Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)

Abstract: Cygnus X is one of the closest and most active high-mass star-forming regions in our Galaxy, making it one of the best laboratories for studying massive star formation. As part of the GLOSTAR Galactic plane survey, we performed large scale simultaneous H$_{2}$CO (1$_{1,0}$-1$_{1,1}$) spectral line and radio continuum imaging observations toward Cygnus X at $\lambda\sim$6 cm with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and the Effelsberg-100 m radio telescope. Our Effelsberg observations reveal widespread H$_{2}$CO (1$_{1,0}$-1$_{1,1}$) absorption with a spatial extent of $\gtrsim$50 pc in Cygnus~X for the first time. On large scales of 4.4 pc, the relative orientation between local velocity gradient and magnetic field tends to be more parallel at H$_{2}$ column densities of $\gtrsim$1.8$\times 10^{22}$~cm$^{-2}$. On the smaller scale of 0.17 pc, our VLA+Effelsberg combined data reveal H$_{2}$CO absorption only toward three bright H{\scriptsize II} regions. Our observations demonstrate that H$_{2}$CO (1$_{1,0}$-1$_{1,1}$) is commonly optically thin. Kinematic analysis supports the assertion that molecular clouds generally exhibit supersonic motions on scales of 0.17-4.4 pc. We show a non-negligible contribution of the cosmic microwave background radiation in producing extended absorption features in Cygnus X. Our observations suggest that H$_{2}$CO ($1_{1,0}-1_{1,1}$) can trace molecular gas with H$_{2}$ column densities of $\gtrsim 5 \times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. The ortho-H$_{2}$CO fractional abundance with respect to H$_{2}$ has a mean value of 7.0$\times 10^{-10}$. A comparison of velocity dispersions on different linear scales suggests that the dominant $-3$ km s$^{-1}$ velocity component in the prominent DR21 region has nearly identical velocity dispersions on scales of 0.17-4.4 pc, which deviates from the expected behavior of classic turbulence.

Abstract: This work explores the mixing rate of metals in the interstellar medium (ISM), comparing observational constraints from our solar neighbourhood to high resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of Milky Way (MW)-like galaxies. The mixing rate, described by the coefficient C, is varied in simulations between 0 and 0.05, with resultant simulated galaxies compared to observations of metallicity dispersion in young star clusters, HII regions and neutral gas in the disc of the MW. A value of C between 0.003125 and 0.0125 is found to self-consistently match a range of observables, with a best estimate of C=0.0064$\pm$0.0004. We demonstrate that the relationship between metal dispersion in young stars, HII regions and neutral gas, versus the coefficient C, can be described by a power law. These constrained mixing rates infer a comparatively well mixed ISM in the solar neighbourhood, at odds with some recent observations that have reported a highly inhomogeneous ISM. The degree of mixing suggested by this work is lower than what often employed in many hydrodynamical simulations. Our results have implications for studying the metallicity distribution of stars as well as of gas in the interstellar and circumgalactic media.

Abstract: We have used the IRAM 30-m telescope to map some targets with HCO$^+$ (1-0) and H$^{13}$CO$^+$ (1-0) lines in order to search for gas infall evidence in the clumps. In this paper, we report the mapping results for 13 targets. All of these targets show HCO$^+$ emissions, while H$^{13}$CO$^+$ emissions are observed in ten of them. The HCO$^+$ integrated intensity maps of ten targets show clear clumpy structures, and nine targets show clumpy structures in the H$^{13}$CO$^+$ maps. Using the RADEX radiative transfer code, we estimate the column density of H$^{13}$CO$^+$, and determine the abundance ratio [H$^{13}$CO$^+$]/[H$_2$] to be approximately 10$^{-12}$ to 10$^{-10}$. Based on the asymmetry of the HCO$^+$ line profiles, we identify 11 targets show blue profiles, while six clumps have global infall evidence. We use the RATRAN and two-layer models to fit the HCO$^+$ line profiles of these infall sources, and analyze their spatial distribution of the infall velocity. The average infall velocities estimated by these two models are 0.24 -- 1.85 km s$^{-1}$ and 0.28 -- 1.45 km s$^{-1}$, respectively. The mass infall rate ranges from approximately 10$^{-5}$ to 10$^{-2}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, which suggests that intermediate- or high-mass stars may be forming in the target regions.

Abstract: The physical mechanisms driving starbursts in dwarf galaxies are unclear, and the effects of mergers on star formation in these galaxies are still uncertain. We explore how the merger process affects star formation in metal-poor dwarf galaxies by analyzing high-spatial-resolution ($\sim$ 70 pc) integral field spectrograph observations of ionized gas. We use archival data from the Very Large Telescope/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer to map the spatial distribution of strong emission lines (e.g., $\rm H\beta$, $\rm H\alpha$, $\rm [OIII]\lambda5007$, $\rm [NII]\lambda6583$, etc) in the nearby merging star-forming dwarf galaxy system NGC 4809/4810. We identify approximately 112 star-forming knots scattered among the two galaxies, where the gas-phase metallicity distribution is inhomogeneous and mixing with metal-poor and metal-rich ionized gas. Star-forming knots at the interacting region show lower metallicity, the highest star formation rates (SFRs) and SFR to resolved main-sequence-relation (rMSR) ratios. Ionized gas exhibits an obvious northeast-southwest velocity gradient in NGC 4809, while seemingly mixed in NGC 4810. High virial parameters and the stellar mass-size relation of HII regions indicate that these regions are dominated by direct radiation pressure from massive stars/clusters and persistently expanding. We find two different stellar mass surface density-stellar age relations in NGC 4809 and NGC 4810, and the stellar ages of NGC 4810 are systematically younger than in NGC 4809. Our study suggests that the merging stage of two dwarf galaxies can induce starburst activities at the interaction areas, despite the metal-deficient environment. Considering the high specific SFRs and different stellar ages, we propose that the interaction initially triggered star formation in NGC 4809 and then drove star formation in NGC 4810.

