arXiv subjects

Michalina Maksymowicz-Maciata

Publications and source records attributed to Michalina Maksymowicz-Maciata.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

KiDS J1447-0149: The first spatially resolved spectroscopy of a relic galaxy beyond the local universe. An old high-dispersion core embedded in a compact rotating stellar structure

Relic galaxies are the descendants of high-redshift compact quiescent systems. We present the first spatially resolved spectroscopic study of J1447-0149, a massive relic at $z=0.21$, observed with MUSE+AO. We characterize its kinematics and stellar population properties to probe its spatially resolved mass assembly history. We measured stellar kinematics with sub-kpc bin sizes, covering $\sim 1.4$ effective radii. We then used a coarser three-bin configuration informed by the kinematics to recover the higher-order velocity moments, $[α/{\rm Fe}]$, stellar age and metallicity. We reconstructed the star formation history and computed the degree of relicness (DoR). MUSE data reveal a velocity gradient, showing that J1447-0149 is not purely pressure supported. The velocity-dispersion field displays a central peak, reaching $σ_\star=233\pm13\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}}$, substantially larger than previous seeing-limited measurements ($σ_{\star} =187 \pm 9\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}}$). The $h_3$--$V_\star$ anti-correlation and mildly positive $h_4$ values support a composite structure, with a rotating stellar component surrounding a compact dynamically hot core. This central, dispersion-dominated region is also the oldest and most metal-rich component. Its SFH rises rapidly, with the stellar mass assembled within $\sim2\,{\rm Gyr}$ after the Big Bang, and reaches ${\rm DoR}=0.9^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$. The two outer bins have a DoR value of ${\rm DoR}=0.8\pm0.2$, consistent with the central bin, but possibly indicating slightly longer formation times. Spatially resolved spectroscopy has been crucial to confirm the relic nature of J1447-0149, linking resolved morphology, kinematics, and stellar populations to constrain the early assembly of its central spheroid and surrounding disk.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

E-INSPIRE - II. Finding relics from wide-sky multi-band surveys: A proof-of-concept machine learning regression algorithm

In this second paper of the E-INSPIRE series, we train a machine-learning-based regression on $\sim430$ nearby ($z<0.5$) ultra-compact massive galaxies (UCMGs) with spectroscopically inferred kinematics, stellar population parameters and a measured ``degree of relicness'' (DoR). Our goal is to investigate how robustly the spectroscopically inferred DoR can be statistically reconstructed from observable galaxy properties, and to explore the potential applicability of this framework to future wide-area surveys. We test several regression algorithms finding that Support Vector Regression (SVR) provides the best performance. We explore multiple input feature configurations, from a minimal set including only age and metallicity to more comprehensive ones incorporating stellar population parameters, kinematics, structural properties, and the associated uncertainties. All tested models achieve similarly high performance on the training set ($R^2\ge0.81$), except for the minimal configuration ($R^2\sim0.78$). When evaluated on an independent INSPIRE sample of 52 UCMGs, the predictive power remains robust, although with increased model-to-model variation. The DoR distribution shows three regimes, with low (DoR$<0.3$) and high (DoR$>0.6$) values sparsely populated, leading to mild regression shrinkage toward intermediate values. However, this behaviour enables a conservative selection strategy: galaxies with predicted DoR$\ge0.6$ are strongly biased toward genuine extreme relics, making them prime targets for follow-up observations. This proof-of-concept confirms that the spectroscopically inferred DoR is robustly connected to observable stellar population and kinematical properties, and provides a first step toward future relic-candidate selection strategies in large photometric and spectroscopic surveys.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

MIGHTEE-HI: Environmental effects of cosmic filaments on extragalactic HI detections in the COSMOS and XMM-LSS fields

Cosmic filaments have been recognised as influencing galaxy evolution, but their connection to galactic cold gas reservoirs is elusive, particularly at low redshifts. We investigate the influence of filaments on neutral hydrogen (HI) detections in galaxies at $0.02<z<0.09$, using the MeerKAT International GHz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) survey in the COSMOS and XMM-LSS fields. We measure the fraction of optical galaxies from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey detected in HI emission as a function of stellar mass, morphology, local density, and the distance to the nearest filament. We find that galaxies closer to filaments have higher stellar masses, higher local densities, and a larger early-type fraction, all of which affect the HI detection. After controlling for these dependencies, filaments have measurable effects on HI detection. Late-type galaxies in low-local density environments show reduced HI detection fractions close to filaments across all stellar mass ranges, suggesting potential gas depletion through ram pressure stripping and cosmic web detachment. Massive early-type galaxies show an enhanced HI detection fraction in filaments compared to the voids, suggesting possible gas replenishment through filamentary accretion or gas-rich mergers. Our results suggest that cosmic filaments influence galactic HI gas reservoirs through various competing processes, whose relative importance varies with stellar mass and local density.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

