Search

Ionized bubble sizes during reionization trace physical properties of the first galaxies. JWST's ability to spectroscopically confirm and measure Lyman-alpha (Ly$\alpha$) emission in sub-L* galaxies opens the door to mapping ionized bubbles in 3D. However, existing Lya-based bubble measurement strategies rely on constraints from single galaxies, which are limited by the large variability in intrinsic Ly$\alpha$ emission. As a first step, we present two bubble size estimation methods using Lya spectroscopy of ensembles of galaxies, enabling us to map ionized structures and marginalize over Ly$\alpha$ emission variability. We test our methods using Gpc-scale reionization simulations of the intergalactic medium (IGM). To map bubbles in the plane of the sky, we develop an edge detection method based on the asymmetry of Ly$\alpha$ transmission as a function of spatial position. To map bubbles along the line-of-sight, we develop an algorithm using the tight relation between Ly$\alpha$ transmission and the line-of-sight distance from galaxies to the nearest neutral IGM patch. Both methods can robustly recover bubbles with radius $\gtrsim$10 comoving Mpc, sufficient for mapping bubbles even in the early phases of reionization, when the IGM is $\sim70-90\%$ neutral. These methods require $\gtrsim$0.002-0.004 galaxies/cMpc$^3$, a $5\sigma$ Ly$\alpha$ equivalent width upper limit of $\lesssim$30\r{A} for the faintest targets, and redshift precision $\Delta z \lesssim 0.015$, feasible with JWST spectroscopy. Shallower observations will provide robust lower limits on bubble sizes. Additional constraints on IGM transmission from Ly$\alpha$ escape fractions and line profiles will further refine these methods, paving the way to our first direct understanding of ionized bubble growth., Comment: 15 pages (+ 3 pages in Appendix), 17 figures, submitted to A&A

Constraining when and how reionisation began is pivotal for understanding when the first galaxies formed. Lyman-alpha (Ly$\alpha$) emission from galaxies is currently our most promising probe of these early stages. At z>7 the majority of galaxies detected with Ly$\alpha$ are in candidate overdensities. Here we quantify the probability of these galaxies residing in large ionised bubbles. We create (1.6 Gpc)$^3$ reionising intergalactic medium (IGM) simulations, providing sufficient volume to robustly measure bubble size distributions around UV-bright galaxies and rare overdensities. We find $M_{\rm UV} \lesssim -16$ galaxies and overdensities are $\gtrsim$10-1000x more likely to trace ionised bubbles compared to randomly selected positions. The brightest galaxies and strongest overdensities have bubble size distributions with highest characteristic size and least scatter. We compare two models: gradual reionisation driven by numerous UV-faint galaxies versus more rapid reionisation by rarer brighter galaxies, producing larger bubbles at fixed neutral fraction. We demonstrate that recently observed z~7 overdensities are highly likely to trace large ionised bubbles, corroborated by their high Ly$\alpha$ detection rates. However, the z~8.7 association of Ly$\alpha$ emitters in EGS and GN-z11, with Ly$\alpha$ at z=10.6, are unlikely to trace large bubbles in our fiducial model -- 11% and 7% probability of >1 proper Mpc bubbles, respectively. Ly$\alpha$ detections at such high redshifts could be explained by: a less neutral IGM than previously expected; larger ionised regions at fixed neutral fraction; or if intrinsic Ly$\alpha$ flux is unusually strong in these galaxies. We discuss how to test these scenarios with JWST and the prospects for using upcoming wide-area surveys to distinguish between reionisation models., Comment: 15 pages (+ 3 pages in Appendix), 13 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We describe new JWST/NIRSpec observations of galaxies at $z\gtrsim7$ taken from the CEERS survey. Previous observations of this area have revealed associations of Ly$\alpha$ emitters at redshifts ($z=7.5$, $7.7$, $8.7$) where the intergalactic medium (IGM) is thought to be mostly neutral, leading to suggestions that these systems are situated in large ionized bubbles. We identify 21 $z\gtrsim7$ galaxies with robust redshifts in the CEERS dataset, including 10 in the Ly$\alpha$ associations. Their spectra are indicative of very highly ionized and metal poor gas, with line ratios (O32 $=17.84$ and Ne3O2 $=0.89$, linear scale) and metallicity ($12+\log{(\rm{O/H})}=7.84$) that are rarely seen at lower redshifts. We find that the most extreme spectral properties are found in the six $z\gtrsim7$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters in the sample. Each has a hard ionizing spectrum indicating that their visibility is likely enhanced by efficient ionizing photon production. Ly$\alpha$ velocity offsets are found to be very large ($\gtrsim300$ km s$^{-1}$), likely also contributing to their detectability. We find that Ly$\alpha$ in $z\gtrsim7$ galaxies is $6-12\times$ weaker than in lower redshift samples with matched rest-optical spectral properties. If the bubbles around the Ly$\alpha$ emitters are relatively small ($\lesssim0.5-1$ pMpc), we may expect such significant attenuation of Ly$\alpha$ in these ionized regions. We discuss several other effects that may contribute to weaker Ly$\alpha$ emission at $z\gtrsim7$. Deep spectroscopy of fainter galaxies in the vicinity of the Ly$\alpha$ emitters will better characterize the physical scale of the ionized bubbles in this field., Comment: 31 pages, 22 figures, accepted by MNRAS, references updated

