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  • Probing the Diffuse Lyman-alpha Emission on Cosmological Scales: Ly{\alpha} Emission Intensity Mapping Using the Complete SDSS-IV eBOSS Survey

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16, we have detected the large-scale structure of Ly$\alpha$ emission in the Universe at redshifts $z = 2$--3.5 by cross-correlating quasar positions and Ly$\alpha$ emission imprinted in the residual spectra of luminous red galaxies. We apply an analytical model to fit the corresponding Ly$\alpha$ surface brightness profile and multipoles of the redshift-space quasar-Ly$\alpha$ emission cross-correlation function. The model suggests an average cosmic Ly$\alpha$ luminosity density of ${6.6_{-3.1}^{+3.3}}\times 10^{40} {\rm erg\, s^{-1} cMpc^{-3}}$, a $\sim 2\sigma$ detection with a median value about 8--9 times those estimated from deep narrowband surveys of Ly$\alpha$ emitters at similar redshifts. Although the low signal-to-noise ratio prevents us from a significant detection of the Ly$\alpha$ forest-Ly$\alpha$ emission cross-correlation, the measurement is consistent with the prediction of our best-fit model from quasar-Ly$\alpha$ emission cross-correlation within current uncertainties. We rule out the scenario that these Ly$\alpha$ photons mainly originate from quasars. We find that Ly$\alpha$ emission from star-forming galaxies, including contributions from that concentrated around the galaxy centers and that in the diffuse Ly$\alpha$ emitting halos, is able to explain the bulk of the the Ly$\alpha$ luminosity density inferred from our measurements. Ongoing and future surveys can further improve the measurements and advance our understanding of the cosmic Ly$\alpha$ emission field.

  • Constraining the Temperature-Density Relation of the Inter-Galactic Medium from Analytically Modeling Lyman-alpha Forest Absorbers

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The absorption by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) produces the Ly$\alpha$ forest in the spectra of quasars. The Ly$\alpha$ forest absorbers have a broad distribution of neutral hydrogen column density $N_{\rm HI}$ and Doppler $b$ parameter. The narrowest Ly$\alpha$ absorption lines (of lowest $b$) with neutral hydrogen column density above $\sim 10^{13}{\rm cm^{-2}}$ are dominated by thermal broadening, which can be used to constrain the thermal state of the IGM. Here we constrain the temperature-density relation $T=T_0(\rho/\bar{\rho})^{\gamma-1}$ of the IGM at $1.6展开 -->

  • Constraining the Temperature-Density Relation of the Inter-Galactic Medium from Analytically Modeling Lyman-alpha Forest Absorbers

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The absorption by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) produces the Ly$\alpha$ forest in the spectra of quasars. The Ly$\alpha$ forest absorbers have a broad distribution of neutral hydrogen column density $N_{\rm HI}$ and Doppler $b$ parameter. The narrowest Ly$\alpha$ absorption lines (of lowest $b$) with neutral hydrogen column density above $\sim 10^{13}{\rm cm^{-2}}$ are dominated by thermal broadening, which can be used to constrain the thermal state of the IGM. Here we constrain the temperature-density relation $T=T_0(\rho/\bar{\rho})^{\gamma-1}$ of the IGM at $1.6展开 -->

  • On the Constraints of Galaxy Assembly Bias in Velocity Space

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: If the formation of central galaxies in dark matter haloes traces the assembly history of their host haloes, in haloes of fixed mass, central galaxy clustering may show dependence on properties indicating their formation history. Such a galaxy assembly bias effect has been investigated by Lin et al. 2016, with samples of central galaxies constructed in haloes of similar mass and with mean halo mass verified by galaxy lensing measurements, and no significant evidence of assembly bias is found from the analysis of the projected two-point correlation functions of early- and late-forming central galaxies. In this work, we extend the the investigation of assembly bias effect from real space to redshift (velocity) space, with an extended construction of early- and late-forming galaxies. We carry out halo occupation distribution modelling to constrain the galaxy-halo connection to see whether there is any sign of the effect of assembly bias. We find largely consistent host halo mass for early- and late-forming central galaxies, corroborated by lensing measurements. The central velocity bias parameters, which are supposed to characterise the mutual relaxation between central galaxies and their host haloes, are inferred to overlap between early- and late-forming central galaxies. However, we find a large amplitude of velocity bias for early-forming central galaxies (e.g. with central galaxies moving at more than 50% that of dark matter velocity dispersion inside host haloes), which may signal an assembly bias effect. A large sample with two-point correlation functions and other clustering measurements and improved modelling will help reach a conclusive result.

