No Arabic abstract
We present a UV study of 3 extended UV (XUV) galaxies that we have observed with the UVIT and the GMRT. XUV galaxies show filamentary or diffuse star formation well beyond their optical disks, in regions where the disk surface density lies below the threshold for star formation. GALEX observations found that surprisingly 30% of all the nearby spiral galaxies have XUV disks. The XUV galaxies can be broadly classified as type 1 and type 2 XUV disks. The type 1 XUV disks have star formation that is linked to that in their main disk, and the UV emission appears as extended, filamentary spiral arms. The UV luminosity is associated with compact star forming regions along the extended spiral arms. The star formation is probably driven by slow gas accretion from nearby galaxies or the intergalactic medium (IGM). But the type 2 XUV disks have star formation associated with an outer low luminosity stellar disk that is often truncated near the optical radius of the galaxy. The nature of the stellar disks in type 2 XUV disks are similar to that of the diffuse stellar disks of low surface brightness galaxies. The star formation in type 2 XUV disks is thought to be due to rapid gas accretion or gas infall from nearby high velocity clouds (HVCs), interacting galaxies or the IGM. In this paper we investigate the star formation properties of the XUV regions of two type 2 galaxies and one mixed XUV type galaxy and compare them with the neutral hydrogen (HI) emission in their disks. We present preliminary results of our UVIT (FUV and NUV) observations of NGC 2541, NGC 5832 and ESO406-042, as well as GMRT observations of their HI emission. We describe the UV emission morphology, estimate the star formation rates and compare it with the HI distribution in these type 2 and mixed XUV galaxies.
Systems of shells and polar rings in early-type galaxies are considered bona fide tracers of mass accretion and/or mergers. Their high frequency in low density environments suggests that such episodes could drive the evolution of at least a fraction of the early-type galaxy population. Their UV emission is crucial to test whether these galaxies host ongoing/recent star formation. We used far and near ultraviolet, optical, near infrared images, HI maps, and line strength indices to investigate the nuclear and outer regions of the galaxies as well as the regions where fine structures are present. The GALEX Near (NUV) and Far UV (FUV) images of MCG-05-07-001 and NGC 1210 show complex tidal tails and debris structures. The UV morphology of both galaxies appears so different from the optical one that the early-type classification may not apply. In both GALEX bands the polar ring of MCG-05-07-001 is the dominant feature, whereas an extended tidal tail dominates the FUV bands of NGC 1210. In MCG-05-07-001 and NGC 1210 there is a strong correlation between structures detected in the FUV and NUV bands and in HI. NGC 5329 does not show evidence of shells in the UV. We try to constrain the age of the accretion episode or merger which gave rise to the shells and polar rings with the aid of composite stellar populations that take the presence of dust into account. The presence of HI in both MCG-05-07-001 and NGC 1210 argues in favour of wet mergers. Models suggest the presence of very young stellar populations in MCG-05-07-001: the observations could be explained in the framework of a conspicuous burst of star formation that occurred <=1 Gyr ago and involved a large fraction of the galaxy mass. Our models suggest that also the nuclei of NGC 1210 and NGC 5329 could have been rejuvenated by an accretion episode about 2-4 Gyr ago. (abridged)
How does the low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) form stars and assemble the stellar mass is one of the most important questions to understand the LSBG population. We select a sample of 381 HI bright LSBGs with both Far Ultraviolet (FUV) and Near Infrared (NIR) observation to investigate the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass scales, and the growth mode. We measure the UV and NIR radius of our sample, which represent the star-forming and stellar mass distribution scales. We also compare the UV and H band radius-stellar mass relation with the archive data, to identify the SFR and stellar mass structure difference between the LSBG population and other galaxies. Since galaxy HI mass has a tight correlation with the HI radius, we can also compare the HI and UV radii to understand the distribution of the HI gas and star formation activities. Our results show that most of the HI selected LSBGs have extended star formation structure. The stellar mass distribution of LSBGs may have a similar structure as the disk galaxies at the same stellar mass bins, while the star-forming activity of LSBGs happens at a larger radius than the high surface density galaxies, which may help to select the LSBG sample from the wide-field deep u band image survey. The HI also distributed at a larger radius, implying a steeper (or no) Kennicutt-Schmidt relation for LSBGs.
