Relativistic supernova 2009bb exploded close to an atomic gas cloud

The primary goal of this study is to explore the dependence of the clustering properties of galaxies on star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (SSFR). From the main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we construct two volume-limited samples with absolute magnitudes above and below [Formula: see text], and then divide each volume-limited main galaxy sample into two subsamples with low SFRs and high SFRs or low SSFRs and high SSFRs. A strong dependence of the clustering properties on SFR and SSFR is found: high SFR and SSFR galaxies are preferentially isolated or found in close pairs and small groups, whereas low SFR and SSFR galaxies preferentially inhabit dense groups and clusters.

The event rate of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is expected to be a useful tracer of cosmic star-formation history. For this purpose, it is necessary to understand what kinds of star formation/galaxies are traced by GRBs. Here we report rest-frame far-infrared (FIR) continuum detections of the GRB 070521 and 080207 host galaxies at z ∼ 2 with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) bands 8 and 9. FIR photometry provides reliable star-formation rates (SFRs), because FIR emission is free from dust extinction and possible radio contamination from the long-lived afterglows of GRBs. Spectral energy distribution fitting yields 49.85$^{+72.33}_{-2.86}$ and 123.4$^{+25.19}_{-21.78}$ M⊙ yr−1 for the 070521 and 080207 hosts, respectively. The derived SFRs place them on the ‘main sequence’ of normal star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2. The derived SFRs are significantly lower than those from radio observations. It is inferred that the observed radio fluxes in a previous study are contaminated by afterglows. ALMA marginally detected the [C ii] 158-μm emission line from the GRB 080207 host galaxy with signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) ∼ 4. This is the first detection of [C ii] 158-μm from a GRB host at z > 2 and the second detection among known GRBs. The luminosity ratio of [C ii] 158 μm to FIR is 7.5 × 10−4, which is one of the smallest values among galaxies at z ∼ 1–2 with the same FIR luminosity. The ‘[C ii] deficit’ could be a new physical property with which to characterize GRB hosts at z ∼ 1–2. Possible parameters controlling the deficit include the metallicity, initial mass function and gas density.

Unlike ordinary supernovae (SNe), some of which are hydrogen and helium deficient (called Type Ic SNe), broad-lined Type Ic SNe (SNe Ic-bl) are very energetic events, and only SNe Ic-bl are coincident with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Understanding the progenitors of SN Ic-bl explosions versus those of their SN Ic cousins is key to understanding the SN–GRB relationship and jet production in massive stars. Here we present the largest existing set of host galaxy spectra of 28 SNe Ic and 14 SNe Ic-bl, all discovered by the same galaxy-untargeted survey, namely, the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We carefully measure their gas-phase metallicities, stellar masses (M *), and star formation rates (SFRs). We further reanalyze the hosts of 10 literature SN–GRBs using the same methods and compare them to our PTF SN hosts with the goal of constraining their progenitors from their local environments. We find that the metallicities, SFRs, and M * values of our PTF SN Ic-bl hosts are statistically comparable to those of SN–GRBs but significantly lower than those of the PTF SNe Ic. The mass–metallicity relations as defined by the SNe Ic-bl and SN–GRBs are not significantly different from the same relations as defined by Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, contradicting claims by earlier works. Our findings point toward low metallicity as a crucial ingredient for SN Ic-bl and SN–GRB production since we are able to break the degeneracy between high SFR and low metallicity. We suggest that the PTF SNe Ic-bl may have produced jets that were choked inside the star or were able to break out of the star as unseen low-luminosity or off-axis GRBs.

