Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

LUCIFER (LBT NIR-Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral-Field Unit for Extragalactic Research) is a full cryogenic NIR spectrograph and imager (λ 0.9μ - 2.5μ, zJHK-bands) to be built by a consortium of five institutes (Landessternwarte Heidelberg (LSW), Max Planck Institut fuer Astronomie in Heidelberg (MPIA), Max Planck Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) in Garching, Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr Universitaet Bochum (AIRUB) and Fachhochschule fuer Technik und Gestaltung (FHTG) in Mannheim). The instrument has been selected as one of three first-light instruments for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham, Arizona which first mirror becomes available to the community in early 2003. The second mirror and a second more or less identical spectrograph/imager follows 18 month later. Both LUCIFER instruments will be mounted at the bent Gregorian foci of the two individual LBT-mirrors and include six observing modes: seeing and diffraction limited imaging, seeing and diffraction limited longslit spectroscopy, seeing limited multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) and integral-field spectroscopy (IFU). The detector will be a Rockwell HAWAII-2 HgCdTe-array with a pixel-size of 18μ.

Abstract:

We present new near-infrared images of z > 0.8 radio galaxies from the flux-limited 7C-III sample of radio sources for which we have recently obtained almost complete spectroscopic redshifts. The 7C objects have radio luminosities ≈20 times fainter than 3C radio galaxies at a given redshift. The absolute magnitudes of the underlying host galaxies and their scale sizes are only weakly dependent on radio luminosity. Radio galaxy hosts at z ∼ 2 are significantly brighter than the hosts of radio-quiet quasars at similar redshifts and the recent model AGN hosts of Kauffmann & Haehnelt. There is no evidence for strong evolution in scale size, which shows a large scatter at all redshifts. The hosts brighten significantly with redshift, consistent with the passive evolution of a stellar population that formed at z ≳ 3. This scenario is consistent with studies of host galaxy morphology and submillimeter continuum emission, both of which show strong evolution at z ≳ 2.5. The lack of a strong "redshift cutoff" in the radio luminosity function to z > 4 suggests that the formation epoch of the radio galaxy host population lasts ≳ 1 Gyr, from z ≳ 5 to z ∼ 3. We suggest these facts are best explained by models in which the most massive galaxies and their associated AGN form early because of high baryon densities in the centers of their dark matter haloes.

Abstract:

In the context of the CNOC1 cluster survey, redshifts were obtained for galaxies in 16 clusters. The resulting sample is ideally suited for an analysis of the internal velocity and mass distribution of clusters. Previous analyses of this data set used the Jeans equation to model the projected velocity dispersion profile. However, the results of such an analysis always yield a strong degeneracy between the mass density profile and the velocity dispersion anisotropy profile. Here we analyze the full (R, v) data set of galaxy positions and velocities in an attempt to break this degeneracy. We build an "ensemble cluster" from the individual clusters under the assumption that they form a homologous sequence; if clusters are not homologous then our results are probably still valid in an average sense. To interpret the data we study a one-parameter family of spherical models with different constant velocity dispersion anisotropy, chosen to all provide the same acceptable fit to the projected velocity dispersion profile. The best-fit model is sought using a variety of statistics, including the likelihood of the data set and the shape and Gauss-Hermite moments of the grand-total velocity histogram. The confidence regions and goodness of fit for the best-fit model are determined using Monte Carlo simulations. Although the results of our analysis depend slightly on which statistic is used to judge the models, all statistics agree that the best-fit model is close to isotropic. For none of the statistics does the 1 σ confidence region extend below σr/σt = 0.74, or above σr/σt, = 1.05. This result derives primarily from the fact that the observed grand-total velocity histogram is close to Gaussian, which is not expected to be the case for a strongly anisotropic model. The best-fitting models have a mass-to-number density ratio that is approximately independent of radius over the range constrained by the data. They also have a mass density profile that is consistent with the dark matter halo profile advocated by Navarro, Frenk, & White in terms of both the profile shape and the characteristic scale length. This adds important new weight to the evidence that clusters do indeed follow this proposed universal mass density profile. We present a detailed discussion of a number of possible uncertainties in our analysis, including our treatment of interlopers and brightest cluster galaxies, our use of a restricted one-parameter family of distribution functions, our use of spherical models for what is in reality an ensemble of nonspherical clusters, and our assumption that clusters form a homologous set. These issues all constitute important approximations in our analysis. However, none of the tests that we have done indicates that these approximations influence our results at a significant level.

Abstract:

SINFONI, the SINgle Faint Object Near-infrared Investigation, is an instrument for the Very Large Telescope (VLT), which will start its operation mid 2002 and allow for the first time near infrared (NIR) integral field spectroscopy at the diffraction limit of an 8-m telescope. SINFONI is the combination of two state-of-the art instruments, the integral field spectrometer SPIFFI, built by the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), and the adaptive optics (AO) system MACAO, built by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It will allow a unique type of observations by delivering simultaneously high spatial resolution (pixel sizes 0".025 to 0".25) and a moderate spectral resolution (R similar to 2000 to R similar to 4500), where the higher spectral resolution mode will allow for software OH suppression. This opens new prospects for astronomy.