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We present radio observations of the galaxy cluster Abell S1136 at 888 MHz, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescope, as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Early Science program. We compare these findings with data from the Murchison Widefield Array, XMM-Newton, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the Digitised Sky Survey, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Our analysis shows the X-ray and radio emission in Abell S1136 are closely aligned and centered on the BCG, while the X-ray temperature profile shows a relaxed cluster with no evidence of a cool core. We find that the diffuse radio emission in the centre of the cluster shows more structure than seen in previous low-resolution observations of this source, which appeared formerly as an amorphous radio blob, similar in appearance to a radio halo; our observations show the diffuse emission in the Abell S1136 galaxy cluster contains three narrow filamentary structures visible at 888 MHz, between$\sim 80$ and 140 kpc in length; however the properties of the diffuse emission do not fully match that of a radio (mini-)halo or (fossil) tailed radio source., Comment: To appear in PASA

Among the bent tail radio galaxies common in galaxy clusters are some with long, collimated tails (so-called head-tail galaxies) shaped by their interactions with the intracluster medium (ICM). Here we report the discovery of intricate filamentary structure in and beyond the ~28' (570 kpc) long, helical radio tail of the Corkscrew Galaxy (1610-60.5, ESO137-G007), which resides in the X-ray bright cluster Abell 3627 (D = 70 Mpc). Deep radio continuum data were obtained with wide-field Phased Array Feeds on the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) at 944 MHz and 1.4 GHz. The Corkscrew Galaxy is located 15' north of the prominent wide-angle tail (WAT) radio galaxy 1610-60.8 (ESO137-G006) near the cluster centre. While the bright (young) part of its radio tail is highly collimated, the faint (old) part shows increasing oscillation amplitudes, break-ups, and filaments. We find a stunning set of arc-shaped radio filaments beyond and mostly orthogonal to the collimated Corkscrew tail end, forming a partial bubble. This may be the first detection of a "proto-lobe" seen in 3D MHD simulations by Nolting et al. (2019), formed by the face-on impact of the Corkscrew Galaxy with a shock front in the cluster outskirts. Interactions of the radio galaxy tail with the ICM are likely responsible for the tail collimation and shear forces within the ICM for its increasingly filamentary structure. We also report the discovery of small (~20-30 kpc) ram-pressure stripped radio tails in four Abell 3627 cluster galaxies., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, MNRAS, submitted

We report the ASKAP discovery of a new Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) candidate G308.73+1.38, which we name Raspberry. This new SNR candidate has an angular size of 20.7 arcmin $\times$ 16.7 arcmin, and we measure a total integrated flux of 407$\pm$50 mJy. We estimate Raspberry's most likely diameter of 10$-$30 pc which would place it at a distance of 3$-$5 kpc, on the near side of the Milky Way's Scutum$-$Centaurus Arm. We also find a Stokes$-$V point source close to the centre of Raspberry with a $\sim$5$\sigma$ significance. This point source may be the remaining compact source, a neutron star, or possibly a pulsar, formed during the initial supernova event., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure

We present the discovery of large radio shells around a massive pair of interacting galaxies and extended diffuse X-ray emission within the shells. The radio data were obtained with the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in two frequency bands centred at 944 MHz and 1.4 GHz, respectively, while the X-ray data are from the XMM-Newton observatory. The host galaxy pair, which consists of the early-type galaxies ESO 184-G042 and LEDA 418116, is part of a loose group at a distance of only 75 Mpc (redshift z = 0.017). The observed outer radio shells (diameter ~ 145 kpc) and ridge-like central emission of the system, ASKAP J1914-5433 (Physalis), are likely associated with merger shocks during the formation of the central galaxy (ESO 184-G042) and resemble the new class of odd radio circles (ORCs). This is supported by the brightest X-ray emission found offset from the centre of the Physalis system, instead centered at the less massive galaxy, LEDA 418116. The host galaxy pair is embedded in an irregular envelope of diffuse light, highlighting on-going interactions. We complement our combined radio and X-ray study with high-resolution simulations of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) around galaxy mergers from the Magneticum project to analyse the evolutionary state of the Physalis system. We argue that ORCs / radio shells could be produced by a combination of energy release from the central AGN and subsequent lightening up in radio emission by merger shocks traveling through the CGM of these systems., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We present source detection and catalogue construction pipelines to build the first catalogue of radio galaxies from the 270 $\rm deg^2$ pilot survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU-PS) conducted with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The detection pipeline uses Gal-DINO computer-vision networks (Gupta et al., 2024) to predict the categories of radio morphology and bounding boxes for radio sources, as well as their potential infrared host positions. The Gal-DINO network is trained and evaluated on approximately 5,000 visually inspected radio galaxies and their infrared hosts, encompassing both compact and extended radio morphologies. We find that the Intersection over Union (IoU) for the predicted and ground truth bounding boxes is larger than 0.5 for 99% of the radio sources, and 98% of predicted host positions are within $3^{\prime \prime}$ of the ground truth infrared host in the evaluation set. The catalogue construction pipeline uses the predictions of the trained network on the radio and infrared image cutouts based on the catalogue of radio components identified using the Selavy source finder algorithm. Confidence scores of the predictions are then used to prioritize Selavy components with higher scores and incorporate them first into the catalogue. This results in identifications for a total of 211,625 radio sources, with 201,211 classified as compact and unresolved. The remaining 10,414 are categorized as extended radio morphologies, including 582 FR-I, 5,602 FR-II, 1,494 FR-x (uncertain whether FR-I or FR-II), 2,375 R (single-peak resolved) radio galaxies, and 361 with peculiar and other rare morphologies. We cross-match the radio sources in the catalogue with the infrared and optical catalogues, finding infrared cross-matches for 73% and photometric redshifts for 36% of the radio galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASA. The paper has 22 pages, 12 figures and 5 tables

We propose a new method for identifying active galactic nuclei (AGN) in low mass ($\rm M_*\leq10^{10}M_\odot$) galaxies. This method relies on spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to identify galaxies whose radio flux density has an excess over that expected from star formation alone. Combining data in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) G23 region from GAMA, Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) early science observations, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), we compare this technique with a selection of different AGN diagnostics to explore the similarities and differences in AGN classification. We find that diagnostics based on optical and near-infrared criteria (the standard BPT diagram, the WISE colour criterion, and the mass-excitation, or MEx diagram) tend to favour detection of AGN in high mass, high luminosity systems, while the ``ProSpect'' SED fitting tool can identify AGN efficiently in low mass systems. We investigate an explanation for this result in the context of proportionally lower mass black holes in lower mass galaxies compared to higher mass galaxies and differing proportions of emission from AGN and star formation dominating the light at optical and infrared wavelengths as a function of galaxy stellar mass. We conclude that SED-derived AGN classification is an efficient approach to identify low mass hosts with low radio luminosity AGN., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in PASA

