arXiv subjects

S. Salimbeni

Publications and source records attributed to S. Salimbeni.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

The GOODS-MUSIC sample: a multicolour catalog of near-IR selected galaxies in the GOODS-South field

We present a high quality multiwavelength (from 0.3 to 8.0 micron) catalog of the large and deep area in the GOODS Southern Field covered by the deep near-IR observations obtained with the ESO VLT. The catalog is entirely based on public data: in our analysis, we have included the F435W, F606W, F775W and F850LP ACS images, the JHKs VLT data, the Spitzer data provided by IRAC instrument (3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 micron), and publicly available U-band data from the 2.2ESO and VLT-VIMOS. We describe in detail the procedures adopted to obtain this multiwavelength catalog. In particular, we developed a specific software for the accurate "PSF-matching" of space and ground-based images of different resolution and depth (ConvPhot), of which we analyse performances and limitations. We have included both z-selected, as well as Ks-selected objects, yielding a unique, self-consistent catalog. The largest fraction of the sample is 90% complete at z~26 or Ks~23.8 (AB scale). Finally, we cross-correlated our data with all the spectroscopic catalogs available to date, assigning a spectroscopic redshift to more than 1000 sources. The final catalog is made up of 14847 objects, at least 72 of which are known stars, 68 are AGNs, and 928 galaxies with spectroscopic redshift (668 galaxies with reliable redshift determination). We applied our photometric redshift code to this data set, and the comparison with the spectroscopic sample shows that the quality of the resulting photometric redshifts is excellent, with an average scatter of only 0.06. The full catalog, which we named GOODS-MUSIC (MUltiwavelength Southern Infrared Catalog), including the spectroscopic information, is made publicly available, together with the software specifically designed to this end.

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arXiv2006

The Clustering Evolution of Distant Red Galaxies in the GOODS-MUSIC Sample

We use the GOODS-MUSIC sample, a catalog of ~3000 Ks-selected galaxies based on VLT and HST observation of the GOODS-South field with extended multi-wavelength coverage (from 0.3 to 8 micron) and accurate estimates of the photometric redshifts to select 179 DRGs with J-Ks>1.3 in an area of 135 sq. arcmin. We first show that the J-Ks>1.3 criterion selects a rather heterogeneous sample of galaxies, going from the targeted high-redshift luminous evolved systems, to a significant fraction of lower redshift (1<z<2) and less luminous dusty starbursts. These low-redshift DRGs are significantly less clustered than higher-z DRGs. With the aid of extreme and simplified theoretical models of clustering evolution we show that it is unlikely that the two samples are drawn from the same population observed at two different stages of evolution. High-z DRGs likely represent the progenitors of the more massive and more luminous galaxies in the local Universe and might mark the regions that will later evolve into structures of intermediate mass, like groups or small galaxy clusters. Low-z DRGs, on the other hand, will likely evolve into slightly less massive field galaxies.

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arXiv2005

Bimodal Color Distribution in Hierarchical Galaxy Formation

We show how the observed bimodality in the color distribution of galaxies can be explained in the framework of the hierarchical clustering picture in terms of the interplay between the properties of the merging histories and the feedback/star-formation processes in the progenitors of local galaxies. Using a semi-analytic model of hierarchical galaxy formation, we compute the color distributions of galaxies with different luminosities and compare them with the observations. Our fiducial model matches the fundamental properties of the observed distributions, namely: 1) the distribution of objects brighter than M_r = -18 is clearly bimodal, with a fraction of red objects increasing with luminosity; 2) for objects brighter than M_r = -21 the color distribution is dominated by red objects with color u-r = 2.2-2.4; 3) the spread on the distribution of the red population is smaller than that of the blue population; 4) the fraction of red galaxies is larger in denser environments, even for low-luminosity objects; 5) the bimodality in the distribution persists up to z = 1.5. We discuss the role of the different physical processes included in the model in producing the above results.

