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We study the impact of stellar feedback in shaping the density and velocity structure of neutral hydrogen (HI) in disc galaxies. For our analysis, we carry out $\sim 4.6$pc resolution $N$-body+adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamic simulations of isolated galaxies, set up to mimic a Milky Way (MW), and a Large and Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC, SMC). We quantify the density and velocity structure of the interstellar medium using power spectra and compare the simulated galaxies to observed HI in local spiral galaxies from THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey). Our models with stellar feedback give an excellent match to the observed THINGS HI density power spectra. We find that kinetic energy power spectra in feedback regulated galaxies, regardless of galaxy mass and size, show scalings in excellent agreement with super-sonic turbulence ($E(k)\propto k^{-2}$) on scales below the thickness of the HI layer. We show that feedback influences the gas density field, and drives gas turbulence, up to large (kpc) scales. This is in stark contrast to density fields generated by large scale gravity-only driven turbulence. We conclude that the neutral gas content of galaxies carries signatures of stellar feedback on all scales., Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We developed a hierarchical Bayesian model (HBM) to investigate how the presence of Seyfert activity relates to their environment, herein represented by the galaxy cluster mass, $M_{200}$, and the normalized cluster-centric distance, $r/r_{200}$. We achieved this by constructing an unbiased sample of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with morphological classifications provided by the Galaxy Zoo Project. A propensity score matching approach is introduced to control for the effects of confounding variables: stellar mass, galaxy colour, and star formation rate. The connection between Seyfert-activity and environmental properties in the de-biased sample is modelled within an HBM framework using the so-called logistic regression technique, suitable for the analysis of binary data (e.g., whether or not a galaxy hosts an AGN). Unlike standard ordinary least square fitting methods, our methodology naturally allows modelling the probability of Seyfert-AGN activity in galaxies on their natural scale, i.e. as a binary variable. Furthermore, we demonstrate how an HBM can incorporate information of each particular galaxy morphological type in a unified framework. In elliptical galaxies, our analysis indicates a strong correlation of Seyfert-AGN activity with $r/r_{200}$, and a weaker correlation with the mass of the host. In spiral galaxies these trends do not appear, suggesting that the link between Seyfert activity and the properties of spiral galaxies are independent of the environment., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted in MNRAS

With the availability of large integral-field unit (IFU) spectral surveys of nearby galaxies, there is now the potential to extract spectral information from across the bulges and discs of galaxies in a systematic way. This information can address questions such as how these components built up with time, how galaxies evolve and whether their evolution depends on other properties of the galaxy such as its mass or environment. We present BUDDI, a new approach to fit the two-dimensional light profiles of galaxies as a function of wavelength to extract the spectral properties of these galaxies' discs and bulges. The fitting is carried out using GalfitM, a modified form of Galfit which can fit multi-waveband images simultaneously. The benefit of this technique over traditional multi-waveband fits is that the stellar populations of each component can be constrained using knowledge over the whole image and spectrum available. The decomposition has been developed using commissioning data from the SDSS-IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey with redshifts z22 arcsec, but can be applied to any IFU data of a nearby galaxy with similar or better spatial resolution and coverage. We present an overview of the fitting process, the results from our tests, and we finish with example stellar population analyses of early-type galaxies from the MaNGA survey to give an indication of the scientific potential of applying bulge-disc decomposition to IFU data., Accepted for publication in MNRAS. BUDDI will be publicly available soon, please contact Evelyn Johnston (evelyn.johnston@eso.org) to be added to the mailing list

We present a study on galaxy detection and shape classification using topometric clustering algorithms. We first use the DBSCAN algorithm to extract, from CCD frames, groups of adjacent pixels with significant fluxes and we then apply the DENCLUE algorithm to separate the contributions of overlapping sources. The DENCLUE separation is based on the localization of pattern of local maxima, through an iterative algorithm which associates each pixel to the closest local maximum. Our main classification goal is to take apart elliptical from spiral galaxies. We introduce new sets of features derived from the computation of geometrical invariant moments of the pixel group shape and from the statistics of the spatial distribution of the DENCLUE local maxima patterns. Ellipticals are characterized by a single group of local maxima, related to the galaxy core, while spiral galaxies have additional ones related to segments of spiral arms. We use two different supervised ensemble classification algorithms, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting. Using a sample of ~ 24000 galaxies taken from the Galaxy Zoo 2 main sample with spectroscopic redshifts, and we test our classification against the Galaxy Zoo 2 catalog. We find that features extracted from our pipeline give on average an accuracy of ~ 93%, when testing on a test set with a size of 20% of our full data set, with features deriving from the angular distribution of density attractor ranking at the top of the discrimination power., Comment: 20 pages, 13 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We study the properties of kinematically disturbed galaxies in the SAMI Galaxy Survey using a quantitative criterion, based on kinemetry (Krajnovic et al.). The approach, similar to the application of kinemetry by Shapiro et al. uses ionised gas kinematics, probed by H{\alpha} emission. By this method 23+/-7% of our 360-galaxy sub-sample of the SAMI Galaxy Survey are kinematically asymmetric. Visual classifications agree with our kinemetric results for 90% of asymmetric and 95% of normal galaxies. We find stellar mass and kinematic asymmetry are inversely correlated and that kinematic asymmetry is both more frequent and stronger in low-mass galaxies. This builds on previous studies that found high fractions of kinematic asymmetry in low mass galaxies using a variety of different methods. Concentration of star forma- tion and kinematic disturbance are found to be correlated, confirming results found in previous work. This effect is stronger for high mass galaxies (log(M*) > 10) and indicates that kinematic disturbance is linked to centrally concentrated star formation. Comparison of the inner (within 0.5Re) and outer H{\alpha} equivalent widths of asymmetric and normal galaxies shows a small but significant increase in inner equivalent width for asymmetric galaxies., Comment: 29 pages, 21 figures

