Galaxy surveys targeting emission lines are characterising the evolution of star-forming galaxies, but there is still little theoretical progress in modelling their physical properties. We predict nebular emission from star-forming galaxies within a
cosmological galaxy formation model. Emission lines are computed by combining the semi-analytical model sag with the photoionisation code mapp. We characterise the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies by relating the ionisation parameter of gas in galaxies to their cold gas metallicity, obtaining a reasonable agreement with the observed ha, oii, oiii luminosity functions, and the the BPT diagram for local star-forming galaxies. The average ionisation parameter is found to increase towards low star-formation rates and high redshifts, consistent with recent observational results. The predicted link between different emission lines and their associated star-formation rates is studied by presenting scaling relations to relate them. Our model predicts that emission line galaxies have modest clustering bias, and thus reside in dark matter haloes of masses below $M_{rm halo} lesssim 10^{12} {[rm h^{-1} M_{odot}]}$. Finally, we exploit our modelling technique to predict galaxy number counts up to $zsim 10$ by targeting far-infrared (FIR) emission lines detectable with submillimetre facilities
Modern (sub-)millimeter interferometers enable the measurement of the cool gas and dust emission of high-redshift galaxies (z>5). However, at these redshifts the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature is higher, approaching, and even exceeding
, the temperature of cold dust and molecular gas observed in the local Universe. In this paper, we discuss the impact of the warmer CMB on (sub-)millimeter observations of high-redshift galaxies. The CMB affects the observed (sub-)millimeter dust continuum and the line emission (e.g. carbon monoxide, CO) in two ways: (i) it provides an additional source of (both dust and gas) heating; and (ii) it is a non-negligible background against which the line and continuum emission are measured. We show that these two competing processes affect the way we interpret the dust and gas properties of high-redshift galaxies using spectral energy distribution models. We quantify these effects and provide correction factors to compute what fraction of the intrinsic dust (and line) emission can be detected against the CMB as a function of frequency, redshift and temperature. We discuss implications on the derived properties of high-redshift galaxies from (sub-)millimeter data. Specifically, the inferred dust and molecular gas masses can be severely underestimated for cold systems if the impact of the CMB is not properly taken into account.
We use new Herschel multi-band imaging of the Andromeda galaxy to analyze how dust heating occurs in the central regions of galaxy spheroids that are essentially devoid of young stars. We construct a dust temperature map of M31 through fitting modifi
ed blackbody SEDs to the Herschel data, and find that the temperature within 2 kpc rises strongly from the mean value in the disk of 17 pm 1K to sim35K at the centre. UV to near-IR imaging of the central few kpc shows directly the absence of young stellar populations, delineates the radial profile of the stellar density, and demonstrates that even the near-UV dust extinction is optically thin in M31s bulge. This allows the direct calculation of the stellar radiation heating in the bulge, Uast(r), as a function of radius. The increasing temperature profile in the centre matches that expected from the stellar heating, i.e. that the dust heating and cooling rates track each other over nearly two orders of magnitude in Uast. The modelled dust heating is in excess of the observed dust temperatures, suggesting that it is more than sufficient to explain the observed IR emission. Together with the wavelength dependent absorption cross section of the dust, this demonstrates directly that it is the optical, not UV, radiation that sets the heating rate. This analysis shows that neither young stellar populations nor stellar near-UV radiation are necessary to heat dust to warm temperatures in galaxy spheroids. Rather, it is the high densities of Gyr-old stellar populations that provide a sufficiently strong diffuse radiation field to heat the dust. To the extent which these results pertain to the tenuous dust found in the centres of early-type galaxies remains yet to be explored.
High resolution spectra are necessary to distinguish and correctly measure the Balmer emission lines due to the presence of strong metal and Balmer absorption features in the stellar continuum. This accurate measurement is necessary for use in emissi
on line diagnostics, such as the Balmer decrement (i.e. Halpha/Hbeta), used to determine the attenuation of galaxies. Yet at high redshifts obtaining such spectra becomes costly. Balmer emission line equivalent widths are much easier to measure, requiring only low resolution spectra or even simple narrow band filters and therefore shorter observation times. However a correction for the stellar continuum is still needed for this equivalent width Balmer decrement. We present here a statistical analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 emission line galaxy sample, using the spectrally determined Balmer emission line fluxes and equivalent widths. Using the large numbers of galaxies available in the SDSS catalogue, we determined an equivalent width Balmer decrement including a statistically-based correction for the stellar continuum. Based on this formula, the attenuation of galaxies can now be obtained from low spectral resolution observations. In addition, this investigation also revealed an error in the Hbeta line fluxes, within the SDSS DR7 MPA/JHU catalogue, with the equivalent widths underestimated by average ~0.35A in the emission line galaxy sample. This error means that Balmer decrement determined attenuations are overestimated by a systematic 0.1 magnitudes in A_V, and future analyses of this sample need to include this correction.
