arXiv subjects

S. Boissier

Publications and source records attributed to S. Boissier.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

CASTLE: performances and science cases

We present here the Calar Alto Schmidt-Lemaitre Telescope (CASTLE) concept, a technology demonstrator for curved detectors, that will be installed at the Calar Alto Observatory (Spain). This telescope has a wide field of view (2.36x1.56 deg^2) and a design, optimised to generate a Point Spread Function with very low level wings and reduced ghost features, which makes it considerably less susceptible to several systematic effects usually affecting similar systems. These characteristics are particularly suited to study the low surface brightness Universe. CASTLE will be able to reach surface brightness orders of magnitude fainter than the sky background level and observe the extremely extended and faint features around galaxies such as tidal features, stellar halos, intra-cluster light, etc. CASTLE will also be used to search and detect astrophysical transients such as gamma ray bursts (GRB), gravitational wave optical counterparts, neutrino counterparts, etc. This will increase the number of precisely localized GRBs from 20% to 60% (in the case of Fermi/GMB GRBs).

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arXiv2020

First spectroscopic study of ionized gas emission lines in the extreme low surface brightness galaxy Malin 1

Malin 1 is the largest known low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy, the archetype of so-called giant LSBs. The structure and the origin of such galaxies are still poorly understood, especially due to the lack of high-resolution kinematics and spectroscopic data. We use emission lines from spectroscopic observations of Malin 1 aiming to bring new constraints on the internal dynamics and star formation history of Malin 1. We have extracted a total of 16 spectra from different regions of Malin 1 and calculated the rotational velocities of these regions from the wavelength shifts and star formation rates from the observed H$α$ emission line fluxes. We compare our data with existing data and models for Malin 1. For the first time we present the inner rotation curve of Malin 1, characterized in the radial range r < 10 kpc by a steep rise in the rotational velocity up to at least 350 km/s (with a large dispersion), which had not been observed previously. We use these data to study a suite of new mass models for Malin 1. We show that in the inner regions dynamics may be dominated by the stars (although none of our models can explain the highest velocities measured) but that at large radii a massive dark matter halo remains necessary. The H$α$ fluxes derived star formation rates are consistent with an early-type disk for the inner region, and with the level found in extended UV galaxies for the outer parts of the giant disk of Malin 1. We also find signs of high metallicity but low dust content for the inner regions.

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arXiv2020

Systematic Variations of CO J=2-1/1-0 Ratio in The Barred Spiral Galaxy M83

We present spatial variations of the CO J=2-1/1-0 line ratio in M83 using Total Power array data from ALMA. While the intensities of these two lines correlate tightly, the ratio varies over the disk, with a disk average ratio of 0.69, and shows the galactic center and a two-arm spiral pattern. It is high (>0.7) in regions of high molecular gas surface density, but ranges from low to high ratios in regions of low surface density. The ratio correlates well with the spatial distributions and intensities of FUV and IR emissions, with FUV being the best correlated. It also correlates better with the ratio of IR intensities (70/350mic), a proxy for dust temperature, than with the IR intensities. Taken together, these results suggest either a direct or indirect link between the dust heating by the interstellar radiation field and the condition of GMCs, even though no efficient mechanism is known for a thermal coupling of dust and bulk gas in GMCs.

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arXiv2020

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).VI. Environmental quenching on HII region scales

The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey of the Virgo cluster carried out with MegaCam at the Canada-French-Hawaii telescope (CFHT). We use a new set of data extracted from VESTIGE to study the impact of the hostile cluster environment on the star formation process down to the scale of HII regions (~ 50 pc). HII regions are identified and their parameters measured using the HIIphot code on a sample of 114 late-type galaxies spanning a wide range in morphological type (Sa-Sd, Im, BCD), stellar mass (10^6.5 <= M_star <= 10^11 Mo), and star formation activity (10^-3 <= SFR <= 10 Mo yr^-1). Owing to the exquisite average resolution of the VESTIGE data (0.65 arcsec), we detect 11302 HII regions with an Halpha luminosity L(Halpha) >= 10^37 erg s^-1. We show that the typical number of HII regions in gas-stripped objects is significantly lower than in healthy late-types of similar stellar mass. We also show that in these gas-stripped galaxies the number of HII regions significantly drops outside the effective radius, suggesting that the quenching process occurs outside-in, in agreement with other multifrequency observations. These new results consistently confirm that the main mechanism responsible for the decrease of the star formation activity observed in cluster galaxies is ram pressure, allowing us to discard other milder processes such as starvation or strangulation unable to reproduce the observed radially truncated profiles.

