Stellar Populations of AGN-host Dwarf Galaxies Selected with Different Methods

In this paper we investigate the stellar populations and star formation histories of 235 active galactic nucleus(AGN)-host dwarf galaxies,consisting of four samples identified separately with different methods(i.e.,radio,X-ray,mid-IR and variability),utilizing the synthesis code STARLIGHT and spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8.Our results show that the variability sample is the oldest,while the mid-IR sample is the youngest,for which the luminosity at 4020?is dominated(>50%)by the young population(t<10~8yr).The light-weighted mean stellar age of the whole sample is in general about 0.7 dex younger than the optical sample studied in Cai et al.We compare the population results between fitting models with and without a power-law(PL)component and find that the neglect of a PL component would lead to an under-and over-estimation by 0.2 and0.1 dex for the light-and mass-weighted mean stellar age,respectively,for our sample of dwarf galaxies,which has a mean fractional contribution of~16%from the AGN.In addition,we obtain further evidence for a possible suppression of star formation in the host galaxy by the central AGN.We also find that there exists an anticorrelation between the extinction-corrected[O III]luminosity and light-weighted mean stellar age,confirming our previous finding that there is a physical connection between AGN and star-forming activities in AGN-host dwarfs.

SFNet:Stellar Feature Network with CWT for Stellar Spectra Recognition

Stellar spectral classification is crucial in astronomical data analysis.However,existing studies are often limited by the uneven distribution of stellar samples,posing challenges in practical applications.Even when balancing stellar categories and their numbers,there is room for improvement in classification accuracy.This study introduces a Continuous Wavelet Transform using the Super Morlet wavelet to convert stellar spectra into wavelet images.A novel neural network,the Stellar Feature Network,is proposed for classifying these images.Stellar spectra from Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope DR9,encompassing five equal categories(B,A,F,G,K),were used.Comparative experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and network,achieving significant improvements in classification accuracy.

A Study of Binary Stellar Population Synthesis of Elliptical Galaxies

We determined the relative stellar ages and metallicities of about 80 elliptical galaxies in both low and high density environments using the latest binary stellar population （BSP） synthesis model and tested the predictions of a recent hierarchical formation model that adopted the new ACDM cosmology. The stellar ages and metallicities were estimated from two high-quality published spectra line indices, the Hβ and [MgFe] indices. The results show that the stellar populations of elliptical galaxies are older than 3.9 Gyr and more metal rich than 0.02. Most of our results are in agreement with the model predictions; （1） elliptical galaxies in denser environment are redder and have older populations than field galaxies; （2） elliptical galaxies with more massive stellar components are redder and have older and more metal rich populations than less massive ones; （3） the most massive galaxies have the oldest and most metal rich stars. However, some of our results differ from the model predictions on the metallicity distributions of low- and high-density elliptical galaxies and the dependence on the distance to the cluster center.

Cold gas contents of galaxies and their relations to the stellar and dark-matter components

One of the most important goals of modern cosmology is to understand how galaxies form and evolve in ecosystems defined by the cosmic density field. The formation of galaxies is a process through which cold baryonic gas, dominated by neutral hydrogen(HI), is converted into stars.

Photometrically estimating the spatially-resolved stellar mass-to-light ratios for low-redshift galaxies

The stellar mass-to-light ratio(M_*/L) of galaxies in a given wave band shows tight correlations with optical colors, which have been widely applied as cheap estimators of galaxy stellar masses. These estimators are usually calibrated using either broadband spectral energy distributions(SEDs) or spectroscopy at galactic centers. However, it is unclear whether the same estimators provide unbiased M_*/L for different regions within a galaxy. In this work we employ integral field spectroscopy from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory(Ma NGA) survey. We also examine the correlations of spatially resolved M_*/L obtained from full spectral fitting, with different color indices, as well as galaxy morphology types, distances to the galactic center, and stellar population parameters such as stellar age and metallicity.We find that the(g-r) color is better than any other color indices, and it provides almost unbiased M_*/L for all the SDSS five bands and for all types of galaxies or regions, with only slight biases depending on stellar age and metallicity. Our analysis indicates that combining multiple colors and/or including other properties to reduce the systematics and scatters of the estimator does not work better than a single color index defined by two bands. Therefore, we have obtained a best estimator with the(g-r) color and applied it to the Ma NGA galaxies. Both the two-dimensional map and radial profile of M_*/L are reproduced well in most cases. Our estimator may be applied to obtain surface mass density maps for large samples of galaxies from imaging surveys at both low and high redshifts.