MIGHTEE-HI / LADUMA: Investigating the link between baryons and dynamics with 130 resolved HI-selected galaxies

The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (bTFR) and the radial acceleration relation (RAR) link the observed dynamics in galaxies to that expected from their baryonic mass distributions. The relations' small intrinsic scatters place strong constraints on galaxy formation models, dark matter properties and theories of modified dynamics, yet detailed measurements beyond the very local Universe remain limited. We use 130 purely HI-selected galaxies with resolved HI kinematics and baryonic mass profiles to measure the bTFR and RAR up to $z\approx0.09$. We measure a tight RAR with an acceleration scale $a_0=(1.50\pm0.05)\times10^{-10},{\rm m,s^{-2}}$ and an intrinsic scatter of $0.096\pm0.006$ dex, consistent with local results. We fit the bTFR in the `inverse' direction, conditioning on $M_{\rm bar}$ to mitigate HI flux-related selection effects, measuring a logarithmic slope of $0.27\pm0.01$ (corresponding to a forward slope of $3.72\pm0.16$), with vertical intrinsic scatter $σ_\perp\approx0.05$ dex. Fitting the general $δ$-family of MOND interpolating functions to the RAR, we infer $δ=4.10^{+1.4}_{-0.68}$, consistent with the value required by Solar System gravitational constraints and a null Wide Binary Test. We find no significant redshift evolution in the RAR acceleration scale for our pure HI-selected sample. However, the bTFR zero-point shows an apparent evolutionary trend that is strongly dependent on the fit direction: the traditional forward fit yields an $8.7σ$ preference for $z$ evolution, while for our fiducial inverse fit, this reduces to $3.4σ$, within $\approx2σ$ of the RAR evolution constraint. This suggests selection effects bias the forward fit; a careful consideration of such effects will be required in future endeavours to robustly measure the redshift evolution of dynamical scaling relations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

MIGHTEE-HI: HI catalogue of 293 sources for the COSMOS field and comparative study of 3-dimensional source finding methods

We present a catalogue of HI sources extracted from the MIGHTEE survey data cubes covering the COSMOS field. The catalogue contains 293 sources in the redshift range of 0.004 < z < 0.093. In addition to HI masses and velocity widths, the catalogue includes optical through near-infrared photometry and inferred stellar masses and star-formation rates. The quantity of sources in the HI catalogue acquired through untargeted source finding is greatly influenced by the source finding methods used. This study therefore also provides a well-characterised expected completeness of the detected sample of galaxies based on their properties, informing of any detection biases, inferred through a comparative study of different source finding algorithms. We have tested the performance of widely-used source finders: PyBDSF, ProFound and SoFiA, along with new source finder LESHI, focusing exclusively on HI source detection rather than source characterisation in the first instance. The source finders were tested by injecting a sample of simulated galaxies divided into narrow bins of mass, inclination and distance into a MeerKAT data cube. The results inform the source finding strategies for the MeerKAT International GigaHertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) survey, as well as upcoming SKAO surveys.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

MIGHTEE-HI: The radial acceleration relation with resolved stellar mass measurements

The radial acceleration relation (RAR) is a fundamental relation linking baryonic and dark matter in galaxies by relating the observed acceleration derived from dynamics to the one estimated from the baryonic mass. This relation exhibits small scatter, thus providing key constraints for models of galaxy formation and evolution -- allowing us to map the distribution of dark matter in galaxies -- as well as models of modified dynamics. However, it has only been extensively studied in the very local Universe with largely heterogeneous samples. We present a new measurement of the RAR, utilising a homogeneous sample of 19 HI-selected galaxies out to $z=0.08$. We introduce a novel approach of measuring resolved stellar masses using spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting across 10 photometric bands to determine the resolved mass-to-light ratio, which we show is essential for measuring the acceleration due to baryons in the low-acceleration regime. Our results reveal a tight RAR with a low-acceleration power-law slope of $\sim 0.5$, consistent with previous studies. Adopting a spatially varying mass-to-light ratio yields the tightest RAR with an intrinsic scatter of only $0.045 \pm 0.022$ dex, highlighting the importance of resolved stellar mass measurements in accurately characterising the gravitational contribution of the baryons in low-mass, gas-rich galaxies. We also find the first tentative evidence for redshift evolution in the acceleration scale, but more data will be required to confirm this. Adopting a more general MOND interpolating function, we find that our results ameliorate the tension between previous RAR analyses, the Solar System quadrupole and wide-binary test.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

