No Arabic abstract
Local UV-bright galaxies in the Kiso survey include clumpy systems with kpc-size star complexes that resemble clumpy young galaxies in surveys at high redshift. We compare clump masses and underlying disks in several dozen galaxies from each of these surveys to the star complexes and disks of normal spirals. Photometry and spectroscopy for the Kiso and spiral sample come from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that the largest Kiso clumpy galaxies resemble UDF clumpies in terms of the star formation rates, clump masses, and clump surface densities. Clump masses and surface densities in normal spirals are smaller. If the clump masses are proportional to the turbulent Jeans mass in the interstellar medium, then for the most luminous galaxies in the sequence of normal:Kiso:UDF, the turbulent speeds and surface densities increase in the proportions 1.0:4.7:5.0 and 1.0:4.0:5.1, respectively, for fixed restframe B-band absolute magnitude. For the least luminous galaxies in the overlapping magnitude range, the turbulent speed and surface density trends are 1.0:2.7:7.4 and 1.0:1.4:3.0, respectively. We also find that while all three types have radially decreasing disk intensities when measured with ellipse-fit azimuthal averages, the average profiles are more irregular for UDF clumpies (which are viewed in their restframe UV) than for Kiso galaxies (viewed at g-band), and major axis intensity scans are even more irregular for the UDF than Kiso galaxies. Local clumpy galaxies in the Kiso survey appear to be intermediate between UDF clumpies and normal spirals.
The Clusters, Clumps, Dust, and Gas in Extreme Star-Forming Galaxies (CCDG) survey with the Hubble Space Telescope includes multi-wavelength imaging of 13 galaxies less than 100 Mpc away spanning a range of morphologies and sizes, from Blue Compact Dwarfs (BCDs) to luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs), all with star formation rates in excess of hundreds of solar masses per year. Images of 7 merging galaxies in the CCDG survey were artificially redshifted to compare with galaxies at z=0.5, 1, and 2. Most redshifted tails have surface brightnesses that would be visible at z=0.5 or 1 but not at z=2 due to cosmological dimming. Giant star clumps are apparent in these galaxies; the 51 measured have similar sizes, masses and colors as clumps in observed high-z systems in UDF, GEMS, GOODS, and CANDELS surveys. These results suggest that some clumpy high-z galaxies without observable tidal features could be the result of mergers. The local clumps also have the same star formation rate per unit area and stellar surface density as clumps observed at intermediate and high redshift, so they provide insight into the substructure of distant clumps. A total of 1596 star clusters brighter than MV = -9 were identified within the boundaries of the local clumps. The cluster magnitude distribution function is a power law with approximately the same slope (approximately -1 for a number-log luminosity plot) for all the galaxies both inside and outside the clumps and independent of clump surface brightness.
We present $HST$ narrow-band near-infrared imaging of Pa$alpha$ and Pa$beta$ emission of 48 local Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) from the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). These data allow us to measure the properties of 810 spatially resolved star-forming regions (59 nuclei and 751 extra-nuclear clumps), and directly compare their properties to those found in both local and high-redshift star-forming galaxies. We find that in LIRGs, the star-forming clumps have radii ranging from $sim90-900$ pc and star formation rates (SFRs) of $sim1times10^{-3}$ to 10 M$_odot$yr$^{-1}$, with median values for extra-nuclear clumps of 170 pc and 0.03 M$_odot$yr$^{-1}$. The detected star-forming clumps are young, with a median stellar age of $8.7$ Myrs, and a median stellar mass of $5times10^{5}$ M$_odot$. The SFRs span the range of those found in normal local star-forming galaxies to those found in high-redshift star-forming galaxies at $rm{z}=1-3$. The luminosity function of the LIRG clumps has a flatter slope than found in lower-luminosity, star-forming galaxies, indicating a relative excess of luminous star-forming clumps. In order to predict the possible range of star-forming histories and gas fractions, we compare the star-forming clumps to those measured in the MassiveFIRE high-resolution cosmological simulation. The star-forming clumps in MassiveFIRE cover the same range of SFRs and sizes found in the local LIRGs and have total gas fractions that extend from 10 to 90%. If local LIRGs are similar to these simulated galaxies, we expect future observations with ALMA will find a large range of gas fractions, and corresponding star formation efficiencies, among the star-forming clumps in LIRGs.
