arXiv subjects

Mirjana Pović

Publications and source records attributed to Mirjana Pović.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Development in astronomy in Ethiopia and East-Africa through nuclear activity in galaxies

In this paper we summarise the research that is currently going on in Ethiopia and East-Africa in extragalactic astronomy and physics of active galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN). The study is focused on some of the still open questions such as: what are the stellar ages and populations of ultra hard X-ray detected AGN and connection between AGN and their host galaxies?, what are the properties of AGN in galaxy clusters and the role that environment has in triggering nuclear activity?, what are the morphological properties of AGN and how precisely we can deal with morphological classification of active galaxies?, what are the properties of galaxies in the green valley and the role of AGN in galaxy evolution?, and what are the properties of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars (QSO) and dichotomy between the two?. Each of these questions has been developed under one specific project that will be briefly introduced. These projects involve 6 PhD and 3 MSc students and collaborations between Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Spain, Italy, and Chile. With all projects we aim: first, to contribute to our general knowledge about AGN, and second, to contribute to the development in astronomy and science in Ethiopia and East-Africa.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Study of AGN contribution on morphological parameters of their host galaxies

We tested how the AGN contribution (5% - 75% of the total flux) may affect different morphological parameters commonly used in galaxy classification. We carried out all analysis at $z$,$sim$,0 and at higher redshifts that correspond to the COSMOS field. Using a local training sample of $>$,2000 visually classified galaxies, we carried out all measurements with and without the central source and quantified how the contribution of a bright nuclear point source could affect different morphological parameters, such as: Abraham and Concelice-Bershady indices, Gini, Asymmetry, $M20$ moment of light, and Smoothness. We found that concentration indexes are less sensitive to both redshift and brightness in comparison to the other parameters. We also found that all parameters change significantly with AGN contribution. At $z$$\sim$0, up to a 10% of AGN contribution the morphological classification will not be significantly affect, but for $\ge$25% of AGN contribution late-type spirals follow the range of parameters of elliptical galaxies and can therefore be misclassified early types.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Galaxy evolution studies in clusters: the case of Cl0024+1652 cluster galaxies at z$\sim$0.4

Studying the transformation of cluster galaxies contributes a lot to have a clear picture of evolution of the universe. Towards that we are studying different properties (morphology, star formation, AGN contribution and metallicity) of galaxies in clusters up to $z\sim1.0$ taking three different clusters: ZwCl0024+1652 at $z\sim0.4$, RXJ1257+4738 at $z\sim0.9$ and Virgo at $z\sim0.0038$. For ZwCl0024+1652 and RXJ1257+4738 clusters we used tunable filters data from GLACE survey taken with GTC 10.4 m telescope and other public data, while for Virgo we used public data. We did the morphological classification of 180 galaxies in ZwCl0024+1652 using galSVM, where 54\% and 46\% of galaxies were classified as early-type (ET) and late-type (LT) respectively. We did a comparison between the three clusters within the clustercentric distance of 1Mpc and found that ET proportion (decreasing with redshift) dominates over the LT (increasing with redshift) throughout. We finalized the data reduction for ZwCl0024+1652 cluster and identified 46 [OIII] and 73 H$β$ emission lines. For this cluster we have classified 22 emission line galaxies (ELGs) using BPT-NII diagnostic diagram resulting with 14 composite, 1 AGN and 7 star forming (SF) galaxies. We are using these results, together with the public data, for further analysis of the variations of properties in relation to redshift within $z<1.0$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The properties of inside-out assembled galaxies at $z<0.1$

In this work, we study the properties of galaxies that are showing the inside-out assembly (which we call inside-out assembled galaxies; IOAGs), with the main aim to understand better their properties and morphological transformation. We analysed a sample of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8 (DR8), with stellar masses in the range $\log M_{\star}=10.73-11.03$ $M_{\odot{}}$ at $z < 0.1$, and analyze their location in the stellar mass-SFR and the color-stellar mass diagram. We found that IOAGs have different spectroscopic properties, most of them being classified either as AGN or composite. We found that the majority of our sources are located below the main sequence of star formation in the SFR-stellar mass diagram, and in the green valley or red sequence in the color-stellar mass diagram. We argue that IOAGs seem to correspond to the transition area where the galaxies are moving from star-forming to quiescent, and from the blue cloud to the red sequence and/or to recently quenched galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Accretion rate in AGN and X-ray-to-optical flux ratio at z $\le$ 0.2

