arXiv subjects

Yu Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Yu Lu.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Mergers and Mass Accretion for Infalling Halos Both End Well Outside Cluster Virial Radii

We find that infalling dark matter halos (i.e., the progenitors of satellite halos) begin losing mass well outside the virial radius of their eventual host halos. The peak mass occurs at a range of clustercentric distances, with median and 68th percentile range of 1.8 +2.3/-1.0 R_(vir,host) for progenitors of z=0 satellites. The peak circular velocity for infalling halos occurs at significantly larger distances (3.7 +3.3/-2.2 R_(vir,host) at z=0). This difference arises because different physical processes set peak circular velocity (typically, ~1:5 and larger mergers which cause transient circular velocity spikes) and peak mass (typically, smooth accretion) for infalling halos. We find that infalling halos also stop having significant mergers well before they enter the virial radius of their eventual hosts. Mergers larger than a 1:40 ratio in halo mass end for infalling halos at similar clustercentric distances (~ 1.9 R_(vir,host)) as the end of overall mass accretion. However, mergers larger than 1:3 typically end for infalling halos at more than 4 virial radial away from their eventual hosts. This limits the ability of mergers to affect quenching and morphology changes in clusters. We also note that the transient spikes which set peak circular velocity may lead to issues with abundance matching on that parameter, including unphysical galaxy stellar mass growth profiles near clusters; we propose a simple observational test to check if a better halo proxy for galaxy stellar mass exists.

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arXiv2013

Preliminary Application of Reinsch Splines to Cosmology: Transition Redshift Determination with Simulated OHD

Many schemes have been proposed to perform a model-independent constraint on cosmological dynamics, such as nonparametric dark energy equation of state (EoS) ω(z) or the deceleration parameter q(z). These methods usually contain derivative processes with respect to observational data with noise. However, it still remains remarkably uncertain when one estimates the numerical differentiation, especially the corresponding truncation errors. In this work, we introduce a global numerical differentiation method, first formulated by Reinsch(1967), which is smoothed by cubic spline functions. The optimal solution is obtained by minimizing the functional Φ(f). To investigate the potential of the algorithm further, we apply it to the estimation of the transition redshift z_{t} with simulated expansion rate E(z) based on observational Hubble parameter data(OHD). An effective method to determine the free parameter S appearing in Reinsch Splines is provided.

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arXiv2013

Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and the Mass-to-Number Ratio of Galaxy Clusters: Marginalizing over the Physics of Galaxy Formation

Many approaches to obtaining cosmological constraints rely on the connection between galaxies and dark matter. However, the distribution of galaxies is dependent on their formation and evolution as well as the cosmological model, and galaxy formation is still not a well-constrained process. Thus, methods that probe cosmology using galaxies as a tracer for dark matter must be able to accurately estimate the cosmological parameters without knowing the details of galaxy formation a priori. We apply this reasoning to the method of obtaining $Ω_m$ and $σ_8$ from galaxy clustering combined with the mass-to-number ratio of galaxy clusters. To test the sensitivity of this method to variations due to galaxy formation, we consider several different models applied to the same cosmological dark matter simulation. The cosmological parameters are then estimated using the observables in each model, marginalizing over the parameters of the Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD). We find that for models where the galaxies can be well represented by a parameterized HOD, this method can successfully extract the desired cosmological parameters for a wide range of galaxy formation prescriptions.

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arXiv2013

Constraining the Star Formation Histories in Dark Matter Halos: I. Central Galaxies

Using the self-consistent modeling of the conditional stellar mass functions across cosmic time by Yang et al. (2012), we make model predictions for the star formation histories (SFHs) of {\it central} galaxies in halos of different masses. The model requires the following two key ingredients: (i) mass assembly histories of central and satellite galaxies, and (ii) local observational constraints of the star formation rates of central galaxies as function of halo mass. We obtain a universal fitting formula that describes the (median) SFH of central galaxies as function of halo mass, galaxy stellar mass and redshift. We use this model to make predictions for various aspects of the star formation rates of central galaxies across cosmic time. Our main findings are the following. (1) The specific star formation rate (SSFR) at high $z$ increases rapidly with increasing redshift [$\propto (1+z)^{2.5}$] for halos of a given mass and only slowly with halo mass ($\propto M_h^{0.12}$) at a given $z$, in almost perfect agreement with the specific mass accretion rate of dark matter halos. (2) The ratio between the star formation rate (SFR) in the main-branch progenitor and the final stellar mass of a galaxy peaks roughly at a constant value, $\sim 10^{-9.3} h^2 {\rm yr}^{-1}$, independent of halo mass or the final stellar mass of the galaxy. However, the redshift at which the SFR peaks increases rapidly with halo mass. (3) More than half of the stars in the present-day Universe were formed in halos with $10^{11.1}\msunh < M_h < 10^{12.3}\msunh$ in the redshift range $0.4 < z < 1.9$. (4) ... [abridged]

