arXiv subjects

D. G. Lambas

Publications and source records attributed to D. G. Lambas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

The host galaxies of long-duration GRBs in a cosmological hierarchical scenario

We developed a Monte Carlo code to generate long-duration gamma ray burst (LGRB) events within cosmological hydrodynamical simulations consistent with the concordance model. As structure is assembled, LGRBs are generated in the substructure that formed galaxies today. We adopted the collapsar model so that LGRBs are produced by single, massive stars at the final stage of their evolution. We found that the observed properties of the LGRB host galaxies (HGs) are reproduced if LGRBs are also required to be generated by low metallicity stars. The low metallicity condition imposed on the progenitor stars of LGRBs selects a sample of HGs with mean gas abundances of 12 + log O/H \~ 8.6. For z<1 the simulated HGs of low metallicity LGRB progenitors tend to be faint, slow rotators with high star formation efficiency, compared with the general galaxy population, in agreement with observations. At higher redshift, our results suggest that larger systems with high star formation activity could also contribute to the generation of LGRBs from low metallicity progenitors since the fraction of low metallicity gas available for star formation increases for all systems with look-back time. Under the hypothesis of our LGRB model, our results support the claim that LGRBs could be unbiased tracers of star formation at high redshifts.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Study of the relationship between the gamma ray bursts and their host galaxies

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) belong to the most energetic events in the Universe. Recently, the extragalactic nature of these sources has been confirmed with the discovery of several host galaxies (HGs) and the measurement of their redshifts. To explain the origin of GRBs various models have been proposed, among which the coalescence of compact objects and the "collapsar" scenarios are the most representative, being the collapsar model one of the most accepted to explain the long duration GRBs. A natural consequence of this model is that the GRBs would trace the star formation rate (SFR) of their HGs. In this contributed paper we present preliminary results of the development of a Montecarlo-based code for collapsar event formation which is coupled to chemical-cosmological simulations aiming at studying the properties of HGs in a hierarchical scenario.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Photometric observations of Southern Abell Cluster Redshifts Survey Clusters: Structure of galaxies in the inner region of clusters of galaxies

We analyze photometric properties of 1384 cluster galaxies as a function of the normalized distance to cluster center. These galaxies were selected in the central region ($r/r_{200} \leq$ 0.8) of 14 southern Abell clusters chosen from the Southern Abell Cluster Redshifts Survey (SARS). For 507 of these galaxies we also obtained their luminosity profiles. We have studied the morphology-clustercentric distance relation on the basis of the shape parameter $n$ of the Sérsic's law. We also have analyzed the presence of a possible segregation in magnitude for both, the galaxy total luminosity and that of their components (i.e. the bulge and the disk). Results show a marginal ($2σ$ level) decrease of the total luminosity as a function of normalized radius. However, when bulges are analyzed separately, a significant luminosity segregation is found ($3σ$ and $2σ$ for galaxies in projection and member galaxies respectively). The fraction of bulges brighter than $M_B \leq -22$ is three times larger in the core of clusters than in the outer region. Our analysis of the disk component suggests that disks are, on average, less luminous in the cluster core than at $r/r_{200} \sim 0.8$. In addition, we found that the magnitude-size relation as a function of $r/r_{200}$ indicates (at $2σ$ level) that disks are smaller and centrally brighter in the core of clusters. However, the Kormendy relation (the bulge magnitude-size relation) appears to be independent of environment.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Redshifts in the Southern Abell Redshift Survey Clusters. I. The Data

The Southern Abell Redshift Survey contains 39 clusters of galaxies with redshifts in the range 0.0 < z < 0.31 and a median redshift depth of z = 0.0845. SARS covers the region 0 < decl < -65 deg, R.A. < 5h, R.A. > 21h (while avoiding the LMC and SMC) with b > 40. Cluster locations were chosen from the Abell and Abell-Corwin-Olowin catalogs while galaxy positions were selected from the Automatic Plate Measuring Facility galaxy catalog with extinction-corrected magnitudes in the range 15 <= b_j < 19. SARS utilized the Las Campanas 2.5 m duPont telescope, observing either 65 or 128 objects concurrently over a 1.5 sq deg field. New redshifts for 3440 galaxies are reported in the fields of these 39 clusters of galaxies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Galaxy Peculiar Velocities and Infall onto Groups

