| 1. |
- Augustin, Ramona, et al.
(författare)
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MUSE-ALMA Haloes X : the stellar masses of gas-rich absorbing galaxies
- 2024
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 528:4, s. 6159-6166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The physical processes by which gas is accreted onto galaxies, transformed into stars, and then expelled from galaxies are of paramount importance to galaxy evolution studies. Observationally constraining each of these baryonic components in the same system, however, is challenging. Furthermore, simulations indicate that the stellar mass of galaxies is a key factor influencing CGM properties. Indeed, absorption lines detected against background quasars offer the most compelling way to study the cold gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM). The MUSE-ALMA Haloes survey is composed of quasar fields covered with VLT/MUSE observations, comprising 32 H I absorbers at 0.2 < z < 1.4 and 79 associated galaxies, with available or upcoming molecular gas measurements from ALMA. We use a dedicated 40-orbit HST UVIS and IR WFC3 broad-band imaging campaign to characterize the stellar content of these galaxies. By fitting their spectral energy distribution, we establish they probe a wide range of stellar masses: 8.1 < log (M∗/M⊙) < 12.4. Given their star formation rates, most of these objects lie on the main sequence of galaxies. We also confirm a previously reported anticorrelation between the stellar masses and CGM hydrogen column density N (H I), indicating an evolutionary trend where higher mass galaxies are less likely to host large amounts of H I gas in their immediate vicinity up to 120 kpc. Together with other studies from the MUSE-ALMA Haloes survey, these data provide stellar masses of absorber hosts, a key component of galaxy formation and evolution, and observational constraints on the relation between galaxies and their surrounding medium.
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| 2. |
- Karki, Arjun, et al.
(författare)
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MUSE-ALMA Haloes - IX. Morphologies and stellar properties of gas-rich galaxies
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 524:4, s. 5524-5547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding how galaxies interact with the circumgalactic medium (CGM) requires determining how galaxies’ morphological and stellar properties correlate with their CGM properties. We report an analysis of 66 well-imaged galaxies detected in Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope MUSE observations and determined to be within ±500 km s−1 of the redshifts of strong intervening quasar absorbers at 0.2 ≲ z ≲ 1.4 with H I column densities NHI>1018cm−2�HI>1018cm−2. We present the geometrical properties (Sérsic indices, effective radii, axis ratios, and position angles) of these galaxies determined using GALFIT. Using these properties along with star formation rates (SFRs, estimated using the H α or [O II] luminosity) and stellar masses (M* estimated from spectral energy distribution fits), we examine correlations among various stellar and CGM properties. Our main findings are as follows: (1) SFR correlates well with M*, and most absorption-selected galaxies are consistent with the star formation main sequence of the global population. (2) More massive absorber counterparts are more centrally concentrated and are larger in size. (3) Galaxy sizes and normalized impact parameters correlate negatively with NHI, consistent with higher NHI absorption arising in smaller galaxies, and closer to galaxy centres. (4) Absorption and emission metallicities correlate with M* and specific SFR, implying metal-poor absorbers arise in galaxies with low past star formation and faster current gas consumption rates. (5) SFR surface densities of absorption-selected galaxies are higher than predicted by the Kennicutt–Schmidt relation for local galaxies, suggesting a higher star formation efficiency in the absorption-selected galaxies.
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| 3. |
- Klitsch, Anne, et al.
(författare)
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Almacal – VI. Molecular gas mass density across cosmic time via a blind search for intervening molecular absorbers
- 2019
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 490:1, s. 1220-1230
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We are just starting to understand the physical processes driving the dramatic change in cosmic star formation rate between z ∼ 2 and the present day. A quantity directly linked to star formation is the molecular gas density, which should be measured through independent methods to explore variations due to cosmic variance and systematic uncertainties. We use intervening CO absorption lines in the spectra of mm-bright background sources to provide a census of the molecular gas mass density of the Universe. The data used in this work are taken from ALMACAL, a wide and deep survey utilizing the ALMA calibrator archive. While we report multiple Galactic absorption lines and one intrinsic absorber, no extragalactic intervening molecular absorbers are detected. However, due to the large redshift path surveyed (z = 182), we provide constraints on the molecular column density distribution function beyond z ∼ 0. In addition, we probe column densities of N(H2) > 1016 atoms cm−2, 5 orders of magnitude lower than in previous studies. We use the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG to show that our upper limits of ρ(H2) 108.3 M Mpc−3 at 0 < z ≤ 1.7 already provide new constraints on current theoretical predictions of the cold molecular phase of the gas. These results are in agreement with recent CO emission-line surveys and are complementary to those studies. The combined constraints indicate that the present decrease of the cosmic star formation rate history is consistent with an increasing depletion of molecular gas in galaxies compared to z ∼ 2.
