[abridged] We present optical integral field spectroscopy for a flux-limited sample of 19 QSOs at z<0.2 and spatially resolve their ionized gas properties at a physical resolution of 2-5kpc. The extended narrow line regions (ENLRs), photoionized by t
he radiation of AGN, have sizes of up to several kpc and correlate more strongly with the QSO continuum luminosity than with the integrated [OIII] luminosity. We find a relation of the form log(r)~(0.46+-0.04)log(L_5100), reinforcing the picture of an approximately constant ionization parameter for the ionized clouds across the ENLR. Besides the ENLR, we also find gas ionized by young massive stars in more than 50 per cent of the galaxies on kpc scales. In more than half of the sample, the specific star formation rates based on the extinction-corrected Ha luminosity are consistent with those of inactive disc-dominated galaxies, even for some bulge-dominated QSO hosts. Enhanced SFRs of up to 70Msun/yr are rare and always associated with signatures of major mergers. Comparison with the SFR based on the 60+100micron FIR luminosity suggests that the FIR luminosity is systematically contaminated by AGN emission and Ha appears to be a more robust and sensitive tracer for the star formation rate. Evidence for efficient AGN feedback is scarce in our sample, but some of our QSO hosts lack signatures of ongoing star formation leading to a reduced specific SFR with respect to the main sequence of galaxies. Based on 12 QSOs where we can make measurements, we find that on average bulge-dominated QSO host galaxies tend to fall below the mass-metallicity relation compared to their disc-dominated counterparts. While not yet statistically significant for our small sample, this may provide a useful diagnostic for future large surveys if this metal dilution can be shown to be linked to recent or ongoing galaxy interactions.
We present the first public data release of the CALIFA survey. It consists of science-grade optical datacubes for the first 100 of eventually 600 nearby (0.005<z<0.03) galaxies, obtained with the integral-field spectrograph PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3
.5m telescope at the Calar Alto observatory. The galaxies in DR1 already cover a wide range of properties in color-magnitude space, morphological type, stellar mass, and gas ionization conditions. This offers the potential to tackle a variety of open questions in galaxy evolution using spatially resolved spectroscopy. Two different spectral setups are available for each galaxy, (i) a low-resolution V500 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3745-7500A with a spectral resolution of 6.0A (FWHM), and (ii) a medium-resolution V1200 setup covering the nominal wavelength range 3650-4840A with a spectral resolution of 2.3A (FWHM). We present the characteristics and data structure of the CALIFA datasets that should be taken into account for scientific exploitation of the data, in particular the effects of vignetting, bad pixels and spatially correlated noise. The data quality test for all 100 galaxies showed that we reach a median limiting continuum sensitivity of 1.0x10^-18erg/s/cm^2/A/arcsec^2 at 5635A and 2.2x10^-18erg/s/cm^2/A/arcsec^2 at 4500A for the V500 and V1200 setup respectively, which corresponds to limiting r and g band surface brightnesses of 23.6mag/arcsec^2 and 23.4mag/arcsec^2, or an unresolved emission-line flux detection limit of roughly 1x10^-17erg/s/cm^2/arcsec^2 and 0.6x10^-17erg/s/cm^2/arcsec^2, respectively. The median spatial resolution is 3.7, and the absolute spectrophotometric calibration is better than 15% (1sigma). We also describe the available interfaces and tools that allow easy access to this first public CALIFA data.
[abridged] The metallicities of AGN are usually well above solar in their NLR, often reaching up to several times solar in their broad-line regions. Low-metallicity AGN are rare objects which have so far always been associated with low-mass galaxies
hosting low-mass BHs (M_BH<10^6Msun). In this paper we present IFS data of the low-redshift QSO HE 2158-0107 for which we find strong evidence for sub-solar NLR metallicities associated with a massive BH (M_BH~3x10^8Msun). The QSO is surrounded by a large extended emission-line region reaching out to 30kpc from the QSO in a tail-like geometry. We present optical and near-IR images and investigate the properties of the host galaxy. The SED of the host is rather blue, indicative of a significant young age stellar population formed within the last 1Gyr. A 3sigma upper limit of L_bulge<4.5x10^10Lsun for the H band luminosity and a corresponding stellar mass upper limit of M_bulge<3.4x10^10Msun show that the host is offset from the local BH-bulge relations. This is independently supported by the kinematics of the gas. Although the stellar mass of the host galaxy is lower than expected, it cannot explain the exceptionally low metallicity of the gas. We suggest that the extended emission-line region and the galaxy growth are caused by the infall of nearly pristine gas from the environment of the QSO host. Minor mergers of dwarf galaxies or the theoretically predicted smooth accretion of cold gas are both potential drivers behind that process. Since the metallicity of the gas in the NLR is much lower than expected, we suspect that the external gas has already reached the galaxy centre and may even contribute to the current feeding of the BH. HE 2158-0107 appears to represent a particular phase of substantial BH and galaxy growth that can be observationally linked with the accretion of external material from its environment.