We present HI observations of four giant low surface brightness (GLSB) galaxies UGC 1378, UGC 1922, UGC 4422 and UM 163 using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). We include HI results on UGC 2936, UGC 6614 and Malin 2 from literature. HI is detected from all the galaxies and the extent is roughly twice the optical size; in UM 163, HI is detected along a broken disk encircling the optical galaxy. We combine our results with those in literature to further understand these systems. The main results are the following: (1) The peak HI surface densities in GLSB galaxies are several times 10^21 cm^{-2} . The HI mass is between 0.3 - 4 x 10^10 M_Sun/yr, dynamical mass ranges from a few times 10^11 M_Sun/yr to a few times 10^12 M_Sun/yr. (2) The rotation curves of GLSB galaxies are flat to the outermost measured point with rotation velocities of the seven GLSB galaxies being between 225 and 432 km s^{-1}. (3) Recent star formation traced by near-ultraviolet emission in five GLSB galaxies in our sample appears to be located in rings around the galaxy centre. We suggest that this could be due to a stochastic burst of star formation at one location in the galaxy being propagated along a ring over a rotation period. (4) The Hi is correlated with recent star formation in five of the seven GLSB galaxies., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study the stellar halo color properties of six nearby massive highly inclined disk galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 observations in both F606W and F814W filters from the GHOSTS survey. The observed fields, placed both along the minor and major axis of each galaxy, probe the stellar outskirts out to projected distances of ~ 50-70 kpc from their galactic centre along the minor axis. The 50% completeness levels of the color magnitude diagrams are typically at two mag below the tip of the red giant branch. We find that all galaxies have extended stellar halos out to ~ 50 kpc and two out to ~ 70 kpc. We determined the halo color distribution and color profile for each galaxy using the median colors of stars in the RGB. Within each galaxy we find variations in the median colors as a function of radius which likely indicates population variations, reflecting that their outskirts were built from several small accreted objects. We find that half of the galaxies (NGC 0891, NGC 4565, and NGC 7814) present a clear negative color gradient, reflecting a declining metallicity in their halos; the other have no significant color or population gradient. In addition, notwithstanding the modest sample size of galaxies, there is no strong correlation between their halo color/metallicity or gradient with galaxy's properties such as rotational velocity or stellar mass. The diversity in halo color profiles observed in the GHOSTS galaxies qualitatively supports the predicted galaxy-to-galaxy scatter in halo stellar properties; a consequence of the stochasticity inherent in the assembling history of galaxies., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS, 31 pages, 18 figures. Appendix added and some editions to match accepted version. Conclusions unchanged

We present a near-infrared (NIR) imaging study of barred low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies using the TIFR near-infrared Spectrometer and Imager (TIRSPEC). LSB galaxies are dark matter dominated, late type spirals that have low luminosity stellar disks but large neutral hydrogen (HI) gas disks. Using SDSS images of a very large sample of LSB galaxies derived from the literature, we found that the barred fraction is only 8.3%. We imaged twenty five barred LSB galaxies in the J, H, K$_S$ wavebands and twenty nine in the K$_S$ band. Most of the bars are much brighter than their stellar disks, which appear to be very diffuse. Our image analysis gives deprojected mean bar sizes of $R_{b}/R_{25}$ = 0.40 and ellipticities $e$ $\approx$ 0.45, which are similar to bars in high surface brightness galaxies. Thus, although bars are rare in LSB galaxies, they appear to be just as strong as bars found in normal galaxies. There is no correlation of $R_{b}/R_{25}$ or $e$ with the relative HI or stellar masses of the galaxies. In the (J-K$_S$) color images most of the bars have no significant color gradient which indicates that their stellar population is uniformly distributed and confirms that they have low dust content., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 31 pages, 9 figures

We present optical and near-infrared archival observations of eight edge-on galaxies. These observations are used to model the stellar content of each galaxy using the FitSKIRT software package. Using FitSKIRT, we can self-consistently model a galaxy in each band simultaneously while treating for dust. This allows us to accurately measure both the scale length and scale height of the stellar disc, plus the shape parameters of the bulge. By combining this data with the previously reported integrated magnitudes of each galaxy, we can infer their true luminosities. We have successfully modelled seven out of the eight galaxies in our sample. We find that stellar discs can be modelled correctly, but have not been able to model the stellar bulge reliably. Our sample consists for the most part of slow rotating galaxies, and we find that the average dust layer is much thicker than what is reported for faster rotating galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication by Monthly Notices RAS. Hi-res. version available at www.astro.rug.nl/~vdkruit/Petersetal-IV.pdf

We study the origin of the stellar $\alpha$-element-to-iron abundance ratio, $[\alpha/\mathrm{Fe}]_{\ast}$, of present-day central galaxies, using cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations from the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) project. For galaxies with stellar masses of $M_{\ast} > 10^{10.5}$ M$_{\odot}$, $[\alpha/\mathrm{Fe}]_{\ast}$ increases with increasing galaxy stellar mass and age. These trends are in good agreement with observations of early-type galaxies, and are consistent with a `downsizing' galaxy formation scenario: more massive galaxies have formed the bulk of their stars earlier and more rapidly, hence from an interstellar medium that was mostly $\alpha$-enriched by massive stars. In the absence of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN), however, $[\alpha/\mathrm{Fe}]_{\ast}$ in $M_{\ast} > 10^{10.5}$ M$_{\odot}$ galaxies is roughly constant with stellar mass and decreases with mean stellar age, extending the trends found for lower-mass galaxies in both simulations with and without AGN. We conclude that AGN feedback can account for the $\alpha$-enhancement of massive galaxies, as it suppresses their star formation, quenching more massive galaxies at earlier times, thereby preventing the iron from longer-lived intermediate-mass stars (supernova Type Ia) from being incorporated into younger stars., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

