No Arabic abstract
We present an analysis of the neutral hydrogen (HI) properties of a fully cosmological hydrodynamical dwarf galaxy, run with varying simulation parameters. As reported by Governato et al. (2010), the high resolution, high star formation density threshold version of this galaxy is the first simulation to result in the successful reproduction of a (dwarf) spiral galaxy without any associated stellar bulge. We have set out to compare in detail the HI distribution and kinematics of this simulated bulgeless disk with what is observed in a sample of nearby dwarfs. To do so, we extracted the radial gas density profiles, velocity dispersion (e.g., velocity ellipsoid, turbulence), and the power spectrum of structure within the cold interstellar medium from the simulations. The highest resolution dwarf, when using a high density star formation threshold comparable to densities of giant molecular clouds, possesses bulk characteristics consistent with those observed in nature, though the cold gas is not as radially extended as that observed in nearby dwarfs, resulting in somewhat excessive surface densities. The lines-of-sight velocity dispersion radial profiles have values that are in good agreement with observed dwarf galaxies, but due to the fact that only the streaming velocities of particles are tracked, a correction to include the thermal velocities can lead to profiles that are quite flat. The ISM power spectra of the simulations appear to possess more power on smaller spatial scales than that of the SMC. We conclude that unavoidable limitations remain due to the unresolved physics of star formation and feedback within pc-scale molecular clouds.
We use deep Herschel PACS and SPIRE observations in GOODSS, GOODSN and COSMOS to estimate the average dust mass (Mdust) of galaxies on a redshift-stellar mass (Mstar)-SFR grid. We study the scaling relations between Mdust, Mstar and SFR at z<=2.5. No clear evolution of Mdust is observed at fixed SFR and Mstar. We find a tight correlation between SFR and Mdust, likely a consequence of the Schmidt-Kennicutt (S-K) law. The Mstar-Mdust correlation observed by previous works flattens or sometimes disappears when fixing the SFR. Most of it likely derives from the combination of the Mdust-SFR and Mstar-SFR correlations. We then investigate the gas content as inferred by converting Mdust by assuming that the dust/gas ratio scales linearly with the gas metallicity. All galaxies in the sample follow, within uncertainties, the same SFR-Mgas relation (integrated S-K law), which broadly agrees with CO-based results for the bulk of the population, despite the completely different approaches. The majority of galaxies at z~2 form stars with an efficiency (SFE=SFR/Mgas) ~5 times higher than at z~0. It is not clear what fraction of such variation is an intrinsic redshift evolution and what fraction arises from selection effects. The gas fraction (fgas) decreases with Mstar and increases with SFR, and does not evolve with z at fixed Mstar and SFR. We explain these trends by introducing a universal relation between fgas, Mstar and SFR, non-evolving out to z~2.5. Galaxies move across this relation as their gas content evolves in time. We use the 3D fundamental fgas-Mstar-SFR relation and the redshift evolution of the Main Sequence to estimate the evolution of fgas in the average population of galaxies as a function of z and Mstar, and we find evidence a downsizing scenario.
We have carried out a survey for 12CO J=1-0 and J=2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited Atlas3D sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo Cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass 3times 10^{10} Msun; they are selected by morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259 = 0.22 error 0.03, with no dependence on K luminosity and only a modest dependence on dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo Cluster members; statistical analysis of their H_2 mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the clusters influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster. There are also a few extremely CO-rich early-type galaxies with H_2 masses >= 10^9 Msun, and these are in low density environments. We do find a significant trend between molecular content and the stellar specific angular momentum. The galaxies of low angular momentum also have low CO detection rates, suggesting that their formation processes were more effective at destroying molecular gas or preventing its re-accretion. We speculate on the implications of these data for the formation of various sub-classes of early-type galaxies.