We report the discovery of a bow-shock pulsar wind nebula (PWN), named Potoroo, and the detection of a young pulsar J1638-4713 that powers the nebula. We present a radio continuum study of the PWN based on 20-cm observations obtained from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and MeerKAT. PSR J1638-4713 was identified using Parkes radio telescope observations at frequencies above 3 GHz. The pulsar has the second-highest dispersion measure of all known radio pulsars (1553 pc/cm^3), a spin period of 65.74 ms and a spin-down luminosity of 6.1x10^36 erg/s. The PWN has a cometary morphology and one of the greatest projected lengths among all the observed pulsar radio tails, measuring over 21 pc for an assumed distance of 10 kpc. The remarkably long tail and atypically steep radio spectral index are attributed to the interplay of a supernova reverse shock and the PWN. The originating supernova remnant is not known so far. We estimated the pulsar kick velocity to be in the range of 1000-2000 km/s for ages between 23 and 10 kyr. The X-ray counterpart found in Chandra data, CXOU J163802.6-471358, shows the same tail morphology as the radio source but is shorter by a factor of 10. The peak of the X-ray emission is offset from the peak of the radio total intensity (Stokes I) emission by approximately 4.7", but coincides well with circularly polarised (Stokes V) emission. No infrared counterpart was found., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables; Accepted for publication in PASA on 18 Jan 2024

All very massive early-type galaxies contain supermassive blackholes but are these blackholes all sufficiently active to produce detectable radio continuum sources? We have used the 887.5~MHz Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey DR1 to measure the radio emission from morphological early-type galaxies brighter than $K_S=9.5$ selected from the 2MASS Redshift Survey, HyperLEDA and RC3. In line with previous studies, we find median radio power increases with infrared luminosity, with $P_{1.4} \propto L_K^{2.2}$, although the scatter about this relation spans several orders of magnitude. All 40 of the $M_K<-25.7$ early-type galaxies in our sample have measured radio flux densities that are more than $2\sigma$ above the background noise, with $1.4~{\rm GHz}$ radio powers spanning $\sim 3 \times 10^{20}$ to $\sim 3\times 10^{25}~{\rm W~Hz^{-1}}$. Cross matching our sample with integral field spectroscopy of early-type galaxies reveals that the most powerful radio sources preferentially reside in galaxies with relatively low angular momentum (i.e. slow rotators). While the infrared colours of most galaxies in our early-type sample are consistent with passive galaxies with negligible star formation and the radio emission produced by active galactic nuclei or AGN remnants, very low levels of star formation could power the weakest radio sources with little effect on many other star formation rate tracers., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

To explore the role environment plays in influencing galaxy evolution at high redshifts, we study $2.0\leq z<4.2$ environments using the FourStar Galaxy Evolution (ZFOURGE) survey. Using galaxies from the COSMOS legacy field with ${\rm log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})}\geq9.5$, we use a seventh nearest neighbour density estimator to quantify galaxy environment, dividing this into bins of low, intermediate and high density. We discover new high density environment candidates across $2.0\leq z<2.4$ and $3.1\leq z<4.2$. We analyse the quiescent fraction, stellar mass and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of our galaxies to understand how these vary with redshift and environment. Our results reveal that, across $2.0\leq z<2.4$, the high density environments are the most significant regions, which consist of elevated quiescent fractions, ${\rm log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})}\geq10.2$ massive galaxies and suppressed star formation activity. At $3.1\leq z<4.2$, we find that high density regions consist of elevated stellar masses but require more complete samples of quiescent and sSFR data to study the effects of environment in more detail at these higher redshifts. Overall, our results suggest that well-evolved, passive galaxies are already in place in high density environments at $z\sim2.4$, and that the Butcher-Oemler effect and SFR-density relation may not reverse towards higher redshifts as previously thought., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, final version published in PASA

We present the serendipitous detection of a new Galactic Supernova Remnant (SNR), G288.8-6.3 using data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)-Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. Using multi-frequency analysis, we confirm this object as an evolved Galactic SNR at high Galactic latitude with low radio surface brightness and typical SNR spectral index of $\alpha = -0.41\pm0.12$. To determine the magnetic field strength in SNR G288.8-6.3, we present the first derivation of the equipartition formulae for SNRs with spectral indices $\alpha>-0.5$. The angular size is $1.\!^\circ 8\times 1.\!^\circ 6$ $(107.\!^\prime 6 \times 98.\!^\prime 4)$ and we estimate that its intrinsic size is $\sim40$pc which implies a distance of $\sim1.3$kpc and a position of $\sim140$pc above the Galactic plane. This is one of the largest angular size and closest Galactic SNRs. Given its low radio surface brightness, we suggest that it is about 13000 years old., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Along with the nearing completion of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), comes an increasing demand for accurate and reliable automated solutions to extract valuable information from the vast amount of data it will allow acquiring. Automated source finding is a particularly important task in this context, as it enables the detection and classification of astronomical objects. Deep-learning-based object detection and semantic segmentation models have proven to be suitable for this purpose. However, training such deep networks requires a high volume of labeled data, which is not trivial to obtain in the context of radio astronomy. Since data needs to be manually labeled by experts, this process is not scalable to large dataset sizes, limiting the possibilities of leveraging deep networks to address several tasks. In this work, we propose RADiff, a generative approach based on conditional diffusion models trained over an annotated radio dataset to generate synthetic images, containing radio sources of different morphologies, to augment existing datasets and reduce the problems caused by class imbalances. We also show that it is possible to generate fully-synthetic image-annotation pairs to automatically augment any annotated dataset. We evaluate the effectiveness of this approach by training a semantic segmentation model on a real dataset augmented in two ways: 1) using synthetic images obtained from real masks, and 2) generating images from synthetic semantic masks. We show an improvement in performance when applying augmentation, gaining up to 18% in performance when using real masks and 4% when augmenting with synthetic masks. Finally, we employ this model to generate large-scale radio maps with the objective of simulating Data Challenges.

We use data from the pilot observations of the EMU/POSSUM surveys to study the "missing supernova remnant (SNR) problem", the discrepancy between the number of Galactic SNRs that have been observed and the number that are estimated to exist. The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) and the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM) are radio sky surveys that are conducted using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). We report on the properties of 7 known SNRs in the joint Galactic pilot field, with an approximate longitude and latitude of 323$^\circ\leq$ l $\leq$ 330$^\circ$ and -4$^\circ\leq$ b $\leq$ 2$^\circ$ respectively, and identify 21 SNR candidates. Of these, 4 have been previously identified as SNR candidates, 3 were previously listed as a single SNR, 13 have not been previously studied, and 1 has been studied in the infrared. These are the first discoveries of Galactic SNR candidates with EMU/POSSUM and, if confirmed, they will increase the SNR density in this field by a factor of 4. By comparing our SNR candidates to the known Galactic SNR population, we demonstrate that many of these sources were likely missed in previous surveys due to their small angular size and/or low surface brightness. We suspect that there are SNRs in this field that remain undetected due to limitations set by the local background and confusion with other radio sources. The results of this paper demonstrate the potential of the full EMU/POSSUM surveys to uncover more of the missing Galactic SNR population.