We perform statistical analyses to study the infall of galaxies onto groups and clusters in the nearby Universe. The study is based on the UZC and SSRS2 group catalogs and peculiar velocity samples. We find a clear signature of infall of galaxies onto groups over a wide range of scales 5 h^{-1} Mpc 10^{13} M_{\odot} a larger infall is observed, V_{infall} \simeq 200 km s^{-1}. Similarly, we find that galaxies surrounding groups with L_{g}<10^{15} L_{\odot} have V_{infall} \simeq 100 km s^{-1}, whereas for L_{g}>10^{15} L_{\odot} groups, the amplitude of the galaxy infall can be as large as V_{infall} \simeq 250 km s^{-1}. The observational results are compared with the results obtained from mock group and galaxy samples constructed from numerical simulations, which include galaxy formation through semianalytical models. We obtain a general agreement between the results from the mock catalogs and the observations. The infall of galaxies onto groups is suitably reproduced in the simulations and, as in the observations, larger virial mass and luminosity groups exhibit the largest galaxy infall amplitudes. We derive estimates of the integrated mass overdensities associated with groups by applying linear theory to the infall velocities after correcting for the effects of distance uncertainties obtained using the mock catalogs. The resulting overdensities are consistent with a power law with δ\sim 1 at r \sim 10 h^{-1}Mpc.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Shapes of clusters and groups of galaxies: Comparison of model predictions with observations

We study the properties of the 3-dimensional and projected shapes of haloes using high resolution numerical simulations and observational data where the latter comes from the 2PIGG (Eke et al. 2004) and SDSS-DR3GC group catalogues (Merchan & Zandivarez 2005). We investigate the dependence of halo shape on characteristics such as mass and number of members. In the 3-dimensional case, we find a significant correlation between the mass and halo shape; massive systems are more prolate than small haloes. We detect a source of strong systematics in estimates of the triaxiality of a halo, which is found to be a strong function of the number of members; LCDM haloes usually characterised by triaxial shapes, slightly bent toward prolate forms, appear more oblate when taking only a small subset of the halo particles. The ellipticities of observed 2PIGG and SDSS-DR3GC groups are found to be strongly dependent on the number of group members, so that poor groups appear more elongated than rich ones. However, this is again an artifact caused by poor statistics and not an intrinsic property of the galaxy groups, nor an effect from observational biases. We interpret these results with the aid of a GALFORM mock 2PIGG catalogue. When comparing the group ellipticities in mock and real catalogues, we find an excellent agreement between the trends of shapes with number of group members. When carefully taking into account the effects of low number statistics, we find that more massive groups are consistent with more elongated shapes. Finally, our studies find no significant correlations between the shape of observed 2PIGG or SDSS-DR3GC groups with the properties of galaxy members such as colour or spectral type index.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

The faint-end of the galaxy luminosity function in groups

We compute the galaxy luminosity function in spectroscopically selected nearby groups and clusters. Our sample comprises 728 systems extracted from the third release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the redshift range $0.03 < z < 0.06$ with virial mass range $10^{11}M_\odot < M_{vir} < 2\times 10^{14}M_\odot$. In order to compute the galaxy luminosity function, we apply a statistical background subtraction method following usually adopted techniques. In the $r$ band, the composite galaxy luminosity function shows a slope $α=-1.3$ in the bright--end, and an upturn of the slope in the faint--end, $M_r\ga -18+5log(h)$, to slopes $-1.9<α<-1.6$. We find that this feature is present also in the $i,g$ and $z$ bands, and for all explored group subsamples, irrespective of the group mass, number of members, integrated color or the presence of a hot intra-cluster gas associated to X-ray emission.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Spatial and Dynamical Properties of Voids in a LCDM Universe

