ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3238-8359
Current Organisations
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
,
University of Western Australia
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-02-2020
Abstract: We use the extended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (xGASS) to quantify the relationship between atomic hydrogen (H i) reservoir and current star formation rate (SFR) for central disc galaxies. This is primarily motivated by recent claims for the existence, in this s le, of a large population of passive discs harbouring H i reservoirs as large as those observed in main-sequence galaxies. Across the stellar mass range 109 & M*/M⊙ & 1011, we practically find no passive (≳2σ below the star forming main sequence) disc galaxies with H i reservoirs comparable to those typical of star-forming systems. Even including H i non-detections at their upper limits, passive discs typically have ≥0.5 dex less H i than their active counterparts. We show that previous claims are due to the use of aperture-corrected SFR estimates from the MPA/JHU SDSS DR7 catalogue, which do not provide a fair representation of the global SFR of H i-rich galaxies with extended star-forming discs. Our findings confirm that the bulk of the passive disc population in the local Universe is H i-poor. These also imply that the reduction of star formation, even in central disc galaxies, has to be accompanied by a reduction in their H i reservoir.
Publisher: American Astronomical Society
Date: 08-2022
Abstract: We present the first measurements of H i galaxy scaling relations from a blind survey at z 0.15. We perform spectral stacking of 9023 spectra of star-forming galaxies undetected in H i at 0.23 z 0.49, extracted from MIGHTEE-H i Early Science data cubes, acquired with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We stack galaxies in bins of galaxy properties (stellar mass M * , star formation rateSFR, and specific star formation rate sSFR, with sSFR ≡ M * /SFR), obtaining ≳5 σ detections in most cases, the strongest H i -stacking detections to date in this redshift range. With these detections, we are able to measure scaling relations in the probed redshift interval, finding evidence for a moderate evolution from the median redshift of our s le z med ∼ 0.37 to z ∼ 0. In particular, low- M * galaxies ( log 10 ( M * / M ⊙ ) ∼ 9 ) experience a strong H i depletion (∼0.5 dex in log 10 ( M H I / M ⊙ ) ), while massive galaxies ( log 10 ( M * / M ⊙ ) ∼ 11 ) keep their H i mass nearly unchanged. When looking at the star formation activity, highly star-forming galaxies evolve significantly in M H I ( f H I , where f H I ≡ M H I / M * ) at fixed SFR (sSFR), while at the lowest probed SFR (sSFR) the scaling relations show no evolution. These findings suggest a scenario in which low- M * galaxies have experienced a strong H i depletion during the last ∼5 Gyr, while massive galaxies have undergone a significant H i replenishment through some accretion mechanism, possibly minor mergers. Interestingly, our results are in good agreement with the predictions of the simba simulation. We conclude that this work sets novel important observational constraints on galaxy scaling relations.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 18-11-2022
Abstract: We present deep 1.4 GHz source counts from ∼5 deg2 of the continuum Early Science data release of the MeerKAT International Gigahertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration survey down to S1.4GHz ∼15 $\\mu$Jy. Using observations over two extragalactic fields (COSMOS and XMM-LSS), we provide a comprehensive investigation into correcting the incompleteness of the raw source counts within the survey to understand the true underlying source count population. We use a variety of simulations that account for: errors in source detection and characterization, clustering, and variations in the assumed source model used to simulate sources within the field and characterize source count incompleteness. We present these deep source count distributions and use them to investigate the contribution of extragalactic sources to the sky background temperature at 1.4 GHz using a relatively large sky area. We then use the wealth of ancillary data covering a subset of the COSMOS field to investigate the specific contributions from both active galactic nuclei (AGN) and star-forming galaxies (SFGs) to the source counts and sky background temperature. We find, similar to previous deep studies, that we are unable to reconcile the sky temperature observed by the ARCADE 2 experiment. We show that AGN provide the majority contribution to the sky temperature contribution from radio sources, but the relative contribution of SFGs rises sharply below 1 mJy, reaching an approximate 15–25 per cent contribution to the total sky background temperature (Tb ∼100 mK) at ∼15 $\\mu$Jy.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-03-2020
Abstract: We use our catalogue of structural decomposition measurements for the extended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (xGASS) to study the role of bulges both along and across the galaxy star-forming main sequence (SFMS). We show that the slope in the sSFR–M⋆ relation flattens by ∼0.1 dex per decade in M⋆ when re-normalizing specifice star formation rate (sSFR) by disc stellar mass instead of total stellar mass. However, recasting the sSFR–M⋆ relation into the framework of only disc-specific quantities shows that a residual trend remains against disc stellar mass with equivalent slope and comparable scatter to that of the total galaxy relation. This suggests that the residual declining slope of the SFMS is intrinsic to the disc components of galaxies. We further investigate the distribution of bulge-to-total ratios (B/T) as a function of distance from the SFMS (ΔSFRMS). At all stellar masses, the average B/T of local galaxies decreases monotonically with increasing ΔSFRMS. Contrary to previous works, we find that the upper envelope of the SFMS is not dominated by objects with a significant bulge component. This rules out a scenario in which, in the local Universe, objects with increased star formation activity are simultaneously experiencing a significant bulge growth. We suggest that much of the discrepancies between different works studying the role of bulges originate from differences in the methodology of structurally decomposing galaxies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 14-12-2021
Abstract: Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are typically identified through radio, mid-infrared, or X-ray emission or through the presence of broad and/or narrow emission lines. AGN can also leave an imprint on a galaxy’s spectral energy distribution (SED) through the re-processing of photons by the dusty torus. Using the SED fitting code ProSpect with an incorporated AGN component, we fit the far-ultraviolet to far-infrared SEDs of ∼494 000 galaxies in the D10-COSMOS field and ∼230 000 galaxies from the GAMA survey. By combining an AGN component with a flexible star formation and metallicity implementation, we obtain estimates for the AGN luminosities, stellar masses, star formation histories, and metallicity histories for each of our galaxies. We find that ProSpect can identify AGN components in 91 per cent of galaxies pre-selected as containing AGN through narrow-emission line ratios and the presence of broad lines. Our ProSpect-derived AGN luminosities show close agreement with luminosities derived for X-ray selected AGN using both the X-ray flux and previous SED fitting results. We show that incorporating the flexibility of an AGN component when fitting the SEDs of galaxies with no AGN has no significant impact on the derived galaxy properties. However, in order to obtain accurate estimates of the stellar properties of AGN host galaxies, it is crucial to include an AGN component in the SED fitting process. We use our derived AGN luminosities to map the evolution of the AGN luminosity function for 0 & z & 2 and find good agreement with previous measurements and predictions from theoretical models.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-10-2019
Abstract: We present a structural decomposition analysis of the galaxies in the extended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (xGASS) using (gri) images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Utilizing the 2D Bayesian light profile fitting code ProFit, we fit single- and double-component models taking advantage of a robust Markov chain Monte Carlo optimization algorithm in which we assume a Sérsic profile for single-component models and a combination of a Sérsic bulge and near-exponential disc (0.5 ≤ n ≤ 1.5) for double-component models. We investigate the effect of bulges on the atomic hydrogen (H i) content in galaxies by revisiting the H i-to-stellar mass scaling relations with the bulge-to-total ratio measured in the ProFit decompositions. We show that, at both fixed total and disc stellar mass, more bulge-dominated galaxies have systematically lower H i masses, implying that bulge-dominated galaxies with large H i reservoirs are rare in the local Universe. We see similar trends when separating galaxies by a bulge-to-total ratio based either on luminosity or stellar mass, however, the trends are more evident with luminosity. Importantly, when controlling for both stellar mass and star formation rate, the separation of atomic gas content reduces to within 0.3 dex between galaxies of different bulge-to-total ratios. Our findings suggest that the presence of a photometric bulge has little effect on the global H i gas reservoirs of local galaxies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-03-2020
Abstract: The search for emission from weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter annihilation and decay has become a multipronged area of research not only targeting a erse selection of astrophysical objects, but also taking advantage of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The decay of WIMP particles into standard model particles has been suggested as a possible channel for synchrotron emission to be detected at low radio frequencies. Here, we present the stacking analysis of a s le of 33 dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies with low-frequency (72–231 MHz) radio images from the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey. We produce radial surface brightness profiles of images centred upon each dSph galaxy with background radio sources masked. We remove 10 fields from the stacking due to contamination from either poorly subtracted, bright radio sources or strong background gradients across the field. The remaining 23 dSph galaxies are stacked in an attempt to obtain a statistical detection of any WIMP-induced synchrotron emission in these systems. We find that the stacked radial brightness profile does not exhibit a statistically significant detection above the 95 per cent confidence level of ∼1.5 mJy beam−1. This novel technique shows the potential of using low-frequency radio images to constrain fundamental properties of particle dark matter.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-2021
Abstract: We present a detailed study of the stellar mass versus specific angular momentum (AM) relation (Fall relation) for a representative s le of 564 nearby galaxies in the eXtended GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (xGASS). We focus on the dependence of the Fall relation’s slope on galaxy type and the galaxy properties regulating its scatter. Stellar specific AM is determined by combining single-dish H i velocity widths and stellar mass profiles for all H i detections in the xGASS s le. At fixed morphology (or bulge-to-total ratio), we find that the power-law slope of the Fall relation is consistent with 2/3. However, when all galaxy types are combined, we recover a much shallower slope of ∼0.47. We show that this is a consequence of the change in galaxy morphology as a function of mass, highlighting that caution should be taken when using the slope of the Fall relation to constrain galaxy formation models without taking s le selection into account. We quantify the Fall relations scatter and show that H i gas fraction is the strongest correlated parameter for low stellar masses (Spearman correlation: ρs = 0.61), while the bulge-to-total ratio becomes slightly more dominant at higher masses (ρs = −0.29). Intriguingly, when only the disc components of galaxies are considered, H i gas fraction remains the strongest correlated parameter with the scatter of the relation (regardless of disc stellar mass). Our work provides one of the best characterizations of the Fall relation for a representative s le of galaxies in the local Universe.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-10-2022
Abstract: Gas-phase metallicities of galaxies are typically measured through auroral or nebular emission lines, but metallicity also leaves an imprint on the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of a galaxy and can be estimated through SED fitting. We use the ProSpect SED fitting code with a flexible parametric star formation history and an evolving metallicity history to self-consistently measure metallicities, stellar mass, and other galaxy properties for $\\sim 90\\, 000$ galaxies from the Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) and Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We use these to trace the evolution of the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) and show that the MZR only evolves in normalization by $\\sim 0.1\\,$dex at stellar mass $M_\\star = 10^{10.5}\\, \\mathrm{M}_\\odot$. We find no difference in the MZR between galaxies with and without SED evidence of active galactic nuclei emission at low redshifts ($z$ & 0.3). Our results suggest an anticorrelation between metallicity and star formation activity at fixed stellar mass for galaxies with $M_\\star \\gt 10^{10.5}\\, \\mathrm{M}_\\odot$ for $z$ & 0.3. Using the star formation histories extracted using ProSpect we explore higher order correlations of the MZR with properties of the star formation history including age, width, and shape. We find that at a given stellar mass, galaxies with higher metallicities formed most of their mass over shorter time-scales, and before their peak star formation rate. This work highlights the value of exploring the connection of a galaxy’s current gas-phase metallicity to its star formation history in order to understand the physical processes shaping the MZR.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-11-2021
Abstract: We present the evolution of the star formation dispersion–stellar mass relation (σSFR–M⋆) in the DEVILS D10 region using new measurements derived using the ProSpect spectral energy distribution fitting code. We find that σSFR–M⋆ shows the characteristic ‘U-shape’ at intermediate stellar masses from 0.1 & z & 0.7 for a number of metrics, including using the deconvolved intrinsic dispersion. A physical interpretation of this relation is the combination of stochastic star formation and stellar feedback causing large scatter at low stellar masses and AGN feedback causing asymmetric scatter at high stellar masses. As such, the shape of this distribution and its evolution encodes detailed information about the astrophysical processes affecting star formation, feedback and the lifecycle of galaxies. We find that the stellar mass that the minimum σSFR occurs evolves linearly with redshift, moving to higher stellar masses with increasing lookback time and traces the turnover in the star-forming sequence. This minimum σSFR point is also found to occur at a fixed specific star formation rate (sSFR) at all epochs (sSFR ∼ 10−9.6 Gyr−1). The physical interpretation of this is that there exists a maximum sSFR at which galaxies can internally self-regulate on the tight sequence of star formation. At higher sSFRs, stochastic stellar processes begin to cause galaxies to be pushed both above and below the star-forming sequence leading to increased SFR dispersion. As the Universe evolves, a higher fraction of galaxies will drop below this sSFR threshold, causing the dispersion of the low stellar mass end of the star-forming sequence to decrease with time.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-06-2020
Abstract: The Galaxy And Mass Assembly Survey (GAMA) covers five fields with highly complete spectroscopic coverage (& per cent) to intermediate depths (r & 19.8 or i & 19.0 mag), and collectively spans 250 deg2 of equatorial or southern sky. Four of the GAMA fields (G09, G12, G15, and G23) reside in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) VST KiDS and ESO VISTA VIKING survey footprints, which combined with our GALEX, WISE, and Herschel data provide deep uniform imaging in the $FUV/NUV/u/g/r/i/Z/Y/J/H/K_s/W1/W2/W3/W4/P100/P160/S250/S350/S500$ bands. Following the release of KiDS DR4, we describe the process by which we ingest the KiDS data into GAMA (replacing the SDSS data previously used for G09, G12, and G15), and redefine our core optical and near-infrared (NIR) catalogues to provide a complete and homogeneous data set. The source extraction and analysis is based on the new ProFound image analysis package, providing matched-segment photometry across all bands. The data are classified into stars, galaxies, artefacts, and ambiguous objects, and objects are linked to the GAMA spectroscopic target catalogue. Additionally, a new technique is employed utilizing ProFound to extract photometry in the unresolved MIR–FIR regime. The catalogues including the full FUV–FIR photometry are described and will be fully available as part of GAMA DR4. They are intended for both standalone science, selection for targeted follow-up with 4MOST, as well as an accompaniment to the upcoming and ongoing radio arrays now studying the GAMA 23h field.
Publisher: AIP Publishing
Date: 11-11-2014
DOI: 10.1063/1.4901242
Abstract: Multidimensional numerical simulation of boron diffusion is of great relevance for the improvement of industrial n-type crystalline silicon wafer solar cells. However, surface passivation of boron diffused area is typically studied in one dimension on planar lifetime s les. This approach neglects the effects of the solar cell pyramidal texture on the boron doping process and resulting doping profile. In this work, we present a theoretical study using a two-dimensional surface morphology for pyramidally textured s les. The boron diffusivity and segregation coefficient between oxide and silicon in simulation are determined by reproducing measured one-dimensional boron depth profiles prepared using different boron diffusion recipes on planar s les. The established parameters are subsequently used to simulate the boron diffusion process on textured s les. The simulated junction depth is found to agree quantitatively well with electron beam induced current measurements. Finally, chemical passivation on planar and textured s les is compared in device simulation. Particularly, a two-dimensional approach is adopted for textured s les to evaluate chemical passivation. The intrinsic emitter saturation current density, which is only related to Auger and radiative recombination, is also simulated for both planar and textured s les. The differences between planar and textured s les are discussed.
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Robin Cook.