Recent observations show that the metallicity of the broad line region ($Z_{\rm BLR}$) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is solar-to-supersolar, which is positively correlated with the mass of supermassive black holes ($M_{\rm BH}$) and does not evolve with redshift up to $z \sim 7$. We revisit the $M_{\rm BH}-Z_{\rm BLR}$ correlation with more AGNs with $M_{\rm BH}\sim 10^{6-8} M_{\odot}$ and find that the positive correlation become flat in low-mass range. It is known that outer part of accretion disks is gravitationally unstable and can fragment into stars. Considering the star formation and supernovae (SNe) in the outer AGN disk, we calculate the metal enrichment and find that positive $M_{\rm BH}-Z_{\rm BLR}$ correlation can be roughly reproduced if the stellar mass distribution is ``top-heavy". We find that the observed BLR size is more or less similar to the self-gravity radius of the AGN disk, which suggests that the BLR may be closely correlated with the underlying accretion process.
Low-metallicity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are interesting to study the early phase of the AGN evolution. However most AGNs are chemically matured and accordingly low-metallicity AGNs are extremely rare. One approach to search for low-metallicity AGNs systematically is utilizing the so-called BPT diagram that consists of the [O III]$λ$5007/H$β$$\lambda4861$ and [N II]$\lambda6584$/H$α$$\lambda6563$ flux ratios. Specifically, photoionization models predict that low-metallicity AGNs show a high [O III]$λ$5007/H$β$$λ$4861 ratio and a relatively low [N II]$λ$6584/H$α$$λ$6563 ratio, that corresp…
We analyzed the evolution of the metallicity of the gas with the redshift for a sample of AGNs in a very wide redshift range (0<z<4) using ultraviolet emission-lines from the narrow-line regions (NLRs) and photoionization models. The new index C43=log(CIV+CIII])/HeII is suggested as a metallicity indicator for AGNs. Based on this indicator, we confirmed the no metallicity evolution of NLRs with the redshift pointed out by previous works. We found that metallicity of AGNs shows similar evolution than the one predicted by cosmic semi-analytic models of galaxy formation set within the Cold Dark M…
Measuring metallicity in the nuclear regions of AGNs is difficult because only a few lines are observed and ionization correction becomes a major problem. Nitrogen to carbon ratio has been widely used as an indicator for metallicity, but precise measurements have been lacking. We made such measurements for the first time using a wide baseline of ionization states with observations from FUSE, HST and Chandra. OVI observations with FUSE were crucial in this effort. We measured super-solar metallicities in two AGNs and found that N/C does not scale with metallicity. This suggests that chemical en…
Identifying AGNs from X-ray detections-I: Metallicity calibrations in AGNs with X-ray luminosity as the primary input parameter
Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata (CONICET-UNLP)（拉普拉塔天体物理研究所）；Universidade do Vale do Paraíba, Instituto de Pesquisa & Desenvolvimento（帕拉伊巴河谷大学研究与开发研究所）；Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul（南里奥格兰德联邦大学物理系天文学部）；Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata（拉普拉塔国立大学天文与地球物理学院）；Departamento de Física, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria（圣玛丽阿联邦大学CCNE物理系）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）
The mass-metallicity relation (MZR) of type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at 1.2 < z < 4.0 is investigated by using high-z radio galaxies (HzRGs) and X-ray selected radio-quiet AGNs. We combine new rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) spectra of two radio-quiet type-2 AGNs obtained with FOCAS on the Subaru Telescope with existing rest-frame UV emission lines, i.e., CIV1549, HeII1640, and CIII]1909, of a sample of 16 HzRGs and 6 additional X-ray selected type-2 AGNs, whose host stellar masses have been estimated in literature. We divided our sample in three stellar mass bins and calculated averaged em…
We compare the oxygen abundance (O/H) of the Narrow Line Regions (NLRs) of Seyfert 2 AGNs obtained through strong-line methods and from direct measurements of the electron temperature (Te-method). The aim of this study is to explore the effects of the use of distinct methods on the range of metallicity and on the mass-metallicity relation of AGNs at low redshifts (z < 0.4). We used the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) to selected optical (3000 < A < 7000) emission line intensities of 463 confirmed Seyfert 2 AGNs. The oxygen abundance of the NLRs were e…
