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Chen Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Chen Cao.

61 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Correlations between MIR, FIR, H$α$, and FUV Luminosities for SWIRE galaxies

e present and analyze the correlations between mid-infrared (MIR), far-infrared (FIR), total-infrared (TIR), H$α$, and FUV luminosities for star-forming galaxies, composite galaxies and AGNs, based on a large sample of galaxies selected from the $Spitzer$ SWIRE fields. The MIR luminosities of star-forming galaxies are well correlated with their H$α$, TIR and FUV luminosities, and we re-scaled the MIR-derived SFR formulae according to the above correlations with differences less than 15%. We confirm the recent result by calzetti et al. (2007) that the combined observed H$α$ + 24$μ$m luminosities L(H$α$$_{\rm obs}$+ 24$μ$m) possess very tight correlation with the extinction-corrected H$α$ luminosities L(H$α$$\_$corr) for star-forming and even for dwarf galaxies, and show that the combined L(H$α$$_{\rm obs}$+ 8$μ$m[dust]) are also tightly correlated with L(H$α$$\_$corr) for the above sample galaxies. Among all the L(MIR)-L(FIR) correlations for star-forming galaxies, the L(24$μ$m) vs. L(70$μ$m) and L(8$μ$m[dust]) vs. L(160$μ$m) are the tightest and also nearly linear. The former could be related to young massive star formation, while the latter might be relevant to diffuse dust emissions heated by old stellar populations. Composite galaxies and AGNs have higher MIR-to-H$α$/MIR-to-FUV luminosity ratios than star-forming galaxies, nevertheless their correlations among MIR, FIR and TIR luminosities are completely following those of star-forming galaxies.

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The Effects of Metallicity and AGN Activity on the Mid-Infrared Dust Emission of Galaxies

Using a sample of the $Spitzer$ SWIRE-field galaxies whose optical spectra are taken from the Data Release 4 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we study possible correlations between the Mid-InfraRed (MIR) dust emission from these galaxies and both their metallicities and AGN activities. We find that both metallicity and AGN activity are well correlated with the following ratios: PAH(Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon)-to-star, VSG(Very Small Grain)-to-star and PAH-to-VSG, which can be characterized by $νL_ν[8μm({\rm dust})]/νL_ν[3.6μm]$, $νL_ν[24μm]/νL_ν[3.6μm]$, and$νL_ν[8μm({\rm dust})]/νL_ν[24μm]$ respectively. We argue that our MIR-metallicity correlation could be explained by either the amount of dust (ongoing dust formation) or dust destruction (PAHs and VSGs could be destroyed by hard and intense radiation fields), and that the MIR-AGN correlation could arise due to either PAH destruction or an enhanced VSG continuum by the central AGN.

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Large Misalignment between Stellar Bar and Dust Pattern in NGC 3488 Revealed by Spitzer and SDSS

A large position angle misalignment between the stellar bar and the distribution of dust in the late-type barred spiral NGC 3488 was discovered, using mid-infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The angle between the bar and dust patterns was measured to be 25+-2deg, larger than most of the misalignments found previously in barred systems based on Ha or HI/CO observations. The stellar bar is bright at optical and 3.6um, while the dust pattern is more prominent in the 8um band but also shows up in the SDSS u and g-band images, suggesting a rich interstellar medium environment harboring ongoing star formation. This angular misalignment is unlikely to have been caused by spontaneous bar formation. We suggest that the stellar bar and the dust pattern may have different formation histories, and that the large misalignment was triggered by a tidal interaction with a small companion. A statistical analysis of a large sample of nearby galaxies with archival Spitzer data indicates that bar structure such as that seen in NGC 3488 is quite rare in the local Universe.

