arXiv subjects

Michel Fioc

Publications and source records attributed to Michel Fioc.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Origins of Carbon Dust in a JWST-Observed Primeval Galaxy at $z\sim$6.7

JADES-GS-z6-0, a high-redshift galaxy ($z \sim 6.7$) recently observed as part of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), exhibits a distinct bump in its rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) spectrum indicative of a large quantity of hydrocarbon grains, a sign of rapid metal and dust enrichment in its interstellar medium (ISM). This galaxy serves as an ideal case for examining rapid dust formation processes in the early universe. We investigated diverse dust production channels from a possible maximal formation redshift of $z_{\rm form} \approx 17$, enabling dust contributions from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars over the longest possible timescale. Our model simultaneously reproduces key spectral features of JADES-GS-z6-0 such as its Balmer decrement, UV slope, and UV bump. The match is obtained by adopting a star-formation history in which a burst at $\sim 600$~Myr accounts for approximately 30\% of the galaxy's final stellar mass. Our findings indicate two pathways for the formation of hydrocarbon grains, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): (1) efficient dust accretion within the ISM, necessitating a low depletion of metals into dust grains from Type II supernovae ($\approx 10$\%), or (2) dust production predominantly by Type II supernovae, requiring a high depletion fraction ($\approx 73$\%) without dust accretion. We further demonstrate that PAHs are unlikely to originate solely from AGB stars or from shattering of large grains in the ISM. The evolution of the UV slope with redshift points to a complex and bursty star formation history for galaxies observed by JADES.

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arXiv2019

P\'egase.3: A code for modeling the UV-to-IR/submm spectral and chemical evolution of galaxies with dust

A code computing consistently the evolution of stars, gas and dust, as well as the energy they radiate, is required to derive reliably the history of galaxies by fitting synthetic SEDs to multiwavelength observations. The new code P\'egase.3 described in this paper extends to the far-IR/submm the UV-to-near-IR modeling provided by previous versions of P\'egase. It first computes the properties of single stellar populations at various metallicities. It then follows the evolution of the stellar light of a galaxy and the abundances of the main metals in the ISM, assuming some scenario of mass assembly and star formation. It simultaneously calculates the masses of the various grain families, the optical depth of the galaxy and the attenuation of the SED through the diffuse ISM in spiral and spheroidal galaxies, using grids of radiative transfer precomputed with Monte Carlo simulations taking scattering into account. The code determines the mean radiation field and the temperature probability distribution of stochastically heated individual grains. It then sums up their spectra to yield the overall emission by dust in the diffuse ISM. The nebular emission of the galaxy is also computed, and a simple modeling of the effects of dust on the SED of star-forming regions is implemented. The main outputs are UV-to-submm SEDs of galaxies from their birth up to 20 Gyr, colors, masses of galactic components, ISM abundances of metallic elements and dust species, supernova rates. The temperatures and spectra of individual grains are also available. The paper discusses several of these outputs for a scenario representative of Milky Way-like spirals. P\'egase.3 is fully documented and its Fortran 95 source files are public. The code should be especially useful for cosmological simulations and to interpret future mid- and far-IR data, whether obtained by JWST, LSST, Euclid or e-ELT.

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arXiv2019

The P\'egase.3 code of spectrochemical evolution of galaxies: documentation and complements

P\'egase.3 is a Fortran 95 code modeling the spectral evolution of galaxies from the far-ultraviolet to submillimeter wavelengths. It also follows the chemical evolution of their stars, gas and dust. For a given scenario (a set of parameters defining the history of mass assembly, the star formation law, the initial mass function...), P\'egase.3 consistently computes the following: * the star formation, infall, outflow and supernova rates from 0 to 20 Gyr; * the stellar metallicity, the abundances of main elements in the gas and the composition of dust; * the unattenuated stellar spectral energy distribution (SED); * the nebular SED, using nebular continua and emission lines precomputed with code Cloudy (Ferland et al. 2017); * the attenuation in star-forming clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium, by absorption and scattering on dust grains, of the stellar and nebular SEDs. For this, the code uses grids of the transmittance for spiral and spheroidal galaxies. We precomputed these grids through Monte Carlo simulations of radiative transfer based on the method of virtual interactions; * the re-emission by grains of the light they absorbed, taking into account stochastic heating. The main innovation compared to P\'egase.2 is the modeling of dust emission and its evolution. The computation of nebular emission has also been entirely upgraded to take into account metallicity effects and infrared lines. Other major differences are that complex scenarios of evolution (derived for instance from cosmological simulations), with several episodes of star formation, infall or outflow, may now be implemented, and that the detailed evolution of the most important elements -- not only the overall metallicity -- is followed.

