arXiv subjects

A. Amvrosiadis

Publications and source records attributed to A. Amvrosiadis.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Detailed lens modeling and kinematics of the submillimeter galaxy G09v1.97. An analysis of CO, H2O, H2O+, and dust continuum emission

The formation mechanisms of intensely starbursting galaxies at high redshift remain unknown. One possible mechanism for triggering these starbursts is mergers and interactions, but detecting these at high redshift remains a challenge. Observations of high-redshift gravitationally lensed galaxies enable studies of the interstellar medium and environment of these extreme starbursts in detail. We used high angular resolution observations of dust continuum, CO(6-5), H2O(211-202), and H2O+(202-111) emission to constrain the ongoing processes in the z = 3.63 gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxy H-ATLAS J083051.0+013224 (G09v1.97). We used PyAutoLens to create a de-magnified source plane CO(6-5) emission line cube and performed kinematic modeling using 3DBarolo. Additionally, we investigated the properties of the continuum and molecular line emission in the source plane. We find that the regions of CO(6-5) and H2O(211-202) emission match closely in the source plane but that the dust continuum emission is more compact. We find that our lens modeling results do not require more than one source, contrary to what has been found in previous studies. Instead, we find that G09v1.97 resembles a rotating disk with Vmax/sigma = 2.8 +/- 0.4 with evidence for residual emission indicative of non-circular motions such as outflows, tidal tails, or an additional background galaxy. We suggest that the origin of the non-circular motions may be associated with a bi-conical outflow, a tidal tail from an interaction, or indicate the possible presence of an additional galaxy. We calculate the dynamical mass, gas mass, star-formation rate, and depletion time for G09v1.97 and find a high star-formation rate and low gas depletion time. In combination, this suggests that G09v1.97 has recently undergone an interaction, triggering intense star formation, and is in the process of settling into a disk.

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arXiv2025

The dust emissivity index beta in infrared-bright galaxies at 1.5 < z < 4.2

We have measured the dust emissivity index beta for 21 infrared-bright sources (including several gravitationally lensed galaxies) at 1.5 < z < 4.2 using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 101-199 GHz data sampling the Rayleigh-Jeans side of the SED. These data are largely insensitive to temperature variations and therefore should provide robust measurements of beta. We obtain a mean beta of 2.2 with a standard deviation of 0.6 that is at the high end of the range of values that had previously been measured in many galactic and extragalactic sources. We find no systematic variation in beta versus redshift. We also demonstrate with a subset of our sources that these higher beta values have significant implications for modelling dust emission and in particular for calculating dust masses or the wavelength at which dust becomes optically thick.

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arXiv2024

A Novel high-z submm Galaxy Efficient Line Survey in ALMA bands 3 through 8 -- An ANGELS Pilot

We use the Atacama Large sub/Millimetre Array (ALMA) to efficiently observe spectral lines across Bands 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 at high-resolution (0.5" - 0.1") for 16 bright southern Herschel sources at $1.5 < z < 4.2$. With only six and a half hours of observations, we reveal 66 spectral lines in 17 galaxies. These observations detect emission from CO (3-2) to CO(18-17), as well as atomic ([CI](1-0), (2-1), [OI] 145 $μ$m and [NII] 205 $μ$m) lines. Additional molecular lines are seen in emission (${\rm H_2O}$ and ${\rm H_2O^+}$) and absorption (OH$^+$ and CH$^+$). The morphologies based on dust continuum ranges from extended sources to strong lensed galaxies with magnifications between 2 and 30. CO line transitions indicate a diverse set of excitation conditions with a fraction of the sources ($\sim 35$%) showcasing dense, warm gas. The resolved gas to star-formation surface densities vary strongly per source, and suggest that the observed diversity of dusty star-forming galaxies could be a combination of lensed, compact dusty starbursts and extended, potentially-merging galaxies. The predicted gas depletion timescales are consistent with 100 Myr to 1 Gyr, but require efficient fueling from the extended gas reservoirs onto the more central starbursts, in line with the Doppler-shifted absorption lines that indicate inflowing gas for two out of six sources. This pilot paper explores a successful new method of observing spectral lines in large samples of galaxies, supports future studies of larger samples, and finds that the efficiency of this new observational method will be further improved with the planned ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade.