We report ten lens candidates in the E-CDFS from the GEMS survey. Nine of the systems are new detections and only one of the candidates is a known lens system. For the most promising five systems including the known lens system, we present results fr
om preliminary lens mass modelling, which tests if the candidates are plausible lens systems. Photometric redshifts of the candidate lens galaxies are obtained from the COMBO-17 galaxy catalog. Stellar masses of the candidate lens galaxies within the Einstein radius are obtained by using the $z$-band luminosity and the $V-z$ color-based stellar mass-to-light ratios. As expected, the lensing masses are found to be larger than the stellar masses of the candidate lens galaxies. These candidates have similar dark matter fractions as compared to lenses in SLACS and COSMOS. They also roughly follow the halo mass-stellar mass relation predicted by the subhalo abundance matching technique. One of the candidate lens galaxies qualifies as a LIRG and may not be a true lens because the arc-like feature in the system is likely to be an active region of star formation in the candidate lens galaxy. Amongst the five best candidates, one is a confirmed lens system, one is a likely lens system, two are less likely to be lenses and the status of one of the candidates is ambiguous. Spectroscopic follow-up of these systems is still required to confirm lensing and/or for more accurate determination of the lens masses and mass density profiles.
We discuss observational evidence that quasars play a key role in the formation of galaxies starting from the detailed study of the quasar HE0450-2958 and extending the discussion to a series of converging evidence that radio jets may trigger galaxy
formation. The direct detection with VISIR at the ESO-VLT of the 7 kpc distant companion galaxy of HE0450-2958 allows us to spatially separate the sites of quasar and star formation activity in this composite system made of two ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). No host galaxy has yet been detected for this quasar, but the companion galaxy stellar mass would bring HE0450-2958 in the local M(BH)-M(stellar bulge) relation if it were to merge with the QSO. This is bound to happen because of their close distance (7 kpc) and small relative velocity (~60-200 km/s). We conclude that we may be witnessing the building of the M(BH)-M(stellar bulge) relation, or at least of a major event in that process. The star formation rate (~340 Msun/yr), age (40-200 Myr) and stellar mass ([5-6]x10^10 Msun) are consistent with jet-induced formation of the companion galaxy. We suggest that HE0450-2958 may be fueled in fresh material by cold gas accretion from intergalactic filaments. We map the projected galaxy density surrounding the QSO as a potential tracer of intergalactic filaments and discuss a putative detection. Comparison to other systems suggests that inside-out formation of quasar host galaxies and jet-induced galaxy formation may be a common process. Two tests are proposed for this new paradigm: (1) the detection of offset molecular gas or dust emission with respect to the position of distant QSOs, (2) the delayed formation of host galaxies as a result of QSO activity, hence the two step building of the M(BH)/M(stellar bulge) ratio.
We use HST/ACS images and a photometric catalog of the COSMOS field to analyze morphologies of the host galaxies of approximately 400 AGN candidates at redshifts 0.3 < z < 1.0. We compare the AGN hosts with a sample of non-active galaxies drawn from
the COSMOS field to match the magnitude and redshift distribution of the AGN hosts. We perform 2-D surface brightness modeling with GALFIT to yield host galaxy and nuclear point source magnitudes. X-ray selected AGN host galaxy morphologies span a substantial range that peaks between those of early-type, bulge-dominated and late-type, disk-dominated systems. We also measure the asymmetry and concentration of the host galaxies. Unaccounted for, the nuclear point source can significantly bias results of these measured structural parameters, so we subtract the best-fit point source component to obtain images of the underlying host galaxies. Our concentration measurements reinforce the findings of our 2-D morphology fits, placing X-ray AGN hosts between early- and late-type inactive galaxies. AGN host asymmetry distributions are consistent with those of control galaxies. Combined with a lack of excess companion galaxies around AGN, the asymmetry distributions indicate that strong interactions are no more prevalent among AGN than normal galaxies. In light of recent work, these results suggest that the host galaxies of AGN at these X-ray luminosities may be in a transition from disk-dominated to bulge-dominated, but that this transition is not typically triggered by major mergers.
