No Arabic abstract
We present Keck-MOSFIRE H and K spectra for a sample of 24 candidate quiescent galaxies (QGs) at 3<z<4, identified from UVJ colors and photometric redshifts in the ZFOURGE and 3DHST surveys. We obtain spectroscopic redshifts for half of the sample, using absorption or emission lines, and confirm the high accuracy of the photometric redshifts with a median error of 1.2%. Two galaxies turn out to be dusty objects at lower redshifts (z<2.5), and are the only two detected in the sub-mm with ALMA. High equivalent-width [OIII] was observed in two galaxies, contributing up to 30% of the K-band flux and mimicking the colors of an old stellar population. This implies a failure rate of only 20% for the UVJ selection at these redshifts. Balmer absorption was identified in 4 of the brighest galaxies, confirming the absence of OB stars. Modeling all QGs with a wide range of star-formation histories, we find sSFR a factor of 10 below the main sequence (MS) for all but one galaxy, and less than 0.01 Gyr$^{-1}$ for half of the sample. This is consistent with the H$beta$ and [OII] luminosities, and the ALMA non-detections. We then find that these QGs have quenched on average 300 Myr before observation, between z=3.5 and 5, and that they formed at z~5.5 with a mean SFR~300 Msun/yr. Considering an alternative selection of QGs based solely on the sSFR from SED modeling, we find that galaxies a factor 10 below the MS are 40% more numerous than UVJ-quiescent galaxies, implying that the UVJ selection is pure but incomplete. Current models fail at reproducing our observations and underestimate either the number density of QGs by more than an order of magnitude or the duration of their quiescence by a factor two. Overall, these results confirm the existence of an unexpected population of QGs at z>3, and offer the first insights on their formation history. [abridged]
We present the analysis of the integrated spectral energy distribution (SED) from the ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared and H$alpha$ of a sample of 29 local systems and individual galaxies with infrared (IR) luminosities between 10^11 Lsun and 10^11.8 Lsun. We have combined new narrow-band H$alpha$+[NII] and broad-band g, r optical imaging taken with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), with archival GALEX, 2MASS, Spitzer, and Herschel data. The SEDs (photometry and integrated H$alpha$ flux) have been fitted with a modified version of the MAGPHYS code using stellar population synthesis models for the UV-near-IR range and thermal emission models for the IR emission taking into account the energy balance between the absorbed and re-emitted radiation. From the SED fits we derive the star-formation histories (SFH) of these galaxies. For nearly half of them the star-formation rate appears to be approximately constant during the last few Gyrs. In the other half, the current star-formation rate seems to be enhanced by a factor of 3-20 with respect to that occured ~1 Gyr ago. Objects with constant SFH tend to be more massive than starbursts and they are compatible with the expected properties of a main-sequence (M-S) galaxy. Likewise, the derived SFHs show that all our objects were M-S galaxies ~1 Gyr ago with stellar masses between 10^10.1 and 10^11.5 Msun. We also derived from our fits the average extinction (A_v=0.6-3 mag) and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) luminosity to L(IR) ratio (0.03-0.16). We combined the A_v with the total IR and H$alpha$ luminosities into a diagram which can be used to identify objects with rapidly changing (increasing or decreasing) SFR during the last 100 Myr.
We present a Bayesian full-spectral-fitting analysis of 75 massive ($M_* > 10^{10.3} M_odot$) UVJ-selected galaxies at redshifts of $1.0 < z < 1.3$, combining extremely deep rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy from VANDELS with multi-wavelength photometry. By the use of a sophisticated physical plus systematic uncertainties model, constructed within the Bagpipes code, we place strong constraints on the star-formation histories (SFHs) of individual objects. We firstly constrain the stellar mass vs stellar age relationship, finding a steep trend towards earlier average formation with increasing stellar mass of $1.48^{+0.34}_{-0.39}$ Gyr per decade in mass, although this shows signs of flattening at $M_* > 10^{11} M_odot$. We show that this is consistent with other spectroscopic studies from $0 < z < 2$. This relationship places strong constraints on the AGN-feedback models used in cosmological simulations. We demonstrate that, although the relationships predicted by Simba and IllustrisTNG agree well with observations at $z=0.1$, they are too shallow at $z=1$, predicting an evolution of $<0.5$ Gyr per decade in mass. Secondly, we consider the connections between green-valley, post-starburst and quiescent galaxies, using our inferred SFH shapes and the distributions of galaxy physical properties on the UVJ diagram. The majority of our lowest-mass galaxies ($M_* sim 10^{10.5} M_odot$) are consistent with formation in recent ($z<2$), intense starburst events, with timescales of $lesssim500$ Myr. A second class of objects experience extended star-formation epochs before rapidly quenching, passing through both green-valley and post-starburst phases. The most massive galaxies in our sample are extreme systems: already old by $z=1$, they formed at $zsim5$ and quenched by $z=3$. However, we find evidence for their continued evolution through both AGN and rejuvenated star-formation activity.
