arXiv subjects

Maritza A. Lara-López

Publications and source records attributed to Maritza A. Lara-López.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

GLACE survey: OSIRIS/GTC multi-object spectroscopy of the rich galaxy cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 at z~0.4. III. The mass-SFR relation and the quenching of cluster galaxies

Galaxy clusters are among the largest and densest structures in the Universe. Their high density generally increases the suppression of star formation, known as quenching, altering galaxy properties. We study the quenching of emission-line galaxies (ELGs) in the rich cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 (Cl0024) at redshift $z\sim0.4$, aiming to determine if and how star formation is suppressed. Using multi-object spectroscopy from the GLACE survey, we extracted fluxes and redshifts of [O II]$λ\lambda3727,3729$, $\mathrm{Hβ}$, and [O III]$\lambda5007$ emission lines to derive star formation rates (SFRs) for 173 ELGs. We also performed spectral energy distribution fitting to obtain key evolutionary parameters such as stellar masses ($M_\star$) and the 4000 Å break ($D4000$) index. We derived the $M_\star-\mathrm{SFR}$ relation for 98 star-forming galaxies (SFGs), finding 34.7% exhibit suppressed SFRs in the cluster, compared to 11.0% in the field. While the SFRs show no significant variation with local density, the fraction of SFGs is 1.55 times higher in the cluster outskirts than in intermediate-density regions. The specific SFR decreases strongly with $D4000$ for active SFGs but remains constant for suppressed galaxies. The fraction of suppressed galaxies in the infall region is 2.6 times higher than in the core, especially in the infalling structure B of the cluster. The cluster's total mass does not appear to be a key factor in SFG quenching. Star formation in Cl0024 galaxies is suppressed by the dense cluster environment. This suppression is evident in SFG fractions and parameters tracing long-term evolution, indicating prolonged quenching. The SFGs preferentially reside in low-density regions, while suppressed galaxies dominate the infall region, supporting a 'delayed-then-rapid' quenching scenario.

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arXiv2025

The role of young and evolved stars in the heating of dust in local galaxies

Context. Dust is a fundamental component of the interstellar medium (ISM) and plays a critical role in galaxy evolution. Dust grains influence the ISM by cooling the gas, altering its chemistry, and absorbing stellar radiation, re-emitting it at longer wavelengths in the far-infrared (FIR) and sub-millimeter regimes. The cold dust component, which dominates the dust mass, is primarily heated by stellar radiation, including both young, massive stars and the diffuse emission from older stars. Understanding dust heating is essential to trace the connection between stellar populations and their environments. Aims. We aim to identify the dominant heating mechanisms of the cold dust in typical nearby spiral galaxies and explore the contributions of young and evolved stars to dust heating. Methods. Using 18 large, face-on spiral galaxies from the DustPedia project, we apply two complementary approaches: (1) correlation analysis between dust temperature (T_dust), SFR surface density (Sigma_SFR), and stellar mass surface density (Sigma_Mstar); and (2) study of the relationship between T_dust and dust mass surface density (Sigma_dust). Results. T_dust peaks at ~24 K in galaxy centers and drops to ~15 K at large radii. Galaxies with and without AGNs show similar T_dust profiles. For ~72% of the sample, both methods agree on the dominant heating source. Overall, we find that both young and evolved stars contribute to dust heating, with their relative roles varying between galaxies.