We present the spectroscopic confirmation of a protocluster at $z=7.88$ behind the galaxy cluster Abell2744 (hereafter A2744-z7p9OD). Using JWST NIRSpec, we find seven galaxies within a projected radius of 60kpc. Although the galaxies reside in an overdensity around $>20\times$ greater than a random volume, they do not show strong Lyman-alpha emission. We place 2-$\sigma$ upper limits on the rest-frame equivalent width $<16$-$28$AA. Based on the tight upper limits to the Lyman-alpha emission, we constrain the volume-averaged neutral fraction of hydrogen in the intergalactic medium to be $x_{\rm HI} > 0.45$ (68% CI). Using an empirical $M_{\rm UV}$-$M_{\rm halo}$ relation for individual galaxies, we estimate that the total halo mass of the system is $\gtrsim 4\times10^{11}\,M_\odot$. Likewise, the line of sight velocity dispersion is estimated to be $1100 \pm 200$km/s. Using an empirical relation, we estimate the present-day halo mass of A2744-z7p9OD to be $\sim2\times10^{15}\,M_\odot$, comparable to the Coma cluster. A2744-z7p9OD is the highest redshift spectroscopically confirmed protocluster to date, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate the connection between dark-matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early times with medium-deep observations at $<20$hrs total exposure time. Follow-up spectroscopy of the remaining photometric candidates of the overdensity will further refine the features of this system and help characterize the role of such overdensities in cosmic reionization., Comment: The title has been updated to reflect the published numbering; a minor change has been made to Figure 1 with regard to the MSA shutters on the rgb stamp image. NASA press release article can be found at: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-reveals-early-universe-prequel-to-huge-galaxy-cluster

The Hubble constant ($H_{0}$) is a measurement to describe the expansion rate of the Universe in the current era. However, there is a $4.4\sigma$ discrepancy between the measurements from the early Universe and the late Universe. In this research, we propose a model-free and distance-free method to constrain $H_{0}$. Combining Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker cosmology with geometrical relation of the proper motion of extragalactic jets, the lower limit ($H_{\rm 0,min}$) of $H_{0}$ can be determined using only three cosmology-free observables: the redshifts of the host galaxies, as well as the approaching and receding angular velocities of radio jets. Using these, we propose to use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S test) between cumulative distribution functions of $H_{\rm 0,min}$ to differentiate cosmology. We simulate 100, 200, and 500 extragalactic jets with 3 levels of accuracy of the proper motion ($\mu_{a}$ and $\mu_{r}$), at $10\%$, $5\%$, and $1\%$, corresponding to the accuracies of the current and future radio interferometers. We perform K-S tests between the simulated samples as theoretical distributions with different $H_{0}$ and power-law index of velocity distribution of jets and mock observational data. Our result suggests increasing sample sizes leads to tighter constraints on both power-law index and the Hubble constant at moderate accuracy (i.e., $10\%$ and $5\%$) while at $1\%$ accuracy, increasing sample sizes leads to tighter constraints on power-law index more. Improving accuracy results in better constraints in the Hubble constant compared with the power-law index in all cases but it alleviates the degeneracy., Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Addressing how strong UV radiation affects galaxy formation is central to understanding their evolution. The quenching of star formation via strong UV radiation (from starbursts or AGN) has been proposed in various scenes to solve certain astrophysical problems. Around luminous sources, some evidence of decreased star formation has been found but is limited to a handful of individual cases. No direct, conclusive evidence on the actual role of strong UV radiation in quenching star formation has been found. Here we present statistical evidence of decreased number density of faint (AB magnitude $\geq$ 24.75 mag) Ly\alpha emitters (LAEs) around bright (AB magnitude < 24.75 mag) LAEs even when the radius goes up to 10 pMpc for $z$ $\simeq$ 5.7 LAEs. A similar trend is found for z $\simeq$ 6.6 LAEs but only within 1 pMpc radius from the bright LAEs. We use a large sample of 1077 (962) LAEs at $z$ $\simeq$ 5.7 ($z$ $\simeq$ 6.6) selected in total areas of 14 (21) deg$^2$ with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam narrow-band data, and thus, the result is of statistical significance for the first time at these high redshift ranges. A simple analytical calculation indicates that the radiation from the central LAE is not enough to suppress LAEs with AB mag $\geq$ 24.75 mag around them, suggesting additional physical mechanisms we are unaware of are at work. Our results clearly show that the environment is at work for the galaxy formation at $z$ $\sim$ 6 in the Universe., Comment: Accepted for publication at MNRAS

