arXiv subjects

Cong Kevin Xu

Publications and source records attributed to Cong Kevin Xu.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Megaparsec-Scale Neutral Hydrogen Flows in the Neighborhood of Hickson Compact Group 100

The evolution of galaxies is strongly influenced by their ability to exchange gas with their surroundings, yet direct observational constraints on these processes remain scarce. Using ultra-deep neutral hydrogen (HI) observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), we detect a diffuse HI structure extending over $\sim$1 Mpc around the compact galaxy group HCG 100, with integrated column densities down to $\sim$$8.6\times10^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$. This structure is among the most extended and lowest-density neutral gas systems ever observed in emission. The HI gas forms a coherent envelope connecting the compact group to neighboring galaxies and shows a large-scale coherent velocity gradient around HCG 100 extending across $\sim$0.6 Mpc. The extended structure contains $\sim$$1.4\times10^{10}$ $M_\odot$ of diffuse neutral gas, implying that up to $\sim$40$-$50\% of the HI gas resides outside galaxies. Such a large diffuse HI structure may arise either from large-scale tidal debris or gas accretion from the surrounding cosmic web. Our results demonstrate that massive reservoirs of diffuse neutral gas can persist on megaparsec scales around galaxy groups for extended periods, providing a previously unseen component of baryon cycling in dense environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Comparison of Global HI and H$α$ Line Profiles in MaNGA Galaxy Pairs with FAST

We present case studies comparing the global HI and H$α$ emission line profiles of six galaxy pairs. The six pairs are selected to have different nuclear activities, with two hosting an active galactic nucleus, and in different merging stages (two of each from pre-merging, merging, and post-merger stages). We observe their global HI spectra with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), achieving a noise level of about 0.5 mJy. Five out of the six pair systems have secure detections of HI emissions (signal-to-noise ratio > 10). The HI fraction and star formation efficiency of the six pairs do not deviate from isolated galaxies. For the HI line profiles, common unique asymmetry is observed, indicating disturbances on the atomic gas from the galaxy interaction. The global H$α$ spectra of the merger systems are constructed from the optical integral field spectroscopic observations, by integrating the flux in corresponding line-of-sight velocity bins. The H$α$ spectra tend to show multiple components in the pre-merger phase, and single component line profiles in the post-merger systems, while all HI spectra show single component line profiles regardless of merger stages. The HI and H$α$ spectra show offsets in the central velocities, which appear to decrease from >100 km/s in the pre-merger pair to <10 km/s in post-merger pairs. This trend is consistent with the scenario that, despite the significantly different distribution and kinematics of the atomic and ionized gases, the merging process may contribute to the mixing and eventually align various gas contents.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

CO Observations of Early-mid Stage Major Mergers in the MaNGA Survey

We present a study of the molecular gas in early-mid stage major-mergers, with a sample of 43 major-merger galaxy pairs selected from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey and a control sample of 195 isolated galaxies selected from the xCOLD GASS survey. Adopting kinematic asymmetry as a new effective indicator to describe the merger stage, we aim to study the role of molecular gas in the merger-induced star formation enhancement along the merger sequence of galaxy pairs. We obtain the molecular gas properties from CO observations with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), Institut de Radioastronomie Milimetrique (IRAM) 30-m telescope, and the MASCOT survey. Using these data, we investigate the differences in molecular gas fraction ($f_{\rm H_{2}}$), star formation rate (SFR), star formation efficiency (SFE), molecular-to-atomic gas ratio ($M_{\rm H_{2}}/M_{\rm HI}$), total gas fraction ($f_{\rm gas}$), and the star formation efficiency of total gas (${\rm SFE_{gas}}$) between the pair and control samples. In the full pair sample, our results suggest the $f_{\rm H_{2}}$ of paired galaxies is significantly enhanced, while the SFE is comparable to that of isolated galaxies. We detect significantly increased $f_{\rm H_{2}}$ and $M_{\rm H_{2}}/M_{\rm HI}$ in paired galaxies at the pericenter stage, indicating an accelerated transition from atomic gas to molecular gas due to interactions. Our results indicate that the elevation of $f_{\rm H_{2}}$ plays a major role in the enhancement of global SFR in paired galaxies at the pericenter stage, while the contribution of enhanced SFE in specific regions requires further explorations through spatially resolved observations of a larger sample spanning a wide range of merger stages.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Close Major-merger Pairs at $z=0$: Star-forming Galaxies with Pseudobulges