Galaxy scaling relations, which describe a connection between ostensibly unrelated physical characteristics of galaxies, testify to an underlying order in galaxy formation that requires understanding. I review the development of a scaling relation that 1) unites the well-known Fundamental Plane (FP) relation of giant elliptical galaxies and Tully-Fisher (TF) relation of disk galaxies, 2) fits low mass spheroidal galaxies, including the ultra-faint satellites of our Galaxy, 3) explains the apparent shift of lenticular (S0) galaxies relative to both FP or TF, 3) describes all stellar dynamical systems, including systems with no dark matter (stellar clusters), 4) associates explicitly the numerical coefficients that account for the apparent "tilt" of the FP away from the direct expectation drawn from the virial theorem with systematic variations in the total mass-to-light ratio of galaxies within the half-light radius, 5) connects with independent results that demonstrate the robustness of mass estimators when applied at the half-light radius, and 6) results in smaller scatter for disk galaxies than the TF relation. The relation develops naturally from the virial theorem, but implies the existence of additional galaxy formation physics that must now be a focus of galaxy formation studies. More pragmatically, the relation provides a lynchpin that can be used to measure distances and galaxy masses. I review two applications: 1) the cross-calibration of distance measurement methods, and 2) the determination of mass-to-light ratios of simple stellar populations as a function of age, and implications of the latter for the stellar initial mass function., Invited Spotlight Review for IRSN Astronomy and Astrophysics (accepted for publication)

A sample of nearby galaxies was built from the AKARI/FIS all sky survey cross-correlated withthe SDSS and GALEX surveys. The spectral energy distributions from 0.15 to 160 microns of thesegalaxies are analysed to study dust attenuation and star formation properties. The calibrationsof the amount of dust attenuation as a function of the IR-to-UV flux ratio and the FUV-NUVcolour are re-investigated: the former one is confirmed to be robust and accurate whereas the useof the FUV-NUV colour to measure dust attenuation is found highly uncertain. The current starformation rate given by the SED fitting process is compared to that directly obtained from theUV and total IR luminosities. It leads to an accurate estimate of dust heating by old stars. Weemphasize the importance of such a sample as a reference for IR selected star forming galaxies inthe nearby universe Key words: infrared: galaxies; ultraviolet: galaxies; dust: extinction1. INTRODUCTIONThe nearby universe remains the best laboratory tounderstand the physical properties of galaxies and isa reference for any comparison with high redshift ob-servations. The all sky (or very large) surveys thathave been performed from the ultraviolet (UV) to thefar-infrared (far-IR) provide us with large datasets andvery large wavelength coverage to perform a referencestudy. The broad-band spectral energy distribution(SED) of a galaxy represents the combination of theemission from both stars of all ages and interstellardust that interact in a complex way by means of theabsorption and scattering of the stellar light by dustgrains. The stars emit from the UV to the near-IRwhereas the mid and far-IR emission comes from inter-stellar dust heated by the stellar emission. By compar-ing data with models, one can attempt to derive somephysical parameters related to the star formation his-tory and dust attenuation in a homogeneous way andsimultaneously for all galaxies of a given sample. Withthe availability of mid and far-IR data for large samplesof galaxies, we can combine stellar and dust emissionto analyse SEDs and deduce accurate star formationrates (SFRs).We investigate the properties of nearby galaxies by se-lecting a sample of objects that is as large as possible,observed as part of the

A common approach to determining distances to stars without astrometric information is to compare stellar evolution models with parameters obtained from spectroscopic techniques. This method is routinely applied in the context of large-scale stellar surveys out to distances of several kpc. However, systematic errors may arise because of inaccurate spectroscopic parameters. We explore the effects of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) on the determination of surface gravities and metallicities for a large sample of metal-poor stars within approximately 10 kpc of the Sun. Using the improved Teff scale, we then show that stellar parameters estimated based on the widely used method of 1D LTE excitation-ionization balance of Fe results in distances which are systematically in error. For metal-poor giants, [Fe/H] ~ −2 dex, the distances can be overestimated by up to 70%. We compare the results with those from the Radial Velocity Experiment Survey catalogue (rave) for the stars in common, and find similar offsets.

We perform a spectroscopic analysis of 492,450 galaxy spectra from the first two years of observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III/Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) collaboration. This data set has been released in the ninth SDSS data release, the first public data release of BOSS spectra. We show that the typical signal-to-noise ratio of BOSS spectra is sufficient to measure stellar velocity dispersion and emission line fluxes for individual objects. The typical velocity dispersion of a BOSS galaxy is 240 km/s, with an accuracy of better than 30 per cent for 93 per cent of BOSS galaxies. The distribution in velocity dispersion is redshift independent between redshifts 0.15 and 0.7, which reflects the survey design targeting massive galaxies with an approximately uniform mass distribution in this redshift interval. The majority of BOSS galaxies lack detectable emission lines. We analyse the emission line properties and present diagnostic diagrams using the emission lines [OII], Hβ, [OIII], Halpha, and [NII] (detected in about 4 per cent of the galaxies). We show that the emission line properties are strongly redshift dependent and that there is a clear correlation between observed frame colours and emission line properties. Within in the low-z sample around 0.15 < z < 0.3, half of the emission-line galaxies have LINER-like emission line ratios, followed by Seyfert-AGN dominated spectra, and only a small fraction of a few per cent are purely star forming galaxies. AGN and LINER-like objects, instead, are less prevalent in the high-z sample around 0.4 < z < 0.7, where more than half of the emission line objects are star forming. This is a pure selection effect caused by the non-detection of weak Hβ emission lines in the BOSS spectra. Finally, we show that star forming, AGN and emission line free galaxies are well separated in the g - r vs r - i target selection diagram.