We explored a sample of 545 local galaxies using data from the 3XMM-DR7 and SDSS-DR8 surveys. We carried out all analyses up to z\,$\sim$\,0.2, and we studied the relation between X/O flux ratio and accretion rate for different classes of active galaxies such as LINERs and Seyfert 2. We obtained a slight correlation between the two parameters if the whole sample of AGN is used. However, LINERs and Sy2 galaxies show different properties, slight correlation and slight anti-correlation, respectively. This could confirm that LINERs and Sy2 galaxies have different accretion efficiencies and maybe different accretion disc properties,as has been suggested previously. Keywords: galaxies - active; AGN - accretion rate; AGN - black hole masses; AGN - X-ray properties; AGN - optical properties

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Dichotomy of radio loud and radio quiet quasars in four dimensional eigenvector one (4DE1) parameter space

Recent work has shown that it is possible to systematize quasars (QSOs) spectral diversity in 4DE1 parameter space. The spectra contained in most of the surveys have low signal to noise ratio which fed the impression that all QSOś are spectroscopically similar. Exploration of 4DE1 parameter space gave rise to the concept of two populations of QSOs that present important spectroscopic differences. We aim to quantify broad emission line differences between radio quiet and radio loud sources by exploiting more complete samples of QSO with spectral coverage in Hbeta, MgII and CIV emission lines. We used a high redshift sample (0.35 < z < 1) of strong radio emitter QSOs observations from Calar Alto Observatory in Spain.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Multiwavelength morphological study of active galaxies

Studying the morphology of a large sample of active galaxies at different wavelengths and comparing it with active galactic nuclei (AGN) properties, such as black hole mass ($M_{BH}$) and Eddington ratio ($λ_{Edd}$), can help us in understanding better the connection between AGN and their host galaxies and the role of nuclear activity in galaxy formation and evolution. By using the BAT-SWIFT hard X-ray public data and by extracting those parameters measured for AGN and by using other public catalogues for parameters such as stellar mass ($M_*$), star formation rate (SFR), bolometric luminosity ($L_{bol}$), etc., we studied the multiwavelength morphological properties of host galaxies of ultra-hard X-ray detected AGN and their correlation with other AGN properties. We found that ultra hard X-ray detected AGN can be hosted by all morphological types, but in larger fractions (42%) they seem to be hosted by spirals in optical, to be quiet in radio, and to have compact morphologies in X-rays. When comparing morphologies with other galaxy properties, we found that ultra hard X-ray detected AGN follow previously obtained relations. On the SFR vs. stellar mass diagram, we found that although the majority of sources are located below the main sequence (MS) of star formation (SF), still non-negligible number of sources, with diverse morphologies, is located on and/or above the MS, suggesting that AGN feedback might have more complex influence on the SF in galaxies than simply quenching it, as it was suggested in some of previous studies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Properties of X-ray detected far-IR AGN in the green valley

In this study, we analysed active galactic nuclei in the "green valley" by comparing active and non-active galaxies using data from the COSMOS field. We found that most of our X-ray detected active galactic nuclei with far-infrared emission have star formation rates higher than the ones of normal galaxies of the same stellar mass range.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The OTELO survey: Nature and mass-metallicity relation for H$α$ emitters at $z\sim\,0.4$

