Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

Many studies conclude that galaxies quench from the inside-out by examining profiles of specific star formation rate (sSFR). These are usually measured by fitting spectral energy distributions (SEDs) assuming a fixed dust law and uniform priors on all parameters. Here, we examine the effects of more physically motivated priors: a flexible dust law, an exponential prior on the dust attenuation AV, and Gaussian priors that favor extended star formation histories. This results in model colors that better trace observations. We then perform radial SED fits to multiband flux profiles measured from Hubble Space Telescope images for 1440 galaxies at 0.4 < z < 1.5 of stellar masses 1010–1011.5M⊙ using both the traditional and the more physically motivated assumptions. The latter results in star formation rate and AV profiles that agree with measurements from spectroscopy and AV profiles that behave correctly as a function of inclination. Since green valley galaxies at z ∼ 1.3 are expected to evolve into quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 0.9, we compare their sSFR profiles using the more physically motivated assumptions. Their slopes are similar at all masses (0.06–0.08 dex kpc−1), and the normalizations for the quiescent galaxies are lower. Therefore, the sSFR profiles decline with time as quenching occurs at all radii simultaneously. We compare profiles of green valley galaxies at z ∼ 0.9 and quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 0.5. The former are shallower at all masses by ~0.1 dex kpc−1. The sSFR profiles steepen with time as galaxies quench from the inside-out. In summary, galaxies at z ∼ 1 quench at all radii simultaneously while galaxies at z ∼ 0.7 quench from the inside-out.

Abstract:

Context. Many Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) host multiple stellar populations, challenging the traditional view that GCs are single-population systems. It has been suggested that second-generation stars could form in a disk from gas lost by first-generation stars or from external accreted gas. Understanding how these multiple stellar populations evolve under a time-varying Galactic tidal field is crucial for studying internal mixing, the rotational properties, and mass loss of GCs over cosmological timescales.

Aims. We investigated how the introduction of a second stellar generation affects mass loss’ internal mixing, and rotational properties of GCs in a time-varying Galactic tidal field and different orbital configurations.

Methods. We conducted direct N-body simulations of GCs on three types of orbits derived from the observed Milky Way GCs using state-of-the-art stellar evolution prescriptions. We evolved the clusters for 8 Gyr in the time-varying Galactic potential of the IllustrisTNG-100 cosmological simulation. After 2 Gyr, we introduced a second stellar generation, comprising 5% of the initial mass of the first generation, as a flattened disk of stars. For comparison, we ran control simulations using a static Galactic potential and isolated clusters.

Results. We present here the mass loss, structural evolution, and kinematic properties of GCs with two stellar generations, focusing on tidal mass’ half-mass radii, velocity distributions, and angular momentum. We also examine the transition of the second generation from a flattened disk to a spherical shape.

Conclusions. Our results show that the mass loss of GCs depends primarily on their orbital parameters, with tighter orbits leading to higher mass loss. The growth of the Galaxy led to tighter orbits’ implying that the GCs lost much less mass than if the Galaxy had always had its current mass. The initially flattened second-generation disk became nearly spherical within one relaxation time. However, whether its distinct rotational signature was retained depends on the orbit: for the long radial orbit, it vanished quickly; for the tube orbit' it lasted several billion years for the circular orbit' rotation persisted until the present day.

Abstract:

We present a comparison of observed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature ratios in 19 nearby galaxies with a grid of theoretical expectations for near- and mid-infrared dust emission. The PAH feature ratios are drawn from Cycle 1 JWST observations and are measured for 7224 stellar clusters and 29,176 stellar associations for which we have robust ages and mass estimates from Hubble Space Telescope five-band photometry. Though there are galaxy-to-galaxy variations, the observed PAH feature ratios largely agree with the theoretical models, particularly those that are skewed toward more ionized and larger PAH size distributions. For each galaxy we also extract PAH feature ratios for 200 pc wide circular regions in the diffuse interstellar medium, which serve as a noncluster/association control sample. Compared to what we find for stellar clusters and associations, the 3.3 μm/7.7 μm and 3.3 μm/11.3 μm ratios from the diffuse interstellar medium are ∼0.10–0.15 dex smaller. When the observed PAH feature ratios are compared to the radiation field hardness as probed by the [O iii]/Hβ ratio, we find anticorrelations for nearly all galaxies in the sample. These results together suggest that the PAH feature ratios are driven by the shape and intensity of the radiation field and that the smallest PAHs—observed via JWST F335M imaging—are increasingly “processed” or destroyed in regions with the most intense and hard radiation fields.

Abstract:

Wide, highly eccentric (𝑒 >0.9) compact binaries can naturally arise as progenitors of gravitational wave (GW) mergers. These systems are expected to have a significant population in the mHz band (e.g., ∼3–45 detectable stellar-mass binary black holes with 𝑒 >0.9 in the Milky Way), with their GW signals characterized by “repeated bursts” emitted upon each pericenter passage. In this study, we show that the detection of mHz GW signals from highly eccentric stellar mass binaries in the local universe can strongly constrain their orbital parameters. Specifically, it can achieve a relative measurement error of ∼10−6 for orbital frequency and ∼1% for eccentricity (as 1 −𝑒) in most of the detectable cases. On the other hand, the binary’s mass ratio, distance, and intrinsic orbital orientation may be less precisely determined due to degeneracies in the GW waveform. We also perform mock LISA data analysis to evaluate the realistic detectability of highly eccentric compact binaries. Our results show that highly eccentric systems could be efficiently identified when multiple GW sources and stationary Gaussian instrumental noise are present in the detector output. This work highlights the potential of extracting the signal of “bursting” LISA sources to provide valuable insights into their orbital evolution, surrounding environment, and formation channels.