arXiv subjects

Sudhanshu Barway

Publications and source records attributed to Sudhanshu Barway.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Discovery of a large HI ring around the quiescent galaxy AGC 203001

Here we report the discovery with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope of an extremely large ($\sim$115 kpc in diameter) HI ring off-centered from a massive quenched galaxy, AGC 203001. This ring does not have any bright extended optical counterpart, unlike several other known ring galaxies. Our deep $g$, $r$, and $i$ optical imaging of the HI ring, using the MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, however, shows several regions with faint optical emission at a surface brightness level of $\sim$28 mag/arcsec$^2$. Such an extended HI structure is very rare with only one other case known so far -- the Leo ring. Conventionally, off-centered rings have been explained by a collision with an "intruder" galaxy leading to expanding density waves of gas and stars in the form of a ring. However, in such a scenario the impact also leads to large amounts of star formation in the ring which is not observed in the ring presented in this paper. We discuss possible scenarios for the formation of such HI dominated rings.

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arXiv2019

SN 2018hna: 1987A-like supernova with a signature of shock breakout

High cadence ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared photometric and low-resolution spectroscopic observations of the peculiar Type II supernova (SN) 2018hna are presented. The early phase multiband light curves exhibit the adiabatic cooling envelope emission following the shock breakout up to ~14 days from the explosion. SN~2018hna has a rise time of $\sim$\,88 days in the V-band, similar to SN 1987A. A $\rm^{56}Ni$ mass of ~0.087$\pm$0.004 $\rm M_{\odot}$ is inferred for SN 2018hna from its bolometric light curve. Hydrodynamical modelling of the cooling phase suggests a progenitor with a radius ~50 $\rm R_{\odot}$, a mass of ~14-20 $\rm M_{\odot}$ and explosion energy of ~1.7-2.9$\rm \times$ $\rm 10^{51}\ erg$. The smaller inferred radius of the progenitor than a standard red supergiant is indicative of a blue supergiant progenitor of SN 2018hna. A sub-solar metallicity (~0.3 $\rm Z_{\odot}$) is inferred for the host galaxy UGC 07534, concurrent with the low-metallicity environments of 1987A-like events.

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arXiv2019

Connecting galaxy structure and star formation: the role of environment in formation of S0 galaxies

In this work, we investigate the reason behind the increased occurrence of S0 galaxies in high density environments. Our sample comprises of $\sim$ 2500 spiral and $\sim$ 2000 S0 galaxies spanning a wide range of environments. Dividing the galaxies into categories of classical and pseudobulge hosting spiral and S0 galaxies, we have studied their properties as a function of the environment. We find that the fraction of pseudobulge hosting disc galaxies decreases with increase in density. The classical bulge hosting spirals and S0 galaxies follow a similar trend in less dense environments but towards higher densities, we observe an increase in the fraction of classical bulge host S0 galaxies at the expense of spirals. Comparing the structural and the star formation properties of galaxies on the size-mass and $NUV-r$ colour-mass planes respectively, we infer that classical bulge hosting spirals are likely to get transformed into S0 morphology. We notice a trend of galaxy structure with environment such that the fraction of classical bulge hosting spiral galaxies is found to increase with environment density. We also find that among classical bulge hosting spirals, the fraction of quenched galaxies increases in denser environments. We surmise that the existence of more classical bulge hosting spirals galaxies and more efficient quenching leads to the observed increased occurrence of S0 galaxies in high density environments. The relation between galaxy structure and environment also exists for the disc galaxies irrespective of their visual morphology, which is driven mainly by halo mass.

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arXiv2019

Outlying H$α$ emitters in SDSS IV MaNGA

We have carried out a systematic search for outlying H$α$ emitters in the entire data release 14 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey. We have discovered six outlying H$α$ emitters with no bright underlying optical continuum emission in the imaging data release 5 from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) and data release 6 of the Mayall $z$-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) + Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS). They also show a velocity field which is different from that of the host galaxy. These outlying H$α$ emitters all have extended structure in the H$α$ image. Their emission line ratios show that they are photoionised due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a mixture of both an AGN and star formation. Some of them are very likely to be fainter counterparts of Hanny's Voorwerp like objects.