  • UV & Ly$\alpha$ halos of Ly$\alpha$ emitters across environments at z=2.84

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We present UV and Ly$\alpha$ radial surface brightness (SB) profiles of Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) at $z=2.84$ detected with the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru Telescope. The depth of our data, together with the wide field coverage including a protocluster, enable us to study the dependence of Ly$\alpha$ halos (LAHs) on various galaxy properties, including Mpc-scale environments. UV and Ly$\alpha$ images of 3490 LAEs are extracted, and stacking the images yields SB sensitivity of $\sim1\times10^{-20}\mathrm{~erg~s^{-1}~cm^{-2}~arcsec^{-2}}$ in Ly$\alpha$, reaching the expected level of optically thick gas illuminated by the UV background at $z\sim3$. Fitting of the two-component exponential function gives the scale-lengths of $1.56\pm0.01$ and $10.4\pm0.3$ pkpc. Dividing the sample according to their photometric properties, we find that while the dependence of halo scale-length on environment outside of the protocluster core is not clear, LAEs in the central regions of protoclusters appear to have very large LAHs which could be caused by combined effects of source overlapping and diffuse Ly$\alpha$ emission from cool intergalactic gas permeating the forming protocluster core irradiated by active members. For the first time, we identify ``UV halos'' around bright LAEs which are probably due to a few lower-mass satellite galaxies. Through comparison with recent numerical simulations, we conclude that, while scattered Ly$\alpha$ photons from the host galaxies are dominant, star formation in satellites evidently contributes to LAHs, and that fluorescent Ly$\alpha$ emission may be boosted within protocluster cores at cosmic noon and/or near bright QSOs.

  • Neutral Hydrogen Content of Dwarf Galaxies in Different Environments

    分类: 物理学 >> 地球物理学、天文学和天体物理学 提交时间: 2023-12-15 合作期刊: 《Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics》

    摘要: Environments play an important role in galaxy formation and evolution, particularly in regulating the content of neutral gas. However, current H i surveys have limitations in their depth, which prevents them from adequately studying low H i content galaxies in high-density regions. In this study, we address this issue by employing the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope with extensive integration times to complement the relatively shallow Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array H i survey. This approach allows us to explore the gas content of dwarf galaxies across various environments. We observe a positive relationship between H i mass and stellar mass in dwarf galaxies, with a well-defined upper boundary for H i mass that holds true in both observations and simulations. Furthermore, we find a decrease in the H i-to-stellar mass ratio (MH I/M*) as the density of the environment increases, irrespective of whether it is determined by the proximity to the nearest group or the projected number density. Comparing our observations to simulations, we note a steeper slope in the relationship, indicating a gradual gas-stripping process in the observational data. Additionally, we find that the scaling relation between the MH I/M* and optical properties can be improved by incorporating galaxy environments.

  • HI content of massive red spiral galaxies observed by FAST

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: A sample of 279 massive red spirals was selected optically by Guo et al. (2020), among which 166 galaxies have been observed by the ALFALFA survey. In this work, we observe HI content of the rest 113 massive red spiral galaxies using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). 75 of the 113 galaxies have HI detection with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) greater than 4.7. Compared with the red spirals in the same sample that have been observed by the ALFALFA survey, galaxies observed by FAST have on average a higher S/N, and reach to a lower HI mass. To investigate why many red spirals contain a significant amount of HI mass, we check color profiles of the massive red spirals using images observed by the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. We find that galaxies with HI detection have bluer outer disks than the galaxies without HI detection, for both ALFALFA and FAST samples. For galaxies with HI detection, there exists a clear correlation between galaxy HI mass and g-r color at outer radius: galaxies with higher HI masses have bluer outer disks. The results indicate that optically selected massive red spirals are not fully quenched, and the HI gas observed in many of the galaxies may exist in their outer blue disks.

  • Metal Lines Associated with the Lyman-alpha Forest from eBOSS Data

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We investigate the metal species associated with the Ly$\alpha$ forest in the eBOSS quasar spectra. Metal absorption lines are revealed in the stacked spectra from cross-correlating the selected Ly$\alpha$ absorbers in the forest and the flux fluctuation field. Up to 13 metal species are identified associated with relatively strong Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (those with flux fluctuation $-1.0<\delta_{\rm Ly\alpha}<-0.6$ and with neutral hydrogen column density of ~ $10^{15-16}$ $\rm cm^{-2}$) over absorber redshift range of $2展开 -->

  • Planets Across Space and Time (PAST). III. Morphology of the Planetary Radius Valley as a Function of Stellar Age and Metallicity in the Galactic Context Revealed by the LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler Sample

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The radius valley, a dip in the radius distribution of exoplanets at ~1.9 Earth radii separates compact rocky Super-Earths and Sub-Neptunes with lower density. Various hypotheses have been put forward to explain the radius valley. Characterizing the radius valley morphology and its correlation to stellar properties will provide crucial observation constraints on its origin mechanism and deepen the understanding of planet formation and evolution. In this paper, the third part of the Planets Across the Space and Time (PAST) series, using the LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler catalog, we perform a systematical investigation into how the radius valley morphology varies in the Galactic context, i.e., thin/thick galactic disks, stellar age and metallicity abundance ([Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe]). We find that (1) The valley becomes more prominent with the increase of both age and [Fe/H]. (2) The number ratio of super-Earths to sub-Neptunes monotonically increases with age but decreases with [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe]. (3) The average radius of planets above the valley (2.1-6 Earth radii) decreases with age but increases with [Fe/H]. (4) In contrast, the average radius of planets below the valley (R < 1.7 Earth radii) is broadly independent on age and metallicity. Our results demonstrate that the valley morphology as well as the whole planetary radius distribution evolves on a long timescale of giga-years, and metallicities (not only Fe but also other metal elements, e.g., Mg, Si, Ca, Ti) play important roles in planet formation and in the long term planetary evolution.