Stellar ages and metallicities of nearby elliptical galaxies

Stellar ages and metallicities are crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies. However, due to the age-metallicity degeneracy, it is hard to measure these two parameters accurately with broad-band photometry. In this paper, we observed high-resolution spectra for a sample of 20 nearby elliptical galaxies （EGs） with the NAOC 2.16 m telescope, and determined stellar ages and metallicities by using the empirical population synthesis and Lick/IDS index system methods. We found that stellar ages from these two methods are consistent with each other for purely old EGs; however, stellar metallicities show a zeropoint offset of 0.5 Z⊙. Our results confirm that stellar populations in low-density environment galaxies are more diverse compared to their high-density counterparts. We also investigated the element abundance-galaxy mass relation for nearby elliptical galaxies.

Stellar population analysis on the stacked spectra of double-peaked emission-line galaxies

Double-peaked emission-line galaxies have long been perceived as objects related to merging galaxies or other phenomena with disturbed dynamical activities, such as outflows and disk rotation. In order to find the connection between the unique activities happening in these objects and their stellar population physics, we study the stellar populations of the stacked spectra drawn from double-peaked emission-line galaxies in the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST) Data Release 4(DR4) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) Data Release 7(DR7) databases. We group the selected double-peaked emission-line objects into 10 different types of pairs based on the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich(BPT) diagnosis for each pair of blueshifted and redshifted components, and then stack the spectra of each group for analysis. The software STARLIGHT is employed to fit each stacked spectrum, and the contributions of stars at different ages and metallicities are quantified for subsequent comparative study and analysis. To highlight the commonality and uniqueness in these double-peaked emitting objects, we compare the population synthesis results of the stacked spectra of double-peaked emission-line galaxies with those of their counterpart reference samples displaying single-peaked emission features. The reference samples are also selected from the LAMOST DR4 and SDSS DR7 databases. From the comparison results,we confirm the strong correlations between stellar populations and their spectral classes, and find that the double-peaked emitting phenomenon is more likely to occur in an ‘older’ stellar environment and the subgroups hosting different BPT components will show an obvious heterogeneous star formation history.

Radial stellar populations of AGN-host dwarf galaxies in SDSS-Ⅳ MaNGA survey

Based on MaNGA integral field unit(IFU) spectroscopy we search 60 AGN candidates,which have stellar masses M*≤5 × 10^(9) M⊙ and show AGN ionization signatures in the BPT diagram.For these AGN candidates,we derive the spatially resolved stellar population with the stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT and measure the gradients of the mean stellar age and metallicity.We find that the gradients of mean stellar age(metallicity) of individual AGN-host dwarfs are diverse in 0-0.5 Re,0.5-1 Re and 0-1 Re.However,the overall behavior of the mean stellar age(metallicity) profiles tend to be flat,as the median values of the gradients are close to zero.We further study the overall behavior of the mean stellar age(metallicity) by plotting the co-added radial profiles for the AGN sample and compare with a control sample with similar stellar mass.We find that the median values of light-weighted mean stellar ages of the AGN sample are as old as 2-3 Gyr within 2 Re,which are about 4-7 times older than those of the control sample.Meanwhile,most of the AGN candidates are low-level AGNs,as only eight sources have L[OⅢ]>1039.5 erg s^(-1).Hence,the AGNs in dwarf galaxies might accelerate the evolution of galaxies by accelerating the consumption of the gas,resulting in an overall quenching of the dwarf galaxies,and the AGNs also become weak due to the lack of gas.The median values of mass-weighted mean stellar age of both samples within 2 Re are similar and as old as about 10 Gyr,indicating that the stellar mass is mainly contributed by old stellar populations.The gradients of co-added mean stellar metallicity for both samples tend to be negative but close to zero,and the similar mean stellar metallicity profiles for both samples indicate that the chemical evolution of the host galaxy is not strongly influenced by the AGN.

Relations between stellar mass and electron temperature-based metallicity for star-forming galaxies in a wide mass range

We select 947 star-forming galaxies from SDSS-DR7 with [O III]λ4363emission lines detected at a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 5σ. Their electron temperatures and direct oxygen abundances are then determined. We compare the results from different methods. t2, the electron temperature in the low ionization region, estimated from t3, that in the high ionization region, is compared using three analysis relations between t2- t3. These show obvious differences, which result in some different ionic oxygen abundances. The results of t3, t2, O＋＋/H＋and O＋/H＋derived by using methods from IRAF and literature are also compared. The ionic abundances O＋＋/H＋are higher than O＋/H＋for most cases. The different oxygen abundances derived from Teand the strong-line ratios show a clear discrepancy, which is more obvious following increasing stellar mass and strong-line ratio R23. The sample of galaxies from SDSS with detected [O III]λ4363 have lower metallicites and higher star formation rates, so they may not be typical representatives of the whole population of galaxies. Adopting data objects from Andrews ＆ Martini, Liang et al. and Lee et al. data, we derive new relations of stellar mass and metallicity for star-forming galaxies in a much wider stellar mass range： from 106 M to 1011 M.

Stellar mass estimation based on IRAC photometry for Spitzer SWIRE-field galaxies

We analyze the feasibility of estimating the stellar mass of galaxies by mid-infrared luminosities based on a large sample of galaxies cross-identified from Spitzer SWIRE fields and the SDSS spectrographic survey.We derived the formulae to calculate the stellar mass by using IRAC 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities.The massto-luminosity ratios of IRAC 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities are more sensitive to the star formation history of galaxies than to other factors,such as the intrinsic extinction,metallicity and star formation rate.To remove the effect of star formation history,we used g-r color to recalibrate the formulae and obtain a better result.Researchers must be more careful when estimating the stellar mass of low metallicity galaxies using our formulae.Due to the emission from dust heated by the hottest young stars,luminous infrared galaxies present higher IRAC 4.5μm luminosities compared to IRAC 3.6μm luminosities.For most of type-Ⅱ AGNs,the nuclear activity cannot enhance 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities compared with normal galaxies.Star formation in our AGNhosting galaxies is also very weak,almost all of which are early-type galaxies.

Fitting formulae for the effects of binary interactions on lick indices and colors of stellar populations

More than about 50% of stars are in binaries, but most stellar population studies take single star stellar population （ssSSP） models, which do not take binary interactions into account. In fact, the integrated peculiarities of ssSSPs are different from those of stellar populations with binary interactions （bsSSPs）. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of binary interactions on the Lick indices and colors of populations in detail. We show some formulae for calculating the difference between the Lick indices and colors of bsSSPs, and those of ssSSPs. Twenty-five Lick indices and 12 colors are studied in this work. The results can be conveniently used for calculating the effects of binary interactions on stellar population studies and for adding the effects of binary interactions into present ssSSP models. The electronic data and fortran procedures in the paper can be obtained on request from the authors.

Cold or Warm Dark Matter?: A Study of Galaxy Stellar Mass Distributions

We compare the observed galaxy stellar mass distributions in the redshift range with expectations of the cold ΛCDM and warm ΛWDM dark matter models, and obtain the warm dark matter cut-off wavenumber: . This result is in agreement with the independent measurements with spiral galaxy rotation curves, confirms that kfs is due to warm dark matter free-streaming, and is consistent with the scenario of dark matter with no freeze-in and no freeze-out. Detailed properties of warm dark matter can be derived from kfs. The data disfavors the ΛCDM model.

