field. Results. We find that the stacks of galaxies which are UV compact (rUV ≤ 0.30 kpc) and have bright Lyα emission (EW(Lyα) ≥ 70 Å), have much higher LyC fluxes compared to the rest of the galaxy population. These parameters appear to be good indicators of LyC radiation in agreement with theoretical studies and previous observational works. In addition we find that galaxies with a low Lyα spatial extent (Lyαext ≤ 5.7 kpc) have higher LyC flux compared to the rest of the population. Such a correlation had never been analysed before and seems even stronger than the correlation with high EW(Lyα) and small rUV. These results assume that the stacks from all sub-samples present the same statistical contamination from lower redshift interlopers. If we subtract a statistical contamination from low redshift interlopers obtained with the simulations from the flux density ratios (fλ(895)∕fλ(1470)) of the significant sub-samples we find that these samples contain real LyC leaking flux with a very high probability, although the true average escape fractions are very uncertain. Conclusions. Our work indicates that galaxies with very high EW(Lyα), small Ly αext and small rUV are very likely the best candidates to show Lyman continuum radiation at z ~ 4 and could therefore be the galaxies that have contributed most to reionisation.
In this paper we aim at improving constraints on the epoch of galaxy formation by measuring the ages of 3597 galaxies with reliable spectroscopic redshifts 2 ≤ z ≤ 6.5 in the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey ...(VUDS). We derive ages and other physical parameters from the simultaneous fitting with the GOSSIP+ software of observed UV rest-frame spectra and photometric data from the u band up to 4.5 μm using model spectra from composite stellar populations. We perform extensive simulations and conclude that at z ≥ 2 the joint analysis of spectroscopy and photometry, combined with restricted age possibilities when taking the age of the Universe into account, substantially reduces systematic uncertainties and degeneracies in the age derivation; we find that age measurements from this process are reliable. We find that galaxy ages range from very young with a few tens of million years to substantially evolved with ages up to 1.5 Gyr or more. This large age spread is similar for different age definitions including ages corresponding to the last major star formation event, stellar mass-weighted ages, and ages corresponding to the time since the formation of 25% of the stellar mass. We derive the formation redshift zf from the measured ages and find galaxies that may have started forming stars as early as zf ~ 15. We produce the formation redshift function (FzF), the number of galaxies per unit volume formed at a redshift zf, and compare the FzF in increasing observed redshift bins finding a remarkably constant FzF. The FzF is parametrized with (1 + z)ζ, where ζ ≃ 0.58 ± 0.06, indicating a smooth increase of about 2 dex from the earliest redshifts, z ~ 15, to the lowest redshifts of our sample at z ~ 2. Remarkably, this observed increase in the number of forming galaxies is of the same order as the observed rise in the star formation rate density (SFRD). The ratio of the comoving SFRD with the FzF gives an average SFR per galaxy of ~7−17M⊙/yr at z ~ 4−6, in agreement with the measured SFR for galaxies at these redshifts. From the smooth rise in the FzF we infer that the period of galaxy formation extends all the way from the highest possible formation redshifts that we can probe at z ~ 15 down to redshifts z ~ 2. This indicates that galaxy formation is a continuous process over cosmic time, with a higher number of galaxies forming at the peak in SFRD at z ~ 2 than at earlier epochs.
Context. Going from a redshift of 6 down to nearly 4, galaxies grow rapidly from low-mass galaxies towards the more mature types of massive galaxies seen at cosmic noon. Growth via gas accretion and ...mergers undoubtedly shape this evolution, however, there is considerable uncertainty at present over the contribution of each of these processes to the overall evolution of galaxies. Furthermore, previous characterisations of the morphology of galaxies in the molecular gas phase have been limited by the coarse resolution of earlier observations. Aims. In this work, we utilise new high-resolution ALMA CII observations to analyse three main sequence (MS) galaxy systems at a redshift of z ∼ 4.5 and at resolutions of up to 0.15″. This approach enables us to investigate the morphology and kinematics on a kpc scale and understand the processes at play as well as the classifications of galaxies at high resolution. Thanks to this unique window, we are able to gain insights into the molecular gas of MS galaxies undergoing mass assembly in the early Universe. Methods. We used intensity and velocity maps, position-velocity diagrams, and radial profiles of CII in combination with dust continuum maps to analyse the morphology and kinematics of the three systems. Results. In general, we find that the high-resolution ALMA data reveal more complex morpho-kinematic properties. For one galaxy in our sample, we identified interaction-induced clumps, demonstrating the profound effect that mergers have on the molecular gas in galaxies, which is consistent with what has been suggested by recent simulations. One galaxy that was previously classified as dispersion-dominated turned out to show two bright CII emission regions, which could either be classified as merging galaxies or massive star-forming regions within the galaxy itself. The high-resolution data for the other dispersion dominated object also revealed clumps of CII that had not been identified previously. Within the sample, we might also detect star-formation powered outflows (or outflows from active galactic nuclei) that appear to be fuelling diffuse gas regions and enriching the circumgalactic medium. The new high-resolution ALMA data we present in this paper reveal that the galaxies in our sample are much more complex than they previously appeared in the low-resolution ALPINE data. In particular, we find evidence of merger induced clumps in the galaxy DC8187, along with signs of merging components for the other two objects. This may be evidence that the number of mergers at high redshift are significantly underestimated at present.
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![The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Surv...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/0004-637X/small "The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Survey: [C II] 158 μm Emission Line Luminosity Functions at z ∼ 4–6")
