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Caroline Straatman

Publications and source records attributed to Caroline Straatman.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

ZFIRE: Similar Stellar Growth in H$α$-emitting Cluster and Field Galaxies at z~2

We compare galaxy scaling relations as a function of environment at $z\sim2$ with our ZFIRE survey where we have measured H$α$ fluxes for 90 star-forming galaxies selected from a mass-limited [$\log(M_{\star}/M_{\odot})>9$] sample based on ZFOURGE. The cluster galaxies (37) are part of a confirmed system at z=2.095 and the field galaxies (53) are at $1.9 2\times10^{11} L_{\odot}$). Because the LIRGs in our combined sample are $\sim5$ times more massive than the low-IR galaxies, their radii are $\sim70$% larger. To track stellar growth, we separate galaxies into those that lie above, on, and below the H$α$ star-forming main sequence (SFMS) using $Δ$SFR$(M_{\star})=\pm0.2$ dex. Galaxies above the SFMS (starbursts) tend to have higher H$α$ SFR surface densities and younger light-weighted stellar ages compared to galaxies below the SFMS. Our results indicate that starbursts (+SFMS) in the cluster and field at $z\sim2$ are growing their stellar cores. Lastly, we compare to the (SFR-$M_{\star}$) relation from RHAPSODY cluster simulations and find the predicted slope is nominally consistent with the observations. However, the predicted cluster SFRs tend to be too low by a factor of $\sim2$ which seems to be a common problem for simulations across environment.

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Large Molecular Gas Reservoirs in Ancestors of Milky Way-Mass Galaxies 9 Billion Years Ago

The gas accretion and star-formation histories of galaxies like the Milky Way remain an outstanding problem in astrophysics. Observations show that 8 billion years ago, the progenitors to Milky Way-mass galaxies were forming stars 30 times faster than today and predicted to be rich in molecular gas, in contrast with low present-day gas fractions ($<$10%). Here we show detections of molecular gas from the CO(J=3-2) emission (rest-frame 345.8 GHz) in galaxies at redshifts z=1.2-1.3, selected to have the stellar mass and star-formation rate of the progenitors of today's Milky Way-mass galaxies. The CO emission reveals large molecular gas masses, comparable to or exceeding the galaxy stellar masses, and implying most of the baryons are in cold gas, not stars. The galaxies' total luminosities from star formation and CO luminosities yield long gas-consumption timescales. Compared to local spiral galaxies, the star-formation efficiency, estimated from the ratio of total IR luminosity to CO emission,} has remained nearly constant since redshift z=1.2, despite the order of magnitude decrease in gas fraction, consistent with results for other galaxies at this epoch. Therefore the physical processes that determine the rate at which gas cools to form stars in distant galaxies appear to be similar to that in local galaxies.

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ZFIRE: A KECK/MOSFIRE Spectroscopic Survey of Galaxies in Rich Environments at z~2

We present an overview and the first data release of ZFIRE, a spectroscopic redshift survey of star-forming galaxies that utilizes the MOSFIRE instrument on Keck-I to study galaxy properties in rich environments at $1.5<z<2.5$. ZFIRE measures accurate spectroscopic redshifts and basic galaxy properties derived from multiple emission lines. The galaxies are selected from a stellar mass limited sample based on deep near infra-red imaging ($\mathrm{K_{AB}<25}$) and precise photometric redshifts from the ZFOURGE and UKIDSS surveys as well as grism redshifts from 3DHST. Between 2013--2015 ZFIRE has observed the COSMOS and UDS legacy fields over 13 nights and has obtained 211 galaxy redshifts over $1.57<z<2.66$ from a combination of nebular emission lines (such as \Halpha, \NII, \Hbeta, \OII, \OIII, \SII) observed at 1--2\micron. Based on our medium-band NIR photometry, we are able to spectrophotometrically flux calibrate our spectra to \around10\% accuracy. ZFIRE reaches $5σ$ emission line flux limits of \around$\mathrm{3\times10^{-18}~erg/s/cm^2}$ with a resolving power of $R=3500$ and reaches masses down to \around10$^{9}$\msol. We confirm that the primary input survey, ZFOURGE, has produced photometric redshifts for star-forming galaxies (including highly attenuated ones) accurate to $Δz/(1+z\mathrm{_{spec})}=0.015$ with $0.7\%$ outliers. We measure a slight redshift bias of $<0.001$, and we note that the redshift bias tends to be larger at higher masses. We also examine the role of redshift on the derivation of rest-frame colours and stellar population parameters from SED fitting techniques. The ZFIRE survey extends spectroscopically-confirmed $z\sim 2$ samples across a richer range of environments, here we make available the first public release of the data for use by the community.\footnote{\url{http://zfire.swinburne.edu.au}}