Kinematics and stellar population properties of the Andromeda galaxy by using the spectroscopic observations of the Guoshoujing Telescope

The Andromeda galaxy was observed by the Guoshoujing Telescope （formerly named the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope -- LAMOST）, during the 2009 commissioning phase. Due to the absence of standard stars for flux calibration, we use the photometric data of 15 intermediate bands in the Beijing-Arizona-Taipei-Connecticut （BATC） survey to calibrate the spectra. In to- tal, 59 spectra located in the bulge and disk of the galaxy are obtained. Kinematic and stellar population properties of the stellar content are derived with these spectra. We obtain the global velocity field and calculate corresponding rotation velocities out to about 7 kpc along the major axis. These rotation velocity measurements comple- ment those of the gas content, such as the H I and CO. The radial velocity dispersion shows that the stars in the bulge are more dynamically thermal and the disk is more rotationally-supported. The age distribution shows that the bulge was formed about 12 Gyr ago, the disk is relatively younger and the ages of some regions along the spi- ral arms can reach as young as about 1 Gyr. These young stellar populations have a relatively richer abundance and larger reddening. The overall average metallicity of the galaxy approximates the solar metallicity and a very weak abundance gradient is gained. The reddening map gives a picture of a dust-free bulge and a distinct dusty ring in the disk.

Measurement of the Dark Matter Velocity Dispersion with Galaxy Stellar Masses, UV Luminosities, and Reionization

The root-mean-square of non-relativistic warm dark matter particle velocities scales as vhrms(a)=vhrms(1)/a , where a is the expansion parameter of the universe. This velocity dispersion results in a cut-off of the power spectrum of density fluctuations due to dark matter free-streaming. Let kfs (teq) be the free-streaming comoving cut-off wavenumber at the time of equal densities of radiation and matter. We obtain , and , at 68% confidence, from the observed distributions of galaxy stellar masses and rest frame ultra-violet luminosities. This result is consistent with reionization. From the velocity dispersion cut-off mass we obtain the limits vhrms(1)kfs (teq) >1.5 Mpc-1. These results are in agreement with previous measurements based on spiral galaxy rotation curves, and on the formation of first galaxies and reionization. These measured parameters determine the temperature-to-mass ratio of warm dark matter. This ratio happens to be in agreement with the no freeze-in and no freeze-out warm dark matter scenario of spin 0 dark matter particles decoupling early on from the standard model sector. Spin 1/2 and spin 1 dark matter are disfavored if nature has chosen the no freeze-in and no freeze-out scenario. An extension of the standard model of quarks and leptons, with scalar dark matter that couples to the Higgs boson that is in agreement with all current measurements, is briefly reviewed. Discrepancies with limits on dark matter particle mass that can be found in the literature are addressed.

Old stellar population synthesis:new age and mass estimates for Mayall II = G1

Mayall Ⅱ = G1 is one of the most luminous globular clusters （GCs） in M31. Here, we determine its age and mass by comparing multicolor photometry with theoretical stellar population synthesis models. Based on far- and near-ultraviolet GALEX photometry, broad-band UBVRI, and infrared JHKs 2MASS data, we construct the most extensive spectral energy distribution of G 1 to date, spanning the wavelength range from 1538 to 20 000A. A quantitative comparison with a variety of simple stellar population （SSP） models yields a mean age which is consistent with G1 being among the oldest building blocks of M31 and having formed within ～1.7 Gyr after the Big Bang. Irrespective of the SSP model or stellar initial mass function adopted, the resulting mass estimates （of order 10^7M⊙） indicate that GI is one of the most massive GCs in the Local Group. However, we speculate that the cluster＇s exceptionally high mass suggests that it may not be a genuine GC. Our results also suggest that G1 may contain, on average, （1.65±0.63） × 10^2L⊙ far-ultraviolet-bright, hot, extreme horizontal-branch stars, depending on the adopted SSP model. In addition, we demonstrate that extensive multi-passband photometry coupled with SSP analysis enables one to obtain age estimates for old SSPs that have similar accuracies as those from integrated spectroscopy or resolved stellar photometry, provided that some of the free parameters can be constrained independently.