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arXiv2004

The B-Band Luminosity Function of Red and Blue Galaxies up to z=3.5

We have explored the redshift evolution of the luminosity function of red and blue galaxies up to $z=3.5$. This was possible joining a deep I band composite galaxy sample, which includes the spectroscopic K20 sample and the HDFs samples, with the deep $H_{AB}=26$ and $K_{AB}=25$ samples derived from the deep NIR images of the Hubble Deep Fields North and South, respectively. About 30% of the sample has spectroscopic redshifts and the remaining fraction well-calibrated photometric redshifts. This allowed to select and measure galaxies in the rest-frame blue magnitude up to $z\sim 3$ and to derive the redshift evolution of the B-band luminosity function of galaxies separated by their rest-frame $U-V$ color or specific (i.e. per unit mass) star-formation rate. The class separation was derived from passive evolutionary tracks or from their observed bimodal distributions. Both distributions appear bimodal at least up to $z\sim 2$ and the locus of red/early galaxies is clearly identified up to these high redshifts. Both luminosity and density evolutions are needed to describe the cosmological behaviour of the red/early and blue/late populations. The density evolution is greater for the early population with a decrease by one order of magnitude at $z\sim 2-3$ with respect to the value at $z\sim 0.4$. The luminosity densities of the early and late type galaxies with $M_B<-20.6$ appear to have a bifurcation at $z>1$. Indeed while star-forming galaxies slightly increase or keep constant their luminosity density, "early" galaxies decrease in their luminosity density by a factor $\sim 5-6$ from $z\sim 0.4$ to $z\sim 2.5-3$. A comparison with one of the latest versions of the hierarchical CDM models shows a broad agreement with the observed number and luminosity density evolutions of both populations.

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arXiv2004

The K20 survey. VI. The Distribution of the Stellar Masses in Galaxies up to z~2

We present a detailed analysis of the stellar mass content of galaxies up to z=2.5 in the K20 galaxy sample, that has a 92% spectroscopic completeness and a complete $UBVRIzJK_s$ multicolor coverage. We find that the M/L ratio decreases with redshift: in particular, the average M/L ratio of early type galaxies decreases with $z$, with a scatter that is indicative of a range of star--formation time-scales and redshift of formation. More important, the typical M/L of massive early type galaxies is larger than that of less massive ones, suggesting that their stellar population formed at higher z. The final K20 galaxy sample spans a range of stellar masses from M*=10^9Msun to M*=10^12Msun, with massive galaxies ($M*>10^11Msun) detected up to z~2. We compute the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function at various z, of which we observe only a mild evolution (i.e. by 20-30%) up to z~1. At z>1, the evolution of the GSMF appears to be much faster: at z~2, about 35% of the present day stellar mass in objects with M*~10^11Msun appear to have assembled. We also detect a change in the physical nature of the most massive galaxies, since at z>1 a population of massive star--forming galaxies progressively appears. We finally analyze our results in the framework of Lambda-CDM hierarchical models. First, we show that the large number of massive galaxies detected at high z does not violate any fundamental Lambda-CDM constraint based on the number of massive DM halos. Then, we compare our results with the predictions of renditions of both semianalytic and hydro-dynamical models, that range from severe underestimates to slight overestimates of the observed mass density at z<~2. We discuss how the differences among these models are due to the different implementation of the main physical processes. (Abridged)

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arXiv2003

The evolution of the galaxy luminosity function in the rest frame blue band up to z=3.5

We present an estimate of the cosmological evolution of the field galaxy luminosity function (LF) in the rest frame 4400 Angstrom B -band up to redshift z=3.5. To this purpose, we use a composite sample of 1541 I--selected galaxies selected down to I_(AB)=27.2 and 138 galaxies selected down to K_(AB)=25 from ground-based and HST multicolor surveys, most notably the new deep JHK images in the Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) taken with the ISAAC instrument at the ESO-VLT telescope. About 21% of the sample has spectroscopic redshifts, and the remaining fraction well calibrated photometric redshifts. The resulting blue LF shows little density evolution at the faint end with respect to the local values, while at the bright end (M_B(AB)<-20) a brightening increasing with redshift is apparent with respect to the local LF. Hierarchical CDM models overpredict the number of faint galaxies by about a factor 3 at z=1. At the bright end the predicted LFs are in reasonable agreement only at low and intermediate redshifts (z=1), but fail to reproduce the pronounced brightening observed in the high redshift (z=2-3) LF. This brightening could mark the epoch where a major star formation activity is present in the galaxy evolution.

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