We use dust masses ($M_{dust}$) derived from far-infrared data and molecular gas masses ($M_{mol}$) based on CO luminosity, to calibrate proxies based on a combination of the galaxy Balmer decrement, disk inclination and gas metallicity. We use such proxies to estimate $M_{dust}$ and $M_{mol}$ in the local SDSS sample of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). We study the distribution of $M_{dust}$ and $M_{mol}$ along and across the Main Sequence (MS) of SFGs. We find that $M_{dust}$ and $M_{mol}$ increase rapidly along the MS with increasing stellar mass ($M_*$), and more marginally across the MS with increasing SFR (or distance from the relation). The dependence on $M_*$ is sub-linear for both $M_{dust}$ and $M_{mol}$. Thus, the fraction of dust ($f_{dust}$) and molecular gas mass ($f_{mol}$) decreases monotonically towards large $M_*$. The star formation efficiency (SFE, the inverse of the molecular gas depletion time) depends strongly on the distance from the MS and it is constant along the MS. As nearly all galaxies in the sample are central galaxies, we estimate the dependence of $f_{dust}$ and $f_{gas}$ on the host halo mass and find a tight anti-correlation. As the region where the MS is bending is numerically dominated by massive halos, we conclude that the bending of the MS is due to lower availability of molecular gas mass in massive halos rather than a lower efficiency in forming stars.
The gas content of the complete compilation of Local Group dwarf galaxies (119 within 2 Mpc) is presented using HI survey data. Within the virial radius of the Milky Way (224 kpc here), 53 of 55 dwarf galaxies are devoid of gas to limits of M$_{rm HI}<10^4$ M$_odot$. Within the virial radius of M31 (266 kpc), 27 of 30 dwarf galaxies are devoid of gas (with limits typically $<10^5$ M$_odot$). Beyond the virial radii of the Milky Way and M31, the majority of the dwarf galaxies have detected HI gas and have HI masses higher than the limits. When the relationship between gas content and distance is investigated using a Local Group virial radius, more of the non-detected dwarf galaxies are within this radius (85$pm1$ of the 93 non-detected dwarf galaxies) than within the virial radii of the Milky Way and M31. Using the Gaia proper motion measurements available for 38 dwarf galaxies, the minimum gas density required to completely strip them of gas is calculated. Halo densities between $10^{-5}$ and $5 times 10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$ are typically required for instantaneous stripping at perigalacticon. When compared to halo density with radius expectations from simulations and observations, 80% of the dwarf galaxies with proper motions are consistent with being stripped by ram pressure at Milky Way pericenter. The results suggest a diffuse gaseous galactic halo medium is important in quenching dwarf galaxies, and that a Local Group medium also potentially plays a role.
We study the contribution of galaxies with different properties to the global densities of star formation rate (SFR), atomic (HI) and molecular hydrogen (H2) as a function of redshift. We use the GALFORM model of galaxy formation, which is set in the LCDM framework. This model includes a self-consistent calculation of the SFR, which depends on the H2 content of galaxies. The predicted SFR density and how much of this is contributed by galaxies with different stellar masses and infrared luminosities are in agreement with observations. The model predicts a modest evolution of the HI density at z<3, which is also in agreement with the observations. The HI density is predicted to be always dominated by galaxies with SFR<1Msun/yr. This contrasts with the H2 density, which is predicted to be dominated by galaxies with SFR>10Msun/yr. Current high-redshift galaxy surveys are limited to detect carbon monoxide in galaxies with SFR>30Msun/yr, which in our model make up, at most, 20% of the H2 in the universe. In terms of stellar mass, the predicted H2 density is dominated by massive galaxies, Mstellar>10^10Msun, while the HI density is dominated by low mass galaxies, Mstellar<10^9Msun. In the context of upcoming neutral gas surveys, we suggest that the faint nature of the galaxies dominating the HI content of the Universe will hamper the identification of optical counterparts, while for H2, we expect follow up observations of molecular emission lines of already existing galaxy catalogues to be able to uncover the H2 density of the Universe.