arXiv subjects

Niu Li

Publications and source records attributed to Niu Li.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Wolf-Rayet galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA. II. Metallicity dependence of the high-mass slope of the stellar initial mass function

As hosts of living high-mass stars, Wolf-Rayet (WR) regions or WR galaxies are ideal objects for constraining the high-mass end of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). We construct a large sample of 910 WR galaxies/regions that cover a wide range of stellar metallicity (from Z~0.001 up to Z~0.03), by combining three catalogs of WR galaxies/regions previously selected from the SDSS and SDSS-IV/MaNGA surveys. We measure the equivalent widths of the WR blue bump at ~4650 A for each spectrum. They are compared with predictions from stellar evolutionary models Starburst99 and BPASS, with different IMF assumptions (high-mass slope α of the IMF ranging from 1.0 up to 3.3). Both singular evolution and binary evolution are considered. We also use a Bayesian inference code to perform full spectral fitting to WR spectra with stellar population spectra from BPASS as fitting templates. We then make model selection among different α assumptions based on Bayesian evidence. These analyses have consistently led to a positive correlation of IMF high-mass slope α with stellar metallicity Z, i.e. with steeper IMF (more bottom-heavy) at higher metallicities. Specifically, an IMF with α=1.00 is preferred at the lowest metallicity (Z~0.001), and a Salpeter or even steeper IMF is preferred at the highest metallicity (Z~0.03). These conclusions hold even when binary population models are adopted.

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arXiv2021

Estimating dust attenuation from galactic spectra. II. Stellar and gas attenuation in star-forming and diffuse ionized gas regions in MaNGA

We investigate the dust attenuation in both stellar populations and ionized gas in kpc-scale regions in nearby galaxies, using integral field spectroscopy data from MaNGA MPL-9. We identify star-forming (HII) and diffuse ionized gas (DIG) regions from MaNGA datacubes. From the stacked spectrum of each region, we measure the stellar attenuation, $E(B-V)_{\rm star}$, using the technique developed by Li et al.(2020), as well as the gas attenuation, $E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$, from the Balmer decrement. We then examine the correlation of $E(B-V)_{\rm star}$, $E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$, $E(B-V)_{\rm gas}-E(B-V)_{\rm star}$ and $E(B-V)_{\rm star}/E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$ with 16 regional/global properties, and for regions with different $\rm Hα$ surface brightnesses ($Σ_{\rm Hα}$). We find a stronger correlation between $E(B-V)_{\rm star}$ and $E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$ in regions of higher $Σ_{\rm Hα}$. Luminosity-weighted age ($t_L$) is found to be the property that is the most strongly correlated with $E(B-V)_{\rm star}$, and consequently with $E(B-V)_{\rm gas}-E(B-V)_{\rm star}$ and $E(B-V)_{\rm star}/E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$. At fixed $Σ_{\rm Hα}$, $\log_{10}t_L$ is linearly and negatively correlated with $E(B-V)_{\rm star}/E(B-V)_{\rm gas}$ at all ages. Gas-phase metallicity and ionization level are important for the attenuation in the gas. Our results indicate that the ionizing source for DIG regions is likely distributed in the outer-skirt of galaxies, while for HII regions our results can be well explained by the two-component dust model of Charlot & Fall (2000).

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arXiv2021

Symmetry potentials and in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model in relativistic impulse approximation

In the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA), we study symmetry potentials and in-medium nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross sections with the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model that features chiral symmetry. The chiral symmetry that plays a fundamental role in the nonperturbative physics in the strong interaction is anticipated to add restrictive effects on the symmetry potentials and in-medium NN cross sections. For comparison, we also perform the study with the usual relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. The numerical results with the NJL and RMF models are similar at saturation density and below, since a priori fit was made to saturation properties. With the increase of nuclear density, the chiral symmetry starts to be restored partially in the NJL model, resulting in the explicit fall of the scalar density. In a large energy span, the symmetry potential acquires a significant rise for the partial restoration of the chiral symmetry, compared to the one with the RMF model. It is found that the in-medium NN cross sections in the RIA with the NJL and RMF models both increase with the density in the energy region interested in this study, whereas those with the NJL model increase sharply as long as a clear chiral symmetry restoration takes place. The different tendency of observables in density can be transmitted to the different energy dependence in the RIA. The NJL model is shown to have characteristic energy-dependent symmetry potentials and NN cross sections beyond saturation point, apart from the RMF models.