A1689-zD1 is one of the most distant galaxies, discovered with the aid of gravitational lensing, providing us with an important opportunity to study galaxy formation in the very early Universe. In this study, we report the detection of [C II]158$\mu$m and [O III]88$\mu$m emission lines of A1689-zD1 in the ALMA Bands 6 and 8. We measure the redshift of this galaxy as $z_{\rm{sys}}=7.133\pm0.005$ based on the [C II] and [O III] emission lines, consistent with that adopted by Bakx et al. (2021). The observed $L_{[\rm{O\,III]}}/L_{[\rm{C\,II]}}$ ratio is $2.09\pm0.09$, higher than most of the local galaxies, but consistent with other $z\sim7$ galaxies. The moderate-spatial resolution of ALMA data provided us with a precious opportunity to investigate spatial variation of $L_{[\rm{O\,III]}}/L_{[\rm{C\,II]}}$. In contrast to the average value of 2.09, we find a much higher $L_{[\rm{O\,III]}}/L_{[\rm{C\,II]}}$ of $\sim 7$ at the center of the galaxy. This spatial variation of $L_{[\rm{O\,III]}}/L_{[\rm{C\,II]}}$ was seldom reported for other high-z galaxies. It is also interesting that the peak of the ratio does not overlap with optical peaks. Possible physical reasons include a central AGN, shock heating from merging, and starburst. Our moderate-spatial resolution data also reveals that in addition to the observed two clumps shown in previous HST images, there is a redshifted segment to the west of the northern optical clump. Such a structure is consistent with previous claims that A1689-zD1 is a merging galaxy, but with the northern redshifted part being some ejected materials, or that the northern redshifted materials being from a third more highly obscured region of the galaxy., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. A video summary is available at https://youtu.be/VkR9FlclAp4

