arXiv subjects

Devika Shobhana

Publications and source records attributed to Devika Shobhana.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Deep Study of the Spiral Galaxy W2246f

In this era of large surveys and statistical studies of galaxies, the beauty in the details of individual galaxies is often lost. We present a deep study of the spiral galaxy W2246f with MUSE, exploring the spatially-resolved stellar and ionized gas properties to understand how it formed and evolved over time. The unusually deep observations of this galaxy give us a rare opportunity to study this phenomenon with better spatial resolution than can normally be achieved with the current IFU surveys of galaxies at a similar redshift ($z\sim0.09$). We analyse the stellar and gas kinematics, as well as the spatially resolved stellar populations and gas properties, including gas metallicity and the dominant ionization sources. The derived properties include the stellar mass, radial profiles of luminosity- and mass-weighted mean ages and metallicities, and ionized gas characteristics such as E(B-V), H$\alpha$ extinction, dust-corrected H$\alpha$ flux, oxygen abundance using the O3N2 calibrator, and H$\alpha$-based star formation rate. Analysis of the stellar populations revealed a negative metallicity gradient, and the mass-weighted ages showed uniformly flat ages across the disc while the luminosity-weighted ages show a negative gradient. We find that the gas metallicity and star formation rate density also drop in the central region of the galaxy where the older luminosity-weighted stellar populations are found. Analysis of the WHAN and WHaD diagrams reveal that in fact the central region is retired while the rest of the disc is star forming. We conclude that W2246f is a nice example of a cLIER galaxy, where the central kpc is dominated by old, metal-poor stars with little star formation. The central LIER emission is primarily powered by hot evolved stars, while the rest of the disc displays ongoing star formation. These findings are consistent with a scenario of inside-out quenching.

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arXiv2025

Probing the Physics of Dusty Outflows through Complex Organic Molecules in the Early Universe

Galaxy-scale outflows are of critical importance for galaxy formation and evolution. Dust grains are the main sites for the formation of molecules needed for star formation but are also important for the acceleration of outflows that can remove the gas reservoir critical for stellar mass growth. Using the MIRI medium-resolution integral field spectrograph aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we detect the 3.28 $μ$m aromatic and the 3.4 $μ$m aliphatic hydrocarbon dust features in absorption in a redshift 4.601 hot dust-obscured galaxy, blue-shifted by $Δ$V=$-5250^{+276}_{-339}$ kms$^{-1}$ from the systemic redshift of the galaxy. The extremely high velocity of the dust indicates that the wind was accelerated by radiation pressure from the central quasar. These results pave a novel way for probing the physics of dusty outflows in active galaxies at early cosmic time.

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arXiv2025

Powerful nuclear outflows and circumgalactic medium shocks driven by the most luminous known obscured quasar in the Universe

We report integral field spectroscopy observations with the Near-Infrared Spectrograph on board JWST targeting the 60 kpc environment surrounding the most luminous obscured quasar known at $z=4.6$. We detect ionized gas filaments on 40 kpc scales connecting a network of merging galaxies likely to form a cluster. We find regions of low ionization consistent with large-scale shock excitation surrounding the central dust-obscured quasar, out to distances nearly eight times the effective stellar radius of the quasar host galaxy. In the nuclear region, we find an ionized outflow driven by the quasar with velocities reaching 13,000 km s$^{-1}$, one of the fastest discovered to date with an outflow rate of 2000 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ and a kinetic luminosity of 6$\times10^{46}$ erg s$^{-1}$ resulting in coupling efficiency between the bolometric luminosity of the quasar and the outflow of 5%. The kinetic luminosity of the outflow is sufficient to power the turbulent motion of the gas on galactic and circumgalactic scales and is likely the primary driver of the radiative shocks on interstellar medium and circumgalactic medium scales. This provides compelling evidence supporting long-standing theoretical predictions that powerful quasar outflows are a main driver in regulating the heating and accretion rate of gas onto massive central cluster galaxies.

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arXiv2025

A Massive Gas Outflow Outside the Line-of-Sight: Imaging Polarimetry of the Blue Excess Hot Dust Obscured Galaxy W0204-0506

(Aims) Hot Dust Obscured Galaxies (Hot DOGs) are a population of hyper-luminous, heavily obscured quasars. Although nuclear obscurations close to Compton-thick are typical, a fraction show blue UV spectral energy distributions consistent with unobscured quasar activity, albeit two orders of magnitude fainter than expected from their mid-IR luminosity. The origin of the UV emission in these Blue excess Hot DOGs (BHDs) has been linked to scattered light from the central engine. Here we study the properties of the UV emission in the BHD WISE J020446.13-050640.8 (W0204-0506). (Methods) We use imaging polarization observations in the $R_{\rm Special}$ band obtained with the FORS2 instrument at VLT. We compare these data with radiative transfer simulations to constrain the characteristics of the scattering material. (Results) We find a spatially integrated polarization fraction of $24.7\pm 0.7$%, confirming the scattered-light nature of the UV emission of W0204-0506. The source is spatially resolved in the observations and we find a gradient in polarization fraction and angle that is aligned with the extended morphology of the source found in HST/WFC3 imaging. A dusty, conical polar outflow starting at the AGN sublimation radius with a half-opening angle $\lesssim 50~\rm deg$ viewed at an inclination $\gtrsim 45~\rm deg$ can reproduce the observed polarization fraction if the dust is graphite-rich. We find that the gas mass and outflow velocity are consistent with the range of values found for [OIII] outflows through spectroscopy in other Hot DOGs, though it is unclear whether the outflow is energetic enough to affect the long-term evolution of the host galaxy. Our study highlights the unique potential for polarization imaging to study dusty quasar outflows, providing complementary constraints to those obtained through traditional spectroscopic studies.