We have conducted deep optical spectroscopic follow up of a sample of radio galaxies with redshifts z < 0.7. The spectra were used to construct robust sub-samples of low excitation and high excitation AGN and perform stellar population analysis via line indices and spectral fitting. While the high excitation objects have lower luminosity-weighted ages and lower metallicities than the low excitation galaxies, this can be explained by the different stellar mass distributions of the samples. When stellar mass is taken into account the age and metallicity distribution of both populations are consistent with the galaxy population as a whole.

The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) is one of the most accurate distance indicators to galaxies in the Local Universe (for distances up to 8–10 Mpc). A distance accuracy as high as 5% can be achieved with the recently developed maximum-likelihood implementation of the TRGB method and modern calibrations. In this paper, we consider in detail TRGB distance determinations to nearby groups of galaxies (within 8 Mpc). We discuss the photometric accuracy and describe colour–magnitude-diagram features of nearby dwarf galaxies and their influence on the accuracy of distance determination. We have determined accurate structures of the two nearest galaxy groups, M81 and Cen A, using observations of galaxies in these groups with the Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2 and ACS instruments. The new technique allows us to see new details in the distribution of galaxies in the Canes Venatici i Cloud.

High spatial-resolution measurements of surface brightness fluctuations (SBFs) with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provide the most precise distances available to early-type galaxies beyond the Local Group. The observable SBF magnitude in a given bandpass is a basic property of any stellar system, corresponding to a ratio of the first and second moments of the stellar luminosity function. Calibration of the method has presented challenges, but we now have an excellent empirical determination of how the SBF observable varies with galaxy color in broad bandpasses at the red end of the optical spectrum, and we are working towards a similar calibration for HST's Wide-Field Camera 3 in the near-infrared wavelength range, where the SBF magnitudes are considerably brighter. From HST Advanced Camera for Surveys data, we have determined the relative distances of the Virgo and Fornax clusters to within a precision of 2%, and resolved their internal structures. More recent measurements allow us to tie the Coma cluster, the standard of comparison for distant cluster studies, to the same precise distance scale. The SBF method can be calibrated in an absolute sense either empirically using Cepheids or theoretically based on stellar population models. The agreement between model and empirical zero points provides an independent confirmation of the Cepheid distance scale.

In this study, we performed a comparative study among all the five band luminosity distributions of galaxies in groups and isolated, to explore the environmental dependence of u-, g-, r-, i- and z-band luminosities. It is found that for r, i and z bands, isolated galaxies have a higher proportion of faint galaxies and a lower proportion of luminous galaxies than galaxy members of groups, for u-band an opposite trend can be observed. For the volume-limited Mr

The surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) method at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths is a powerful tool for estimating distances to unresolved stellar systems with high precision. The IR channel of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), installed on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2009, has a greater sensitivity and a wider field of view than the previous generation of HST IR instruments, making it much more efficient for measuring distances to early-type galaxies in the Local Volume. To take full advantage of its capabilities, we need to empirically calibrate the SBF distance method for WFC3's NIR passbands. We present the SBF measurements for the WFC3/IR F160W bandpass filter using observations of 16 early-type galaxies in the Fornax and Virgo Clusters. These have been combined with existing (g475–z850) color measurements from the Advanced Camera for Surveys Virgo and Fornax Cluster Surveys to derive a space-based H160-band SBF relation as a function of color. We have also compared the absolute SBF magnitudes to those predicted by evolutionary population synthesis models in order to study stellar population properties in the target galaxies.

In this work we introduce a new method to perform the identification of groups of galaxies and present results of the identification of galaxy groups in the seventh data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our methodology follows an approach that resembles the standard friends-of-friends method. However, it uses assumptions on the mass of the dark matter halo hosting a group of galaxies to link galaxies in the group using a local linking length. Our method does not assume any ad hoc parameter for the identification of groups, nor a linking length or a density threshold. This parameter-free nature of the method and the robustness of its results are the most important points of our work. We describe the data used for our study and give details of the implementation of the method. We obtain galaxy groups and halo catalogues for four volume-limited samples whose properties are in good agreement with previous works. They reproduce the expected stellar mass functions and follow the expected stellar–halo mass relation. We found that most of the stellar content in groups of galaxies comes from objects with Mr absolute magnitudes larger than −19, meaning that it is important to resolve the low-luminosity components of groups of galaxies to acquire detailed information about their properties.

We propose an image analysis unsupervised learning algorithm that can detect peculiar galaxies in datasets of galaxy images. The algorithm first computes a large set of calculated characteristics reflecting different aspects of the visual content, and then weighs them based on the σ of the values computed from the galaxy images. The weighted Euclidean distance of each galaxy image from the median is measured, and the peculiarity of each galaxy is determined based on that distance. Experimental results using irregular galaxy images show that the method can effectively detect peculiar galaxies. Code and data used in the experiments are freely available.

Using two volume-limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6), we have explored the difference of the environmental dependence of u-, g-, r-, i-, and z-band luminosities between galaxies above and below the value of Mr*. It turns out that in the luminous volume-limited sample, all the five band luminosities strongly correlate with local environments. Because the u-band luminosity of galaxies still strongly depends on local environments in the faint volumelimited sample, we conclude that Mr* is not an important characteristic parameter for the environmental dependence of the u-band luminosity. It is worth noting that for the u-band, the subsample at low density has a higher proportion of luminous galaxies and a lower proportion of faint galaxies than the one at high density, which is opposite to widely accepted conclusion: luminous galaxies exist preferentially in the densest regions of the universe, but faint galaxies are located preferentially in low density regions. Our results show that the environmental dependence of luminosity is not a single trend in different luminosity regions and for different bands.

