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1. Stellar Metallicities and Gradients in the Isolated, Quenched Low-mass Galaxy Tucana

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad25ed  

   Fu, Sal Wanying; Weisz, Daniel R.; Starkenburg, Else; Martin, Nicolas; Mercado, Francisco J.; Savino, Alessandro; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael; Côté, Patrick; Dolphin, Andrew E.; Longeard, Nicolas; et al (April 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We measure the metallicities of 374 red giant branch (RGB) stars in the isolated, quenched dwarf galaxy Tucana using Hubble Space Telescope narrowband (F395N) calcium H and K imaging. Our sample is a factor of ∼7 larger than what is available from previous studies. Our main findings are as follows. (i) A global metallicity distribution function (MDF) with $〈\mathrm{[Fe/H]}〉=-{1.55}_{-0.04}^{+0.04}$ and ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{[Fe/H]}}={0.54}_{-0.03}^{+0.03}$ . (ii) A metallicity gradient of −0.54 ± 0.07 dex $R_e^{-1}$ (−2.1 ± 0.3 dex kpc⁻¹) over the extent of our imaging (∼2.5R_e), which is steeper than literature measurements. Our finding is consistent with predicted gradients from the publicly available FIRE-2 simulations, in which bursty star formation creates stellar population gradients and dark matter cores. (iii) Tucana’s bifurcated RGB has distinct metallicities: a blue RGB with $〈\mathrm{[Fe/H]}〉=-{1.78}_{-0.06}^{+0.06}$ and ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{[Fe/H]}}={0.44}_{-0.06}^{+0.07}$ and a red RGB with $〈\mathrm{[Fe/H]}〉=-{1.08}_{-0.07}^{+0.07}$ and ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{[Fe/H]}}={0.42}_{-0.06}^{+0.06}$ . (iv) At fixed stellar mass, Tucana is more metal-rich than Milky Way satellites by ∼0.4 dex, but its blue RGB is chemically comparable to the satellites. Tucana’s MDF appears consistent with star-forming isolated dwarfs, though MDFs of the latter are not as well populated. (v) About 2% of Tucana’s stars have [Fe/H] < −3% and 20% have [Fe/H] > −1. We provide a catalog for community spectroscopic follow-up. 

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2. A Search for Faint Resolved Galaxies Beyond the Milky Way in DES Year 6: A New Faint, Diffuse Dwarf Satellite of NGC 55

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad07d0  

   McNanna, M; Bechtol, K; Mau, S; Nadler, E O; Medoff, J; Drlica-Wagner, A; Cerny, W; Crnojević, D; Mutlu-Pakdıl, B; Vivas, A K; et al (January 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We report results from a systematic wide-area search for faint dwarf galaxies at heliocentric distances from 0.3 to 2 Mpc using the full 6 yr of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Unlike previous searches over the DES data, this search specifically targeted a field population of faint galaxies located beyond the Milky Way virial radius. We derive our detection efficiency for faint, resolved dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume with a set of synthetic galaxies and expect our search to be complete toM_V∼ (−7, −10) mag for galaxies atD= (0.3, 2.0) Mpc. We find no new field dwarfs in the DES footprint, but we report the discovery of one high-significance candidate dwarf galaxy at a distance of ${2.2}_{-0.12}^{+0.05}\mathrm{Mpc}$ , a potential satellite of the Local Volume galaxy NGC 55, separated by 47′ (physical separation as small as 30 kpc). We estimate this dwarf galaxy to have an absoluteV-band magnitude of $-{8.0}_{-0.3}^{+0.5}\mathrm{mag}$ and an azimuthally averaged physical half-light radius of ${2.2}_{-0.4}^{+0.5}\mathrm{kpc}$ , making this one of the lowest surface brightness galaxies ever found with $\mu =32.3\mathrm{mag}{\mathrm{arcsec}}^{-2}$ . This is the largest, most diffuse galaxy known at this luminosity, suggesting possible tidal interactions with its host. 

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3. The EDGE-CALIFA Survey: Spatially Resolved ¹³ CO(1–0) Observations and Variations in ¹² CO(1–0)/ ¹³ CO(1–0) in Nearby Galaxies on Kiloparsec Scales

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/acd840  

   Cao, Yixian; Wong, Tony; Bolatto, Alberto D; Leroy, Adam K; Rosolowsky, Erik; Utomo, Dyas; Sánchez, Sebastián F; Barrera-Ballesteros, Jorge K; Levy, Rebecca C; Colombo, Dario; et al (August 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series)