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arXiv2023

The kinematics of massive high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies

We present a new method for modelling the kinematics of galaxies from interferometric observations by performing the optimization of the kinematic model parameters directly in visibility-space instead of the conventional approach of fitting velocity fields produced with the CLEAN algorithm in real-space. We demonstrate our method on ALMA observations of $^{12}$CO (2$-$1), (3$-$2) or (4$-$3) emission lines from an initial sample of 30 massive 850$μ$m-selected dusty star-forming galaxies with far-infrared luminosities $\gtrsim$$\,10^{12}\,$L$_{\odot}$ in the redshift range $z \sim\,$1.2$-$4.7. Using the results from our modelling analysis for the 12 sources with the highest signal-to-noise emission lines and disk-like kinematics, we conclude the following: (i) Our sample prefers a CO-to-$H_2$ conversion factor, of $α_{\rm CO} = 0.92 \pm 0.36$; (ii) These far-infrared luminous galaxies follow a similar Tully$-$Fisher relation between the circularized velocity, $V_{\rm circ}$, and baryonic mass, $M_{\rm b}$, as more typical star-forming samples at high redshift, but extend this relation to much higher masses $-$ showing that these are some of the most massive disk-like galaxies in the Universe; (iii) Finally, we demonstrate support for an evolutionary link between massive high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies and the formation of local early-type galaxies using the both the distributions of the baryonic and kinematic masses of these two populations on the $M_{\rm b}\,-\,σ$ plane and their relative space densities.

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arXiv2023

The COSMOS-Web ring: in-depth characterization of an Einstein ring lensing system at z~2

Aims. We provide an in-depth analysis of the COSMOS-Web ring, an Einstein ring at z=2 that we serendipitously discovered in the COSMOS-Web survey and possibly the most distant lens discovered to date. Methods. We extract the visible and NIR photometry from more than 25 bands and we derive the photometric redshifts and physical properties of both the lens and the source with three different SED fitting codes. Using JWST/NIRCam images, we also produce two lens models to (i) recover the total mass of the lens, (ii) derive the magnification of the system, (iii) reconstruct the morphology of the lensed source, and (iv) measure the slope of the total mass density profile of the lens. Results. The lens is a very massive and quiescent (sSFR < 10^(-13) yr-1) elliptical galaxy at z = 2.02 \pm 0.02 with a total mass Mtot(<thetaE) = (3.66 \pm 0.36) x 10^11 Msun and a stellar mass M* = (1.37 \pm 0.14) x 10^11 Msun. Compared to SHMRs from the literature, we find that the total mass is consistent with the presence of a DM halo of mass Mh = 1.09^(+1.46)_(-0.57) x 10^13 Msun. In addition, the background source is a M* = (1.26 \pm 0.17) x 10^10 Msun star-forming galaxy (SFR=(78 \pm 15) Msun/yr) at z = 5.48 \pm 0.06. Its reconstructed morphology shows two components with different colors. Dust attenuation values from SED fitting and nearby detections in the FIR also suggest it could be partially dust-obscured. Conclusions. We find the lens at z=2. Its total, stellar, and DM halo masses are consistent within the Einstein ring, so we do not need any unexpected changes in our description of the lens (e.g. change its IMF or include a non-negligible gas contribution). The most likely solution for the lensed source is at z = 5.5. Its reconstructed morphology is complex and highly wavelength dependent, possibly because it is a merger or a main sequence galaxy with a heterogeneous dust distribution.