Using an apparent-magnitude limited Main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7(SDSS DR7), we investigate the correlation between morphologies and luminosity for the Main galaxy sample. Our Main galaxy sample is divided into two classes: Main galaxies only with TARGET_GALAXY flag (bestPrimtarget = 64), and ones also with other flags. It is found that for the second class Main galaxies, the early-type proportion monotonously increases with increasing luminosity nearly in the whole luminosity region. But for the first class Main galaxies, the early-type proportion increases with increasing luminosity only within a certain luminosity region (−22.2

This work concerns the physical properties of very faint (= 28 AB mag; Mstars,lim∼ 108 M⊙), ultraviolet-selected (UV-selected) sub-L* BX galaxies at z∼ 2.3. Stellar masses, dust content and dust-corrected star formation rates are constrained using broad-band spectral energy distribution fitting, resulting in a number of insights into the nature of these low-mass systems. First, a correlation between rest-frame UV luminosity and galaxy stellar mass appears to exist in BX galaxies and its presence suggests that many sub-L* galaxies at this redshift may have approximately constant, rather than highly variable, star formation histories. A nearly-linear relation between stellar mass and star formation rate is also found, hinting that the rate at which a sub-L* BX galaxy forms its stars is directly related to the mass of stars that it has already formed. A possible explanation for this phenomenon lies in a scenario in which new gas that falls on to the galaxy’s host halo along with accreting dark matter is the main source of fuel for ongoing star formation. The instantaneous efficiency of star formation is low in this scenario, of the order of 1 per cent. Turning to bulk quantities, it is found that the low-mass end of the stellar mass function at z∼ 2.3 is steeper than expected from extrapolations of shallower surveys, resulting in a stellar mass density at z∼ 2.3 that is ∼25 per cent of the present-day value; this value is ∼1.5–2 times higher than that given by extrapolations of most of the shallower surveys, suggesting that the build-up of stellar mass in the Universe has proceeded somewhat more rapidly than previously thought. With spectral energy distribution fitting results in hand, an update to the Keck Deep Fields z∼ 2 UV luminosity function finds a steeper faint-end slope than previously reported, α=− 1.47, though this is not as steep as that found by Reddy & Steidel. Finally, it is also found that sub-L* galaxies at z∼ 2 carry very small amounts of dust compared to their more luminous cousins, so that while only ∼20 per cent of 1700-A photons escape from a typical M* galaxy, more than half make it out of an M*+3 one. This paucity of dust highlights the fact that sub-L* galaxies are not simple scaled copies of their more luminous cousins. Assuming that absorption by neutral hydrogen is not stronger in sub-L* galaxies than in their more luminous counterparts, it also means that sub-L* galaxies are important contributors to keeping the Universe ionized at z∼ 2.

The analysis of deep imaging data of bright elliptical galaxies is capable of providing fundamental information on the stellar content and the distance of the target, via the Surface Brightness Fluctuation method (SBF hereafter). Here, I present the study of the properties of two ellipticals in the Virgo cluster, NGC 4621 and NGC 4374, based on deep BVR imaging data obtained with the FORS2 camera at the VLT. The V and R SBF measures are used to get accurate distances of the targets. In addition, since both galaxies hosted type Ia Supernova events, I also compare the new SBF distances with the ones based on SNe Ia lightcurve analysis. In all cases SBF distances agree well with distances obtained by other distance indicators. For what concerns stellar population analysis, I present a detailed comparison between SBF data and models to constrain the properties of the dominant stellar components. Among the other results, the measures presented here seem to suggest that the B-band SBF can be reconciled to model predictions only through the presence of a percentage of hot-HB stars “polluting” the old and metal rich dominant stellar population.

We measure the projected 2-point correlation function of galaxies in the 180 deg$^2$ equatorial regions of the GAMA II survey, for four different redshift slices between z = 0.0 and z=0.5. To do this we further develop the Cole (2011) method of producing suitable random catalogues for the calculation of correlation functions. We find that more r-band luminous, more massive and redder galaxies are more clustered. We also find that red galaxies have stronger clustering on scales less than ~3 $h^{-1}$ Mpc. We compare to two different versions of the GALFORM galaxy formation model, Lacey et al (in prep.) and Gonzalez-Perez et al. (2014), and find that the models reproduce the trend of stronger clustering for more massive galaxies. However, the models under predict the clustering of blue galaxies, can incorrectly predict the correlation function on small scales and under predict the clustering in our sample of galaxies with ~3$L_r$ . We suggest possible avenues to explore to improve these cluster- ing predictions. The measurements presented in this paper can be used to test other galaxy formation models, and we make the measurements available online to facilitate this., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS

Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), ATLAS (Australia Telescope Large Area Survey) is imaging two fields totalling 7 square degrees down to 10 μJy beam − 1 at 1.4 GHz. We have found 6 wide-angle tail galaxies (WATs), 4 of which have sufficient data to identify associated galaxy overdensities. The largest WAT, at a red-shift of 0.22, appears to be associated with an overdensity of galaxies that is spread over an unusually large extent of 12 Mpc, with a velocity range of 4500 km s − 1. Here we present the WATs in ATLAS and discuss the implications of these observations for future large-scale radio surveys such as ASKAP-EMU.

Our project, 'MegaMorph', is developing a next-generation tool for decomposing galaxies, in terms of both their structures and stellar populations. By combining data from UV to NIR wavelengths, accounting for morphological peculiarities using non-parametric components, and utilising ecient likelihood sampling methods, we are working to signicantly improve the robustness and accuracy of galaxy decomposition. Applying these new techniques to modern large surveys will provide us with a deeper understanding of galaxies. 1. Galaxy components Galaxies comprise a complex mix of stars, gas, dust and dark matter, with their propor- tions, distributions and kinematics resulting from a wide variety of physical processes. Even considering just the stars, galaxies typically possess distinct stellar populations, which formed at dierent times, under varied conditions. To gain more than a supercial understanding of the galaxy population, and the processes that shape it, we need to disentangle these physical components within individual galaxies. This conference primarily focused on separating and characterising galaxy components through their spectral energy distributions. These SEDs are usually, with a few notable exceptions, integrated over the spatial extent of each galaxy. For separating components which dominate at dierent wavelength ranges, e.g., stars and dust, this approach works

The R1/n law for the radial surface brightness of elliptical galaxies and the "Best Accretion Model" together with the "Concentration Model" have been combined in order to determine the mass and dynamical structure of largely-populated star systems. Families of models depending on four parameters have been used to fit the observed surface radial profiles of some spectro-photometric indices of a sample of eleven galaxies. We present the best agreements of the spectral index Mg2 with observations for three selected galaxies representative of the full sample. For them we have also computed the spatial distributions of the metal abundances, which are essential to achieve a population synthesis.