   Abstract We present¹³CO(J= 1 → 0) observations for the EDGE-CALIFA survey, which is a mapping survey of 126 nearby galaxies at a typical spatial resolution of 1.5 kpc. Using detected¹²CO emission as a prior, we detect¹³CO in 41 galaxies via integrated line flux over the entire galaxy and in 30 galaxies via integrated line intensity in resolved synthesized beams. Incorporating our CO observations and optical IFU spectroscopy, we perform a systematic comparison between the line ratio ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}\equiv I{[}^{12}\mathrm{CO}(J=1\to 0)\left]/I{[}^{13}\mathrm{CO}\right(J=1\to 0\left)\right]$ and the properties of the stars and ionized gas. Higher ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ values are found in interacting galaxies compared to those in noninteracting galaxies. The global ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ slightly increases with infrared colorF₆₀/F₁₀₀but appears insensitive to other host-galaxy properties such as morphology, stellar mass, or galaxy size. We also present azimuthally averaged ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ profiles for our sample up to a galactocentric radius of 0.4r₂₅(∼6 kpc), taking into account the¹³CO nondetections by spectral stacking. The radial profiles of ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ are quite flat across our sample. Within galactocentric distances of 0.2r₂₅, the azimuthally averaged ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ increases with the star formation rate. However, Spearman rank correlation tests show the azimuthally averaged ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ does not strongly correlate with any other gas or stellar properties in general, especially beyond 0.2r₂₅from the galaxy centers. Our findings suggest that in the complex environments in galaxy disks, ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ is not a sensitive tracer for ISM properties. Dynamical disturbances, like galaxy interactions or the presence of a bar, also have an overall impact on ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ , which further complicates the interpretations of ${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$ variations. 

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4. Constraining Cosmological Parameters Using the Cluster Mass–Richness Relation

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace773  

   Abdullah, Mohamed H.; Wilson, Gillian; Klypin, Anatoly; Ishiyama, Tomoaki (September 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract The cluster mass–richness relation (MRR) is an observationally efficient and potentially powerful cosmological tool for constraining the matter density Ω_mand the amplitude of fluctuationsσ₈using the cluster abundance technique. We derive the MRR relation usingGalWCat19, a publicly available galaxy cluster catalog we created from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-DR13 spectroscopic data set. In the MRR, cluster mass scales with richness as $\log M_{200}=\alpha +\beta \log N_{200}$ . We find that the MRR we derive is consistent with both the IllustrisTNG and mini-Uchuu cosmological numerical simulations, with a slope ofβ≈ 1. We use the MRR we derived to estimate cluster masses from theGalWCat19catalog, which we then use to set constraints on Ω_mandσ₈. Utilizing the all-member MRR, we obtain constraints of Ω_m= ${0.31}_{-0.03}^{+0.04}$ andσ₈= ${0.82}_{-0.04}^{+0.05}$ , and utilizing the red member MRR only, we obtain Ω_m= ${0.31}_{-0.03}^{+0.04}$ andσ₈= ${0.81}_{-0.04}^{+0.05}$ . Our constraints on Ω_mandσ₈are consistent and very competitive with the Planck 2018 results. 

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5. TOI-5344 b: A Saturn-like Planet Orbiting a Super-solar Metallicity M0 Dwarf

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad09c2  

   Han, Te; Robertson, Paul; Kanodia, Shubham; Cañas, Caleb; Lin, Andrea S.; Stefánsson, Gumundur; Libby-Roberts, Jessica E.; Larsen, Alexander; Kobulnicky, Henry A.; Mahadevan, Suvrath; et al (December 2023, The Astronomical Journal)

   Abstract We confirm the planetary nature of TOI-5344 b as a transiting giant exoplanet around an M0-dwarf star. TOI-5344 b was discovered with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite photometry and confirmed with ground-based photometry (the Red Buttes Observatory 0.6 m telescope), radial velocity (the Habitable-zone Planet Finder), and speckle imaging (the NN-Explore Exoplanet Stellar Speckle Imager). TOI-5344 b is a Saturn-like giant planet (ρ= 0.80 ${}_{-0.15}^{+0.17}$ g cm⁻³) with a planetary radius of 9.7 ± 0.5R_⊕(0.87 ± 0.04R_Jup) and a planetary mass of ${135}_{-18}^{+17}{M}_{\oplus }$ (0.42 ${}_{-0.06}^{+0.05}{M}_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ ). It has an orbital period of ${3.792622}_{-0.000010}^{+0.000010}$ days and an orbital eccentricity of ${0.06}_{-0.04}^{+0.07}$ . We measure a high metallicity for TOI-5344 of [Fe/H] = 0.48 ± 0.12, where the high metallicity is consistent with expectations from formation through core accretion. We compare the metallicity of the M-dwarf hosts of giant exoplanets to that of M-dwarf hosts of nongiants (≲8R_⊕). While the two populations appear to show different metallicity distributions, quantitative tests are prohibited by various sample caveats. 

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