  • Planets Across Space and Time (PAST). II: Catalog and Analyses of the LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler Stellar Kinematic Properties

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The Kepler telescope has discovered over 4,000 planets (candidates) by searching ? 200,000 stars over a wide range of distance (order of kpc) in our Galaxy. Characterizing the kinematic properties (e.g., Galactic component membership and kinematic age) of these Kepler targets (including the planet (candidate) hosts) is the first step towards studying Kepler planets in the Galactic context, which will reveal fresh insights into planet formation and evolution. In this paper, the second part of the Planets Across the Space and Time (PAST) series, by combining the data from LAMOST and Gaia and then applying the revised kinematic methods from PAST I, we present a catalog of kinematic properties(i.e., Galactic positions, velocities, and the relative membership probabilities among the thin disk, thick disk, Hercules stream, and the halo) as well as other basic stellar parameters for 35,835 Kepler stars. Further analyses of the LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler catalog demonstrate that our derived kinematic age reveals the expected stellar activity-age trend. Furthermore, we find that the fraction of thin(thick) disk stars increases (decreases) with the transiting planet multiplicity (Np = 0, 1, 2 and 3+) and the kinematic age decreases with Np, which could be a consequence of the dynamical evolution of planetary architecture with age. The LAMOST-Gaia-Kepler catalog will be useful for future studies on the correlations between the exoplanet distributions and the stellar Galactic environments as well as ages.

  • The ALMaQUEST Survey XV: The Dependence of the Molecular-to-Atomic Gas Ratios on Resolved Optical Diagnostics

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2024-03-30

    摘要: The atomic-to-molecular gas conversion is a critical step in the baryon cycle of galaxies, which sets the initial conditions for subsequent star formation and influences the multi-phase interstellar medium. We compiled a sample of 94 nearby galaxies with observations of multi-phase gas contents by utilizing public H I, CO, and optical IFU data from the MaNGA survey together with new FAST H I observations. In agreement with previous results, our sample shows that the global molecular-to-atomic gas ratio ($R_{\rm mol} \equiv$ log $M_{\rm H_2}/M_{\rm H\ I}$) is correlated with the global stellar mass surface density $\mu_*$ with a Kendall's $\tau$ coefficient of 0.25 and $p < 10^{-3}$, less tightly but still correlated with stellar mass and NUV$-$ r color, and not related to the specific star formation rate (sSFR). The cold gas distribution and kinematics inferred from the H I and CO global profile asymmetry and shape do not significantly rely on $R_{\rm mol}$. Thanks to the availability of kpc-scale observations of MaNGA, we decompose galaxies into H II, composite, and AGN-dominated regions by using the BPT diagrams. With increasing $R_{\rm mol}$, the fraction of H II regions within 1.5 effective radius decreases slightly; the density distribution in the spatially resolved BPT diagram also changes significantly, suggesting changes in metallicity and ionization states. Galaxies with high $R_{\rm mol}$ tend to have high oxygen abundance, both at one effective radius with a Kendall's $\tau$ coefficient of 0.37 ($p < 10^{-3}$) and their central regions. Among all parameters investigated here, the oxygen abundance at one effective radius has the strongest relation with global $R_{\rm mol}$, but the dependence of gas conversion on gas distribution and galaxy ionization states is weak.

  • Probable Dormant Neutron Star in a Short-Period Binary System

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We have identified 2XMM J125556.57+565846.4, at a distance of 600 pc, as a binary system consisting of a normal star and a probable dormant neutron star. Optical spectra exhibit a slightly evolved F-type single star, displaying periodic Doppler shifts with a 2.76-day Keplerian circular orbit, with no indication of light from a secondary component. Optical and UV photometry reveal ellipsoidal variations with half the orbital period, due to the tidal deformation of the F star. The mass of the unseen companion is constrained to the range $1.1$--$2.1\,M_{\odot}$ at $3\sigma$ confidence, with the median of the mass distribution at $1.4\,M_{\odot}$, the typical mass of known neutron stars. A main-sequence star cannot masquerade as the dark companion. The distribution of possible companion masses still allows for the possibility of a very massive white dwarf. The companion itself could also be a close pair consisting of a white dwarf and an M star, or two white dwarfs, although the binary evolution that would lead to such a close triple system is unlikely. Similar ambiguities regarding the certain identification of a dormant neutron star are bound to affect most future discoveries of this type of non-interacting system. If the system indeed contains a dormant neutron star, it will become, in the future, a bright X-ray source and afterwards might even host a millisecond pulsar.