Galaxy Evolution: An Overview

We review recent ideas on the evolution of galaxies. Two models are competing to explain the observational features: the monolithic model in which galaxies assemble at high redshift, and evolve with little influence from the environment, and the hierarchical model in which small galaxies progressively assemble to form bigger objects. We describe the basic features of the model of hierarchical formation, and we try to valuate how the observations in the optical and infrared/submillimetre fit in the scenario. Finally, we show a few results from a hybrid, N-body simulation + semi-analytic model of hierarchical formation that produces detailed quantitative predictions to be compared to the data. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

星系对的选择及其研究进展

“星系对”研究的飞速进展,得益于光谱红移巡天和多波段图像观测。选择的星系对数目不断增多,数据准确度和完备性不断提高,促进了与星系对相关的课题研究。首先介绍了星系对的选择情况,包括目前已选择的星系对数目和选择判据在实际应用过程中的改进和发展情况;讨论了数据的完备性对星系对选择和研究的影响,不同波段星系对选择的优缺点;其次概述了目前在星系对方面的研究课题;最后是对星系对研究的展望。     

银河系化学演化研究进展

银河系的形成与演化是天体物理学研究的重大前沿课题,银河系的化学演化在其中更具有极其重要的地位。随着观测资料的不断积累和理论工作的不断深入,银河系化学演化的研究取得了一系列进展。在观测方面,从太阳附近区域,整个银盘,银晕和核球等方面简要回顾了银河系化学演化模型主要观测约束的近期结果;在化学演化模型方面,回顾了银河系化学演化研究的发展历程和近期进展,并对未来的研究进行了展望。     

Chemodynamical Modelling of Galaxy Formation and Evolution

We present our recently developed 3-dimensional chemodynamical code for galaxy evolution. This code follows the evolution of different galactic components like stars, dark matter and different components of the interstellar medium (ISM), i.e. a diffuse gaseous phase and the molecular clouds. Stars and dark matter are treated as collisionless N-body systems. The ISM is numerically described by a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach for the diffuse gas and a sticky particle scheme for the molecular clouds. Additionally, the galactic components are coupled by several phase transitions like star formation, stellar death or condensation and evaporation processes within the ISM. As an example we show the dynamical and chemical evolution of a star forming dwarf galaxy with a total baryonic mass of 2 ċ 10⁹ M_⊙. After a moderate collapse phase the stars and the molecular clouds follow an exponential radial distribution, whereas the diffuse gas shows a central depression as a result of stellar feedback. The metallicities of the galactic components behave quite differently with respect to their temporal evolution as well as their radial distribution. Especially, the ISM is at no stage well mixed. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

星爆后星系NGC4736核区的环状结构

在１９９２年３月３１日至４月２日期间，我们利用云南天文台１ｍ望远镜２号ＣＣＤ和缩焦装置，对环星系ＮＧＣ４７３６进行了Ⅴ和Ⅰ波段深曝光观测。在经过Ｒｉｃｈａｒｄｓｏｎ－Ｌｕｃｙ图象复原以及自适应滤波两种方法处理后，发现仅仅在Ⅴ波段图象上，其核区存在一个直径约为１０″的环状结构。     

History of Star Formation of the Galaxy Cluster Abell 85

Abell 85 is a cD galaxy cluster in the southern hemisphere and has a redshift of 0.055. Based on the spectra of 242 member galaxies provided by the Sloan spectral survey data, using the stellar population constituents and star formation history of these member galaxies obtained from the population synthesis software STARLIGHT, we study the regularities of the variations of star formation properties of galaxies (such as the ages, metal abundances and star formation rates of the characteristic stellar populations) with the local surface density of galaxies. As revealed by the results, the galaxies situated in the highdensity environments of the central region of the cluster possess higher population ages and metal abundances, and their rates of star formation are rather low, the recent activities of star formation are obviously suppressed. Besides, the correlations of the galaxy metal abundance and speci?c star formation rate with the stellar mass are asserted.     