We study statistical properties of voids in the distribution of mass, dark-matter haloes and galaxies (B_J<-16) in a LCDM numerical simulation populated with galaxies using a semi-analytic galaxy formation model(GALFORM, Cole et al. 2000). We find that the properties of voids selected from GALFORM galaxies are compatible with those of voids identified from a population of haloes with mass M>10^11.5 M_sun/h, similar to the median halo mass, M_med=10^11.3 M_sun/h. We also find that the number density of galaxy- and halo-defined voids can be up to two orders of magnitude higher than mass-defined voids for large void radii. As expected, there are outflow velocities which show their maximum at larger void-centric distances for larger voids (well described by a linear relation). The void-centric distance where this maximum occurs, follows a suitable power law fit of the form, log(d_vmax)=(r_void/A)^B. At sufficiently large distances, we find mild infall motions onto the sub-dense regions. We find that a similar analysis in redshift space would make both outflows and infalls to appear with a lower amplitude. We also find that the velocity dispersion of galaxies and haloes is larger in the direction parallel to the void walls by ~10-20%. We analyse the void-tracer cross-correlation functions in real- and redshift-space as a function of separation, and also as a function of separations parallel and perpendicular to the line of sight. The distortion pattern observed in xi(sigma,pi) is that of an elongation along the line of sight which extends out to large separations. Positive xi contours evidence finger-of-god motions at the void walls. Elongations along the line of sight are roughly comparable between galaxy-, halo- and mass-defined voids. (Abridged)

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Photometric observations of SARS clusters: Galaxy Luminosity Profiles

We have analyzed CCD images of 14 Abell clusters in the R filter of the SARS survey (Way et al 2004), with cz<40000kms^{-1}. We have obtained the luminosity profiles for 507 galaxies of which 232 (46%) have known redshifts. In order to fit the luminosity profiles we used the de Vaucouleurs law for bulge systems, an exponential profile for disk systems and we have also fitted the Sersic's law (r^n) to all galaxy profiles. We have found that 162 (32%) galaxies in the sample have pure r^{1/4} profiles, 168 (33%) have pure exponential profiles, while 93 (18%) galaxies have luminosity profiles that are well fitted by a combination of both bulge and disk profiles. On the other hand, we could not fit the classical bulge + disk profile to the remaining 84 (17%) galaxies of the sample. For such cases we have only used the Sersic law. We have also analyzed how seeing and sky cleaning affect the structural and photometric parameters obtained through profile fitting. In addition, we have studied several relations between these parameters. We have found that bulges and disks show consistency with a unique relation in the μ_e - log(r_e) plane. We also found that bulges and disks obey a magnitude-size relation in the sense that large bulges and disks (large r_e values) have high luminosities. On the other hand, Sersic law fitting parameters n, $rs$ and μ_s show a strong correlation in agreement with other authors suggesting the idea that not only ellipticals but all galaxies are likely to be understood as a one parameter family.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Dynamical segregation of galaxies in groups and clusters

We have performed a systematic analysis of the dynamics of different galaxy populations in galaxy groups from the 2dFGRS. For this purpose we have combined all the groups into a single system, where velocities v and radius r are expressed adimensionally. We have used several methods to compare the distributions of relative velocities of galaxies with respect to the group centre for samples selected according to their spectral type (as defined by Madgwick et al., 2002), bj band luminosity and B-R colour index. We have found strong segregation effects: spectral type I objects show a statistically narrower velocity distribution than that of galaxies with a substantial star formation activity (type II-IV). Similarly, the same behavior is observed for galaxies with colour index B-R>1 compared to galaxies with B-R<1. Bright (Mb<-19) and faint (Mb>-19) galaxies show the same segregation. It is not important once the sample is restricted to a given spectral type. These effects are particularly important in the central region (Rp<Rvirial/2) and do not have a strong dependence on the mass of the parent group. These trends show a strong correlation between the dynamics of galaxies in groups and star formation rate reflected both by spectral type and by colour index.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Galaxy Pairs in the 2dF Survey I. Effects of Interactions in the Field