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arXiv2013

Constraining The Assembly Of Normal And Compact Passively Evolving Galaxies From Redshift z=3 To The Present With CANDELS

We study the evolution of the number density, as a function of the size, of passive early-type galaxies with a wide range of stellar masses 10^10 10^10 M_sun), passive (SSFR<10^-2 Gyr^-1) and morphologically spheroidal galaxies at 1.2 2 are all compact or ultra-compact, while normal sized ETGs (meaning ETGs with sizes comparable to those of local counterparts of the same mass) are the most common ETGs only at z<1. The increase of the average size of ETGs at 0<z<1 is primarily driven by the appearance of new large ETGs rather than by the size increase of individual galaxies.

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arXiv2013

Submm/mm Galaxy Counterpart Identification Using a Characteristic Density Distribution

We present a new submm/mm galaxy counterpart identification technique which builds on the use of Spitzer IRAC colors as discriminators between likely counterparts and the general IRAC galaxy population. Using 102 radio- and SMA-confirmed counterparts to AzTEC sources across three fields (GOODS-N, GOODS-S, and COSMOS), we develop a non-parametric IRAC color-color characteristic density distribution (CDD), which, when combined with positional uncertainty information via likelihood ratios, allows us to rank all potential IRAC counterparts around SMGs and calculate the significance of each ranking via the reliability factor. We report all robust and tentative radio counterparts to SMGs, the first such list available for AzTEC/COSMOS, as well as the highest ranked IRAC counterparts for all AzTEC SMGs in these fields as determined by our technique. We demonstrate that the technique is free of radio bias and thus applicable regardless of radio detections. For observations made with a moderate beamsize (~18"), this technique identifies ~85 per cent of SMG counterparts. For much larger beamsizes (>30"), we report identification rates of 33-49 per cent. Using simulations, we demonstrate that this technique is an improvement over using positional information alone for observations with facilities such as AzTEC on the LMT and SCUBA-2 on JCMT.

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arXiv2012

Bayesian inference of galaxy formation from the K-band luminosity function of galaxies: tensions between theory and observation

We conduct Bayesian model inferences from the observed K-band luminosity function of galaxies in the local Universe, using the semi-analytic model (SAM) of galaxy formation introduced in Lu et al (2011). The prior distributions for the 14 free parameters include a large range of possible models. We find that some of the free parameters, e.g. the characteristic scales for quenching star formation in both high-mass and low-mass halos, are already tightly constrained by the single data set. The posterior distribution includes the model parameters adopted in other SAMs. By marginalising over the posterior distribution, we make predictions that include the full inferential uncertainties for the colour-magnitude relation, the Tully-Fisher relation, the conditional stellar mass function of galaxies in halos of different masses, the HI mass function, the redshift evolution of the stellar mass function of galaxies, and the global star formation history. Using posterior predictive checking with the available observational results, we find that the model family (i) predicts a Tully-Fisher relation that is curved; (ii) significantly over predicts the satellite fraction; (iii) vastly over predicts the HI mass function; (iv) predicts high-z stellar mass functions that have too many low mass galaxies and too few high mass ones. and (v) predicts a redshift evolution of the stellar mass density and the star formation history that are in moderate disagreement. These results suggest that some important processes are still missing in the current model family and we discuss a number of possible solutions to solve the discrepancies, such as interactions between galaxies and dark matter halos, tidal stripping, the bimodal accretion of gas, preheating, and a redshift-dependent initial mass function.