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| 4. |
- Konstantopoulou, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Dust depletion of metals from local to distant galaxies : II. Cosmic dust-to-metal ratio and dust composition
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 681
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of cosmic dust content and the cycle between metals and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) play a fundamental role in galaxy evolution. The chemical enrichment of the Universe can be traced through the evolution of the dust-to-metal ratio (DTM) and the dust-to-gas ratio (DTG) with metallicity. The physical processes through which dust is created and eventually destroyed remain to be elucidated. We use a novel method to determine mass estimates of the DTM, DTG, and dust composition in terms of the fraction of dust mass contributed by element X ( fMX ) based on our previous measurements of the depletion of metals in different environments (the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and damped Lyman-α absorbers (DLAs) towards quasars (QSOs) and towards gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)), which were calculated from the relative abundances of metals in the ISM through absorption-line spectroscopy column densities observed mainly from VLT/UVES and X-shooter, and HST/STIS. We also derive the dust extinction from the estimated dust depletion (AV,depl) for GRB-DLAs, the Magellanic Clouds, and the Milky Way, and compare it with the AV estimated from extinction (AV,ext). We find that the DTM and DTG ratios increase with metallicity and with the dust tracer [Zn/Fe]. This suggests that grain growth in the ISM is the dominant process of dust production, at least in the metallicity range (-2 ≤ [M/H]tot . 0.5) and redshift range (0.6 < z < 6.3) that we are studying. The increasing trend in the DTM and DTG with metallicity is in good agreement with a dust production and evolution hydrodynamical model. Our data suggest that the stellar dust yield is much lower (about 1%) than the metal yield and thus that the overall amount of dust in the warm neutral medium that is produced by stars is much lower than previously estimated. The global neutral gas metallicity is decreasing over cosmic time and is traced similarly by quasar-DLAs and GRB-DLAs. We find that, overall, AV,depl is lower than AV,ext for the Milky Way and in a few lines of sight for the Magellanic Clouds, a discrepancy that is likely related to the presence of carbonaceous dust associated with dense clumps of cold neutral gas. For the other environments studied here, we find good agreement overall between the AV,ext and AV,depl.We show that the main elements ( fMX > 1%) that contribute to the dust composition, by mass, are O, Fe, Si, Mg, C, S, Ni, and Al for all the environments, with Si, Mg, and C being equivalent contributors. There are nevertheless variations in the dust composition depending on the overall amount of dust. The abundances measured at low dust regimes in quasar- and GRB-DLAs suggest the presence of pyroxene and metallic iron in dust. These results give important information on the dust and metal content of galaxies across cosmic times, from the Milky Way up to z = 6.3.
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| 5. |
- Roederer, Ian U., et al.
(författare)
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The discovery space of ELT-ANDES. Stars and stellar populations
- 2024
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - 0922-6435. ; 57:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (ANDES) is the optical and near-infrared high-resolution echelle spectrograph envisioned for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). We present a selection of science cases, supported by new calculations and simulations, where ANDES could enable major advances in the fields of stars and stellar populations. We focus on three key areas, including the physics of stellar atmospheres, structure, and evolution; stars of the Milky Way, Local Group, and beyond; and the star-planet connection. The key features of ANDES are its wide wavelength coverage at high spectral resolution and its access to the large collecting area of the ELT. These features position ANDES to address the most compelling questions and potentially transformative advances in stellar astrophysics of the decades ahead, including questions which cannot be anticipated today.