We study galaxy pairs in the field selected from the 100 K public release of the 2dF galaxy redshift survey. Our analysis provides a well defined sample of 1258 galaxy pairs, a large database suitable for statistical studies of galaxy interactions in the local universe, $z \le 0.1$. Galaxy pairs where selected by radial velocity ($ΔV$) and projected separation ($r_{\rm p}$) criteria determined by analyzing the star formation activity within neighbours (abridged). The ratio between the fractions of star forming galaxies in pairs and in isolation is a useful tools to unveil the effects of having a close companion. We found that about fifty percent of galaxy pairs do not show signs of important star formation activity (independently of their luminosities) supporting the hypothesis that the internal properties of the galaxies play a crucial role in the triggering of star formation by interactions.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Building Blocks in Hierarchical Clustering Scenarios and their Connection with Damped Ly$α$ Systems

We carried out a comprehensive analysis of the chemical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) and the stellar population (SP) of current normal galaxies and their progenitors in a hierarchical clustering scenario. We compared the results with observations of Damped Lyman-$α$ systems (DLAs) under the hypothesis that, at least, part of the observed DLAs could originate in the building blocks of today normal galaxies. We used a hydrodynamical cosmological code which includes star formation and chemical enrichment. Galaxy-like objects are identified at $z=0$ and then followed back in time. Random line-of-sights (LOS) are drawn through these structures in order to mimic Damped Lyman $α$ systems. We then analysed the chemical properties of the ISM and SP along the LOS. We found that the progenitors of current galaxies in the field with mean $L <0.5 L^* $ and virial circular velocity of $100-250 {\rm km/sec}$ could be the associated DLA galaxies. For these systems we detected a trend for $ $ to increase with redshift.(Abridged)

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Anisotropies in the redshift-space correlations of galaxy groups and clusters I: Simulated catalogues

We analyse the correlation function of mock galaxy clusters in redshift space. We constructed several mock catalogues designed to mimic the selection biases inherent in a variety of observational surveys. We explore different effects that contribute to the distortion of the clustering pattern; the pairwise velocity distribution of galaxy systems, coherent bulk motions, redshift errors and systematics in cluster identification. Our tests show that the redshift-space clustering pattern of galaxy systems is highly influenced by effects associated with the identification procedure from two dimensional surveys. These systems show a spuriously large correlation amplitude, an effect that is present and even stronger in a subsample whose angular positions coincide with 3-dimensional identified clusters. The use of a small number of redshift measurements in the determination of the cluster distance has a smaller impact on the measured correlation function. We show that an angular incompleteness in redshift surveys, such as that present in the 2dFGRS 100k public release, has no significant effect in the results. We suggest that the nature of projection effects arise mainly from structures along the line of sight in the filamentary large-scale clustering pattern. Thus spectroscopic surveys are the only means of providing unbiased cluster samples.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Anisotropies in the redshift-space correlations of galaxy groups and clusters II: Analysis of observational cluster samples

We study the redshift space correlation function of galaxy clusters for observational samples constructed in different surveys. We explore correlation amplitudes, pairwise velocity distributions and bias factors. Systematics in cluster identification procedures are the main source of biased estimates of the correlation amplitude and inferred velocity dispersions. By comparing our results with those of numerical simulations we explore the strong influence on the clustering distortion pattern in redshift space from effects associated with the cluster identification procedure from two dimensional surveys as is the case of Abell and APM clusters. The identification of clusters in X-ray surveys improves this situation, although there are still systematic effects which are probably due to identification of optical sources in the determination of cluster redshifts. These systematics are particularly strong for the most luminous X-ray selected clusters in the Extended Bright Cluster Survey, which exhibits very large anisotropies, comparable to those present in the Abell catalogue. Our results demonstrate that forthcoming large redshift surveys will be extremely important for the construction of new samples of groups and clusters as well as improving the determination of optical and X-ray selected cluster distances, essential for reliable analyses of the large scale structure.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Nitrogen Abundances in DLA Systems: The Combined Effects of SNII and SNIa in a Hierarchical Clustering Scenario