We compare multi-wavelength SFR indicators out to z~3 in GOODS-South. Our analysis uniquely combines U-to-8um photometry from FIREWORKS, MIPS 24um and PACS 70, 100, and 160um photometry from the PEP survey, and Ha spectroscopy from the SINS survey. We describe a set of
We conducted systematic observations of the HI Br-alpha line (4.05 micron) and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature (3.3 micron) in 50 nearby (z<0.3) ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) with AKARI. The Br-alpha line is predicted to be the brightest among the HI lines under high dust-extinction conditions (A_V>15 mag). The Br-alpha line traces ionizing photons from OB stars and so is used as an indicator of star formation on the assumption of the initial mass function. We detected the Br-alpha line in 33 ULIRGs. The luminosity of the line (L_BrA) correlates well with that of the 3.3 micron PAH emission (L_3.3). Thus we utilize L_3.3 as an indicator of star formation in fainter objects where the Br-alpha line is undetected. The mean L_BrA/L_IR ratio in LINERs/Seyferts is significantly lower than that in HII galaxies. This difference is reconfirmed with the L_3.3/L_IR ratio in the larger sample (46 galaxies). Using the ratios, we estimate that the contribution of starburst in LINERs/Seyferts is ~67%, and active galactic nuclei contribute to the remaining ~33%. However, comparing the number of ionizing photons, Q_BrA, derived from L_BrA with that, Q_IR, expected from star formation rate required to explain L_IR, we find that the mean Q_BrA/Q_IR ratio is only 55.5+/-7.5% even in HII galaxies which are thought to be energized by pure starburst. This deficit of ionizing photons traced by the Br-alpha line is significant even taking heavy dust extinction into consideration. We propose that dust within HII regions absorbs a significant fraction of ionizing photons.
We present near-infrared and optical spectroscopic observations of a sample of 450$mu$m and 850$mu$m-selected dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) identified in a 400 arcmin$^2$ area in the COSMOS field. Thirty-one sources of the 102 targets were spectroscopically confirmed at $0.2<z<4$, identified primarily in the near-infrared with Keck MOSFIRE and some in the optical with Keck LRIS and DEIMOS. The low rate of confirmation is attributable both to high rest-frame optical obscuration in our targets and limited sensitivity to certain redshift ranges. The high-quality photometric redshifts available in the COSMOS field allow us to test the robustness of photometric redshifts for DSFGs. We find a subset (11/31$approx35$%) of DSFGs with inaccurate ($Delta z/(1+z)>0.2$) or non-existent photometric redshifts; these have very distinct spectral energy distributions from the remaining DSFGs, suggesting a decoupling of highly obscured and unobscured components. We present a composite rest-frame 4300--7300AA spectrum for DSFGs, and find evidence of 200$pm$30 km s$^{-1}$ gas outflows. Nebular line emission for a sub-sample of our detections indicate that hard ionizing radiation fields are ubiquitous in high-z DSFGs, even more so than typical mass or UV-selected high-z galaxies. We also confirm the extreme level of dust obscuration in DSFGs, measuring very high Balmer decrements, and very high ratios of IR to UV and IR to H$alpha$ luminosities. This work demonstrates the need to broaden the use of wide bandwidth technology in the millimeter to the spectroscopic confirmations of large samples of high-z DSFGs, as the difficulty in confirming such sources at optical/near-infrared wavelengths is exceedingly challenging given their obscuration.