With deep imaging at 3.6 and 4.5 μm where the light in nearby galaxies is dominated by old stars, the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Nearby Galaxies (S4G) promises to be the ultimate inventory of stellar mass and structure in the local universe. We present results from a novel technique that makes it possible to fully exploit the information contained in these images, pertaining not only to the stellar light (and, ultimately, mass distribution), but also the nature and distribution of the mid-IR dust and the properties of evolved, intermediate age stars (e.g. in AGB-dominated star clusters). We apply Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to the 3.6 and 4.5 μm bands to separate the light from the old stars from the secondary non-stellar (i.e. PAH and hot dust) sources of emission, which are identified via comparison to the non-stellar emission imaged at 8 μm. Then, within the context of age and mass estimation at high z, we extract optical-to-mid-IR SEDs for a sample of ICA-identified AGB-dominated clusters to constrain the typically uncertain fractional contribution of AGB light to the total stellar emission in (rest-frame) NIR bands.

We present spatial orientations of angular momentum vectors of galaxies in three merging binary clusters A1750, A3395 and A3528. The axial ratio and intrinsic flatness of galaxy are used to convert two-dimensional given parameters into three-dimensional angular momentum vector of the galaxy. We have performed K-S, Kuiper and Fourier tests in order to examine non-random effects. The merging binary cluster A3395 that exhibits strongly distorted feature in its maps of temperature and surface brightness showed a random orientation in the spatial orientation of angular momentum vectors of galaxies. A weak anisotropic distribution in the angular momentum vectors of galaxies is noticed in the sub-structures of A3528. We suspect a relation between the stages of merging and the non-random alignments of galaxies in the sub-structures of the binary clusters. Possible explanation of the results will be discussed.

Astronomical time series are special in that time sampling in them is uneven yet often with periodic gaps due to daytime, moon and seasons. There is therefore a need for special-purpose time-series analysis (TSA) methods. The emergence of massive CCD photometric surveys from the ground and space raises the question of an automatic period search in ≫ 105 light curves. We caution that already at the planning stage it is important to account for the effects of time sampling and analysis methods on the sensitivity of detections. We present a transparent scheme for the classification of period-search methods. We employ tools for evaluating the performance of those methods, according to the type of light curves investigated. In particular we consider sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal oscillations as well as eclipse or transit light curves. From these considerations we draw recommendations for the optimum analysis of astronomical time series. We present briefly the capability of an automatic period-search package Tatry. Finally we discuss the role of Monte Carlo simulations in the analysis of detection sensitivity. As an example, we demonstrate a practical method to account for the bandwidth (multi-trial) penalty in the statistical evaluation of detected periods.

We derive the distribution function and the allied thermodynamic quantities for a system of galaxies with three mass species. A new clustering parameter b3 that inherently takes into account the masses and the number of galaxies of each kind, emerges directly from the calculations. Our general conclusion is that the inclusion of the third component does not significantly effect the overall features of the distribution function.

We present a re-analysis of spectroscopic data for 23 H ii regions in 12 blue, metal-poor, low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs), taking advantage of recent developments in calibrating strong-line methods. In doing so, we have identified a galaxy (ESO 546−G34) which may be the most-metal-poor LSBG found in the local Universe. Furthermore, we find evidence that blue, metal-poor LSBGs, together with blue compact galaxies (BCGs) and many other H ii galaxies, fall outside the regular luminosity–metallicity relation. This suggests that there might be an evolutionary connection between LSBGs and BCGs. In such cases, several very metal poor LSBGs should exist in the local Universe.

We perform an analysis of the luminosities of galaxies in groups in the SDSS DR7. We analyse the luminosity function (LF) as a function of group mass for different photometric bands, galaxy populations, galaxy positions within the groups, and the group surrounding large scale density. We find that M* brightens and alpha becomes steeper as a function of mass in all SDSS photometric bands, in agreement with previous results. From the analysis of different galaxy populations, we observe that different methods to split galaxy populations, based on the concentration index or the colour-magnitude diagram, produce quite different behaviours in the luminosity trends, mainly for alpha. These discrepancies and the trends with mass mentioned above are explained when analysing the LF of galaxies classified simultaneously according to their concentrations and colours. We find that only the red spheroids have a LF that strongly depends on group mass. Late type galaxies, whether blue or red, have luminosity functions that do not depend on group mass. The intrinsic change in the LF of spheroids and the varying number contributions of the different types explain all the observed trends with group mass. On the other hand, dividing the galaxy members in the inner and outer regions of the groups do not introduce a significant difference in the Schechter parameter trends, except for the characteristic absolute magnitude in the high group virial mass range (M>1x10^13 M_sun/h) which is an indication of luminosity segregation in massive groups. Finally, we also analyse the possible influence of the large scale surrounding environment on the LF. We find that galaxies inhabiting groups at low density regions experience more pronounced variations on the Schechter parameters as a function of groups mass, while galaxies in groups at high density regions show an almost constant behaviour.