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arXiv2016

Disentangling star formation and AGN activity in powerful infrared luminous radio galaxies at 1<z<4

High-redshift radio galaxies present signs of both star formation and AGN activity, making them ideal candidates to investigate the connection and coevolution of AGN and star formation in the progenitors of present-day massive galaxies. We make use of a sample of 11 powerful radio galaxies spanning 1<z<4 which have complete coverage of their spectral energy distribution (SED) from UV to FIR wavelengths. Using Herschel data, we disentangle the relative contribution of the AGN and star formation by combining the galaxyevolutioncodePEGASE.3 with an AGN torus model. We find that three components are necessary to reproduce the observed SEDs: an evolved and massive stellar component, a submm bright young starburst, and an AGN torus. We find that powerful radio galaxies form at very high-redshift, but experience episodic and important growth at 1<z<4 as the mass of the associated starburst varies from 5 to 50% of the total mass of the system. The properties of star formation differ from source to source, indicating no general trend of the star formation properties in the most infrared luminous high-redshift radio galaxies and no correlation with the AGN bolometric luminosity. Moreover, we find that AGN scattered light have a very limited impact on broad-band SED fitting on our sample. Finally, our analysis also suggests a wide range in origins for the observed star formation,which we partially constrain for some sources.

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arXiv2014

The Aspects code for probabilistic cross-identification of astrophysical sources: documentation and complements

Aspects ([asp{\epsilon}], "ASsociation PositionnellE/ProbabilistE de CaTalogues de Sources" in French) is a Fortran 95 code for the cross-identification of astrophysical sources. Its source files are freely available. Given the coordinates and positional uncertainties of all the sources in two catalogs K and K', Aspects computes the probability that an object in K and one in K' are the same or that they have no counterpart. Three exclusive assumptions are considered: (1) Several-to-one associations: a K-source has at most one counterpart in K', but a K'-source may have several counterparts in K; (2) One-to-several associations: the same with K and K' swapped; (3) One-to-one associations: a K-source has at most one counterpart in K' and vice versa. To compute the probabilities of association, Aspects needs the a priori (i.e. ignoring positions) probability that an object has a counterpart. The code obtains estimates of this quantity by maximizing the likelihood to observe all the sources at their effective positions under each assumption. The likelihood may also be used to determine the most appropriate model, given the data, or to estimate the typical positional uncertainty if unknown.

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arXiv2013

Starburst and old stellar populations in two z=3.8 radio galaxies 4C 41.17 and TN J2007-1316

The new evolutionary code Pegase.3 is used for the spectral synthesis of continuous optical-Spitzer-Herschel-submm spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of two z=3.8 radio galaxies 4C 41.17 and TN J2007-1316. Both galaxies are selected from the Herschel Radio Galaxy Evolution Project for their faint AGN contribution and because they show evidence of a large stellar contribution to their bolometric luminosity. Pegase.3 coherently models the reprocessing of the stellar luminosity to dust emission, allowing to build UV to IR-submm libraries by types. These templates allow to predict SEDs at redshifts z in the observer's frame by using z=0 templates corrected for cosmology and evolution. Our best fits are a sum of two distinct evolving stellar populations: i) a very massive starburst observed ~30 Myrs after formation from optical and far-IR peaks ii) a significantly older (~1Gyr old) massive early-type population revealed from mid-IR Spitzer data. The AGN emission fits a roughly thermal model. These results confirm that many of the stellar populations in high-z radio galaxies were already formed by massive (a few thousands of billion solar masses) starbursts at z=4, confirming the previous K-z diagram interpretation. Gas-rich mergers and/or jet-cloud interactions are favored for triggering the intense star formation, possibly in relation with massive super black holes of these radio galaxies. These multiple stellar populations may be a generic feature of the luminous infrared radio galaxy population as a whole and strongly constrain mass accumulation and galaxy formation models.

