@article{PaalvastVerhammeStrakaetal.2018, author = {Paalvast, M. and Verhamme, A. and Straka, L. A. and Brinchmann, J. and Herenz, Edmund Christian and Carton, D. and Gunawardhana, M. L. P. and Boogaard, L. A. and Cantalupo, S. and Contini, T. and Epinat, Benoit and Inami, H. and Marino, R. A. and Maseda, M. V. and Michel-Dansac, L. and Muzahid, S. and Nanayakkara, T. and Pezzulli, Gabriele and Richard, J. and Schaye, Joop and Segers, M. C. and Urrutia, Tanya and Wendt, Martin and Wisotzki, Lutz}, title = {Properties and redshift evolution of star-forming galaxies with high [0 III]/[O II] ratios with MUSE at 0.28 < z < 0.85}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {618}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201832866}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present a study of the [O III]/[O II] ratios of star-forming galaxies drawn from Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) data spanning a redshift range 0.28 < z < 0.85. Recently discovered Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters have extremely high oxygen line ratios: [O III]lambda 5007/[O II]lambda lambda 3726, 3729 > 4. Here we aim to understand the properties and the occurrences of galaxies with such high line ratios. Combining data from several MUSE Guaranteed Time Observing (GTO) programmes, we select a population of star-forming galaxies with bright emission lines, from which we draw 406 galaxies for our analysis based on their position in the z-dependent star formation rate (SFR) stellar mass (M*) plane. Out of this sample 15 are identified as extreme oxygen emitters based on their [O III]/[O II] ratios (3.7\%) and 104 galaxies have [O III]/[O II] > 1 (26\%). Our analysis shows no significant correlation between M*, SFR, and the distance from the SFR M, relation with [O III]/[O II]. We find a decrease in the fraction of galaxies with [O III]/[O II] > 1 with increasing M*, however, this is most likely a result of the relationship between [O III]/[O II] and metallicity, rather than between [O III]/[O II] and M. We draw a comparison sample of local analogues with < z > 0.03 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and find similar incidence rates for this sample. In order to investigate the evolution in the fraction of high [O III]/[O II] emitters with redshift, we bin the sample into three redshift subsamples of equal number, but find no evidence for a dependence on redshift. Furthermore, we compare the observed line ratios with those predicted by nebular models with no LyC escape and find that most of the extreme oxygen emitters can be reproduced by low metallicity models. The remaining galaxies are likely LyC emitter candidates.}, language = {en} } @article{BustamanteSparreSpringeletal.2018, author = {Bustamante, Sebastian and Sparre, Martin and Springel, Volker and Grand, Robert J. J.}, title = {Merger-induced metallicity dilution in cosmological galaxy formation simulations}, series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, volume = {479}, journal = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {3}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0035-8711}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/sty1692}, pages = {3381 -- 3392}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Observational studies have revealed that galaxy pairs tend to have lower gas-phase metallicity than isolated galaxies. This metallicity deficiency can be caused by inflows of low-metallicity gas due to the tidal forces and gravitational torques associated with galaxy mergers, diluting the metal content of the central region. In this work we demonstrate that such metallicity dilution occurs in state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. We find that the dilution is typically 0.1 dex for major mergers, and is noticeable at projected separations smaller than 40 kpc. For minor mergers the metallicity dilution is still present, even though the amplitude is significantly smaller. Consistent with previous analysis of observed galaxies we find that mergers are outliers from the fundamental metallicity relation, with deviations being larger than expected for a Gaussian distribution of residuals. Our large sample of mergers within full cosmological simulations also makes it possible to estimate how the star formation rate enhancement and gas consumption timescale behave as a function of the merger mass ratio. We confirm that strong starbursts are likely to occur in major mergers, but they can also arise in minor mergers if more than two galaxies are participating in the interaction, a scenario that has largely been ignored in previous work based on idealised isolated merger simulations.}, language = {en} } @article{RichterWinkelWakkeretal.2018, author = {Richter, Philipp and Winkel, Benjamin and Wakker, Bart P. and Pingel, N. M. and Fox, Andrew J. and Heald, G. and Walterbos, Rene A. M. and Fechner, C. and Ben Bekhti, N. and Gentile, G. and Zschaechner, Laura}, title = {Circumgalactic Gas at Its Extreme}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {868}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aae838}, pages = {12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present a detailed analysis of the absorption properties of one of the tidal gas streams around the "Whale" galaxy NGC 4631 in the direction of the quasar 2MASS J12421031+3214268. Our study is based on ultraviolet spectral data obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and 21cm-data from the HALOGAS project and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). We detect strong H I Ly alpha absorption in the velocity range +550 to +800 km s(-1) related to gas from a NGC 4631 tidal stream known as Spur 2. We measure a column density of log (N(H I/cm(-2))) = 18.68 +/- 0.15, indicating that the quasar sightline traces the outer boundary of Spur 2 as seen in the 21 cm data. Metal absorption in Spur 2 is detected in the lines of O I, C II, Si II, and Si III in a complex absorption pattern that reflects the multiphase nature of the gas. We find that the average neutral gas fraction in Spur 2 toward 2MASS J12421031+3214268 is only 14\%. This implies that ionized gas dominates the total mass of Spur 2, which then may comprise more than 10(9)M(circle dot). No significant depletion of Si is observed, showing that Spur 2 does not contain significant amounts of dust. From the measured O I/H I column density ratio, we determine an alpha abundance in Spur 2 of 0.131(-0.05)(+0.07) solar ([alpha/H] = -0.90 +/- 0.16), which is substantially lower than what is observed in the NGC 4631 disk. The low metallicity and low dust content suggest that Spur 2 represents metal-deficient gas stripped off a gas-rich satellite galaxy during a recent encounter with NGC 4631.}, language = {en} } @article{DavidzonIlbertFaisstetal.2018, author = {Davidzon, Iary and Ilbert, Olivier and Faisst, Andreas L. and Sparre, Martin and Capak, Peter L.}, title = {An Alternate Approach to Measure Specific Star Formation Rates at 2 < z < 7}, series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, volume = {852}, journal = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0004-637X}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aaa19e}, pages = {11}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We trace the specific star formation rate (sSFR) of massive star-forming galaxies (greater than or similar to 10(10)M(circle dot)) from z similar to 2 to 7. Our method is substantially different from previous analyses, as it does not rely on direct estimates of star formation rate, but on the differential evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF). We show the reliability of this approach by means of semianalytical and hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. We then apply it to real data, using the SMFs derived in the COSMOS and CANDELS fields. We find that the sSFR is proportional to (1 + z)(1.1) (+/-) (0.2) at z > 2, in agreement with other observations but in tension with the steeper evolution predicted by simulations from z similar to 4 to 2. We investigate the impact of several sources of observational bias, which, however, cannot account for this discrepancy. Although the SMF of high-redshift galaxies is still affected by significant errors, we show that future large-area surveys will substantially reduce them, making our method an effective tool to probe the massive end of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies.}, language = {en} }