We derived two semi-empirical calibrations between the metallicity of the Narrow Line Region (NLR) of type-2 Active Galactic Nuclei and the rest-frame of the N V$λ$1240/He II$\lambda1640$, C43=log[(C IV$\lambda1549$+C III]$\lambda1909$)/HeII$\lambda1640$] and C III]$\lambda1909$/C IV$\lambda1549$ emission-line intensity ratios. A metallicity-independent calibration between the ionization parameter and the C III]$\lambda1909$/C IV$\lambda1549$ emission-lines ratio was also derived. These calibrations were obtained comparing ratios of measured UV emission-line intensities, compiled from the lite…
Outflows in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are crucial to understand in investigating the co-evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies since outflows may play an important role as an AGN feedback mechanism. Based on the archival UV spectra obtained with HST and IUE, we investigate outflows in the broad-line region (BLR) in low-redshift AGNs (z < 0.4) through the detailed analysis of the velocity profile of the CIV emission line. We find a dependence of the outflow strength on the Eddington ratio and the BLR metallicity in our low-redshift AGN sample, which is consist…
We present a semi-empirical calibration between the metallicity ($Z$) of Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nuclei and the $N2$=log([N II]$λ$6584/H$α$) emission-line intensity ratio. This calibration was derived through the [O III]$λ$5007/[O II]$λ$3727 versus $N2$ diagram containing observational data and photoionization model results obtained with the Cloudy code. The observational sample consists of 463 confirmed Seyfert 2 nuclei (redshift $z < 0.4$) taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 dataset. The obtained $Z$-$N2$ relation is valid for the range $0.3 < (Z/Z_{\odot}) < 2.0$ which corresponds…
We derive the metallicity (traced by the O/H abundance) of the Narrow Line Region ( NLR) of 108 Seyfert galaxies as well as radial metallicity gradients along their galaxy disks and of these of a matched control sample of no active galaxies. In view of that, observational data from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey and strong emission-line calibrations taken from the literature were considered. The metallicity obtained for the NLRs %each Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) was compared to the value derived from the extrapolation of the radial oxygen abundance gradient, obtained from \ion{H}{ii} region estima…
Identifying AGNs from X-ray detections$-$II: Metallicity calibrations for the $\rm N_2O_2$ and $\rm N_2S_2$ diagnostics
Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata (CONICET-UNLP)（拉普拉塔天体物理研究所）；Universidade do Vale do Paraíba, Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento（帕拉伊巴山谷大学，研究与开发学院）；Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul（南里奥格兰德联邦大学物理研究所天文系）；Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata（拉普拉塔国立大学天文与地球物理科学学院）；Departamento de Física, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria（圣玛丽阿联邦大学中央自然科学中心物理系）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）
We derive a new relation between the metallicity of Seyfert 2 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and the intensity of the narrow emission-lines ratio $N2O2$=log([N II]$λ$6584/[O II]$λ$3727). The calibration of this relation was performed determining the metallicity ($Z$) of a sample of 58 AGNs through a diagram containing the observational data and the results of a grid of photoionization models obtained with the Cloudy code. We find the new $Z/Z_\odot$-$N2O2$ relation using the obtained metallicity values and the corresponding observational emission line intensities for each object of the sample. …
The FeII/MgII line flux ratio has been used as an indicator of the Fe/Mg abundance ratio in the broad line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). On the basis of archival rest-frame UV spectra obtained via the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we investigate the FeII/MgII ratios of type 1 AGNs at z < 2. Over wide dynamic ranges of AGN properties (i.e., black hole mass, AGN luminosity, and Eddington ratio), we confirm that the FeII/MgII ratio strongly correlates with Eddington ratio but not with black hole mass, AGN luminosity, or redshift. Our results suggest tha…
The detection and characterization of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in local low mass galaxies is crucial to our understanding of the origins of SMBHs. This statement assumes that low mass galaxies have had a relatively quiet cosmic history, so that their black holes have not undergone significant growth and therefore can be treated as relics of the original SMBH seeds. While recent studies have found optical signatures of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in a growing population of dwarf galaxies, these studies are biased against low metallicity and relatively merger-free galaxies, thus missin…