INSPIRE: INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics VIII. Emission lines and UV colours in ultra-compact massive galaxies

We report the discovery of emission lines in the optical spectra of ultra-compact massive galaxies (UCMGs) from INSPIRE, including relics, which are the oldest galaxies in the Universe. Emission-lines diagnostic diagrams suggest that all these UCMGs, independently of their star formation histories, are `retired galaxies'. They are inconsistent with being star-forming but lie in the same region of shock-driven emissions or photoionisation models, incorporating the contribution from post-asymptotic giant branch (pAGB) stars. Furthermore, all but one INSPIRE objects have a high [OII]/Hα ratio, resembling what has been reported for normal-size red and dead galaxies. The remaining object (J1142+0012) is the only one to show clear evidence for strong active galactic nucleus activity from its spectrum. We also provide near-UV (far-UV) fluxes for 20 (5) INSPIRE objects that match in GALEX. Their NUV-r colours are consistent with those of galaxies lying in the UV green valley, but also with the presence of recently (<0.5 Gyr) formed stars at the sub-percent fraction level. This central recent star formation could have been ignited by gas that was originally ejected during the pAGB phases and then re-compressed and brought to the core by the ram-pressure stripping of Planetary Nebula envelopes. Once in the centre, it can be shocked and re-emit spectral lines.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

E-INSPIRE -- I. Bridging the gap with the local Universe: Stellar population of a statistical sample of ultra-compact massive galaxies at $z<0.3$

This paper presents the first effort to Extend the Investigation of Stellar Populations In RElics (E-INSPIRE). We present a catalogue of 430 spectroscopically-confirmed ultra-compact massive galaxies (UCMGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at redshifts $0.01 25\%$) of their stellar mass at $z<2$. We confirm that an efficient method of finding relics is to select UCMGs with large velocity dispersion values but we believe that the most efficient way is to select high velocity dispersion objects that also have super-solar metallicities and high [Mg/Fe].

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arXiv2024

INSPIRE: INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics -- VII. The local environment of ultra-compact massive galaxies

Relic galaxies, the oldest ultra-compact massive galaxies (UCMGs), contain almost exclusively "pristine" stars formed during an intense star formation (SF) burst at high redshift. As such, they allow us to study in detail the early mechanism of galaxy assembly in the Universe. Using the largest catalogue of spectroscopically confirmed UCMGs for which a degree of relicness (DoR) had been estimated, the INSPIRE catalogue, we investigate whether or not relics prefer dense environments. The objective of this study is to determine if the DoR, which measures how extreme the SF history was, and the surrounding environment are correlated. In order to achieve this goal, we employ the AMICO galaxy cluster catalogue to compute the probability for a galaxy to be a member of a cluster, and measure the local density around each UCMG using machine learning-based photometric redshifts. We find that UCMGs can reside both in clusters and in the field, but objects with very low DoR (< 0.3, i.e., a relatively extended SF history) prefer under-dense environments. We additionally report a correlation between the DoR and the distance from the cluster centre: more extreme relics, when located in clusters, tend to occupy the more central regions of them. We finally outline potential evolution scenarios for UCMGs at different DoR to reconcile their presence in both clusters and field environments

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

INSPIRE: INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics VI -- The low-mass end slope of the stellar Initial Mass Function and chemical composition

The INSPIRE project has built the largest sample of ultra-compact massive galaxies (UCMGs) at 0.1 2, and the other stellar population parameters.We use the Full-Index-Fitting method to fit the INSPIRE spectra to single stellar population (SSP) models. This allows us to measure, for the first time, the low-mass end slope of the IMF, as well as stellar metallicity [M/H], [Mg/Fe], [Ti/Fe] and [Na/Fe] ratios, and study correlations between them and the DoR. Similarly to normal-sized galaxies, UCMGs with larger stellar masses have overall higher metallicities. We found a correlation between the low-mass end of the IMF slope and the DoR, that, however, breaks down for systems with a more extended SFH. An even stronger dependency is found between the IMF and the fraction of mass formed at high-z. At equal velocity dispersion and metallicity, galaxies with a higher DoR have a dwarf-richer IMF than that of low-DoR counterparts. This might indicate that the cosmic epoch and formation mechanisms influence the fragmentation of the star formation cloud and hence might be the explanation for IMF variations detected in massive ETGs.

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