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arXiv2020

A new estimator of resolved molecular gas in nearby galaxies

A relationship between dust-reprocessed light from recent star formation and the amount of star-forming gas in a galaxy produces a correlation between WISE 12 $μ$m emission and CO line emission. Here we explore this correlation on kiloparsec scales with CO(1-0) maps from EDGE-CALIFA matched in resolution to WISE 12 $μ$m images. We find strong CO-12 $μ$m correlations within each galaxy and we show that the scatter in the global CO-12 $μ$m correlation is largely driven by differences from galaxy to galaxy. The correlation is stronger than that between star formation rate and H$_2$ surface densities ($Σ(\mathrm{H_2})$). We explore multi-variable regression to predict $Σ(\mathrm{H_2})$ in star-forming pixels using the WISE 12 $μ$m data combined with global and resolved galaxy properties, and provide the fit parameters for the best estimators. We find that $Σ(\mathrm{H_2})$ estimators that include $Σ(\mathrm{12\>μm})$ are able to predict $Σ(\mathrm{H_2})$ more accurately than estimators that include resolved optical properties instead of $Σ(\mathrm{12\>μm})$. These results suggest that 12 $μ$m emission and H$_2$ as traced by CO emission are physically connected at kiloparsec scales. This may be due to a connection between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission and the presence of H$_2$. The best single-property estimator is $\log \frac{Σ(\mathrm{H_2})}{\mathrm{M_\odot\>pc^{-2}}} = (0.48 \pm 0.01) + (0.71 \pm 0.01)\log \frac{Σ(\mathrm{12\>μm})}{\mathrm{L_\odot\>pc^{-2}}}$. This correlation can be used to efficiently estimate $Σ(\mathrm{H_2})$ down to at least $1 \> M_\odot \> \mathrm{pc^{-2}}$ in star-forming regions within nearby galaxies.

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arXiv2020

Wolf-Rayet galaxies in SDSS-IV MaNGA. I. Catalog construction and sample properties

Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxies are a rare population of galaxies that host living high-mass stars during their WR phase (i.e. WR stars) and are thus expected to provide interesting constraints on the stellar Initial Mass Function, massive star formation, stellar evolution models, etc. Spatially resolved spectroscopy should in principle provide a more efficient way of identifying WR galaxies than single-fiber surveys of galactic centers such as SDSS-I & II, as WR stars should be more preferentially found in discs. Using IFU data from the ongoing SDSS-IV MaNGA survey, we have performed a thorough search for WR galaxies. We first identify H II regions in each datacube and carry out full spectral fitting to the stacked spectra. We then visually inspect the residual spectrum of each H II region and identify WR regions that present a significant "blue bump" at 4600-4750 A. The resulting WR catalog includes 267 WR regions of ~500pc (radius) sizes, distributed in 90 galaxies from the current sample of MaNGA (MaNGA Product Launch 7). We find WR regions are exclusively found in galaxies that show bluest colors and highest star formation rates for their mass. Most WR galaxies have late-type morphologies and show relatively large asymmetry in their images, implying that WR regions are more preferentially found in interacting/merging galaxies. We estimate the stellar mass function of WR galaxies and the mass-dependent detection rate. The detection rate of WR galaxies is typically ~2%, with weak dependence on stellar mass. This detection rate is about 40 times higher than previous studies with SDSS single fiber data, and by a factor of 2 lower than the CALIFA-based WR catalog. We make comparisons with SDSS and CALIFA studies, and conclude that different detection rates can be explained mainly by three factors: spatial coverage, spectral signal-to-noise ratio, and redshift ranges of the parent sample.

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arXiv2020

Estimating dust attenuation from galactic spectra. I. methodology and tests

We develop a method to estimate the dust attenuation curve of galaxies from full spectral fitting of their optical spectra. Motivated from previous studies, we separate the small-scale features from the large-scale spectral shape, by performing a moving average method to both the observed spectrum and the simple stellar population model spectra. The intrinsic dust-free model spectrum is then derived by fitting the observed ratio of the small-scale to large-scale (S/L) components with the S/L ratios of the SSP models. The selective dust attenuation curve is then determined by comparing the observed spectrum with the dust-free model spectrum. One important advantage of this method is that the estimated dust attenuation curve is independent of the shape of theoretical dust attenuation curves. We have done a series of tests on a set of mock spectra covering wide ranges of stellar age and metallicity. We show that our method is able to recover the input dust attenuation curve accurately, although the accuracy depends slightly on signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra. We have applied our method to a number of edge-on galaxies with obvious dust lanes from the ongoing MaNGA survey, deriving their dust attenuation curves and $E(B-V)$ maps, as well as dust-free images in $g$, $r$, and $i$ bands. These galaxies show obvious dust lane features in their original images, which largely disappear after we have corrected the effect of dust attenuation. The vertical brightness profiles of these galaxies become axis-symmetric and can well be fitted by a simple model proposed for the disk vertical structure. Comparing the estimated dust attenuation curve with the three commonly-adopted model curves, we find that the Calzetti curve provides the best description of the estimated curves for the inner region of galaxies, while the Milky Way and SMC curves work better for the outer region.