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arXiv2011

A Bayesian approach to the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation: methodology

We believe that a wide range of physical processes conspire to shape the observed galaxy population but we remain unsure of their detailed interactions. The semi-analytic model (SAM) of galaxy formation uses multi-dimensional parameterisations of the physical processes of galaxy formation and provides a tool to constrain these underlying physical interactions. Because of the high dimensionality, the parametric problem of galaxy formation may be profitably tackled with a Bayesian-inference based approach, which allows one to constrain theory with data in a statistically rigorous way. In this paper we develop a SAM in the framework of Bayesian inference. We show that, with a parallel implementation of an advanced Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo algorithm, it is now possible to rigorously sample the posterior distribution of the high-dimensional parameter space of typical SAMs. As an example, we characterise galaxy formation in the current $Λ$CDM cosmology using the stellar mass function of galaxies as an observational constraint. We find that the posterior probability distribution is both topologically complex and degenerate in some important model parameters, suggesting that thorough explorations of the parameter space are needed to understand the models. We also demonstrate that because of the model degeneracy, adopting a narrow prior strongly restricts the model. Therefore, the inferences based on SAMs are conditional to the model adopted. Using synthetic data to mimic systematic errors in the stellar mass function, we demonstrate that an accurate observational error model is essential to meaningful inference.

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arXiv2011

On the algorithms of radiative cooling in semi-analytic models

We study the behaviour of multiple radiative cooling algorithms implemented in seven Semi-Analytic Models (SAMs) of galaxy formation, including a new model we propose in this paper. We use versions of the models without feedback and apply them to dark matter haloes growing in a cosmological context, which have final masses that range from 10^{11}Msun to 10^{14}Msun. First, using simplified smoothly-growing halo models, we demonstrate that the different algorithms predict cooling rates and final cold gas masses that differ by a factor of ~5 for massive haloes (>10^{12}Msun). The algorithms are in better agreement for less massive haloes because they cool efficiently and, therefore, their cooling rates are largely limited by the halo accretion rate. However, for less massive haloes, all the SAMs predict less cooling than corresponding 1D hydrodynamic models. Second, we study the gas accretion history of the central galaxies of dark matter haloes using merger trees. The inclusion of mergers alters the cooling history of haloes by locking up gas in galaxies within small haloes at early times. For realistic halo models, the dispersion in the cold gas mass predicted by the algorithms is 0.5 dex for high mass haloes and 0.1 dex for low mass haloes, while the dispersion in the accretion rate is about two times larger. Comparing to cosmological SPH simulations, we find that most SAMs systematically under-predict the gas accretion rates for low-mass haloes but over-predict the gas accretion rates for massive haloes. Although the models all include both "rapid" and "slow" mode accretion, the transition between the two accretion modes varies between models and also differs from the simulations. Finally, we construct a new model that explicitly incorporates cold halo gas to illustrate that such a class of models can better match the results from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations.

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arXiv2011

The 2009 outburst from the new X-ray transient and black-hole candidate XTE J1652$-$453

The RXTE and Swift observations on the 2009 outburst from a newly discovered transient and black-hole candidate XTE J1652$-$453 are analyzed. The source was observed by RXTE to behave a sequence of spectral states that are typical to the black hole XRBs. During the first 7 observations, the source is diagnosed to stay in a high/soft state, from the spectrum dominated by soft thermal component which contributes an average of $\sim$ 85% to the X-ray flux at 2-20keV, and from the hardness $\sim$ 0.1 showing up in the hardness-intensity diagram (HID). For the last 20 observations the spectral state is classified as {\sl low/hard} according to an average hardness of $\sim$ 0.8 and a balance between the thermal and the non-thermal components: a power-law component takes ${\geq}80%$ of total 2-20keV flux. Located in between is an {\sl intermediate} state that the source might have experienced. The usual relationship between rms and hardness presents in HRD as well. Throughout the outburst no QPOs are found in XTE J1652$-$453.

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arXiv2010

On the selection effect of radio quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We identified a large sample of radio quasars, including those with complex radio morphology, from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Faint Images of Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST). Using this sample, we inspect previous radio quasar samples for selection effects resulting from complex radio morphologies and adopting positional coincidence between radio and optical sources alone. We find that 13.0% and 8.1% radio quasars do not show a radio core within 1.2 and 2 arcsecs of their optical position, and thus are missed in such samples. Radio flux is under-estimated by a factor of more than 2 for an additional 8.7% radio quasars. These missing radio extended quasars are more radio loud with a typical radio-to-optical flux ratio namely radio loudness RL >100, and radio power P >10^{25} W/Hz. They account for more than one third of all quasars with RL>100. The color of radio extended quasars tends to be bluer than the radio compact quasars. This suggests that radio extended quasars are more radio powerful sources, e.g., Fanaroff-Riley type 2 (FR-II) sources, rather than the compact ones viewed at larger inclination angles. By comparison with the radio data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), we find that for sources with total radio flux less than 3 mJy, low surface brightness components tend to be underestimated by FIRST, indicating that lobes in these faint radio sources are still missed.

