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Register a new userHI Observations of Major-Merger Pairs at z = 0: atomic gas and star formation
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We present a study of the HI gas content of a large K-band selected sample of 88 close major-merger pairs of galaxies (H-KPAIR) which were observed by $it Herschel$. We obtained the 21 cm HI fine-structure emission line data for a total of 70 pairs from this sample, by observing 58 pairs using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and retrieving the HI data for an addition 12 pairs from the literature. In this HI sample, 34 pairs are spiral-spiral (S+S) pairs, and 36 are spiral-elliptical (S+E). Based on these data, we studied the HI-to-stellar mass ratio, the HI gas fraction and the HI star formation efficiency (SFE$_{mathrm{HI}}$ = star formation rate/$M_{mathrm{HI}}$) and searched for differences between S+S and S+E pairs, as well as between pairs with and without signs for merger/interaction. Our results showed that the mean HI-to-stellar mass ratio of spirals in these pairs is $=7.6pm1.0 %$, consistent with the average HI gas fraction of spiral galaxies in general. The differences in the HI gas fraction between spirals in S+S and in S+E pairs, and between spirals in pairs with and without signs of merger/interaction are insignificant ($< 1 sigma$). On the other hand, the mean SFE$_{mathrm{HI}}$ of S+S pairs is $sim4.6times$ higher than that of S+E pairs. This difference is very significant ($sim 4sigma$) and is the main result of our study. There is no significant difference in the mean SFE$_{mathrm{HI}}$ between galaxies with and without signs of merger/interaction. The mean SFE$_{mathrm{HI}}$ of the whole pair sample is $10^{-9.55pm 0.09} mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, corresponding to a HI consumption time of $3.5pm0.7$ Gyrs.
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We present CO observations of 78 spiral galaxies in local merger pairs. These galaxies representa subsample of a Ks-band selected sample consisting of 88 close major-merger pairs (HKPAIRs), 44 spiral-spiral (S+S) pairs and 44 spiral-elliptical (S+E) pairs, with separation $<20 h^{-1}$ kpc and mass ratio <2.5. For all objects, the star formation rate (SFR) and dust mass were derived from HERSCHEL PACS and SPIRE data, and the atomic gas mass, MHI, from the Green Bank Telescope HI observations. The complete data set allows us to study the relation between the gas (atomic and molecular) mass, dust mass and SFR in merger galaxies. We derive the molecular gas fraction (MH2/M*), molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio (MH2/MHI), gas-to-dust mass ratio and SFE (=SFR/MH2) and study their dependences on pair type (S+S compared to S+E), stellar mass and the presence of morphological interaction signs. We find an overall moderate enhancements (~2x) in both molecular gas fraction (MH2/M*), and molecular-to-atomic gas ratio (MH2/MHI) for star-forming galaxies in major-merger pairs compared to non-interacting comparison samples, whereas no enhancement was found for the SFE nor for the total gas mass fraction (MHI+MH2)/M*. When divided into S+S and S+E, low mass and high mass, and with and without interaction signs, there is a small difference in SFE, moderate difference in MH2/M*, and strong differences in MH2/MHI between subsamples. For MH2/MHI, the difference between S+S and S+E subsamples is 0.69+-0.16 dex and between pairs with and without interaction signs is 0.53+-0.18 dex. Together, our results suggest (1) star formation enhancement in close major-merger pairs occurs mainly in S+S pairs after the first close encounter (indicated by interaction signs) because the HI gas is compressed into star-forming molecular gas by the tidal torque; (2) this effect is much weakened in the S+E pairs.
We present high spatial-resolution (~2kpc) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of [CII] 158um and dust-continuum emission from a galaxy at z=3.7978 selected by its strong HI absorption (a damped Lya absorber, DLA) against a background QSO. Our ALMA images reveal a pair of star-forming galaxies separated by ~6kpc (projected) undergoing a major merger. Between these galaxies is a third emission component with highly elevated (2x) [CII] 158um emission relative to the dust continuum, which is likely to arise from stripped gas associated with the merger. This merger of two otherwise-normal galaxies is not accompanied by enhanced star-formation, contrary to mergers detected in most luminosity-selected samples. The DLA associated with the merger exhibits extreme kinematics, with a velocity width for the low-ionization metal lines of Dv90~470km/s that spans the velocity spread revealed in the [CII] 158um emission. We propose that DLAs with high Dv90 values are a signpost of major mergers in normal galaxies at high redshifts, and use the distribution of the velocity widths of metal lines in high-z DLAs to provide a rough estimate the fraction of z>3 galaxies that are undergoing a major merger.