Context. Voids are the most under-dense large-scale regions in the Universe. Galaxies inhabiting voids are one of the keys for understanding the intrinsic processes of galaxy evolution, as external factors such as multiple galaxy mergers or a dense self-collapsing environment are negligible. Aims. We present the first molecular gas mass survey of void galaxies. We compare these new data together with data for the atomic gas mass (MH I) and star formation rate (SFR) from the literature to those of galaxies in filaments and walls in order to better understand how molecular gas and star formation are related to the large-scale environment. Methods. We observed at the IRAM 30 m telescope the CO(1−0) and CO(2−1) emission of 20 void galaxies selected from the Void Galaxy Survey, with a stellar mass range from 108.5 to 1010.3 M⊙. We detected 15 objects in at least one CO line. We compared the molecular gas mass (MH2), the star formation efficiency (SFE = SFR/MH2), the atomic gas mass, the molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio, and the specific star formation rate (sSFR) of the void galaxies with two control samples of galaxies in filaments and walls, selected from xCOLD GASS and EDGE-CALIFA, for different stellar mass bins and taking the star formation activity into account. Results. In general, we do not find any significant differences between void galaxies and the control sample. In particular, we do not find any evidence for a difference in the molecular gas mass or molecular gas mass fraction. For the other parameters (SFE, atomic gas mass, molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio, and sSFR), we also find similar (within the errors) mean values between void and filament and wall galaxies when the sample is limited to star-forming galaxies. We find no evidence for an enhanced sSFR in void galaxies. Some tentative differences emerge when trends with stellar mass are studied: The SFE of void galaxies might be lower than in filament and wall galaxies for low stellar masses, and there might be a trend of increasing deficiency in the HI content in void galaxies compared to galaxies in filaments and walls for higher stellar masses, accompanied by an increase in the molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio. However, all trends with stellar mass are based on a low number of galaxies and need to be confirmed for a larger sample. Conclusions. The results for the molecular gas mass for a sample of 20 voids galaxies allowed us to make a statistical comparison to galaxies in filaments and walls for the first time. We do not find any significant differences of the molecular gas properties and the SFE, but we note that a larger sample is necessary to confirm this and be sensitive to subtle trends.

Using a sample of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows detected by both the X-Ray and the UV/Optical Telescopes (XRT and UVOT) on Swift, we modelled the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to determine gas column densities and dust extinction in the GRB local environment. In six out of seven cases we find an X-ray absorber associated with the GRB host galaxy with column density (assuming solar abundances) ranging from (0.8 - 7.7)x10^{21}cm^{-2}. We determine the rest-frame visual extinction A_V using the SMC, LMC and Galactic extinction curves to model the dust in the GRB host galaxy, and this ranges from A_V = 0.12\pm 0.04 to A_V = 0.65^{+0.08}_{-0.07}. The afterglow SEDs were typically best fit by a model with an SMC extinction curve. In only one case was the GRB afterglow better modelled by a Galactic extinction curve, which has a prominent absorption feature at 2175angstrom. We investigate the selection effects present in our sample and how these might distort the true distribution of A_V in GRB host galaxies. We estimate that GRBs with no afterglow detected blueward of 5500angstrom have average rest-frame visual extinctions almost eight times those observed in the optically bright population of GRBs. This may help account for the ~1/3 of GRBs observed by Swift that have no afterglow detected by UVOT.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense flashes at the cosmological distances, which are the most luminous explosions in the Universe. The high luminosities of GRBs make them detectable out to the edge of the visible universe. So, they are unique tools to probe the properties of high-redshift universe: including the cosmic expansion and dark energy, star formation rate, the reionization epoch and the metal evolution of the Universe. First, they can be used to constrain the history of cosmic acceleration and the evolution of dark energy in a redshift range hardly achievable by other cosmological probes. Second, long GRBs are believed to be formed by collapse of massive stars. So they can be used to derive the high-redshift star formation rate, which can not be probed by current observations. Moreover, the use of GRBs as cosmological tools could unveil the reionization history and metal evolution of the Universe, the intergalactic medium (IGM) properties and the nature of first stars in the early universe. But beyond that, the GRB high-energy photons can be applied to constrain Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) and to test Einstein's Equivalence Principle (EEP). In this paper, we review the progress on the GRB cosmology and fundamental physics probed by GRBs.