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| 6. |
- Runnholm, Axel, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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On the evolution of the size of Lyman alpha haloes across cosmic time : no change in the circumgalactic gas distribution when probed by line emission
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 522:3, s. 4275-4293
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lyman alpha (Ly alpha) is now routinely used as a tool for studying high-redshift galaxies, and its resonant nature means it can trace neutral hydrogen around star-forming galaxies. Integral field spectrograph measurements of high-redshift Ly alpha emitters indicate that significant extended Ly alpha halo emission is ubiquitous around such objects. We present a sample of redshift 0.23 to 0.31 galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope selected to match the star formation properties of high-z samples while optimizing the observations for detection of low surface brightness Ly alpha emission. The Ly alpha escape fractions range between 0.7 and 37 per cent, and we detect extended Ly alpha emission around six out of seven targets. We find Ly alpha halo to UV scale length ratios around 6:1, which is marginally lower than high-redshift observations, and halo flux fractions between 60 and 85 per cent - consistent with high-redshift observations - when using comparable methods. However, our targets show additional extended stellar UV emission: we parametrize this with a new double exponential model. We find that this parametrization does not strongly affect the observed Ly alpha halo fractions. We find that deeper H alpha data would be required to firmly determine the origin of Ly alpha halo emission; however, there are indications that H alpha is more extended than the central FUV profile, potentially indicating conditions favourable for the escape of ionizing radiation. We discuss our results in the context of high-redshift galaxies, cosmological simulations, evolutionary studies of the circumgalactic medium in emission, and the emission of ionizing radiation.
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| 7. |
- Runnholm, Axel, et al.
(författare)
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On the evolution of the size of Lyman alpha halos across cosmic time: no change in the circumgalactic gas distribution when probed by line emission
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lyman ? (Ly?) is now routinely used as a tool for detecting high redshift galaxies and its resonant nature means it can trace neutral hydrogen around star-forming galaxies. Integral field spectrograph measurements of high-? Ly? emitters indicate that significant extended Ly? halo emission is ubiquitous around such objects. We present a sample of redshift 0.23 to 0.32 galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope selected to match the star formation properties of high-? samples while optimizing the observations for detection of low surface brightness Ly? emission. All seven targets show Ly? emission, with total escape fractions between 0.7% and 37%, and extended Ly? emission. We find Ly? halo to UV scale length ratios around 10:1, and halo flux fractions between 60% and 85% —consistent with high redshift observations—when using comparable methods. However, our targets show additional extended stellar UV emission which we parametrize with a new three exponential component model for Ly? emission. Halo fractions become much smaller with this methodology and some become consistent with zero. Comparing UV and H? emission reveals that H? is also extended and can partially explain the origin of diffuse Ly?. We interpret this as evidence that the creation of Ly? halos cannot be attributed to one single process but rather a combination of in-situ recombination and spatial scattering or possibly collisional excitation. We discuss our results in the context of high-redshift galaxies, evolutionary studies of the circumgalactic medium in emission, and inferences concerning the emission of ionizing radiation.
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| 8. |
- Weng, Simon, et al.
(författare)
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MUSE-ALMA Haloes XI : gas flows in the circumgalactic medium
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 523:1, s. 676-700
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The flow of gas into and out of galaxies leaves traces in the circumgalactic medium which can then be studied using absorption lines towards background quasars. We analyse 27 log[N(H I) /cm(-2)] > 18. 0 H I absorbers at z = 0.2 to 1.4 from the MUSEALMA Haloes survey with at least one galaxy counterpart within a line of sight velocity of +/- 500 km s(-1). We perform 3D kinematic forward modelling of these associated galaxies to examine the flow of dense, neutral gas in the circumgalactic medium. From the VLT/MUSE, HST broad-band imaging, and VLT/UVES and Keck/HIRES high-resolution UV quasar spectroscopy observations, we compare the impact parameters, star-formation rates, and stellar masses of the associated galaxies with the absorber properties. We find marginal evidence for a bimodal distribution in azimuthal angles for strong H I absorbers, similar to previous studies of the Mg II and O VI absorption lines. There is no clear metallicity dependence on azimuthal angle, and we suggest a larger sample of absorbers is required to fully test the relationship predicted by cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. A case-by-case study of the absorbers reveals that ten per cent of absorbers are consistent with gas accretion, up to 30 per cent trace outflows, and the remainder trace gas in the galaxy disc, the intragroup medium, and low-mass galaxies below the MUSE detection limit. Our results highlight that the baryon cycle directly affects the dense neutral gas required for star-formation and plays a critical role in galaxy evolution.
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