A sample of low-mass H$α$ emission line sources (ELS) at $z\,\sim\,0.4$ was studied in the context of the mass-metallicty relation (MZR) and its possible evolution. We drew our sample from the OSIRIS Tunable Emission Line Object (OTELO) survey, which exploits the red tunable filter of OSIRIS at the Gran Telescopio Canarias to perform a blind narrow-band spectral scan in a selected field of the Extended Groth Strip. We were able to directly measure emission line fluxes and equivalent widths from the analysis of OTELO pseudo-spectra. This study aims to explore the MZR in the very low-mass regime. Our sample reaches stellar masses ($M_*$) as low as $10^{6.8}\,M_\odot$, where 63\% of the sample have $M_*\,<10^9\,M_\odot$. We also explore the relation of the star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR) with $M_*$ and gas-phase oxygen abundances, as well as the $M_*$-size relation and the morphological classification. The $M_*$ were estimated using synthetic rest-frame colours. Using an $χ^2$ minimization method, we separated the contribution of \Nii$λ$6583 to the H$α$ emission lines. Using the N2 index, we separated active galactic nuclei from star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and estimated the gas metallicity. We studied the morphology of the sampled galaxies qualitatively (visually) and quantitatively (automatically) using high-resolution data from the \textit{Hubble Space Telescope}-ACS. The physical size of the galaxies was derived from the morphological analysis using \texttt{GALAPAGOS2/GALFIT}, where we fit a single-Sérsic 2D model to each source.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The OTELO survey. A case study of [O III]4959,5007 emitters at = 0.83

The OTELO survey is a very deep, blind exploration of a selected region of the Extended Groth Strip and is designed for finding emission-line sources (ELSs). The survey design, observations, data reduction, astrometry, and photometry, as well as the correlation with ancillary data used to obtain a final catalogue, including photo-z estimates and a preliminary selection of ELS, were described in a previous contribution. Here, we aim to determine the main properties and luminosity function (LF) of the [O III] ELS sample of OTELO as a scientific demonstration of its capabilities, advantages, and complementarity with respect to other surveys. The selection and analysis procedures of ELS candidates obtained using tunable filter (TF) pseudo-spectra are described. We performed simulations in the parameter space of the survey to obtain emission-line detection probabilities. Relevant characteristics of [O III] emitters and the LF([O III]), including the main selection biases and uncertainties, are presented. A total of 184 sources were confirmed as [O III] emitters at a mean redshift z=0.83. The minimum detectable line flux and equivalent width (EW) in this ELS sample are $\sim$5 $\times$ 10$^{-19}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$ and $\sim$6 Å, respectively. We are able to constrain the faint-end slope ($α= -1.03\pm0.08$) of the observed LF([O III]) at z=0.83. This LF reaches values that are approximately ten times lower than those from other surveys. The vast majority (84\%) of the morphologically classified [O III] ELSs are disc-like sources, and 87\% of this sample is comprised of galaxies with stellar masses of M$_\star$ $<$ 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The OTELO survey. III. Demography, morphology, IR luminosity and environment of AGN hosts

We take advantage of the capabilities of the OTELO survey to select and study the AGN population in the field. We performed an analysis of the properties of these objects, including their demography, morphology, and IR luminosity. Focusing on the population of H$α$ emitters at $z \sim 0.4$, we also aim to study the environments of AGN and non-AGN galaxies at that redshift. We make use of the multiwavelength catalog of objects in the field compiled by the OTELO survey, unique in terms of minimum line flux and equivalent width. The OTELO pseudo-spectra allow the identification of emission lines and the spectral classification of the sources. We obtained a sample of 72 AGNs in the field of OTELO, selected with four different methods in the optical, X-rays, and mid-infrared bands. We find that using X-rays is the most efficient way to select AGNs. An analysis was performed on the AGN population of OTELO in order to characterize its members. At $z \sim 0.4$, we find that up to 26\% of our H$α$ emitters are AGNs. At that redshift, AGNs are found in identical environments to non-AGNs, although they represent the most clustered group when compared to passive and star-forming galaxies. The majority of our AGNs at any redshift were classified as late-type galaxies, including a 16\% proportion of irregulars. Another 16\% of AGNs show signs of interactions or mergers. Regarding the infrared luminosity, we are able to recover all the luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the field of OTELO up to $z\sim 1.6$. We find that the proportion of LIRGs and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) is higher among the AGN population, and that ULIRGs show a higher fraction of AGNs than LIRGs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The OTELO survey. I. Description, data reduction, and multi-wavelength catalogue