We present a novel natural language processing (NLP) approach to deriving plain English descriptors for science cases otherwise restricted by obfuscating technical terminology. We address the limitations of common radio galaxy morphology classifications by applying this approach. We experimentally derive a set of semantic tags for the Radio Galaxy Zoo EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe) project and the wider astronomical community. We collect 8,486 plain English annotations of radio galaxy morphology, from which we derive a taxonomy of tags. The tags are plain English. The result is an extensible framework which is more flexible, more easily communicated, and more sensitive to rare feature combinations which are indescribable using the current framework of radio astronomy classifications., Comment: 17 pages, 11 Figures, Accepted at MNRAS

In recent years, deep learning has been successfully applied in various scientific domains. Following these promising results and performances, it has recently also started being evaluated in the domain of radio astronomy. In particular, since radio astronomy is entering the Big Data era, with the advent of the largest telescope in the world - the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the task of automatic object detection and instance segmentation is crucial for source finding and analysis. In this work, we explore the performance of the most affirmed deep learning approaches, applied to astronomical images obtained by radio interferometric instrumentation, to solve the task of automatic source detection. This is carried out by applying models designed to accomplish two different kinds of tasks: object detection and semantic segmentation. The goal is to provide an overview of existing techniques, in terms of prediction performance and computational efficiency, to scientists in the astrophysics community who would like to employ machine learning in their research.

We present a revised measurement of the extra-galactic background light (EBL) at radio frequencies based on a near complete compendium of radio source counts. We present the radio-EBL at 150 MHz, 325 MHz, 610 MHz, 1.4 GHz, 3 GHz, 5 GHz, and 8.4 GHz. In all cases the contribution to the radio-EBL, per decade of flux, exhibits a two-humped distribution well matched to the AGN and star-forming galaxy (SFG) populations, and with each population contributing roughly equal energy. Only at 3 GHz are the source count contributions to the EBL fully convergent, and hence we report empirical lower limits to the radio-EBL in the remaining bands. Adopting predictions from the SHARK semi-analytic model for the form of the SFG population, we can fit the fainter source counts providing measurements of the total contribution to the radio-EBL for the SFG and the AGN populations separately. This constitutes an empirically constrained model-dependent measurement for the SFG contribution, but a fully empirical measurement of the AGN contribution. Using the {\sc ProSpect} spectral energy distribution code we can model the UV-optical-infrared-mm-radio SFG EBL at all frequencies from the cosmic star-formation history and the adoption of a Chabrier initial mass function. However, significant discrepancy remains ($5\times$) between our source-count estimates of the radio-EBL and the direct measurements reported from the ARCADE-2 experiment. We can rule out a significant missing discrete source radio population and suggest that the cause of the high ARCADE-2 radio-EBL values may need to be sought either in the foreground subtraction or as a yet unknown diffuse component in the radio sky.

Using the Lyman Dropout technique, we identify 148 candidate radio sources at $z \gtrsim 4 - 7$ from the 887.5 MHz Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) observations of the GAMA23 field. About 112 radio sources are currently known beyond redshift $z\sim4$. However, simulations predict that hundreds of thousands of radio sources exist in that redshift range, many of which are probably in existing radio catalogues but do not have measured redshifts, either because their optical emission is too faint or because of the lack of techniques that can identify candidate high-redshift radio sources (HzRSs). Our study addresses these issues using the Lyman Dropout search technique. This newly built sample probes radio luminosities that are 1-2 orders of magnitude fainter than known radio-active galactic nuclei (AGN) at similar redshifts, thanks to ASKAP's sensitivity. We investigate the physical origin of radio emission in our sample using a set of diagnostics: (i) radio luminosity at 1.4 GHz, (ii) 1.4 GHz-to-3.4 $\mu$m flux density ratio, (iii) Far-IR detection, (iv) WISE colour, and (v) SED modelling. The radio/IR analysis has shown that the majority of radio emission in the faint and bright end of our sample's 887.5 MHz flux density distribution originates from AGN activity. Furthermore, $\sim10\%$ of our sample are found to have a 250 $\mu$m detection, suggesting a composite system. This suggests that some high-$z$ radio-AGNs are hosted by SB galaxies, in contrast to low-$z$ radio-AGNs, which are usually hosted by quiescent elliptical galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We present early science results from Deep Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins (DINGO), an HI survey using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). Using ASKAP sub-arrays available during its commissioning phase, DINGO early science data were taken over $\sim$ 60 deg$^{2}$ of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) 23 h region with 35.5 hr integration time. We make direct detections of six known and one new sources at $z < 0.01$. Using HI spectral stacking, we investigate the HI gas content of galaxies at $0.04 < z< 0.09$ for different galaxy colours. The results show that galaxy morphology based on optical colour is strongly linked to HI gas properties. To examine environmental impacts on the HI gas content of galaxies, three sub-samples are made based on the GAMA group catalogue. The average HI mass of group central galaxies is larger than those of satellite and isolated galaxies, but with a lower HI gas fraction. We derive a variety of HI scaling relations for physical properties of our sample, including stellar mass, stellar mass surface density, $NUV-r$ colour, specific star formation rate, and halo mass. We find that the derived HI scaling relations are comparable to other published results, with consistent trends also observed to $\sim$0.5 dex lower limits in stellar mass and stellar surface density. The cosmic HI densities derived from our data are consistent with other published values at similar redshifts. DINGO early science highlights the power of HI spectral stacking techniques with ASKAP., Comment: 27 pages, 25 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a set of peculiar radio sources detected using an unsupervised machine learning method. We use data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope to train a self-organizing map (SOM). The radio maps from three ASKAP surveys, Evolutionary Map of Universe pilot survey (EMU-PS), Deep Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins pilot survey (DINGO) and Survey With ASKAP of GAMA-09 + X-ray (SWAG-X), are used to search for the rarest or unknown radio morphologies. We use an extension of the SOM algorithm that implements rotation and flipping invariance on astronomical sources. The SOM is trained using the images of all "complex" radio sources in the EMU-PS which we define as all sources catalogued as "multi-component". The trained SOM is then used to estimate a similarity score for complex sources in all surveys. We select 0.5\% of the sources that are most complex according to the similarity metric, and visually examine them to find the rarest radio morphologies. Among these, we find two new odd radio circle (ORC) candidates and five other peculiar morphologies. We discuss multiwavelength properties and the optical/infrared counterparts of selected peculiar sources. In addition, we present examples of conventional radio morphologies including: diffuse emission from galaxy clusters, and resolved, bent-tailed, and FR-I and FR-II type radio galaxies. We discuss the overdense environment that may be the reason behind the circular shape of ORC candidates., Comment: Accepted in PASA, 23 pages, 16 figures