Einstein's General Relativity (GR) is the basis of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Testing the validity of basic assumptions of GR is important. In this work, we test a possible violation of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), i.e., there might be a time-lag between photons of different frequencies caused by the effect of gravitational fields if the speeds of photons are slightly different at different frequencies. We use Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) , which are astronomical transients with millisecond timescales detected in the radio frequency range. Being at cosmological distances, accumulated time delay of FRBs can be caused by the plasma in between an FRB source and an observer, and by gravitational fields in the path of the signal. We segregate the delay due to dispersion and gravitational field using the post-Newtonian formalism (PPN) parameter $\Delta \gamma$, which defines the space-curvature due to gravity by a unit test mass. We did not detect any time-delay from FRBs but obtained tight constraints on the upper limit of $\Delta \gamma$. For FRB20181117C with $z = 1.83 \pm 0.28$ and $\nu_{obs}$ = $676.5\,{\rm MHz}$, the best possible constraint is obtained at log($\Delta \gamma$) = $-21.58 ^{+0.10}_{-0.12}$ and log($\Delta \gamma$/$r_{\rm E}$) = $-21.75 ^{+0.10}_{-0.14}$, respectively, where $r_{\rm E}$ is the energy ratio of two photons of the same FRB signal. This constraint is about one order of magnitude better than the previous constraint obtained with FRBs, and five orders tighter than any constraint obtained using other cosmological sources., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are astronomical transients with millisecond timescales occurring at cosmological distances. The observed time lag between different energies of each FRB is well described by the inverse-square law of the observed frequency, i.e., dispersion measure. Therefore, FRBs provide one of the ideal laboratories to test Einstein's weak equivalence principle (WEP): the hypothetical time lag between photons with different energies under a gravitational potential. If WEP is violated, such evidence should be exposed within the observational uncertainties of dispersion measures, unless the WEP violation also depends on the inverse-square of the observed frequency. In this work, we constrain the difference of gamma parameters ($\Delta\gamma$) between photons with different energies using the observational uncertainties of FRB dispersion measures, where $\Delta\gamma=0$ for Einstein's general relativity. Adopting the averaged 'Shapiro time delay' for cosmological sources, FRB 121002 at $z=1.6\pm0.3$ and FRB 180817.J1533+42 at $z=1.0\pm0.2$ place the most stringent constraints of $\log\Delta\gamma<-20.8\pm0.1$ and $\log(\Delta\gamma/r_{E}) < -20.9\pm0.2$, respectively, where $r_{E}$ is the energy ratio between the photons. The former is about three orders of magnitude lower than those of other astrophysical sources in previous works under the same formalization of the Shapiro time delay while the latter is comparable to the tightest constraint so far., Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review D. A summary video is available at https://youtu.be/Rt7tXN02wpQ

The origins of fast radio bursts (FRBs), astronomical transients with millisecond timescales, remain unknown. One of the difficulties stems from the possibility that observed FRBs could be heterogeneous in origin; as some of them have been observed to repeat, and others have not. Due to limited observing periods and telescope sensitivities, some bursts may be misclassified as non-repeaters. Therefore, it is important to clearly distinguish FRBs into repeaters and non-repeaters, to better understand their origins. In this work, we classify repeaters and non-repeaters using unsupervised machine learning, without relying on expensive monitoring observations. We present a repeating FRB recognition method based on the Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP). The main goals of this work are to: (i) show that the unsupervised UMAP can classify repeating FRB population without any prior knowledge about their repetition, (ii) evaluate the assumption that non-repeating FRBs are contaminated by repeating FRBs, and (iii) recognise the FRB repeater candidates without monitoring observations and release a corresponding catalogue. We apply our method to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) database. We found that the unsupervised UMAP classification provides a repeating FRB completeness of 95 per cent and identifies 188 FRB repeater source candidates from 474 non-repeater sources. This work paves the way to a new classification of repeaters and non-repeaters based on a single epoch observation of FRBs., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. For summary video, please see https://youtu.be/fWfvfFPDhcQ

How does the environment affect active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity? We investigated this question in an extinction-free way, by selecting 1120 infrared galaxies in the $AKARI$ North Ecliptic Pole Wide field at redshift $z$ $\leq$ 1.2. A unique feature of the $AKARI$ satellite is its continuous 9-band infrared (IR) filter coverage, providing us with an unprecedentedly large sample of IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies. By taking advantage of this, for the first time, we explored the AGN activity derived from SED modelling as a function of redshift, luminosity, and environment. We quantified AGN activity in two ways: AGN contribution fraction (ratio of AGN luminosity to the total IR luminosity), and AGN number fraction (ratio of number of AGNs to the total galaxy sample). We found that galaxy environment (normalised local density) does not greatly affect either definitions of AGN activity of our IRG/LIRG samples (log ${\rm L}_{\rm TIR}$ $\leq$ 12). However, we found a different behavior for ULIRGs (log ${\rm L}_{\rm TIR}$ $>$ 12). At our highest redshift bin (0.7 $\lesssim$ z $\lesssim$ 1.2), AGN activity increases with denser environments, but at the intermediate redshift bin (0.3 $\lesssim$ z $\lesssim$ 0.7), the opposite is observed. These results may hint at a different physical mechanism for ULIRGs. The trends are not statistically significant (p $\geq$ 0.060 at the intermediate redshift bin, and p $\geq$ 0.139 at the highest redshift bin). Possible different behavior of ULIRGs is a key direction to explore further with future space missions (e.g., $JWST$, $Euclid$, $SPHEREx$)., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A summary video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y_a0kJkLI4&ab_channel=NthuCosmology