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arXiv2025

Resolving the black hole sphere of influence in a hyper-luminous obscured quasar at redshift 4.6

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) imprint gravitational signatures on the matter within their sphere of influence (SoI). Nuclear gas dynamics can hence be used to accurately measure the mass of an SMBH, yet such measurements remain elusive in the early Universe. We report the first dynamical measurement of an SMBH mass at $z >$ 2, based on high spatial resolution observations of the [C II]157.7um and CO (12-11) 216.93um emission lines that resolve the SoI in an obscured quasar at $z$ = 4.6. The radial profile of the velocity dispersion reveals a clear Keplerian rise, requiring the presence of an approximately 6 $\times$ 10$^9~\rm M_{\odot}$ SMBH. We propose that obscured quasarsallow tracers like [C II] to survive in the inner regions, and may be ideal targets for increasing dynamical SMBH mass estimates in the early Universe.

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arXiv2025

Spatially resolved dust properties over 50 kpc in a hyperluminous galaxy merger at $z = 4.6$

We present spatially resolved dust-continuum ALMA observations from rest-frame $\sim$60 to $\sim$600 $μ$m (bands 3-10) of the hyperluminous hot dust-obscured galaxy (hot DOG) WISE J224607.6-052634.9 (W2246-0526), at redshift $z=4.6$. W2246-0526 is interacting with at least three companion galaxies, forming a system connected by tidal streams. We model the multiwavelength ALMA observations of the dust continuum using a modified blackbody, from which we derive the dust properties (mass, emissivity index, area of the emitting region, and temperature) in the hot DOG and resolved structures across a region of nearly $\sim$50 kpc. The peak temperature at the location of the hot DOG, $\sim$110 K, is likely the consequence of heating by the central quasar. The dust temperature drops to $\sim$40 K at a radius of $\sim$8 kpc, suggesting that heating by the quasar beyond that distance is nondominant. The dust in the connecting streams between the host and companion galaxies is at temperatures between 30-40 K, typical of starburst galaxies, suggesting it is most likely heated by recent, in-situ star formation. This is the first time dust properties are spatially resolved over several tens of kpc in a galaxy system beyond Cosmic Noon --this is more than six times the scales previously probed in galaxies at those redshifts.

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arXiv2022

A Search for Missing Radio Sources at $z\gtrsim4$ Using Lyman Dropouts

Using the Lyman Dropout technique, we identify 148 candidate radio sources at $z \gtrsim 4 - 7$ from the 887.5 MHz Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) observations of the GAMA23 field. About 112 radio sources are currently known beyond redshift $z\sim4$. However, simulations predict that hundreds of thousands of radio sources exist in that redshift range, many of which are probably in existing radio catalogues but do not have measured redshifts, either because their optical emission is too faint or because of the lack of techniques that can identify candidate high-redshift radio sources (HzRSs). Our study addresses these issues using the Lyman Dropout search technique. This newly built sample probes radio luminosities that are 1-2 orders of magnitude fainter than known radio-active galactic nuclei (AGN) at similar redshifts, thanks to ASKAP's sensitivity. We investigate the physical origin of radio emission in our sample using a set of diagnostics: (i) radio luminosity at 1.4 GHz, (ii) 1.4 GHz-to-3.4 $μ$m flux density ratio, (iii) Far-IR detection, (iv) WISE colour, and (v) SED modelling. The radio/IR analysis has shown that the majority of radio emission in the faint and bright end of our sample's 887.5 MHz flux density distribution originates from AGN activity. Furthermore, $\sim10\%$ of our sample are found to have a 250 $μ$m detection, suggesting a composite system. This suggests that some high-$z$ radio-AGNs are hosted by SB galaxies, in contrast to low-$z$ radio-AGNs, which are usually hosted by quiescent elliptical galaxies.

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arXiv2020

Unexpected Circular Radio Objects at High Galactic Latitude

We have found a class of circular radio objects in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Pilot Survey, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. The objects appear in radio images as circular edge-brightened discs, about one arcmin diameter, that are unlike other objects previously reported in the literature. We explore several possible mechanisms that might cause these objects, but none seems to be a compelling explanation.

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arXiv2018

Ultraviolet and optical view of galaxies in the Coma Supercluster

The Coma supercluster (100 Mpc) offers an unprecedented contiguous range of environments in the nearby Universe. In this paper we present a catalogue of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies in the Coma supercluster detected in the ultraviolet (UV) wavebands. We use the arsenal of UV and optical data for galaxies in the Coma supercluster covering ~ 500 square degrees on the sky to study their photometric and spectroscopic properties as a function of environment at various scales. We identify the different components of the cosmic-web: large-scale filaments and voids using Discrete Persistent Structures Extractor, and groups and clusters using Hierarchical Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise, respectively. We find that in the Coma supercluster the median emission in Halpha inclines, while the g-r and FUV-NUV colours of galaxies become bluer moving further away from the spine of the filaments out to a radius of around 1 Mpc. On the other hand, an opposite trend is observed as the distance between the galaxy and centre of the nearest cluster or group decreases. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that properties of galaxies are not just defined by its stellar mass and large-scale density, but also by the environmental processes resulting due to the intrafilament medium whose role in accelerating galaxy transformations needs to be investigated thoroughly using multi-wavelength data.

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