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arXiv2023

Bright Extragalactic ALMA Redshift Survey (BEARS) III: Detailed study of emission lines from 71 Herschel targets

We analyse the molecular and atomic emission lines of 71 bright Herschel-selected galaxies between redshifts 1.4 to 4.6 detected by the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array. These lines include a total of 156 CO, [C I], and H2O emission lines. For 46 galaxies, we detect two transitions of CO lines, and for these galaxies we find gas properties similar to those of other dusty star-forming galaxy (DSFG) samples. A comparison to photo-dissociation models suggests that most of Herschel-selected galaxies have similar interstellar medium conditions as local infrared-luminous galaxies and high-redshift DSFGs, although with denser gas and more intense far-ultraviolet radiation fields than normal star-forming galaxies. The line luminosities agree with the luminosity scaling relations across five orders of magnitude, although the star-formation and gas surface density distributions (i.e., Schmidt-Kennicutt relation) suggest a different star-formation phase in our galaxies (and other DSFGs) compared to local and low-redshift gas-rich, normal star-forming systems. The gas-to-dust ratios of these galaxies are similar to Milky Way values, with no apparent redshift evolution. Four of 46 sources appear to have CO line ratios in excess of the expected maximum (thermalized) profile, suggesting a rare phase in the evolution of DSFGs. Finally, we create a deep stacked spectrum over a wide rest-frame frequency (220-890 GHz) that reveals faint transitions from HCN and CH, in line with previous stacking experiments.

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arXiv2023

The Bright Extragalactic ALMA Redshift Survey (BEARS) II: Millimetre photometry of gravitational lens candidates

We present 101 and 151 GHz ALMA continuum images for 85 fields selected from Herschel observations that have 500 micron flux densities >80 mJy and 250-500 micron colours consistent with z > 2, most of which are expected to be gravitationally lensed or hyperluminous infrared galaxies. Approximately half of the Herschel 500 micron sources were resolved into multiple ALMA sources, but 11 of the 15 brightest 500 micron Herschel sources correspond to individual ALMA sources. For the 37 fields containing either a single source with a spectroscopic redshift or two sources with the same spectroscopic redshift, we examined the colour temperatures and dust emissivity indices. The colour temperatures only vary weakly with redshift and are statistically consistent with no redshift-dependent temperature variations, which generally corresponds to results from other samples selected in far-infrared, submillimetre, or millimetre bands but not to results from samples selected in optical or near-infrared bands. The dust emissivity indices, with very few exceptions, are largely consistent with a value of 2. We also compared spectroscopic redshifts to photometric redshifts based on spectral energy distribution templates designed for infrared-bright high-redshift galaxies. While the templates systematically underestimate the redshifts by ~15%, the inclusion of ALMA data decreases the scatter in the predicted redshifts by a factor of ~2, illustrating the potential usefulness of these millimetre data for estimating photometric redshifts.

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arXiv2022

The Bright Extragalactic ALMA Redshift Survey (BEARS) I: redshifts of bright gravitationally-lensed galaxies from the Herschel ATLAS

We present spectroscopic measurements for 71 galaxies associated with 62 of the brightest high-redshift submillimeter sources from the Southern fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS), while targeting 85 sources which resolved into 142. We have obtained robust redshift measurements for all sources using the 12-m Array and an efficient tuning of ALMA to optimise its use as a redshift hunter, with 73 per cent of the sources having a robust redshift identification. Nine of these redshift identifications also rely on observations from the Atacama Compact Array. The spectroscopic redshifts span a range $1.41<z<4.53$ with a mean value of 2.75, and the CO emission line full-width at half-maxima range between $\rm 110\,km\,s^{-1} < FWHM < 1290\,km\,s^{-1}$ with a mean value of $\sim$ 500kms$^{-1}$, in line with other high-$z$ samples. The derived CO(1-0) luminosity is significantly elevated relative to line-width to CO(1-0) luminosity scaling relation, which is suggestive of lensing magnification across our sources. In fact, the distribution of magnification factors inferred from the CO equivalent widths is consistent with expectations from galaxy-galaxy lensing models, though there is a hint of an excess at large magnifications that may be attributable to the additional lensing optical depth from galaxy groups or clusters.