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arXiv2010

Type 1 Active Galactic Nucleus Fraction in SDSS/FIRST Survey

In the unification scheme, narrow-lined (type 2) active galactic nuclei (AGN) are intrinsically similar to broad-lined (type 1) AGN with the exception that the line of sight to the broad emission line region and accretion disk is blocked by a dusty torus. The fraction of type 1 AGN measures the average covering factor of the torus. In this paper, we explore the dependence of this fraction on nuclear properties for a sample of low redshift (z <0.35) radio strong (P_{1.4GHz} >10^{23}W/Hz) AGN selected by matching the spectroscopic catalog of Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the radio source catalog of Faint Image of Radio Sky at Twenty cm. After correcting for several selection effects, we find that : (1) type 1 fraction $f_1$ keeps at a constant of ~20 per cent in the [O III] 5007 luminosity range of 40.7< log(L_{[O III]}/ erg/s) <43.5 . This result is significantly different from previous studies, and the difference can be explained by extinction correction and different treatment of selection effects. (2) $f_1$ rises with black hole mass from ~20 per cent (M_bh below 10^8 Msun) to ~30 per cent (M_bh above that). This coincides with the decrease of the fraction of highly-inclined disk galaxies with black hole mass, implying a population of Seyfert galaxies seen as type 2 due to galaxy-scale obscuration in disk when the host galaxy type transfer from bulge-dominant to disk-dominant. (3) $f_1$ is independent of the Eddington ratio for its value between 0.01 and 1; (4) $f_1$ ascends from 15 per cent to 30 per cent in the radio power range of 23< log(P_{1.4GHz}/ W/Hz) <24, then remain a constant at ~30 per cent up to 10^{26} W/Hz.

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arXiv2009

Phase-resolved spectral analysis of 4U 1901+03 during its outburst

The high mass X-ray binary 4U 1901+03 was reported to have the pulse profile evolving with the X-ray luminosity and energy during its outburst in February-July 2003: the pulse peak changed from double to single along with the decreasing luminosity. We have carried out a detailed analysis on the contemporary phase-resolved energy spectrum of 4U 1901+03 as observed by Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We find that, both the continuum and the pulse spectra are phase dependent. The optical depth derived from the pulse spectrum is in general larger than that from the continuum. Fe Ka emission line is only detected in the spectrum of the continuum and is missing in the pulse spectrum. This suggests an origin of Fe emission from the accretion disk but not the surface of the neutron star.

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arXiv2008

Feedback from galactic stellar bulges and hot gaseous haloes of galaxies

We demonstrate that the feedback from stellar bulges can play an essential role in shaping the halo gas of galaxies with substantial bulge components by conducting 1-D hydrodynamical simulations. The feedback model we consider consists of two distinct phases: 1) an early starburst during the bulge formation and 2) a subsequent long-lasting mass and energy injection from stellar winds of low-mass stars and Type Ia SNe. An energetic outward blastwave is initiated by the starburst and is maintained and enhanced by the long-lasting stellar feedback. For a MW-like galactic bulge, this blastwave sweeps up the halo gas in the proto-galaxy and heats up the surrounding medium to a scale much beyond the virial radius of the halo, thus the accretion of the halo hot gas can be completely stopped. In addition, the long-lasting feedback in the later phase powers a galactic bulge wind that is reverse-shocked at a large radius in the presence of surrounding intergalactic medium and hence maintains a hot gaseous halo. As the mass and energy injection decreases with time, the feedback evolves to a subsonic and quasi-stable outflow, which is enough to prevent halo gas from cooling. The two phases of the feedback thus re-enforce each-other's impact on the gas dynamics. The simulation results demonstrate that the stellar bulge feedback may provide a plausible solution to the long-standing problems in understanding the MW type galaxies, such as the "missing stellar feedback" problem and the "over-cooling" problem. The simulations also show that the properties of the hot gas in the subsonic outflow state depend sensitively on the environment and the formation history of the bulge. This dependence and variance may explain the large dispersion in the X-ray to B-band luminosity ratio of the low $L_X/L_B$ Es.