星系形成的半解析模型研究进展

基于目前流行的冷暗物质等级成团理论的星系形成的半解析模型取得了很大进展．在引入一系列合理的关于重子物质物理过程的假设，如气体冷却、恒星形成率、超新星能量反馈以后，结合N体数值模拟，星系形成的半解析模型一方面能较成功地预言许多与观测符合的近邻星系的性质，如光度函数、星系的两点相关函数、Thlly-Fisher关系、星系团中椭圆星系的颜色一星等关系等；另一方面还能较成功地预言宇宙的恒星形成历史，以及一部分高红移星系的性质，如Lyman-Break星系的数目随红移的分布．但是最近一些观测表明，半解析模型在高红移预言的大质量星系较少，且红星系数目也较观测少．重点讨论半解析模型成功与不足之处，并指出解决这些问题可能的途径。     

Quantitative Study of Galaxy Morphology

We use an automatic algorithm to fit two-dimensional bulge and disk surface brightness profiles to a sample of 200 Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release (SDSS EDR) galaxies of known redshift and brighter than r=16. The bulge-to-disk (B/D) luminosity ratios can be combined with an estimate of the galaxy's local environment to address a number of key issues that are central to our understanding of galaxy formation:– How do B/D ratios depend upon galaxy luminosity?– What are the disk and spheroid luminosity functions for field galaxies?– How does the total luminosity in bulges and disks depend on environment?     

星系中分子气体与恒星形成的研究进展

星系中气体转化为恒星的过程决定了星系的结构和演化,因此研究恒星形成最直接的原料——分子气体的含量、分子气体形成恒星的规律以及会受哪些物理机制的影响,对于理解星系的形成和演化具有重要意义。近年来,随着观测技术和设备(尤其是射电望远镜)的发展,天文学家可以在不同尺度上探测到越来越多星系的多种分子多种能级跃迁的谱线。首先,介绍了探测分子气体的多种方法和新的发现;然后基于CO巡天数据和致密分子气体数据,分别在统计上讨论了分子气体分布及分子气体含量与恒星形成率之间的紧密关系,并与小尺度上的恒星形成理论进行了比较;最后,结合影响星系演化的物理过程,讨论活动星系核、星系形态以及星系所处环境对分子气体的影响。     

Cosmological Evolution of Supergiant Star-Forming Clouds

We present the results of very high resolution CDM simulations of galaxy formation designed to follow the formation and evolution of self-gravitating, supergiant star-forming clouds. We find that the mass spectrum of these clouds is identical to that of globular clusters and GMCs; dN/dM ∝ M ^-1.7 ± 0.1. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observational Tests of the Galaxy Formation Process

The mutual feedback between star formation and nuclear activity in large spheroidal galaxies may be a key ingredient to overcome several difficulties plaguing current semi-analytic models for galaxy formation. We discuss some observational implications of the model by Granato et al. for the co-evolution of galaxies and active nuclei at their centers and stress the potential of the forthcoming surveys of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect on arcminute scales, down to μK levels, to investigate the early galaxy-formation phases, difficult to access by other means.     

Galaxy Evolution from Deep Multicolor Surveys

A composite sample of NIR-selected galaxies having extended multicolor coverage has been used to probe the cosmological evolution of the blue luminosity function and of the stellar mass function. The bright fraction of the sample has spectroscopic redshifts, and the remaining fraction well-calibrated photometric redshifts. The resulting blue luminosity function shows an increasing brightening with redshift respect to the local luminosity function. Hierarchical CDM models predictions are in agreement only at low and intermediate redshifts but fail to reproduce the observed brightening at high redshifts (z ∼ 2–3). This brightening marks the epoch where starburst activity triggered by galaxy interactions could be an important physical mechanism for the galaxy evolution. At the same time the NIR galaxy sample has been used to trace the evolution of the cosmological stellar mass density up to ∼3. A clear decrease of the average mass density is apparent with a fraction ∼15% of the local value at z ∼ 3. UV bright star-forming galaxies are substancial contributors to the evolution of the stellar mass density. Although these results are globally consistent with Λ–CDM scenarios, they tend to underestimate the mass density produced by more massive galaxies present at z > 2.     

The Global, Local and Cluster Galaxy Luminosity Function

We review selected measurements of the galaxy luminosity function including the field, the local group, the local sphere, nearby clusters (Virgo, Coma and Fornax) and clusters in general. We conclude that, excluding the super-luminous cD and D galaxies, the overall cluster luminosity function is fully consistent with the field luminosity function over the magnitude range in common (–22 ≤ M _B –5log _{h 0.68} ≤ –17). We find that only in the core regions of clusters (r ≤ 300 kpc) does the overall form of the luminosity function show significant variation. However when the luminosity function is subdivided by spectral type some further variations are seen. We argue that these results imply: substantial late infall, efficient star-formation suppression, and the confinement of mass-changing evolutionary processes to the core regions only. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Galaxy evolution in clusters