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arXiv2019

The Data Analysis Pipeline for the SDSS-IV MaNGA IFU Galaxy Survey: Overview

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) is acquiring integral-field spectroscopy for the largest sample of galaxies to date. By 2020, the MaNGA Survey --- one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) --- will have observed a statistically representative sample of 10$^4$ galaxies in the local Universe ($z\lesssim0.15$). In addition to a robust data-reduction pipeline (DRP), MaNGA has developed a data-analysis pipeline (DAP) that provides higher-level data products. To accompany the first public release of its code base and data products, we provide an overview of the MaNGA DAP, including its software design, workflow, measurement procedures and algorithms, performance, and output data model. In conjunction with our companion paper Belfiore et al., we also assess the DAP output provided for 4718 observations of 4648 unique galaxies in the recent SDSS Data Release 15 (DR15). These analysis products focus on measurements that are close to the data and require minimal model-based assumptions. Namely, we provide stellar kinematics (velocity and velocity dispersion), emission-line properties (kinematics, fluxes, and equivalent widths), and spectral indices (e.g., D4000 and the Lick indices). We find that the DAP provides robust measurements and errors for the vast majority ($>$99%) of analyzed spectra. We summarize assessments of the precision and accuracy of our measurements as a function of signal-to-noise, and provide specific guidance to users regarding the limitations of the data. The MaNGA DAP software is publicly available and we encourage community involvement in its development.

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arXiv2019

SDSS-IV MaNGA: Stellar initial mass function variation inferred from Bayesian analysis of the integral field spectroscopy of early type galaxies

We analyze the stellar initial mass functions (IMF) of a large sample of early type galaxies (ETGs) provided by MaNGA. The large number of IFU spectra of individual galaxies provide high signal-to-noise composite spectra that are essential for constraining IMF and to investigate possible radial gradients of the IMF within individual galaxies. The large sample of ETGs also make it possible to study how the IMF shape depends on various properties of galaxies. We adopt a novel approach to study IMF variations in ETGs, use Bayesian inferences based on full spectrum fitting. The Bayesian method provides a statistically rigorous way to explore potential degeneracy in spectrum fitting, and to distinguish different IMF models with Bayesian evidence. We find that the IMF slope depends systematically on galaxy velocity dispersion, in that galaxies of higher velocity dispersion prefer a more bottom-heavy IMF, but the dependence is almost entirely due to the change of metallicity, $Z$, with velocity dispersion. The IMF shape also depends on stellar age, $A$, but the dependence is completely degenerate with that on metallicity through a combination $AZ^{-1.42}$. Using independent age and metallicity estimates we find that the IMF variation is produced by metallicity instead of age. The IMF near the centers of massive ETGs appears more bottom-heavy than that in the outer parts, while a weak opposite trend is seen for low-mass ETGs. Uncertainties produced by star formation history, dust extinction, $α$-element abundance enhancement and noise in the spectra are tested.

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arXiv2019

Linking bar- and interaction-driven molecular gas concentration with centrally-enhanced star formation in EDGE-CALIFA galaxies

We study the spatially resolved star formation history and molecular gas distribution of 58 nearby galaxies, using integral field spectroscopy from the CALIFA survey and CO $J=1\rightarrow 0$ intensity mapping from the CARMA EDGE survey. We use the 4000 Å break (D$_n$4000), the equivalent width of the H$δ$ absorption line (EW H$δ_A$), and the equivalent width of the H$α$ emission line (EW H$α$) to measure the recent star formation history (SFH) of these galaxies. We measure radial profiles of the three SFH indicators and molecular gas mass surface density, from which we measure the level of centrally enhanced star formation and the molecular gas concentration. When we separate our galaxies into categories of barred (17 galaxies), unbarred (24 galaxies), and merging/paired (17 galaxies) we find that the galaxies which have centrally-enhanced star formation (19/58) are either barred (13/19) or in mergers/pairs (6/19) with relatively high molecular gas concentrations. A comparison between our barred galaxies and a snapshot of a hydrodynamic $N$-body simulation of a barred galaxy shows that the current theory of bar formation and evolution can qualitatively reproduce the main features of the observed galaxies in our sample, including both the sharp decrease of stellar age in the galactic center and the gradual decrease of age with increasing distance from center. These findings provide substantial evidence for a picture in which cold gas is transported inward by a bar or tidal interaction, which leads to the growth and rejuvenation of star formation in the central region.

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arXiv2016

Probing the resonance of Dirac particle by the application of complex momentum representation

Resonance plays critical roles in the formation of many physical phenomena, and several methods have been developed for the exploration of resonance. In this work, we propose a new scheme for resonance by solving the Dirac equation in complex momentum representation, in which the resonant states are exposed clearly in complex momentum plane and the resonance parameters can be determined precisely without imposing unphysical parameters. Combining with the relativistic mean-field theory, this method is applied to probe the resonances in $^{120}$Sn with the energies, widths, and wavefunctions being obtained. Comparing with other methods, this method is not only very effective for narrow resonances, but also can be reliably applied to broad resonances.

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