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arXiv2018

Outlying H$α$ blobs in SDSS IV MaNGA

We have discovered a population of 29 outlying H$α$ emitters which appear like unresolved blobs in the DR14 data release of the SDSS IV MaNGA integral field unit survey. They do not have any underlying optical continuum emission in deep imaging from the DECam Legacy Survey or Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey. These blobs either lie away from the disc of the host galaxy in the MaNGA IFU and/or have velocities which are different from the velocity map of the host galaxy. Interestingly, all of them show photoionisation due to star formation. These galaxies have very high specific star formation rates compared to the known population of dwarf galaxies. However, their metallicities are consistent with or even lower than those of the local volume dwarfs. Thus, we can possibly rule out tidal dwarf galaxies. They could represent a new population of low mass and starbursting dwarf galaxies.

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arXiv2018

A SALT Spectral Study of S0s Hosting Pseudobulges

We present a SALT-RSS spectroscopic study of a sample of S0 galaxies established by Vaghmare et al. (2015) as having pseudobulges using a combination of photometric criteria. We extract the spectra of various regions along the galaxy major axis using standard long-slit spectroscopic reduction procedures and model the spectra using STARLIGHT to derive detailed star formation histories. The central spectra of galaxies without bars in our sample reveal a complex star formation history, which is consistent with the belief that pseudobulges have a history of star formation distributed over extended periods of time. The spectra of the unbarred galaxies contain strong emission lines such as H $α$, indicating active star formation, which appears to be in contradiction with the expectation that S0 galaxies have been stripped of gas. In the case of the two barred galaxies in the sample, the spectrum is dominated by light from a much older stellar population. This seems to suggest an accelerated formation of the pseudobulge made possible by the action of the bar. One of these galaxies appears to have exhausted its reservoir of gas and thus has no signature of a recently formed population of stars while the other galaxy has managed to give rise to new stars through a recent funnelling action. We have also confirmed the influence of bars on the nature of the stellar population in a pseudobulge using an alternate sample based on the SDSS

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arXiv2018

Why are classical bulges more common in S0 galaxies than in spiral galaxies?

In this paper, we try to understand why the classical bulge fraction observed in S0 galaxies is significantly higher than that in spiral galaxies. We carry out a comparative study of the bulge and global properties of a sample of spiral and S0 galaxies in a fixed environment. Our sample is flux limited and contains 262 spiral and 155 S0 galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have classified bulges into classical and pseudobulge categories based on their position on the Kormendy diagram. Dividing our sample into bins of galaxy stellar mass, we find that the fraction of S0 galaxies hosting a classical bulge is significantly higher than the classical bulge fraction seen in spirals even at fixed stellar mass. We have compared the bulge and the global properties of spirals and S0 galaxies in our sample and find indications that spiral galaxies which host a classical bulge, preferentially get converted into S0 population as compared to pseudobulge hosting spirals. By studying the star formation properties of our galaxies in the NUV-r color-mass diagram, we find that the pseudobulge hosting spirals are mostly star forming while the majority of classical bulge host spirals are in the green valley or in the passive sequence. We suggest that some internal process, such as AGN feedback or morphological quenching due to the massive bulge, quenches these classical bulge hosting spirals and transforms them into S0 galaxies, thus resulting in the observed predominance of the classical bulge in S0 galaxies.

