No Arabic abstract
Combining high-fidelity group characterisation from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and source-tailored $z<0.1$ photometry from the WISE survey, we present a comprehensive study of the properties of ungrouped galaxies, compared to 497 galaxy groups (4$leq$ N$_{rm FoF}$ $leq$ 20) as a function of stellar and halo mass. Ungrouped galaxies are largely unimodal in WISE color, the result of being dominated by star-forming, late-type galaxies. Grouped galaxies, however, show a clear bimodality in WISE color, which correlates strongly with stellar mass and morphology. We find evidence for an increasing early-type fraction, in stellar mass bins between $10^{10}lesssim$M$_{rm stellar} lesssim10^{11}$ M$_odot$, with increasing halo mass. Using ungrouped, late-type galaxies with star-forming colors (W2$-$W3$>$3), we define a star-forming main-sequence (SFMS), which we use to delineate systems that have moved below the sequence (quenched for the purposes of this work). We find that with increasing halo mass, the relative number of late-type systems on the SFMS decreases, with a corresponding increase in early-type, quenched systems at high stellar mass (M$_{rm stellar}>{10}^{10.5}$ M$_odot$), consistent with mass quenching. Group galaxies with masses M$_{rm stellar}<{10}^{10.5}$ M$_odot$ show evidence of quenching consistent with environmentally-driven processes. The stellar mass distribution of late-type, quenched galaxies suggests they may be an intermediate population as systems transition from being star-forming and late-type to the red sequence. Finally, we use the projected area of groups on the sky to extract groups that are (relatively) compact for their halo mass. Although these show a marginal increase in their proportion of high mass and early-type galaxies compared to nominal groups, a clear increase in quenched fraction is not evident.
We explore the clustering of galaxy groups in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to investigate the dependence of group bias and profile on separation scale and group mass. Due to the inherent uncertainty in estimating the group selection function, and hence the group auto-correlation function, we instead measure the projected galaxy--group cross-correlation function. We find that the group profile has a strong dependence on scale and group mass on scales $r_bot lesssim 1 h^{-1} mathrm{Mpc}$. We also find evidence that the most massive groups live in extended, overdense, structures. In the first application of marked clustering statistics to groups, we find that group-mass marked clustering peaks on scales comparable to the typical group radius of $r_bot approx 0.5 h^{-1} mathrm{Mpc}$. While massive galaxies are associated with massive groups, the marked statistics show no indication of galaxy mass segregation within groups. We show similar results from the IllustrisTNG simulations and the L-Galaxies model, although L-Galaxies shows an enhanced bias and galaxy mass dependence on small scales.
Recent work has suggested that mid-IR wavelengths are optimal for estimating the mass-to-light ratios of stellar populations and hence the stellar masses of galaxies. We compare stellar masses deduced from spectral energy distribution (SED) models, fitted to multi-wavelength optical-NIR photometry, to luminosities derived from {it WISE} photometry in the $W1$ and $W2$ bands at 3.6 and 4.5$mu$m for non-star forming galaxies. The SED derived masses for a carefully selected sample of low redshift ($z le 0.15$) passive galaxies agree with the prediction from stellar population synthesis models that $M_*/L_{W1} simeq 0.6$ for all such galaxies, independent of other stellar population parameters. The small scatter between masses predicted from the optical SED and from the {it WISE} measurements implies that random errors (as opposed to systematic ones such as the use of different IMFs) are smaller than previous, deliberately conservative, estimates for the SED fits. This test is subtly different from simultaneously fitting at a wide range of optical and mid-IR wavelengths, which may just generate a compromise fit: we are directly checking that the best fit model to the optical data generates an SED whose $M_*/L_{W1}$ is also consistent with separate mid-IR data. We confirm that for passive low redshift galaxies a fixed $M_*/L_{W1} = 0.65$ can generate masses at least as accurate as those obtained from more complex methods. Going beyond the mean value, in agreement with expectations from the models, we see a modest change in $M_*/L_{W1}$ with SED fitted stellar population age but an insignificant one with metallicity.