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arXiv2025

Metal-THINGS: gas metallicity gradients in nearby galaxies

This paper explores the gas metallicity gradients in a sample of 25 nearby galaxies using new Integral Field Spectroscopy observations from the Metal-THINGS survey. We derive and study the resolved diffuse ionised gas content, Baldwin, Phillips and Terlevich diagrams and gas metallicities for our entire sample, at spatial resolutions of 40-300 pc. Gas metallicity gradients are studied as a function of the galaxy's stellar mass, H I gas fraction, diffuse ionised gas content, and using different parametric length scales for normalisation. The metallicity gradients are analysed using Bayesian statistics based on data from the Metal-THINGS survey. Bayesian MCMC models are developed to explore how metallicity gradients vary with a galaxy's mass and how they correlate with properties such as the stellar mass or the atomic gas fraction. For our sample, we find that the metallicity typically decreases with galactic radius, consistent with inside-out galaxy growth. We find a trend dependent on the stellar mass, with a break at log(M_star/M_sun)=9.5, and another between the metallicity gradients and the atomic gas fraction (f_g,HI) of a galaxy at fg,HI=0.75, indicating relatively shallower gradients for lower gas fractions. We find that normalisation using NUV-band effective radii are preferable for galaxies with a higher atomic gas content and lower stellar masses, while r-band radii are better suited for those with lower atomic gas fractions and more massive ones. Our results highlight a strong connection between gas content, stellar mass, and metallicity gradients. The breaks at log(M_star/M_sun)=9.5 and fg,HI=0.75 mark shifts in chemical enrichment behaviour, with low-mass galaxies showing greater sensitivity to gas processes. Overall, this points to gas accretion and removal as key drivers of chemical evolution in low-mass systems.

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arXiv2025

The OTELO survey: New evidence of downsizing from the specific star formation rates, stellar mass functions, and star formation histories of a sample of low-mass galaxies at 0.38<z<1.43

We present an analysis of the emitters (\ha, \hb, and \oii) from the OTELO survey, in order to characterize the star formation properties of low-mass galaxies ($<10^9$ M$_{\odot}$ stellar masses). We calculated the specific star formation rate function, the stellar mass function, and, by integrating them, the associated densities for both quantities: the specific star formation rate density and the stellar mass density. We obtained the star formation history of our low-mass sample galaxies by fitting the spectral energy distribution of the galaxies. We also compared our results with those from the literature at different mass regimes and redshifts. The specific star formation rate density and the stellar mass density for low-mass galaxies do not depend on the redshift, contrary to the behaviour presented by the high-mass galaxies. We found that the star formation histories of low-mass galaxies are characterized by a constant star formation rate, in contrast to high-mass galaxies. We interpret these results, in the context of the downsizing effect, as representative of the faster evolution of massive galaxies compared with low-mass ones.

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arXiv2024

Assessing the accuracy of the star formation rate measurements by direct star count in molecular clouds

Star formation estimates based on the counting of YSOs is commonly applied to nearby star-forming regions in the Galaxy. With this method, the SFRs are measured using the counts of YSOs in a particular protostellar Class, a typical protostellar mass, and the lifetime associated with this Class. However, the assumptions underlying the validity of the method such as that of a constant star formation history (SFH) and whether the method is valid for all protostellar Classes has never been fully tested. In this work, we use Monte Carlo models to test the validity of the method. We build synthetic clusters in which stars form at times that are randomly drawn from a specified SFH. The latter is either constant or time-dependent with a burst like behavior. The masses of the protostars are randomly drawn from an IMF which can be either similar to that of the Milky Way field or be variable . For each star in every cluster, the lifetimes associated with the different protostellar classes are also randomly drawn from Gaussian distribution functions centered around their most likely value as suggested by the observations. We find that only the SFR derived using the Class 0 population can reproduce the true SFR at all epochs, and this is true irrespective of the shape of the SFH. For a constant SFH, the SFR derived using the more evolved populations of protostars (Classes I, F, II, and III) reproduce the real SFR only at later epochs which correspond to epochs at which their numbers have reached a steady state. For a time-dependent burst-like SFH, all SFR estimates based on the number counts of the evolved populations fail to reproduce the true SFR. We also show how the offsets between Class I and Class II based SFRs and the true SFR plotted as a function of the number ratios of Class I and Class II versus Class III YSOs can be used in order to constrain the SFH of observed molecular clouds.

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arXiv2024

The Lockman--SpReSO project. Main properties of infrared selected star-forming galaxies

Methods.We applied distinct selection criteria to attain an SFG sample with minimal AGN contamination. Multiple approaches were used to estimate the intrinsic extinction, SFR and gas-phase metallicity for the SFGs. In conjunction with findings in the literature, we examined the correlation between SFRs and stellar masses ($M_*$), as well as the metallicity evolution depending on $M_*$. Finally, the 3D relationship between $M_*$, SFR and metallicity, is also studied.} Results. From the initial spectroscopic sample of 409 FIR-selected objects from the Lockman--SpReSO catalogue, 69 (17\%) AGNs have been identified and excluded, which is nearly double the percentage found in local studies, leaving a sample of 340 SFGs. The analysis of the $M_*$--SFR relationship revealed that Lockman--SpReSO IR-selected SFGs show signs of evolution at redshifts $z>0.4$, shifting above the main sequence, with a mean value of $\sim0.4$ dex. They are located within the starburst galaxy region since 78\% of the galaxies fall into this category. In addition, no evident flattening was found in the relation to specific SFR with redshift for $\log M_* (M_\odot) \gtrsim 10.5$. In line with the $M_*$--metallicity relation (MZR) outcomes published in previous studies for optically selected SFGs, however, during the analysis of the MZR, it was found that IR-selected SFGs exhibit lower metallicities than those anticipated on the basis of their $M_*$ and redshift. During the investigation of the 3D $M_*$--SFR--metallicity relation (FP), it was established that the research sample is consistent with relations in the existing literature, with an average scatter of $\sim0.2$ dex. However, a re-calibration of the FP when using the SFR obtained from the IR luminosity is required and, in this case, no attenuation in the correlation for $\log M_* (M_\odot) \gtrsim 10.5$ is observed.

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arXiv2024

GLACE survey: OSIRIS/GTC tuneable imaging of the galaxy cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 II. The mass--metallicity relationship and the effect of the environment

In this paper, we revisit the data for the galaxy cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 provided by the GLACE survey and study the mass--metallicity function and its relationship with the environment. Here we describe an alternative way to reduce the data from OSIRIS tunable filters. This method gives us better uncertainties in the fluxes of the emission lines and the derived quantities. We present an updated catalogue of cluster galaxies with emission in H$α$ and [N\,{\sc{ii}}] $λλ$6548,6583. We also discuss the biases of these new fluxes and describe the way in which we calculated the mass--metallicity relationship and its uncertainties. We generated a new catalogue of 84 emission-line galaxies with reliable fluxes in [N\,{\sc{ii}}] and H$α$ lines from a list of 174 galaxies. We find a relationship between the clustercentric radius and the density of galaxies. We derived the mass--metallicity relationship for ZwCl 0024.0+1652 and compared it with clusters and field galaxies from the literature. We find a difference in the mass--metallicity relationship when compared to more massive clusters, with the latter showing on average higher values of abundance. This could be an effect of the quenching of the star formation, which seems to be more prevalent in low-mass galaxies in more massive clusters. We find little to no difference between ZwCl 0024.0+1652 galaxies and field galaxies located at the same redshift.

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arXiv2024

The Lockman-SpReSO project. Galactic flows in a sample of far-infrared galaxies

Methods. We performed measurements of the \MgII, \MgI, \FeIIa, \FeIIb, and \FeIIc\ spectral lines present in the spectra of the selected sample to determine the EW and velocity of the flows observed in the star-forming galaxies. Subsequently, we conducted $10^7$ bootstrap simulations using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ($ρ_s$) to explore correlations with galaxy properties. Furthermore, we calculated the covering factor, gas density, and optical depth for the measured \ion{Fe}{II} doublets. Results. Our analysis revealed strong correlations between the EW of \ion{Mg}{II} lines and both $M_{*}$ ($ρ_s=0.43$, 4.5$σ$) and SFR ($ρ_s=0.42$, 4.4$σ$). For the \ion{Fe}{II} lines, we observed strong correlations between the EW and SFR ($ρ_s\sim0.65$, $>3.9σ$), with a weaker correlation for $M_{*}$ ($ρ_s\sim0.35$, $>1.9σ$). No notable correlations were found between velocity measurements of \ion{Mg}{II} line and $M_{*}$, SFR, or sSFR of the objects ($ρ_s\sim0.1)$. However, a negative strong correlation was found between the velocity of the \ion{Fe}{II} lines and the SFR of the galaxies ($ρ_s\sim-0.45$, $\sim3σ$). Our results align with previous studies but studying FIR-selected objects. Finally, we detected a candidate \textit{loitering outflow}, a recently discovered subtype of FeLoBAL quasar, at redshift of $z=1.4399$, exhibiting emission in \ion{C}{III}] and low line velocities ($|v|\lesssim$ 200 km/s).

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arXiv2023

The massive relic galaxy NGC 1277 is dark matter deficient. From dynamical models of integral-field stellar kinematics out to five effective radii

According to the $Λ$CDM cosmology, present-day galaxies with stellar masses $M_\star>10^{11} {\rm M}_\odot$ should contain a sizable fraction of dark matter within their stellar body. Models indicate that in massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) dark matter should account for $\sim60\%$ of the dynamical mass within five effective radii ($5 R_{\rm e}$). Most massive ETGs have been shaped through a two-phase process: the rapid growth of a compact core was followed by the accretion of an extended envelope through mergers. The exceedingly rare galaxies that have avoided the second phase, the so-called relic galaxies, are thought to be the frozen remains of the massive ETG population at $z\gtrsim2$. The best relic galaxy candidate discovered to date is NGC 1277, in the Perseus cluster. We used deep integral field GCMS data to revisit NGC 1277 out to an unprecedented radius of 6 kpc (corresponding to $5 R_{\rm e}$). By using Jeans anisotropic modelling we find a negligible dark matter fraction within $5 R_{\rm e}$ ($f_{\rm DM}(5 R_{\rm e})<0.05$; two-sigma confidence level), which is in tension with the expectation. Since the lack of an extended envelope would reduce dynamical friction and prevent the accretion of an envelope, we propose that NGC 1277 lost its dark matter very early or that it was dark matter deficient ab initio. We discuss our discovery in the framework of recent proposals suggesting that some relic galaxies may result from dark matter stripping as they fell in and interacted within galaxy clusters. Alternatively, NGC 1277 might have been born in a high-velocity collision of gas-rich proto-galactic fragments, where dark matter left behind a disc of dissipative baryons. We speculate that the relative velocities of $\approx2000 {\rm km/s}$ required for the latter process to happen were possible in the progenitors of the present-day rich galaxy clusters.

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arXiv2023

NGC 1436: the making of a lenticular galaxy in the Fornax cluster

We study the evolutionary path of the Fornax cluster galaxy NGC$~$1436, which is known to be currently transitioning from a spiral into a lenticular morphology. This galaxy hosts an inner star-forming disc and an outer quiescent disc, and we analyse data from the MeerKAT Fornax Survey, ALMA, and the Fornax3D survey to study the interstellar medium and the stellar populations of both disc components. Thanks to the combination of high resolution and sensitivity of the MeerKAT data, we find that the $\textrm{H}\scriptstyle\mathrm{I}$ is entirely confined within the inner star-forming disc, and that its kinematics is coincident with that of the CO. The cold gas disc is now well settled, which suggests that the galaxy has not been affected by any environmental interactions in the last $\sim1~$Gyr. The star formation history derived from the Fornax3D data shows that both the inner and outer disc experienced a burst of star formation $\sim5$ Gyr ago, followed by rapid quenching in the outer disc and by slow quenching in the inner disc, which continues forming stars to this day. We claim that NGC$~$1436 has begun to effectively interact with the cluster environment 5$~$Gyr ago, when a combination of gravitational and hydrodynamical interactions caused the temporary enhancement of the star-formation rate. Furthermore, due to the weaker gravitational binding $\textrm{H}\scriptstyle\mathrm{I}$ was stripped from the outer disc, causing its rapid quenching. At the same time, accretion of gas onto the inner disc stopped, causing slow quenching in this region.

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arXiv2021

The structure and characteristic scales of the HI gas in galactic disks

The spatial distribution of the HI gas in galaxies holds important clues on the physical processes that shape the structure and dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM). In this work, we quantify the structure of the HI gas in a sample of 33 nearby galaxies taken from the THINGS Survey using the delta-variance spectrum. The THINGS galaxies display a large diversity in their spectra, however, there are a number of recurrent features. In many galaxies, we observe a bump in the spectrum on scales of a few to several hundred pc. We find the characteristic scales associated with the bump to be correlated with galactic SFR for values of the SFR > 0.5 M$_{sol}$ yr$^{-1}$ and also with the median size of the HI shells detected in those galaxies. On larger scales, we observe the existence of two self-similar regimes. The first one, on intermediate scales is shallow and the power law that describes this regime has an exponent in the range [0.1-1] with a mean value of 0.55 which is compatible with the density field being generated by supersonic turbulence in the cold phase of the HI gas. The second power law is steeper, with a range of exponents between [0.5-1.5] and a mean value of 1.5. These values are associated with subsonic turbulence which is characteristic of the warm phase of the HI gas. The spatial scale at which the transition between the two regimes occurs is found to be $\approx 0.5 R_{25}$ which is similar to the size of the molecular disk in the THINGS galaxies. Overall, our results suggest that on scales < $0.5 R_{25}$, the structure of the ISM is affected by the effects of supernova explosions. On larger scales (> 0.5 $R_{25}$), stellar feedback has no significant impact, and the structure of the ISM is determined by large scale processes that govern the dynamics of the gas in the warm neutral medium such as the flaring of the HI disk and the effects of ram pressure stripping.

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arXiv2021

Non-Sequential Neural Network for Simultaneous, Consistent Classification and Photometric Redshifts of OTELO Galaxies

Context. Computational techniques are essential for mining large databases produced in modern surveys with value-added products. Aims. This paper presents a machine learning procedure to carry out simultaneously galaxy morphological classification and photometric redshift estimates. Currently, only spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting has been used to obtain these results all at once. Methods. We used the ancillary data gathered in the OTELO catalog and designed a non-sequential neural network that accepts optical and near-infrared photometry as input. The network transfers the results of the morphological classification task to the redshift fitting process to ensure consistency between both procedures. Results. The results successfully recover the morphological classification and the redshifts of the test sample, reducing catastrophic redshift outliers produced by SED fitting and avoiding possible discrepancies between independent classification and redshift estimates. Our technique may be adapted to include galaxy images to improve the classification.

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arXiv2021

The OTELO survey: the star formation rate evolution of low-mass galaxies

We present the analysis of a sample of \ha\,, \hb\ and \oii\ emission line galaxies from the \otelo\ survey, with masses typically below $log(M_*/M_\sun) \sim 9.4$ and redshifts between $z \sim 0.4$ and 1.43. We study the star formation rate, star formation rate density, and number density and their evolution with redshift. We obtain a robust estimate of the specific star formation rate -- stellar mass relation based on the lowest mass sample published so far. We also determine a flat trend of the star formation rate density and number density with redshift. Our results suggest a scenario of no evolution of the number density of galaxies, regardless of their masses, up to redshift $z\sim1.4$. This implies a gradual change of the relative importance of the star forming processes, from high-mass galaxies to low-mass galaxies, with decreasing redshift. We also find little or no variation of the star formation rate density in the redshift range of $0.4<z<1.43$.

