Prof. Matt Jarvis: Publications

Semiempirical constraints on the HI mass function of star-forming galaxies and Ω _HI at z ∼ 0.37 from interferometric surveys

Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 704 (2025) A152-A152

Authors:

F Sinigaglia, A Bianchetti, G Rodighiero, L Mayer, M Dessauges-Zavadsky, E Elson, M Vaccari, MJ Jarvis

Abstract:

Context. The H I mass function (HIMF) is a crucial tool for understanding the evolution of the H I content in galaxies over cosmic time and, hence, to constraining both the baryon cycle in galaxy evolution and the reionization history of the Universe. Aims. We aim to derive semiempirical constraints at z ∼ 0.37 by combining literature results on the stellar mass function from optical surveys with recent findings on the M HI − M ⋆ scaling relation derived via spectral stacking analysis applied to 21 cm line interferometric data from the MIGHTEE and CHILES surveys, conducted with the MeerKAT and VLA radio telescopes, respectively. Methods. We drew synthetic stellar mass samples directly from the publicly available results underlying the analysis of the COSMOS2020 galaxy photometric sample. We then converted M ⋆ into M HI using analytical fitting functions to the data points from H I stacking. We next fit a Schechter function to the median HIMF from all the samples via Monte Carlo Markov chains. We finally derived the posterior distribution for Ω HI by integrating the models for the HIMF built from the posteriors samples of the Schechter parameters. Results. We find a deviation of the HIMF at z ∼ 0.37 from the results at z ∼ 0 from the ALFALFA survey and at z ∼ 1 from uGMRT data. Our results for Ω HI are in broad agreement with other literature results and follow the overall trend on Ω HI as a function of redshift. The derived value Ω HI = (7.02 +0.59 −0.52 ) × 10 −4 at z ∼ 0.37 from the combined analysis deviates by ∼2.9 σ from the ALFALFA result at z ∼ 0. Conclusions. Our findings regarding the HIMF and Ω HI derived from deep, state-of-the-art interferometric surveys differ from previous literature results at z ∼ 0 and z ∼ 1. We are unable to confirm at this stage whether these differences are due to cosmic evolution consistent with a smooth transition of the H I content of galaxies over the last 8 Gyr or due to selection biases and systematics.

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A 15 Mpc rotating galaxy filament at redshift z = 0.032

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 544:4 (2025) 4306-4316

Authors:

Madalina N Tudorache, SL Jung, MJ Jarvis, I Heywood, AA Ponomareva, AA Vărăşteanu, N Maddox, T Yasin, M Glowacki

Abstract:

ABSTRACT Understanding the cold atomic hydrogen gas (H i) within cosmic filaments has the potential to pin down the relationship between the low density gas in the cosmic web and how the galaxies that lie within it grow using this material. We report the discovery of a cosmic filament using 14 H i-selected galaxies that form a very thin elongated structure of 1.7 Mpc. These galaxies are embedded within a much larger cosmic web filament, traced by optical galaxies, that spans at least $\sim 15$ Mpc. We find that the spin axes of the H i galaxies are significantly more strongly aligned with the cosmic web filament ($\langle \vert \cos \psi \vert \rangle = 0.64 \pm 0.05$) than cosmological simulations predict, with the optically selected galaxies showing alignment to a lesser degree ($\langle \vert \cos \psi \vert \rangle = 0.55 \pm 0.05$). This structure demonstrates that within the cosmic filament, the angular momentum of galaxies is closely connected to the large-scale filamentary structure. We also find strong evidence that the galaxies are orbiting around the spine of the filament, making this one of the largest rotating structures discovered thus far, and from which we can infer that there is transfer of angular momentum from the filament to the individual galaxies. The abundance of H i galaxies along the filament and the low dynamical temperature of the galaxies within the filament indicates that this filament is at an early evolutionary stage where the imprint of cosmic matter flow on galaxies has been preserved over cosmic time.

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MIGHTEE-H i : The M H i – M ☆ relation of massive galaxies and the H i mass function at 0.25 < z < 0.5

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) (2025) staf1857

Authors:

Hengxing Pan, Matt J Jarvis, Ian Heywood, Tariq Yasin, Natasha Maddox, Mario G Santos, Maarten Baes, Anastasia A Ponomareva, Sambatriniaina HA Rajohnson

Abstract:

Abstract The relationship between the already formed stellar mass in a galaxy and the gas reservoir of neutral atomic hydrogen, is a key element in our understanding of how gas is turned into stars in galaxy haloes. In this paper, we measure the $M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}}-M_{\star }$ relation based on a stellar-mass selected sample at 0.25 < z < 0.5 and the MIGHTEE-H i DR1 spectral data. Using a powerful Bayesian stacking technique, for the first time we are also able to measure the underlying bivariate distribution of H i mass and stellar mass of galaxies with M⋆ > 109.5 M⊙, finding that an asymmetric underlying H i distribution is strongly preferred by our complete samples. We define the concepts of the average of the logarithmic H i mass, $\langle \log _{10}(M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}})\rangle$, and the logarithmic average of the H i mass, $\log _{10}(\langle M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}}\rangle )$, and find that the difference between $\langle \log _{10}(M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}})\rangle$ and $\log _{10}(\langle M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}}\rangle )$ can be as large as ∼0.5 dex for the preferred asymmetric H i distribution. We observe shallow slopes in the underlying $M_{\rm H\, \small {\rm i}}-M_{\star }$ scaling relations, suggesting the presence of an upper H i mass limit beyond which a galaxy can no longer retain further H i gas. From our bivariate distribution we also infer the H i mass function at this redshift and find tentative evidence for a decrease of 2-10 times in the co-moving space density of the most H i massive galaxies up to z ∼ 0.5.

