Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

We report the detection of four IRAC sources in the GOODS-South field with an extremely red color of H - [3.6] > 4.5. The four sources are not detected in the deep Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 H-band image with H limit = 28.3mag. We find that only three types of SED templates can produce such a red H - [3.6] color: a very dusty SED with the Calzetti extinction of AV = 16mag at z = 0.8; a very dusty SED with the SMC extinction of AV = 8mag at z = 2.0- 2.2; and an 1Gyr SSP with AV ∼0.8 at z = 5.7. We argue that these sources are unlikely dusty galaxies at z ≤ 2.2 based on absent strong MIPS 24 μm emission. The old stellar population model at z > 4.5 remains a possible solution for the 4 sources. At z > 4.5, these sources have stellar masses of log(M */M ⊙) = 10.6-11.2. One source, ERS-1, is also a type-II X-ray QSO with L 2 - 8 keV = 1.6 × 1044 erg s-1. One of the four sources is an X-ray QSO and another one is a HyperLIRG, suggesting a galaxy-merging scenario for the formation of these massive galaxies at high redshifts. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The `Eagle' galaxy at a redshift of 0.77 is studied with the Oxford Short Wavelength Integral Field Spectrograph (SWIFT) and multi-wavelength data from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS). It was chosen from AEGIS because of the bright and extended emission in its slit spectrum. Three dimensional kinematic maps of the Eagle reveal a gradient in velocity dispersion which spans 35-75 +/- 10 km/s and a rotation velocity of 25 +/- 5 km/s uncorrected for inclination. Hubble Space Telescope images suggest it is close to face-on. In comparison with galaxies from AEGIS at similar redshifts, the Eagle is extremely bright and blue in the rest-frame optical, highly star-forming, dominated by unobscured star-formation, and has a low metallicity for its size. This is consistent with its selection. The Eagle is likely undergoing a major merger and is caught in the early stage of a star-burst when it has not yet experienced metal enrichment or formed the mass of dust typically found in star-forming galaxies.

Abstract:

Observed clusters of galaxies essentially come in two flavours: non-cool-core clusters characterized by an isothermal temperature profile and a central entropy floor, and cool-core clusters where temperature and entropy in the central region are increasing with radius. Using cosmological resimulations of a galaxy cluster, we study the evolution of its intracluster medium (ICM) gas properties, and through them we assess the effect of different (subgrid) modelling of the physical processes at play, namely gas cooling, star formation, feedback from supernovae and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). More specifically, we show that AGN feedback plays a major role in the pre-heating of the protocluster as it prevents a high concentration of mass from collecting in the centre of the future galaxy cluster at early times. However, AGN activity during the cluster's later evolution is also required to regulate the mass flow into its core and prevent runaway star formation in the central galaxy. Whereas the energy deposited by supernovae alone is insufficient to prevent an overcooling catastrophe, supernovae are responsible for spreading a large amount of metals at high redshift, enhancing the cooling efficiency of the ICM gas. As the AGN energy release depends on the accretion rate of gas on to its central black hole engine, the AGNs respond to this supernova-enhanced gas accretion by injecting more energy into the surrounding gas, and as a result increase the amount of early pre-heating. We demonstrate that the interaction between an AGN jet and the ICM gas that regulates the growth of the AGN's black hole can naturally produce cool-core clusters if we neglect metals. However, as soon as metals are allowed to contribute to the radiative cooling, only the non-cool-core solution is produced. © 2011 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS.