Suchergebnisse

Transition type dwarf galaxies are thought to be systems undergoing the process of transformation from a star-forming into a passively evolving dwarf, which makes them particularly suitable to study evolutionary processes driving the existence of different dwarf morphological types. Here we present results from a spectroscopic survey of ∼200 individual red giant branch stars in the Phoenix dwarf, the closest transition type with a comparable luminosity to "classical" dwarf galaxies. We measure a systemic heliocentric velocity Vhelio = −21.2 ± 1.0 km s−1. Our survey reveals the clear presence of prolate rotation, which is aligned with the peculiar spatial distribution of the youngest stars in Phoenix. We speculate that both features might have arisen from the same event, possibly an accretion of a smaller system. The evolved stellar population of Phoenix is relatively metal-poor ( = − 1.49 ± 0.04 dex) and shows a large metallicity spread (σ[Fe/H] = 0.51 ± 0.04 dex), with a pronounced metallicity gradient of −0.13 ± 0.01 dex per arcmin similar to luminous, passive dwarf galaxies. We also report a discovery of an extremely metal-poor star candidate in Phoenix and discuss the importance of correcting for spatial sampling when interpreting the chemical properties of galaxies with metallicity gradients. This study presents a major leap forward in our knowledge of the internal kinematics of the Phoenix transition type dwarf galaxy, and the first wide area spectroscopic survey of its metallicity properties. ; This study was partially financially supported by a 2015 ESO DGDF grant. NK acknowledges financial support from IAC for a three-weeks visit to the institute. GB gratefully acknowledges support through a Marie- Curie action Intra European Fellowship, funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant agreement number PIEF-GA-2010-274151, as well as the financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under the Ramon y Cajal Programme (RYC-2012-11537). AC was supported by a fellowship from the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA). This work made extensive use of the NASA Astrophysics Data System bibliographic services. This research used the facilities of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre operated by the National Research Council of Canada with the support of the Canadian Space Agency. ; Peer-reviewed ; Post-print

Dust-enshrouded, starbursting, submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at z ≥ 3 have been proposed as progenitors of z ≥ 2 compact quiescent galaxies (cQGs). To test this connection, we present a detailed spatially resolved study of the stars, dust, and stellar mass in a sample of six submillimeter-bright starburst galaxies at z ∼ 4.5. The stellar UV emission probed by HST is extended and irregular and shows evidence of multiple components. Informed by HST, we deblend Spitzer/IRAC data at rest-frame optical, finding that the systems are undergoing minor mergers with a typical stellar mass ratio of 1:6.5. The FIR dust continuum emission traced by ALMA locates the bulk of star formation in extremely compact regions (median r = 0.70 ± 0.29 kpc), and it is in all cases associated with the most massive component of the mergers (median ). We compare spatially resolved UV slope (β) maps with the FIR dust continuum to study the infrared excess (IRX = L /L )-β relation. The SMGs display systematically higher IRX values than expected from the nominal trend, demonstrating that the FIR and UV emissions are spatially disconnected. Finally, we show that the SMGs fall on the mass-size plane at smaller stellar masses and sizes than the cQGs at z = 2. Taking into account the expected evolution in stellar mass and size between z = 4.5 and z = 2 due to the ongoing starburst and mergers with minor companions, this is in agreement with a direct evolutionary connection between the two populations. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. ; C.G.G. and S.T. acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant funding scheme (project ConTExt, grant number 648179). A.K., E.J.A., and F.B. acknowledge support by the Collaborative Research Centre 956, subproject A1, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Support for B.M. was provided by the DFG priority program 1573, "The physics of the interstellar medium." D.R. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation under grant number AST-1614213. V.S. acknowledges support from the European Union's Seventh Framework program under grant agreement 337595 (ERC Starting Grant, "CoSMass"). M.A. acknowledges partial support from FONDECYT through grant 1140099. ERD also acknowledge support by the Collaborative Research Centre 956, subproject C4, funded by the DFG. M.J.M. acknowledges the support of the National Science Centre, Poland, through POLONEZ grant 2015/19/P/ST9/04010; this project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 665778. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program #13294. Support for program #13294 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute.