arXiv subjects

Luwenjia Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Luwenjia Zhou.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

What drives the velocity dispersion of ionized gas in star-forming galaxies?

We analyze the intrinsic velocity dispersion properties of 648 star-forming galaxies observed by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, to explore the relation of intrinsic gas velocity dispersions with star formation rates (SFRs), SFR surface densities ($\rm{Σ_{SFR}}$), stellar masses and stellar mass surface densities ($\rm{Σ_{*}}$). By combining with high z galaxies, we found that there is a good correlation between the velocity dispersion and the SFR as well as $\rm{Σ_{SFR}}$. But the correlation between the velocity dispersion and the stellar mass as well as $\rm{Σ_{*}}$ is moderate. By comparing our results with predictions of theoretical models, we found that the energy feedback from star formation processes alone and the gravitational instability alone can not fully explain simultaneously the observed velocity-dispersion/SFR and velocity-dispersion/$\rm{Σ_{SFR}}$ relationships.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Starbursts in and out of the star-formation main sequence

We use high-resolution continuum images obtained at 870microns with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to probe the surface density of star-formation in z~2 galaxies and study the different physical properties between galaxies within and above the star-formation main sequence of galaxies. This sample of eight star-forming galaxies at z~2 selected among the most massive Herschel galaxies in the GOODS-South field is supplemented with eleven galaxies from the public data of the 1.3 mm survey of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field. ALMA reveals systematically dense concentrations of dusty star-formation close to the center of the stellar component of the galaxies. We identify two different starburst regimes: (i) the classical population of starbursts located above the SFR-M* main sequence, with enhanced gas fractions and short depletion times and (ii) a sub-population of galaxies located within the scatter of the main sequence that experience compact star formation with depletion timescales typical of starbursts of ~150 Myr. In both starburst populations, the far infrared and UV are distributed in distinct regions and dust-corrected star formation rates estimated using UV-optical-NIR data alone underestimate the total star formation rate. Starbursts hidden in the main sequence show instead the lowest gas fractions of our sample and could represent the last stage of star-formation before they become passive. Being Herschel-selected, these main sequence galaxies are located in the high-mass end of the main sequence, hence we do not know whether these "starbursts hidden in the main sequence" also exist below 10^11 Msun. Active galactic nuclei are found to be ubiquitous in these compact starbursts, suggesting that the triggering mechanism also feeds the central black hole or that the active nucleus triggers star formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Re-visiting the extended Schmidt law: the important role of existing stars in regulating star formation

We revisit the proposed extended Schmidt law (Shi et al. 2011) which points that the star formation efficiency in galaxies depends on the stellar mass surface density, by investigating spatially-resolved star formation rates (SFRs), gas masses and stellar masses of star formation regions in a vast range of galactic environments, from the outer disks of dwarf galaxies to spiral disks and to merging galaxies as well as individual molecular clouds in M33. We find that these regions are distributed in a tight power-law as Sigma_SFR ~(Sigma_star^0.5 Sigma_gas )^1.09, which is also valid for the integrated measurements of disk and merging galaxies at high-z. Interestingly, we show that star formation regions in the outer disks of dwarf galaxies with Sigma_SFR down to 10^(-5) Msun/yr/kpc^2, which are outliers of both Kennicutt-Schmidt and Silk-Elmegreen law, also follow the extended Schmidt law. Other outliers in the Kennicutt-Schmidt law, such as extremely-metal poor star-formation regions, also show significantly reduced deviations from the extended Schmidt law. These results suggest an important role for existing stars in helping to regulate star formation through the effect of their gravity on the mid-plane pressure in a wide range of galactic environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

