Search

Compact groups of dwarf galaxies (CGDs) have been observed at low redshifts (z < 0.1) and are direct evidence of hierarchical assembly at low masses. To understand the formation of CGDs and the galaxy assembly in the low-mass regime, we search for analogues of compact (radius ≤100 kpc) groups of dwarfs (7 ≤ log [ M */M⊙] ≤ 9.5) in the IllustrisTNG highest resolution simulation. Our analysis shows that TNG50-1 can successfully produce CGDs at z  = 0 with realistic total and stellar masses. We also find that the CGD number density decreases towards the present, especially at z ≲ 0.26, reaching |$n \approx 10^{-3.5} \ \rm cMpc^{-3}$| at z  = 0. This prediction can be tested observationally with upcoming surveys targeting the faint end of the galaxy population and is essential to constrain galaxy evolution models in the dwarf regime. The majority of simulated groups at z ∼ 0 formed recently (⁠|$\lesssim 1.5 \ \rm Gyr$|⁠), and CGDs identified at z ≤ 0.5 commonly take more than 1 Gyr to merge completely, giving origin to low- to intermediate-mass (8 ≤ log [ M */M⊙] ≤ 10) normally star-forming galaxies at z  = 0. We find that haloes hosting CGDs at z  = 0 formed later when compared to haloes of similar mass, having lower stellar masses and higher total gas fractions. The simulations suggest that CGDs observed at z ∼ 0 arise from a late hierarchical assembly in the last ∼3 Gyr, producing rapid growth in total mass relative to stellar mass and creating dwarf groups with median halo masses of |$\sim 10^{11.3} \ \rm M_\odot$| and B -band mass-to-light ratios mostly in the range 10 ≲ M / L ≲ 100, in agreement with previous theoretical and observational studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a handful of galaxies in the local Universe appear to be very young. We estimate the fraction of very young galaxies (VYGs), defined as those with more than half their stellar masses formed within the last Gyr. We fit non-parametric star formation histories (SFHs) to ∼280 000 galaxy spectra from a flux- and volume-limited subsample of the Main Galaxy Sample (MGS) of the SDSS, which is also complete in mass-to-light ratio, thus properly accounting for passive galaxies of a given mass. The VYG fractions decrease with increasing galaxy stellar mass, from ∼50 per cent at |$m = 10^8\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$| to ∼0.1 per cent at |$m = 10^{11.5}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$|⁠ , with differences of up to 1 dex between the different spectral models used to estimate the SFH and on how we treat aperture effects. But old stellar populations may hide in our VYGs despite our conservative VYG sample built with galaxies that are globally bluer than within the region viewed by the SDSS fibre. The VYG fractions versus mass decrease more gradually compared to the Tweed et al. predictions using analytical and semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, but agree better with the SIMBA hydrodynamical simulation. These discrepancies highlight the usefulness of VYGs in constraining the strong uncertainties in both galaxy formation models and spectral modelling of galaxy SFHs. Given the lognormal cosmic SFH, these mean VYG fractions suggest that galaxies above |$10^8\, \rm M_\odot$| undergo at most four major starbursts on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the formation and evolution of z = 0 massive compact galaxies (MCGs) in the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation. We found that, as in observations, MCGs are mainly old (median age ∼10.8 Gyr), have supersolar metallicities (median log  Z /Z⊙ ∼ 0.35), and are α-enhanced (median [α/Fe] ∼ 0.25). The age distribution extends to younger ages, however, and a few MCGs are as young as ∼7 Gyr. In general, MCGs assemble their mass early and accrete low angular momentum gas, significantly increasing their mass while growing their size much slower. A small fraction of MCGs follow another evolutionary path, going through a compaction event, with their sizes shrinking by 40 per cent or more. The accretion of low angular momentum gas leads to enhanced supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth, and MCGs reach the threshold SMBH mass of |$\log M_\mathrm{BH}\sim 10^{8.5}\ \mathrm{ M}_\odot$| – when kinetic active galactic nucleus feedback kicks in and quenches the galaxy – earlier than non-compact galaxies. Comparing MCGs to a sample of median-sized quiescent galaxies matched in effective velocity dispersion, we find that their accretion histories are very different. 71 per cent of MCGs do not merge after quenching compared to 37 per cent of median-sized quiescent galaxies. Moreover, tracing these populations back in time, we find that at least a third of median-sized quiescent galaxies do not have a compact progenitor, underscoring that both dry mergers and progenitor bias effects are responsible for the differences in the kinematics and stellar population properties of MCGs and median-sized quiescent galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared long-slit spectroscopy has been used to study the stellar population (SP) of the low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and matched analogues (LLAMA) sample. To perform the SP fits we have employed the X-shooter simple stellar population models together with the starlight code. Our main conclusions are: The star formation history of the AGNs is very complex, presenting many episodes of star