Metallicity of Active Galactic Nuclei from ultraviolet and optical emission lines-II. Revisiting the $C43$ metallicity calibration and its implications
We present oxygen abundances relative to hydrogen (O/H) in the narrow line regions (NLRs) gas phases of Seyferts 1 (Sy 1s) and Seyferts 2 (Sy 2s) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). We used fluxes of the optical narrow emission line intensities [$3\,500<λ($Å$)<7\,000$] of 561 Seyfert nuclei in the local universe ($z\lesssim0.31$) from the second catalog and data release (DR2) of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey, which focuses on the \textit{Swift}-BAT hard X-ray ($\gtrsim10$ keV) detected AGNs. We derived O/H from relative intensities of the emission lines via the strong-line methods. We find that …
The metallicity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), which can be measured by emission line ratios in their broad and narrow line regions (BLRs and NLRs), provides invaluable information about the physical connection between the different components of AGNs. From the archival databases of the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we have assembled the largest sample available of AGNs which have adequate spectra in both the optical and ultraviolet bands to measure the narrow line ratio [N II]/Hα and also, in the same objects, the broad-lin…
It has been suggested that the high metallicity generally observed in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars originates from ongoing star formation in the self-gravitating part of accretion disks around the supermassive black holes. We designate this region as the star forming (SF) disk, in which metals are produced from supernova explosions (SNexp) while at the same time inflows are driven by SNexp-excited turbulent viscosity to accrete onto the SMBHs. In this paper, an equation of metallicity governed by SNexp and radial advection is established to describe the metal distribution and evol…
In modern models and simulations of galactic evolution, the star formation in massive galaxies is regulated by an ad hoc active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback process. However, the physics and the extension of such effects on the star formation history of galaxies is matter of vivid debate. In order to shed some light in the AGN effects over the star formation, we analyzed the inner 500$\times$500pc of a sample of 14 Seyfert galaxies using GMOS and MUSE integral field spectroscopy. We fitted the continuum spectra in order to derive stellar age, metallicity, velocity and velocity dispersion map…
Accurate active galactic nucleus (AGN) identifications and spatially resolved host galaxy properties are a powerful combination for studies of the role of AGNs and AGN feedback in the coevolution of galaxies and their central supermassive black holes. Here, we present robust identifications of 406 AGNs in the first 6261 galaxies observed by the integral field spectroscopy survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA). Instead of using optical line flux ratios, which can be difficult to interpret in light of the effects of shocks and metallicity, we identify the AGNs via mi…
We conduct for the first time a theoretical investigation of the mid-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) produced by dust heated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and an extreme starburst. These models employ an integrated modeling approach using photoionization and stellar population synthesis models in which both the line and emergent continuum is predicted from gas exposed to the ionizing radiation from a young starburst and an AGN. In this work, we focus on the infrared colors from the {\it Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer}, predicting the dependence of the colors on the input…
A complete catalogue of broad-line AGNs and double-peaked emission lines from MaNGA integral-field spectroscopy of 10K galaxies: stellar population of AGNs, supermassive black holes, and dual AGNs
Stellar metallicity gradients in the outer regions of galaxies are a critical tool for disentangling the contributions of in-situ and ex-situ formed stars. In the two-phase galaxy formation scenario, the initial gas collapse creates steep metallicity gradients, while the accretion of stars formed in satellites tends to flatten these gradients in the outskirts, particularly for massive galaxies. This work presents the first compilation of extended metallicity profiles over a wide range of galaxy mass. We use the DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck telescope in multi-slit mode to obtain radial stell…