We derive the low redshift galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF), inclusive of dust corrections, for the equatorial Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) dataset covering 180 deg$^2$. We construct the mass function using a density-corrected maximum volume method, using masses corrected for the impact of optically thick and thin dust. We explore the galactic bivariate brightness plane ($M_star-mu$), demonstrating that surface brightness effects do not systematically bias our mass function measurement above 10$^{7.5}$ M$_{odot}$. The galaxy distribution in the $M-mu$-plane appears well bounded, indicating that no substantial population of massive but diffuse or highly compact galaxies are systematically missed due to the GAMA selection criteria. The GSMF is {fit with} a double Schechter function, with $mathcal M^star=10^{10.78pm0.01pm0.20}M_odot$, $phi^star_1=(2.93pm0.40)times10^{-3}h_{70}^3$Mpc$^{-3}$, $alpha_1=-0.62pm0.03pm0.15$, $phi^star_2=(0.63pm0.10)times10^{-3}h_{70}^3$Mpc$^{-3}$, and $alpha_2=-1.50pm0.01pm0.15$. We find the equivalent faint end slope as previously estimated using the GAMA-I sample, although we find a higher value of $mathcal M^star$. Using the full GAMA-II sample, we are able to fit the mass function to masses as low as $10^{7.5}$ $M_odot$, and assess limits to $10^{6.5}$ $M_odot$. Combining GAMA-II with data from G10-COSMOS we are able to comment qualitatively on the shape of the GSMF down to masses as low as $10^{6}$ $M_odot$. Beyond the well known upturn seen in the GSMF at $10^{9.5}$ the distribution appears to maintain a single power-law slope from $10^9$ to $10^{6.5}$. We calculate the stellar mass density parameter given our best-estimate GSMF, finding $Omega_star= 1.66^{+0.24}_{-0.23}pm0.97 h^{-1}_{70} times 10^{-3}$, inclusive of random and systematic uncertainties.
We use the GAMA I dataset combined with GALEX, SDSS and UKIDSS imaging to construct the low-redshift (z<0.1) galaxy luminosity functions in FUV, NUV, ugriz, and YJHK bands from within a single well constrained volume of 3.4 x 10^5 (Mpc/h)^{3}. The derived luminosity distributions are normalised to the SDSS DR7 main survey to reduce the estimated cosmic variance to the 5 per cent level. The data are used to construct the cosmic spectral energy distribution (CSED) from 0.1 to 2.1 mum free from any wavelength dependent cosmic variance for both the elliptical and non-elliptical populations. The two populations exhibit dramatically different CSEDs as expected for a predominantly old and young population respectively. Using the Driver et al. (2008) prescription for the azimuthally averaged photon escape fraction, the non-ellipticals are corrected for the impact of dust attenuation and the combined CSED constructed. The final results show that the Universe is currently generating (1.8 +/- 0.3) x 10^{35} h W Mpc^{-3} of which (1.2 +/- 0.1) x 10^{35} h W Mpc^{-3} is directly released into the inter-galactic medium and (0.6 +/- 0.1) x 10^{35} h W Mpc^{-3} is reprocessed and reradiated by dust in the far-IR. Using the GAMA data and our dust model we predict the mid and far-IR emission which agrees remarkably well with available data. We therefore provide a robust description of the pre- and post dust attenuated energy output of the nearby Universe from 0.1micron to 0.6mm. The largest uncertainty in this measurement lies in the mid and far-IR bands stemming from the dust attenuation correction and its currently poorly constrained dependence on environment, stellar mass, and morphology.
We present a detailed study of emission-line systems in the GAMA G23 region, making use of $textit{WISE}$ photometry that includes carefully measured resolved sources. After applying several cuts to the initial catalogue of $sim$41,000 galaxies, we extract a sample of 9,809 galaxies. We then compare the spectral diagnostic (BPT) classification of 1154 emission-line galaxies (38$%$ resolved in W1) to their location in the $textit{WISE}$ colour-colour diagram, leading to the creation of a new zone for mid-infrared warm galaxies located 2$sigma$ above the star-forming sequence, below the standard $textit{WISE}$ AGN region. We find that the BPT and $textit{WISE}$ diagrams agree on the classification for 85$%$ and 8$%$ of the galaxies as non-AGN (star forming = SF) and AGN, respectively, and disagree on $sim$7$%$ of the entire classified sample. 39$%$ of the AGN (all types) are broad-line systems for which the [ion{N}{ii}] and [H$alpha$] fluxes can barely be disentangled, giving in most cases spurious [ion{N}{ii}]/[H$alpha$] flux ratios. However, several optical AGN appear to be completely consistent with SF in $textit{WISE}$. We argue that these could be low power AGN, or systems whose hosts dominate the IR emission. Alternatively, given the sometimes high [ion{O}{iii}] luminosity in these galaxies, the emission lines may be generated by shocks coming from super-winds associated with SF rather than the AGN activity. Based on our findings, we have created a new diagnostic: [W1-W2] vs [ion{N}{ii}]/[H$alpha$], which has the virtue of separating SF from AGN and high-excitation sources. It classifies 3$sim$5 times more galaxies than the classic BPT