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arXiv2020

The GALEX Ultraviolet Virgo Cluster Survey (GUViCS) VIII. Diffuse dust in the Virgo intra-cluster space

We present the first detection of diffuse dust in the intra-cluster medium of the Virgo cluster out to $\sim$0.4 virial radii, and study the radial variation of its properties on a radial scale of the virial radius. Analysing near-UV - $i$ colours for a sample of $\sim12000$ background galaxies with redshifts $0.02 < z < 0.8$, we find significant colour reddening and relate it to variation in $E(B-V)$ values. The $E(B-V)$ mean profile shows a dust component characterised by an average reddening $E(B-V)\sim0.042 \pm 0.004$ mag within 1.5 degrees ($\sim0.3\, r_{vir}$) from the cluster centre. Assuming a Large Magellanic Cloud extinction law, we derive an average visual extinction $A_{V} = 0.14\pm 0.01$ for a total dust mass, $M_{d} = 2.5\pm0.2\times10^{9}M_{\odot}$, hence a dust-to-gas mass ratio $M_{d}/M_{g} = 3.0\pm 0.3 \times 10^{-4}$. Based on the upper limits on the flux density $\mathrm{I_{250μm} = 0.1\, MJy sr^{-1}} $ derived from $Herschel$ data, we estimate an upper limit for the dust temperature of $T_{d} \sim 10\, K$. However, similar densities can be obtained with dust at higher temperatures with lower emissivities. The Virgo cluster has diffuse dust in its intra-cluster medium characterised by different physical properties as those characterising the Milky Way dust. The diffuse dust in Virgo is transported into the cluster space through similar phenomena (stripping) as those building up the optical intra-cluster light, and it constitutes an additional cooling agent of the cluster gas.

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arXiv2019

An H$α$ kinematic survey of the $Herschel$ Reference Survey -- I. Fabry-Perot observations with the 1.93m telescope at OHP

We present new 2D high resolution Fabry-Perot spectroscopic observations of 152 star-forming galaxies which are part of the $Herschel$ Reference Survey (HRS), a complete $K$-band selected, volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies, spanning a wide range in stellar mass and morphological type. Using improved data reduction techniques that provide adaptive binning based on Voronoi tessellation, using large field-of-view observations, we derive high spectral resolution (R$>$10,000) H$α$ datacubes from which we compute H$α$ maps and radial 2D velocity fields that are based on several thousand independent measurements. A robust method based on such fields allows us to accurately compute rotation curves and kinematical parameters, for which uncertainties are calculated using a method based on the power spectrum of the residual velocity fields. We check the consistency of the rotation curves by comparing our maximum rotational velocities to those derived from HI data, and computing the $i$-band, NIR, stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relations. We use this set of kinematical data combined to those available at other frequencies to study for the first time the relation between the dynamical and the total baryonic mass (stars, atomic and molecular gas, metals and dust), and derive the baryonic and dynamical main sequence on a representative sample of the local universe.

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arXiv2019

Are LGRBs biased tracers of star formation? Clues from the host galaxies of the $Swift$/BAT6 complete sample of bright LGRBs III: Stellar masses, star formation rates and metallicities at $z>1$

