No Arabic abstract
We investigate the differences in the stellar population properties, the structure, and the environment between massive compact star-forming galaxies (cSFGs) with or without active galactic nucleus (AGN) at $2<z<3$ in the five 3D-HST/CANDELS fields. In a sample of 221 massive cSFGs, we constitute the most complete AGN census so far, identifying 66 AGNs by the X-ray detection, the mid-infrared color criterion, and/or the SED fitting, while the rest (155) are non-AGNs. Further dividing these cSFGs into two redshift bins, i.e., $2<z<2.5$ and $2.5 leq z<3$, we find that in each redshift bin the cSFGs with AGNs have similar distributions of the stellar mass, the specific star formation rate, and the ratio of $L_{rm IR}$ to $L_{rm UV}$ to those without AGNs. After having performed a two-dimensional surface brightness modeling for those cSFGs with X-ray-detected AGNs (37) to correct for the influence of the central point-like X-ray AGN on measuring the structural parameters of its host galaxy, we find that in each redshift bin the cSFGs with AGNs have comparable distributions of all concerned structural parameters, i.e., the Sersic index, the 20%-light radius, the Gini coefficient, and the concentration index, to those without AGNs. With a gradual consumption of available gas and dust, the structure of cSFGs, indicated by the above structural parameters, seem to be slightly more concentrated with decreasing redshift. At $2<z<3$, the similar environment between cSFGs with and without AGNs suggests that their AGN activities are potentially triggered by internal secular processes, such as gravitational instabilities or/and dynamical friction.
Recent simulation studies suggest that the compaction of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at high redshift might be a critical process, during which the central bulge is being rapidly built, followed by quenching of the star formation. To explore dust properties of SFGs with compact morphology, we investigate the dependence of dust temperature, $T_{rm{dust}}$, on their size and star formation activity, using a sample of massive SFGs with $log (M_{ast}/M_{odot}) > 10$ at $1 < z < 3$, drawn from the 3D-{it HST}/CANDELS database in combination with deep {it Herschel} observations. $T_{rm{dust}}$ is derived via fitting the mid-to-far-infrared photometry with a mid-infrared power law and a far-infrared modified blackbody. We find that both extended and compact SFGs generally follow a similar $T_{rm{dust}}-z$ evolutionary track as that of the main-sequence galaxies. The compact SFGs seem to share similar dust temperature with extended SFGs. Despite the frequent occurrence of AGNs in compact SFGs, we do not observe any effect on dust caused by the presence of AGN in these galaxies during the compaction. Our results disfavor different ISM properties between compact and extended SFGs, suggesting that a rapid and violet compaction process might be not necessary for the formation of compact SFGs.
We present a study on structures and physical properties of massive ($M_* >10^{10} M_{sun} $) compact galaxies at $1.0<z<2.0$ in five 3D--{it HST}/CANDELS fields. Compared with the extended star-forming galaxies (eSFGs), compact star-forming galaxies (cSFGs) are found to have the lower level of star formation, and mainly distribute in the quiescent region of the {it UVJ} diagram. The distributions of dust attenuation and S{e}rsic index support that the progenitors of cQGs are cSFGs, and cSFGs are at a transitional phase between eSFGs and cQGs. The prevalence of X-ray selected AGNs ($sim 28%$) is confirmed in the cSFGs at $1<z<2$ which indicates that the violent gas-rich processes such as merger and disk instability could drive the structure to be more compact, and trigger both star formation and black hole growth in the central regions. Our results support the two-step scenario that the cSFGs at $1<z<2$ are the intermediate population after compaction but before a quick quenching. Our analysis of parametric and nonparametric morphologies shows that cQGs (eQGs) are more concentrated and have less substructures than cSFGs (eSFGs), and quenching and compactness should be associated with each other. The cSFGs at $1.5<z<2$ ($1<z<1.5$) prefer to be in higher (lower) density environment, similar as cQGs (eSFGs). It suggests that merger or strong interaction might be the main driving mechanism of compaction at higher redshifts, whereas the disk instability of individual galaxies might play a more important role on the formation of cSFGs at lower redshifts.