The evolution of galaxies through cosmic time is studied observationally by means of extragalactic surveys. The OTELO survey aims to provide the deepest narrow-band survey to date in terms of minimum detectable flux and emission line equivalent width in order to detect the faintest extragalactic emission line systems. In this way, OTELO data will complements other broad-band, narrow-band, and spectroscopic surveys. The red tunable filter of the OSIRIS instrument on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is used to scan a spectral window centred at $9175 Å$, which is free from strong sky emission lines, with a sampling interval of $6 Å$ and a bandwidth of $12 Å$ in the most deeply explored Extended Groth Strip region. Careful data reduction using improved techniques for sky ring subtraction, accurate astrometry, photometric calibration, and source extraction enables us to compile the OTELO catalogue. This catalogue is complemented with ancillary data ranging from deep X-ray to far-infrared, including high resolution HST images, which allow us to segregate the different types of targets, derive precise photometric redshifts, and obtain the morphological classification of the extragalactic objects detected. The OTELO multi-wavelength catalogue contains 11237 entries and is 50\% complete at AB magnitude 26.38. Of these sources, 6600 have photometric redshifts with an uncertainty $z_{phot}$ better than $0.2 (1+z_{phot})$. A total of 4336 of these sources correspond to preliminary emission line candidates, which are complemented by 81 candidate stars and 483 sources that qualify as absorption line systems. The OTELO survey products were released to the public on 2019.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The OTELO survey. II. The faint-end of the H$α$ luminosity function at z $\sim$ 0.40

We take advantage of the capability of the OTELO survey to obtain the H$α$ luminosity function (LF) at ${\rm z}\sim0.40$. Because of the deepest coverage of OTELO, we are able to determine the faint end of the LF, and thus better constrain the star formation rate and the number of galaxies at low luminosities. The AGN contribution to this LF is estimated as well. We make use of the multi-wavelength catalogue of objects in the field compiled by the OTELO survey, which is unique in terms of minimum flux and equivalent width. We also take advantage of the pseudo-spectra built for each source, which allow the identification of emission lines and the discrimination of different types of objects. The H$α$ luminosity function at $z\sim0.40$ is obtained, which extends the current faint end by almost 1 dex, reaching minimal luminosities of $\log_{10}L_{\rm lim}=38.5$ erg s$^{-1}$ (or $\sim0.002\, \text{M}_\odot\text{ yr}^{-1})$. The AGN contribution to the total H$α$ luminosity is estimated. We find that no AGN should be expected below a luminosity of $\log_{10}L=38.6$ erg s$^{-1}$. From the sample of non-AGN (presumably, pure SFG) at $z\sim0.40$ we estimated a star formation rate density of $ρ_{\rm SFR}=0.012\pm0.005\ {\rm \text{M}_{\odot}\ yr^{-1}\ Mpc^{-3}}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

A morphological study of galaxies in ZwCl0024+1652, a galaxy cluster at redshift z $\sim$ 0.4

The well-known cluster of galaxies ZwCl0024+1652 at z $\sim$ 0.4, lacks an in-depth morphological classification of its central region. While previous studies provide a visual classification of a patched area, we used the public code called galaxy Support Vector Machine (galSVM) and HST/ACS data as well as WFP2 master catalogue to automatically classify all cluster members up to 1 Mpc. galSVM analyses galaxy morphologies through Support Vector Machine (SVM). From the 231 cluster galaxies, we classified 97 as early-types (ET) and 83 as late-types (LT). The remaining 51 stayed unclassified (or undecided, UD). By cross-matching our results with the existing visual classification, we found an agreement of 81%. In addition to previous Zwcl0024 morphological classifications, 121 of our galaxies were classified for the first time in this work. In addition, we tested the location of classified galaxies on the standard morphological diagrams, colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams. Out of all cluster members, $\sim$20% are emission line galaxies (ELG), taking into account previous GLACE results. We have verified that the ET fraction is slightly higher near the cluster core and decreases with the clustercentric distance, while the opposite trend has been observed for LT galaxies. We found higher fraction of ET (54%) than LT (46%) throughout the analysed central region, as expected. In addition, we analysed the correlation between the five morphological parameters (Abraham concentration, Bershady-Concelice concentration, Asymmetry, Gini and M20 moment of light) and clustercentric distance, without finding a clear trend. Finally, as a result of our work, the morphological catalogue of 231 galaxies containing all the measured parameters and the final classification is available in the electronic form of this paper.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Star formation in far-IR AGN and non-AGN galaxies in the green valley. II. Morphological analysis