We collected the existing data on the distances and radial velocities of galaxies around the Local Void in the Aquila/Hercules to examine the peculiar velocity field induced by its underdensity. A sample of 1056 galaxies with distances measured from the Tip of the Red Giant Branch, the Cepheid luminosity, the SNIa luminosity, the surface brightness fluctuation method, and the Tully-Fisher relation has been used for this purpose. The amplitude of outflow is found to be ~300 km/s. The galaxies located within the void produce the mean intra-void number density about 1/5 of the mean external number density of galaxies. The void's population has a lower luminosity and a later morphological type with the medians: M_B = -15.7^m and T = 8 (Sdm), respectively.

Published data on rotation curves and the radial distribution of the surface density of neutral hydrogen (HI) in galaxies with a low gas content are used to calculate radial profiles of the volume density of HI in the planes of the galactic disks. A self-consistent model for the disks is used, taking into account the self-gravitation of the gas and the presence of a pseudo-isothermal, massive halo. Eleven low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies and three S0 galaxies in which HI is detected are considered. The gaseous and stellar disks are taken to be in equilibrium and axially symmetric, and the velocity dispersion in the stellar disk to be equal to the marginal value for gravitational perturbations; in general, this gives an upper limit for the gas density. It is shown that, on average, the gas volume densities are two orders of magnitude lower in LSB galaxies than in galaxies with normal brightnesses at the same R values, while the three S0 galaxies occupy an intermediate position. The volume density of gas observed at the galaxy peripheries are less than 10−27 g/cm3, even in the plane of the disk. The role of the UV background in ionizing outer regions is discussed. The obtained gas densities can be used to estimate the star-forming efficiency in regions of low density.

To investigate the environmental dependence of u -, g -, r -, i -, and z -band luminosities, we perform comparative studies of luminosity distributions between galaxy members of compact groups (CGs) and isolated galaxies. It is found that for the r, i, and z bands isolated galaxies have a higher proportion of faint galaxies and a lower proportion of luminous galaxies than galaxy members of CGs, but for the u band an opposite trend is observed. The correlation between the g -band luminosity and the environment has different trends in different luminosity regions (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The surface brightness colors (SBC) relation is a very important tool to derive the distance of extragalactic eclipsing binaries. However, for early-type stars, this SBC relation is critically affected by the stellar environment (wind, circumstellar disk, etc...) and/or by the fast rotation. We calculated 6 models based on the code of Domiciano de Souza et al. (2012) considering different inclinations and rotational velocities. Using these results, we quantify for the first time the impact of the rotation on the SBC relation.

As a part of a Euro-VO research initiative, we have undertaken a programme aimed at studying the scale length of 54909 Sa-Sd spiral galaxies from the SDSS DR6 catalogue. We have retrieved u,g,r,i,z-band images for all galaxies in order to derive the light profiles. We also calculate asymmetry parameters to select non-disturbed disks for which we will derive exponential disk scale lengths. As images in different bands probe different optical depths and stellar populations, it is likely that a derived scale length value should depend on waveband, and our goal is to use the scale length variations with band pass, inclination, galaxy type, redshift, and surface brightness, in order to better understand the nature of spiral galaxies., Comment: Invited talk at the workshop "Multiwavelegth Astronomy and Virtual Observatory" at ESA/ESAC in december 2008

The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies S^4G is an Exploration Science Legacy Program approved for the Spitzer post-cryogenic mission. It is a volume-, magnitude-, and size-limited (d 30 degrees, m_(Bcorr) 1') survey of 2,331 galaxies using IRAC at 3.6 and 4.5 microns. Each galaxy is observed for 240 s and mapped to > 1.5 x D25. The final mosaicked images have a typical 1 sigma rms noise level of 0.0072 and 0.0093 MJy / sr at 3.6 and 4.5 microns, respectively. Our azimuthally-averaged surface brightness profile typically traces isophotes at mu_3.6 (AB) (1 sigma) ~ 27 mag arcsec^-2, equivalent to a stellar mass surface density of ~ 1 Msun pc^-2. S^4G thus provides an unprecedented data set for the study of the distribution of mass and stellar structures in the local Universe. This paper introduces the survey, the data analysis pipeline and measurements for a first set of galaxies, observed in both the cryogenic and warm mission phase of Spitzer. For every galaxy we tabulate the galaxy diameter, position angle, axial ratio, inclination at mu_3.6 (AB) = 25.5 and 26.5 mag arcsec^-2 (equivalent to ~ mu_B (AB) =27.2 and 28.2 mag arcsec^-2, respectively). These measurements will form the initial S^4G catalog of galaxy properties. We also measure the total magnitude and the azimuthally-averaged radial profiles of ellipticity, position angle, surface brightness and color. Finally, we deconstruct each galaxy using GALFIT into its main constituent stellar components: the bulge/spheroid, disk, bar, and nuclear point source, where necessary. Together these data products will provide a comprehensive and definitive catalog of stellar structures, mass and properties of galaxies in the nearby Universe.

We have carried out a detailed analysis of stellar properties of bars and bulges of a sample of early-type galaxies. We have also compared the results of the bulge properties with the bulges of a similar sample of unbarred galaxies, deriving the SSP equivalent stellar parameters in the same way as for our sample. We are currently characterising the nebular gas in the bulges of the sample galaxies. We have found differences in the bulge stellar population properties between barred and unbarred galaxies. The bulges of barred galaxies seem to be more metal rich, at a given velocity dispersion (σ), than the bulges of unbarred galaxies, as measured by some metallicity sensitive indices. There are indications that the ratio of relative abundance of alpha-elements with respect to iron, [E/Fe], derived for the bulges of barred galaxies tend to lie above the values of the unbarred galaxies at a given σ. We also find three different types of bars according to their metallicity and age distribution along the radius: 1) Bars with negative metallicity gradients. They show mean young/intermediate population (

Due to its proximity, size, complex structure and high inclination angle, M31 offers an excellent opportunity for studying galactic structures outside the Milky Way and for drawing implications for their cosmological origin. We have studied the stellar populations of M 31 using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry and the Spitzer far-infrared (FIR) mappings of dust. Combining these data, we have constructed a 3-dimensional model of the galaxy, laying constraints on the intrinsic (dust-free) properties of the galaxy and its stellar populations: their apparent and intrinsic luminosities, luminosity distributions, colours, shapes and sizes. We have interpreted the derived spectral energy distributions with synthetic stellar populations created with the Starburst99 software, in order to constrain the ages and masses of the stellar components.

