No Arabic abstract
We present an analysis of far--infrared (FIR) [CII] and [OI] fine structure line and continuum observations obtained with $Herschel$/PACS, and CO(1-0) observations obtained with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer, of Lyman Break Analogs (LBAs) at $zsim 0.2$. The principal aim of this work is to determine the typical ISM properties of $zsim 1-2$ Main Sequence (MS) galaxies, with stellar masses between $10^{9.5}$ and $10^{11}$ $M_{odot}$, which are currently not easily detectable in all these lines even with ALMA and NOEMA. We perform PDR modeling and apply different IR diagnostics to derive the main physical parameters of the FIR emitting gas and dust and we compare the derived ISM properties to those of galaxies on and above the MS at different redshifts. We find that the ISM properties of LBAs are quite extreme (low gas temperature, high density and thermal pressure) with respect to those found in local normal spirals and more active local galaxies. LBAs have no [CII] deficit despite having the high specific star formation rates (sSFRs) typical of starbursts. Although LBAs lie above the local MS, we show that their ISM properties are more similar to those of high-redshift MS galaxies than of local galaxies above the main sequence. This data set represents an important reference for planning future ALMA [CII] observations of relatively low-mass MS galaxies at the epoch of the peak of the cosmic star formation.
We present results for 19 Lyman Break Analogs (LBAs) observed with Keck/OSIRIS with an AO-assisted spatial resolution of less than 200 pc. We detect satellites/companions, diffuse emission and velocity shear, all with high signal-to-noise ratios. These galaxies present remarkably high velocity dispersion along the line of sight(- 70 km s-1), much higher than standard star-forming spirals in the low-redshift universe. We artificially redshift our data to z - 2.2 to allow for a direct comparison with observations of high-z LBGs and find striking similarities between both samples. This suggests that either similar physical processes are responsible for their observed properties, or, alternatively, that it is very difficult to distinguish between different mechanisms operating in the low versus high redshift starburst galaxies based on the available data. The comparison between morphologies in the UV/optical continuum and our kinemetry analysis often shows that neither is by itself sufficient to confirm or completely rule out the contribution from recent merger events. We find a correlation between the kinematic properties and stellar mass, in that more massive galaxies show stronger evidence for a disk-like structure. This suggests a co-evolutionary process between the stellar mass build-up and the formation of morphological and dynamical sub-structure within the galaxy.
We present VLT/SINFONI near-infrared (NIR) integral field spectroscopy of six $z sim 0.2$ Lyman break galaxy analogs (LBAs), from which we detect HI, HeI, and [FeII] recombination lines, and multiple H$_2$ ro-vibrational lines in emission. Pa$alpha$ kinematics reveal high velocity dispersions and low rotational velocities relative to random motions ($langle v/sigma rangle = 1.2 pm 0.8$). Matched-aperture comparisons of H$beta$, H$alpha$, and Pa$alpha$ reveal that the nebular color excesses are lower relative to the continuum color excesses than is the case for typical local star-forming systems. We compare observed HeI/HI recombination line ratios to photoionization models to gauge the effective temperatures (T$_{rm eff}$) of massive ionizing stars, finding the properties of at least one LBA are consistent with extra heating from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and/or an overabundance of massive stars. We use H$_2$ 1-0 S($cdot$) ro-vibrational spectra to determine rotational excitation temperature $T_{rm ex} sim 2000$ K for warm molecular gas, which we attribute to UV heating in dense photon-dominated regions. Spatially resolved NIR line ratios favor excitation by massive, young stars, rather than supernovae or AGN feedback. Our results suggest that the local analogs of Lyman break galaxies are primarily subject to strong feedback from recent star formation, with evidence for AGN and outflows in some cases.
A population of early star-forming galaxies is the leading candidate for the re-ionization of the universe. It is still unclear what conditions and physical processes would enable a significant fraction of the ionizing photons to escape from these gas-rich galaxies. In this paper we present the results of the analysis of HST COS far-UV spectroscopy plus ancillary multi-waveband data of a sample of 22 low-redshift galaxies that are good analogs to typical star-forming galaxies at high-redshift. We measure three parameters that provide indirect evidence of the escape of ionizing radiation: (1) the residual intensity in the cores of saturated interstellar low-ionization absorption-lines. (2) The relative amount of blue-shifted Lyman alpha line emission, and (3) the relative weakness of the [SII] optical emission lines. We use these diagnostics to rank-order our sample in terms of likely leakiness, noting that a direct measure of escaping Lyman continuum has recently been made for one of the leakiest members of our sample. We then examine the correlations between our ranking and other proposed diagnostics of leakiness and find a correlation with the equivalent width of the Lyman alpha emission-line. Turning to galaxy properties, we find the strongest correlations with leakiness are with the compactness of the star-forming region and the speed of the galactic outflow. This suggests that extreme feedback- a high intensity of ionizing radiation and strong pressure from both radiation and a hot galactic wind- combines to create significant holes in the neutral gas. These results not only shed new light on the physical mechanisms that can allow ionizing radiation to escape from intensely star-forming galaxies, they also provide indirect observational indicators that can be used at high-redshift where direct measurements of escaping Lyman continuum radiation are impossible.
We have studied high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) populations within two low-metallicity, starburst galaxies, Haro 11 and VV 114. These galaxies serve as analogs to high-redshift (z>2) Lyman break galaxies, and within the larger sample of Lyman break analogs (LBAs) are sufficiently nearby (<87 Mpc) to be spatially-resolved by Chandra. Previous studies of the X-ray emission in LBAs have found that the 2-10 keV luminosity per star formation rate (SFR) in these galaxies is elevated, potentially because of their low metallicities (12+log[O/H]= 8.3-8.4). Theoretically, the progenitors of XRBs forming in lower metallicity environments lose less mass from stellar winds over their lifetimes, producing more massive compact objects (i.e., neutron stars and black holes), and thus resulting in more numerous and luminous HMXBs per SFR. We have performed an in-depth study of the only two LBAs that have spatially-resolved 2-10 keV emission with Chandra to present the bright end of the X-ray luminosity distribution of HMXBs (L$_X>10^{39}$ erg/s; ultraluminous X-ray sources, ULXs) in these low-metallicity galaxies, based on 8 detected ULXs. Comparing with the star-forming galaxy X-ray luminosity function (XLF) presented by Mineo et al. (2012), Haro 11 and VV 114 host ~4 times more L$_X>10^{40}$ erg/s sources than expected given their SFRs. We simulate the effects of source blending from crowded lower luminosity HMXBs using the star-forming galaxy XLF and then vary the XLF shapes until we reproduce the observed point source luminosity distributions. We find that these LBAs have a shallower bright end slope than the standard XLF. If we conservatively assume that the brightest X-ray source from each galaxy is powered by an AGN rather than a HMXB and eliminate these sources from consideration, the luminosity distribution becomes poorly constrained but does appear to be consistent with a standard XLF. [Abridged]
The optical properties of a number of supercompact ultraviolet luminous galaxies (UVLG), recently discovered in the local Universe matching GALEX and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, are discussed. Detailed re-analysis of the SDSS data for these and other similar but nearer galaxies shows that their surface brightness radial profile in both R and u bands is in most cases well described by an extended disk plus a central unresolved component (possibly a bulge). Since the SDSS pipeline used a single disk component to derive the half light radius of these UVLGs their size was severely underestimated. Consequently, the average UV surface brightness is much lower that previously quoted casting doubts on the claim that UVLGs are the local analogs of high redshift Lyman break galaxies.