(Abridged) We explored 18 clusters from LoCuSS at z~0.2 with ACReS spectra of ~1800 cluster members at R<R200 in a mass-complete sample. The metallicities of SF cluster galaxies with R<R200 were found to be enhanced with respect to the MZR of coeval field SF galaxies. This metallicity enhancement is limited to lower-mass satellites of the 9 clusters with a passive BCG. Many of the SF galaxies with enhanced metallicities are found in the core regions of the phase-space diagram expected for virialized populations. We find a higher fraction of higher mass SF galaxies at R<R500 in clusters with ac…
Constraints on the Galactic bulge/bar structure and formation history from stellar kinematics and metallicities mainly come from relatively high-latitude fields (|b|>4) where a complex mix of stellar population is seen. We aim here to constrain the formation history of the Galactic bar by studying the radial velocity and metallicity distributions of stars in-situ (|b|<1). We observed red clump stars in four fields along the bar's major axis (l=10,6,-6 and b=0 plus a field at l=0,b=1) with low-resolution spectroscopy from VLT/FLAMES, observing around the CaII triplet. We developed robust method…
Massive early-type galaxies typically have two subpopulations of globular clusters (GCs) which often reveal radial colour (metallicity) gradients. Collating gradients from the literature, we show that the gradients in the metal-rich and metal-poor GC subpopulations are the same, within measurement uncertainties, in a given galaxy. Furthermore, these GC gradients are similar in strength to the {\it stellar} metallicity gradient of the host galaxy. At the very largest radii (e.g. greater than 8 galaxy effective radii) there is some evidence that the GC gradients become flat with near constant me…
We present a detailed study of the optical spectroscopic properties of 12 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with candidate low-mass black holes (BHs) selected by Kamizasa et al. through rapid X-ray variability. The high-quality, echellette Magellan spectra reveal broad H$α$ emission in all the sources, allowing us to estimate robust viral BH masses and Eddington ratios for this unique sample. We confirm that the sample contains low-mass BHs accreting at high rates: the median $M_{\rm BH} = 1.2\times 10^6M_\odot$ and median $L_{\rm bol}/L_{\rm Edd}=0.44$. The sample follows the $M_{\rm BH}-σ_*$ rel…
It is now clear that a significant population of accreting black holes are undetected by commonly employed optical, mid-infrared color, X-ray, and radio selection methods due to obscuration or contamination of the emission from the nuclear region caused by star formation in the host galaxy. These elusive active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are an important component of the AGN population. They are often found in mergers, where significant black hole growth likely takes place, and in the lowest mass galaxies or galaxies that lack classical bulges, a demographic that places important constraints on mo…
We investigate the relationship between black hole accretion and star formation in a sample of 453 $z\approx0.3$ type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We use available CO observations to demonstrate that the combination of nebular dust extinction and metallicity provides reliable estimates of the molecular gas mass even for the host galaxies of type 1 AGNs. Consistent with other similar but significantly smaller samples, we reaffirm the notion that powerful AGNs have comparable gas content as nearby star-forming galaxies and that AGN feedback does not deplete the host of cold gas instantaneous…
The cluster M54 lies at the centre of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy, and therefore may be the closest example of a nuclear star cluster. Either in-situ star formation, inspiralling globular clusters, or a combination have been invoked to explain the wide variety of stellar sub-populations in nuclear star clusters. Globular clusters are known to exhibit light element variations, which can be identified using the photometric construct called a chromosome map. In this letter, we create chromosome maps for three distinct age-metallicity sub-populations in the vicinity of M54. We find tha…