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arXiv2021

A High-Resolution Investigation of the Multi-Phase ISM in a Galaxy during the First Two Billion Years

We have carried out the first spatially-resolved investigation of the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) at high redshift, using the z=4.24 strongly-lensed sub-millimetre galaxy H-ATLASJ142413.9+022303 (ID141). We present high-resolution (down to ~350 pc) ALMA observations in dust continuum emission and in the CO(7-6), H_2O (2_{1,1} - 2_{0,2}), CI(1-0) and CI(2-1) lines, the latter two allowing us to spatially resolve the cool phase of the ISM for the first time. Our modelling of the kinematics reveals that the system appears to be dominated by a rotationally-supported gas disk with evidence of a nearby perturber. We find that the CI(1-0) line has a very different distribution to the other lines, showing the existence of a reservoir of cool gas that might have been missed in studies of other galaxies. We have estimated the mass of the ISM using four different tracers, always obtaining an estimate in the range (3.2-3.8) x 10^{11} M_sol, significantly higher than our dynamical mass estimate of (0.8-1.3) x 10^{11} M_sol. We suggest that this conflict and other similar conflicts reported in the literature is because the gas-to-tracer ratios are ~4 times lower than the Galactic values used to calibrate the ISM in high-redshift galaxies. We demonstrate that this could result from a top-heavy initial mass function and strong chemical evolution. Using a variety of quantitative indicators, we show that, extreme though it is at z=4.24, ID141 will likely join the population of quiescent galaxies that appears in the Universe at z~3.

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arXiv2021

An ALMA survey of the SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy SurveyUKIDSS/UDS Field: Halo Masses for Submillimetre Galaxies

We present an analysis of the spatial clustering of a large sample of high-resolution, interferometically identified, submillimetre galaxies (SMGs). We measure the projected cross-correlation function of ~350 SMGs in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep-Survey Field across a redshift range of $z=1.5-3$ utilising a method that incorporates the uncertainties in the redshift measurements for both the SMGs and cross-correlated galaxies through sampling their full probability distribution functions. By measuring the absolute linear bias of the SMGs we derive halo masses of $\log_{10}(M_{\rm halo}[{h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}}])\sim12.8$ with no evidence of evolution in the halo masses with redshift, contrary to some previous work. From considering models of halo mass growth rates we predict that the SMGs will reside in haloes of mass $\log_{10}(M_{\rm halo}[{h^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot}}])\sim13.2$ at $z=0$, consistent with the expectation that the majority of $z=1.5-3$ SMGs will evolve into present-day spheroidal galaxies. Finally, comparing to models of stellar-to-halo mass ratios, we show that SMGs may correspond to systems that are maximally efficient at converting their gas reservoirs into stars. We compare them to a simple model for gas cooling in halos that suggests that the unique properties of the SMG population, including their high levels of star-formation and their redshift distribution, are a result of the SMGs being the most massive galaxies that are still able to accrete cool gas from their surrounding intragalactic medium.

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arXiv2018

Herschel-ATLAS : The spatial clustering of low and high redshift submillimetre galaxies

