Far-ultraviolet (FUV; ∼1200–2000 Å) spectra are fundamental to our understanding of star-forming galaxies, providing a unique window on massive stellar populations, chemical evolution, feedback processes, and reionization. The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will soon usher in a new era, pushing the UV spectroscopic frontier to higher redshifts than ever before; however, its success hinges on a comprehensive understanding of the massive star populations and gas conditions that power the observed UV spectral features. This requires a level of detail that is only possible with a combination of ample wavelength coverage, signal-to-noise, spectral-resolution, and sample diversity that has not yet been achieved by any FUV spectral database. We present the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph Legacy Spectroscopic Survey (CLASSY) treasury and its first high-level science product, the CLASSY atlas. CLASSY builds on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive to construct the first high-quality (S/N1500 Å≳ 5/resel), high-resolution (
First Census of Gas-phase Metallicity Gradients of Star-forming Galaxies in Overdense Environments at Cosmic Noon
Abstract We report the first spatially resolved measurements of gas-phase metallicity radial gradients in star-forming galaxies in overdense environments at z ≳ 2. The spectroscopic data are acquired by the MAMMOTH-Grism survey, a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) cycle 28 medium program. This program is obtaining 45 orbits of WFC3/IR grism spectroscopy in the density peak regions of three massive galaxy protoclusters (BOSS 1244, BOSS 1542, and BOSS 1441) at z = 2–3. Our sample in the BOSS 1244 field consists of 20 galaxies with stellar mass ranging from 10 9.0 to 10 10.3 M ⊙ , star formation rate (SFR) from 10 to 240 M ⊙ yr −1 , and global gas-phase metallicity ( 12 + log ( O / H ) ) from 8.2 to 8.6. At 1 σ confidence level, 2/20 galaxies in our sample show positive (inverted) gradients—the relative abundance of oxygen increasing with galactocentric radius, opposite the usual trend. Furthermore, 1/20 shows negative gradients, and 17/20 are consistent with flat gradients. This high fraction of flat/inverted gradients is uncommon in simulations and previous observations conducted in blank fields at similar redshifts. To understand this, we investigate the correlations among various observed properties of our sample galaxies. We find an anticorrelation between metallicity gradient and global metallicity of our galaxies residing in extreme overdensities, and a marked deficiency of metallicity in our massive galaxies as compared to their coeval field counterparts. We conclude that the cold-mode gas accretion plays an active role in shaping the chemical evolution of galaxies in the protocluster environments, diluting their central chemical abundance, and flattening/inverting their metallicity gradients.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1908284
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10381315
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Volume:
- 929
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-8205
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- L8
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
more » « less
Abstract R ∼ 15,000) FUV spectral database of 45 nearby (0.002 <z < 0.182) star-forming galaxies. The CLASSY atlas, available to the public via the CLASSY website, is the result of optimally extracting and coadding 170 archival+new spectra from 312 orbits of HST observations. The CLASSY sample covers a broad range of properties including stellar mass (6.2 < logM ⋆(M ⊙) < 10.1), star formation rate (−2.0 < log SFR (M ⊙yr−1) < +1.6), direct gas-phase metallicity (7.0 < 12+log(O/H) < 8.8), ionization (0.5 < O32< 38.0), reddening (0.02 <E (B −V ) < 0.67), and nebular density (10 <n e (cm−3) < 1120). CLASSY is biased to UV-bright star-forming galaxies, resulting in a sample that is consistent with thez ∼ 0 mass–metallicity relationship, but is offset to higher star formation rates by roughly 2 dex, similar toz ≳ 2 galaxies. This unique set of properties makes the CLASSY atlas the benchmark training set for star-forming galaxies across cosmic time. -
Abstract We report on the internal distribution of star formation efficiency in IRAS 08339+6517 (hereafter IRAS08), using ∼200 pc resolution CO(2 − 1) observations from NOEMA. The molecular gas depletion time changes by 2 orders-of-magnitude from disk-like values in the outer parts to less than 10 8 yr inside the half-light radius. This translates to a star formation efficiency per freefall time that also changes by 2 orders-of-magnitude, reaching 50%–100%, different than local spiral galaxies and the typical assumption of constant, low star formation efficiencies. Our target is a compact, massive disk galaxy that has a star formation rate 10× above the z = 0 main sequence; Toomre Q ≈ 0.5−0.7 and high gas velocity dispersion ( σ mol ≈ 25 km s −1 ). We find that IRAS08 is similar to other rotating, starburst galaxies from the literature in the resolved Σ SFR ∝ Σ mol N relation. By combining resolved literature studies we find that the distance from the main sequence is a strong indicator of the Kennicutt-Schmidt power-law slope, with slopes of N ≈ 1.6 for starbursts from 100 to 10 4 M ⊙ pc −2 . Our target is consistent with a scenario in which violent disk instabilities drive rapid inflows of gas. It has low values of Toomre- Q , and also at all radii, the inflow timescale of the gas is less than the depletion time, which is consistent with the flat metallicity gradients in IRAS08. We consider these results in light of popular star formation theories; in general observations of IRAS08 find the most tension with theories in which star formation efficiency is a constant. Our results argue for the need of high-spatial-resolution CO observations for a larger number of similar targets.more » « less
