The Environment of Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies

We are currently performing a new analysis of the close environment of star-forming dwarf galaxies and its effects on their star-forming activity. For a sample of 142 thoroughly studied objects, we search the NASA Extragalactic Database for possible companion galaxies of any apparent luminosity and angular size. From a first analysis of a part of our sample, we find only about 50% of our objects to be isolated in the sense that no companion object was detected within a redshift difference of 500 km s^-1 and an angular separation corresponding to a projected distance of 1 Mpc, assuming H ₀=75km s^-1 Mpc^-1. By splitting the sample into different redshift intervals, we demonstrate an observational bias against low-luminosity companion objects which implies that a large fraction of star-forming dwarf galaxies, although lacking bright companions, might possess dwarf companion objects. Similarly to other authors, we find no evidence for a difference in star-forming activity due to the presence or absence of possible companions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Evolution of Star-Forming Galaxies: The SFR Density of the Universe

The evolution of the Star Formation Rate (SFR) density of the Universe as a function of look-back time is a fundamental parameter in order to understand the formation and evolution of galaxies. The current picture, only outlined in the last years, is that the global SFR density has dropped by about an order of magnitude from a redshift of z∼1.5 to the current value at z=0. Because these SFR density studies are now extended to the whole range in redshift, it becomes mandatory to combine data from different SFR tracers. At low redshifts, optical emission lines are the most widely used. Using Hα as current-SFR tracer, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Survey provided the first estimation of the global SFR density in the Local Universe. The Hα flux in emission is directly related to the number of ionizing photons and, modulo IMF, to the total mass of stars formed. Metallic lines like [OII]λ3727 and [OIII]λ5007 are affected by metallicity and excitation. Beyond redshifts z∼0.4, Hα is not observable in the optical and [OII]λ3727 or UV luminosities have to be used. The UCM galaxy sample has been used to obtain a calibration between [OII]λ3727 luminosity and SFR specially suitable for the different types of star-forming galaxies found by deep spectroscopic surveys in redshifts up to z∼1.5. These calibrations, when applied to recent deep redshift surveys confirm the drop of the SFR density of the Universe since z∼1 previously infered in the UV. However, the fundamental parameter that determines galactic evolution is mass, not luminosity. The mass function for local star-forming galaxies is critical for any future comparison with other galaxy populations of different evolutionary status. Hα velocity-widths for UCM galaxies indicate that besides a small fraction of 10¹⁰-10¹¹ M_⊙ starburst nuclei spirals, the majority have dynamical masses in the ∼10⁹ M_⊙ range. A comparison with published data for faint blue galaxies suggests that star-forming galaxies at z∼1 would have SFR per unit mass and burst strengths similar to those at z=0, but being intrinsically more massive. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Connecting the Distant Universe with the Local Fossil Record

This review considers implications regarding galaxy formationand evolution that can be drawn from study of the ages,abundances, and kinematics of stellar populations in the LocalUniverse. The wide abundance range in the Galactic bulge and in thehalo of M31 is consistent with chemical evolution in a starburstwith wind outflow. We question the notionthat the Galactic halo population is assembled fromdisrupted dwarf spheroidal galaxies, based on the presenceof metal rich stars in Local Group halos.The alpha-element enhancements of bulge giants are those expected from a system forming on a timescale of less than 1 Gyr. Direct measurement of the star formationhistory from turnoff photometry in Local Group galaxiesis not in complete agreement with the universal star formation rateinferred from high redshift studies. We argue that the properties of the Local Universe constrain galaxyformation theory just as strongly as the findings gleaned fromhigh redshift galaxies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

NIR Properties of the UCM Star-Forming Galaxies

We present results from a spectroscopic survey of Paβ & Brγ emission in a sample of T Tauri stars, mostly in the Taurus-Auriga complex. Velocity resolved spectra (Δv ∼ 15 km s^-1) show that, of the 41 stars observed in Paβ emission, 34% display IPC redshifted absorptions, while, of the 29 stars observed in Brγ emission, 21% display IPC redshifted absorptions. The lines are broad (FWHM ∼ 200 km s^-1) and lack blueshifted absorptions. These observations are consistent with the near infrared hydrogen lines forming predominantly in infalling material, as suggested by magnetospheric accretion column models. Radiative transfer calculations of the Paβ and Brγ line profiles in a very simplified, spherically symmetric situation are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Galactic Chemical Evolution: From the Local Disk to the Distant Universe

A brief review is presented of our current understanding of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way and, in particular, of the solar neighbourhood and the disc of our Galaxy, in the light of recent theoretical and observational results. We explore the implications of this understanding for studies of `cosmic chemical evolution'. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Relation between Starlight and Nebular Emission Lines of Star-Forming Galaxies

We present an exercise that intends to establish a relationship between the strength of nebular emission lines and optical stellar features in the spectrum of a galaxy. After accurately subtracting the stellar continuum and the underlying stellar absorption, we made reliable measurements of the emission lines of all the galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 2 (SDSS DR2). More than 4000 star-forming galaxies with high S/N ratio of both the stellar spectrum and the emission lines are selected. These galaxy spectra are fitted with the 10 PCs of Yip et al., after all the emission line regions have been filtered out. We find that the flux of hydrogen Balmer emission lines, Hα and Hβ can be well recovered from the PCs, while the metal lines are not well reproduced. The fluxes of Hα and Hβ measured from the PC-reconstructed spectra and from the observed spectra agree well with an rms scatter of only - 0.1 dex. This result suggests that, with moderate spectral resolution and S/N ratio, the optical stellar spectrum of a galaxy can serve as an indicator of star formation rate.     

Infrared Galaxies in the Nearby Universe

We used the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5) to study the morphological properties of 1137 nearby infrared (IR) galaxies, most of which are brighter than 15.9 mag in r-band. This sample was drawn from a cross-correlation of the Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) point source catalog redshift survey with DR5 at z(≤)0.08. Based on this IR galaxy sample, we constructed five volume-limited sub-samples with IR luminosity ranging from 109.5L⊙ to 1012L⊙. By deriving the IR luminosity functions (LF) for different morphological types, we found that normal spiral galaxies are the dominant population below LIR～ 8 × 1010 L⊙; while the fraction of barred spiral galaxies increases with increasing IR luminosity and becomes dominant in spiral galaxies beyond LIR(≈) 5×1010L⊙. As the IR luminosity decreases, the IR galaxies become more compact and have lower stellar masses. The analysis also shows that normal spiral galaxies give the dominant contribution to the total comoving IR energy density in the nearby universe, while, in contrast, the contribution from peculiar galaxies is only 39%.     

The Universe Evolution as Possible Mechanism of Formation of Galaxies and Their Clusters

The Kepler problem is studied in a space with the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker metrics of the expanding universe. Cosmic evolution leads to decreasing energy of particles, causing free particles to be captured in bound states, so that the evolution of the universe can be treated as a possible mechanism of the formation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The cosmological model is considered where the evolution of the universe plays the role usually inscribed to cold dark matter.     

暗蓝星系计数与星暴矮星系族

本文采用演化星族综合方法，讨论了在低红移因短时间星暴过程而变亮的矮星系族。指出，它们的存在能够与目前暗星系计数和红移巡天结果相容，作为一个附加的星系族，它们较易演化为低面光度的星系而在邻域中探测不到，因此是解释暗星系计数和红移巡天结果的适当候选天体，值得对它们作进一步的研究。     

Star-Forming Galaxies at z - 2 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Using a simple color selection based on B-, z- and K-band photometry, BzK =（z - K）AB - （B - Z）AB 〉 -0.2, we picked out 52 star-forming galaxies at 1.4 ≤z ≤ 2.5 （sBzKs） from a K-band selected sample （Kvega 〈 22.0） in an area of - 5.5 arcmin^2 of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field （UDF）. We develop a new photometric redshift method, and the error in our photometric redshifts is less than 0.02（1 ＋ z）. From the photometric redshift distribution, we find the BzK color criterion can be used to select star-forming galaxies at 1.4≤ z ≤ 2.5 with Kvega 〈 22.0. Down to Kvega 〈 22.0, the number counts of sBzKs increase linearly with the K magnitude; the sBzKs are strongly clustered, and most of them have irregular morphologies on the ACS images. They have a median reddening of E（B - V） - 0.28, an average star formation rate of - 36 M⊙ yr^-1 and a typical stellar mass of - 10^10 M⊙. The UV criterion for the galaxies at z - 2 can select most of the faint sBzKs in the UDF, but it does not work well for bright, massive, highly-reddened, actively star-forming galaxies.     

Warm and Hot Gaseous Outflows in Dwarf Galaxies

We present here the optical light curves of the Soft X-ray TransientsXTE J1550-564 and XTEJ1859+226 from outburst to quiescence     

Warm and Hot Gas and the Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies

This paper discusses results of multi-wavelength studies of low-mass galaxies with outflows. As a case study the extreme low-metallicity dwarf galaxy I Zw 18 is presented. The results from HST imaging, long-slit echelle spectroscopy and X-ray imaging are discussed in the context of chemical enrichment of dwarf galaxies. If outflows work primarily as a temporary repository of metals and not as a loss of metals into the intergalactic medium, we show that galactic winds can explain the relatively low N/O scatter seen in nearby low-metallicity dwarf galaxies as well as the apparent increase of N/O scatter observed in damped Ly_α systems with metallicities near that of I Zw 18and below. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

星系形成与宇宙大尺度结构

宇宙大尺度结构的形成与星系形成密切相关,前者的研究把星系基本上视为一质点,而星系形成研究涉及到其内部结构,宇宙大尺度结构形成有两种模式,由小到大与由大到小,这两种模式被交替使用（当然不同简单的重复）很重要的一个原因是星系形成研究的推动。     

Distances to 18 Dwarf Galaxies from the Arecibo Survey

Astronomy Letters - Based on archival Hubble Space Telescope images, we have performed stellar photometry for 18 dwarf galaxies. Branches of young and old stars are seen on the constructed...     

Identification and Study of Distant Galaxies Through Cluster Lenses

We present new results obtained when using clusters of galaxies as gravitational lenses to build up an independent sample of galaxies with z ≳ 2. The amplification effect provides a tool to study the spectrophotometric and morphological properties of such galaxies 1 to 3 mag. deeper with respect to field surveys. Distant sources are selected close to the critical lines in clusters where the mass distribution is well known, using photometric redshifts computed on a large wavelength interval. This method allows to reduce the biases towards luminous and active star-forming objects. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Connection between Spheroidal Galaxies and QSOs

In view of the extensive evidence of tight inter-relationships between spheroidal galaxies (and galactic bulges) with massive black holes hosted at their centers, a consistent model must deal jointly with the evolution of the two components. We describe one such model, which successfully accounts for the local luminosity function of spheroidal galaxies, for their photometric and chemical properties, for deep galaxy counts in different wavebands, including those in the (sub)-mm region which proved to be critical for current semi-analytic models stemming from the standard hierarchical clustering picture, for clustering properties of SCUBA galaxies, of EROs, and of LBGs, as well as for the local mass function of massive black holes and for quasar evolution. Predictions that can be tested by surveys carried out by SIRTF are presented. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

蓝致密矮星系谱的星族合成

利用星团谱样本的星族合成方法,分析了７个ＢＣＤＧ的光学谱,研究蓝致密矮星系（ＢＣＤＧ）内部的恒星形成历史、能源机制和尘埃分布情况．星族合成结果不仅能够解释ＢＣＤＧ的主要观测特征,解决ＢＣＤＧ研究中存在的一些问题,而且揭示了ＢＣＤＧ的一些未知的特性．谱合成结果表明：ＢＣＤＧ是年老的天体,其内部较早已经有恒星形成发生,恒星形成呈爆发式的,在ｔ＝５×１０７～１０９ｙｒ时的恒星形成率较高,最近（ｔ＝１０７ｙｒ）的恒星形成率开始下降;光谱分析显示大量大质量的年轻恒星提供了ＢＣＤＧ中心区的主要能源．利用扣除恒星吸收影响的发射线光谱,计算了发射线产生区的内红化值,发现它明显大于由连续谱计算得到的内红化值,这种差异的可能解释是ＢＣＤＧ内部尘埃对连续谱和发射线的产生区遮挡程度不同．最后,比较了ＢＣＧ和ＢＣＤＧ星族合成结果,提出了矮星系间一种可能的演化序列．