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been conducted for nearly 60 years. A Dyson Sphere, a spherical structure that surrounds a star and transports its radiative energy outward as an energy source for an advanced civilisation, is one of the main targets of SETI. In this study, we discuss whether building a Dyson Sphere around a black hole is effective. We consider six energy sources: (i) the cosmic microwave background, (ii) the Hawking radiation, (iii) an accretion disk, (iv) Bondi accretion, (v) a corona, and (vi) relativistic jets. To develop future civilisations (for example, a Type II civilisation), $4\times10^{26}\,{\rm W}$($1\,{\rm L_{\odot}}$) is expected to be needed. Among (iii) to (vi), the largest luminosity can be collected from an accretion disk, reaching $10^{5}\,{\rm L_{\odot}}$, enough to maintain a Type II civilisation. Moreover, if a Dyson Sphere collects not only the electromagnetic radiation but also other types of energy (e.g., kinetic energy) from the jets, the total collected energy would be approximately 5 times larger. Considering the emission from a Dyson Sphere, our results show that the Dyson Sphere around a stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way ($10\,\rm kpc$ away from us) is detectable in the ultraviolet$(\rm 10-400\,{\rm nm)}$, optical$(\rm 400-760\,{\rm nm)}$, near-infrared($\rm 760\,{\rm nm}-5\,{\rm \mu m}$), and mid-infrared($\rm 5-40\,{\rm \mu m}$) wavelengths via the waste heat radiation using current telescopes such as Galaxy Evolution Explorer Ultraviolet Sky Surveys. Performing model fitting to observed spectral energy distributions and measuring the variability of radial velocity may help us to identify these possible artificial structures., Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in MNRAS

As recent advancements in physics and astronomy rapidly rewrite textbooks, there is a growing need in keeping abreast of the latest knowledge in these fields. Reading preprints is one of the effective ways to do this. By having journal clubs where people can read and discuss journals together, the benefits of reading journals become more prevalent. We present an investigative study of understanding the factors that affect the success of preprint journal clubs in astronomy, more commonly known as Astro-ph/Astro-Coffee (hereafter called AC). A survey was disseminated to understand how institutions from different countries implement AC. We interviewed 9 survey respondents and from their responses we identified four important factors that make AC successful: commitment (how the organizer and attendees participate in AC), environment (how conducive and comfortable AC is conducted), content (the discussed topics in AC and how they are presented), and objective (the main goal/s of conducting AC). We also present the format of our AC, an elective class which was evaluated during the Spring Semester 2020 (March 2020 - June 2020). Our evaluation with the attendees showed that enrollees (those who are enrolled and are required to present papers regularly) tend to be more committed in attending compared to audiences (those who are not enrolled and are not required to present papers regularly). In addition, participants tend to find papers outside their research field harder to read. Finally, we showed an improvement in the weekly number of papers read after attending AC of those who present papers regularly, and a high satisfaction rating of our AC. We summarize the areas of improvement in our AC implementation, and we encourage other institutions to evaluate their own AC in accordance with the four aforementioned factors to assess the effectiveness of their AC in reaching their goals., Comment: Accepted for publication in PRPER. A summary video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzy2I_xA_dU&ab_channel=NthuCosmology

Revealing the cosmic reionisation history is at the frontier of extragalactic astronomy. The power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation can be used to constrain the reionisation history. Here we propose a CMB-independent method using fast radio bursts (FRBs) to directly measure the ionisation fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM) as a function of redshift. FRBs are new astronomical transients with millisecond timescales. Their dispersion measure (DM$_{\rm IGM}$) is an indicator of the amount of ionised material in the IGM. Since the differential of DM$_{\rm IGM}$ against redshift is proportional to the ionisation fraction, our method allows us to directly measure the reionisation history without any assumption on its functional shape. As a proof of concept, we constructed mock non-repeating FRB sources to be detected with the Square Kilometre Array, assuming three different reionisation histories with the same optical depth of Thomson scattering. We considered three cases of redshift measurements: (A) spectroscopic redshift for all mock data, (B) spectroscopic redshift for 10% of mock data, and (C) redshift estimated from an empirical relation of FRBs between their time-integrated luminosity and rest-frame intrinsic duration. In all cases, the reionisation histories are consistently reconstructed from the mock FRB data using our method. Our results demonstrate the capability of future FRBs in constraining the reionisation history., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A summary video is available at https://youtu.be/uis6h_cBnpE