Our ability to study the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the earliest galaxies will rely on emission line diagnostics at rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. In this work, we identify metallicity-sensitive diagnostics using UV emission lines. We compare UV-derived metallicities with standard, well-established optical metallicities using a sample of galaxies with rest-frame UV and optical spectroscopy. We find that the He2-O3C3 diagnostic (He II 1640 / C III 1906,1909 vs. O III 1666 / C III 1906,1909) is a reliable metallicity tracer, particularly at low metallicity (12+log(O/H) < 8), where stellar contributions are minimal. We find that the Si3-O3C3 diagnostic (Si III 1883 / C III 1906,1909 vs. O III 1666 / C III 1906,1909) is a reliable metallicity tracer, though with large scatter (0.2-0.3 dex), which we suggest is driven by variations in gas-phase abundances. We find that the C4-O3C3 diagnostic (C IV 1548,1550 / O III 1666 vs. O III 1666 / C III 1906,1909) correlates poorly with optically-derived metallicities. We discuss possible explanations for these discrepant metallicity determinations, including the hardness of the ionizing spectrum, contribution from stellar wind emission, and non-solar-scaled gas-phase abundances. Finally, we provide two new UV oxygen abundance diagnostics, calculated from polynomial fits to the model grid surface in the He2-O3C3 and Si3-O3C3 diagrams.
Most of the massive star-forming galaxies are found to have `inside-out stellar mass growth modes, which means the inner parts of the galaxies mainly consist of the older stellar population, while the star forming in the outskirt of the galaxy is still ongoing. The high-resolution HST images from Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey (HDUV) and Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) projects with the unprecedented depth in both F275W and F160W bands are the perfect data sets to study the forming and formed stellar distribution directly. We selected the low redshift ($0.05 < z_{rm spec} < 0.3$) galaxy sample from the GOODS-North field where the HST F275W and F160W images are available. Then we measured the half light radius in F275W and F160W bands, which are the indicators of the star formation and stellar mass. By comparing the F275W and F160W half light radius, we find the massive galaxies are mainly follow the `inside-out growth which is consistent with the previous results. Moreover, the HST F275W and F160W images reveal that some of the low-mass galaxies ($<10^8M_odot$) have the `outside-in growth mode: their images show a compact UV morphology, implying an ongoing star formation in the galaxy centre, the stars in the outskirts of the galaxies are already formed. The two modes transit smoothly at stellar mass range about $10^{8-9}M_odot$ with a large scatter. We also try to identify the possible neighbour massive galaxies from the SDSS data, which represent the massive galaxy sample. We find that all of the spec-z selected galaxies have no massive galaxy nearby. Thus the `outside-in mode we find in the low-mass galaxies are not likely originated from the environment.
We have used a combination of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 and wide-field ground-based observations, in ultraviolet and optical bands, to study the blue straggler star population of the massive outer-halo globular cluster NGC 5824, over its entire radial extent. We have computed the center of gravity of the cluster and constructed the radial density profile, from detailed star counts. The profile is well reproduced by a Wilson model with a small core (r_c simeq 4.4 arcsec) and a concentration parameter c simeq 2.74. We also present the first age determination for this cluster. From the comparison with isochrones, we have found t=13pm0.5 Gyr. We discuss this result in the context of the observed age-metallicity relation of Galactic globular clusters. A total of 60 bright blue stragglers has been identified. Their radial distribution is found to be bimodal, with a central peak, a well defined minimum at r sim 20 arcsec, and an upturn at large radii. In the framework of the dynamical clock defined by Ferraro et al. (2012), this feature suggests that NGC 5824 is a cluster of intermediate dynamical age.