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arXiv2012

Probabilistic positional association of catalogs of astrophysical sources: the Aspects code

We describe a probabilistic method of cross-identifying astrophysical sources in two catalogs from their positions and positional uncertainties. The probability that an object is associated with a source from the other catalog, or that it has no counterpart, is derived under two exclusive assumptions: first, the classical case of several-to-one associations, and then the more realistic but more difficult problem of one-to-one associations. In either case, the likelihood of observing the objects in the two catalogs at their effective positions is computed and a maximum likelihood estimator of the fraction of sources with a counterpart -- a quantity needed to compute the probabilities of association -- is built. When the positional uncertainty in one or both catalogs is unknown, this method may be used to estimate its typical value and even to study its dependence on the size of objects. It may also be applied when the true centers of a source and of its counterpart at another wavelength do not coincide. To compute the likelihood and association probabilities under the different assumptions, we developed a Fortran 95 code called "Aspects" ([asp{\epsilon}], "ASsociation PositionnellE/ProbabilistE de CaTalogues de Sources" in French); its source files are made freely available. To test Aspects, all-sky mock catalogs containing up to 10^5 objects were created, forcing either several-to-one or one-to-one associations. The analysis of these simulations confirms that, in both cases, the assumption with the highest likelihood is the right one and that estimators of unknown parameters built for the appropriate association model are reliable.

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arXiv2012

Probabilistic positional association of astrophysical sources between catalogs

We describe a simple probabilistic method to cross-identify astrophysical sources from different catalogs and provide the probability that a source is associated with a source from another catalog or that it has no counterpart. When the positional uncertainty in one of the catalog is unknown, this method may be used to derive its typical value and even to study its dependence on the size of objects. It may also be applied when the true centers of a source and of its counterpart at another wavelength do not coincide. We extend this method to the case when there are only one-to-one associations between the catalogs.

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arXiv2005

Modelling and interpreting optical spectra of galaxies at R=10000

One way to extract more information from the integrated light of galaxies is to improve the spectral resolution at which observations and analysis are carried out. The population synthesis code currently providing the highest spectral resolution is Pegase-HR, which was made available by D. Le Borgne et al. in 2004. Based on an empirical stellar library, it provides synthetic spectra between 4000 and 6800 A at lambda/d(lambda)=10000 for any star formation history, with or without chemical evolution. Such a resolution is particularly useful for the study of low mass galaxies, massive star clusters, or other galaxy regions with low internal velocity dispersions. After a summary of the main features of Pegase-HR and comparisons with other population synthesis codes, this paper focuses on the inversion of optical galaxy spectra. We explore the limits of what information can or can not be recovered, based on theoretical principles and extensive simulations. First applications to extragalactic objects are shown.

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arXiv2004

Evolutionary synthesis of galaxies at high spectral resolution with the code PEGASE-HR

We present PEGASE-HR, a new stellar population synthesis program generating high resolution spectra (R=10 000) over the optical range lambda=400--680 nm. It links the spectro-photometric model of galaxy evolution PEGASE.2 (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997) to an updated version of the ELODIE library of stellar spectra observed with the 193 cm telescope at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (Prugniel & Soubiran 2001a). The ELODIE star set gives a fairly complete coverage of the Hertzprung-Russell (HR) diagram and makes it possible to synthesize populations in the range [Fe/H]=-2 to +0.4. This code is an exceptional tool for exploring signatures of metallicity, age, and kinematics. We focus on a detailed study of the sensitivity to age and metallicity of the high-resolution stellar absorption lines and of the classical metallic indices proposed until now to solve the age-metallicity degeneracy. Validity tests on several stellar lines are performed by comparing our predictions for Lick indices to the models of other groups. The comparison with the lower resolution library BaSeL (Lejeune et al. 1997) confirms the quality of the ELODIE library when used for simple stellar populations (SSPs) from 10 Myr to 20 Gyr. Predictions for the evolved populations of globular clusters and elliptical galaxies are given and compared to observational data. Two new high-resolution indices are proposed around the Hgamma line. They should prove useful in the analysis of spectra from the new generation of telescopes and spectrographs.