The infrared (IR) emission of M_* galaxies (10^{10.4} < M_{star} < 10^{11.0} M_sun) in galaxy pairs, derived using data obtained in Herschel (PEP/HerMES) and Spitzer (S-COSMOS) surveys, is compared to that of single disk galaxies in well matched control samples to study the cosmic evolution of the star-formation enhancement induced by galaxy-galaxy interaction. Both the mean IR SED and mean IR luminosity of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in SFG+SFG (S+S) pairs in the redshift bin of 0.6 < z < 1 are consistent with no star-formation enhancement. SFGs in S+S pairs in a lower redshift bin of 0.2 < z < 0.6 show marginal evidence for a weak star-formation enhancement. Together with the significant and strong sSFR enhancement shown by SFGs in a local sample of S+S pairs (obtained using previously published Spitzer observations), our results reveal a trend for the star-formation enhancement in S+S pairs to decrease with increasing redshift. Between z=0 and z=1, this decline of interaction-induced star-formation enhancement occurs in parallel with the dramatic increase (by a factor of ~10) of the sSFR of single SFGs, both can be explained by the higher gas fraction in higher z disks. SFGs in mixed pairs (S+E pairs) do not show any significant star-formation enhancement at any redshift. The difference between SFGs in S+S pairs and in S+E pairs suggests a modulation of the sSFR by the inter-galactic medium IGM in the dark matter halos (DMH) hosting these pairs.
We present first results of the study of a set of exceptional HI sources identified in the 40% ALFALFA extragalactic HI survey catalog alpha.40 as being both HI massive (M_HI > 10^10 Msun) and having high gas fractions for their stellar masses: the HIghMass galaxy sample. We analyze UV- and optical-broadband and Halpha images to understand the nature of their relatively underluminous disks in optical and to test whether their high gas fractions can be tracked to higher dark matter halo spin parameters or late gas accretion. Estimates of their star formation rates (SFRs) based on SED-fitting agree within uncertainties with the Halpha luminosity inferred SFRs. The HII region luminosity functions have standard slopes at the luminous end. The global SFRs demonstrate that the HIghMass galaxies exhibit active ongoing star formation (SF) with moderate SF efficiency, but relative to normal spirals, a lower integrated SFR in the past. Because the SF activity in these systems is spread throughout their extended disks, they have overall lower SFR surface densities and lower surface brightness in the optical bands. Relative to normal disk galaxies, the majority of HIghMass galaxies have higher Halpha equivalent widths and are bluer in their outer disks, implying an inside-out disk growth scenario. Downbending double exponential disks are more frequent than upbending disks among the gas-rich galaxies, suggesting that SF thresholds exist in the downbending disks, probably as a result of concentrated gas distribution.
We present a study of the largest available sample of near-infrared selected (i.e., stellar mass selected) dynamically close pairs of galaxies at low redshifts ($z<0.3$). We combine this sample with new estimates of the major-merger pair fraction for stellar mass selected galaxies at $z<0.8$, from the Red Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS1). We construct our low-redshift $K-$band selected sample using photometry from the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) in the $K-$band ($sim 2.2~mu$m). Combined with all available spectroscopy, our $K-$band selected sample contains $sim 250,000$ galaxies and is $> 90%$ spectroscopically complete. The depth and large volume of this sample allow us to investigate the low-redshift pair fraction and merger rate of galaxies over a wide range in $K-$band luminosity. We find the major-merger pair fraction to be flat at $sim 2%$ as a function of $K-$band luminosity for galaxies in the range $10^8 - 10^{12} L_{odot}$, in contrast to recent results from studies in the local group that find a substantially higher low-mass pair fraction. This low-redshift major-merger pair fraction is $sim 40-50%$ higher than previous estimates drawn from $K-$band samples, which were based on 2MASS photometry alone. Combining with the RCS1 sample we find a much flatter evolution ($m = 0.7 pm 0.1$), in the relation $f_{rm{pair}} propto (1+z)^m$, than indicated in many previous studies. These results indicate that a typical $Lsim L^*$ galaxy has undergone $sim 0.2-0.8$ major mergers since $z=1$ (depending on the assumptions of merger timescale and percentage of pairs that actually merge).
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