We have undertaken the largest survey for outflows within the Galactic Plane using simultaneously observed 13CO and C18O data. 325 out of a total of 919 ATLASGAL clumps have data suitable to identify outflows, and 225 (69+-3%) of them show high velocity outflows. The clumps with detected outflows show significantly higher clump masses (M_{clump}), bolometric luminosities (L_{bol}), luminosity-to-mass ratios (L_{bol}/M_{clump}) and peak H_2 column densities (N_{H_2}) compared to those without outflows. Outflow activity has been detected within the youngest quiescent clump (i.e.,70um weak) in this sample and we find that the outflow detection rate increases with M_{clump},L_{bol},L_{bol}/M_{clump} and N_{H_2},approaching 90% in some cases(uchii regions=93+-3%;masers=86+-4%;hchii regions=100%). This high detection rate suggests that outflows are ubiquitous phenomena of massive star formation. The mean outflow mass entrainment rate implies a mean accretion rate of ~10^{-4}M_odot,yr^{-1}, in full agreement with the accretion rate predicted by theoretical models of massive star formation. Outflow properties are tightly correlated with M_{clump},L_{bol} and L_{bol}/M_{clump},and show the strongest relation with the bolometric clump luminosity. This suggests that outflows might be driven by the most massive and luminous source within the clump. The correlations are similar for both low-mass and high-mass outflows over 7 orders of magnitude, indicating that they may share a similar outflow mechanism. Outflow energy is comparable to the turbulent energy within the clump, however, we find no evidence that outflows increase the level of clump turbulence as the clumps evolve. This implies that the origin of turbulence within clumps is fixed before the onset of star formation.
The morphology of massive star-forming galaxies at high redshift is often dominated by giant clumps of mass ~10^8-10^9 Msun and size ~100-1000 pc. Previous studies have proposed that giant clumps might have an important role in the evolution of their host galaxy, particularly in building the central bulge. However, this depends on whether clumps live long enough to migrate from their original location in the disc or whether they get disrupted by their own stellar feedback before reaching the centre of the galaxy. We use cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the FIRE (Feedback in Realistic Environments) project that implement explicit treatments of stellar feedback and ISM physics to study the properties of these clumps. We follow the evolution of giant clumps in a massive (stellar mass ~10^10.8 Msun at z=1), discy, gas-rich galaxy from redshift z>2 to z=1. Even though the clumpy phase of this galaxy lasts over a gigayear, individual gas clumps are short-lived, with mean lifetime of massive clumps of ~20 Myr. During that time, they turn between 0.1% and 20% of their gas into stars before being disrupted, similar to local GMCs. Clumps with M>10^7 Msun account for ~20% of the total star formation in the galaxy during the clumpy phase, producing ~10^10 Msun of stars. We do not find evidence for net inward migration of clumps within the galaxy. The number of giant clumps and their mass decrease at lower redshifts, following the decrease in the overall gas fraction and star-formation rate.
We perform a detailed analysis of the resolved colors and stellar populations of a complete sample of 323 star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.5, and 326 star-forming galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 in the ERS and CANDELS-Deep region of GOODS-South. Galaxies were selected to be more massive than 10^10 Msun and have specific star formation rates above 1/t_H. We model the 7-band optical ACS + near-IR WFC3 spectral energy distributions of individual bins of pixels, accounting simultaneously for the galaxy-integrated photometric constraints available over a longer wavelength range. We analyze variations in rest-frame color, stellar surface mass density, age, and extinction as a function of galactocentric radius and local surface brightness/density, and measure structural parameters on luminosity and stellar mass maps. We find evidence for redder colors, older stellar ages, and increased dust extinction in the nuclei of galaxies. Big star-forming clumps seen in star formation tracers are less prominent or even invisible on the inferred stellar mass distributions. Off-center clumps contribute up to ~20% to the integrated SFR, but only 7% or less to the integrated mass of all massive star-forming galaxies at z ~ 1 and z ~ 2, with the fractional contributions being a decreasing function of wavelength used to select the clumps. The stellar mass profiles tend to have smaller sizes and M20 coefficients, and higher concentration and Gini coefficients than the light distribution. Our results are consistent with an inside-out disk growth scenario with brief (100 - 200 Myr) episodic local enhancements in star formation superposed on the underlying disk. Alternatively, the young ages of off-center clumps may signal inward clump migration, provided this happens efficiently on the order of an orbital timescale.