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arXiv2018

Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey for An Optical Counterpart of GW170817

We perform a $z$-band survey for an optical counterpart of a binary neutron star coalescence GW170817 with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam. Our untargeted transient search covers $23.6$ deg$^2$ corresponding to the $56.6\%$ credible region of GW170817 and reaches the $50\%$ completeness magnitude of $20.6$ mag on average. As a result, we find 60 candidates of extragalactic transients, including J-GEM17btc (a.k.a. SSS17a/DLT17ck). While J-GEM17btc is associated with NGC 4993 that is firmly located inside the 3D skymap of GW170817, the other 59 candidates do not have distance information in the GLADE v2 catalog or NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). Among 59 candidates, 58 are located at the center of extended objects in the Pan-STARRS1 catalog, while one candidate has an offset. We present location, $z$-band apparent magnitude, and time variability of the candidates and evaluate the probabilities that they are located inside of the 3D skymap of GW170817. The probability for J-GEM17btc is $64\%$ being much higher than those for the other 59 candidates ($9.3\times10^{-3}-2.1\times10^{-1}\%$). Furthermore, the possibility, that at least one of the other 59 candidates is located within the 3D skymap, is only $3.2\%$. Therefore, we conclude that J-GEM17btc is the most-likely and distinguished candidate as the optical counterpart of GW170817.

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arXiv2017

A comparison between SALT/SAAO observations and kilonova models for AT 2017gfo: the first electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational wave transient - GW170817

We report on SALT low resolution optical spectroscopy and optical/IR photometry undertaken with other SAAO telescopes (MASTER-SAAO and IRSF) of the kilonova AT 2017gfo (aka SSS17a) in the galaxy NGC4993 during the first 10 days of discovery. This event has been identified as the first ever electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational wave event, namely GW170817, which was detected by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories. The event is likely due to a merger of two neutron stars, resulting in a kilonova explosion. SALT was the third telescope to obtain spectroscopy of AT 2017gfo and the first spectrum, 1.2 d after the merger, is quite blue and shows some broad features, but no identifiable spectral lines and becomes redder over time. We compare the spectral and photometric evolution with recent kilonova simulations and conclude that they are in qualitative agreement for post-merger wind models with proton: nucleon ratios of $Y_e$ = 0.25$-$0.30. The blue colour of the first spectrum is consistent with the lower opacity of the Lathanide-free r-process elements in the ejecta. Differences between the models and observations are likely due to the choice of system parameters combined with the absence of atomic data for more elements in the ejecta models.

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arXiv2017

J-GEM observations of an electromagnetic counterpart to the neutron star merger GW170817

The first detected gravitational wave from a neutron star merger was GW170817. In this study, we present J-GEM follow-up observations of SSS17a, an electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817. SSS17a shows a 2.5-mag decline in the $z$-band from 1.7 days to 7.7 days after the merger. Such a rapid decline is not comparable with supernovae light curves at any epoch. The color of SSS17a also evolves rapidly and becomes redder for later epochs; the $z-H$ color changed by approximately 2.5 mag in the period of 0.7 days to 7.7 days. The rapid evolution of both the optical brightness and the color are consistent with the expected properties of a kilonova that is powered by the radioactive decay of newly synthesized $r$-process nuclei. Kilonova models with Lanthanide elements can reproduce the aforementioned observed properties well, which suggests that $r$-process nucleosynthesis beyond the second peak takes place in SSS17a. However, the absolute magnitude of SSS17a is brighter than the expected brightness of the kilonova models with the ejecta mass of 0.01 $\Msun$, which suggests a more intense mass ejection ($\sim 0.03 \Msun$) or possibly an additional energy source.

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arXiv2017

Kilonova from post-merger ejecta as an optical and near-infrared counterpart of GW170817

Recent detection of gravitational waves from a neutron star (NS) merger event GW170817 and identification of an electromagnetic counterpart provide a unique opportunity to study the physical processes in NS mergers. To derive properties of ejected material from the NS merger, we perform radiative transfer simulations of kilonova, optical and near-infrared emissions powered by radioactive decays of r-process nuclei synthesized in the merger. We find that the observed near-infrared emission lasting for > 10 days is explained by 0.03 Msun of ejecta containing lanthanide elements. However, the blue optical component observed at the initial phases requires an ejecta component with a relatively high electron fraction (Ye). We show that both optical and near-infrared emissions are simultaneously reproduced by the ejecta with a medium Ye of ~ 0.25. We suggest that a dominant component powering the emission is post-merger ejecta, which exhibits that mass ejection after the first dynamical ejection is quite efficient. Our results indicate that NS mergers synthesize a wide range of r-process elements and strengthen the hypothesis that NS mergers are the origin of r-process elements in the Universe.