The galaxy populations in present-day clusters are distinctly different from those of the field, indicating that environment plays a strong role in galaxy evolution. This review discusses some of the recent observations of moderate to high redshift clusters. A consistent picture of galaxy evolution in clusters appears to be emerging, which includes a population of galaxies which formed early in the cluster history, as well as field galaxies which have had their star formation truncated upon falling into the cluster potential. Galaxy interactions probably play an important role in exhausting star formation in some of these galaxies. However, there is significant variation in the populations of different cluster samples, with substantial evidence that some galaxies have their star formation terminated more gradually. This suggests that different mechanisms may dominate in different clusters, perhaps because of the recent merging history of the clusters. We also present a recent analysis of population gradients in clusters which suggests that the observed evolution in cluster populations is consistent with a scenario where changing infall rates drive the fraction of star forming galaxies in clusters, rather than a changing physical mechanism within the cluster. Thus, galaxy populations may provide a fundamental measure of the growth of large scale structure. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Star formation and clustering in the Hubble Deep Field

We have derived a complete and reliable flux limited sample of15 μm selected galaxies in the ISO-HDF. These galaxies have been shown to produce a large fraction of the Cosmic Infrared Background. From their mid-infrared luminosities, we deduce their star formation rates, and compare then to the ones that can be derived from their radio emission. We find excellent agreement, except for a few objects that are known to be AGN-dominated from their X-ray properties. We show that our sample is more strongly clustered than optical samples, and discuss the constraints it puts on hierarchical models of galaxy evolution. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evolution of the distribution of neutron exposures in the Galaxy disc: An analytical model

In this work, based on the analytical model with delayed production approximation developed by Pagel & Tautvaišienė (1995) for the Galaxy, the analytic solutions of the distribution of neutron exposures of the Galaxy (hereafter NEG) are obtained. The present results appear to reasonably reproduce the distribution of neutron exposures of the solar system (hereafter NES). The strong component and the main component of the NES are built up in different epochs. Firstly, the strong component is produced by the s-process nucleosynthesis in the metal-poor AGB stars, starting from [Fe/H] ≈ −1.16 to [Fe/H] ≈ −0.66, corresponding to the time interval 1.06 < t < 2.6 Gyr. Secondly, the main component is produced by the s-process in the galactic disk AGB stars, starting from [Fe/H] ≈ −0.66 to [Fe/H] ≈ 0, corresponding to the time interval t > 2.6 Gyr. The analytic solutions have the advantage of an understanding of the structure and the properties of the NEG. The NEG is believed to be an effective tool to study the s-process element abundance distributions in the Galaxy at different epochs and the galactic chemical evolution of the neutron-capture elements.     

Detailed kinematic study of the ionized and neutral gas in the complex of star formation in the galaxy IC 1613

We carried out detailed kinematic studies of the complex of multiple H I and H II shells that represent the only region of ongoing star formation in the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613. We investigated the ionized-gas kinematics by using Fabry—Perot Hα observations with the 6-m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope and the neutral-gas kinematics by using VLA 21-cm radio observations. We identified three extended (300–350 pc) neutral shells with which the brightest H II shells in the complex of star formation are associated. The neutral-gas kinematics in the complex has been studied for the first time and the H I shells were found to expand at a velocity of 15–18 km s^?1. We constructed velocity ellipses for all H II shells in the complex and refined (increased) the expansion velocities of most of them. The nature of the interacting ionized and neutral shells is discussed.     

Formation and evolution of disk galaxies

I review several of the current issues in the theory of disk galaxy formation. There is still much to be done, observationally and theoretically, before we can expect to approach an understanding of disk galaxies that is reliable enough to make robust predictions about the high redshift universe. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The evolution of disk galaxies in clusters

We are carrying out a programme to measure the evolution of the stellar and dynamical masses and M/L ratios for a sizeable sample of morphologically-classified disk galaxies in rich galaxy clusters at 0.2 < z < 0.9. Using FORS2 at the VLT we are obtaining rotation curves for the cluster spirals so that their Tully-Fisher relation can be studied as a function of redshift and compared with that of field spirals. We already have rotation curves for ∼ 10 cluster spirals at z = 0.83, and 25 field spirals at lower redshifts and we plan to increase this sample by one order of magnitude. We present here the first results of our study, and discuss the implications of our data in the context of current ideas and models of galaxy formation and evolution. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.