The basic unified model of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) invokes an anisotropic obscuring structure, usually referred to as a torus, to explain AGN obscuration as an angle-dependent effect. We ...present a new grid of X-ray spectral templates based on radiative transfer calculations in neutral gas in an approximately toroidal geometry, appropriate for CCD-resolution X-ray spectra (FWHM ≥ 130 eV). Fitting the templates to broadband X-ray spectra of AGNs provides constraints on two important geometrical parameters of the gas distribution around the supermassive black hole: the average column density and the covering factor. Compared to the currently available spectral templates, our model is more flexible, and capable of providing constraints on the main torus parameters in a wider range of AGNs. We demonstrate the application of this model using hard X-ray spectra from NuSTAR (3-79 keV) for four AGNs covering a variety of classifications: 3C 390.3, NGC 2110, IC 5063, and NGC 7582. This small set of examples was chosen to illustrate the range of possible torus configurations, from disk-like to sphere-like geometries with column densities below, as well as above, the Compton-thick threshold. This diversity of torus properties challenges the simple assumption of a standard geometrically and optically thick toroidal structure commonly invoked in the basic form of the unified model of AGNs. Finding broad consistency between our constraints and those from infrared modeling, we discuss how the approach from the X-ray band complements similar measurements of AGN structures at other wavelengths.
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
The abundance of metals in galaxies is a key parameter that permits to distinguish between different galaxy formation and evolution models. Most of the metallicity determinations are based ...on optical line ratios. However, the optical spectral range is subject to dust extinction and, for high-z objects (z > 3), some of the lines used in optical metallicity diagnostics are shifted to wavelengths not accessible to ground-based observatories. For this reason, we explore metallicity diagnostics using far-infrared (far-IR) line ratios which can provide a suitable alternative in such situations. To investigate these far-IR line ratios, we modelled the emission of a starburst with the photoionization code cloudy. The most sensitive far-IR ratios to measure metallicities are the O iii52 μm and 88 μm to N iii57 μm ratios. We show that this ratio produces robust metallicities in the presence of an active galactic nucleus and is insensitive to changes in the age of the ionizing stellar. Another metallicity-sensitive ratio is the O iii88 μm/N ii122 μm ratio, although it depends on the ionization parameter. We propose various mid- and far-IR line ratios to break this dependence. Finally, we apply these far-IR diagnostics to a sample of 19 local ultraluminous IR galaxies (ULIRGs) observed with Herschel and Spitzer. We find that the gas-phase metallicity in these local ULIRGs is in the range
$0.7<Z_{\rm gas}/$
Z⊙ < 1.5, which corresponds to
$8.5 <12 + \log ({\rm O / H}) < 8.9$
. The inferred metallicities agree well with previous estimates for local ULIRGs and this confirms that they lie below the local mass–metallicity relation.
Abstract
In an earlier paper we modelled the far-infrared emission from a star-forming galaxy using the photoionization code cloudy and presented metallicity sensitive diagnostics based on ...far-infrared fine structure line ratios. Here, we focus on the applicability of the O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratio as a gas-phase metallicity indicator in high-redshift submillimetre luminous galaxies. The O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm ratio is strongly dependent on the ionization parameter (which is related to the total number of ionizing photons) and on the gas electron density. We demonstrate how the ratio of 88/122 μm continuum flux measurements can provide a reasonable estimate of the ionization parameter, while the availability of the N ii 205 μm line can constrain the electron density. Using the O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratios from a sample of nearby normal and star-forming galaxies, we measure their gas-phase metallicities and find that their mass–metallicity relation is consistent with the one derived using optical emission lines. Using new, previously unpublished, Herschel spectroscopic observations of key far-infrared fine structure lines of the z ∼ 3 galaxy HLSW-01 and additional published measurements of far-infrared fine structure lines of high-z submillimetre luminous galaxies,
we derive gas-phase metallicities using their O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratio. We find that the metallicities of these z ∼ 3 submm-luminous galaxies are consistent with solar metallicities and that they appear to follow the mass–metallicity relation expected for z ∼ 3 systems.
We present the Herschel-SPIRE photometric atlas for a complete flux limited sample of 43 local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), selected at 60 μm by IRAS, as part of the HERschel ULIRG ...Survey (HERUS). Photometry observations were obtained using the SPIRE instrument at 250, 350, and 500 μm. We describe these observations, present the results, and combine the new observations with data from IRAS to examine the far-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these sources. We fit the observed SEDs of HERUS objects with a simple parametrized modified blackbody model, where temperature and emissivity β are free parameters. We compare the fitted values to those of non-ULIRG local galaxies, and find, in agreement with earlier results, that HERUS ULIRGs have warmer dust (median temperature T = 37.9 ± 4.7 K compared to 21.3 ± 3.4 K) but a similar β distribution (median β = 1.7 compared to 1.8) to the Herschel reference sample (HRS, Cortese et al. 2014) galaxies. Dust masses are found to be in the range of 107.5-109 M⊙, significantly higher than that of HRS sources. We compare our results for local ULIRGs with higher redshift samples selected at 250 and 850 μm. These latter sources generally have cooler dust and/or redder 100-to-250 μm colours than our 60 μm-selected ULIRGs. We show that this difference may in part be the result of the sources being selected at different wavelengths rather than being a simple indication of rapid evolution in the properties of the population.
