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1) Rotation Curves and M/L Evolution for Galaxies to z=0.4, (Bershady, Haynes, Giovanelli, & Andersen) 2) Mass Estimates of Starbursting Galaxies: Line Widths versus Near-IR Luminosities (Jangren, Bershady, & Gronwall) 3) Galaxy Kinematics with Integral Field Spectroscopy (Andersen, Bershady)
The galaxy phase-space distribution in galaxy clusters provides insights into the formation and evolution of cluster galaxies, and it can also be used to measure cluster mass profiles. We present a dynamical study based on $sim$3000 passive, non-emission line cluster galaxies drawn from 110 galaxy clusters. The galaxy clusters were selected using the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) in the 2500~deg$^2$ SPT-SZ survey and cover the redshift range $0.2 < z < 1.3$. We model the clusters using the Jeans equation, while adopting NFW mass profiles and a broad range of velocity dispersion anisotropy profiles. The data prefer velocity dispersion anisotropy profiles that are approximately isotropic near the center and increasingly radial toward the cluster virial radius, and this is true for all redshifts and masses we study. The pseudo-phase-space density profile of the passive galaxies is consistent with expectations for dark matter particles and subhalos from cosmological $N$-body simulations. The dynamical mass constraints are in good agreement with external mass estimates of the SPT cluster sample from either weak lensing, velocity dispersions, or X-ray $Y_X$ measurements. However, the dynamical masses are lower (at the 2.2$sigma$ level) when compared to the mass calibration favored when fitting the SPT cluster data to a $Lambda$CDM model with external cosmological priors, including CMB anisotropy data from Planck. The discrepancy grows with redshift, where in the highest redshift bin the ratio of dynamical to SPT+Planck masses is $eta=0.63^{+0.13}_{-0.08}pm0.06$ (statistical and systematic), corresponding to a $2.6sigma$ discrepancy.
We present our project on galaxy evolution in the environment of distant rich clusters aiming at disentangling the importance of specific interaction and galaxy transformation processes from the hierarchical evolution of field galaxies. Spatially resolved MOS spectra were gained with VLT/FORS to analyze the internal kinematics of disk galaxies. First results are shown for the clusters MS 1008.1-1224 (z=0.30), Cl 0303+1706 (z=0.42), and Cl 0413-6559 (z=0.51). Out of 35 late type cluster members, 13 galaxies exhibit a rotation curve of the universal form rising in the inner region and passing over into a flat part. The other members have peculiar kinematics. The 13 cluster galaxies for which a maximum rotation velocity could be derived are distributed in the Tully-Fisher diagram very similar to field galaxies from the FORS Deep Field with corresponding redshifts. The same is true for seven non-cluster galaxies observed in the cluster fields. The TF-cluster spirals do not show any significant luminosity evolution as might be expected from certain clusterspecific phenomena. Contrary to that, the disturbed kinematics of the non--TF cluster spirals indicate ongoing or recent interaction processes.
I discuss observations of two traditional age indicators, chromospheric activity and kinematics, in late-M and L dwarfs near the hydrogen-burning limit. The frequency and strength of chromospheric activity disappears rapidly as a function of temperature over spectral types M8-L4. There is evidence that young late-M and L dwarfs have weaker activity than older ones, the opposite of the traditional stellar age-activity relation. The kinematics of L dwarfs confirm that lithium L dwarfs are younger than non-lithium dwarfs.
We show that the discrepancy between the Tully-Fisher relation and the luminosity function predicted by most phenomenological galaxy formation models is mainly due to overmerging of galaxy haloes. We have circumvented this overmerging problem, which is inherent in both the Press-Schechter formalism and dissipationless N-body simulations, by including a specific galaxy halo formation recipe into an otherwise standard N-body code. This numerical technique provides the merger trees which, together with simplified gas dynamics and star formation physics, constitute our implementation of a phenomenological galaxy formation model. Resolving the overmerging problem provides us with the means to match both the I-band Tully-Fisher relation and the B and K band luminosity functions within an EdS sCDM structure formation scenario. It also allows us to include models for chemical evolution and starbursts, which improves the match to observational data and renders the modelling more realistic. We show that the inclusion of chemical evolution into the modelling requires a significant fraction of stars to be formed in short bursts triggered by merging events.
Galaxy clustering on very large scales can be probed via the 2-point correlation function in the general case of wide and deep separations, including all the lightcone and relativistic effects. Using our recently developed formalism, we analyze the behavior of the local and integrated contributions and how these depend on redshift range, linear and angular separations and luminosity function. Relativistic corrections to the local part of the correlation can be non-negligible but they remain generally sub-dominant. On the other hand, the additional correlations arising from lensing convergence and time-delay effects can become very important and even dominate the observed total correlation function. We investigate different configurations formed by the observer and the pair of galaxies, and we find that the case of near-radial large-scale separations is where these effects will be the most important.