A relativistic model of stellar objects with core-crust-envelope division

In this work, we present a cogent and physically well-behaved solution for neutron stars envisaged with a core layer having quark matter satisfying the MIT-bag equation of state(Eo S), meso layer with Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) matter satisfying modified BEC Eo S and an envelope having neutron fluid and Coulomb liquids satisfying quadratic Eo S. All the required physical and geometrical parameters like gravitational potentials, pressures, radial velocity, anisotropy, adiabatic index, mass function, compactification factor, and gravitational and surface redshift functions show a feasible trend and are continuous with smooth variation throughout the interior and across the regions of the star.Further, causality condition, energy conditions, static stability criterion(using Tolman-OppenheimerVolkoff equation) and Herrera cracking stability criterion are met throughout the star. The approach seems to be resulting in more realistic and accurate modeling of stellar objects, particularly realized by us for X-ray binary stars 4 U 1608–52(M = 1.7 M_⊙, R = 9.5 km) and SAX J1808.4–3658(M = 1.2 M_⊙,R = 7.2 km). Furthermore, we have ascertained that the continuity of the stability factor in all three regions of the stars demand a smaller core. As the core region of the star increases, the stability factor becomes discontinuous at all the interfaces inside the star.

Supernova Explosion in the Process of Stellar Evolution

Supernova explosion is a peculiar astronomical phenomenon,which has aroused great interest and extensive research by astronomers.At present,however,it is erroneously believed that the supernova explosion is a splendid funeral of a dying star.In fact,new astronomical observations and the author’s theoretical studies have shown that in the process of a star’s never-ending evolution,numerous supernova explosions may occur,and supernova explosion will run through many stages of stellar evolution.Whenever the atmosphere of the star becomes very dense and its surface is covered with a thick layer of material again,a thermonuclear reaction can be ignited again,causing a supernova explosion.Especially,when the star has undergone a number of supernovae explosions and its surface is covered with multiple layers of supernova explosion remnants,the core of the massive star may undergo sudden gravitational collapse,causing a violent supernova;when a star is impacted by a falling celestial body,it also produces violent supernova explosions.

The Effect of Method of Constructing the Mass Distribution on Single Stellar Populations

We use two methods of constructing the initial mass distribution, the traditional way and Monte Carlo simulation, to obtain integrated U - B, B - V,V-R and V-I colours and absorption-line indices defined by the Lick Observatory image dissector scanner （referred to as Lick/IDS）, for instantaneous burst solarmetallicity single stellar populations with ages in the range 1-15Gyr. We find that the evolutionary curves of all colours obtained by the traditional method are smoother than those by Monte Carlo simulation, that the U- B and B- V colours obtained by the two methods agree with one another, while the V - R and V - I colours by the traditional method are bluer than those by Monte Carlo simulation.A comparison of the Lick/IDS absorption-line indices shows that the variations in all the indices by the traditional method are smoother than that for the Monte Carlo simulation, and that all the indices except for TiO1 and TiO2 are consistent with those for the Monte Carlo simulation.

Automated Stellar Classification for Large Surveys with EKF and RBF Neural Networks

An automated classification technique for large size stellar surveys is proposed. It uses the extended Kalman filter as a feature selector and pre-classifier of the data, and the radial basis function neural networks for the classification. Experiments with real data have shown that the correct classification rate can reach as high as 93%, which is quite satisfactory. When different system models are selected for the extended Kalman filter, the classification results are relatively stable. It is shown that for this particular case the result using extended Kalman filter is better than using principal component analysis.

A Large-Scale Survey for Extremely Cold Young Stellar Objects in the Galaxy

We conducted a large-scale survey of the extremely-cold infrared sources(ECISs) along the Galactic plane. There are 1912 (IRAS) sources selected on the basis of their color indices and their association with recent star formation. A quick survey was made toward 724 sources. There are 251 sources detected with significant CO emission during the quick survey above the detection limit of 0 9 K. Among the various sources detected, there are 147 sources found to have broad CO wing emission, including 116 newly detected sources. These sources comprise a new database for future study of star formation in our Galaxy. Using the known outflow sources as an effective indicator, we found the outflow detection rate of the quick survey is 62%, reasonably sensitive in survey for new outflow sources. Results from limited follow-up studies are introduced.