We present a multi-wavelength analysis of 52 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), identified using ALMA 870 m continuum imaging in a pilot program to precisely locate bright SCUBA-2-selected submillimeter ...sources in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) field. Using the available deep (especially near-infrared) panoramic imaging of the UDS field at optical-to-radio wavelengths we characterize key properties of the SMG population. The median photometric redshift of the bright ALMA/SCUBA-2 UDS (AS2UDS) SMGs that are detected in a sufficient number of wavebands to derive a robust photometric redshift is z = 2.65 0.13. However, similar to previous studies, 27% of the SMGs are too faint at optical-to-near-infrared wavelengths to derive a reliable photometric redshift. Assuming that these SMGs lie at z 3 raises the median redshift of the full sample to z = 2.9 0.2. A subset of 23 unlensed, bright AS2UDS SMGs have sizes measured from resolved imaging of their rest-frame far-infrared emission. We show that the extent and luminosity of the far-infrared emission are consistent with the dust emission arising from regions that are, on average, optically thick at a wavelength of (1 dispersion of 55-90 m). Using the dust masses derived from our optically thick spectral energy distribution models, we determine that these galaxies have a median hydrogen column density of NH = 9.8 × 1023 cm−2, or a corresponding median V-band obscuration of Av = 540 mag, averaged along the line of sight to the source of their rest-frame ∼200 m emission. We discuss the implications of this extreme attenuation by dust for the multi-wavelength study of dusty starbursts and reddening-sensitive tracers of star formation.
ABSTRACT
We analyse the physical properties of a large, homogeneously selected sample of ALMA-located sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs). This survey, AS2UDS, identified 707 SMGs across the ∼1 deg2 ...field, including ∼17 per cent, which are undetected at K ≳ 25.7 mag. We interpret their ultraviolet-to-radio data using magphys and determine a median redshift of z = 2.61 ± 0.08 (1σ range of z = 1.8–3.4) with just ∼6 per cent at z > 4. Our survey provides a sample of massive dusty galaxies at z ≳ 1, with median dust and stellar masses of Md = (6.8 ± 0.3) × 108 M⊙ (thus, gas masses of ∼1011 M⊙) and M* = (1.26 ± 0.05) × 1011 M⊙. We find no evolution in dust temperature at a constant far-infrared luminosity across z ∼ 1.5–4. The gas mass function of our sample increases to z ∼ 2–3 and then declines at z > 3. The space density and masses of SMGs suggest that almost all galaxies with M* ≳ 3 × 1011 M⊙ have passed through an SMG-like phase. The redshift distribution is well fit by a model combining evolution of the gas fraction in haloes with the growth of halo mass past a critical threshold of Mh ∼ 6 × 1012 M⊙, thus SMGs may represent the highly efficient collapse of gas-rich massive haloes. We show that SMGs are broadly consistent with simple homologous systems in the far-infrared, consistent with a centrally illuminated starburst. Our study provides strong support for an evolutionary link between the active, gas-rich SMG population at z > 1 and the formation of massive, bulge-dominated galaxies across the history of the Universe.
We consider some observational consequences of replacing all black holes (BHs) with a class of non-singular solutions that mimic BHs but with dark energy (DE) interiors; GEneric Objects of DE ...(GEODEs). We focus on the BH mass function and chirp-mass redshift distribution of mergers visible to gravitational-wave observatories. We incorporate the GEODE blueshift into an initially Salpeter stellar remnant distribution, and model the binary population by evolving synthesized binary remnant distributions, published before LIGO's first measurements. We find that a GEODE produced between 20 z 40, and observed at z ∼ 7, will have its initial mass amplified by ∼20-140×. This can relieve tension between accretion-only growth models and the inferred masses of BHs in quasars at z 6. Moreover, we find that merger rates of GEODE binaries increase by a factor of ∼2× relative to classical BHs. The resulting GEODE mass function is consistent with the most recent LIGO constraints at <0.5 . In contrast, a Salpeter stellar distribution that evolves into classical remnants is in tension at 2 . This agreement occurs without low-metallicity regions, abnormally massive progenitor stars, novel formation channels, or primordial object formation at extreme rates. In particular, we find that solar metallicity progenitors, which produce 1.1-1.8M remnants, overlap with many LIGO observations when evolved as GEODEs.
Aims. The Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) focuses on the data from ESA’s Herschel mission, which covered over 1300 deg2 and is preparing to publish a multi-wavelength catalogue of ...millions of objects. Our main goal is to find the best approach to simultaneously fitting spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of millions of galaxies across a wide redshift range to obtain homogeneous estimates of the main physical parameters of detected infrared (IR) galaxies. Methods. We perform SED fitting on the ultraviolet(UV)/near-infrared(NIR) to far-infrared(FIR) emission of 42 047 galaxies from the pilot HELP field: ELAIS N1. To do this we use the latest release of CIGALE, a galaxy SED fitting code relying on energy balance, to deliver the main physical parameters such as stellar mass, star formation rate, and dust luminosity. We implement additional quality criteria to the fits by calculating χ2 values for the stellar and dust part of the spectra independently. These criteria allow us to identify the best fits and to identify peculiar galaxies. We perform the SED fitting of ELAIS N1 galaxies by assuming three different dust attenuation laws separately allowing us to test the impact of the assumed law on estimated physical parameters. Results. We implemented two additional quality value checks for the SED fitting method based on stellar mass estimation and energy budget. This method allows us to identify possible objects with incorrect matching in the catalogue and peculiar galaxies; we found 351 possible candidates of lensed galaxies using two complementary χ2s criteria (stellar and infrared χ2s) and photometric redshifts calculated for the IR part of the spectrum only. We find that the attenuation law has an important impact on the stellar mass estimate (on average leading to disparities of a factor of two). We derive the relation between stellar mass estimates obtained by three different attenuation laws and we find the best recipe for our sample. We also make independent estimates of the total dust luminosity parameter from stellar emission by fitting the galaxies with and without IR data separately.
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