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arXiv2017

Age bimodality in the central region of pseudobulges in S0 galaxies

We present evidence for bimodal stellar age distribution of pseudobulges of S0 galaxies as probed by the $D_n(4000)$ index. We do not observe any bimodality in age distribution for pseudobulges in spiral galaxies. Our sample is flux limited and contains 2067 S0 and 2630 spiral galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We identify pseudobulges in S0 and spiral galaxies, based on the position of the bulge on the Kormendy diagram and their central velocity dispersion. Dividing the pseudobulges of S0 galaxies into those containing old and young stellar populations, we study the connection between global star formation and pseudobulge age on the $u-r$ color-mass diagram. We find that most old pseudobulges are hosted by passive galaxies while majority of young bulges are hosted by galaxies which are star forming. Dividing our sample of S0 galaxies into early-type S0s and S0/a galaxies, we find that old pseudobulges are mainly hosted by early-type S0 galaxies while most of the pseudobulges in S0/a galaxies are young. We speculate that morphology plays a strong role in quenching of star formation in the disc of these S0 galaxies, which stops the growth of pseudobulges, giving rise to old pseudobulges and the observed age bimodality.

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arXiv2017

On the interdependence of galaxy morphology, star formation, and environment in massive galaxies in the nearby Universe

Using multi-wavelength data, from UV-optical-near-mid IR, for $\sim$6000 galaxies in the local Universe, we study the dependence of star formation on the morphological T-types for massive galaxies ($\log M_*/M_\odot \geq 10$). We find that, early-type spirals (Sa-Sbc) and S0s predominate in the green valley, which is a transition zone between the star forming and quenched regions. Within the early-type spirals, as we move from Sa to Sbc spirals the fraction of green valley and quenched galaxies decreases, indicating the important role of the bulge in the quenching of galaxies. The fraction of early-type spirals decreases as we enter the green valley from the blue cloud, which coincides with the increase in the fraction of S0s. This points towards the morphological transformation of early-type spiral galaxies into S0s which can happen due to environmental effects such as ram-pressure stripping, galaxy harassment, or tidal interactions. We also find a second population of S0s which are actively star-forming and are present in all environments. Since morphological T-type, specific star formation rate (sSFR), and environmental density are all correlated with each other, we compute the partial correlation coefficient for each pair of parameters while keeping the third parameter as a control variable. We find that morphology most strongly correlates with sSFR, independent of the environment, while the other two correlations (morphology-density and sSFR-environment) are weaker. Thus, we conclude that, for massive galaxies in the local Universe, the physical processes that shape their morphology are also the ones that determine their star-forming state.

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arXiv2017

Discovery of carbon-rich Miras in the Galactic bulge

Only one carbon-rich (C-rich, hereinafter) Mira variable has so far been suggested as a member of the Galactic bulge and this is in a symbiotic system. Here we describe a method for selecting C-rich candidates from an infrared colour-colour diagram, (J-Ks) vs ([9]-[18]). Follow-up low-resolution spectroscopy resulted in the detection of 8 C-rich Mira variables from a sample of36 candidates towards the Galactic bulge. Our near-infrared photometry indicates that two of these, including the known symbiotic, are closer than the main body of the bulge while a third is a known foreground object. Of the 5 bulge members, one shows He I and [O II] emission and is possibly another symbiotic star. Our method is useful for identifying rare C-rich stars in the Galactic bulge and elsewhere. The age of these C-rich stars and the evolutionary process which produced them remain uncertain. They could be old and the products of either binary mass transfer or mergers, i.e. the descendants of blue stragglers, but we cannot rule out the possibility that they belong to a small in-situ population of metal-poor intermediate age (less than 5 Gyr) stars in the bulge or that they have been accreted from a dwarf galaxy.