We present a study of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) with pseudobulges (bulges with Sérsic index $\rm n < 2$) in a local close major-merger galaxy pair sample (H-KPAIR). With data from new aperture photometries in the optical and near-infrared bands (aperture size of 7\;kpc) and from the literature, we find that the mean Age of central stellar populations in Spirals with pseudobulges is consistent with that of disky galaxies and is nearly constant against the bulge-to-total ratio (B/T). Paired Spirals have a slightly lower fraction of pure disk galaxies ($\rm B/T \leq 0.1$) than their counterparts in the control sample. Compared to SFGs with classical bulges, those with pseudobulges have a higher ($>2\;σ$) mean of specific star formation rate (sSFR) enhancement ($\rm sSFR_{enh} = 0.33\pm0.07$ vs $\rm sSFR_{enh} = 0.12\pm0.06$) and broader scatter (by $\sim 1$\;dex). The eight SFGs that have the highest $\rm sSFR_{enh}$ in the sample all have pseudobulges. A majority (69\%) of paired SFGs with strong enhancement (having sSFR more than 5 times the median of the control galaxies) have pseudobulges. The Spitzer data show that the pseudobulges in these galaxies are tightly linked to nuclear/circum-nuclear starbursts. Pseudobulge SFGs in S+S and in S+E pairs have significantly ($>3\;σ$) different sSFR enhancement, with the means of $\rm sSFR_{enh} = 0.45\pm0.08$ and $-0.04\pm0.11$, respectively. We find a decrease in the sSFR enhancements with the density of the environment for SFGs with pseudobulges. Since a high fraction (5/11) of pseudobulge SFGs in S+E pairs are in rich groups/clusters (local density $\rm N_{1Mpc} \geq 7$), the dense environment might be the cause for their low $\rm sSFR_{enh}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Deep HI Mapping of Stephan's Quintet and Its Neighborhood

We carried out deep mapping observations of the atomic hydrogen (HI) 21 cm line emission in a field centered on the famous galaxy group Stephan's Quintet (SQ), using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) equipped with the 19-Beam Receiver. The final data cube reaches an HI column density sensitivity of $5 σ= 2.1\times 10^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$ per 20 km s$^{-1}$ channel with an angular resolution of $4'.0$. The discovery of a large diffuse feature of the HI emission in the outskirt of the intragroup medium of SQ was reported in a previous paper (Xu et al. 2022). Here we present a new study of the total HI emission of SQ and the detection of several neighboring galaxies, exploiting the high sensitivity and the large sky coverage of the FAST observations. A total HI mass of $M_{\rm HI} = 3.48 \pm 0.35 \times 10^{10}\; M_\odot$ is found for SQ, which is significantly higher than previous measurements in the literature. This indicates that, contrary to earlier claims, SQ is not HI deficient. The excessive HI gas is mainly found in the velocity ranges of 6200 - 6400 km s$^{-1}$ and 6800 - 7000 km s$^{-1}$, which was undetected in previous observations that are less sensitive than ours. Our results suggest that the ``missing HI" in compact groups may be hidden in the low-density diffuse neutral gas instead of in the ionized gas.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Close Major Merger Pairs at $z=0$: Bulge-to-Total Ratio and Star Formation Enhancement

