Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userMetal Deficiency in Two Massive Dead Galaxies at $zsim2$
82
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Local massive early-type galaxies are believed to have completed most of their star formation $sim10$Gyr ago and evolved without having substantial star formation since. If so, their progenitors should have roughly solar stellar metallicities ($Z_*$), comparable to their values today. We report the discovery of two lensed massive ($log M_*/M_odotsim11$), $zsim2.2$ dead galaxies, that appear markedly metal deficient given this scenario. Using 17-band $HST$+$K_{s}$+$Spitzer$ photometry and deep $HST$ grism spectra from the GLASS and SN Refsdal follow-up campaigns covering features near $lambda_{rm rest}sim4000$AA, we find these systems to be dominated by A-type stars with $log Z_*/Z_odot=-0.40pm0.02$ and $-0.49pm0.03$ ($30$-$40%$ solar) under standard assumptions. The second systems lower metallicity is robust to isochrone changes, though this choice can drive the first systems from $log Z_*/Z_odot=-0.6$ to 0.1. If these two galaxies are representative of larger samples, this finding suggests that evolutionary paths other than dry minor-merging are required for these massive galaxies. Future analyses with direct metallicity measurements-e.g., by the $James Webb Space Telescope$-will provide critical insight into the nature of such phenomena.
rate research
Read More
We study the mass-metallicity relation for 19 members of a spectroscopically-confirmed protocluster in the COSMOS field at $z=2.2$ (CC2.2), and compare it with that of 24 similarly selected field galaxies at the same redshift. Both samples are $rm Halpha$ emitting sources, chosen from the HiZELS narrow-band survey, with metallicities derived from $rm N2 (frac{rm [NII] lambda 6584}{rm H alpha})$ line ratio. For the mass-matched samples of protocluster and field galaxies, we find that protocluster galaxies with $10^{9.9} rm M_odot leq M_* leq 10^{10.9} rm M_odot$ are metal deficient by $0.10 pm 0.04$ dex ($2.5sigma$ significance) compared to their coeval field galaxies. This metal deficiency is absent for low mass galaxies, $rm M_* < 10^{9.9} rm M_odot$. Moreover, relying on both SED-derived and $rm {Halpha}$ (corrected for dust extinction based on $rm {M_*}$) SFRs, we find no strong environmental dependence of SFR-$rm {M_*}$ relation, however, we are not able to rule out the existence of small dependence due to inherent uncertainties in both SFR estimators. The existence of $2.5sigma$ significant metal deficiency for massive protocluster galaxies favors a model in which funneling of the primordial cold gas through filaments dilutes the metal content of protoclusters at high redshifts ($z gtrsim 2$). At these redshifts, gas reservoirs in filaments are dense enough to cool down rapidly and fall into the potential well of the protocluster to lower the gas-phase metallicity of galaxies. Moreover, part of this metal deficiency could be originated from galaxy interactions which are more prevalent in dense environments.
We search the five CANDELS fields (COSMOS, EGS, GOODS-North, GOODS-South and UDS) for passively evolving a.k.a. red and dead massive galaxies in the first 2 Gyr after the Big Bang, integrating and updating the work on GOODS-South presented in our previous paper. We perform SED-fitting on photometric data, with top-hat star-formation histories to model an early and abrupt quenching, and using a probabilistic approach to select only robust candidates. Using libraries without (with) spectral lines emission, starting from a total of more than 20,000 $z>3$ sources we end up with 102 (40) candidates, including one at $z=6.7$. This implies a minimal number density of $1.73 pm 0.17 times 10^{-5}$ ($6.69 pm 1.08 times 10^{-6}$) Mpc$^{-3}$ for $3<z<5$; applying a correction factor to account for incompleteness yields $2.30 pm 0.20 times 10^{-5}$. We compare these values with those from five recent hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, finding a reasonable agreement at $z<4$; tensions arise at earlier epochs. Finally, we use the star-formation histories from the best-fit models to estimate the contribution of the high-redshift passive galaxies to the global Star Formation Rate Density during their phase of activity, finding that they account for $sim5-10%$ of the total star formation at $3<z<8$, despite being only $sim0.5%$ of the total in number. The resulting picture is that early and strong star formation activity, building massive galaxies on short timescales and followed by a quick and abrupt quenching, is a rare but crucial phenomenon in the early Universe: the evolution of the cosmos must be heavily influenced by the short but powerful activity of these pristine monsters.
Via numerical experiments, we show that the $sim$10%-20% passive fraction seen at $z>3$ is consistent with galaxy star formation histories being maximally correlated stochastic processes. If so, this fraction should reflect a time-independent baseline that holds at any epoch or mass regime where mean star formation rates are rising. Data at $log M_ast<10$ and $z<0.5$ bear this out, as should future James Webb Space Telescope observations.
We measure the fraction of galaxy-galaxy mergers in two clusters at $zsim2$ using imaging and grism observations from the {it Hubble Space Telescope}. The two galaxy cluster candidates were originally identified as overdensities of objects using deep mid-infrared imaging and observations from the {it Spitzer Space Telescope}, and were subsequently followed up with HST/WFC3 imaging and grism observations. We identify galaxy-galaxy merger candidates using high resolution imaging with the WFC3 in the F105W, F125W, and F160W bands. Coarse redshifts for the same objects are obtained with grism observations in G102 for the $zsim1.6$ cluster (IRC0222A) and G141 for the $zsim2$ cluster (IRC0222B). Using visual classifications as well as a variety of selection techniques, we measure merger fractions of $11_{-3.2}^{+8.2}$ in IRC0222A and $18_{-4.5}^{+7.8}$ in IRC0222B. In comparison, we measure a merger fraction of $5.0_{-0.8}^{+1.1}%$ for field galaxies at $zsim2$. Our study indicates that the galaxy-galaxy merger fraction in clusters at $zsim2$ is enhanced compared the field population, but note that more cluster measurements at this epoch are needed to confirm our findings.
Observations have revealed massive (logM*/Msun>11) galaxies that were already dead when the universe was only ~2 Gyr. Given the short time before these galaxies were quenched, their past histories and quenching mechanism(s) are of particular interest. In this paper, we study star formation histories (SFHs) of 24 massive galaxies at 1.6<z<2.5. A deep slitless spectroscopy + imaging data set collected from multiple Hubble Space Telescope surveys allows robust determination of their spectral energy distributions and SFHs with no functional assumption on their forms. We find that most of our massive galaxies had formed > 50% of their extant masses by ~1.5 Gyr before the time of observed redshifts, with a trend where more massive galaxies form earlier. Their stellar-phase metallicities are already compatible with those of local early-type galaxies, with a median value of logZ*/Zsun=0.25 and scatter of ~0.15dex. In combination with the reconstructed SFHs, we reveal their rapid metallicity evolution from z~5.5 to ~2.2 at a rate of ~0.2dex/Gyr in log Z*/Zsun. Interestingly, the inferred stellar-phase metallicities are, when compared at half-mass time, ~0.25dex higher than observed gas-phase metallicities of star forming galaxies. While systematic uncertainties remain, this may imply that these quenched galaxies have continued low-level star formation, rather than abruptly terminating their star formation activity, and kept enhancing their metallicity until recently.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