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Morphological Dependence of MIR Properties of SDSS Galaxies in the Spitzer SWIRE Survey

We explore the correlation between morphological types and mid-infrared (MIR) properties of an optically flux-limited sample of 154 galaxies from the Forth Data Release (DR4) of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), cross-correlated with Spitzer SWIRE (Spitzer Wide-Area InfraRed Extragalactic Survey) fields of ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-N2 and Lockman Hole. Aperture photometry is performed on the SDSS and Spitzer images to obtain optical and MIR properties. The morphological classifications are given based on both visual inspection and bulge-disk decomposition on SDSS g- and r-band images. The average bulge-to-total ratio (B/T) is a smooth function over different morphological types. Both the 8um(dust) and 24um(dust) luminosities and their relative luminosity ratios to 3.6um (MIR dust-to-star ratios) present obvious correlations with both the Hubble T-type and B/T. The early-type galaxies notably differ from the late-types in the MIR properties, especially in the MIR dust-to-star ratios. It is suggested that the MIR dust-to-star ratio is an effective way to separate the early-type galaxies from the late-type ones. Based on the tight correlation between the stellar mass and the 3.6um luminosity, we have derived a formula to calculate the stellar mass from the latter. We have also investigated the MIR properties of both edge-on galaxies and barred galaxies in our sample. Since they present similar MIR properties to the other sample galaxies, they do not influence the MIR properties obtained for the entire sample.

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Mid-to-Far Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies in Spitzer First Look Survey Field

We made model fitting to the mid-to-far infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for different categories of galaxies in the main extragalactic field of the {\it Spitzer} First Look Survey with the aid of spectroscopic information from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that the mid-to-far infrared SEDs of HII galaxies, mixture type galaxies and LINERs can be well fitted by the one-parameter ($α$) dust model of Dale et al. plus the 13 Gyr dust-free elliptical galaxy model. The statistics of $α$ values indicates that all these galaxies tend to be quiescent, although the HII galaxies are relatively more active than the LINERs. The mid-infrared SEDs of absorption galaxies are well fitted simply by the 13 Gyr dust-free elliptical galaxy template, and the near-to-mid infrared SEDs of QSOs can be represented by AGN NGC 5506.

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Multi-wavelength Study of Young Massive Star Clusters in the Interacting Galaxy ARP 24

We made a multi-wavelength study of young massive star clusters (YSCs) in the interacting galaxy ARP 24, using the optical and ultraviolet images from Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and Galaxy Evolution Explorer; the mid-infrared images from Spitzer Space Telescope; and the narrow-band Ha image and optical spectra from the NAOC 2.16m telescope. Based on the HST images, we found that the brightest infrared knot in ARP 24 is associated with a complex of five young massive star clusters, within a region of ~ 0.95" radius (127pc) in size. The ages and masses of the star clusters in this complex and other regions were estimated using HST broadband photometries and the Starburst99 synthesis models. The star clusters in this complex are very young (within ages of ~ 3-5 Myr) and massive (masses of ~ 10^5 Msun). The ionization parameter and metallicity of the complex were estimated using the emission line ratios, and the star formation rates were calculated using monochromatic 24um, FUV, and Ha line luminosities. We speculate that ARP 24 may formed by a retrograde fly-by encounter indicated by its one-armed appearance and fan-like structure, and the formation of the YSCs in this galaxy is triggered by the interaction. The clusters in the YSC complex may formed in a single giant molecular cloud simultaneously. From the ultraviolet to mid-infrared spectral energy distributions, we found that the region of the YSC complex is relatively bluer in optical and has higher 24um dust emission relative to the starlight and 8um emission. This warm infrared color may due to strong UV radiation field or other mechanisms (e.g., shocks) within this region which may destroy the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and enhance the small grain emission at 24um.

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A Catalog of Luminous Infrared Galaxies in the IRAS Survey and the Second Data Release of the SDSS

We select the Luminous Infrared Galaxies by cross-correlating the Faint Source Catalogue (FSC) and Point Source Catalogue (PSC) of the IRAS Survey with the Second Data Release of the SDSS for studying their infrared and optical properties. The total number of our sample is 1267 for FSC and 427 for PSC by using 2$σ$ significance level cross-section. The "likelihood ratio" method is used to estimate the sample's reliability and for a more reliable subsample (908 for FSC and 356 for PSC) selection. Then a Catalog with both the infrared, optical and radio informations is presented and will be used in further works. Some statistical results show that the Luminous Infrared Galaxies are quite different from the Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies. The AGN fractions of galaxies with different infrared luminosities and the radio to infrared correlations are consist with previous studies.

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