This paper studies morphological properties of 103 green valley FIR active and 2609 non-active galaxies presented in Mahoro et al. 2017. The photometric data from the COSMOS survey were used, and the morphological parameters, such as Abraham and Conselice-Bershady concentration indices, Gini, M20 moment of light, and asymmetry, were analysed taking into account public catalogues. Furthermore, a visual classification of galaxies was performed. We found that the fraction of peculiar galaxies with clear signs of interactions and mergers is significantly higher in AGN (38%) than non-AGN (19%) green valley galaxies, while non-AGN galaxies from our sample are predominantly spirals (46%). We found that the largest fraction of our green valley galaxies is located on the main-sequence (MS) of star formation, independently on morphology, which is in contrast with most of previous studies carried out in optical. We also found that FIR AGN green valley galaxies have significantly higher star formation rates in all analysed morphological types. Therefore, our results suggest that interactions and mergers obtained in the high fraction of FIR AGN contribute significantly to high star formation rates observed in the selected sample, but are not the only mechanism responsible for enhancing star formation, and others such as AGN positive feedback could contribute as well. In future we will study in more details the possibility of AGN positive feedback through the spectroscopic analysis of public and our SALT data.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Development in Astronomy and Space Science in Africa

The development of astronomy and space science in Africa has grown significantly over the past few years. These advancements make the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals more achievable, and open up the possibility of new beneficial collaborations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

ELDAR, a new method to identify AGN in multi-filter surveys: the ALHAMBRA test-case

We present ELDAR, a new method that exploits the potential of medium- and narrow-band filter surveys to securely identify active galactic nuclei (AGN) and determine their redshifts. Our methodology improves on traditional approaches by looking for AGN emission lines expected to be identified against the continuum, thanks to the width of the filters. To assess its performance, we apply ELDAR to the data of the ALHAMBRA survey, which covered an effective area of $2.38\,{\rm deg}^2$ with 20 contiguous medium-band optical filters down to F814W$\simeq 24.5$. Using two different configurations of ELDAR in which we require the detection of at least 2 and 3 emission lines, respectively, we extract two catalogues of type-I AGN. The first is composed of 585 sources ($79\,\%$ of them spectroscopically-unknown) down to F814W$=22.5$ at $z_{\rm phot}>1$, which corresponds to a surface density of $209\,{\rm deg}^{-2}$. In the second, the 494 selected sources ($83\,\%$ of them spectroscopically-unknown) reach F814W$=23$ at $z_{\rm phot}>1.5$, for a corresponding number density of $176\,{\rm deg}^{-2}$. Then, using samples of spectroscopically-known AGN in the ALHAMBRA fields, for the two catalogues we estimate a completeness of $73\,\%$ and $67\,\%$, and a redshift precision of $1.01\,\%$ and $0.86\,\%$ (with outliers fractions of $8.1\,\%$ and $5.8\,\%$). At $z>2$, where our selection performs best, we reach $85\,\%$ and $77\,\%$ completeness and we find no contamination from galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Star formation of far-IR AGN and non-AGN galaxies in the green valley: possible implication of AGN positive feedback

In this paper we present the star formation properties of $\rm{I_{subaru}\leq}$ 23 X-ray detected AGN and non-AGN galaxies in the green valley with far-IR (FIR) emission, using data from the COSMOS field. We measured star formation rates (SFR) using FIR Herschel/PACS data and we observed the location of AGN and non-AGN galaxies on the main-sequence of star formation. We went a step further in analysing the importance of AGN in quenching star formation in the green valley, the region proposed to be the transitional phase in galaxy evolution where galaxies are moving from later- to earlier-types. We found that most of our green valley X-ray detected AGN with far-IR emission have SFRs higher than the ones of inactive galaxies at fixed stellar mass ranges, the result that is different when considering optical data. These FIR AGN have still very active star formation, being located either on or above the main-sequence of star formation (in total 82\% of our sample). Therefore, they do not show signs of star formation quenching, but rather its enhancement. Our results may suggest that for X-ray detected AGN with FIR emission if there is an influence of AGN feedback on the star formation in the green valley the scenario of AGN positive feedback seem to take place, rather than the negative one.

astro-ph.GA↗