We use accurate estimates of aluminium abundance provided as part of the APOGEE Data Release 17 and Gaia Early Data Release 3 astrometry to select a highly pure sample of stars with metallicity $-1.5\lesssim {\rm [Fe/H]}\lesssim 0.5$ born in-situ in the Milky Way proper. We show that the low-metallicity ([Fe/H]$\lesssim -1.3$) in-situ component that we dub Aurora is kinematically hot with an approximately isotropic velocity ellipsoid and a modest net rotation. Aurora stars exhibit large scatter in metallicity and in a number of element abundance ratios. The median tangential velocity of the in…
We compare stellar mass surface density, metallicity, age, and line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles in massive ($M_*\geq10^{10.5}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$) present-day early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the MaNGA survey with simulated galaxies from the TNG100 simulation of the IllustrisTNG suite. We find an excellent agreement between the stellar mass surface density profiles of MaNGA and TNG100 ETGs, both in shape and normalisation. Moreover, TNG100 reproduces the shapes of the profiles of stellar metallicity and age, as well as the normalisation of velocity dispersion distributions of MaNGA ETG…
Globular clusters can form inside their host galaxies at high redshift when gas densities were higher and gas-rich mergers were common. They can also form inside lower-mass galaxies that have since been accreted and tidally disrupted, leaving their globular cluster complement bound to higher-mass halos. We argue that the age-metallicity-specific orbital energy relation in a galaxy's globular cluster system can be used to identify its origin. Gas-rich mergers should produce tightly bound systems in which metal-rich clusters are younger than metal-poor clusters. Globular clusters formed in massi…
We present results from the first public data release of the MaNGA-ARO Survey of CO Targets (MASCOT), focussing our study on galaxies whose star-formation rates and stellar masses place them below the ridge of the star-forming Main Sequence. In optically-selected type 2 AGN/LINERs/Composites, we find an empirical relation between gas-phase metallicity gradients $\nabla Z$ and global molecular gas depletion times $t_\mathrm{dep} = M_{H_2}$/SFR with "more quenched" systems showing flatter/positive gradients. Our results are based on the O3N2 metallicity diagnostic (applied to star-forming region…
The evolution of the structural and kinematic properties of early-type galaxies (ETGs), their scaling relations, as well as their stellar metallicity and age contain precious information on the assembly history of these systems. We present results on the evolution of the stellar mass-velocity dispersion relation of ETGs, focusing in particular on the effects of some selection criteria used to define ETGs. We also try to shed light on the role that in-situ and ex-situ stellar populations have in massive ETGs, providing a possible explanation of the observed metallicity distributions.
Using the cosmological zoom simulation VINTERGATAN, we present a new scenario for the onset of star formation at the metal-poor end of the low-[$α$/Fe] sequence in a Milky Way-like galaxy. In this scenario, the galaxy is fueled by two distinct gas flows. One is enriched by outflows from massive galaxies, but not the other. While the former feeds the inner galactic region, the latter fuels an outer gas disk, inclined with respect to the main galactic plane, and with a significantly poorer chemical content. The first passage of the last major merger galaxy triggers tidal compression in the outer…
We use recently derived ages for 61 Milky Way (MW) globular clusters (GCs) to show that their age-metallicity relation (AMR) can be divided into two distinct, parallel sequences at [Fe/H] $\ga -1.8$. Approximately one-third of the clusters form an offset sequence that spans the full range in age ($\sim 10.5$--13 Gyr), but is more metal rich at a given age by $\sim 0.6$ dex in [Fe/H]. All but one of the clusters in the offset sequence show orbital properties that are consistent with membership in the MW disk. They are not simply the most metal-rich GCs, which have long been known to have disk-l…
Bars play an important role in mixing material in the inner regions of galaxies and stimulating radial migration. Previous observations have found evidence for the impact of a bar on metallicity gradients but the effect is still inconclusive. We use the TYPHOON/PrISM survey to investigate the metallicity gradients along and beyond the bar region across the entire star-forming disk of five nearby galaxies. Using emission line diagrams to identify star-forming spaxels, we recover the global metallicity gradients ranging from -0.0162 to -0.073 dex/kpc with evidence that the galactic bars act as a…
JWST Reveals Compact Nuclear Starbursts Masquerading as AGNs in Metal-Poor Dwarfs: Where Are the Accreting Intermediate-Mass Black Holes?