We present measurements of the angular correlation function of sub-millimeter (sub-mm) galaxies (SMGs) identified in four out of the five fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) - GAMA-9h, GAMA-12h, GAMA-15h and NGP - with flux densities $S_{250μm}$>30 mJy at 250 μm. We show that galaxies selected at this wavelength trace the underlying matter distribution differently at low and high redshifts. We study the evolution of the clustering finding that at low redshifts sub-mm galaxies exhibit clustering strengths of $r_0$ $\sim$ 2 - 3 $h^{-1}$ Mpc, below z < 0.3. At high redshifts, on the other hand, we find that sub-mm galaxies are more strongly clustered with correlation lengths $r_0$ = 8.1 $\pm$ 0.5, 8.8 $\pm$ 0.8 and 13.9 $\pm$ 3.9 $h^{-1}$Mpc at z = 1 - 2, 2 - 3 and 3 - 5, respectively. We show that sub-mm galaxies across the redshift range 1 < z < 5, typically reside in dark-matter halos of mass of the order of ~ $10^{12.5}$ - $10^{13.0}$ $h^{-1} \, M_{\odot}$ and are consistent with being the progenitors of local massive elliptical galaxies that we see in the local Universe.

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arXiv2018

Modelling high resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed highly star forming galaxies detected by Herschel

We have modelled high resolution ALMA imaging of six strong gravitationally lensed galaxies detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Our modelling recovers mass properties of the lensing galaxies and, by determining magnification factors, intrinsic properties of the lensed sub-millimetre sources. We find that the lensed galaxies all have high ratios of star formation rate to dust mass, consistent with or higher than the mean ratio for high redshift sub-millimetre galaxies and low redshift ultra-luminous infra-red galaxies. Source reconstruction reveals that most galaxies exhibit disturbed morphologies. Both the cleaned image plane data and the directly observed interferometric visibilities have been modelled, enabling comparison of both approaches. In the majority of cases, the recovered lens models are consistent between methods, all six having mass density profiles that are close to isothermal. However, one system with poor signal to noise shows mildly significant differences.

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arXiv2018

ALMA observations of lensed Herschel sources : Testing the dark-matter halo paradigm

With the advent of wide-area submillimeter surveys, a large number of high-redshift gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) has been revealed. Due to the simplicity of the selection criteria for candidate lensed sources in such surveys, identified as those with $S_{500μm} > 100$ mJy, uncertainties associated with the modelling of the selection function are expunged. The combination of these attributes makes submillimeter surveys ideal for the study of strong lens statistics. We carried out a pilot study of the lensing statistics of submillimetre-selected sources by making observations with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) of a sample of strongly-lensed sources selected from surveys carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. We attempted to reproduce the distribution of image separations for the lensed sources using a halo mass function taken from a numerical simulation which contains both dark matter and baryons. We used three different density distributions, one based on analytical fits to the halos formed in the EAGLE simulation and two density distributions (Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) and SISSA) that have been used before in lensing studies. We found that we could reproduce the observed distribution with all three density distributions, as long as we imposed an upper mass transition of $\sim$$10^{13} M_{\odot}$ for the SIS and SISSA models, above which we assumed that the density distribution could be represented by an NFW profile. We show that we would need a sample of $\sim$500 lensed sources to distinguish between the density distributions, which is practical given the predicted number of lensed sources in the Herschel surveys.

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arXiv2016

The Herschel-ATLAS: a sample of 500μm-selected lensed galaxies over 600 square degrees

We present a sample of 80 candidate strongly lensed galaxies with flux density above 100mJy at 500μm extracted from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS), over an area of 600 square degrees. Available imaging and spectroscopic data allow us to confirm the strong lensing in 20 cases and to reject it in one case. For other 8 objects the lensing scenario is strongly supported by the presence of two sources along the same line of sight with distinct photometric redshifts. The remaining objects await more follow-up observations to confirm their nature. The lenses and the background sources have median redshifts z_L = 0.6 and z_S = 2.5, respectively, and are observed out to z_L = 1.2 and z_S = 4.2. We measure the number counts of candidate lensed galaxies at 500μm and compare them with theoretical predictions, finding a good agreement for a maximum magnification of the background sources in the range 10-20. These values are consistent with the magnification factors derived from the lens modelling of individual systems. The catalogue presented here provides sub- mm bright targets for follow-up observations aimed at exploiting gravitational lensing to study with un-precedented details the morphological and dynamical properties of dusty star forming regions in z >~ 1.5 galaxies.

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