We derive single S\'ersic fits and bulge-disk decompositions for 13096 galaxies at redshifts z < 0.08 in the GAMA II equatorial survey regions in the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) g, r and i bands. The surface brightness fitting is performed using the Bayesian two-dimensional profile fitting code ProFit. We fit three models to each galaxy in each band independently with a fully automated Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis: a single S\'ersic model, a S\'ersic plus exponential and a point source plus exponential. After fitting the galaxies, we perform model selection and flag galaxies for which none of our models are appropriate (mainly mergers/Irregular galaxies). The fit quality is assessed by visual inspections, comparison to previous works, comparison of independent fits of galaxies in the overlap regions between KiDS tiles and bespoke simulations. The latter two are also used for a detailed investigation of systematic error sources. We find that our fit results are robust across various galaxy types and image qualities with minimal biases. Errors given by the MCMC underestimate the true errors typically by factors 2-3. Automated model selection criteria are accurate to > 90 % as calibrated by visual inspection of a subsample of galaxies. We also present g-r component colours and the corresponding colour-magnitude diagram, consistent with previous works despite our increased fit flexibility. Such reliable structural parameters for the components of a diverse sample of galaxies across multiple bands will be integral to various studies of galaxy properties and evolution. All results are integrated into the GAMA database., Comment: 36 pages, 33 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Following the discovery of SAGE0536AGN ($z \sim$ 0.14), with the strongest 10-$\mu$m silicate emission ever observed for an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), we discovered SAGE0534AGN ($z \sim$ 1.01), a similar AGN but with less extreme silicate emission. Both were originally mistaken as evolved stars in the Magellanic Clouds. Lack of far-infrared emission, and therefore star-formation, implies we are seeing the central engine of the AGN without contribution from the host galaxy. They could be a key link in galaxy evolution. We used a dimensionality reduction algorithm, t-SNE (t-distributed Stochastic Neighbourhood Embedding) with multi-wavelength data from Gaia EDR3, VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds, AllWISE and the Australian SKA Pathfinder to find these two unusual AGN are grouped with 16 other objects separated from the rest, suggesting a rare class. Our spectroscopy at SAAO/SALT and literature data confirm at least 14 of these objects are extragalactic ($0.13 < z < 1.23$), all hosting AGN. Using spectral energy distribution fitter CIGALE we find that the majority of dust emission ($> 70 \%$) in these sources is due to the AGN. Host galaxies appear to be either in or transitioning into the green valley. There is a trend of a thinning torus, increasing X-ray luminosity and decreasing Eddington ratio as the AGN transition through the green valley, implying that as the accretion supply depletes, the torus depletes and the column density reduces. Also, the near-infrared variability amplitude of these sources correlates with attenuation by the torus, implying the torus plays a role in the variability., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) large-area radio continuum survey will detect tens of millions of radio galaxies, giving an opportunity for the detection of previously unknown classes of objects. To maximise the scientific value and make new discoveries, the analysis of this data will need to go beyond simple visual inspection. We propose the coarse-grained complexity, a simple scalar quantity relating to the minimum description length of an image, that can be used to identify unusual structures. The complexity can be computed without reference to the broader sample or existing catalogue data, making the computation efficient on new surveys at very large scales (such as the full EMU survey). We apply our coarse-grained complexity measure to data from the EMU Pilot Survey to detect and confirm anomalous objects in this data set and produce an anomaly catalogue. Rather than work with existing catalogue data using a specific source detection algorithm, we perform a blind scan of the area, computing the complexity using a sliding square aperture. The effectiveness of the complexity measure for identifying anomalous objects is evaluated using crowd-sourced labels generated via the Zooniverse.org platform. We find that the complexity scan identifies unusual sources, such as odd radio circles, by partitioning on complexity. We achieve partitions where 5\% of the data is estimated to be 86\% complete, and 0.5\% is estimated to be 94\% pure, with respect to anomalies and use this to produce an anomaly catalogue., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures. The EMU Pilot Survey anomaly catalogues are available on direct request from the first author

Galaxy populations show bimodality in a variety of properties: stellar mass, colour, specific star-formation rate, size, and S\'ersic index. These parameters are our feature space. We use an existing sample of 7556 galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, represented using five features and the K-means clustering technique, showed that the bimodalities are the manifestation of a more complex population structure, represented by between 2 and 6 clusters. Here we use Self Organizing Maps (SOM), an unsupervised learning technique which can be used to visualize similarity in a higher dimensional space using a 2D representation, to map these five-dimensional clusters in the feature space onto two-dimensional projections. To further analyze these clusters, using the SOM information, we agree with previous results that the sub-populations found in the feature space can be reasonably mapped onto three or five clusters. We explore where the "green valley" galaxies are mapped onto the SOM, indicating multiple interstitial populations within the green valley population. Finally, we use the projection of the SOM to verify whether morphological information provided by GalaxyZoo users, for example, if features are visible, can be mapped onto the SOM-generated map. Voting on whether galaxies are smooth, likely ellipticals, or "featured" can reasonably be separated but smaller morphological features (bar, spiral arms) can not. SOMs promise to be a useful tool to map and identify instructive sub-populations in multidimensional galaxy survey feature space, provided they are large enough., Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted by MNRAS

In Galaxy And Mass Assembly Data Release 4 (GAMA DR4), we make available our full spectroscopic redshift sample. This includes 248682 galaxy spectra, and, in combination with earlier surveys, results in 330542 redshifts across five sky regions covering ~250deg^2. The redshift density, is the highest available over such a sustained area, has exceptionally high completeness (95 per cent to r_KIDS=19.65mag), and is well suited for the study of galaxy mergers, galaxy groups, and the low redshift (z<0.25) galaxy population. DR4 includes 32 value-added tables or Data Management Units (DMUs) that provide a number of measured and derived data products including GALEX, ESO KiDS, ESO VIKING, WISE and Herschel Space Observatory imaging. Within this release, we provide visual morphologies for 15330 galaxies to z<0.08, photometric redshift estimates for all 18million objects to r_KIDS~25mag, and stellar velocity dispersions for 111830 galaxies. We conclude by deriving the total galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) and its sub-division by morphological class (elliptical, compact-bulge and disc, diffuse-bulge and disc, and disc only). This extends our previous measurement of the total GSMF down to 10^6.75 M_sol h^-2_70 and we find a total stellar mass density of rho_*=(2.97+/-0.04)x10^8 M_sol h_70 Mpc^-3 or Omega_*=(2.17+/-0.03)x10^-3 h^-1_70. We conclude that at z<0.1, the Universe has converted 4.9+/-0.1 per cent of the baryonic mass implied by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis into stars that are gravitationally bound within the galaxy population., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. GAMA Data Release 4 is available at: http://www.gama-survey.org/dr4/

We measure how the atomic gas (HI) fraction ($f_{HI}={\rm \frac{M_{HI}}{M_{*}}}$) of groups and pairs taken as single units vary with average stellar mass ($\langle {\rm M_*} \rangle$) and average star-formation rate ($\langle {\rm SFR} \rangle$), compared to isolated galaxies. The HI 21 cm emission observation are from (i) archival ALFALFA survey data covering three fields from the GAMA survey (provides environmental and galaxy properties), and (ii) DINGO pilot survey data of one of those fields. The mean $f_{HI}$ for different units (groups/pairs/isolated galaxies) are measured in regions of the log($\langle {\rm M_*} \rangle$) -- log($\langle {\rm SFR} \rangle$) plane, relative to the z $\sim 0$ star-forming main sequence (SFMS) of individual galaxies, by stacking $f_{HI}$ spectra of individual units. For ALFALFA, $f_{HI}$ spectra of units are measured by extracting HI spectra over the full groups/pair areas and dividing by the total stellar mass of member galaxies. For DINGO, $f_{HI}$ spectra of units are measured by co-adding HI spectra of individual member galaxies, followed by division by their total stellar mass. For all units the mean $f_{HI}$ decreases as we move to higher $\langle {\rm M_*} \rangle$ along the SFMS, and as we move from above the SFMS to below it at any $\langle {\rm M_*} \rangle$. From the DINGO-based study, mean $f_{HI}$ in groups appears to be lower compared to isolated galaxies for all $\langle {\rm M_*} \rangle$ along the SFMS. From the ALFALFA-based study we find substantially higher mean $f_{HI}$ in groups compared to isolated galaxies (values for pairs being intermediate) for ${\langle{\rm M_*}\rangle}\lesssim10^{9.5}~{\rm M_{\odot}}$, indicating the presence of substantial amounts of HI not associated with cataloged member galaxies in low mass groups., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Main text: 26 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables

In this study we present a new experimental design using clustering-based redshift inference to measure the evolving galaxy luminosity function (GLF) spanning 5.5 decades from $L \sim 10^{11.5}$ to $ 10^6 ~ \mathrm{L}_\odot$. We use data from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS). We derive redshift distributions in bins of apparent magnitude to the limits of the GAMA-KiDS photometric catalogue: $m_r \lesssim 23$; more than a decade in luminosity beyond the limits of the GAMA spectroscopic redshift sample via clustering-based redshift inference. This technique uses spatial cross-correlation statistics for a reference set with known redshifts (in our case, the main GAMA sample) to derive the redshift distribution for the target ensemble. For the calibration of the redshift distribution we use a simple parametrisation with an adaptive normalisation factor over the interval $0.005 < z < 0.48$ to derive the clustering redshift results. We find that the GLF has a relatively constant power-law slope $\alpha \approx -1.2$ for $-17 \lesssim M_r \lesssim -13$, and then appears to steepen sharply for $-13 \lesssim M_r \lesssim -10$. This upturn appears to be where Globular Clusters (GCs) take over to dominate the source counts as a function of luminosity. Thus we have mapped the GLF across the full range of the $z \sim 0$ field galaxy population from the most luminous galaxies down to the GC scale., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, accepted by MNRAS

We present the data and initial results from the first Pilot Survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), observed at 944 MHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The survey covers 270 \sqdeg of an area covered by the Dark Energy Survey, reaching a depth of 25--30 \ujybm\ rms at a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 11--18 arcsec, resulting in a catalogue of $\sim$ 220,000 sources, of which $\sim$ 180,000 are single-component sources. Here we present the catalogue of single-component sources, together with (where available) optical and infrared cross-identifications, classifications, and redshifts. This survey explores a new region of parameter space compared to previous surveys. Specifically, the EMU Pilot Survey has a high density of sources, and also a high sensitivity to low surface-brightness emission. These properties result in the detection of types of sources that were rarely seen in or absent from previous surveys. We present some of these new results here., Comment: Accepted by PASA

We utilize the galaxy shape catalogue from the first-year data release of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-cam Survey (HSC) to study the dark matter content of galaxy groups in the Universe using weak lensing. We use galaxy groups from the Galaxy Mass and Assembly galaxy survey in approximately $100$ sq. degrees of the sky that overlap with the HSC survey as lenses. We restrict our analysis to the $1587$ groups with at least five members. We divide these groups into six bins each of group luminosity and group member velocity dispersion and measure the lensing signal with a signal-to-noise ratio of $55$ and $51$ for these two different selections, respectively. We use a Bayesian halo model framework to infer the halo mass distribution of our groups binned in the two different observable properties and constrain the power-law scaling relation, and the scatter between mean halo masses and the two group observable properties. We obtain a 5 percent constraint on the amplitude of the scaling relation between halo mass and group luminosity with $\avg{M} = (0.81\pm 0.04)\times10^{14}\hinvMsun$ for $L_{\rm grp}=10^{11.5}\hinvsqLsun$, and a power-law index of $\alpha=1.01\pm 0.07$. We constrain the amplitude of the scaling relation between halo mass and velocity dispersion to be $\avg{M}=(0.93\pm 0.05)\times10^{14}\hinvMsun$ for $\sigma=500 \kms$ and a power-law index to be $\alpha=1.52\pm0.10$. However, these scaling relations are sensitive to the exact cuts applied to the number of group members. Comparisons with similar scaling relations from the literature show that our results are consistent and have significantly reduced errors., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

SRG/eROSITA PV observations revealed the A3391/95 cluster system and the Northern Clump (MCXC J0621.7-5242 galaxy cluster) are aligning along a cosmic filament in soft X-rays, similarly to what has been seen in simulations before. We aim to understand the dynamical state of the Northern Clump as it enters the atmosphere ($3\times R_{200}$) of A3391. We analyzed joint eROSITA, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observations to probe the morphological, thermal, and chemical properties of the Northern Clump from its center out to a radius of 988 kpc ($R_{200}$). We utilized the ASKAP/EMU radio data, DECam optical image, and Planck y-map to study the influence of the WAT radio source on the Northern Clump central ICM. From the Magneticum simulation, we identified an analog of the A3391/95 system along with an infalling group resembling the Northern Clump. The Northern Clump is a WCC cluster centered on a WAT radio galaxy. The gas temperature over $0.2-0.5R_{500}$ is $k_BT_{500}=1.99\pm0.04$ keV. We employed the $M-T$ scaling relation and obtained a mass estimate of $M_{500}=(7.68\pm0.43)\times10^{13}M_{\odot}$ and $R_{500}=(636\pm12)$ kpc. Its atmosphere has a boxy shape and deviates from spherical symmetry. We identify a southern surface brightness edge, likely caused by subsonic motion relative to the filament gas. At $\sim\! R_{500}$, the southern atmosphere appears to be 42% hotter than its northern atmosphere. We detect a downstream tail pointing toward the north with a projected length of $\sim318$ kpc, plausibly the result of ram pressure stripping. The analog group in the Magneticum simulation is experiencing changes in its gas properties and a shift between the position of the halo center and that of the bound gas while approaching the main cluster pair., Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures (main text), 6 figures (appendix). Submitted to A&A for the Special Issue: The Early Data Release of eROSITA and Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC on the SRG Mission. For more information, see https://astro.uni-bonn.de/~averonica/NorthernClump/eROSITA_A3391_Northern_Clump_AIfA.html

We present measurements of the radial gravitational acceleration around isolated galaxies, comparing the expected gravitational acceleration given the baryonic matter with the observed gravitational acceleration, using weak lensing measurements from the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey. These measurements extend the radial acceleration relation (RAR) by 2 decades into the low-acceleration regime beyond the outskirts of the observable galaxy. We compare our RAR measurements to the predictions of two modified gravity (MG) theories: MOND and Verlinde's emergent gravity. We find that the measured RAR agrees well with the MG predictions. In addition, we find a difference of at least $6\sigma$ between the RARs of early- and late-type galaxies (split by S\'{e}rsic index and $u-r$ colour) with the same stellar mass. Current MG theories involve a gravity modification that is independent of other galaxy properties, which would be unable to explain this behaviour. The difference might be explained if only the early-type galaxies have significant ($M_{gas} \approx M_*$) circumgalactic gaseous haloes. The observed behaviour is also expected in $\Lambda$CDM models where the galaxy-to-halo mass relation depends on the galaxy formation history. We find that MICE, a $\Lambda$CDM simulation with hybrid halo occupation distribution modelling and abundance matching, reproduces the observed RAR but significantly differs from BAHAMAS, a hydrodynamical cosmological galaxy formation simulation. Our results are sensitive to the amount of circumgalactic gas; current observational constraints indicate that the resulting corrections are likely moderate. Measurements of the lensing RAR with future cosmological surveys will be able to further distinguish between MG and $\Lambda$CDM models if systematic uncertainties in the baryonic mass distribution around galaxies are reduced., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, published in A&A