To understand the cosmic accretion history of supermassive black holes, separating the radiation from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star-forming galaxies (SFGs) is critical. However, a reliable solution on photometrically recognising AGNs still remains unsolved. In this work, we present a novel AGN recognition method based on Deep Neural Network (Neural Net; NN). The main goals of this work are (i) to test if the AGN recognition problem in the North Ecliptic Pole Wide (NEPW) field could be solved by NN; (ii) to shows that NN exhibits an improvement in the performance compared with the traditional, standard spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting method in our testing samples; and (iii) to publicly release a reliable AGN/SFG catalogue to the astronomical community using the best available NEPW data, and propose a better method that helps future researchers plan an advanced NEPW database. Finally, according to our experimental result, the NN recognition accuracy is around 80.29% - 85.15%, with AGN completeness around 85.42% - 88.53% and SFG completeness around 81.17% - 85.09%., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures

We present measurements of the size of the quasar proximity zone ($R_p$) for eleven low-luminosity ($-26.16\leq M_{1450}\leq-22.83$) quasars at $z\sim6$, discovered by the Subaru High-$z$ Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars project (SHELLQs). Our faint quasar sample expands the $R_p$ measurement down to $M_{1450}=-22.83$ mag, where more common quasar populations dominate at the epoch. We restrict the sample to quasars whose systemic redshifts have been precisely measured by [CII] 158 $\mu$m or MgII $\lambda$2798 emission lines. We also update the $R_p$ measurements for 26 luminous quasars presented in Eilers et al. (2017)(arXiv:1703.02539) by using the latest systemic redshift results. The luminosity dependence on $R_p$ is found to be consistent with the theoretical prediction assuming highly ionized intergalactic medium. We find a shallow redshift evolution of the luminosity-corrected $R_p$, $R_{p,{\rm corr}}^{-25}$ ($R_{p, \rm corr}^{-25}\propto(1+z)^{-3.79\pm1.72}$) over $5.8\lesssim z \lesssim6.6$. This trend is steeper than that of Eilers et al. (2017) but significantly shallower than those of the earlier studies. Our results suggest that $R_{p,\rm corr}$ is insensitive to the neutral fraction of the universe at $z\sim6$. Four quasars show exceptionally small $R_{p,\rm corr}^{-25}$ ($ \lesssim0.90$ proper Mpc), which could be the result of their young age ($<10^4$ yr) in the reionization epoch, though statistics is still small., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond transients of unknown origin(s) occurring at cosmological distances. Here we, for the first time, show time-integrated-luminosity functions and volumetric occurrence rates of non-repeating and repeating FRBs against redshift. The time-integrated-luminosity functions of non-repeating FRBs do not show any significant redshift evolution. The volumetric occurrence rates are almost constant during the past $\sim$10 Gyr. The nearly-constant rate is consistent with a flat trend of cosmic stellar-mass density traced by old stellar populations. Our findings indicate that the occurrence rate of non-repeating FRBs follows the stellar-mass evolution of long-living objects with $\sim$Gyr time scales, favouring e.g. white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, as likely progenitors of non-repeating FRBs. In contrast, the occurrence rates of repeating FRBs may increase towards higher redshifts in a similar way to the cosmic star formation-rate density or black hole accretion-rate density if the slope of their luminosity function does not evolve with redshift. Short-living objects with $\lesssim$ Myr time scales associated with young stellar populations (or their remnants, e.g., supernova remnants, young pulsars, and magnetars) or active galactic nuclei might be favoured as progenitor candidates of repeating FRBs., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A video summary is available at https://youtu.be/8CpiJepkBeo The catalogue used in this work is available at http://www.phys.nthu.edu.tw/~tetsuya/