A large body of evidence has demonstrated that the global rest-frame optical and IR colours of galaxies correlate well with each other, as well as with other galactic properties such as surface brightness and morphology. However the processes that le
ad to the observed correlations are contrary; the stellar light that contributes to the optical is readily absorbed by dust which emits in the IR. Thus on small scales we expect these correlations to break down. We examine seven nearby galaxies ranging from early- to late-types, on a pixel-by-pixel basis and we demonstrate that there is disconnect between the optical and IR when normalized to the near-IR (H-band). We can decompose this disconnect into two distinct components through a Principal Component Analysis of the H-band normalized SED of the pixels: one mainly correlated with variations in the IR, the other correlated with variations in the optical. By mapping these two components it is clear they arise from distinct spatial regions. The IR dominated component is strongly associated with the specific star-formation rate, while the optical-dominated component is broadly associated with the stellar mass density. However, when the pixels of all galaxies are compared, the well known optical-IR colour correlations return, demonstrating that the variance observed within galaxies is around a mean which follows the well-known trend. We also examine the extremely strong correlations between the IRAC-NIR colours and demonstrate that they are tight enough to use a single IRAC-NIR colour (i.e. 8mum-H) to determine the fluxes in the other IRAC bands. These correlations arise from the differing contribution of stellar light and dust to the IRAC bands, enabling us to determine pure stellar colours for these bands, but still demonstrating the need for dust (or stellar) corrections in these bands when being used as stellar (dust) tracers.
Optical nebular emission lines are commonly used to estimate the star formation rate of galaxies and the black hole accretion rate of their central active nucleus. The accuracy of the conversion from line strengths to physical properties depends upon
the accuracy to which the lines can be corrected for dust attenuation. For studies of single galaxies with normal amounts of dust, most dust corrections result in the same derived properties within the errors. However, for statistical studies of populations of galaxies, or for studies of galaxies with higher dust contents such as might be found in some classes of transition galaxies, significant uncertainty arises from the dust attenuation correction. We compare the strength of the predominantly unobscured mid-IR [NeII]15.5um + [NeIII]12.8um emission lines to the optical H alpha emission lines in four samples of galaxies: (i) ordinary star forming galaxies, (ii) optically selected dusty galaxies, (iii) ULIRGs, (iv) Seyfert 2 galaxies. We show that a single dust attenuation curve applied to all samples can correct H alpha emission for dust attenuation to a factor better than 2. Similarly, we compare mid-IR [OIV] and optical [OIII] luminosities to find that [OIII] can be corrected to a factor better than 3. This shows that the total dust attenuation suffered by the AGN narrow line region is not significantly different to that suffered by the starforming HII regions in the galaxy. We provide explicit dust attenuation corrections, together with errors, for [OII], [OIII] and H alpha. The best-fit average attenuation curve is slightly greyer than the Milky-Way extinction law, indicating either that external galaxies have slightly different typical dust properties to the Milky Way, or that there is a significant contribution from scattering. Finally, we uncover an intriguing correlation between Silicate absorption and Balmer decrement.
We present a new software tool to enable astronomers to easily compare observations of emission line ratios with those determined by photoionization and shock models, ITERA, the IDL Tool for Emission-line Ratio Analysis. This tool can plot ratios of
emission lines predicted by models and allows for comparison of observed line ratios against grids of these models selected from model libraries associated with the tool. We provide details of the libraries of standard photoionization and shock models available with ITERA, and, in addition, present three example emission line ratio diagrams covering a range of wavelengths to demonstrate the capabilities of ITERA. ITERA, and associated libraries, is available from url{http://www.brentgroves.net/itera.html}
The mid-infrared ratio [NeIII]15.6mum/[NeII]12.8mum is a strong diagnostic of the ionization state of emission line objects, due to its use of only strong neon emission lines only weakly affected by extinction. However this ratio is not available to
ground-based telescopes as only a few spectroscopic windows are available in the MIR. To deal with this problem we aimed to verify if there exists a conversion law between ground-accessible, strong MIR line ratio [SIV]/[NeII] and the diagnostic [NeIII]/[NeII] ratio that can serve as a reference for future ground-based observations. We collated the [SIV]10.5mum, [NeII]12.8mum, [NeIII]15.6mum and [SIII]18.7mum emission line fluxes from a wide range of sources in the rich Spitzer and ISO archives, and compared the [NeIII]/[NeII], [SIV]/[SIII], and [SIV]/[NeII] ratios. We find a strong correlation between the [SIV]/[NeII] and [ eiii]/[ eii] ratio, with a linear fit of log([NeIII]/[NeII]) = 0.81log([SIV]/[NeII])+0.36, accurate to a factor of ~2 over four orders of magnitude in the line ratios. This demonstrates clearly the ability of ground-based infrared spectrographs to do ionization studies of nebulae.
Using the large emission line galaxy sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey we show that Star forming galaxies, Seyferts, and low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) form clearly separated branches on the standard optical diagnostic d
iagrams. We derive a new empirical classification scheme which cleanly separates these emission-line galaxies, using strong optical emission lines. Using this classification we identify a few distinguishing host galaxy properties of each class, which, along with the emission line analysis, suggest continuous evolution from one class to another. As a final note, we introduce models of both Starforming galaxies and AGN narrow line regions which can explain the distribution of galaxies on standard emission line ratio diagrams, and possibly suggest new diagnostics across the emission spectrum.