The dependence of the IR-radio correlation on the metallicity

We have compiled a sample of 26 metal-poor galaxies with 12 + log(O/H) < 8.1 with both infrared continuum and 1.4 GHz radio continuum data. By comparing to galaxies at higher metallicity, we have investigated the dependence on the metallicity of the IR-radio relationship at 24 um, 70 um, 100 um and 160 um bands as well as the integrated FIR luminosity. It is found that metal-poor galaxies have on average lower qIR than metal-rich ones with larger offsets at longer IR wavelengths, from -0.06 dex in q24um to -0.6 dex in q160um. The qIR of all galaxies as a whole at 160 um show positive trends with the metallicity and IR-to-FUV ratio, and negative trends with the IR color, while those at lower IR wavelengths show weaker correlations. We proposed a mechanism that invokes combined effects of low obscured-SFR/total-SFR fraction and warm dust temperature at low metallicity to interpret the above behavior of qIR, with the former reducing the IR radiation and the latter further reducing the IR emission at longer IR wavelength. Other mechanisms that are related to the radio emission including the enhanced magnetic field strength and increased thermal radio contribution are unable to reconcile the IR-wavelength-dependent differences of qIR between metal-poor and metal- rich galaxies. In contrast to qIR, the mean total-SFR/radio ratio of metal-poor galaxies is the same as the metal-rich one, indicating the 1.4 GHz radio emission is still an effective tracer of SFRs at low metallicity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: energy sources of the turbulent velocity dispersion in spatially-resolved local star-forming galaxies

We investigate the energy sources of random turbulent motions of ionised gas from H$α$ emission in eight local star-forming galaxies from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. These galaxies satisfy strict pure star-forming selection criteria to avoid contamination from active galactic nuclei (AGN) or strong shocks/outflows. Using the relatively high spatial and spectral resolution of SAMI, we find that -- on sub-kpc scales our galaxies display a flat distribution of ionised gas velocity dispersion as a function of star formation rate (SFR) surface density. A major fraction of our SAMI galaxies shows higher velocity dispersion than predictions by feedback-driven models, especially at the low SFR surface density end. Our results suggest that additional sources beyond star formation feedback contribute to driving random motions of the interstellar medium (ISM) in star-forming galaxies. We speculate that gravity, galactic shear, and/or magnetorotational instability (MRI) may be additional driving sources of turbulence in these galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

The Nuclear Activities of Nearby S0 Galaxies

We present a study of nuclear activities in nearby S0 galaxies. After cross-matching the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) with the Third Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies (RC3) and visually checking the SDSS images, we derive a sample of 583 S0 galaxies with the central spectrophotometric information. In order to separate nebular emission lines from the underlying stellar contribution, we fit the stellar population model to the SDSS spectra of these S0 galaxies. According to the BPT diagram, we find that $8\%$ of S0 galaxies show central star-forming activity, while the fractions of Seyfert, Composite and LINERs are 2\%, 8\%, and 21.4\%, respectively. We also find that star-forming S0s have the lowest stellar masses, over one magnitude lower than the others, and that the active S0s locate mainly in the sparse environment, while the normal S0s in the dense environment, which might suggest that the environment plays an important role in quenching star formation and/or AGN activity in S0 galaxies. By performing bulge-disk decomposition of 45 star-forming S0s in {\em g}- and {\em r}-bands with the 2D fitting software \textsc{Galfit}, as well as exploiting the catalog of 2D photometric decompositions of \citet{Meert2015}, we find that the bulges of $\sim$ 1/3 star-forming S0 galaxies (16/45) are bluer than their disks, while for other types of S0s, the bulge and disk components show similar color distributions. Besides, the Sérsic index of most star-forming S0s bulges is less than 2, while for normal S0s, it is between 2 and 6.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Spatially resolved dust emission of extremely metal poor galaxies

We present infrared (IR) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of individual star-forming regions in four extremely metal poor (EMP) galaxies with metallicity Z around Zsun/10 as observed by the Herschel Space Observatory. With the good wavelength coverage of the SED, it is found that these EMP star-forming regions show distinct SED shapes as compared to those of grand design Spirals and higher metallicity dwarfs: they have on average much higher f70um/f160um ratios at a given f160um/f250um ratio; single modified black-body (MBB) fittings to the SED at λ>= 100 um still reveal higher dust temperatures and lower emissivity indices compared to that of Spirals, while two MBB fittings to the full SED with a fixed emissivity index (beta = 2) show that even at 100 um about half of the emission comes from warm (50 K) dust, in contrast to the cold (~20 K) dust component. Our spatially resolved images further reveal that the far-IR colors including f70um/f160um, f160um/f250um and f250um/f350um are all related to the surface densities of young stars as traced by far-UV, 24 um and SFRs, but not to the stellar mass surface densities. This suggests that the dust emitting at wavelengths from 70 um to 350 um is primarily heated by radiation from young stars.

astro-ph.GA↗