Selecting Post-Starburst Galaxies Based on Star Formation History
University of Maryland（马里兰大学）；University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）；Universidad Diego Portales（迭戈波特莱斯大学）；Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利天体物理研究所）
Sara Starecheski, K. Decker French, Vicente Villanueva, Sebastion F. Sanchez, Tony Wong, Margaret E. Verrico, Alex Green, Akshat Tripathi, Keaton Donaghue
Post-StarBurst (PSB) galaxies are galaxies that have undergone a large burst of star formation followed by rapid quenching. Understanding their properties as a population can help us better understand how galaxies evolve to quiescence. This project aims to use Star Formation History (SFH) measurements from the Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) surveys MaNGA, CALIFA, and AMUSING++ processed with the Pipe3D analysis pipeline in order to select PSB galaxies as well as PSB regions in galaxies. Most PSB selection methods use cutoffs determined by spectral features, but in this work we introduce a new PSB selection method based directly on the property we are most interested in; inferred SFHs. IFS data allows us to probe a galaxy's star formation on a spatially resolved scale, enabling us to examine the size, shape, and location of PSB regions within a galaxy. We select 107 PSB galaxies, only 7 of which are among known PSBs selected by other methods. Unlike traditional PSB selection methods, our approach is not biased against Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Despite this, we still find no evidence for a significant Seyfert 2 PSB population, suggesting that strong AGN activity is uncommon throughout the PSB phase. Our spatially-resolved SFH selection identifies a wide range of galaxies, including globally quiescent elliptical galaxies with centrally-concentrated PSB spaxels, galaxies with ring-like PSB spaxels and a preference for inside-out age gradients (contrary to what has previously been observed in the literature), and galaxies with widespread PSB regions that have significant star formation elsewhere in the galaxy.
The question how much star formation is occurring at low metallicity throughout the cosmic history appears crucial for the discussion of the origin of various energetic transients, and possibly - double black hole mergers. We revisit the observation-based distribution of birth metallicities of stars (f$_{\rm SFR}$(Z,z)), focusing on several factors that strongly affect its low metallicity part: (i) the method used to describe the metallicity distribution of galaxies (redshift-dependent mass metallicity relation - MZR, or redshift-invariant fundamental metallicity relation - FMR), (ii) the cont…
This work uses multiscale environments and structures of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as consistency checks of the evolution from starburst to quiescence at redshift $z < 0.2$. The environmental indicators include fixed aperture mass overdensities ($δ_{x\mathrm{Mpc}}$, $x \in \{0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8\}\,h^{-1}$Mpc), $k$-nearest neighbor distances, the tidal parameter, halo mass ($M_h$), and satellite/central classification. The residuals of specific star formation rates ($Δ\,\mathrm{SSFR}$) is used to select starbursts ($Δ\,\mathrm{SSFR} > 0.6\,$dex, $N \approx 8,\,600$). Quenched post-st…
The recent star formation histories (SFHs) of post-starburst galaxies have been determined almost exclusively from detailed modeling of their composite star light. This has provided important but limited information on the number, strength, and duration of bursts of star formation. In this work, we present a direct and independent measure of the recent SFH of S12 (plate-mjd-fiber for SDSS 623-52051-207; designated EAS12 in Smercina et al. 2018) from its star cluster population. We detect clusters from high resolution, $UBR$ optical observations from HST, and compare their luminosities and colo…
Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project: Unraveling Tarantula's Web. II. Optical and Near Infrared Star Formation History of the Starburst Cluster NGC 2070 in 30 Doradus
Hubble Space Telescope Grism Spectroscopy of Extreme Starbursts Across Cosmic Time: The Role of Dwarf Galaxies in the Star Formation History of the Universe
Sparks: The Magellan/FIRE survey from starburst to post-starburst
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University（斯坦福大学卡弗里粒子天体物理与宇宙学研究所）；Center for Decoding the Universe, Stanford University（斯坦福大学解码宇宙中心）；Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学天体物理科学系）；Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校天文与天体物理系）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU)（宇宙物理与数学卡弗里研究所）；Division of Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台科学部）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside（加州大学河滨分校物理与天文系）；Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理研究所）