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious extragalactic radio signals. Revealing their origin is one of the central foci in modern astronomy. Previous studies suggest that occurrence rates of non-repeating and repeating FRBs could be controlled by the cosmic stellar-mass density (CSMD) and star formation-rate density (CSFRD), respectively. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is one of the best future instruments to address this subject due to its high sensitivity and high-angular resolution. Here, we predict the number of FRBs to be detected with the SKA. In contrast to previous predictions, we estimate the detections of non-repeating and repeating FRBs separately, based on latest observational constraints on their physical properties including the spectral indices, FRB luminosity functions, and their redshift evolutions. We consider two cases of redshift evolution of FRB luminosity functions following either the CSMD or CSFRD. At $z\gtrsim2$, $z\gtrsim6$ and $z\gtrsim10$, non-repeating FRBs will be detected with the SKA at a rate of $\sim10^{4}$, $\sim10^{2}$, and $\sim10$ (sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$), respectively, if their luminosity function follows the CSMD evolution. At $z\gtrsim1$, $z\gtrsim2$, and $z\gtrsim4$, sources of repeating FRBs will be detected at a rate of $\sim10^{3}$, $\sim10^{2}$, and $\lesssim10$ (sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$), respectively, assuming that the redshift evolution of their luminosity function is scaled with the CSFRD. These numbers could change by about one order of magnitude depending on the assumptions on the CSMD and CSFRD. In all cases, abundant FRBs will be detected by the SKA, which will further constrain the luminosity functions and number density evolutions., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A summary is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-30UghzCO8

Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) can be a promising tracer of cosmic star-formation rate history (CSFRH). In order to reveal the CSFRH using GRBs, it is important to understand whether they are biased tracers or not. For this purpose, it is crucial to understand properties of GRB host galaxies, in comparison to field galaxies. In this work, we report ALMA far-infrared (FIR) observations of six $z\sim2$ IR-bright GRB host galaxies, which are selected for the brightness in IR. Among them, four host galaxies are detected for the first time in the rest-frame FIR. In addition to the ALMA data, we collected multi-wavelength data from previous studies for the six GRB host galaxies. Spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting analyses were performed with \texttt{CIGALE} to investigate physical properties of the host galaxies, and to test whether active galactic nucleus (AGN) and radio components are required or not. Our results indicate that the best-fit templates of five GRB host galaxies do not require an AGN component, suggesting the absence of AGNs. One GRB host galaxy, 080207, shows a very small AGN contribution. While derived stellar masses of the three host galaxies are mostly consistent with those in previous studies, interestingly the value of star-formation rates (SFRs) of all six GRB hosts are inconsistent with previous studies. Our results indicate the importance of rest-frame FIR observations to correctly estimate SFRs by covering thermal emission from cold dust heated by star formation., Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in MNRAS

Observationally, it has been reported that the densest stellar system in the Universe does not exceed a maximum stellar surface density, $\Sigma^{\max}_{*}$ = $3\times10^5$M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-2}$, throughout a wide physical scale ranging from star cluster to galaxy. This suggests there exists a fundamental physics which regulates the star formation and stellar density. However, factors that determine this maximum limit are not clear. In this study, we show that $\Sigma^{\max}_{*}$ of galaxies is not a constant as previous work reported, but actually depends on the stellar mass. We select galaxy sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12 at $z=0.01-0.5$. In contrast to a constant maximum predicted by theoretical models, $\Sigma^{\max}_{*}$ strongly depends on stellar mass especially for less massive galaxies with $\sim10^{10}$M$_{\odot}$. We also found that a majority of high-$\Sigma_{*}$ galaxies show red colours and low star-formation rates. These galaxies probably reach the $\Sigma^{\max}_{*}$ as a consequence of the galaxy evolution from blue star forming to red quiescent by quenching star formation. One possible explanation of the stellar-mass dependency of $\Sigma^{\max}_{*}$ is a mass dependent efficiency of stellar feedback. The stellar feedback could be relatively more efficient in a shallower gravitational potential, which terminates star formation quickly before the stellar system reaches a high stellar density., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Summary of the paper can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OVnOmT25O0

