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Register a new userVALES: II. The physical conditions of interstellar gas in normal star-forming galaxies up to z=0.2 revealed by ALMA
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We use new Band-3 CO(1-0) observations taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the physical conditions in the interstellar gas of a sample of 27 dusty main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 0.03<$z$<0.2 present in the Valparaiso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES). The sample is drawn from far-IR bright galaxies over $sim$160 deg$^{2}$ in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (HATLAS), which is covered by Herschel [CII] 158 $mu$m spectroscopy and far-infrared (FIR) photometry. The [CII] and CO lines are both detected at >5$sigma$ in 26 sources. We find an average [CII] to CO(1-0) luminosity ratio of 3500$pm$1200 for our sample that is consistent with previous studies. Using the [CII], CO and FIR measurements as diagnostics of the physical conditions of the interstellar medium, we compare these observations to the predictions of a photodissociation region (PDR) model to determine the gas density, surface temperature, pressure, and the strength of the incident far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation field, $G_{0}$, normalised to the Habing Field. The majority of our sample exhibit hydrogen densities of 4 < $log n/mathrm{cm}^{3}$ < 5.5 and experience an incident FUV radiation field with strengths of 2 < $log G_0$ < 3 when adopting standard adjustments. A comparison to galaxy samples at different redshifts indicates that the average strength of the FUV radiation field appears constant up to redshift $zsim$6.4, yet the neutral gas density increases with redshift by a factor of $sim$100, that persists regardless of various adjustments to our observable quantities. This evolution could provide an explanation for the observed evolution of the star formation rate density with cosmic time, yet could arise from a combination of observational biases when using different suites of emission lines as diagnostic tracers of PDR gas.
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We present an extragalactic survey using observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to characterise galaxy populations up to $z=0.35$: the Valparaiso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES). We use ALMA Band-3 CO(1--0) observations to study the molecular gas content in a sample of 67 dusty normal star-forming galaxies selected from the $Herschel$ Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey ($H$-ATLAS). We have spectrally detected 49 galaxies at $>5sigma$ significance and 12 others are seen at low significance in stacked spectra. CO luminosities are in the range of $(0.03-1.31)times10^{10}$ K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^2$, equivalent to $log({rm M_{gas}/M_{odot}}) =8.9-10.9$ assuming an $alpha_{rm CO}$=4.6(K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{2}$)$^{-1}$, which perfectly complements the parameter space previously explored with local and high-z normal galaxies. We compute the optical to CO size ratio for 21 galaxies resolved by ALMA at $sim 3$.$5$ resolution (6.5 kpc), finding that the molecular gas is on average $sim$ 0.6 times more compact than the stellar component. We obtain a global Schmidt-Kennicutt relation, given by $log [Sigma_{rm SFR}/({rm M_{odot} yr^{-1}kpc^{-2}})]=(1.26 pm 0.02) times log [Sigma_{rm M_{H2}}/({rm M_{odot},pc^{-2}})]-(3.6 pm 0.2)$. We find a significant fraction of galaxies lying at `intermediate efficiencies between a long-standing mode of star-formation activity and a starburst, specially at $rm L_{IR}=10^{11-12} L_{odot}$. Combining our observations with data taken from the literature, we propose that star formation efficiencies can be parameterised by $log [{rm SFR/M_{H2}}]=0.19 times {rm (log {L_{IR}}-11.45)}-8.26-0.41 times arctan[-4.84 (log {rm L_{IR}}-11.45) ]$. Within the redshift range we explore ($z<0.35$), we identify a rapid increase of the gas content as a function of redshift.
We present results from Subaru/FMOS near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 118 star-forming galaxies at $zsim1.5$ in the Subaru Deep Field. These galaxies are selected as [OII]$lambda$3727 emitters at $zapprox$ 1.47 and 1.62 from narrow-band imaging. We detect H$alpha$ emission line in 115 galaxies, [OIII]$lambda$5007 emission line in 45 galaxies, and H$beta$, [NII]$lambda$6584, and [SII]$lambdalambda$6716,6731 in 13, 16, and 6 galaxies, respectively. Including the [OII] emission line, we use the six strong nebular emission lines in the individual and composite rest-frame optical spectra to investigate physical conditions of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies at $zsim$1.5. We find a tight correlation between H$alpha$ and [OII], which suggests that [OII] can be a good star formation rate (SFR) indicator for galaxies at $zsim1.5$. The line ratios of H$alpha$/[OII] are consistent with those of local galaxies. We also find that [OII] emitters have strong [OIII] emission lines. The [OIII]/[OII] ratios are larger than normal star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, suggesting a higher ionization parameter. Less massive galaxies have larger [OIII]/[OII] ratios. With evidence that the electron density is consistent with local galaxies, the high ionization of galaxies at high redshifts may be attributed to a harder radiation field by a young stellar population and/or an increase in the number of ionizing photons from each massive star.