George Mason University（乔治梅森大学）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）；Oak Ridge Associated Universities（橡树岭联合大学）；University of California, Riverside（加州大学河滨分校）；The University of Texas at Austin（得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）；Center for Space Sciences and Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校空间科学与技术中心）；University of Cincinnati（辛辛那提大学）
Making use of both MUSE observations of 85 galaxies from the survey GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE) and a large sample from MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey) we investigate the distribution of gas metallicity gradients as a function of stellar mass, for local cluster and field galaxies. Overall, metallicity profiles steepen with increasing stellar mass up to $10^{10.3}\,{\rm M_\odot}$ and flatten out at higher masses. Combining the results from the metallicity profiles and the stellar mass surface density gradients, we propose that the obse…
We carry out a joint spatial-kinematical-metallicity analysis of globular clusters (GCs) around the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), using a homogeneous, high-quality spectroscopic dataset. In particular, we remove the contaminating young clusters that have plagued many previous analyses. We find that the clusters can be divided into three major metallicity groups based on their radial distributions: (1) an inner metal-rich group ([Fe/H] > -0.4), (2) a group with intermediate metallicity (with median [Fe/H]=-1), (3) and a metal-poor group, with [Fe/H] < -1.5. The metal-rich group has kinematics and spa…
We analyse the density profiles of the stellar halo populations in eight Milky-Way mass galaxies, simulated within the $Λ$-Cold Dark Matter scenario. We find that accreted stars can be well-fitted by an Einasto profile, as well as any subsample defined according to metallicity. We detect a clear correlation between the Einasto fitting parameters of the low-metallicity stellar populations and those of the dark matter haloes. The correlations for stars with [Fe/H]$<-3$ allow us to predict the shape of the dark matter profiles within residuals of $\sim 10 $ per cent, in case the contribution from…
Cluster Ages to Reconstruct the Milky Way Assembly (CARMA). VI. The age-metallicity relation of in-situ clusters and the age of the Universe
Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, INAF（博洛尼亚天体物理学与空间科学观测站，意大利国家天体物理研究所）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学物理与天文系）；Escola de Enxeñaría de Telecomunicación, Universidade de Vigo（维戈大学电信工程学院）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉各纳大学）；Osservatorio Astronomico di Abruzzo, INAF（阿布鲁佐天文台，意大利国家天体物理研究所）；INFN - Sezione di Pisa, Università di Pisa（比萨大学意大利国家核物理研究所比萨分部）
This study is the third of a series that investigates the degeneracy and stochasticity problems present in the determination of physical parameters such as age, mass, extinction, and metallicity of partially resolved or unresolved star cluster populations situated in external galaxies when using broad-band photometry. This work tests the derivation of parameters of artificial star clusters using models with fixed and free metallicity for the WFC3+ACS photometric system. Then the method is applied to derive parameters of a sample of 203 star clusters in the Andromeda galaxy observed with the HS…
Recent observational studies have revealed that the Galactic bulge has cylindrical rotation and a steeper vertical metallicity gradient. We adopt two representative models for the bulge formation and thereby investigate whether the two models can explain both the observed cylindrical rotation and vertical metallicity gradient in a self-consistent manner. One is the "pure disk scenario" (PDS) in which the bulge is formed from a pure thin stellar disk through spontaneous bar instability. The other is the "two-component disk scenario" (TCDS) in which the bulge is formed from a disk composed of th…
We explore the stellar metallicity distribution function of the Galactic halo based on SDSS ugriz photometry. A set of stellar isochrones is calibrated using observations of several star clusters and validated by comparisons with medium-resolution spectroscopic values over a wide range of metal abundance. We estimate distances and metallicities for individual main-sequence stars in the multiply scanned SDSS Stripe 82, at heliocentric distances in the range 5 - 8 kpc and |b| > 35 deg, and find that the in situ photometric metallicity distribution has a shape that matches that of the kinematical…
Kepler has identified over 600 multiplanet systems, many of which have several planets with orbital distances smaller than that of Mercury -- quite different from the Solar System. Because these systems may be difficult to explain in the paradigm of core accretion and disk migration, it has been suggested that they formed in situ within protoplanetary disks with high solid surface densities. The strong connection between giant planet occurrence and stellar metallicity is thought to be linked to enhanced solid surface densities in disks around metal-rich stars, so the presence of a giant planet…
The abundance of metals in galaxies is a key parameter which 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 (IR) line ratios which can provide a suitable alternative in such situations. To inve…
Observations of galaxies in the local Universe have shown that both the ionized gas and the stars of satellites are more metal-rich than of equally massive centrals. To gain insight into the connection between this metallicity enhancement and other differences between centrals and satellites, such as their star formation rates, gas content, and growth history, we study the metallicities of >3600 galaxies with M_star > 10^10 M_sun in the cosmological hydrodynamical EAGLE 100 Mpc `Reference' simulation, including ~1500 in the vicinity of galaxy groups and clusters (M_200 >= 10^13 M_sun). The sim…