Despite a rich phenomenology, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are divided into two classes based on their duration and spectral hardness--the long-soft and the short-hard bursts. The discovery of afterglow emission from long GRBs was a watershed event, pinpointing their origin to star-forming galaxies, and hence the death of massive stars, and indicating an energy release of about 10(51) erg. While theoretical arguments suggest that short GRBs are produced in the coalescence of binary compact objects (neutron stars or black holes), the progenitors, energetics and environments of these events remain elusive despite recent localizations. Here we report the discovery of the first radio afterglow from the short burst GRB 050724, which unambiguously associates it with an elliptical galaxy at a redshift z = 0.257. We show that the burst is powered by the same relativistic fireball mechanism as long GRBs, with the ejecta possibly collimated in jets, but that the total energy release is 10-1,000 times smaller. More importantly, the nature of the host galaxy demonstrates that short GRBs arise from an old (> 1 Gyr) stellar population, strengthening earlier suggestions and providing support for coalescing compact object binaries as the progenitors.

We investigate improved, more physical methods for modelling key processes in galaxy formation that take place in the interstellar medium, and study their effects on the observed properties and evolution of galaxies. The topics we investigate are: (i) improvements to the relation between the star formation rates (SFRs) and the cold gas contents of galaxies; (ii) how to predict the atomic and molecular gas masses in galaxies with different properties, (iii) how to predict the emission of widely used molecular tracers, such as carbon monoxide (CO); and (iv) the gas outflows from galaxies driven by supernovae and their dependence on local and global properties of galaxies. We perform these studies using the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation GALFORM, and fully embed our calculations in a cosmological scenario, the Lambda cold dark matter paradigm. This is done with the dual aims of understanding how the physical processes above affect galaxy formation and evolution in a statistical fashion, and to improve and extend the predictive power of galaxy formation models. We find that by calculating the SFR from the molecular gas content and relating the molecular-to-atomic mass ratio in the interstellar medium to the hydrostatic pressure in the midplane of the disk, we can explain the observed atomic gas mass function and clustering of galaxies selected by their atomic hydrogen mass, the SFRs of local and high-redshift galaxies, the evolution of the molecular hydrogen gas fraction and the global atomic hydrogen abundance of the universe, and the local scaling relations between gas contents and other galaxy properties. We also find that by coupling GALFORM with a radiative transfer and interstellar chemistry code describing photon dominated regions, our new model can explain the observed emission of CO from different types of galaxy. Finally, based on a physical description of the dynamical evolution of bubbles created by supernovae in the interstellar medium, we find that the outflow rate driven by supernovae depends strongly on the surface density of gas plus stars and the gas fraction. We critically revise the phenomenological prescriptions widely used to describe supernova feedback in the literature and propose new physically motivated prescriptions.

We study the effect of the extreme environment in Hickson Compact groups (HCGs) on the molecular gas mass, \mhtwo, and the star formation rate (SFR) of galaxies as a function of atomic hydrogen (HI) content and evolutionary phase of the group. We have selected a redshift limited (D$<$100 Mpc) sample of 88 galaxies in 20 HCGs with available atomic hydrogen (HI) VLA maps, covering a wide range of HI deficiencies and evolutionary phases of the groups, and containing at least one spiral galaxy. We derived the far-infrared (FIR) luminosity (\lfir) from IRAS data and used it as a tracer of the SFR. We calculated the HI mass, \lfir and \mhtwo deficiencies. The mean deficiencies of \lfir and \mhtwo of spiral galaxies in HCGs are close to 0, indicating that their average SFR and molecular gas content are similar to those of isolated galaxies. However, there are indications of an excess in \mhtwo\($\sim$ 50%) in spiral galaxies in HCGs which can be interpreted as either an enhanced molecular gas content or as a higher concentration of \mhtwo towards the center in comparison to galaxies in lower density environments. In contrast, the mean \mhi of spiral galaxies in HCGs is only 12% of the expected value. The specific star formation rate (sSFR= SFR/stellar mass) tends to be lower for galaxies with a higher \mhtwo\ or \mhi\ deficiency. This trend is not seen for the star formation efficiency (SFE=SFR/\mhtwo). We found tentative indications for an enhancement of \mhtwo\ in spiral galaxies in HCGs in an early evolutionary phase and a decrease in later phases. We suggest that this might be due to an enhancement of the conversion from atomic to molecular gas due to on-going tidal interactions in an early evolutionary phase, followed by HI stripping and a decrease of the molecular gas content because of lack of replenishment.

