A Statistical and Multi-wavelength Approach to Studying Star Formation Histories in Nearby Galaxies PDF Download

Author: Madison V. Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astrophysics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
I present the results of a multi-wavelength study of global, radial and local star formation histories (SFHs) in a statistical sample of 34 nearby galaxies. The SFHs are estimated using spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, and are presented alongside classic indicators of changes in stellar population ages (optical colors, specific star formation rates, and H-alpha equivalent widths). I interpret the results of this methodology in the context of the literature for each galaxy. In addition to the global and radial measurements, ultraviolet-selected sources in each galaxy are detected and cataloged. I use two different methods (k-means clustering and two-point angular correlation functions) to describe the spatial distributions of these UV sources. I find that there is a connection between the clustering of UV sources in M63 and the presence of spiral arms. The less-clustered distributions of UV sources seen in galaxies without spiral arms suggests that the spiral arms help to cluster star formation in the stellar disk. Finally, I find that there is a detectable radial gradient in the age of the younger stellar population when looking at the full catalog of all UV sources. This result agrees with the leading theory for structure formation in the universe, the Lambda-CDM model, which theorizes that galaxies form and evolve "inside-out".

Author: Corentin Schreiber
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319442937
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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This thesis presents a pioneering method for gleaning the maximum information from the deepest images of the far-infrared universe obtained with the Herschel satellite, reaching galaxies fainter by an order of magnitude than in previous studies. Using these high-quality measurements, the author first demonstrates that the vast majority of galaxy star formation did not take place in merger-driven starbursts over 90% of the history of the universe, which suggests that galaxy growth is instead dominated by a steady infall of matter. The author further demonstrates that massive galaxies suffer a gradual decline in their star formation activity, providing an alternative path for galaxies to stop star formation. One of the key unsolved questions in astrophysics is how galaxies acquired their mass in the course of cosmic time. In the standard theory, the merging of galaxies plays a major role in forming new stars. Then, old galaxies abruptly stop forming stars through an unknown process. Investigating this theory requires an unbiased measure of the star formation intensity of galaxies, which has been unavailable due to the dust obscuration of stellar light.

Author: Drew Grinnell Brisbin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
Our recent studies in galaxy evolution have revealed a surprising new paradigm of star formation. Contrary to the notion that major mergers play an increasingly dominant role going backwards in cosmic history, we find that over the last ~10 Gyr, much of star formation has been fueled by accreting cold gas from the cosmic web. Accretion rates were presumably larger in the past, so star forming systems may have very different properties in the early Universe and today. Large scale astronomical surveys, such as the Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have provided a wealth of extragalactic data covering a statistically large number of sources. Targeted, niche surveys, like our fine structure line survey of star forming galaxies in the early Universe observed with the redshift (z) Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS) have provided detailed observations of high interest sources. We have made use of this diverse set of data to study galaxy evolution from the epoch of peak star formation at z=1-2 up to the present. Data from HerMES is a reliable probe of infrared emission, particularly useful for characterizing the far infrared dust peak, and therefore determining star formation rates out to redshifts of a few. Deep integrations with the Herschel SPIRE photometer rapidly reach the confusion limit, tempering its utility in studying faint high redshift galaxies. With appropriate care taken to identify blended sources, however, HerMES data is useful in identifying bright, red- shifted, star forming sources. We have compiled spectral energy distributions from HerMES and ancillary data and found that, even sources at high redshift are well fit by local star forming galaxy templates. In the local Universe, spectroscopic SDSS data has allowed us to estimate crucial galaxy properties on ~105 sources, providing an opportunity to observe general statistical trends, and constrain theories of galaxy evolution. A toy model of cold flow accretion powered star formation reproduces the observed fundamental plane of galaxy stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation for small and medium mass galaxies. Our fine structure line survey with ZEUS detected the [CII] 157.7 [MICRO SIGN]m line in eight galaxies from the epoch of peak star formation at z=1-2. We augmented this survey with observations of the [OI] 63 [MICRO SIGN]m line and far infrared photometry from Herschel, as well as Spitzer IRS spectra from the literature. Most of our sources have higher than average gas heating efficiency with L[CII] /LF IR 10[-]2 . We interpret the majority of them as being dominated by star formation powered PDRs, extending to kpc scales. In two sources there is evidence for enhanced [CII] emission due to heating by low velocity shocks. These findings are consistent with a picture of gas accretion fueling star formation on a near galaxy-wide scale. In synthesizing this data we find a remarkable consistency in the nature of star formation over the last 10 Gyr. In contrast with the model of sustained hierarchical merging, we find that star formation since z~2 is fueled largely by cold flow accretion of gas from the cosmic web, which presents itself as moderate density star formation with correspondingly moderate UV fields.

Author: Naveen Reddy
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1581123310
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
We examine the census of star-forming galaxies and their extinction properties at redshift z 2, when a large fraction of the stellar mass in the universe formed. We find a good agreement between the X-ray, radio, and de-reddened UV estimates of the average star formation rate (SFR) for our sample of z 2 galaxies of 50 Msun/yr, indicating that the locally calibrated SFR relations appear to be statistically valid from redshifts 1.5

Author: Irene Shivaei
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780355472042
Category : Cosmic dust
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Redshift of z