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arXiv2000

The star formation history as a function of type: constraints from galaxy counts

Deep galaxy counts are among the best constraints on the cosmic star formation history (SFH) of galaxies. The evolution of the star formation activity is followed on a wide range of redshifts (0< z < 4) covering most of the history of the Universe. Two incompatible interpretations of the observations are currently competing. After applying star formation rate (SFR) conversion factors to the CFRS, Halpha or ISO samples, many authors conclude to a strong increase (~ a factor 10) of the SFR from z=0 to z=1. They also find some evidence for a peak at z~1 and for a rapid decrease at higher redshifts. On the other side, the Hawaii deep surveys favor only a mild increase between z=0 and 1 (Cowie et al., 1996, 1999). To understand the reason for these discrepant interpretations, we consider three classes of galaxies: E/S0, Sa-Sb-Sbc, Sc-Sd-Im and bursting dwarfs. We use the new version of our evolutionary synthesis code, PEGASE which takes into account metallicity and dust effects. The main results are: i) Late-type galaxies contribute significantly to the local SFR, especially bursting dwarfs (Fioc and Rocca-Volmerange, 1999). Because of that, the cosmic SFR can not decrease by a factor 10 from z=0 to 1. This is in agreement with Cowie's result. ii) The SFR of intermediate-type galaxies has strongly decreased since z=1. Though the decrease is less than what find Lilly et al., 1996, this suggests that the CFRS and Halpha surveys are dominated by such bright early spirals. iii) The contribution of early-type galaxies increases rapidly from z=1 to their redshift of formation (> 2-3 for cosmological reasons). Their intense star formation rates at high-z give strong constraints on early ionization phases, primeval populations or metal enrichments.(abridged)

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arXiv1999

PEGASE.2, a metallicity-consistent spectral evolution model of galaxies: the documentation and the code

We provide here the documentation of the new version of the spectral evolution model PEGASE. PEGASE computes synthetic spectra of galaxies in the UV to near-IR range from 0 to 20 Gyr, for a given stellar IMF and evolutionary scenario (star formation law, infall, galactic winds). The radiation emitted by stars from the main sequence to the pre-supernova or white dwarf stage is calculated, as well as the extinction by dust. A simple modeling of the nebular emission (continuum and lines) is also proposed. PEGASE may be used to model starbursts as well as old galaxies. The main improvements of PEGASE.2 relative to PEGASE.1 (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997) are the following: (1)The stellar evolutionary tracks of the Padova group for metallicities between 0.0001 and 0.1 have been included; (2)The evolution of the metallicity of the interstellar medium (ISM) due to SNII, SNIa and AGB stars is followed. Stars are formed with the same metallicity as the ISM (instead of a solar metallicity in PEGASE.1), providing thus a metallicity-consistent model; (3)Lejeune et al.'s library of stellar spectra is used; (4)The extinction by dust is computed for geometries corresponding to disk and spheroidal galaxies using a radiative transfer code taking into account the scattering. The main outputs (as a function of time) are spectra, colors and magnitudes in various photometric systems, luminosities, type II and Ia supernovae rates, line intensities and equivalent widths, amount and metallicity of stars and gas, mass locked in stellar remnants, optical depth and total dust emission. The corresponding article (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 2000) will be submitted soon. A detailed modeling of the spectrum of the dust emission and of HII regions (Moy, Rocca-Volmerange & Fioc 2000) will be included in future versions.