The combined enrichment of Supernovae II and I in a hierarchical clustering scenario could produce regions with low N content respect to $α$-elements consistent with observed values measured in Damped Ly-$α$ (DLAs). We have studied the formation of DLAs in a hierarchical clustering scenario under the hypothesis that the building blocks of current field galaxies could be part of the structures mapped by DLAs. In our models the effects of the non-linear evolution of the structure (which produces bursty star formation histories, gas infall, etc.) and the contributions of SNIa and SNII are found to be responsible of producing these N regions with respect to the $α$-elements. Although SNIa are not main production sites for Si or O, because of the particular timing Consistently, we found the simulated low nitrogen DLAs to have sub-solar [Fe/H]. We show that low nitrogen DLAs have experienced important star formation activity in the past with higher efficiency than normal DLAs. Our chemical model suggests that SNIa play a relevant role in the determination of the abundance pattern of DLA and, that the observed low nitrogen DLA frequency could be explained taking into account the time-delay of $\approx $ 0.5 Gyr introduced by these supernova to release metals.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Determination of the Linear Mass Power Spectrum From the Mass Function of Galaxy Clusters

We develop a new method to determine the linear mass power spectrum using the mass function of galaxy clusters. We obtain the rms mass fluctuation sigma (M) using the expression for the mass function in the Press & Schechter (1974), Sheth, Mo & Tormen (2001) and Jenkins et al. (2001) formalisms. We apply different techniques to recover the adimensional power spectrum Delta ^{2}(k) from sigma (M) namely the k_{eff} approximation, the singular value decomposition and the linear regularization method. The application of these techniques to the tCDM and LCDM GIF simulations shows a high efficiency in recovering the theoretical power spectrum over a wide range of scales. We compare our results with those derived from the power spectrum of the spatial distribution of the same sample of clusters in the simulations obtained by application of the classical Feldman, Kaiser & Peacock (1994), FKP, method. We find that the mass function based method presented here can provide a very accurate estimate of the linear power spectrum, particularly for low values of k. This estimate is comparable, or even better behaved, than the FKP solution. The principal advantage of our method is that it allows the determination of the linear mass power spectrum using the joint information of objects of a wide range of masses without dealing with specific assumptions on the bias relative to the underlying mass distribution.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Galaxy groups in the 2dF redshift survey: Galaxy Spectral Type Segregation in Groups

The behaviour of the relative fraction of galaxies with different spectral types in groups is analysed as a function of projected local galaxy density and the group-centric distance. The group sample was taken from the 2dF Group Galaxy Calatogue constructed by Merchán & Zandivarez. Our group sample was constrained to have a homogeneous virial mass distribution with redshift. Galaxies belonging to this group sample were selected in order to minimize possible biases such as preferential selection of high luminosity objects. We find a clear distinction between high virial mass groups ($M_V\gsim 10^{13.5} M_{\odot}$) and the less massive ones. While the massive groups show a significant dependence of the relative fraction of low star formation galaxies on local galaxy density and group-centric radius,groups with lower masses show no significant trends. We also cross-correlate our group subsample with the previously identified clusters finding that this sample shows a very similar behaviour as observed in the high virial mass group subsample.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Galaxy groups in the 2dF redshift survey: Effects of Environment on Star Formation

We estimate the fraction of star forming galaxies in a catalogue of groups, constructed from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey by Merchán & Zandivarez. We use the $η$ spectral type parameter of galaxies and subdivide the sample of galaxies in groups into four types depending on the values of the $η$ parameter following Madgwick et al. We obtain a strong correlation between the relative fraction of galaxies with high star formation and the parent group virial mass. We find that even in the environment of groups with low virial mass $M \sim 10^{13} M_{\odot}$ the star formation of their member galaxies is significantly suppressed. The relation between the fraction of early-type galaxies and the group virial mass obeys a simple power law spanning over three orders of magnitude in virial mass. Our results show quantitatively the way that the presence of galaxies with high star formation rates is inhibited in massive galaxy systems.

astro-ph↗