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arXiv2007

Neutrino-Induced Gamma-Ray Emission from Supernovae

During a core-collapse supernova, absorption of anti-nu_e emitted from the proto-neutron star by protons in the hydrogen envelope produces neutrons and positrons. Neutron capture on protons and positron annihilation then produce gamma rays of 2.22 and 0.511 MeV, respectively. We calculate the fluxes of these gamma rays expected from a supernova with an 11 M_sun progenitor. The flux from neutron capture on protons exponentially decays on a timescale of 564 s, which is determined by neutron decay and capture on protons and 3He nuclei. The peak flux is 2.38x10^{-7}/cm^2/s for a supernova at a distance of 1 kpc. In contrast, the gamma-ray flux from positron annihilation follows the time evolution of the anti-nu_e luminosity and lasts for ~10 s. The peak flux in this case is 6.8x10^{-5}/cm^2/s for a supernova at a distance of 1 kpc. Detection of the above gamma-ray fluxes is beyond the capability of current instruments, and perhaps even those planned for the near future. However, if such fluxes can be detected, they not only constitute a new kind of signals that occur during the gap of several hours between the neutrino signals and the optical display of a supernova, but may also provide a useful probe of the conditions in the surface layers of the supernova progenitor.

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arXiv2006

Dark matter halo response to the disk growth

We consider the sensitivity of the circular-orbit adiabatic contraction approximation to the baryon condensation rate and the orbital structure of dark matter halos in the $Λ$CDM paradigm. Using one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations including the dark matter halo mass accretion history and gas cooling, we demonstrate that the adiabatic approximation is approximately valid even though halos and disks may assemble simultaneously. We further demonstrate the validity of the simple approximation for $Λ$CDM halos with isotropic velocity distributions using three-dimensional N-body simulations. This result is easily understood: an isotropic velocity distribution in a cuspy halo requires more circular orbits than radial orbits. Conversely, the approximation is poor in the extreme case of a radial orbit halo. It overestimates the response a core dark matter halo, where radial orbit fraction is larger. Because no astronomically relevant models are dominated by low-angular momentum orbits in the vicinity of the disk and the growth time scale is never shorter than a dynamical time, we conclude that the adiabatic contraction approximation is useful in modeling the response of dark matter halos to the growth of a disk.

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arXiv2006

The Accretion and Cooling of Preheated Gas in Dark Matter Halos

(abridged) We use a one-dimensional hydrodynamical code to investigate the effects of preheating on gas accretion and cooling in cold dark matter halos. In the absence of radiative cooling, preheating reduces the amount of gas that can be accreted into a halo, and the accreted gas fraction is determined by the ratio of the initial specific entropy of the gas to the virial entropy of the halo. In the presence of radiative cooling, preheating affects the gas fraction that can cool in two different ways. For small halos with masses <10^12Msun, preheating suppresses gas accretion, but most of the accreted gas can cool. For more massive halos, preheating not only reduces the amount of accreted gas, but also reduces the cooling efficiency. For both small and massive halos, gas cooling is delayed by preheating and in an inside-out fashion if the halo gas is assumed to be a single-phase medium. However, cooling can occur over a wider range of redshifts and radii, if we assume a multi-phase medium. As examples, two specific preheating cases are investigated. In the first case, the preheating entropy is assumed to be proportional to the virial entropy of the halo, as expected from AGN feedback. Such preheating effectively suppresses radiative cooling in halos with M>10^13Msun. We suggest that this may be the reason why the stellar mass function of galaxies breaks sharply at the massive end. Such preheating also helps create the hot diffused halos within which the "radio mode" feedback of AGNs can act effectively. In the second case, we assume the intergalactic medium is warm. Here the total amount of gas that can cool in a halo scales with halo mass as ~M^2, as would be required to match the observed stellar- and HI-mass functions in the current CDM model at the small mass end.

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arXiv2006

Evidence for a population of beamed radio intermediate quasars

Whether radio intermediate quasars possess relativistic jets as radio-loud quasars is an important issue in the understanding of the origin of radio emission in quasars. In this letter, using the two-epoch radio data obtained during Faint Image of Radio Sky at Twenty centimeter sky (FIRST) and NOAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), we identify 89 radio variable sources in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Among them, more than half are radio intermediate quasars (RL=f2cm/f2500A<250). For all objects with available multiple band radio observations, the radio spectra are either flat or inverted. The brightness temperature inferred from the variability is larger than the synchrotron-self Compton limit for a stationary source in 87 objects, indicating of relativistic beaming. Considering the sample selection and viewing angle effect, we conclude that relativistic jets probably exist in a substantianl fraction of radio intermediate quasars.

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