Cosmology

Abstract:

In recent years, the level of the extragalactic radio background has become a point of considerable interest, with some lines of argument pointing to an entirely new cosmological synchrotron background. The contribution of the known discrete source population to the sky temperature is key to this discussion. Because of the steep spectral index of the excess over the cosmic microwave background, it is best studied at low frequencies where the signal is strongest. The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) wide and deep sky surveys give us the best constraints yet on the contribution of discrete extragalactic sources at 144 MHz, and in particular allow us to include contributions from diffuse, low-surface-brightness emission that could not be fully accounted for in previous work. We show that, even with these new data, known sources can still only account for around a quarter of the estimated extragalactic sky temperature at LOFAR frequencies.

Abstract:

VANDELS is an ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey designed to build a sample of high-signal-to-noise ratio, medium-resolution spectra of galaxies at redshifts between 1 and 6.5. Here we present the final Public Data Release of the VANDELS Survey, comprising 2087 redshift measurements. We provide a detailed description of sample selection, observations, and data reduction procedures. The final catalogue reaches a target selection completeness of 40% at iAB = 25. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra (above 7 in 80% of the spectra) and the dispersion of 2.5 Å allowed us to measure redshifts with high precision, the redshift measurement success rate reaching almost 100%. Together with the redshift catalogue and the reduced spectra, we also provide optical mid-infrared photometry and physical parameters derived through fitting the spectral energy distribution. The observed galaxy sample comprises both passive and star forming galaxies covering a stellar mass range of 8.3 < Log(M∗/M⊙) < 11.7.

Abstract:

Over the past decade, several works have used the ratio between total (rest 8−1000 μm) infrared and radio (rest 1.4 GHz) luminosity in star-forming galaxies (qIR), often referred to as the infrared-radio correlation (IRRC), to calibrate the radio emission as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator. Previous studies constrained the evolution of qIR with redshift, finding a mild but significant decline that is yet to be understood. Here, for the first time, we calibrate qIR as a function of both stellar mass (M⋆) and redshift, starting from an M⋆-selected sample of > 400 000 star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field, identified via (NUV − r)/(r − J) colours, at redshifts of 0.1 < z < 4.5. Within each (M⋆,z) bin, we stacked the deepest available infrared/sub-mm and radio images. We fit the stacked IR spectral energy distributions with typical star-forming galaxy and IR-AGN templates. We then carefully removed the radio AGN candidates via a recursive approach. We find that the IRRC evolves primarily with M⋆, with more massive galaxies displaying a systematically lower qIR. A secondary, weaker dependence on redshift is also observed. The best-fit analytical expression is the following: qIR(M⋆, z) = (2.646 ± 0.024) × (1 + z)( − 0.023 ± 0.008)–(0.148 ± 0.013) × (log M⋆/M⊙ − 10). Adding the UV dust-uncorrected contribution to the IR as a proxy for the total SFR would further steepen the qIR dependence on M⋆. We interpret the apparent redshift decline reported in previous works as due to low-M⋆ galaxies being progressively under-represented at high redshift, as a consequence of binning only in redshift and using either infrared or radio-detected samples. The lower IR/radio ratios seen in more massive galaxies are well described by their higher observed SFR surface densities. Our findings highlight the fact that using radio-synchrotron emission as a proxy for SFR requires novel M⋆-dependent recipes that will enable us to convert detections from future ultra-deep radio surveys into accurate SFR measurements down to low-M⋆ galaxies with low SFR.

Abstract:

Using high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging data, we perform a visual morphological classification of ∼36 000 galaxies at z < 1 in the deep extragalactic visible legacy survey/cosmological evolution survey region. As the main goal of this study, we derive the stellar mass function (SMF) and stellar mass density (SMD) sub-divided by morphological types. We find that visual morphological classification using optical imaging is increasingly difficult at z > 1 as the fraction of irregular galaxies and merger systems (when observed at rest-frame UV/blue wavelengths) dramatically increases. We determine that roughly two-thirds of the total stellar mass of the Universe today was in place by z ∼ 1. Double-component galaxies dominate the SMD at all epochs and increase in their contribution to the stellar mass budget to the present day. Elliptical galaxies are the second most dominant morphological type and increase their SMD by ∼2.5 times, while by contrast, the pure-disc population significantly decreases by ∼85 per cent⁠. According to the evolution of both high- and low-mass ends of the SMF, we find that mergers and in situ evolution in discs are both present at z < 1, and conclude that double-component galaxies are predominantly being built by the in situ evolution in discs (apparent as the growth of the low-mass end with time), while mergers are likely responsible for the growth of ellipticals (apparent as the increase of intermediate/high-mass end).