We compare the relative merits of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selection at X-ray and mid-infrared wavelengths using data from moderately deep fields observed by both Chandra and Spitzer. The X-ray-selected AGN sample and associated photometric and spectroscopic optical follow-up are drawn from a subset of fields studied as part of the Serendipitous Extragalactic X-ray Source Identification (SEXSI) program. Mid-infrared data in these fields are derived from targeted and archival Spitzer imaging, and mid-infrared AGN selection is accomplished primarily through application of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) color-color AGN "wedge" selection technique. Nearly all X-ray sources in these fields which exhibit clear spectroscopic signatures of AGN activity have mid-infrared colors consistent with IRAC AGN selection. These are predominantly the most luminous X-ray sources. X-ray sources that lack high-ionization and/or broad lines in their optical spectra are far less likely to be selected as AGNs by mid-infrared color selection techniques. The fraction of X-ray sources identified as AGNs in the mid-infrared increases monotonically as the X-ray luminosity increases. Conversely, only 22% of mid-infrared-selected AGNs are detected at X-ray energies in the moderately deep (t_exp_~100ks) SEXSI Chandra data.
We present the results of a dust reverberation survey for 17 nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies, which provides the largest homogeneous data collection for the radius of the innermost dust torus. A delayed response of the K-band light curve after the V-band light curve was found for all targets, and 49 measurements of lag times between the flux variation of the dust emission in the K band and that of the optical continuum emission in the V band were obtained by the cross-correlation function analysis and also by an alternative method for estimating the maximum likelihood lag. The lag times strongly correlated with the optical luminosity in the luminosity range of M_V_=-16 to -22 mag, and the regression analysis was performed to obtain the correlation log {Delta}t (days)=-2.11 -0.2 M_V_ assuming {Delta}t{prop.to}L^0.5^, which was theoretically expected. We discuss the possible origins of the intrinsic scatter of the dust lag-luminosity correlation, which was estimated to be approximately 0.13 dex, and we find that the difference of internal extinction and delayed response of changes in lag times to the flux variations could have partly contributed to intrinsic scatter. However, we could not detect any systematic change of the correlation with the subclass of the Seyfert type or the Eddington ratio. Finally, we compare the dust reverberation radius with the near-infrared interferometric radius of the dust torus and the reverberation radius of broad Balmer emission lines. The interferometric radius in the K band was found to be systematically larger than the dust reverberation radius in the same band by the about a factor of two, which could be interpreted by the difference between the flux-weighted radius and response-weighted radius of the innermost dust torus. The reverberation radius of the broad Balmer emission lines was found to be systematically smaller than the dust reverberation radius by about a factor of four to five, which strongly supports the unified scheme of the Seyfert type of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Moreover, we examined the radius-luminosity correlations for the hard X-ray (14-195 keV) and the [O IV] {lambda}25.89 {mu}m emission-line luminosities, which would be applicable for obscured AGNs.
We present the SFI++ data set, a homogeneously derived catalog of photometric and rotational properties and the Tully-Fisher distances and peculiar velocities derived from them. We make use of digital optical images, optical long-slit spectra, and global HI line profiles to extract parameters of relevance to disk scaling relations, incorporating several previously published data sets as well as a new photometric sample of some 2000 objects. According to the completeness of available redshift samples over the sky area, we exploit both a modified percolation algorithm and the Voronoi-Delaunay method to assign individual galaxies to groups as well as clusters, thereby reducing scatter introduced by local orbital motions. We also provide corrections to the peculiar velocities for both homogeneous and inhomogeneous Malmquist bias, making use of the 2MASS Redshift Survey density field to approximate large-scale structure. The final SFI++ peculiar velocity catalog contains 4861 field and cluster galaxies.
The Star Formation in Nearby Clouds (SFiNCs) project is aimed at providing a detailed study of the young stellar populations and of star cluster formation in the nearby 22 star-forming regions (SFRs) for comparison with our earlier MYStIX survey of richer, more distant clusters. As a foundation for the SFiNCs science studies, here, homogeneous data analyses of the Chandra X-ray and Spitzer mid-infrared archival SFiNCs data are described, and the resulting catalogs of over 15300 X-ray and over 1630000 mid-infrared point sources are presented. On the basis of their X-ray/infrared properties and spatial distributions, nearly 8500 point sources have been identified as probable young stellar members of the SFiNCs regions. Compared to the existing X-ray/mid-infrared publications, the SFiNCs member list increases the census of YSO members by 6%-200% for individual SFRs and by 40% for the merged sample of all 22 SFiNCs SFRs.
We combine Sloan Digitital Sky Survey (SDSS) and WISE photometry for the full SDSS spectroscopic galaxy sample, creating spectral energy distributions (SEDs) that cover {lambda}=0.4-22{mu}m for an unprecedentedly large and comprehensive sample of 858365 present-epoch galaxies. Using MAGPHYS (da Cunha+ 2008MNRAS.388.1595D), we then simultaneously and consistently model both the attenuated stellar SED and the dust emission at 12 and 22{mu}m, producing robust new calibrations for monochromatic mid-IR star formation rate (SFR) proxies. These modeling results provide the first mid-IR-based view of the bimodality in star formation activity among galaxies, exhibiting the sequence of star-forming galaxies ("main sequence") with a slope of dlogSFR/dlogM_*_=0.80 and a scatter of 0.39dex. We find that these new SFRs along the SF main sequence are systematically lower by a factor of 1.4 than those derived from optical spectroscopy. We show that for most present-day galaxies, the 0.4-22{mu}m SED fits can exquisitely predict the fluxes measured by Herschel at much longer wavelengths. Our analysis also illustrates that the majority of stars in the present-day universe are formed in luminous galaxies (~L*) in and around the "green valley" of the color-luminosity plane. We make publicly available the matched photometry catalog and SED modeling results.