Author: Maurizio Salaris
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780470092224
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Evolution of Stars and Stellar Populations is a comprehensive presentation of the theory of stellar evolution and its application to the study of stellar populations in galaxies. Taking a unique approach to the subject, this self-contained text introduces first the theory of stellar evolution in a clear and accessible manner, with particular emphasis placed on explaining the evolution with time of observable stellar properties, such as luminosities and surface chemical abundances. This is followed by a detailed presentation and discussion of a broad range of related techniques, that are widely applied by researchers in the field to investigate the formation and evolution of galaxies. This book will be invaluable for undergraduates and graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics, and will also be of interest to researchers working in the field of Galactic, extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. comprehensive presentation of stellar evolution theory introduces the concept of stellar population and describes "stellar population synthesis" methods to study ages and star formation histories of star clusters and galaxies presents stellar evolution as a tool for investigating the evolution of galaxies and of the universe in general

Author: Eric M. Howard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Stephanie Morris Gogarten
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Stars
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description

Author: Alison Seiler Mansheim
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781369616767
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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This thesis straddles two areas of cosmology, each of which are active, rich and plagued by controversy in their own right: merging clusters and the environmental dependence of galaxy evolution. While the greater context of this thesis is major cluster mergers, our individual subjects are galaxies, and we apply techniques traditionally used to study the differential evolution of galaxies with environment. Our first system (Chapter 2) is a cluster merger known as Musket Ball that is in a post-merging state. Our second system (Chapter 3), referred to as Cl J0910, is comprised of two clusters that have not yet merged. The order in which they are presented is intentional because, while it would have made more sense to study the pre-merger system first, our approach in Chapter 3 was shaped by what we learned by handling the significantly more difficult post-merger system. The body of this thesis is drawn from two papers: Mansheim et al. 2016a and Mansheim et al. 2016b, one on each system. Both projects benefited from exquisite data sets assembled as part of the Merging Cluster Collaboration (MC2), and Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey, allowing us to scrutinize the evolutionary states of galaxy populations in multiple lights. Multi-band optical and near-infrared imaging was available for both systems, allowing us to calculate photometric redshifts for completeness corrections, colors (red vs. blue) and stellar masses to view the ensemble properties of the populations in and around each merger. High-resolution spectroscopy was also available for both systems, allowing us to confirm cluster members by measuring spectroscopic redshifts, which are unparalleled in accuracy, and gauge star formation rates and histories by measuring the strengths of certain spectral features. We had the luxury of HST imaging for Musket Ball, allowing us to use galaxy morphology (late-type vs. early-type) as an additional diagnostic. For Cl J0910, 24 [mu]m imaging allowed us to defeat a most pernicious source of uncertainty (dusty starburst vs. quiescent). Details on the acquisition and reduction of multi-wavelength data for each system are found within each respective chapter. It is important to note that the research presented in Chapter 3 is based on a letter which had significant space restrictions, so much of the observational details are outsourced to papers written by ORELSE collaboration members. Below is a free-standing summary of each project, drawn from the abstracts of each paper. The Chapter 1 contains an introduction to the topic and motivation to fill a vacuum in knowledge using our hypothesis. Chapter 4, following the meat of the thesis in Chapters 2 and 3, gives closure and looks to the future. In Chapter 2, we investigate star formation in DLSCL J0916.2+2953, a dissociative merger of two clusters at z=0.53 that has progressed 1.1[superscript +1.3][subscript-0.4] Gyr since first pass-through. We attempt to reveal the effects a collision may have had on the evolution of the cluster galaxies by tracing their star formation history. We probe current and recent activity to identify a possible star formation event at the time of the merger using EW(H[delta]), EW[(OII)], and D[subscript n](4000) measured from the composite spectra of 64 cluster and 153 coeval field galaxies. We supplement Keck DEIMOS spectra with DLS and HST imaging to determine the color, stellar mass, and morphology of each galaxy and conduct a comprehensive study of the populations in this complex structure. Spectral results indicate the average cluster and cluster red sequence galaxies experienced no enhanced star formation relative to the surrounding field during the merger, ruling out a predominantly merger-quenched population. We find that the average blue galaxy in the North cluster is currently active and in the South cluster is currently post-starburst having undergone a recent star formation event. While the North activity could be latent or long-term merger effects, a young blue stellar population and irregular geometry suggest the cluster was still forming prior the collision. While the South activity coincides with the time of the merger, the blue early-type population could be a result of secular cluster processes. The evidence suggests that the dearth or surfeit of activity is indiscernible from normal cluster galaxy evolution. In Chapter 3, we examine the effects of an impending cluster merger on galaxies in the large scale structure (LSS) RX Cl J0910 at z =1.105. Using multi-wavelength data, including 102 spectral members drawn from the ORELSE survey and precise photometric redshifts, we calculate extinction-corrected star formation rates and map the specific star formation rate density of the LSS galaxies. These analyses along with an investigation of the color-magnitude properties of LSS galaxies indicate lower levels of star formation activity in the region between the merging clusters relative to the outskirts of the system. We suggest gravitational tidal forces due to the potential of merging halos may be the physical mechanisms responsible for the observed suppression of star formation in galaxies caught between the merging clusters.

Author: Andrei M. Bykov
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789402420647
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
The review papers in this volume provide an in-depth examination of complex astrophysical phenomena of star formation via multi-wavelength observations and modeling. Among the fundamental issues discussed in the book are: The role of gravity and magnetized turbulence in the formation and evolution of molecular clouds The stellar feedback (supernovae, HII regions, winds, cosmic rays) in regulating star formation The origin of the stellar initial mass function and its universality across various environments Jets, magnetic fields and high energy particles in stellar clusters The origin of the first stars and black holes The goal of these papers is to review the major processes governing star formation and to investigate how they are interlinked. In doing so, they provide an in-depth look at the tremendous theoretical and observational progress that has been made in the recent past and also outline future perspectives. Previously published in Space Science Reviews in the Topical Collection "Star Formation”