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arXiv2017

Pseudo bulges in galaxy groups: the role of environment in secular evolution

We examine the dependence of the fraction of galaxies containing pseudo bulges on environment for a flux limited sample of $\sim$5000 SDSS galaxies. We have separated bulges into classical and pseudo bulge categories based on their position on the Kormendy diagram. Pseudo bulges are thought to be formed by internal processes and are a result of secular evolution in galaxies. We attempt to understand the dependence of secular evolution on environment and morphology. Dividing our sample of disc+bulge galaxies based on group membership into three categories: central and satellite galaxies in groups and isolated field galaxies, we find that pseudo bulge fraction is almost equal for satellite and field galaxies. Fraction of pseudo bulge hosts in central galaxies is almost half of the fraction of pseudo bulges in satellite and field galaxies. This trend is also valid when only galaxies are considered only spirals or S0. Using the projected fifth nearest neighbour density as measure of local environment, we look for the dependence of pseudo bulge fraction on environmental density. Satellite and field galaxies show very weak or no dependence of pseudo bulge fraction on environment. However, fraction of pseudo bulges hosted by central galaxies decreases with increase in local environmental density. We do not find any dependence of pseudo bulge luminosity on environment. Our results suggest that the processes that differentiate the bulge types are a function of environment while processes responsible for the formation of pseudo bulges seem to be independent of environment.

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arXiv2016

Which bulges are favoured by barred S0 galaxies?

S0 galaxies are known to host classical bulges with a broad range of size and mass, while some such S0s are barred and some not. The origin of the bars has remained as a long-standing problem -- what made bar formation possible in certain S0s? By analysing a large sample of S0s with classical bulges observed by the Spitzer space telescope, we find that most of our barred S0s host comparatively low-mass classical bulges, typically with bulge-to-total ratio ($B/T$) less than $0.5$; whereas S0s with more massive classical bulges than these do not host any bar. Furthermore, we find that amongst the barred S0s, there is a trend for the longer and massive bars to be associated with comparatively bigger and massive classical bulges -- possibly suggesting bar growth being facilitated by these classical bulges. In addition, we find that the bulge effective radius is always less than the bar effective radius --indicating an interesting synergy between the host classical bulge and bars being maintained while bar growth occurred in these S0s.

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arXiv2015

Spiral Galaxies as Progenitors of Pseudobulge Hosting S0s

We present observations of pseudobulges in S0 and spiral galaxies using imaging data taken with the Spitzer Infra-Red Array Camera. We have used 2-d bulge-disk-bar decomposition to determine structural parameters of 185 S0 galaxies and 31 nearby spiral galaxies. Using the Sersic index and the position on the Kormendy diagram to classify their bulges as either classical or pseudo, we find that 25 S0s (14%) and 24 spirals (77%) host pseudoblges. The fraction of pseudobulges we find in spiral galaxies is consistent with previous results obtained with optical data and show that the evolution of a large fraction of spirals is governed by secular processes rather than by major mergers. We find that the bulge effective radius is correlated with the disk scale length for pseudobulges of S0s and spirals, as expected for secular formation of bulges from disk instabilities, though the disks in S0s are significantly smaller than those in spirals. We show that early-type pseudobulge hosting spirals can transform to pseudobulge hosting S0s by simple gas stripping. However, simple gas stripping mechanism is not sufficient to transform the late-type pseudobulge hosting spirals into pseudobulge hosting S0s.

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arXiv2014

Star clusters in a nuclear star-forming ring: The disappearing string of pearls

An analysis of the star cluster population in a low-luminosity early type galaxy, NGC 2328, is presented. The clusters are found in a tight star-forming nuclear spiral/ring pattern and we also identify a bar from structural 2D decomposition. These massive clusters are forming very efficiently in the circum-nuclear environment, they are young, possibly all less than 30 Myr of age. The clusters indicate an azimuthal age gradient, consistent with a "pearls-on-a-string" formation scenario suggesting bar driven gas inflow. The cluster mass function has a robust down-turn at low masses at all age bins. Assuming clusters are born with a power-law distribution, this indicates extremely rapid disruption at time-scales of just several Myr. If found to be typical, it means that clusters born in dense circum-nuclear rings do not survive to become old globular clusters in non-interacting systems.

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