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arXiv2021

The OTELO survey: Revealing a population of low-luminosity current/active star-forming galaxies at z$\sim0.9$

We study a sample of H$β$ emission line sources at $z\sim$0.9 to identify the star-forming (SF) galaxies sample and characterise them in terms of line luminosity, stellar mass, SFR, and morphology. The final aim is to obtain the H$β$ luminosity function (LF) of the SF galaxies at this redshift. We used the instrument OSIRIS at GTC to obtain the pseudo spectra of emission line sources in the OTELO field. From these pseudo spectra, we identified the objects with H$β$ emission. As the resolution of the pseudo spectra allowed us to separate H$β$ from O[III], we derive the H$β$ flux without contamination. Using data from the extended OTELO catalogue, we discriminated AGNs and studied the SFR, the stellar mass, and the morphology of the SF galaxies. We find that our sample is located on the main sequence of SF galaxies. The sources are morphologically classified, mostly as disc-like galaxies (76%), and 90% of the sample are low-mass galaxies ($M_*<10^{10}\;\mathrm{M}_\odot$). The low-mass SF galaxies at $z \sim 0.9$ that were detected by OTELO present similar properties as low-mass SF galaxies in the local universe, suggesting that these kinds of objects do not have a favorite epoch of formation and star formation enhancement from $z \sim 1$ to now. Our sample of 40 H$β$ SF galaxies includes the faintest H$β$ emitters detected so far. This allows us to constrain the faint end of the LF for the H$β$ line alone with a minimum luminosity of $\log L = 39 \;\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}$, which is a hundred times fainter than previous surveys. The dust-corrected OTELO H$β$ LF established the faint-end slope as $α=-1.36\pm 0.15$. We increased the scope of the analysis to the bright end by adding ancillary data from the literature, which was not dust-corrected in this case. The obtained slope for this extended LF is $α= -1.43\pm 0.12$.

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arXiv2021

The OTELO survey: Faint end of the luminosity function of [OII] emitters at = 1.43

In this paper, we aim to study the main properties and luminosity function (LF) of the [OII] emitters detected in the OTELO survey in order to characterise the star formation processes in low-mass galaxies at $z\sim1.43$ and to constrain the faint-end of the LF. Here, we describe the selection method and analysis of the emitters obtained from narrow-band scanning techniques. In addition, we present several relevant properties of the emitters and discuss the selection biases and uncertainties in the determination of the LF and the star formation rate density (SFRD). We confirmed a total of 60 sources from a preliminary list of 332 candidates as [OII] emitters. Approximately 93% of the emitters have masses in the range of $10^{8}<M_{*}/{\rm M_{\odot}}<10^{9}$. All of our emitters are classified as late-type galaxies, with a lower value of $(u-v)$\, when compared with the rest of the emitters of the OTELO survey. We find that the cosmic variance strongly affects the normalisation ($ϕ^*$) of the LF and explains the discrepancy of our results when compared with those obtained from surveys of much larger volumes. However, we are able to determine the faint-end slope of the LF, namely, $α=-1.42\pm0.06$, by sampling the LF down to $\sim1$\,dex lower than in previous works. We present our calculation of the SFRD of our sample and compare it to the value obtained in previous studies from the literature.

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arXiv2021

AlFoCS + F3D II: unexpectedly low gas-to-dust ratios in the Fornax galaxy cluster