We present a study of the bulge-to-total ratio (B/T) of a Ks-band-selected sample of 88 close major-merger pairs of galaxies (H-KPAIR) based on 2-D decomposition of SDSS r-band images with \textsc{galfit}. We investigate the dependence of the interaction-induced specific star formation rate enhancement ($\rm sSFR_{enh}$) on the B/T ratio, and the effects of this dependence on the differences between star-forming galaxies (SFGs) in spiral+spiral (S+S) and spiral+elliptical (S+E) pairs. Of all 132 spiral galaxies in H-KPAIR, the 44 in S+E pairs show higher B/T than those in the 44 S+S pairs, with means of $\rm B/T = 0.35 \pm 0.05$ and $\rm B/T = 0.26 \pm 0.03$, respectively. There is a strong negative dependence of $\rm sSFR_{enh}$ on the B/T ratio and only paired SFGs with $\rm B/T<0.3$ show significant ($>5σ$) enhancement. Paired SFGs in S+S pairs show a similar trend, and many disky SFGs ($\rm B/T<0.1$) in S+S have strong sSFR enhancements ($\rm sSFR_{enh} > 0.7$~dex). For SFGs in S+E, the sSFR has no clear B/T dependence, nor any significant enhancement in any B/T bin. Disky SFGs in S+S show significant ($>4σ$) enhancement in the molecular gas content ($\rm M_{H_2}/M_{star}$), while SFGs in S+E have no such enhancement in any B/T bin. No significant enhancement on total gas content ($\rm M_{gas}/M_{star}$) is found in any B/T bin for paired galaxies. The star formation efficiency of either the total gas ($\rm SFE_{gas} = SFR/M_{gas}$) or the molecular gas ($\rm SFE_{H_2} = SFR/M_{H_2}$) does not depend on the B/T ratio. The only significant ($>4σ$) SFE enhancement found for paired SFGs is the $\rm SFE_{gas}$ for disky SFGs in S+S pairs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Spectral energy distribution similarity of the local galaxies and the 3.6um selected galaxies from the Spitzer Extended Deep Survey

The Spitzer Extended Deep Survey (SEDS) as a deep and wide mid-infrared (MIR) survey project provides a sample of 500000+ sources spreading 1.46 square degree and a depth of 26 AB mag (3$σ$). Combining with the previous available data, we build a PSF-matched multi-wavelength photometry catalog from u band to 8$μ$m. We fit the SEDS galaxies spectral energy distributions by the local galaxy templates. The results show that the SEDS galaxy can be fitted well, indicating the high redshift galaxy ($z \sim 1$) shares the same templates with the local galaxies. This study would facilitate the further study of the galaxy luminosity and high redshift mass function.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

UV and NIR size of the HI selected low surface brightness galaxies

How does the low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) form stars and assemble the stellar mass is one of the most important questions to understand the LSBG population. We select a sample of 381 HI bright LSBGs with both Far Ultraviolet (FUV) and Near Infrared (NIR) observation to investigate the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass scales, and the growth mode. We measure the UV and NIR radius of our sample, which represent the star-forming and stellar mass distribution scales. We also compare the UV and H band radius-stellar mass relation with the archive data, to identify the SFR and stellar mass structure difference between the LSBG population and other galaxies. Since galaxy HI mass has a tight correlation with the HI radius, we can also compare the HI and UV radii to understand the distribution of the HI gas and star formation activities. Our results show that most of the HI selected LSBGs have extended star formation structure. The stellar mass distribution of LSBGs may have a similar structure as the disk galaxies at the same stellar mass bins, while the star-forming activity of LSBGs happens at a larger radius than the high surface density galaxies, which may help to select the LSBG sample from the wide-field deep u band image survey. The HI also distributed at a larger radius, implying a steeper (or no) Kennicutt-Schmidt relation for LSBGs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

ALMA [N ıı] 205 μm Imaging Spectroscopy of the Lensed Submillimeter galaxy ID 141 at redshift 4.24

We present the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observation of the Sub-millimeter galaxy (SMG) ID 141 at z=4.24 in the [N II] 205 $μ$m line (hereafter [N II]) and the underlying continuum at (rest-frame) 197.6 $μ$m. Benefiting from lensing magnification by a galaxy pair at z=0.595, ID 141 is one of the brightest z$>4$ SMGs. At the angular resolutions of $\sim1.2"$ to $1.5"$ ($1" \sim6.9$ kpc), our observation clearly separates, and moderately resolves the two lensed images in both continuum and line emission at $\rm S/N>5$ . Our continuum-based lensing model implies an averaged amplification factor of $\sim5.8$ and reveals that the de-lensed continuum image has the Sérsic index $\simeq 0.95$ and the Sérsic radius of $\sim0.18" (\sim 1.24$ kpc). Furthermore, the reconstructed [N II] velocity field in the source plane is dominated by a rotation component with a maximum velocity of $\sim 300$ km/s at large radii, indicating a dark matter halo mass of $\sim 10^{12}M_{\odot}$. This, together with the reconstructed velocity dispersion field being smooth and modest in value ($<100$ km/s) over much of the outer parts of the galaxy, favours the interpretation of ID 141 being a disk galaxy dynamically supported by rotation. The observed [N II]/CO (7-6) and [N II]/[C II] 158 $μ$m line luminosity ratios, which are consistent with the corresponding line ratio vs. far-infrared color correlation from local luminous infrared galaxies, imply a de-lensed star formation rate of ($1.8\pm 0.6)\times10^3M_\odot$/yr and provide an independent estimate on the size of the star-forming region $0.7^{+0.3}_{-0.3}$ kpc in radius.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The atomic gas of star-forming galaxies at z$\sim$0.05 as revealed by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope

We report new HI observations of four z$\sim$0.05 star-forming galaxies undertaken during the commissioning phase of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST). FAST is the largest single-dish telescope with a 500 meter aperture and a 19-Beam receiver. Exploiting the unprecedented sensitivity provided by FAST, we aim to study the atomic gas, via the HI 21cm emission line, in low-$z$ star-forming galaxies taken from the Valparaíso ALMA/APEX Line Emission Survey (VALES) project. Together with previous ALMA CO($J=1-0$) observations, the HI data provides crucial information to measure the gas mass and dynamics. As a pilot HI survey, we targeted four local star-forming galaxies at $z\sim0.05$. In particular, one of them has already been detected in HI by the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey (ALFALFA), allowing a careful comparison. We use an ON-OFF observing approach that allowed us to reach an rms of 0.7mJy/beam at a 1.7km/s velocity resolution within only 20 minutes ON-target integration time. We demonstrate the great capabilities of the FAST 19-beam receiver for pushing the detectability of the HI emission line of extra-galactic sources. The HI emission line detected by FAST shows good consistency with the previous ALFALFA results. Our observations are put in context with previous multi-wavelength data to reveal the physical properties of these low-$z$ galaxies. We find that the CO($J=1-0$) and HI emission line profiles are similar. The dynamical mass estimated from the HI data is an order of magnitude higher than the baryon mass and the dynamical mass derived from the CO observations, implying that the mass probed by dynamics of HI is dominated by the dark matter halo. In one case, a target shows an excess of CO($J=1-0$) in the line centre, which can be explained by an enhanced CO($J=1-0$) emission induced by a nuclear starburst showing high velocity dispersion.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

UV and NIR size of the low-mass field galaxies: the UV compact galaxies

Most of the massive star-forming galaxies are found to have `inside-out' stellar mass growth modes, which means the inner parts of the galaxies mainly consist of the older stellar population, while the star forming in the outskirt of the galaxy is still ongoing. The high-resolution HST images from Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey (HDUV) and Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) projects with the unprecedented depth in both F275W and F160W bands are the perfect data sets to study the forming and formed stellar distribution directly. We selected the low redshift ($0.05 < z_{\rm spec} < 0.3$) galaxy sample from the GOODS-North field where the HST F275W and F160W images are available. Then we measured the half light radius in F275W and F160W bands, which are the indicators of the star formation and stellar mass. By comparing the F275W and F160W half light radius, we find the massive galaxies are mainly follow the `inside-out' growth which is consistent with the previous results. Moreover, the HST F275W and F160W images reveal that some of the low-mass galaxies ($<10^8M_\odot$) have the `outside-in' growth mode: their images show a compact UV morphology, implying an ongoing star formation in the galaxy centre, the stars in the outskirts of the galaxies are already formed. The two modes transit smoothly at stellar mass range about $10^{8-9}M_\odot$ with a large scatter. We also try to identify the possible neighbour massive galaxies from the SDSS data, which represent the massive galaxy sample. We find that all of the spec-z selected galaxies have no massive galaxy nearby. Thus the `outside-in' mode we find in the low-mass galaxies are not likely originated from the environment.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

CO observations of major merger pairs at z=0: Molecular gas mass and star formation