-
Abstract We report on the gas-phase metallicity gradients of a sample of 238 star-forming galaxies at 0.6 < z < 2.6, measured through deep near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope slitless spectroscopy. The observations include 12 orbit depth Hubble/WFC3 G102 grism spectra taken as a part of the CANDELS Ly α Emission at Reionization (CLEAR) survey, and archival WFC3 G102+G141 grism spectra overlapping the CLEAR footprint. The majority of galaxies in this sample are consistent with having a zero or slightly positive metallicity gradient ( dZ / dR ≥ 0, i.e., increasing with radius) across the full mass range probed (8.5 < log M * / M ⊙ < 10.5). We measure the intrinsic population scatter of the metallicity gradients, and show that it increases with decreasing stellar mass—consistent with previous reports in the literature, but confirmed here with a much larger sample. To understand the physical mechanisms governing this scatter, we search for correlations between the observed gradient and various stellar population properties at fixed mass. However, we find no evidence for a correlation with the galaxy properties we consider—including star formation rates, sizes, star formation rate surface densities, and star formation rates per gravitational potential energy. We use the observed weakness of these correlations to provide material constraints for predicted intrinsic correlations from theoretical models.more » « less
-
Aims. We aim to quantify the relation between the dust-to-gas mass ratio (DTG) and gas-phase metallicity of z = 2.1 − 2.5 luminous galaxies and contrast this high-redshift relation against analogous constraints at z = 0. Methods. We present a sample of ten star-forming main-sequence galaxies in the redshift range 2.1 < z < 2.5 with rest-optical emission-line information available from the MOSDEF survey and with ALMA 1.2 millimetre and CO J = 3 − 2 follow-up observations. The galaxies have stellar masses ranging from 10 10.3 to 10 10.6 M ⊙ and cover a range in star-formation rate from 35 to 145 M ⊙ yr −1 . We calculated the gas-phase oxygen abundance of these galaxies from rest-optical nebular emission lines (8.4 < 12 + log(O/H) < 8.8, corresponding to 0.5−1.25 Z ⊙ ). We estimated the dust and H 2 masses of the galaxies (using a metallicity-dependent CO-to-H 2 conversion factor) from the 1.2 mm and CO J = 3 − 2 observations, respectively, from which we estimated a DTG. Results. We find that the galaxies in this sample follow the trends already observed between CO line luminosity and dust-continuum luminosity from z = 0 to z = 3, extending such trends to fainter galaxies at 2.1 < z < 2.5 than observed to date. We find no second-order metallicity dependence in the CO – dust-continuum luminosity relation for the galaxies presented in this work. The DTGs of main-sequence galaxies at 2.1 < z < 2.5 are consistent with an increase in the DTG with gas-phase metallicity. The metallicity dependence of the DTG is driven by the metallicity dependence of the CO-to-H 2 conversion factor. Galaxies at z = 2.1 − 2.5 are furthermore consistent with the DTG-metallicity relation found at z = 0 (i.e. with no significant evolution), providing relevant constraints for galaxy formation models. These results furthermore imply that the metallicity of galaxies should be taken into account when estimating cold-gas masses from dust-continuum emission, which is especially relevant when studying metal-poor low-mass or high-redshift galaxies.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT We present a detailed study of two partial Lyman limit systems (pLLSs) of neutral hydrogen column density $N_\mathrm{H\, I}\approx (1-3)\times 10^{16}\, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ discovered at $z$ = 0.5 in the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS). Available far-ultraviolet spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and optical echelle spectra from MIKE on the Magellan Telescopes enable a comprehensive ionization analysis of diffuse circumgalactic gas based on resolved kinematics and abundance ratios of atomic species spanning five different ionization stages. These data provide unambiguous evidence of kinematically aligned multiphase gas that masquerades as a single-phase structure and can only be resolved by simultaneous accounting of the full range of observed ionic species. Both systems are resolved into multiple components with inferred α-element abundance varying from [α/H] ≈−0.8 to near solar and densities spanning over two decades from log nH/cm−3 ≈ −2.2 to <−4.3. Available deep galaxy survey data from the CUBS program taken with VLT/MUSE, Magellan/LDSS3-C and Magellan/IMACS reveal that the $z$ = 0.47 system is located 55 kpc from a star-forming galaxy with prominent Balmer absorption of stellar mass ${{M_{\rm star}}}\approx 2\times 10^{10}\, {{M_{\odot}}}$, while the $z$ = 0.54 system resides in an overdense environment of 11 galaxies within 750 kpc in projected distance, with the most massive being a luminous red galaxy of ${{M_{\rm star}}}\approx 2\times 10^{11}\, {{M_{\odot}}}$ at 375 kpc. The study of these two pLLSs adds to an emerging picture of the complex, multiphase circumgalactic gas that varies in chemical abundances and density on small spatial scales in diverse galaxy environments. The inhomogeneous nature of metal enrichment and density revealed in observations must be taken into account in theoretical models of diffuse halo gas.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac626f