Post-starburst (PSB) galaxies are defined as having experienced a recent burst of star formation, followed by a prompt truncation in further activity. Identifying the mechanism(s) causing a galaxy to experience a post-starburst phase therefore provides integral insight into the causes of rapid quenching. Galaxy mergers have long been proposed as a possible post-starburst trigger. Effectively testing this hypothesis requires a large spectroscopic galaxy survey to identify the rare PSBs as well as high quality imaging and robust morphology metrics to identify mergers. We bring together these cri…
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC)（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学）；ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy（荷兰射电天文研究所）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）；Zhejiang Laboratory（浙江实验室）；University of Cape Town（开普敦大学）；University of Hawaii at Hilo（夏威夷大学希洛分校）；Western Sydney University（西悉尼大学）；Swinburne University of Technology（斯威本科技大学）；University of the Western Cape（西开普大学）
The star formation history and metal content of the "Green Peas". New detailed GTC-OSIRIS spectrophotometry of three galaxies
我们提出了深宽波段成像和长缝光谱的三个紧凑，低质量的星暴星系在红移z \sim 0.2-0.3，也被称为绿豆（GP）。我们测量电离气体的物理性质，并获得高精度的几个物种的丰度。我们发现，这三个GP显示相对较低的消光，低的氧丰度，和显着高的N/O比，我们还报告在这些星系中的沃尔夫-拉叶星（WR）的检测清晰的签名。我们进行了试点光谱合成研究，使用人口和进化合成模型的组合。他们的输出是在定性协议，强烈建议的形成历史占主导地位的恒星爆发。与WR星的存在一致，这些模型表明，这些GP目前正在经历一次主要的星暴，产生约4%至约20%的恒星质量。然而，正如模型所暗示的那样，它们是古老的星系，在几个Gyr之前形成了大部分恒星质量。通过对其中一个星系的Mg I 5167、5173吸收线的探测，用光谱学方法证实了老星的存在。此外，我们进行了表面测光的基础上HST数据的研究，这表明，这三个星系的低表面亮度包络指数。如果由于恒星的排放，后者是结构上兼容的发光BCD/HII星系的演化主机，这表明GPS是可识别的本地BCD的组装历史中的主要情节。这些结论突出了这些天体作为研究宇宙晚期星系演化实验室的重要性。
The nuclear disc is a dense stellar structure at the centre of the Milky Way, with a radius of $\sim$150 pc. It has been a place of intense star formation in the past several tens of millions of years but its overall formation history has remained unknown up to now. Here we report the first detailed star formation history of this region. The bulk of its stars formed at least eight billion years ago. This initial activity was followed by a long period of quiescence that was ended by an outstanding event about 1 Gyr ago, during which roughly 5% of its mass formed in a time window $\sim$100 Myr, …
We use state-of-the-art chemical models to track the cosmic evolution of the CNO isotopes in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies, yielding powerful constraints on their stellar initial mass function (IMF). We re-assess the relative roles of massive stars, asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and novae in the production of rare isotopes such as 13C, 15N, 17O and 18O, along with 12C, 14N and 16O. The CNO isotope yields of super-AGB stars, novae and fast-rotating massive stars are included. Having reproduced the available isotope enrichment data in the solar neighbourhood, and across the Gal…
We analyze the colors and sizes of 32 quiescent (UVJ-selected) galaxies with strong Balmer absorption ($\mbox{EW}(Hδ) \geq 4$Å) at $z\sim0.8$ drawn from DR2 of the LEGA-C survey to test the hypothesis that these galaxies experienced compact, central starbursts before quenching. These recently quenched galaxies, usually referred to as post-starburst galaxies, span a wide range of colors and we find a clear correlation between color and half-light radius, such that bluer galaxies are smaller. We build simple toy models to explain this correlation: a normal star-forming disk plus a central, compa…
We present new SINFONI near-infrared integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy and SALT optical long-slit spectroscopy characterising the history of a nearby merging luminous infrared galaxy, dubbed the Bird (IRAS19115-2114). The NIR line-ratio maps of the IFU data-cubes and stellar population fitting of the SALT spectra now allow dating of the star formation (SF) over the triple system uncovered from our previous adaptive optics data. The distinct components separate very clearly in a line-ratio diagnostic diagram. An off-nuclear pure starburst dominates the current SF of the Bird with 60-70% of…
Submillimeter bright galaxies in the early Universe are vigorously forming stars at ~1000 times higher rate than the Milky Way. A large fraction of stars is formed in the central 1 kiloparsec region, that is comparable in size to massive, quiescent galaxies found at the peak of the cosmic star formation history, and eventually the core of giant elliptical galaxies in the present-day Universe. However, the physical and kinematic properties inside a compact starburst core are poorly understood because dissecting it requires angular resolution even higher than the Hubble Space Telescope can offer…
We report the discovery of a low-mass $z=5.200\pm 0.002$ galaxy that is in the process of ceasing its star formation. The galaxy, MACS0417-z5PSB, is multiply imaged with magnification factors $\sim40$ by the galaxy cluster MACS J0417.5-1154, observed as part of the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). Using observations of MACS0417-z5PSB with a JWST/NIRSpec Prism spectrum and NIRCam imaging, we investigate the mechanism responsible for the cessation of star formation of the galaxy, and speculate about possibilities for its future. Using spectrophotometric fitting, we find a remark…
We present morphological analyses of Post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) at $0.7<z<0.9$ in the COSMOS field. We fitted ultraviolet to mid-infrared multi-band photometry of objects with $i<24$ from COSMOS2020 catalogue with population synthesis models assuming non-parametric, piece-wise constant function of star formation history, and selected 94 those galaxies that have high specific star formation rates (SSFRs) of more than $10^{-9.5}$ yr$^{-1}$ in 321--1000 Myr before observation and an order of magnitude lower SSFRs within recent 321 Myr. We devised a new non-parametric morphological index which…
Post-starburst galaxies (PSBs) belong to a short-lived transition population between star-forming (SF) and quiescent galaxies. Deciphering their heavily discussed evolutionary pathways is paramount to understanding galaxy evolution. We aim to determine the dominant mechanisms governing PSB evolution in both the field and in galaxy clusters. Using the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation suite Magneticum Pathfinder, we identify 647 PSBs with $z \sim 0$ stellar mass $M_* \geq 5 \cdot 10^{10} \, \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$. We track their galactic evolution, merger history, and black hole activity over…
A galaxy-galaxy merger and the subsequent triggering of starburst activity are fundamental processes linked to the morphological transformation of galaxies and the evolution of star formation across the history of the Universe. Both nuclear and disk-wide starbursts are assumed to occur during the merger process. However, quantifying both nuclear and disk-wide star formation activity is non-trivial because the nuclear starburst is dusty in the most active merging starburst galaxies. This paper presents a new approach to this problem: combining hydrogen recombination lines in optical, millimeter…
Revealing the properties of molecular gas in starburst galaxies is key to understand the process of star formation across cosmic history. In this paper, we present our recent high-resolution ($\sim1''$ or 50 pc) ALMA observations of the nearby, barred starburst galaxy NGC 1808, and highlight some of the main findings: (1) the discovery of a double peak revealed in the distributions of CO (3-2) and CS (2-1) in the circumnuclear disk indicating the presence of a molecular gas torus with a radius of $r\sim30$ pc; inside the torus, we found a compact source of dust continuum at 0.87 mm and CO, coi…
Searching for active galactic nuclei (AGN) in dwarf galaxies is important for our understanding of the seed black holes that formed in the early Universe. Here, we test infrared selection methods for AGN activity at low galaxy masses. Our parent sample consists of ~18,000 nearby dwarf galaxies (M*< 3 x 10^9 Msun, $z<0.055$) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with significant detections in the first three bands of the AllWISE data release from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). First, we demonstrate that the majority of optically-selected AGNs in dwarf galaxies are not selected as AGN…
The conversion factor $α_{\rm CO}$ from the observable CO(1-0) luminosity to the mass of molecular gas is known to vary between isolated galaxies and some mergers, but the underlying reasons are not clearly understood. Thus, the value(s) of $α_{\rm CO}$ to be adopted remain highly uncertain. To provide better constraints, we apply the large velocity gradient method to a series of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies and derive the evolution of $α_{\rm CO}$. We report significant variations of $α_{\rm CO}$, and identify three distinct regimes: disk galaxies, starbursts and post-burst phases. …