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arXiv1999

A statistical study of nearby galaxies - I: NIR growth curves and optical-to-NIR colors as a function of type, luminosity and inclination

Growth curves of the near-infrared (NIR) magnitude as a function of the aperture have been built and used to derive NIR total magnitudes from aperture data taken from the literature. By cross-correlating with optical and redshift data, absolute magnitudes and optical-to-NIR colors have been computed for some 1000 galaxies of different types. Significant color gradients are observed, underlining that small aperture colors may lead to a biased picture of the stellar populations of galaxies. A statistical analysis using various estimators taking into account the intrinsic scatter has been performed to establish relations between the colors, the morphological type, the inclination or the shape, and the intrinsic luminosity. The combination of the optical and the NIR should obviously improve our understanding of the evolution of galaxies. Despite the intrinsic scatter, especially among star-forming galaxies, optical-to-NIR colors show a very well defined sequence with type, blueing by 1.3 mag from ellipticals to irregulars. The colors of spiral galaxies strongly redden with increasing inclination and put new constraints on the modeling of the extinction. No such effect is observed for lenticular galaxies. We also find that rounder ellipticals tend to be redder. A color-absolute magnitude relation is observed inside each type, with a slope significantly steeper for early and intermediate spirals than for ellipticals or late spirals. This stresses the importance of considering both the mass and the type to study the star formation history of galaxies.

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arXiv1999

Far-UV and deep surveys: bursting dwarfs versus normal galaxies

Galaxy counts from bright ultraviolet (UV) and deep optical spectroscopic surveys have revealed an unexpectedly large number of very blue galaxies. The colors and luminosities of these objects indicate that they are dwarf galaxies undergoing bursts of star formation. We use a galaxy evolution model (PEGASE, Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997) to describe this population as galaxies undergoing cyclical bursts of star formation, thereby determining the luminosity function of these galaxies. When these bursting galaxies are added to normally evolving populations, the combination reproduces the UV number counts, color distributions and deep optical redshift distributions fairly well. Optical (including the Hubble Deep Field) and near-infrared number counts are fitted assuming an open or a flat, Lambda-dominated, Universe. The high amplitude of the angular correlation function of very blue galaxies discovered by Landy et al. (1996) is also recovered in this modelling. The number of bursting galaxies is only a small fraction of the total number of galaxies at optical and near-infrared wavelengths, even at faintest magnitudes. In our evolution modelling, normal galaxies explain most of the blue excess in a low-Omega Universe. The problem of the blue excess remains in a flat Universe without a cosmological constant.

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arXiv1997

Bursting dwarf galaxies from the far-UV and deep surveys

The far-ultraviolet (UV) counts and the deep optical spectroscopic surveys have revealed an unexpected number of very blue galaxies (vBG). Using constraints from the UV and optical, we apply the galaxy evolution model PEGASE (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997, hereafter FRV) to describe this population with a cycling star formation. When added to normally evolving galaxy populations, vBG are able to reproduce UV number counts and color distributions as well as deep optical redshift distributions fairly well. Good agreement is also obtained with optical counts (including the Hubble Deep Field). The number of vBG is only a small fraction of the number of normal galaxies, even at faintest magnitudes. In our modelling, the latter explain the bulk of the excess of faint blue galaxies in an open Universe. The problem of the blue excess remains in a flat Universe without cosmological constant.

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arXiv1997

PEGASE: a UV to NIR spectral evolution model of galaxies - Application to the calibration of bright galaxy counts

PEGASE is a new spectrophotometric evolution model for starbursts and evolved galaxies of the Hubble sequence. Its main originality is the extension to the near-infrared (NIR) of the atlas of synthetic spectra of Rocca-Volmerange & Guiderdoni (1988) with a revised stellar library including cold star parameters and stellar tracks extended to the TP-AGB and the post-AGB phase. The NIR is coherently linked to the visible and the ultraviolet, so that the model is continuous on an exceptionally large wavelength range from 220 A up to 5 microns. Moreover, a precise algorithm allows to follow very rapid evolutionary phases such as red supergiants or AGB crucial in the NIR. The nebular component is also computed in the NIR. The extinction correction is gas-dependent for spirals and ellipticals. A set of reference synthetic spectra at z=0, to which apply cosmological k- and evolution e- corrections for high-redshift galaxies, is built from fits of observational templates. Because of the lack of visible to NIR spectral templates for each Hubble type, we adopt statistical samples of colors, not fitted by previous models. A first application of this continuous model is to solve the problem of the slope of the bright galaxy counts from B=15 to 19 and of the normalization parameter of the Schechter luminosity function. Code sources, input and output data are available by anonymous ftp or at the WEB address of the authors.

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