(Abridged) Long gamma-ray bursts (LGRB) have been suggested as promising tracers of star formation owing to their association with the core-collapse of massive stars. The goal of this work is to characterise the population of host galaxies of LGRBs at 1 < z < 2, investigate the conditions in which LGRBs form at these redshifts and assess their use as tracers of star formation. We perform a spectro-photometric analysis to determine the stellar mass, star formation rate, specific star formation rate and metallicity of the complete, unbiased host galaxy sample of the Swift/BAT6 LGRB sample at 1 < z < 2. We compare the distribution of these properties to the ones of typical star-forming galaxies from the MOSDEF and COSMOS2015 Ultra Deep surveys, within the same redshift range. We find that, similarly to z < 1, LGRBs do not directly trace star formation at 1 < z < 2, and they tend to avoid high-mass, high-metallicity host galaxies. We also find evidence for an enhanced fraction of starbursts among the LGRB host sample with respect to the star-forming population of galaxies. Nonetheless we demonstrate that the driving factor ruling the LGRB efficiency is metallicity. The LGRB host distributions can be reconciled with the ones expected from galaxy surveys by imposing a metallicity upper limit of 12+logOH ~ 8.55. Metallicity rules the LGRB production efficiency, which is stifled at Z > 0.7 Zsun. Under this hypothesis we can expect LGRBs to trace star formation at z > 3, once the bulk of the star forming galaxy population are characterised by metallicities below this limit. The moderately high metallicity threshold found is in agreement with the conditions necessary to rapidly produce a fast-rotating Wolf-Rayet star a in close binary system, and could be accommodated by single star models under chemically homogeneous mixing with very rapid rotation and weak magnetic coupling.

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arXiv2018

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).IV. A tail of Ionised Gas in the Merger Remnant NGC 4424

We have observed the late-type peculiar galaxy NGC 4424 during VESTIGE, a blind narrow-band Halpha[NII] imaging survey of the Virgo cluster carried out with MegaCam at the CFHT. The presence of a 110 kpc long HI tail in the S direction indicates that this galaxy is undergoing a ram pressure stripping event. The deep narrow-band image revealed the presence of a low surface brightness ionised gas tail ~10 kpc long extending from the centre of the galaxy to the NW direction, in the direction opposite to the HI tail. Chandra and XMM X-rays data do not show any compact source in the nucleus nor the presence of an extended tail of hot gas, while MUSE spectroscopy indicates that the gas is photo-ionised in the inner regions and shock-ionised in the outer parts. IFU spectroscopy confirms that the ionised gas is kinematically decoupled from the stellar component and indicates the presence of two kinematically distinct structures in the stellar disc. The analysis of the SED of the galaxy indicates that the activity of star formation has been totally quenched in the outer disc ~ 250-280 Myr ago, while only reduced by ~80% in the central regions. All this observational evidence suggests that NGC 4424 is the remnant of an unequal-mass merger occurred <= 500 Myr ago, when the galaxy was already a member of the Virgo cluster, now undergoing a ram pressure stripping event which has removed the gas and quenched the activity of star formation in the outer disc. The tail of ionised gas probably results from the outflow produced by a central starburst fed by the collapse of gas induced by the merging episode. This outflow is sufficiently powerful to overcome the ram pressure induced by the intracluster medium on the disc of the galaxy crossing the cluster. This analysis thus suggests that feedback can participate in the quenching process of galaxies in high-density regions.

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arXiv2018

Investigation of dust attenuation and star formation activity in galaxies hosting GRBs

The gamma-ray bursts hosts (GRBHs) are excellent targets to study the extinction properties of dust and its effects on the global emission of distant galaxies. The dust extinction curve is measured along the GRB afterglow line of sight and the analysis of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the host galaxy gives access to the global dust attenuation of the stellar light. We selected a sample of 30 GRBs for which the extinction curve along the GRB afterglow line-of-sight (l.o.s) is measured in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) up to optical and we analysed the properties of the extinction curve as a function of the host galaxy properties. From these 30 GRBs, we selected seven GRBHs with a good rest-frame UV to near infra-red spectral coverage for the host. The attenuation curve was derived by fitting the SEDs of the GRBH sample with the CIGALE SED fitting code. Different star formation histories were studied to recover the star formation rates (SFR) derived using H$_α$ luminosities. The most extinguished GRBs are preferentially found in the more massive hosts and the UV bump is preferentially found in the most extinguished GRB l.o.s. Five out of seven hosts are best fitted with a recent burst of star formation, leading to lower stellar mass estimates than previously found. The average attenuation in the host galaxies is about 70% of the amount of extinction along the GRB l.o.s. We find a great variety in the derived attenuation curves of GRBHs, the UV slope can be similar, flatter or even steeper than the extinction curve slope. We find that the flatter (steeper) attenuation curves are found in galaxies with the highest (lowest) SFR and stellar masses. The comparison of our results with radiative transfer simulations leads to a uniform distribution of dust and stars in a very clumpy ISM for half the GRBHs and various dust-stars geometries for the second half of the sample.

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arXiv2018

French SKA White Book - The French Community towards the Square Kilometre Array

The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) is a large international radio telescope project characterised, as suggested by its name, by a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre, and consisting of several interferometric arrays to observe at metric and centimetric wavelengths. The deployment of the SKA will take place in two sites, in South Africa and Australia, and in two successive phases. From its Phase 1, the SKA will be one of the most formidable scientific machines ever deployed by mankind, and by far the most impressive in terms of data throughput and required computing power. With the participation of almost 200 authors from forty research institutes and six private companies, the publication of this French SKA white paper illustrates the strong involvement in the SKA project of the French astronomical community and of a rapidly growing number of major scientific and technological players in the fields of Big Data, high performance computing, energy production and storage, as well as system integration.

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arXiv2018

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).III. Star formation in the stripped gas of NGC 4254

During pilot observations of the Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Galaxy Evolution (VESTIGE), a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey of the Virgo cluster carried out with MegaCam at the CFHT, we have observed the spiral galaxy NGC 4254 (M99). Deep Halpha+[NII] narrow-band and GALEX UV images revealed the presence of 60 compact (70-500 pc radius) star forming regions up to ~ 20 kpc outside the optical disc of the galaxy. These regions are located along a tail of HI gas stripped from the disc of the galaxy after a rapid gravitational encounter with another Virgo cluster member that simulations indicate occurred 280-750 Myr ago. We have combined the VESTIGE data with multifrequency data from the UV to the far-infrared to characterise the stellar populations of these regions and study the star formation process in an extreme environment such as the tails of stripped gas embedded in the hot intracluster medium. The colour, spectral energy distribution (SED), and linear size consistently indicate that these regions are coeval and have been formed after a single burst of star formation that occurred ~< 100 Myr ago. These regions might become free floating objects within the cluster potential well, and be the local analogues of compact sources produced after the interaction of gas-rich systems that occurred during the early formation of clusters.

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arXiv2018

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE). II. Constraining the quenching time in the stripped galaxy NGC 4330

The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band H$α$+[NII] imaging survey carried out with MegaCam at the CFHT. During pilot observations we have observed NGC 4330, an intermediate mass, edge-on star forming spiral currently falling into the core of the Virgo cluster. New deep observations revealed a low surface brightness 10 kpc tail exhibiting a peculiar filamentary structure. The filaments are remarkably parallel one another and clearly indicate the direction of motion of the galaxy in the Virgo potential. Motivated by the detection of these features, indicating ongoing gas stripping, we collected literature photometry in 15 bands from the far-UV to the far-IR and deep optical long slit spectroscopy using the FORS2 instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope. Using a newly developed Monte Carlo code that jointly fits spectroscopy and photometry, we reconstructed the star formation histories in apertures along the major axis of the galaxy. Our results have been validated against the output of CIGALE, a fitting code which has been previously used for similar studies. We found a clear outside-in gradient with radius of the time when the quenching event started: the outermost radii have been stripped 500 Myr ago, while the stripping has reached the inner 5 kpc from the center in the last 100 Myr. Regions at even smaller radii are currently still forming stars fueled by the presence of HI and H2 gas. When compared to statistical studies of the quenching timescales in the local Universe we find that ram pressure stripping of the cold gas is an effective mechanism to reduce the transformation times for galaxies falling into massive clusters. Future systematic studies of all the active galaxies observed by VESTIGE in the Virgo cluster will extend these results to a robust statistical framework.

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arXiv2018

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).I. Introduction to the Survey

The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey carried out with MegaCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The survey covers the whole Virgo cluster region from its core to one virial radius (104 deg^2). The sensitivity of the survey is of f(Halpha) ~ 4 x 10^-17 erg sec-1 cm^-2 (5 sigma detection limit) for point sources and Sigma (Halpha) ~ 2 x 10^-18 erg sec^-1 cm^-2 arcsec^-2 (1 sigma detection limit at 3 arcsec resolution) for extended sources, making VESTIGE the deepest and largest blind narrow-band survey of a nearby cluster. This paper presents the survey in all its technical aspects, including the survey design, the observing strategy, the achieved sensitivity in both the narrow-band Halpha+[NII] and in the broad-band r filter used for the stellar continuum subtraction, the data reduction, calibration, and products, as well as its status after the first observing semester. We briefly describe the Halpha properties of galaxies located in a 4x1 deg^2 strip in the core of the cluster north of M87, where several extended tails of ionised gas are detected. This paper also lists the main scientific motivations of VESTIGE, which include the study of the effects of the environment on galaxy evolution, the fate of the stripped gas in cluster objects, the star formation process in nearby galaxies of different type and stellar mass, the determination of the Halpha luminosity function and of the Halpha scaling relations down to ~ 10^6 Mo stellar mass objects, and the reconstruction of the dynamical structure of the Virgo cluster. This unique set of data will also be used to study the HII luminosity function in hundreds of galaxies, the diffuse Halpha+[NII] emission of the Milky Way at high Galactic latitude, and the properties of emission line galaxies at high redshift.

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arXiv2018

The GALEX Ultraviolet Virgo Cluster Survey (GUViCS). VII.: BCG UV upturn and the FUV-NUV color up to redshift 0.35

CONTEXT:At low redshift, early-type galaxies often exhibit a rising flux with decreasing wavelength in the 1000-2500 Å range, called "UV upturn". The origin of this phenomenon is debated, and its evolution with redshift is poorly constrained. The observed GALEX FUV-NUV color can be used to probe the UV upturn approximately to redshift 0.5. AIMS: We provide constraints on the existence of the UV upturn up to redshift $\sim$ 0.4 in the brightest cluster galaxies (BCG) located behind the Virgo cluster, using data from the GUViCS survey. METHODS:We estimate the GALEX far-UV (FUV) and near-UV (NUV) observed magnitudes for BCGs from the maxBCG catalog in the GUViCS fields. We increase the number of nonlocal galaxies identified as BCGs with GALEX photometry from a few tens of galaxies to 166 (64 when restricting this sample to relatively small error bars). We also estimate a central color within a 20 arcsec aperture. By using the $r$-band luminosity from the maxBCG catalog, we can separate blue FUV-NUV due to recent star formation and candidate upturn cases. We use Lick indices to verify their similarity to redshift 0 upturn cases. RESULTS: We clearly detect a population of blue FUV-NUV BCGs in the redshift range 0.10-0.35, vastly improving the existing constraints at these epochs by increasing the number of galaxies studied, and by exploring a redshift range with no previous data (beyond 0.2), spanning one more Gyr in the past. These galaxies bring new constraints that can help distinguish between assumptions concerning the stellar populations causing the UV upturn phenomenon. The existence of a large number of UV upturns around redshift 0.25 favors the existence of a binary channel among the sources proposed in the literature.

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arXiv2017

The chemical enrichment of long-GRB nurseries up to z=2

We investigate the existence of a metallicity threshold for the production of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs). We used the host galaxies of the Swift/BAT6 sample of LGRBs. We considered the stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and metallicity determined from the host galaxy photometry and spectroscopy up to z = 2 and used them to compare the distribution of host galaxies to that of field galaxies in the mass-metallicity and fundamental metallicity relation plane. We find that although LGRBs also form in galaxies with relatively large stellar masses, the large majority of host galaxies have metallicities below log(O=H)~8.6. The extension to z = 2 results in a good sampling of stellar masses also above Log(Mstar/Msun)~9.5 and provides evidence that LGRB host galaxies do not follow the fundamental metallicity relation. As shown by the comparison with dedicated numerical simulations of LGRB host galaxy population, these results are naturally explained by the existence of a mild (~0.7 Zsun) threshold for the LGRB formation. The present statistics does not allow us to discriminate between different shapes of the metallicity cutoff, but the relatively high metallicity threshold found in this work is somewhat in disagreement to most of the standard single-star models for LGRB progenitors.

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arXiv2016

The Deep and Transient Universe in the SVOM Era: New Challenges and Opportunities - Scientific prospects of the SVOM mission

To take advantage of the astrophysical potential of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), Chinese and French astrophysicists have engaged the SVOM mission (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor). Major advances in GRB studies resulting from the synergy between space and ground observations, the SVOM mission implements space and ground instrumentation. The scientific objectives of the mission put a special emphasis on two categories of GRBs: very distant GRBs at z$>$5 which constitute exceptional cosmological probes, and faint/soft nearby GRBs which allow probing the nature of the progenitors and the physics at work in the explosion. These goals have a major impact on the design of the mission: the on-board hard X-ray imager is sensitive down to 4 keV and computes on line image and rate triggers, and the follow-up telescopes on the ground are sensitive in the NIR. At the beginning of the next decade, SVOM will be the main provider of GRB positions and spectral parameters on very short time scale. The SVOM instruments will operate simultaneously with a wide range of powerful astronomical devices. This rare instrumental conjunction, combined with the relevance of the scientific topics connected with GRB studies, warrants a remarkable scientific return for SVOM. In addition, the SVOM instrumentation, primarily designed for GRB studies, composes a unique multi-wavelength observatory with rapid slew capability that will find multiple applications for the whole astronomy community beyond the specific objectives linked to GRBs. This report lists the scientific themes that will benefit from observations made with SVOM, whether they are specific GRB topics, or more generally all the issues that can take advantage of the multi-wavelength capabilities of SVOM.

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arXiv2016

The properties of the Malin 1 galaxy giant disk: A panchromatic view from the NGVS and GUViCS surveys

Low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) represent a significant percentage of local galaxies but their formation and evolution remain elusive. They may hold crucial information for our understanding of many key issues (i.e., census of baryonic and dark matter, star formation in the low density regime, mass function). The most massive examples - the so called giant LSBGs - can be as massive as the Milky Way, but with this mass being distributed in a much larger disk. Malin 1 is an iconic giant LSBG, perhaps the largest disk galaxy known. We attempt to bring new insights on its structure and evolution on the basis of new images covering a wide range in wavelength. We have computed surface brightness profiles (and average surface brightnesses in 16 regions of interest), in six photometric bands (FUV, NUV, u, g, i, z). We compared these data to various models, testing a variety of assumptions concerning the formation and evolution of Malin 1. We find that the surface brightness and color profiles can be reproduced by a long and quiet star-formation history due to the low surface density; no significant event, such as a collision, is necessary. Such quiet star formation across the giant disk is obtained in a disk model calibrated for the Milky Way, but with an angular momentum approximately 20 times larger. Signs of small variations of the star-formation history are indicated by the diversity of ages found when different regions within the galaxy are intercompared.For the first time, panchromatic images of Malin 1 are used to constrain the stellar populations and the history of this iconic example among giant LSBGs. Based on our model, the extreme disk of Malin 1 is found to have a long history of relatively low star formation (about 2 Msun/yr). Our model allows us to make predictions on its stellar mass and metallicity.

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arXiv2016

The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey. XX. Dust and gas in the foreground Galactic cirrus

We study the correlation between far-infared/submm dust emission and atomic gas column density in order to derive the properties of the high Galactic latitude, low density, Milky Way cirrus in the foreground of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Dust emission maps from 60 to 850 um are obtained from SPIRE observations carried out within the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey, complemented by IRAS-IRIS and Planck-HFI maps. Data from the Arecibo legacy Fast ALFA Survey is used to derive atomic gas column densities for two broad velocity components, low and intermediate velocity clouds. Dust emissivities are derived for each gas component and each far-infared/submm band. For the low velocity clouds, we measure an average emissivity 0.79 +/- 0.08 times 1E-20 MJy sr^-1 cm^2 at 250 um. After fitting a modified blackbody to the available bands, we estimated a dust absorption cross-section 0.49 +/- 0.13 times 1E-25 cm^2 H^-1 at 250 um (with dust temperature T = 20.4 +/- 1.5 K and spectral index beta = 1.53 +/- 0.17). The results are in excellent agreement with those obtained by Planck over a much larger coverage of the high Galactic latitude cirrus (50% of the sky vs 0.2% in our work). For dust associated with intermediate velocity gas, we confirm earlier Planck results and find a higher temperature and lower emissivity and cross-section. After subtracting the modelled components, we find regions at scales smaller than 20' where the residuals deviate significantly from the average, cosmic-infrared-background dominated, scatter. These large residuals are most likely due to local variations in the cirrus dust properties (and/or the dust/atomic-gas correlation) or to high-latitude molecular clouds with average N_H2 <~ 1E20 cm^-2. We find no conclusive evidence for intracluster dust emission in Virgo.

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