We investigate signatures of Population III (PopIII) stars in the metal-enriched environment of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originating from Population II-I (PopII/I) stars by using abundance ratios derived from numerical simulations that follow stellar evolution and chemical enrichment. We find that at z > 10 more than 10 per cent of PopII/I GRBs explode in a medium previously enriched by PopIII stars (we refer to them as GRBII→III). Although the formation of GRBII→III is more frequent than that of pristine PopIII GRBs (GRBIIIs), we find that the expected GRBII→III observed rate is comparable to that of GRBIIIs, due to the usually larger luminosities of the latter. GRBII→III events take place preferentially in small protogalaxies with stellar masses M⋆ ∼ 104.5-107 M⊙, star formation rates |$\rm SFR \sim 10^{-3}{\rm -}10^{-1}\,\rm M_{\odot }\,yr^{-1}$| and metallicities Z ∼ 10− 4-10− 2 Z⊙. On the other hand, galaxies with Z < 10− 2.8 Z⊙ are dominated by metal enrichment from PopIII stars and should preferentially host GRBII→III. Hence, measured GRB metal content below this limit could represent a strong evidence of enrichment by pristine stellar populations. We discuss how to discriminate PopIII metal enrichment on the basis of various abundance ratios observable in the spectra of GRBs’ afterglows. By employing such analysis, we conclude that the currently known candidates at redshift z ≃ 6 – i.e. GRB 050904 and GRB 130606A – are likely not originated in environments pre-enriched by PopIII stars. Abundance measurements for GRBs at z ≃ 5 – such as GRB 100219A and GRB 111008A – are still poor to draw definitive conclusions, although their hosts seem to be dominated by PopII/I pollution and do not show evident signatures of massive PopIII pre-enrichment.

We have obtained deep spectroscopic observations of several nearby gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies revealing for the first time the presence of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars and numerous O stars located in rich and compact clusters or star forming regions. Surprisingly, high spatial resolution imaging shows that the GRBs and the associated supernovae did not occur in these regions, but several hundreds of parsec away. Considering various scenarios for GRB progenitors, we do not find any simple explanation of why they should be preferentially born in regions with low stellar densities. All the examined GRBs and associated SNe have occurred 400 to 800 pc from very high density stellar environments including large numbers of WR stars. Such distances can be travelled through at velocities of 100 km s-1 or larger, assuming the travel time to be the typical life time of WR stars. It leads us to suggest that GRB progenitors may be runaway massive stars ejected from compact massive star clusters. The ejection from such super star clusters may lead to a spin-up of these stars, producing the loss of the hydrogen and/or helium envelopes leading to the origin of the type Ibc supernovae associated with GRBs. If this scenario applies to all GRBs, it provides a natural explanation of the very small fraction of massive stars that emit a GRB at the end of their life. An alternative to this scenario could be a binary origin for GRBs, but this still requires an explanation of why it would preferentially occur in low stellar density regions.