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Cold-Mode Accretion: Driving the Fundamental Mass-Metallicity Relation at z~2

We investigate the star formation rate (SFR) dependence on the stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity relation at z=2 with MOSFIRE/Keck as part of the ZFIRE survey. We have identified 117 galaxies (1.98 < z < 2.56), with $8.9\leq$log(M/M$_{\odot}$)$\leq11.0$, for which we can measure gas-phase metallicities. For the first time, we show discernible difference between the mass-metallicity relation, using individual galaxies, when deviding the sample by low ($<10$~M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$) and high ($>10$~M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$) SFRs. At fixed mass, low star-forming galaxies tend to have higher metallicity than high star-forming galaxies. Using a few basic assumptions, we further show that the gas masses and metallicities required to produce the fundamental mass--metallicity relation, and its intrinsic scatter, are consistent with cold-mode accretion predictions obtained from the OWLS hydrodynamical simulations. Our results from both simulations and observations are suggestive that cold-mode accretion is responsible for the fundamental mass-metallicity relation at $z=2$ and demonstrates the direct relationship between cosmological accretion and the fundamental properties of galaxies.

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ZFIRE: The Kinematics of Star-Forming Galaxies as a Function of Environment at z~2

We perform a kinematic analysis of galaxies at $z\sim2$ in the COSMOS legacy field using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy from Keck/MOSFIRE as part of the ZFIRE survey. Our sample consists of 75 Ks-band selected star-forming galaxies from the ZFOURGE survey with stellar masses ranging from log(M$_{\star}$/M$_{\odot}$)$=9.0-11.0$, 28 of which are members of a known overdensity at $z=2.095$. We measure H$α$ emission-line integrated velocity dispersions ($σ_{\rm int}$) from 50$-$230 km s$^{-1}$, consistent with other emission-line studies of $z\sim2$ field galaxies. From these data we estimate virial, stellar, and gas masses and derive correlations between these properties for cluster and field galaxies at $z\sim2$. We find evidence that baryons dominate within the central effective radius. However, we find no statistically significant differences between the cluster and the field, and conclude that the kinematics of star-forming galaxies at $z\sim2$ are not significantly different between the cluster and field environments.

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UV to IR Luminosities and Dust Attenuation Determined from ~4000 K-Selected Galaxies at 1<z<3 in the ZFOURGE Survey

We build a set of composite galaxy SEDs by de-redshifting and scaling multi-wavelength photometry from galaxies in the ZFOURGE survey, covering the CDFS, COSMOS, and UDS fields. From a sample of ~4000 K_s-band selected galaxies, we define 38 composite galaxy SEDs that yield continuous low-resolution spectra (R~45) over the rest-frame range 0.1-4 um. Additionally, we include far infrared photometry from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Herschel Space Observatory to characterize the infrared properties of our diverse set of composite SEDs. From these composite SEDs we analyze the rest-frame UVJ colors, as well as the ratio of IR to UV light (IRX) and the UV slope ($β$) in the IRX$-β$ dust relation at 1<z<3. Blue star-forming composite SEDs show IRX and $β$ values consistent with local relations; dusty star-forming galaxies have considerable scatter, as found for local IR bright sources, but on average appear bluer than expected for their IR fluxes. We measure a tight linear relation between rest-frame UVJ colors and dust attenuation for star-forming composites, providing a direct method for estimating dust content from either (U-V) or (V-J) rest-frame colors for star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts.

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Satellite Quenching and Galactic Conformity at 0.3 < z < 2.5

We measure the evolution of the quiescent fraction and quenching efficiency of satellites around star-forming and quiescent central galaxies with stellar mass $\log(M_{\mathrm{cen}}/M_{\odot})>10.5$ at $0.3 9.3$. Satellites for both star-forming and quiescent central galaxies have higher quiescent fractions compared to field galaxies matched in stellar mass at all redshifts. We also observe "galactic conformity": satellites around quiescent centrals are more likely to be quenched compared to the satellites around star-forming centrals. In our sample, this conformity signal is significant at $\gtrsim3σ$ for $0.6<z<1.6$, whereas it is only weakly significant at $0.3<z<0.6$ and $1.6<z<2.5$. Therefore, conformity (and therefore satellite quenching) has been present for a significant fraction of the age of the universe. The satellite quenching efficiency increases with increasing stellar mass of the central, but does not appear to depend on the stellar mass of the satellite to the mass limit of our sample. When we compare the satellite quenching efficiency of star-forming centrals with stellar masses 0.2 dex higher than quiescent centrals (which should account for any difference in halo mass), the conformity signal decreases, but remains statistically significant at $0.6<z<0.9$. This is evidence that satellite quenching is connected to the star-formation properties of the central as well as to the mass of the halo. We discuss physical effects that may contribute to galactic conformity, and emphasize that they must allow for continued star-formation in the central galaxy even as the satellites are quenched.