We present an analysis of a new 120 deg$^{2}$ radio continuum image of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) at 888 MHz with a bandwidth of 288 MHz and beam size of $13\rlap{.}^{\prime\prime}9\times12\rlap{.}^{\prime\prime}1$, from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) processed as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. The median Root Mean Squared noise is 58 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$. We present a catalogue of 54,612 sources, divided over a GOLD list (30,866 sources) complete down to 0.5 mJy uniformly across the field, a SILVER list (22,080 sources) reaching down to $<$ 0.2 mJy and a BRONZE list (1,666 sources) of visually inspected sources in areas of high noise and/or near bright complex emission. We discuss detections of planetary nebulae and their radio luminosity function, young stellar objects showing a correlation between radio luminosity and gas temperature, novae and X-ray binaries in the LMC, and active stars in the Galactic foreground that may become a significant population below this flux level. We present examples of diffuse emission in the LMC (H II regions, supernova remnants, bubbles) and distant galaxies showcasing spectacular interaction between jets and intracluster medium. Among 14,333 infrared counterparts of the predominantly background radio source population we find that star-forming galaxies become more prominent below 3 mJy compared to active galactic nuclei. We combine the new 888 MHz data with archival Australia Telescope Compact Array data at 1.4 GHz to determine spectral indices; the vast majority display synchrotron emission but flatter spectra occur too. We argue that the most extreme spectral index values are due to variability., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a radio search for WIMP dark matter in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We make use of a recent deep image of the LMC obtained from observations of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and processed as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. LMC is an extremely promising target for WIMP searches at radio frequencies because of the large J-factor and the presence of a substantial magnetic field. We detect no evidence for emission arising from WIMP annihilations and derive stringent bounds on the annihilation rate as a function of the WIMP mass, for different annihilation channels. This work excludes the thermal cross section for masses below 480 GeV and annihilation into quarks., Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures. v2: presentation improved, discussion expanded, accepted for publication in JCAP

Radio-emitting jets might be one of the main ingredients shaping the evolution of massive galaxies in the Universe since early cosmic times. However, identifying early radio active galactic nuclei (AGN) and confirming this scenario has been hard to accomplish, with studies of samples of radio AGN hosts at z>2 becoming routinely possible only recently. With the above in mind, we have carried out a survey with the Atacama Compact Array (ACA, or Morita Array) at 1.3 mm (rms=0.15 mJy) of 36 high-redshift radio AGN candidates found within 3.9deg2 in the ELAIS-S1 field. The work presented here describes the survey and showcases a preliminary set of results. The selection of the sample was based on three criteria making use of infrared (IR) and radio fluxes only. The criterion providing the highest selection rate of high-redshift sources (86% at z>0.8) is one combining an IR colour cut and radio flux cut (S(5.8um)/S(3.6um)>1.3 and S(1.4GHz)>1mJy). Among the sample of 36 sources, 16 show a millimetre (mm) detection. In eight of these cases, the emission has a non-thermal origin. A zsp=1.58 object, with a mm detection of non-thermal origin, shows a clear spatial offset between the jet-dominated mm continuum emission and that of the host's molecular gas, as traced by serendipitously detected CO(5-4) emission. Among the objects with serendipitous line detections there is a source with a narrow jet-like region, as revealed by CS(6-5) emission stretching 20kpc out of the host galaxy., Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, accepted on MNRAS

We present a revised measurement of the optical extragalactic background light (EBL), based on the contribution of resolved galaxies to the integrated galaxy light (IGL). The cosmic optical background radiation (COB), encodes the light generated by star-formation, and provides a wealth of information about the cosmic star formation history (CSFH). We combine wide and deep galaxy number counts from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA) and Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS), along with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive and other deep survey datasets, in 9 multi-wavelength filters to measure the COB in the range from 0.35 micron to 2.2 micron. We derive the luminosity density in each band independently and show good agreement with recent and complementary estimates of the optical-EBL from very high-energy (VHE) experiments. Our error analysis suggests that the IGL and Gamma-ray measurements are now fully consistent to within ~10%, suggesting little need for any additional source of diffuse light beyond the known galaxy population. We use our revised IGL measurements to constrain the cosmic star-formation history, and place amplitude constraints on a number of recent estimates. As a consistency check, we can now demonstrate convincingly, that the CSFH, stellar mass growth, and the optical-EBL provide a fully consistent picture of galaxy evolution. We conclude that the peak of star-formation rate lies in the range 0.066-0.076 Msol/yr/Mpc^3 at a lookback time of 9.1 to 10.9 Gyrs., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyse the metallicity histories of ~4,500 galaxies from the GAMA survey at z<0.06 modelled by the SED-fitting code ProSpect using an evolving metallicity implementation. These metallicity histories, in combination with the associated star formation histories, allow us to analyse the inferred gas-phase mass--metallicity relation. Furthermore, we extract the mass--metallicity relation at a sequence of epochs in cosmic history, to track the evolving mass--metallicity relation with time. Through comparison with observations of gas-phase metallicity over a large range of redshifts, we show that, remarkably, our forensic SED analysis has produced an evolving mass--metallicity relationship that is consistent with observations at all epochs. We additionally analyse the three dimensional mass--metallicity--SFR space, showing that galaxies occupy a clearly defined plane. This plane is shown to be subtly evolving, displaying an increased tilt with time caused by general enrichment, and also the slowing down of star formation with cosmic time. This evolution is most apparent at lookback times greater than 7 Gyr. The trends in metallicity recovered in this work highlight that the evolving metallicity implementation used within the SED fitting code ProSpect produces reasonable metallicity results over the history of a galaxy. This is expected to provide a significant improvement to the accuracy of the SED fitting outputs., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures (inc. 2 animations), accepted for publication in MNRAS

SPT-CL J2106-5844 is among the most massive galaxy clusters at z>1 yet discovered. While initially used in cosmological tests to assess the compatibility with $\Lambda$CDM cosmology of such a massive virialized object at this redshift, more recent studies indicate SPT-CL J2106-5844 is undergoing a major merger, and is not an isolated system with a singular, well-defined halo. We use sensitive, high spatial resolution measurements from ALMA and ACA of the thermal SZ effect to reconstruct the pressure distribution of the intracluster medium in this system. These measurements are coupled with radio observations from the EMU pilot survey, using ASKAP and the ATCA to search for diffuse nonthermal emission. Further, to better constrain the thermodynamic structure of the cluster, we complement our analysis with reprocessed archival $Chandra$ observations. We fit the ALMA+ACA SZ data in $uv$-space using a Bayesian forward modelling technique. The ASKAP and ATCA data are processed and imaged to specifically highlight any potential diffuse radio emission. In the ALMA+ACA SZ data, we reliably identify at high significance two main gas components associated with the mass clumps inferred from weak lensing. Our statistical test excludes at the ~9.9$\sigma$ level the possibility of describing the system with a single SZ component. While the components had been more difficult to identify in the X-ray data alone, we find that the bimodal gas distribution is supported by the X-ray hardness distribution. The EMU radio observations reveal a diffuse radio structure ~400 kpc in projected extent along the northwest-southeast direction, indicative of strong activity from the active galactic nucleus within the brightest cluster galaxy. Interestingly, a putative optical star-forming filamentary structure detected in the HST image is in an excellent alignment with the radio structure, albeit on a smaller scale., Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, and 1 table; accepted for publication in A&A