We analyze the star-forming and structural properties of 45 massive (log(M/Msun)>10) compact star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 2<z<3 to explore whether they are progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z~2. The optical/NIR and far-IR Spitzer/Herschel colors indicate that most compact SFGs are heavily obscured. Nearly half (47%) host an X-ray bright AGN. In contrast, only about 10% of other massive galaxies at that time host AGNs. Compact SFGs have centrally-concentrated light profiles and spheroidal morphologies similar to quiescent galaxies, and are thus strikingly different from other SFGs. Most compact SFGs lie either within the SFR-M main sequence (65%) or below (30%), on the expected evolutionary path towards quiescent galaxies. These results show conclusively that galaxies become more compact before they lose their gas and dust, quenching star formation. Using extensive HST photometry from CANDELS and grism spectroscopy from the 3D-HST survey, we model their stellar populations with either exponentially declining (tau) star formation histories (SFHs) or physically-motivated SFHs drawn from semi-analytic models (SAMs). SAMs predict longer formation timescales and older ages ~2 Gyr, which are nearly twice as old as the estimates of the tau models. While both models yield good SED fits, SAM SFHs better match the observed slope and zero point of the SFR-M main sequence. Some low-mass compact SFGs (log(M/Msun)=10-10.6) have younger ages but lower sSFRs than that of more massive galaxies, suggesting that the low-mass galaxies reach the red sequence faster. If the progenitors of compact SFGs are extended SFGs, state-of-the-art SAMs show that mergers and disk instabilities are both able to shrink galaxies, but disk instabilities are more frequent (60% versus 40%) and form more concentrated galaxies. We confirm this result via high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations.
We study the properties of a sample of 211 heavily-obscured Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) candidates in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South selecting objects with f_24/f_R>1000 and R-K>4.5. Of these, 18 were detected in X-rays and found to be obscured AGN with neutral hydrogen column densities of ~10^23 cm^-2. In the X-ray undetected sample, the following evidence suggests a large fraction of heavily-obscured (Compton Thick) AGN: (i) The stacked X-ray signal of the sample is strong, with an observed ratio of soft to hard X-ray counts consistent with a population of ~90% heavily obscured AGN combined with 10% star-forming galaxies. (ii) The X-ray to mid-IR ratios for these sources are significantly larger than that of star-forming galaxies and ~2 orders of magnitude smaller than for the general AGN population, suggesting column densities of N_H>5x10^24 cm^-2. (iii) The Spitzer near- and mid-IR colors of these sources are consistent with those of the X-ray-detected sample if the effects of dust self-absorption are considered. Spectral fitting to the rest-frame UV/optical light (dominated by the host galaxy) returns stellar masses of ~10^11 M_sun and <E(B-V)> =0.5, and reveals evidence for a significant young stellar population, indicating that these sources are experiencing considerable star-formation. This sample of heavily-obscured AGN candidates implies a space density at z~2 of ~10^-5 Mpc^-3, finding a strong evolution in the number of L_X>10^44 erg/s sources from z=1.5 to 2.5, possibly consistent with a short-lived heavily-obscured phase before an unobscured quasar is visible.
Based on a large sample of massive ($M_{*}geq 10^{10} M_{odot}$) compact galaxies at $1.0 < z < 3.0$ in five 3D-HST/CANDELS fields, we quantify the fractional abundance and comoving number density of massive compact galaxies as a function of redshift. The samples of compact quiescent galaxies (cQGs) and compact star-forming galaxies (cSFGs) are constructed by various selection criteria of compact galaxies in literatures, and the effect of compactness definition on abundance estimate is proved to be remarkable, particularly for the cQGs and cSFGs at high redshifts. Regardless of the compactness criteria adopted, their overall redshift evolutions of fractional abundance and number density are found to be rather similar. Large samples of the cQGs exhibit a sustaining increase in number density from $z sim 3$ to 2 and a plateau at $1<z<2$. For massive cSFGs, a plateau in the number density at $2<z<3$ can be found, as well as a continuous drop from $z sim 2$ to 1. The evolutionary trends of the cQG and cSFG abundances support the scenario that the cSFGs at $z geq 2$ may have been rapidly quenched into quiescent phase via violent dissipational processes such as major merger and disk instabilities. Rarity of the cSFGs at lower redshifts ($z < 1$) can be interpreted by the decrease of gas reservoirs in dark matter halos and the consequent low efficiency of gas-rich dissipation.