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious radio bursts with a time scale of approximately milliseconds. Two populations of FRB, namely repeating and non-repeating FRBs, are observationally identified. However, the differences between these two and their origins are still cloaked in mystery. Here we show the time-integrated luminosity-duration ($L_{\nu}$-$w_{\rm int,rest}$) relations and luminosity functions (LFs) of repeating and non-repeating FRBs in the FRB Catalogue project. These two populations are obviously separated in the $L_{\nu}$-$w_{\rm int,rest}$ plane with distinct LFs, i.e., repeating FRBs have relatively fainter $L_{\nu}$ and longer $w_{\rm int,rest}$ with a much lower LF. In contrast with non-repeating FRBs, repeating FRBs do not show any clear correlation between $L_{\nu}$ and $w_{\rm int,rest}$. These results suggest essentially different physical origins of the two. The faint ends of the LFs of repeating and non-repeating FRBs are higher than volumetric occurrence rates of neutron-star mergers and accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of white dwarfs, and are consistent with those of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), type Ia supernovae, magnetars, and white-dwarf mergers. This indicates two possibilities: either (i) faint non-repeating FRBs originate in neutron-star mergers or AIC and are actually repeating during the lifetime of the progenitor, or (ii) faint non-repeating FRBs originate in any of SGRs, type Ia supernovae, magnetars, and white-dwarf mergers. The bright ends of LFs of repeating and non-repeating FRBs are lower than any candidates of progenitors, suggesting that bright FRBs are produced from a very small fraction of the progenitors regardless of the repetition. Otherwise, they might originate in unknown progenitors., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. For a summary of the paper, please see below. https://youtu.be/Q0wK6gQzApc

Investigating the Gunn-Peterson trough of high redshift quasars (QSOs) is a powerful way to reveal the cosmic reionization. As one of such attempts, we perform a series of analyses to examine the absorption lines observed with one of the highest redshift QSOs, PSO J006.1240+39.2219, which we previously discovered at z = 6.62. Using the Subaru telescope, we obtained medium-resolution spectrum with a total exposure time of 7.5 hours. We calculate the Ly$\alpha$ transmission in different redshift bins to determine the near zone radius and the optical depth at 5.6$<$z$<$6.5. We find a sudden change in the Ly$\alpha$ transmission at 5.75$<$z$<$5.86, which is consistent with the result from the literature. The near zone radius of the QSO is 5.79$\pm$0.09 $p$Mpc, within the scatter of the near zone radii of other QSOs measured in previous studies. We also analyze the dark gap distribution to probe the neutral hydrogen fractions beyond the saturation limit of the Gunn-Peterson trough. We extend the measurement of the dark gaps to 5.7$<$z$<$6.3. We find that the gap widths increase with increasing redshifts, suggesting more neutral Universe at higher redshifts. However, these measurements strongly depend on the continuum modeling. As a continuum model-free attempt, we also perform the dark-pixel counting analysis, to find the upper limit of $\langle x_{\rm H I} \rangle \sim$0.6 (0.8) at $z<$5.8 ($z>$5.8). All three analyses based on this QSO show increasingly neutral hydrogen towards higher redshifts, adding precious measurements up to z$\sim$6.5., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, Accepted for Publication in ApJ

We present the analysis of a new near-infrared (NIR) spectrum of a recently discovered $z=6.621$ quasar PSO J006+39 in an attempt to explore the early growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). This NIR (rest-frame ultraviolet, UV) spectrum shows blue continuum slope and rich metal emission lines in addition to Ly$\alpha$ line. We utilize the MgII line width and the rest frame luminosity $L_\text{3000\AA}$ to find the mass of SMBH ($M_\text{BH}$) to be $\sim 10^8 M_\odot$, making this one of the lowest mass quasars at high redshift. The power-law slope index ($\alpha_\lambda$) of the continuum emission is $-2.94\pm0.03$, significantly bluer than the slope of $\alpha_\lambda=-7/3$ predicted from standard thin disc models. We fit the spectral energy distribution (SED) using a model which can fit local SMBHs, which includes warm and hot Comptonisation powered by the accretion flow as well as an outer standard disc. The result shows that the very blue slope is probably produced by a small radial ($\sim230$ gravitational radius, $R_\text{g}$) extent of the standard accretion disc. All plausible SED models require that the source is super-Eddington ($L_\text{bol}/L_\text{Edd} \gtrsim 9$), so the apparently small disc may simply be the inner funnel of a puffed up flow, and clearly the SMBH in this quasar is in a rapid growth phase. We also utilize the rest-frame UV emission lines to probe the chemical abundance in the broad line region (BLR) of this quasar. We find that this quasar has super solar metallicity through photoionization model calculations., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 12 pages including 12 figures and 4 tables