We present catalogues of stellar masses, star formation rates, and ancillary stellar population parameters for galaxies spanning $02.6$, we see evidence of a bend in the relation at low redshifts ($z<0.45$). This suggests evolution in both the normalisation and shape of the SFR-$M_\star$ relation since cosmic noon. It is significant that we only clearly see this bend when combining our new DEVILS measurements with consistently derived values for lower redshift galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey: this shows the power of having consistent treatment for galaxies at all redshifts., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 28 pages, 20 figures

The ASKAP-EMU survey is a deep wide-field radio continuum survey designed to cover the entire southern sky and a significant fraction of the northern sky up to $+30^{\circ}$. Here, we report a discovery of a radio relic in the merging cluster SPT-CL 2023-5535 at z=0.23 from the ASKAP-EMU pilot 300 sq. deg survey (800-1088 MHz). The deep high-resolution data reveal a $\sim2$ Mpc-scale radio halo elongated in the east-west direction, coincident with the intracluster gas. The radio relic is located at the western edge of this radio halo stretched $\sim0.5$ Mpc in the north-south orientation. The integrated spectral index of the radio relic within the narrow bandwidth is $\alpha^{\scriptstyle \rm 1088~MHz}_{\scriptstyle \rm 800~MHz}=-0.76 \pm 0.06$. Our weak-lensing analysis shows that the system is massive ($M_{200}=1.04\pm0.36\times 10^{15} M_{\odot}$) and composed of at least three subclusters. We suggest a scenario, wherein the radio features arise from the collision between the eastern and middle subclusters. Our discovery illustrates the effectiveness of the ASKAP-EMU survey in detecting diffuse emissions in galaxy clusters and when completed, the survey will greatly increase the number of merging cluster detections with diffuse radio emissions., Comment: Accepted to ApJ

We have found a class of circular radio objects in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Pilot Survey, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. The objects appear in radio images as circular edge-brightened discs, about one arcmin diameter, that are unlike other objects previously reported in the literature. We explore several possible mechanisms that might cause these objects, but none seems to be a compelling explanation., Comment: Accepted for publication by PASA

We simultaneously present constraints on the stellar-to-halo mass relation for central and satellite galaxies through a weak lensing analysis of spectroscopically classified galaxies. Using overlapping data from the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA), we find that satellite galaxies are hosted by halo masses that are $0.53 \pm 0.39$ dex (68\% confidence, $3\sigma$ detection) smaller than those of central galaxies of the same stellar mass (for a stellar mass of $\log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) = 10.6$). This is consistent with galaxy formation models, whereby infalling satellite galaxies are preferentially stripped of their dark matter. We find consistent results with similar uncertainties when comparing constraints from a standard azimuthally averaged galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis and a two-dimensional likelihood analysis of the full shear field. As the latter approach is somewhat biased due to the lens incompleteness and as it does not provide any improvement to the precision when applied to actual data, we conclude that stacked tangential shear measurements are best-suited for studies of the galaxy-halo connection., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We use KiDS weak lensing data to measure variations in mean halo mass as a function of several key galaxy properties (namely: stellar colour, specific star formation rate, Sersic index, and effective radius) for a volume-limited sample of GAMA galaxies in a narrow stellar mass range ($M_* \sim 2$--$5 \times 10^{10}$ Msol). This mass range is particularly interesting, inasmuch as it is where bimodalities in galaxy properties are most pronounced, and near to the break in both the galaxy stellar mass function and the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR). In this narrow mass range, we find that both size and Sersic index are better predictors of halo mass than either colour or SSFR, with the data showing a slight preference for Sersic index. In other words, we find that mean halo mass is more tightly correlated with galaxy structure than either past star formation history or current star formation rate. Our results lead to an approximate lower bound on the dispersion in halo masses among $\log M_* \approx {10.5}$ galaxies: we find that the dispersion is $\gtrsim 0.3$ dex. This would imply either that offsets from the mean SHMR are closely coupled to size/structure, or that the dispersion in the SHMR is larger than past results have suggested. Our results thus provide new empirical constraints on the relationship between stellar and halo mass assembly at this particularly interesting mass range., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; submitted to MNRAS; updated to reflect accepted version

We apply the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code ProSpect to multiwavelength imaging for $\sim$7,000 galaxies from the GAMA survey at $z<0.06$, in order to extract their star formation histories. We combine a parametric description of the star formation history with a closed-box evolution of metallicity where the present-day gas-phase metallicity of the galaxy is a free parameter. We show with this approach that we are able to recover the observationally determined cosmic star formation history (CSFH), an indication that stars are being formed in the correct epoch of the Universe, on average, for the manner in which we are conducting SED fitting. We also show the contribution to the CSFH of galaxies of different present-day visual morphologies, and stellar masses. Our analysis suggests that half of the mass in present-day elliptical galaxies was in place 11 Gyr ago. In other morphological types, the stellar mass formed later, up to 6 Gyr ago for present-day irregular galaxies. Similarly, the most massive galaxies in our sample were shown to have formed half their stellar mass by 11 Gyr ago, whereas the least massive galaxies reached this stage as late as 4 Gyr ago (the well-known effect of "galaxy downsizing"). Finally, our metallicity approach allows us to follow the average evolution in gas-phase metallicity for populations of galaxies, and extract the evolution of the cosmic metal mass density in stars and in gas, producing results in broad agreement with independent, higher-redshift observations of metal densities in the Universe., Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication by MNRAS

Several semi-analytic models (SAMs) try to explain how galaxies form, evolve and interact inside the dark matter large-scale structure. These SAMs can be tested by comparing their predictions for galaxy-galaxy-galaxy-lensing (G3L), which is weak gravitational lensing around galaxy pairs, with observations. We evaluate the SAMs by Henriques et al. (2015; H15) and by Lagos et al. (2012; L12), implemented in the Millennium Run, by comparing their predictions for G3L to observations at smaller scales than previous studies and also for pairs of lens galaxies from different populations. We compare the G3L signal predicted by the SAMs to measurements in the overlap of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA), the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy survey (VIKING), splitting lens galaxies into two colour and five stellar-mass samples. Using an improved G3L estimator, we measure the three-point correlation of the matter distribution for mixed lens pairs with galaxies from different samples, and unmixed lens pairs with galaxies from the same sample. Predictions by the H15 SAM agree with the observations for all colour-selected and all but one stellar-mass-selected sample with 95% confidence. Deviations occur for lenses with stellar masses below $9.5h^{-2}\mathrm{M}_\odot$ at scales below $0.2h^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}$. Predictions by the L12 SAM for stellar-mass selected samples and red galaxies are significantly higher than observed, while the predicted signal for blue galaxy pairs is too low. The L12 SAM predicts more pairs of small stellar-mass and red galaxies than the H15 SAM and the observations, as well as fewer pairs of blue galaxies. Likely explanations are different treatments of environmental effects by the SAMs and different models of the initial mass function. We conclude that G3L provides a stringent test for models of galaxy formation and evolution., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, replaced with version accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysics after considering referees comments