We study and compare different examples of stellar evolutionary synthesis input parameters used to produce photoionisation model grids using the MAPPINGS V modelling code. The aim of this study is to (a) explore the systematic effects of various stellar evolutionary synthesis model parameters on the interpretation of emission lines in optical strong-line diagnostic diagrams, (b) characterise the combination of parameters able to reproduce the spread of local galaxies located in the star-forming region in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and (c) investigate the emission from extremely metal-poor g…
We present the detection at 89 $μ$m (observed frame) of the {\it Herschel}-selected gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy HATLASJ1429-0028 (also known as G15v2.19) in 15 minutes with the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus (HAWC+) onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The spectacular lensing system consists of an edge-on foreground disk galaxy at $z$ = 0.22 and a nearly complete Einstein ring of an intrinsic ultra-luminous infrared galaxy at $z$ = 1.03. Is this high IR luminosity powered by pure star formation (SF) or also an active galactic nucleus …
The Starburst-AGN connection: quenching the fire and feeding the beast
两个旋涡星系的合并被认为是产生椭圆星系和早型星系的主要途径之一。在这个过程中，该系统变成了一个（超）亮红外星系，或（U）LIRG，它会演变成类星体，K+A星系，最后变成早期星系。这一变化的时间尺度仅受观测的松散约束。特别地，K+A阶段应该紧随类星体阶段之后，在此期间，（U）LIRG阶段剩余的尘埃和气体被AGN排出。具有K+A光谱特征的类星体的中间类别，星暴后类星体或PSQ，可能代表类星体和K+ A之间的过渡阶段。我们从SDSS DR 7类星体目录中收集了72个$z<0.5$ PSQ样本。我们发现，在这个样本中的中间年龄人口平均显着较弱，比他们的假定的后代，K+A星系的金属贫乏。PSQ的典型的光谱能量分布是很好地拟合由三个组件：星光;一个模糊的幂律;和一个热的尘埃组件所需的重现中红外通量。从斜率和测辐射热光度的幂律分量，我们估计典型的质量和吸积率的活动星系核，但我们发现在我们的样品中的强大的无线电大声或强X射线发射器的证据很少。这可能表明，幂律成分起源于核恒星暴，而不是活动星系核，如果它们的大部分年轻恒星仍在形成，或者活动星系核仍然被尘埃和气体严重笼罩。我们发现，这两种选择都是有问题的，需要更多更好的光学，X射线和毫米波观测来阐明PSQ的进化历史。
The Nature of Post-Starburst Galaxies: Real Deal or Masquerading Impostors?
University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Universität Zürich（苏黎世大学）；Wesleyan University（卫斯理安大学）；University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学）；University of Pittsburgh（匹兹堡大学）；Pomona College（波莫纳学院）；Carnegie Observatories（卡内基观测站）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）
We present a $z = 0.94$ quasar, SDSS J004846.45-004611.9, discovered in the SDSS-III BOSS survey. A visual analysis of this spectrum reveals highly broadened and blueshifted narrow emission lines, in particular [Ne~V]$\lambda3426$ and [O~III]$\lambda5007$, with outflow velocities of 4000 km s$^{-1}$, along with unusually large [Ne V]$\lambda3426$/[Ne III]$\lambda3869$ ratios. The gas shows higher ionization at higher outflow velocities, indicating a connection between the powerful outflow and the unusual strength of the high ionization lines. The SED and the $i - \text{W3}$ color of the source…
We discuss the implications of assuming different star formation histories (SFH) in the relation between star formation rate (SFR) and mass derived by the spectral energy distribution fitting (SED). Our analysis focuses on a sample of HII galaxies, dwarf starburst galaxies spectroscopically selected through their strong narrow emission lines in SDSS DR13 at z<0.4, cross-matched with photometric catalogs from GALEX, SDSS, UKIDSS and WISE. We modeled and fitted the SEDs with the code CIGALE adopting different descriptions of SFH. By adding information from different independent studies we find t…
We derive the SFH of MS galaxies showing how the SFH peak of a galaxy depends on its seed mass at e.g. z=5. Following the MS, galaxies undergo a drastic slow down of their stellar mass growth after reaching the peak of their SFH. According to abundance matching, these masses correspond to hot and massive DM halos which state could results in less efficient gas inflows on the galaxies and thus could be at the origin of the limited stellar mass growth. As a result, galaxies on the MS can enter the passive region of the UVJ diagram while still forming stars. The ability of the classical analytica…
We explore the origin of the observed decline in [O/Fe] (and [Mg/Fe]) with Galactocentric distance for high-metallicity stars ([Fe/H] > -1.1), based on a sample of halo stars selected within the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) fourteenth data release (DR14). We also analyse the characteristics of the [$α$/Fe] distributions in the inner-halo regions inferred from two zoom-in Milky Way mass-sized galaxies that are taken as case studies. One of them qualitatively reproduces the observed trend to have higher fraction of $α$-rich star for decreasing galactocentric di…