Studies of distant galaxies have shown that ellipticals and large spirals (Schade et al., 1999ApJ...525...31S; Lilly et al., 1998ApJ...500...75L) were already in place 8Gyr ago, leading to a very modest recent star formation (Brinchmann & Ellis, 2000ApJ...536L..77B) in intermediate mass galaxies (3-30*10^10^M_{sun}_). This is challenged by a recent analysis (Heavens et al., 2004Natur.428..625H) of the fossil record of the stellar populations of ~105 nearby galaxies, which shows that intermediate mass galaxies formed or assembled the bulk of their stars 4 to 8Gyr ago. Here we present direct observational evidence supporting this findings from a long term, multi-wavelength study of 195 z>0.4 intermediate mass galaxies, mostly selected from the Canada France Redshift Survey (CFRS, Cat. <VII/225>).
We present the mid-infrared star formation rates of 245 X-ray selected, nearby (z<0.1) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). A homogeneous and volume limited sample of BCGs was created by X-ray selecting clusters with Lx>1x10^44^erg/s. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All WISE Data Release provides the first measurement of the 12{mu}m star formation indicator for all BCGs in the nearby Universe. Perseus A and Cygnus A are the only galaxies in our sample to have star formation rates of >40M_{sun}_/yr, indicating that these two galaxies are highly unusual at current times. Stellar populations of 99+/-0.6 per cent of local BCGs are (approximately) passively evolving, with star formation rates of <10M_{sun}_/yr. We find that in general, star formation produces only modest BCG growth at the current epoch.
We study a sample of 28 S0 galaxies extracted from the integral field spectroscopic (IFS) survey Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area. We combine an accurate two-dimensional (2D) multicomponent photometric decomposition with the IFS kinematic properties of their bulges to understand their formation scenario. Our final sample is representative of S0s with high stellar masses (M*/M_{sun}_>10^10^). They lay mainly on the red sequence and live in relatively isolated environments similar to that of the field and loose groups. We use our 2D photometric decomposition to define the size and photometric properties of the bulges, as well as their location within the galaxies. We perform mock spectroscopic simulations mimicking our observed galaxies to quantify the impact of the underlying disc on our bulge kinematic measurements ({nu} and v/{lambda}). We compare our bulge corrected kinematic measurements with the results from Schwarzschild dynamical modelling. The good agreement confirms the robustness of our results and allows us to use bulge deprojected values of {lambda} and v/{sigma}. We find that the photometric (n and B/T) and kinematic (v/{sigma} and {lambda}) properties of our field S0 bulges are not correlated. We demonstrate that this morpho-kinematic decoupling is intrinsic to the bulges and it is not due to projection effects. We conclude that photometric diagnostics to separate different types of bulges (disc-like versus classical) might not be useful for S0 galaxies. The morpho-kinematics properties of S0 bulges derived in this paper suggest that they are mainly formed by dissipational processes happening at high redshift, but dedicated high-resolution simulations are necessary to better identify their origin.
We use the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain WFC3/F390W imaging of the supergroup SG1120-1202 at z=0.37, mapping the UV emission of 138 spectroscopically confirmed members. We measure total (F390W-F814W) colors and visually classify the UV morphology of individual galaxies as "clumpy" or "smooth." Approximately 30% of the members have pockets of UV emission (clumpy) and we identify for the first time in the group environment galaxies with UV morphologies similar to the "jellyfish" galaxies observed in massive clusters. We stack the clumpy UV members and measure a shallow internal color gradient, which indicates that unobscured star formation is occurring throughout these galaxies. We also stack the four galaxy groups and measure a strong trend of decreasing UV emission with decreasing projected group distance (R_proj_). We find that the strong correlation between decreasing UV emission and increasing stellar mass can fully account for the observed trend in (F390W-F814W)-R_proj_, i.e., mass-quenching is the dominant mechanism for extinguishing UV emission in group galaxies. Our extensive multi-wavelength analysis of SG1120-1202 indicates that stellar mass is the primary predictor of UV emission, but that the increasing fraction of massive (red/smooth) galaxies at R_proj_<~2R_200_ and existence of jellyfish candidates is due to the group environment.
Dust formation in supernova ejecta is currently the leading candidate to explain the large quantities of dust observed in the distant, early universe. However, it is unclear whether the ejecta-formed dust can survive the hot interior of the supernova remnant (SNR). We present infrared observations of ~0.02 solar masses of warm (~100 kelvin) dust seen near the center of the ~10,000-year-old Sagittarius A East SNR at the Galactic center. Our findings indicate the detection of dust within an older SNR that is expanding into a relatively dense surrounding medium (electron density ~10^3^ centimeters^-3^) and has survived the passage of the reverse shock. The results suggest that supernovae may be the dominant dust-production mechanism in the dense environment of galaxies of the early universe.