I briefly review what has been learned from determinations of mean stellar ages and abundances from integrated light studies of early-type galaxies, and discuss some new questions posed by recent data. A short discussion of spectroscopic ages is presented, but the main focus of this review is on the abundances of Fe, Mg, Ca, N, and C, obtained from comparisons of measurements taken in integrated spectra of galaxies with predictions from stellar population synthesis models.

We use optical color indices (colors) from the SDSS database to study the effect of dust in starburst galaxies by mea-suring the dependence of colors on galaxy inclination. Starburst galaxies with ongoing star formation, are rich with metals/dust and are, therefore, an excellent objects for studying the effect of dust in galaxies. They are selected using the [O III]λ 5007/Hα vs. [N II]λ 6584/Hβ diagram, that is, the BPT-diagram. We use Kauffmann's empirical demarcation line in the BPT-diagram to exclude galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the sample because they have different physical and dust properties from normal galaxies. The sample is divided into bins according to galaxy stellar mass and 4000 A break (which is a coarse measure of a galaxy star formation history; SFH) and the reddening with inclination is studied as a function of these two physical parameters. Assuming that the dust effect is negligible in the SDSS z -band, we derive the attenuation curves for these galaxies. We fit the attenuation curves with a simple power law and use power law index to interpret the relative distribution of dust and stars in the starburst galaxies (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

At a stellar mass of 3 × 1010 M Θ, we divide the volume-limited Main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6) into two distinct families and explore the environmental dependence of galaxy properties for High Stellar Mass (HSM) and Low Stellar Mass (LSM) galaxies. It is found that for HSM and LSM galaxies, the environmental dependence of some typical galaxy properties, such as color, morphologies, and star formation activities, is still very strong, which at least shows that the stellar mass is not fundamental in correlations between galaxy properties and the environment. We also note that the environmental dependence of the size for HSM and LSM galaxies is fairly weak, which is mainly due to the galaxy size being insensitive to environment.

I present integrated colors and surface brightness fluctuation magnitudes in the mid-IR, derived from stellar population synthesis models that include the effects of the dusty envelopes around thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars. The models are based on the Bruzual & Charlot CB* isochrones; they are single-burst, range in age from a few Myr to 14 Gyr, and comprise metallicities between $Z$= 0.0001 and $Z$ = 0.04. I compare these models to mid-IR data of AGB stars and star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds, and study the effects of varying self-consistently the mass-loss rate, the stellar parameters, and the output spectra of the stars plus their dusty envelopes. I find that models with a higher than fiducial mass-loss rate are needed to fit the mid-IR colors of "extreme" single AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Surface brightness fluctuation magnitudes are quite sensitive to metallicity for 4.5 um and longer wavelengths at all stellar population ages, and powerful diagnostics of mass-loss rate in the TP-AGB for intermediate-age populations, between 100 Myr and 2-3 Gyr., 32 pages, 20 figures, 5 tables, 3 machine readable tables; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We describe a program to measure surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances to galaxies observed in the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), a photometric imaging survey covering $104~deg^2$ of the Virgo cluster in the ${u}^*,g,i,z$ bandpasses with the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope. We describe the selection of the sample galaxies, the procedures for measuring the apparent $i$-band SBF magnitude $\bar{i}$, and the calibration of the absolute $\bar{M}_i$ as a function of observed stellar population properties. The multi-band NGVS data set provides multiple options for calibrating the SBF distances, and we explore various calibrations involving individual color indices as well as combinations of two different colors. Within the color range of the present sample, the two-color calibrations do not significantly improve the scatter with respect to wide-baseline, single-color calibrations involving $u^{*}$. We adopt the ${u}^*{-}z$ calibration as reference for the present galaxy sample, with an observed scatter of 0.11 mag. For a few cases that lack good ${u}^*$ photometry, we use an alternative relation based on a combination of $g{-}i$ and $g{-}z$ colors, with only a slightly larger observed scatter of 0.12 mag. The agreement of our measurements with the best existing distance estimates provides confidence that our measurements are accurate. We present a preliminary catalog of distances for 89 galaxies brighter than $B_T\approx13.0$ mag within the survey footprint, including members of the background M and W Clouds at roughly twice the distance of the main body of the Virgo cluster. The extension of the present work to fainter and bluer galaxies is in progress., ApJ accepted

The relationship of high surface brightness Arakelian galaxies (ArG) to their environment is studied. This is done using the groups identified by the authors on the basis of the CfA2 red shift survey. Of the 15577 galaxies in the sample, 172 (1.104%) have a high surface brightness. The corresponding percentage for the galaxies with 13.0 < m ≤ 15.0 is 2.05. The following results are obtained: (a) On going from single to poor groups and on to more populated groups, the frequency of occurrence of ArG does not vary. (b) Groups of galaxies containing ArG do not differ on the average from groups which do not contain such galaxies in terms of their dynamic characteristics, such as the dispersion in radial velocity, size, and total luminosity, or their morphological content. (c) ArG do not follow the regular pattern according to which elliptical and lenticular galaxies are more often encountered in groups of galaxies than among single galaxies, i.e., it seems that the frequency of occurrence of elliptical and lenticular ArG in groups is the same as in single galaxies. (d) The surface brightnesses, diameters, and luminosities of ArG in groups of galaxies are greater than those of single ArG. This shows up especially strongly in spiral ArG.