No Arabic abstract
We discuss observational evidence that quasars play a key role in the formation of galaxies starting from the detailed study of the quasar HE0450-2958 and extending the discussion to a series of converging evidence that radio jets may trigger galaxy formation. The direct detection with VISIR at the ESO-VLT of the 7 kpc distant companion galaxy of HE0450-2958 allows us to spatially separate the sites of quasar and star formation activity in this composite system made of two ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). No host galaxy has yet been detected for this quasar, but the companion galaxy stellar mass would bring HE0450-2958 in the local M(BH)-M(stellar bulge) relation if it were to merge with the QSO. This is bound to happen because of their close distance (7 kpc) and small relative velocity (~60-200 km/s). We conclude that we may be witnessing the building of the M(BH)-M(stellar bulge) relation, or at least of a major event in that process. The star formation rate (~340 Msun/yr), age (40-200 Myr) and stellar mass ([5-6]x10^10 Msun) are consistent with jet-induced formation of the companion galaxy. We suggest that HE0450-2958 may be fueled in fresh material by cold gas accretion from intergalactic filaments. We map the projected galaxy density surrounding the QSO as a potential tracer of intergalactic filaments and discuss a putative detection. Comparison to other systems suggests that inside-out formation of quasar host galaxies and jet-induced galaxy formation may be a common process. Two tests are proposed for this new paradigm: (1) the detection of offset molecular gas or dust emission with respect to the position of distant QSOs, (2) the delayed formation of host galaxies as a result of QSO activity, hence the two step building of the M(BH)/M(stellar bulge) ratio.
We present high signal-to-noise galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements of the BOSS CMASS sample using 250 square degrees of weak lensing data from CFHTLenS and CS82. We compare this signal with predictions from mock catalogs trained to match observables including the stellar mass function and the projected and two dimensional clustering of CMASS. We show that the clustering of CMASS, together with standard models of the galaxy-halo connection, robustly predicts a lensing signal that is 20-40% larger than observed. Detailed tests show that our results are robust to a variety of systematic effects. Lowering the value of $S_{rm 8}=sigma_{rm 8} sqrt{Omega_{rm m}/0.3}$ compared to Planck2015 reconciles the lensing with clustering. However, given the scale of our measurement ($r<10$ $h^{-1}$ Mpc), other effects may also be at play and need to be taken into consideration. We explore the impact of baryon physics, assembly bias, massive neutrinos, and modifications to general relativity on $DeltaSigma$ and show that several of these effects may be non-negligible given the precision of our measurement. Disentangling cosmological effects from the details of the galaxy-halo connection, the effects of baryons, and massive neutrinos, is the next challenge facing joint lensing and clustering analyses. This is especially true in the context of large galaxy samples from Baryon Acoustic Oscillation surveys with precise measurements but complex selection functions.
We report the discovery of a radio quiet type 2 quasar (SDSS J165315.06+234943.0 nicknamed the Beetle at z=0.103) with unambiguous evidence for active galactic nucleus (AGN) radio induced feedback acting across a total extension of ~46 kpc and up to ~26 kpc from the AGN. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first radio quiet system where radio induced feedback has been securely identified at >>several kpc from the AGN. Turbulent gas is also found far from the radio axis, ~25 kpc in the perpendicular direction. We propose a scenario in which the radio structures have perforated the interstellar medium of the galaxy and escaped into the circumgalactic medium. While advancing, they have interacted with in-situ gas modifying its properties. Our results show that jets of modest power can be the dominant feedback mechanism acting across huge volumes in radio quiet systems, including highly accreting luminous AGN, where radiative mode feedback may be expected.
The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed a very different galaxyscape from that shown by optical surveys which presents a challenge for galaxy-evolution models. The Herschel surveys reveal (1) that there was rapid galaxy evolution in the very recent past and (2) that galaxies lie on a a single Galaxy Sequence (GS) rather than a star-forming `main sequence and a separate region of `passive or `red-and-dead galaxies. The form of the GS is now clearer because far-infrared surveys such as the Herschel ATLAS pick up a population of optically-red star-forming galaxies that would have been classified as passive using most optical criteria. The space-density of this population is at least as high as the traditional star-forming population. By stacking spectra of H-ATLAS galaxies over the redshift range 0.001 < z < 0.4, we show that the galaxies responsible for the rapid low-redshift evolution have high stellar masses, high star-formation rates but, even several billion years in the past, old stellar populations - they are thus likely to be relatively recent ancestors of early-type galaxies in the Universe today. The form of the GS is inconsistent with rapid quenching models and neither the analytic bathtub model nor the hydrodynamical EAGLE simulation can reproduce the rapid cosmic evolution. We propose a new gentler model of galaxy evolution that can explain the new Herschel results and other key properties of the galaxy population.
State-of-the-art models of massive black hole formation postulate that quasars at $z>6$ reside in extreme peaks of the cosmic density structure in the early universe. Even so, direct observational evidence of these overdensities is elusive, especially on large scales ($gg$1 Mpc) as the spectroscopic follow-up of $z>6$ galaxies is observationally expensive. Here we present Keck / DEIMOS optical and IRAM / NOEMA millimeter spectroscopy of a $zsim6$ Lyman-break galaxy candidate originally discovered via broadband selection, at a projected separation of 4.65 physical Mpc (13.94 arcmin) from the luminous $z$=6.308 quasar J1030+0524. This well-studied field presents the strongest indication to date of a large-scale overdensity around a $z>6$ quasar. The Keck observations suggest a $zsim6.3$ dropout identification of the galaxy. The NOEMA 1.2mm spectrum shows a 3.5$sigma$ line that, if interpreted as [CII], would place the galaxy at $z$=6.318 (i.e., at a line-of-sight separation of 3.9 comoving Mpc assuming that relative proper motion is negligible). The measured [CII] luminosity is $3times10^8$ L$_odot$, in line with expectations for a galaxy with a star formation rate $sim15$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$, as inferred from the rest-frame UV photometry. Our combined observations place the galaxy at the same redshift as the quasar, thus strengthening the overdensity scenario for this $z>6$ quasar. This pilot experiment demonstrates the power of millimeter-wavelength observations in the characterization of the environment of early quasars.
Cosmological models that invoke warm or cold dark matter can not explain observed regularities in the properties of dwarf galaxies, their highly anisotropic spatial distributions, nor the correlation between observed mass discrepancies and acceleration. These problems with the standard model of cosmology have deep implications, in particular in combination with the observation that the data are excellently described by Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). MOND is a classical dynamics theory which explains the mass discrepancies in galactic systems, and in the universe at large, without invoking dark entities. MOND introduces a new universal constant of nature with the dimensions of acceleration, a0, such that the pre-MONDian dynamics is valid for accelerations a >> a0, and the deep MONDian regime is obtained for a << a0, where space-time scale invariance is invoked. Remaining challenges for MOND are (i) explaining fully the observed mass discrepancies in galaxy clusters, and (ii) the development of a relativistic theory of MOND that will satisfactorily account for cosmology. The universal constant a0 turns out to have an intriguing connection with cosmology: bar a0 == 2 pi a0 approx c H_0 approx c^2(Lambda/3)^{1/2}. This may point to a deep connection between cosmology and internal dynamics of local systems.