We present CO observations of 78 spiral galaxies in local merger pairs. These galaxies representa subsample of a Ks-band selected sample consisting of 88 close major-merger pairs (HKPAIRs), 44 spiral-spiral (S+S) pairs and 44 spiral-elliptical (S+E) pairs, with separation $<20 h^{-1}$ kpc and mass ratio <2.5. For all objects, the star formation rate (SFR) and dust mass were derived from HERSCHEL PACS and SPIRE data, and the atomic gas mass, MHI, from the Green Bank Telescope HI observations. The complete data set allows us to study the relation between the gas (atomic and molecular) mass, dust mass and SFR in merger galaxies. We derive the molecular gas fraction (MH2/M*), molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio (MH2/MHI), gas-to-dust mass ratio and SFE (=SFR/MH2) and study their dependences on pair type (S+S compared to S+E), stellar mass and the presence of morphological interaction signs. We find an overall moderate enhancements (~2x) in both molecular gas fraction (MH2/M*), and molecular-to-atomic gas ratio (MH2/MHI) for star-forming galaxies in major-merger pairs compared to non-interacting comparison samples, whereas no enhancement was found for the SFE nor for the total gas mass fraction (MHI+MH2)/M*. When divided into S+S and S+E, low mass and high mass, and with and without interaction signs, there is a small difference in SFE, moderate difference in MH2/M*, and strong differences in MH2/MHI between subsamples. For MH2/MHI, the difference between S+S and S+E subsamples is 0.69+-0.16 dex and between pairs with and without interaction signs is 0.53+-0.18 dex. Together, our results suggest (1) star formation enhancement in close major-merger pairs occurs mainly in S+S pairs after the first close encounter (indicated by interaction signs) because the HI gas is compressed into star-forming molecular gas by the tidal torque; (2) this effect is much weakened in the S+E pairs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Herschel Observations of Major Merger Pairs at z=0: Dust Mass and Star Formation

We present Herschel PACS $\&$ SPIRE far-infrared (FIR) and sub-mm imaging observations for a large K-band selected sample of 88 close major-merger pairs of galaxies (H-KPAIRs) in 6 photometric bands (70, 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 $μm$). Among 132 spiral galaxies in the 44 spiral-spiral (S$+$S) pairs and 44 spiral-elliptical (S$+$E) pairs, 113 are detected in at least one Herschel band. Star formation rate (SFR) and dust mass ($M_{\rm dust}$) are derived from the IR SED fitting. Mass of total gas ($M_{\rm gas}$) is estimated by assuming a constant dust-to-gas mass ratio of 0.01. Star forming spiral galaxies (SFGs) in S$+$S pairs show significant enhancements in both specific star formation rate (sSFR) and star formation efficiency (SFE), while having nearly the same gas mass, compared to control galaxies. On the other hand, for SFGs in S$+$E pairs, there is no significant sSFR enhancement and the mean SFE enhancement is significantly lower than that of SFGs in S$+$S pairs. This suggests an important role for the disc-disc collision in the interaction induced star formation. The $M_{\rm gas}$ of SFGs in S$+$E pairs is marginally lower than that of their counterparts in both S$+$S pairs and the control sample. Paired galaxies with and without interaction signs do not differ significantly in their mean sSFR and SFE. As found in previous works, this much larger sample confirms the primary and secondary spirals in S+S pairs follow a Holmberg effect correlation on sSFR.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2004

Angular Clustering of Galaxies at 3.6 micron from the SWIRE survey

We present the first analysis of large-scale clustering from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic legacy survey: SWIRE. We compute the angular correlation function of galaxies selected to have 3.6 micron fluxes brighter than 32 muJy in three fields totaling two square degrees in area. In each field we detect clustering with a high level of significance. The amplitude and slope of the correlation function is consistent between the three fields and is modeled as $w(theta)=Aθ^{1-γ}$ with $A=(0.6\pm0.3)\times10^{-3}, γ=2.03\pm0.10$. With a fixed slope of $γ=1.8$, we obtain an amplitude of $A=(1.7\pm0.1)\times10^{-3}$. Assuming an equivalent depth of K~18.7 mag we find our errors are smaller but our results are consistent with existing clustering measurements in K-band surveys and with stable clustering models. We estimate our median redshift $z\simeq 0.75$ and this allows us to obtain an estimate of the three-dimensional correlation function $ξ(r)$, for which we find $r_0=4.4\pm0.1 h^{-1}$ Mpc.

astro-ph↗