We test the hypothesis that the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as well as quasar-selected damped Lyα (DLA) systems are drawn from the population of UV-selected star-forming, high-z galaxies (generally referred to as Lyman break galaxies). Specifically, we compare the metallicity distributions of the GRB and DLA populations against simple models where these galaxies are drawn randomly from the distribution of star-forming galaxies according to their star formation rate and H I cross section, respectively. We find that it is possible to match both observational distributions assuming very simple and constrained relations between luminosity, metallicity, and H I sizes. The simple model can be tested by observing the luminosity distribution of GRB host galaxies and by measuring the luminosity and impact parameters of DLA-selected galaxies as a function of metallicity. Our results support the expectation that GRB and DLA samples, in contrast with magnitude-limited surveys, provide an almost complete census of -->z ≈ 3 star-forming galaxies that are not heavily obscured.

We present optical spectroscopy and optical/near-IR photometry of 31 host galaxies of hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), including 15 events from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey. Our sample spans the redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.6 and is the first comprehensive host galaxy study of this specific subclass of cosmic explosions. Combining the multi-band photometry and emission-line measurements, we determine the luminosities, stellar masses, star formation rates and metallicities. We find that as a whole, the hosts of SLSNe are a low-luminosity (<M_B> ~ -17.3 mag), low stellar mass (<M_*> ~ 2 x 10^8 M_sun) population, with a high median specific star formation rate (<sSFR> ~ 2 Gyr^-1). The median metallicity of our spectroscopic sample is low, 12 + log(O/H}) ~ 8.35 ~ 0.45 Z_sun, although at least one host galaxy has solar metallicity. The host galaxies of H-poor SLSNe are statistically distinct from the hosts of GOODS core-collapse SNe (which cover a similar redshift range), but resemble the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) in terms of stellar mass, SFR, sSFR and metallicity. This result indicates that the environmental causes leading to massive stars forming either SLSNe or LGRBs are similar, and in particular that SLSNe are more effectively formed in low metallicity environments. We speculate that the key ingredient is large core angular momentum, leading to a rapidly-spinning magnetar in SLSNe and an accreting black hole in LGRBs.

We investigate the connection between ionized gas outflows and star formation activity using a large sample of type 1 and 2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with far-infrared detections or star formation rate (SFR) estimates. The strength of ionized gas outflows, measured by the velocity dispersion and velocity shift of the [O iii] emission line, clearly shows a correlation with SFR. The connection between specific star formation rate (sSFR) and [O iii] gas velocity dispersion indicates that AGNs with stronger outflows are hosted by galaxies with higher SFR. Compared with star-forming galaxies in the main sequence, both type 1 and type 2 AGNs show sSFRs similar to that of non-AGN galaxies, indicating no instantaneous AGN feedback, while sSFR is higher (lower) for AGNs with stronger (weaker) outflows than that of main-sequence galaxies. These results are consistent with a delayed AGN feedback scenario. However, it is also possible that a decease/increase of gas fraction may cause the correlation without AGN feedback.

The state-of-the-art geometry models of stars/dust suggest that dust attenuation toward nebular regions ( ) is always larger than that of stellar regions ( ). Utilizing the newly released integral field spectroscopic data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey, we investigate whether and how the ratio varies from subgalactic to galactic scales. On a subgalactic scale, we report a stronger correlation between and for more active H ii regions. The local is found to have moderate nonlinear correlations with three tracers of diffuse ionized gas (DIG), as well as indicators of gas-phase metallicity and ionization. The DIG regions tend to have larger compared to classic H ii regions excited by young OB stars. Metal-poor regions with a higher ionized level suffer much less nebular attenuation and thus have larger ratios. A low- and high- sequence, which can be resolved into DIG-dominated and metal-poor regions, on the three BPT diagrams is found. Based on these observations, we suggest that besides the geometry of stars/dust, local physical conditions such as metallicity and ionized level also play an important role in determining the . On a galactic scale, the global ratio has strong correlations with stellar mass (M *), moderate correlations with star formation rate (SFR) and metallicity, and weak correlations with inclination and specific SFR. Galaxies with larger M * and higher SFR that are more metal-rich tend to have smaller ratios. Such correlations form a decreasing trend of along the star-forming main sequence and mass–metallicity relation. The dust growth process accompanied by galaxy growth might be one plausible explanation for our observations.