We conducted observations of 12CO(J=5-4) and dust thermal continuum emission toward twenty star-forming galaxies on the main sequence at z~1.4 using ALMA to investigate the properties of the interstellar medium. The sample galaxies are chosen to trace the distributions of star-forming galaxies in diagrams of stellar mass-star formation rate and stellar mass-metallicity. We detected CO emission lines from eleven galaxies. The molecular gas mass is derived by adopting a metallicity-dependent CO-to-H2 conversion factor and assuming a CO(5-4)/CO(1-0) luminosity ratio of 0.23. Molecular gas masses and its fractions (molecular gas mass/(molecular gas mass + stellar mass)) for the detected galaxies are in the ranges of (3.9-12) x 10^{10} Msun and 0.25-0.94, respectively; these values are significantly larger than those in local spiral galaxies. The molecular gas mass fraction decreases with increasing stellar mass; the relation holds for four times lower stellar mass than that covered in previous studies, and that the molecular gas mass fraction decreases with increasing metallicity. Stacking analyses also show the same trends. The dust thermal emissions were clearly detected from two galaxies and marginally detected from five galaxies. Dust masses of the detected galaxies are (3.9-38) x 10^{7} Msun. We derived gas-to-dust ratios and found they are 3-4 times larger than those in local galaxies. The depletion times of molecular gas for the detected galaxies are (1.4-36) x 10^{8} yr while the results of the stacking analysis show ~3 x 10^{8} yr. The depletion time tends to decrease with increasing stellar mass and metallicity though the trend is not so significant, which contrasts with the trends in local galaxies.
We investigate gas contents of star-forming galaxies associated with protocluster 4C23.56 at z = 2.49 by using the redshifted CO(3-2) and 1.1 mm dust continuum with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The observations unveil seven CO detections out of 22 targeted H$alpha$ emitters (HAEs) and four out of 19 in 1.1 mm dust continuum. They have high stellar mass ($M_{star}>4times 10^{10}$ $M_{odot}$) and exhibit a specific star-formation rate typical of main-sequence star forming galaxies at $zsim2.5$. Different gas mass estimators from CO(3-2) and 1.1 mm yield consistent values for simultaneous detections. The gas mass ($M_{rm gas}$) and gas fraction ($f_{rm gas}$) are comparable to those of field galaxies, with $M_{rm gas}=[0.3, 1.8]times10^{11} times (alpha_{rm CO}/(4.36times A(Z)$)) M$_{odot}$, where $alpha_{rm CO}$ is the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor and $A(Z)$ the additional correction factor for the metallicity dependence of $alpha_{rm CO}$, and $langle f_{rm gas}rangle = 0.53 pm 0.07$ from CO(3-2). Our measurements place a constraint on the cosmic gas density of high-$z$ protoclusters, indicating the protocluster is characterized by a gas density higher than that of the general fields by an order of magnitude. We found $rho (H_2)sim 5 times 10^9 ,M_{odot},{rm Mpc^{-3}}$ with the CO(3-2) detections. The five ALMA CO detections occur in the region of highest galaxy surface density, where the density positively correlates with global star-forming efficiency (SFE) and stellar mass. Such correlations imply a potentially critical role of environment on early galaxy evolution at high-z protoclusters, although future observations are necessary for confirmation.
We characterize the ionized gas outflows in 15 low-redshift star-forming galaxies, a Valparaiso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES) subsample, using MUSE integral field spectroscopy and GAMA photometric broadband data. We measure the emission-line spectra by fitting a double-component profile, with the second and broader component being related to the outflowing gas. This interpretation is in agreement with the correlation between the observed star-formation rate surface density ($Sigma_{mathrm{SFR}}$) and the second-component velocity dispersion ($sigma_{mathrm{2nd}}$), expected when tracing the feedback component. By modelling the broadband spectra with spectra energy distribution (SED) fitting and obtaining the star-formation histories of the sample, we observe a small decrease in SFR between 100 and 10 Myr in galaxies when the outflow H$alpha$ luminosity contribution is increased, indicating that the feedback somewhat inhibits the star formation within these timescales. The observed emission-line ratios are best reproduced by photoionization models when compared to shock-ionization, indicating that radiation from young stellar population is dominant, and seems to be a consequence of a continuous star-formation activity instead of a bursty event. The outflow properties such as mass outflow rate ($sim 0.1,$M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$), outflow kinetic power ($sim 5.2 times 10^{-4}% L_{mathrm{bol}}$) and mass loading factor ($sim 0.12$) point towards a scenario where the measured feedback is not strong and has a low impact on the evolution of galaxies in general.
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