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey has morphologically identified a class of "Little Blue Spheroid" (LBS) galaxies whose relationship to other classes of galaxies we now examine in detail. Considering a sample of 868 LBSs, we find that such galaxies display similar but not identical colours, specific star formation rates, stellar population ages, mass-to-light ratios, and metallicities to Sd-Irr galaxies. We also find that LBSs typically occupy environments of even lower density than those of Sd-Irr galaxies, where ~65% of LBS galaxies live in isolation. Using deep, high-resolution imaging from VST KiDS and the new Bayesian, two-dimensional galaxy profile modeling code PROFIT, we further examine the detailed structure of LBSs and find that their S\'ersic indices, sizes, and axial ratios are compatible with those of low-mass elliptical galaxies. We then examine SAMI Galaxy survey integral field emission line kinematics for a subset of 62 LBSs and find that the majority (42) of these galaxies display ordered rotation with the remainder displaying disturbed/non-ordered dynamics. Finally, we consider potential evolutionary scenarios for a population with this unusual combination of properties, concluding that LBSs are likely formed by a mixture of merger and accretion processes still recently active in low-redshift dwarf populations. We also infer that if LBS-like galaxies were subjected to quenching in a rich environment, they would plausibly resemble cluster dwarf ellipticals., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, MNRAS accepted

The growth channel of massive galaxies involving mergers can be studied via close pairs as putative merger progenitors, where the stellar populations of the satellite galaxies will be eventually incorporated into the massive primaries. We extend our recent analysis of the GAMA-based sample of close pairs presented in Ferreras et al. to the general spectroscopic dataset of SDSS galaxies (DR14), for which the high S/N of the data enables a detailed analysis of the differences between satellite galaxies with respect to the mass of the primary galaxy. A sample of approximately two thousand satellites of massive galaxies is carefully selected within a relatively narrow redshift range (0.07

(Abridged) The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is an end-to-end science platform for the design, execution and scientific exploitation of spectroscopic surveys. It will unveil the composition and dynamics of the faint Universe and impact nearly every field of astrophysics across all spatial scales, from individual stars to the largest scale structures in the Universe. Major pillars in the science program for MSE include (i) the ultimate Gaia follow-up facility for understanding the chemistry and dynamics of the distant Milky Way, including the outer disk and faint stellar halo at high spectral resolution (ii) galaxy formation and evolution at cosmic noon, via the type of revolutionary surveys that have occurred in the nearby Universe, but now conducted at the peak of the star formation history of the Universe (iii) derivation of the mass of the neutrino and insights into inflationary physics through a cosmological redshift survey that probes a large volume of the Universe with a high galaxy density. MSE is positioned to become a critical hub in the emerging international network of front-line astronomical facilities, with scientific capabilities that naturally complement and extend the scientific power of Gaia, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the Square Kilometer Array, Euclid, WFIRST, the 30m telescopes and many more., Comment: 9 chapters, 301 pages, 100 figures. This version of the DSC is a comprehensive update of the original version, released in 2016, which can be downloaded at arXiv:1606.00043. A detailed summary of the design of MSE is available in the MSE Book 2018, available at arXiv:1810.08695

We present a novel Bayesian method, referred to as Blobby3D, to infer gas kinematics that mitigates the effects of beam smearing for observations using Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS). The method is robust for regularly rotating galaxies despite substructure in the gas distribution. Modelling the gas substructure within the disk is achieved by using a hierarchical Gaussian mixture model. To account for beam smearing effects, we construct a modelled cube that is then convolved per wavelength slice by the seeing, before calculating the likelihood function. We show that our method can model complex gas substructure including clumps and spiral arms. We also show that kinematic asymmetries can be observed after beam smearing for regularly rotating galaxies with asymmetries only introduced in the spatial distribution of the gas. We present findings for our method applied to a sample of 20 star-forming galaxies from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We estimate the global H$\alpha$ gas velocity dispersion for our sample to be in the range $\bar{\sigma}_v \sim $[7, 30] km s$^{-1}$. The relative difference between our approach and estimates using the single Gaussian component fits per spaxel is $\Delta \bar{\sigma}_v / \bar{\sigma}_v = - 0.29 \pm 0.18$ for the H$\alpha$ flux-weighted mean velocity dispersion., Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, accepted for MNRAS

We systematically measure the gas-phase metallicities and the mass-metallicity relation of a large sample of local active galaxies for the first time. Observed emission-line fluxes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are compared to a four-dimensional grid of photoionization models using the Bayesian parameter estimation code NebulaBayes. For the first time we take into account arbitrary mixing between HII region and narrow-line region (NLR) emission, and the models are also varied with metallicity, ionization parameter in the NLR, and the gas pressure. The active galactic nucleus (AGN) oxygen abundance is found to increase by $\Delta {\rm O/H} \sim 0.1$ dex as a function of host galaxy stellar mass over the range $10.1 < \log M_* / M_\odot < 11.3$. We also measure the metallicity and ionization parameter of 231000 star-forming galaxies for comparison with the sample of 7670 Seyfert 2 galaxies. A systematic offset in oxygen abundance of 0.09 dex is observed between the mass-metallicity relations of the star-forming and active galaxies. We investigate potential causes of the offset, including sample selection and the treatment in the models of diffuse ionized gas, pressure, and ionization parameter. We cannot identify the major cause(s), but suspect contributions due to deficiencies in modeling the ionizing spectra and the treatment of dust physics. Optical diagnostic diagrams are presented with the star-forming and Seyfert data colored by the inferred oxygen abundance, ionization parameter and gas pressure, clearly illustrating the trends in these quantities., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures and 1 table; accepted for publication in ApJ

We measure the cosmic star formation history out to z = 1.3 using a sample of 918 radio-selected star forming galaxies within the 2 square degree COSMOS field. To increase our sample size, we combine 1.4 GHz flux densities from the VLA-COSMOS catalogue with flux densities measured from the VLA-COSMOS radio continuum image at the positions of I < 26.5 galaxies, enabling us to detect 1.4 GHz sources as faint as 40 uJy. We find radio measurements of the cosmic star formation history are highly dependent on sample completeness and models used to extrapolate the faint end of the radio luminosity function. For our preferred model of the luminosity function, we find the star formation rate density increases from 0.019 Solar masses per year per cubic Mpc at z = 0.225 to 0.104 Solar masses per year per cubic Mpc, which agrees to within 33% of recent UV, IR and 3 GHz measurements of the cosmic star formation history., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

A fundamental bimodality of galaxies in the local Universe is apparent in many of the features used to describe them. Multiple sub-populations exist within this framework, each representing galaxies following distinct evolutionary pathways. Accurately identifying and characterising these sub-populations requires that a large number of galaxy features be analysed simultaneously. Future galaxy surveys such as LSST and Euclid will yield data volumes for which traditional approaches to galaxy classification will become unfeasible. To address this, we apply a robust $k$-means unsupervised clustering method to feature data derived from a sample of 7338 local-Universe galaxies selected from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. This allows us to partition our sample into $k$ clusters without the need for training on pre-labelled data, facilitating a full census of our high dimensionality feature space and guarding against stochastic effects. We find that the local galaxy population natively splits into $2$, $3$, $5$ and a maximum of $6$ sub-populations, with each corresponding to a distinct ongoing evolutionary mechanism. Notably, the impact of the local environment appears strongly linked with the evolution of low-mass ($M_{*} < 10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$) galaxies, with more massive systems appearing to evolve more passively from the blue cloud onto the red sequence. With a typical run time of $\sim3$ minutes per value of $k$ for our galaxy sample, we show how $k$-means unsupervised clustering is an ideal tool for future analysis of large extragalactic datasets, being scalable, adaptable, and providing crucial insight into the fundamental properties of the local galaxy population., Comment: 27 pages, 28 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society