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ZFIRE: Galaxy Cluster Kinematics, H$α$ Star Formation Rates, and Gas-Phase Metallicities of XMM-LSS J02182-05102 at z=1.6233

We spectroscopically survey the galaxy cluster XMM-LSS J02182-05102 (hereafter IRC 0218) using LRIS (optical) and MOSFIRE (near-infrared) on Keck I as part of the ZFIRE survey. IRC 0218 has a narrow redshift range of $1.612<z_{\rm spec}<1.635$ defined by 33 members of which 20 are at R$_{\rm proj}<1$ Mpc. The cluster redshift and velocity dispersion are $z_{\rm cl}=1.6233\pm0.0003$ and $σ_{\rm cl}=254\pm50$ km s$^{-1}$. We reach NIR line sensitivities of $\sim0.3\times10^{-17}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ that, combined with multi-wavelength photometry, provide extinction-corrected H$α$ star formation rates (SFR), gas phase metallicities from [NII]/H$α$, and stellar masses. We measure an integrated H$α$ SFR of $\sim325{\rm M}_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ (26 members; R$_{\rm proj}<2$ Mpc) and show that the elevated star formation in the cluster core (R$_{\rm proj}<0.25$ Mpc) is driven by the concentration of star-forming members, but the average SFR per H$α$-detected galaxy is half that of members at R$_{\rm proj}\sim1$ Mpc. However, we do not detect any environmental imprint when comparing attenuation and gas phase metallicities: the cluster galaxies show similar trends with M$_{\star}$ as to the field, e.g. more massive galaxies have larger stellar attenuation. IRC 0218's gas phase metallicity-M$_{\star}$ relation (MZR) is offset to lower metallicities relative to $z\sim0$ and has a slope of $0.13\pm0.10$. Comparing the MZR in IRC 0218 to the COSMOS cluster at $z=2.1$ shows no evolution ($Δt\sim1$ Gyr): the MZR for both galaxy clusters are remarkably consistent with each other and virtually identical to several field surveys at $z\sim2$.

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Z-FIRE: ISM properties of the z = 2.095 COSMOS Cluster

We investigate the ISM properties of 13 star-forming galaxies within the z~2 COSMOS cluster. We show that the cluster members have [NII]/Ha and [OIII]/Hb emission-line ratios similar to z~2 field galaxies, yet systematically different emission-line ratios (by ~0.17 dex) from the majority of local star-forming galaxies. We find no statistically significant difference in the [NII]/Ha and [OIII]/Hb line ratios or ISM pressures among the z~2 cluster galaxies and field galaxies at the same redshift. We show that our cluster galaxies have significantly larger ionization parameters (by up to an order of magnitude) than local star-forming galaxies. We hypothesize that these high ionization parameters may be associated with large specific star formation rates (i.e. a large star formation rate per unit stellar mass). If this hypothesis is correct, then this relationship would have important implications for the geometry and/or the mass of stars contained within individual star clusters as a function of redshift.

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The Absence of an Environmental Dependence in the Mass-Metallicity Relation at z=2

We investigate the environmental dependence of the mass-metallicity relation at z=2 with MOSFIRE/Keck as part of the ZFIRE survey. Here, we present the chemical abundance of a Virgo-like progenitor at z=2.095 that has an established red sequence. We identified 43 cluster ($ =2.095\pm0.004$) and 74 field galaxies ($ =2.195\pm0.083$) for which we can measure metallicities. For the first time, we show that there is no discernible difference between the mass-metallicity relation of field and cluster galaxies to within 0.02dex. Both our field and cluster galaxy mass-metallicity relations are consistent with recent field galaxy studies at z~2. We present hydrodynamical simulations for which we derive mass-metallicity relations for field and cluster galaxies. We find at most a 0.1dex offset towards more metal-rich simulated cluster galaxies. Our results from both simulations and observations are suggestive that environmental effects, if present, are small and are secondary to the ongoing inflow and outflow processes that are governed by galaxy halo mass.

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