arXiv subjects

Ghazaleh Erfanianfar

Publications and source records attributed to Ghazaleh Erfanianfar.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

The Sixteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra

This paper documents the sixteenth data release (DR16) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys; the fourth and penultimate from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). This is the first release of data from the southern hemisphere survey of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2); new data from APOGEE-2 North are also included. DR16 is also notable as the final data release for the main cosmological program of the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), and all raw and reduced spectra from that project are released here. DR16 also includes all the data from the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) and new data from the SPectroscopic IDentification of ERosita Survey (SPIDERS) programs, both of which were co-observed on eBOSS plates. DR16 has no new data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey (or the MaNGA Stellar Library "MaStar"). We also preview future SDSS-V operations (due to start in 2020), and summarize plans for the final SDSS-IV data release (DR17).

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arXiv2018

Chandra centres for COSMOS X-ray galaxy groups: Differences in stellar properties between central dominant and offset brightest group galaxies

We present the results of a search for galaxy clusters and groups in the $\sim2$ square degree of the COSMOS field using all available X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories. We reach an X-ray flux limit of $3\times10^{-16}\;ergs\;cm^{-2}\;s^{-1}$ in 0.5--2 keV range, and identify 247 X-ray groups with $M_{200c}=8\times10^{12}-3\times10^{14}\;M_{\odot}$ at a redshift range of $0.08\leq z<1.53$, using the multiband photometric redshift and the master spectroscopic redshift catalogues of the COSMOS. The X-ray centres of groups are determined using high-resolution Chandra imaging. We investigate the relations between the offset of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) from halo X-ray centre and group properties and compare with predictions from semi-analytic models and hydrodynamical simulations. We find that BGG offset decreases with both increasing halo mass and decreasing redshift with no strong dependence on the X-ray flux and SNR. We show that the BGG offset decreases as a function of increasing magnitude gap with no considerable redshift dependent trend. The stellar mass of BGGs in observations extends over a wider dynamic range compared to model predictions. At $z<0.5$, the central dominant BGGs become more massive than those with large offsets by up to 0.3dex, in agreement with model prediction. The observed and predicted lognormal scatter in the stellar mass of both low- and large-offset BGGs at fixed halo mass is $\sim0.3$dex.

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arXiv2018

Exploring Relations Between BCG \& Cluster Properties in the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources Survey from $0.05 < z < 0.3$

We present a sample of 329 low to intermediate redshift ($0.05 < z < 0.3$) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray selected clusters from the SPectroscopic IDentification of eRosita Sources (SPIDERS) survey, a spectroscopic survey within Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV (SDSS-IV). We define our BCGs by simultaneous consideration of legacy X-ray data from ROSAT, maximum likelihood outputs from an optical cluster-finder algorithm and visual inspection. Using SDSS imaging data, we fit Sérsic profiles to our BCGs in three bands (\textit{g}, \textit{r}, \textit{i}) with \textsc{SIGMA}, a \textsc{GALFIT}-based software wrapper. We examine the reliability of our fits by running our pipeline on ${\sim}10^{4}$ psf-convolved model profiles injected into 8 random cluster fields, we then use the results of this analysis to create a robust subsample of 198 BCGs. We outline three cluster properties of interest: overall cluster X-ray luminosity ($L_{X}$), cluster richness as estimated by \textsc{redMaPPer} ($ λ$) and cluster halo mass ($M_{200}$), which is estimated via velocity dispersion. In general, there are significant correlations with BCG stellar mass between all three environmental properties, but no significant trends arise with either Sérsic index or effective radius. There is no major environmental dependence on the strength of the relation between effective radius and BCG stellar mass. Stellar mass therefore arises as the most important factor governing BCG morphology. Our results indicate that our sample consists of a large number of relaxed, mature clusters containing broadly homogeneous BCGs up to $z \sim 0.3$, suggesting that there is little evidence for much ongoing structural evolution for BCGs in these systems.

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arXiv2016

Brightest Group Galaxies: Stellar Mass and Star Formation Rate (paper I)

We study the distribution and evolution of the stellar mass and the star formation rate (SFR) of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) over $ 0.04<z<1.3 $ using a large sample of $ 407 $ X-ray galaxy groups selected from the COSMOS, AEGIS, and XMM-LSS fields. We compare our results with predictions from the semi-analytic models based on the Millennium simulation. In contrast to model predictions, we find that, as the universe evolves, the stellar mass distribution evolves towards a normal distribution. This distribution tends to skew to low mass BGGs at all redshifts implying the presence of a star-forming population of the BGGs with $ M_S\sim10^{10.5} M_{\odot} $ which results in the shape of the stellar mass distribution deviating from a normal distribution. In agreement with models and previous studies, we find that the mean stellar mass of BGGs grows with time by a factor of $\sim2$ between $z=1.3$ to $z=0.1$, however, the significant growth occurs above $ z=0.4$. The BGGs are not entirely a dormant population of galaxies, as low mass BGGs in low mass halos are more active in forming stars than the BGGs in more massive halos, over the same redshift range. We find that the average SFR of the BGGs evolves steeply with redshift and fraction of the passive BGGs increases as a function of increasing stellar mass and halo mass. Finally, we show that the specific SFR of the BGGs within halos with $ M_{200} \leq 10^{13.4} M_{\odot} $ decreases with increasing halo mass at $ z<0.4 $.

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