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MIGHTEE-H i : the direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at z > 0.25

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 544:1 (2025) 193-210

Authors:

Matt J Jarvis, Madalina N Tudorache, I Heywood, Anastasia A Ponomareva, M Baes, Natasha Maddox, Kristine Spekkens, Andreea Vărăşteanu, CL Hale, Mario G Santos, RG Varadaraj, Elizabeth AK Adams, Alessandro Bianchetti, Barbara Catinella, Jacinta Delhaize, M Maksymowicz-Maciata, Pavel E Mancera Piña, Hengxing Pan, Amélie Saintonge, Gauri Sharma, O Ivy Wong

Abstract:

ABSTRACT Atomic hydrogen constitutes the gas reservoir from which molecular gas and star formation in galaxies emerges. However, the weakness of the line means it has been difficult to directly detect in all but the very local Universe. Here, we present results from the first search using the MeerKAT International Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) Survey for high-redshift ($z>0.25$) H i emission from individual galaxies. By searching for 21-cm emission centred on the position and redshift of optically selected emission-line galaxies we overcome difficulties that hinder untargeted searches. We detect 11 galaxies at $z>0.25$, forming the first sample of $z>0.25$ detections with an interferometer, with the highest redshift detection at $z = 0.3841$. We find they have much larger H i masses than their low-redshift H i-selected counterparts for a given stellar mass. This can be explained by the much larger cosmological volume probed at these high redshifts, and does not require any evolution of the H i mass function. We make the first-ever measurement of the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (bTFr) with H i at $z>0.25$ and find consistency with the local bTFr, but with tentative evidence of a flattening in the relation at these redshifts for higher-mass objects. This may signify evolution, in line with predictions from hydrodynamic simulations, or that the molecular gas mass in these high-mass galaxies could be significant. This study paves the way for future studies of H i beyond the local Universe, using both searches targeted at known objects and via pure H i selection.

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Angular correlation functions of bright Lyman-break galaxies at 3 ≲ z ≲ 5

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) (2025) staf1651

Authors:

Isabelle Ye, Philip Bull, Rebecca AA Bowler, Rachel K Cochrane, Nathan J Adams, Matt J Jarvis

Abstract:

Abstract We investigate the clustering of Lyman-break galaxies at redshifts of 3 ≲ z ≲ 5 within the COSMOS field by measuring the angular two-point correlation function. Our robust sample of ~60,000 bright (mUV ≲ 27) Lyman-break galaxies was selected based on spectral energy distribution fitting across 14 photometric bands spanning optical and near-infrared wavelengths. We constrained both the 1- and 2-halo terms at separations up to 300 arcsec, finding an excess in the correlation function at scales corresponding to <20 kpc, consistent with enhancement due to clumps in the same galaxy or interactions on this scale. We then performed Bayesian model fits on the correlation functions to infer the Halo Occupation Distribution parameters, star formation duty cycle, and galaxy bias in three redshift bins. We examined several cases where different combinations of parameters were varied, showing that our data can constrain the slope of the satellite occupation function, which previous studies have fixed. For an MUV-limited sub-sample, we found galaxy bias values of $b_g=3.18^{+0.14}_{-0.14}$ at z ≃ 3, $b_g=3.58^{+0.27}_{-0.29}$ at z ≃ 4, $b_g=4.27^{+0.25}_{-0.26}$ at z ≃ 5. The duty cycle values are $0.62^{+0.25}_{-0.26}$, $0.40^{+0.34}_{-0.22}$, and $0.39^{+0.31}_{-0.20}$,respectively. These results suggest that, as the redshift increases, there is a slight decrease in the host halo masses and a shorter timescale for star formation in bright galaxies, at a fixed rest-frame UV luminosity threshold.

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Prof. Matt Jarvis

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Semiempirical constraints on the HI mass function of star-forming galaxies and Ω _HI at z ∼ 0.37 from interferometric surveys

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A 15 Mpc rotating galaxy filament at redshift z = 0.032

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MIGHTEE-H i : The M H i – M ☆ relation of massive galaxies and the H i mass function at 0.25 < z < 0.5

Authors:

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MIGHTEE-H i : the direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at z > 0.25

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Angular correlation functions of bright Lyman-break galaxies at 3 ≲ z ≲ 5

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Prof. Matt Jarvis

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Semiempirical constraints on the HI mass function of star-forming galaxies and Ω HI at z ∼ 0.37 from interferometric surveys

Authors:

Abstract:

A 15 Mpc rotating galaxy filament at redshift z = 0.032

Authors:

Abstract:

MIGHTEE-H i : The M H i – M ☆ relation of massive galaxies and the H i mass function at 0.25 &lt; z &lt; 0.5

Authors:

Abstract:

MIGHTEE-H i : the direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at z &gt; 0.25

Authors:

Abstract:

Angular correlation functions of bright Lyman-break galaxies at 3 ≲ z ≲ 5

Authors:

Abstract:

Semiempirical constraints on the HI mass function of star-forming galaxies and Ω _HI at z ∼ 0.37 from interferometric surveys

MIGHTEE-H i : The M H i – M ☆ relation of massive galaxies and the H i mass function at 0.25 < z < 0.5

MIGHTEE-H i : the direct detection of neutral hydrogen in galaxies at z > 0.25