Search

We present mid-infrared (IR) galaxy number counts based on the Early Release Observations obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at 7.7-, 10-, and 15-μm (F770W, F1000W, and F1500W, respectively) bands of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Due to the superior sensitivity of JWST, the 80-per cent completeness limits reach 0.32, 0.79, and 2.0 μJy in F770W, F1000W, and F1500W filters, respectively, i.e. ∼100 times deeper than previous space IR telescopes such as Spitzer or AKARI. The number counts reach much deeper than the broad bump around 0.05∼0.5 mJy due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emissions. An extrapolation towards fainter flux from the evolutionary models in the literature agrees amazingly well with the new data, where the extrapolated faint-end of IR luminosity functions combined with the cosmic star-formation history to higher redshifts can reproduce the deeper number counts by JWST. Our understanding of the faint IR sources has been confirmed by the observed data due to the superb sensitivity of JWST.

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 active galactic nuclei) 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 ≥ 24.75 mag) Ly α emitters (LAEs) around bright (AB magnitude < 24.75 mag) LAEs even when the radius goes up to 10 pMpc for z ≃ 5.7 LAEs. A similar trend is found for z ≃ 6.6 LAEs but only for faint LAEs within 1 pMpc radius from the bright LAEs. We use a large sample of 1077 (962) LAEs at z ≃ 5.7 (z ≃ 6.6) selected in total areas of 14 (21) deg2 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 ≥ 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 ∼ 6 in the Universe.

We study the spatially resolved stellar populations of 444 galaxies at $0.3, Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Some examples and tutorials of spatially resolved SED analysis will be available at https://github.com/aabdurrouf/JWST-HST_resolvedSEDfits

Galaxies have formed from the repeated mergers of small star-forming clumps over cosmic time, with some small galaxies left over even today, such as the Magellanic clouds. JWST has now discovered two such small galaxies within the first 430 billion years, that are seen close to the very start of this process. MACS0647--JD is a triply-lensed $z \sim 11$ galaxy originally discovered with the \emph{Hubble Space Telescope}. Here we report new JWST imaging, which clearly resolves MACS0647--JD as having two components that are either merging galaxies or stellar complexes within a single galaxy. The brighter larger component ``A'' is intrinsically very blue ($\beta \sim -2.6$), likely due to very recent star formation and no dust, and is spatially extended with an effective radius $\sim70\,{\rm pc}$. The smaller component ``B'' appears redder ($\beta \sim -2$), likely because it is older (100--200\,Myr) with mild dust extinction ($A_V \sim 0.1$\,mag), and a smaller radius $\sim20\,{\rm pc}$. We identify galaxies with similar colors in a high-redshift simulation, finding their star formation histories to be out of phase. JWST NIRSpec observations planned for January 2023 will deliver a spectroscopic redshift and a more detailed study of the physical properties of MACS0647--JD.

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., $JWST$, $Euclid$, $SPHEREx$)., 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

A correlation between the intrinsic energy and the burst duration of non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) has been reported. If it exists, the correlation can be used to estimate intrinsic energy from the duration, and thus can provide us with a new distance measure for cosmology. However, the correlation suffered from small number statistics (68 FRBs) and was not free from contamination by latent repeating populations, which might not have such a correlation. How to separate/exclude the repeating bursts from the mixture of all different types of FRBs is essential to see this property. Using a much larger sample from the new FRB catalogue (containing 536 FRBs) recently released by the CHIME/FRB project, combined with a new classification method developed based on unsupervised machine learning, we carried out further scrutiny of the relation. We found that there is a weak correlation between the intrinsic energy and duration for non-repeating FRBs at z < 0.3 with Kendall's tau correlation coefficient of 0.239 and significance of 0.001 (statistically significant), whose slope looks similar to that of gamma-ray bursts. This correlation becomes weaker and insignificant at higher redshifts (z > 0.3), possibly due to the lack of the faint FRBs at high-z and/or the redshift evolution of the correlation. The scattering time in the CHIME/FRB catalogue shows an intriguing trend: it varies along the line obtained from linear fit on the energy versus duration plane between these two parameters. A possible cosmological application of the relation must wait for faint FRBs at high-z., 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

In order to understand the interaction between the central black hole and the whole galaxy or their co-evolution history along with cosmic time, a complete census of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is crucial. However, AGNs are often missed in optical, UV and soft X-ray observations since they could be obscured by gas and dust. A mid-infrared (mid-IR) survey supported by multiwavelength data is one of the best ways to find obscured AGN activities because it suffers less from extinction. Previous large IR photometric surveys, e.g., $WISE$ and $Spitzer$, have gaps between the mid-IR filters. Therefore, star forming galaxy (SFG)-AGN diagnostics in the mid-IR were limited. The $AKARI$ satellite has a unique continuous 9-band filter coverage in the near to mid-IR wavelengths. In this work, we take advantage of the state-of-the-art spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling software, CIGALE, to find AGNs in mid-IR. We found 126 AGNs in the NEP-Wide field with this method. We also investigate the energy released from the AGN as a fraction of the total IR luminosity of a galaxy. We found that the AGN contribution is larger at higher redshifts for a given IR luminosity. With the upcoming deep IR surveys, e.g., $JWST$, we expect to find more AGNs with our method., 14 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. For associated video, please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B01jL0Bol9Q&feature=emb_logo

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

Star cluster formation in the early universe and their contribution to reionization remains to date largely unconstrained. Here we present JWST/NIRCam imaging of the most highly magnified galaxy known at z ~ 6, the Sunrise arc. We identify six young massive star clusters (YMCs) with measured radii spanning ~ 20 pc down to ~ 1 pc (corrected for lensing magnification), estimated stellar masses of ~ $10^{(6-7)}$ Msun, and with ages 1-30 Myr based on SED fitting to photometry measured in 8 filters extending to rest-frame 7000A. The resulting stellar mass surface densities are higher than 1000 Msun pc$^{-2}$ (up to a few $10^5$ Msun pc$^{-2}$) and their inferred dynamical ages qualify the majority of these systems as gravitationally-bound stellar clusters. The star cluster ages map the progression of star formation along the arc, with to evolved systems (>~ 10 Myr old) followed by very young clusters. The youngest stellar clusters (< 5 Myr) show evidence of prominent Hbeta + [OIII]4959,5007 emission, based on photometry, with equivalent widths larger than 1000 A rest-frame, and are hosted in a 200 pc sized star-forming complex. Such a region dominates the ionizing photon production, with a high efficiency log($ξ_{ion}$ [Hz erg$^{-1}$]) ~ 25.7. A significant fraction of the recently formed stellar mass of the galaxy (> 10-30 %) occurred in these YMCs. We speculate that such sources of ionizing radiation boost the ionizing photon production efficiency which eventually carve ionized channels that might favor the escape of Lyman continuum radiation. The survival of some of the clusters would make them the progenitors of massive and relatively metal-poor globular clusters in the local Universe., 18 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. ApJ, Accepted

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