formation during their lifetimes. In general, AGN hosts have higher fractions of intermediate-age SP (light-weighted mean ages, < t > L ≲ 4.5 Gyr) when compared with their analogues (< t > L ≲ 8.0 Gyr). AGNs are more affected by reddening and require significant fractions of featureless continuum and hot dust components. The ratio between the AGN radiated energy and the gravitational potential energy of the molecular gas (E Rad/ E PG) for the AGN is compared with the < t > L and a possible anticorrelation is observed. This suggests that the AGN is affecting the star formation in these galaxies, in the sense that more energetic AGN [log(E Rad/ E PG) ≳ 3] tend to host nuclear younger SP (< t > L ≲4 Gyr). We found that the recent (t <2 Gyr) returned (recycled) stellar mass is higher in AGN than in the controls. We also provide evidence that the mass-loss of stars would be enough to feed the AGN, thus providing observational constraints for models that predict that AGN feeding is partially due to the recycled gas from dying stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the globular cluster (GC) systems of a sample of 15 massive, compact early-type galaxies (ETGs), 13 of which have already been identified as good relic galaxy candidates on the basis of their compact morphologies, old stellar populations and stellar kinematics. These relic galaxy candidates are likely the nearby counterparts of high-redshift red nugget galaxies. Using F814W (≈ I) and F160W (≈ H) data from the WFC3 camara onboard the Hubble Space Telescope , we determine the total number, luminosity function, specific frequency, colour, and spatial distribution of the GC systems (GCSs). We find lower specific frequencies (SN < 2.5 with a median of SN = 1) than ETGs of comparable mass. This is consistent with a scenario of rapid, early dissipative formation, with relatively low levels of accretion of low-mass, high- SN satellites. The GC half-number radii are compact, but follow the relations found in normal ETGs. We identify an anticorrelation between the specific angular momentum (λ R) of the host galaxy and the (I − H) colour distribution width of their GCSs. Assuming that λ R provides a measure of the degree of dissipation in massive ETGs, we suggest that the (I − H) colour distribution width can be used as a proxy for the degree of complexity of the accretion histories in these systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results on the study of the stellar population in early-type galaxies (ETGs) belonging to 151 compact groups (CGs). We also selected a field sample composed of 846 ETGs to investigate environmental effects on galaxy evolution. We find that the dependences of mean stellar ages, [Z/H] and [α/Fe] on central stellar velocity dispersion are similar, regardless where the ETG resides, CGs or field. When compared to the sample of centrals and satellites from the literature, we find that ETGs in CGs behave similarly to centrals, especially those embedded in low-mass haloes (⁠|$M_{\mathrm{ h}} \lt 10^ {12.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$|⁠). Except for the low-mass limit, where field galaxies present a star-forming signature, not seen in CGs, the ionization agent of the gas in CG and field galaxies seem to be similar due to hot, evolved low-mass stars. However, field ETGs present an excess of H α emission relative to ETGs in CGs. Additionally, we performed a dynamical analysis, which shows that CGs present a bimodality in the group velocity dispersion distribution – a high- and low-σ mode. Our results indicate that high-σ groups have a smaller fraction of spirals, shorter crossing times, and a more luminous population of galaxies than the low-σ groups. It is important to emphasize that our findings point to a small environmental impact on galaxies located in CGs. The only evidence we find is the change in gas content, suggesting environmentally driven gas loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse a set of optical-to-near-infrared long-slit nuclear spectra of 16 infrared-luminous spiral galaxies. All of the studied sources present H2 emission, which reflects the star-forming nature of our sample, and they clearly display H  i emission lines in the optical. Their continua contain many strong stellar absorption lines, with the most common features due to |$\rm{Ca\,{\small I}}$|⁠ , |$\rm{Ca\,{\small II}}$|⁠ , |$\rm{Fe\,{\small I}}$|⁠ , |$\rm{Na\,{\small I}}$|⁠ , |$\rm{Mg\,{\small I}}$|⁠ , in addition to prominent absorption bands of TiO, VO, ZrO, CN, and CO. We report a homogeneous set of equivalent width (EW) measurements for 45 indices, from optical to NIR species for the 16 star-forming galaxies as well as for 19 early-type galaxies where we collected the data from the literature. This selected set of emission and absorption-feature measurements can be used to test predictions of the forthcoming generations of stellar population models. We find correlations among the different absorption features and propose here correlations between optical and NIR indices, as well as among different NIR indices, and compare them with model predictions. Although for the optical absorption features the models consistently agree with the observations, the NIR indices are much harder to interpret. For early-type spirals the measurements agree roughly with the models, while for star-forming objects they fail to predict the strengths of these indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]