We combine observations from ALMA, ATCA, MUSE, andHerschel to study gas-to-dust ratios in 15 Fornax cluster galaxies detected in the FIR/sub-mm by Herschel and observed by ALMA as part of the ALMA Fornax Cluster Survey (AlFoCS). The sample spans a stellar mass range of 8.3 $\leq$ log (M$_*$ / M$_\odot$) $\leq$ 11.16, and a variety of morphological types. We use gas-phase metallicities derived from MUSE observations (from the Fornax3D survey) to study these ratios as a function of metallicity, and to study dust-to-metal ratios, in a sub-sample of nine galaxies. We find that gas-to-dust ratios in Fornax galaxies are systematically lower than those in field galaxies at fixed stellar mass/metallicity. This implies that a relatively large fraction of the metals in these Fornax systems is locked up in dust, which is possibly due to altered chemical evolution as a result of the dense environment. The low ratios are not only driven by HI deficiencies, but H$_2$-to-dust ratios are also significantly decreased. This is different in the Virgo cluster, where low gas-to-dust ratios inside the virial radius are driven by low HI-to-dust ratios, while H$_2$-to-dust ratios are increased. Resolved observations of NGC1436 show a radial increase in H$_2$-to-dust ratio, and show that low ratios are present throughout the disc. We propose various explanations for the low H$_2$-to-dust ratios in the Fornax cluster, including the more efficient stripping of H$_2$ compared to dust, more efficient enrichment of dust in the star formation process, and altered ISM physics in the cluster environment.

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arXiv2021

The OTELO survey as a morphological probe. Last ten Gyr of galaxy evolution. The mass--size relation up to z=2

The morphology of galaxies provide us with a unique tool for relating and understanding other physical properties and their changes over the course of cosmic time. It is only recently that we have been afforded access to a wealth of data for an unprecedented number galaxies thanks to large and deep surveys, We present the morphological catalogue of the OTELO survey galaxies detected with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)-ACS F814W images. We explore various methods applied in previous works to separate early-type (ET) and late-type (LT) galaxies classified via spectral energy distribution (SED) fittings using galaxy templates. Together with this article, we are releasing a catalogue containing the main morphological parameters in the F606W and F814W bands derived for more than 8\,000 sources. The morphological analysis is based on the single-Sérsic profile fit. We used the GALAPAGOS2 software to provide multi-wavelength morphological parameters fitted simultaneously in two HST-ACS bands. The GALAPAGOS2 software detects, prepares guess values for GALFTI-M, and provides the best-fitting single-Sérsic model in both bands for each source. Stellar masses were estimated using synthetic rest-frame magnitudes recovered from SED fittings of galaxy templates. The morphological catalogue is complemented with concentration indexes from a separate SExtractor dual, high dynamical range mode. A total of 8,812 sources were successfully fitted with single-Sérsic profiles. The analysis of a carefully selected sample of ~3,000 sources up to phot_z=2 is presented in this work, of which 873 sources were not detected in previous studies. We found no statistical evidence for the evolution of the low-mass end of mass-size relation for ET and LT since z=2. Furthermore, we found a good agreement for the median size evolution for ET and LT galaxies, for a given stellar mass, with the data from the literature.

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arXiv2020

Metal-THINGS: On the metallicity and ionization of ULX sources in NGC 925

We present an analysis of the optical properties of three Ultra Luminous X-ray (ULX) sources identified in NGC 925. We use Integral field unit data from the George Mitchel spectrograph in the context of the Metal-THINGS survey. The optical properties for ULX-1 and ULX-3 are presented, while the spaxel associated with ULX-2 had a low S/N, which prevented its analysis. We also report the kinematics and dimensions of the optical nebula associated with each ULX using ancillary data from the PUMA Fabry-Perot spectrograph. A BPT analysis demonstrates that most spaxels in NGC 925 are dominated by star-forming regions, including those associated with ULX-1 and ULX-3. Using the resolved gas-phase metallicities, a negative metallicity gradient is found, consistent with previous results for spiral galaxies, while the ionization parameter tends to increase radially throughout the galaxy. Interestingly, ULX-1 shows a very low gas metallicity for its galactocentric distance, identified by two independent methods, while exhibiting a typical ionization. We find that such low gas metallicity is best explained in the context of the high-mass X-ray binary population, where the low-metallicity environment favours active Roche lobe overflows that can drive much higher accretion rates. An alternative scenario invoking accretion of a low-mass galaxy is not supported by the data in this region. Finally, ULX-3 shows both a high metallicity and ionization parameter, which is consistent with the progenitor being a highly-accreting neutron star within an evolved stellar population region.

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