Abstract: We present 12 new AGN at 4<z<7 in the JADES survey (in addition to the previously identified AGN in GN-z11 at z=10.6) revealed through the detection of a Broad Line Region as seen in the Balmer emission lines. The depth of JADES, together with the use of three different spectral resolutions, enables us to probe a lower mass regime relative to previous studies. In a few cases we find evidence for two broad components of Halpha which suggests that these could be candidate merging black holes (BHs). The inferred BH masses range between 8 x 10^7 Msun down to 4 x 10^5 Msun, interestingly probing the regime expected for Direct Collapse Black Holes. The inferred AGN bolometric luminosities (~10^44-10^45 erg/s) imply accretion rates that are < 0.5 times the Eddington rate in most cases. However, small BH, with M_BH ~ 10^6 Msun, tend to accrete at Eddington or super-Eddington rates. These BH at z~4-11 are over-massive relative to their host galaxies stellar masses when compared to the local M_BH-Mstar relation. However, we find that these early BH tend to be more consistent with the local relation between M_BH and velocity dispersion, as well as between M_BH and dynamical mass, suggesting that these are more fundamental and universal relations. On the BPT excitation-diagnostic diagram these AGN are located in the region that is that is locally occupied by star-forming galaxies, implying that they would be missed by the standard classification techniques if they did not display broad lines. Their location on the diagram is consistent with what expected for AGN hosted in metal poor galaxies (Z ~ 0.1-0.2 Zsun). The fraction of broad line AGN with L_AGN > 10^44 erg/s, among galaxies in the redshift range 4<z<6, is about 10%, suggesting that the contribution of AGN and their hosts to the reionization of the Universe is > 10%.

Abstract: Star Formation Across Cosmic Time (SFACT) is a new narrowband survey designed to detect faint emission-line galaxies and QSOs over a broad range of redshifts. Here we present the first list of SFACT candidates from our pilot-study fields. Using the WIYN 3.5m telescope, we are able to achieve good image quality with excellent depth and routinely detect ELGs to r = 25.0. The limiting line flux of the survey is ~1.0 x 10^16 erg/s/cm^2. SFACT targets three primary emission lines: H-alpha, [O III]5007, and [O II]3727. The corresponding redshift windows allow for the detection of objects at z ~ 0-1. With a coverage of 1.50 square degrees in our three pilot-study fields, a total of 533 SFACT candidates have been detected (355 candidates per square degree). We detail the process by which these candidates are selected in an efficient and primarily automated manner, then tabulate accurate coordinates, broadband photometry, and narrowband fluxes for each source.

Abstract: High-resolution 3D maps of interstellar dust are critical for probing the underlying physics shaping the structure of the interstellar medium, and for foreground correction of astrophysical observations affected by dust. We aim to construct a new 3D map of the spatial distribution of interstellar dust extinction out to a distance of 1.25 kpc from the Sun. We leverage distance and extinction estimates to 54 million nearby stars derived from the Gaia BP/RP spectra. Using the stellar distance and extinction information, we infer the spatial distribution of dust extinction. We model the logarithmic dust extinction with a Gaussian Process in a spherical coordinate system via Iterative Charted Refinement and a correlation kernel inferred in previous work. We probe our 661 million dimensional posterior distribution using the variational inference method MGVI. Our 3D dust map achieves an angular resolution of 14' (Nside = 256). We sample the dust extinction in 516 distance bins spanning 69 pc to 1250 pc. We obtain a maximum distance resolution of 0.4 pc at 69 pc and a minimum distance resolution of 7 pc at 1.25 kpc. Our map resolves the internal structure of hundreds of molecular clouds in the solar neighborhood and will be broadly useful for studies of star formation, Galactic structure, and young stellar populations. It is available for download in a variety of coordinate systems at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8187943 and can also be queried via the publicly available dustmaps Python package.

Abstract: The Star Formation Across Cosmic Time (SFACT) survey is a new narrowband survey designed to detect emission-line galaxies (ELGs) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) over a wide range of redshifts in discrete redshift windows. The survey utilizes the WIYN 3.5m telescope and the Hydra multifiber positioner to perform efficient follow-up spectroscopy on galaxies identified in the imaging part of the survey. Since the objects in the SFACT survey are selected by their strong emission lines, it is possible to obtain useful spectra for even the faintest of our sources (r ~ 25). Here we present the 453 objects that have spectroscopic data from the three SFACT pilot-study fields, 415 of which are confirmed ELGs. The methodology for processing and measuring these data is outlined in this paper and example spectra are displayed for each of the three primary emission lines used to detect objects in the survey (H-alpha, [O III]5007, and [O II]3727). Spectra of additional QSOs and non-primary emission-line detections are also shown as examples. The redshift distribution of the pilot-study sample is examined and the ELGs are placed in different emission-line diagnostic diagrams in order to distinguish the star-forming galaxies from the active galactic nuclei.