Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and Black Holes

In the past,people did not realize the formation and structure of galaxies.They even mistook the black holes hidden in the center of a galaxy as independent celestial objects,making black holes mysterious and unbelievable.It was only after the author studied and discovered the laws of the formation and evolution of satellites,planets and stars that he put forward the scientific theory of galaxy formation and evolution,therefore revealing the hierarchical structure of galaxy and the existence and characteristics of black holes as the main nodes of galactic structure.

Chemical Evolution of Blue Compact Galaxies

Based on a sample of 72 Blue Compact Galaxies （BCGs） observed with the 2.16 m telescope of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences （NAOC） and about 4000 strong emission line galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we analyzed their chemical evolution history using the revised chemical evolution model of Larsen et al. Our sample covers a much larger metallicity range （7.2 〈 12 ＋ log（O/H） 〈 9.0）. We found that, in order to reproduce the observed abundance pattern and gas fraction over the whole metallicity range, a relatively continuous star formation history is needed for high metallicity galaxies, while assuming a series of instantaneous bursts with long quiescent periods （some Gyrs） for low metallicity galaxies. Model calculations also show that only the closed-box model is capable of reproducing the observational data over the whole metallicity range. Models that consider the ordinary winds and/or inflow can only fit the observations in the low metallicity range, and a model with enriched wind cannot fit the data in the whole metallicity range. This implies that the current adopted simple wind and inflow models are not applicable to massive galaxies, where the underlying physics of galactic winds or inflow could be more complicated.

AGN Lifetimes in UV-selected Galaxies: A Clue to Supermassive Black Hole-galaxy Coevolution

The coevolution between supermassive black holes(SMBHs) and their host galaxies has been proposed for more than a decade,albeit with little direct evidence about black hole accretion activities regulating galaxy star formation at z> 1.In this paper,we study the lifetimes of X-ray active galactic nuclei(AGNs) in UV-selected red sequence(RS),blue cloud(BC) and green valley(GV) galaxies,finding that AGN accretion activities are most prominent in GV galaxies at z ~1.5-2,compared with RS and BC galaxies.We also compare AGN accretion timescales with typical color transition timescales of UV-selected galaxies.We find that the lifetime of GV galaxies at z~1.5-2 is very close to the typical timescale when the AGNs residing in them stay in the high-accretion-rate mode at these redshifts;for BC galaxies,the consistency between the color transition timescale and the black hole strong accretion lifetime is more likely to happen at lower redshifts(z <1).Our results support the scenario where AGN accretion activities govern UV color transitions of host galaxies,making galaxies and their central SMBHs coevolve with each other.

The formation and evolution of massive galaxies

The discovery of massive galaxies at high redshifts,especially the passive ones,poses a big challenge for the current standard galaxy formation models.Here we use the semi-analytic galaxy formation model developed by Henriques et al.to explore the formation and evolution of massive galaxies(MGs,stellar-mass M*>1011 M⊙).Different from previous works,we focus on the ones just formed(e.g.just reach?1011 M⊙).We find that most of the MGs are formed around z=0.6,with the earliest formation at z>4.Interestingly,although most of the MGs in the local Universe are passive,we find that only 13%of the MGs are quenched at the formation time.Most of the quenched MGs at formation already host a very massive supermassive black hole(SMBH)which could power the very effective AGN feedback.For the star-forming MGs,the ones with more massive SMBH prefer to quench in shorter timescales;in particular,those with MSMBH>107.5 M⊙have a quenching timescale of~0.5 Gyr and the characteristic MSMBH depends on the chosen stellar mass threshold in the definition of MGs as a result of their co-evolution.We also find that the"in-situ"star formation dominates the stellar mass growth of MGs until they are formed.Over the whole redshift range,we find the quiescent MGs prefer to stay in more massive dark matter halos,and have more massive SMBH and less cold gas masses.Our results provide a new angle on the whole life of the growth of MGs in the Universe.

Co-evolution of nuclear rings,bars and the central intensity ratio of their host galaxies

Using a sample of 13 early-type spiral galaxies hosting nuclear rings,we report remarkable correlations between the properties of the nuclear rings and the central intensity ratio(CIR) of their host galaxies.The CIR,a function of intensity of light within the central 1.5 and 3 arcsec region,is found to be a vital parameter in galaxy evolution,as it shares strong correlations with many structural and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies,including mass of the central supermassive black hole(SMBH).We use archival HST images for aperture photometry at the centre of the galaxy image to compute the CIR.We observe that the relative sizes of nuclear rings and ring cluster surface densities strongly correlate with the CIR.These correlations suggest reduced star formation in the centres of galaxies hosting small and dense nuclear rings.This scenario appears to be a consequence of strong bars as advocated by the significant connection observed between the CIR and bar strengths.In addition,we observe that the CIR is closely related with the integrated properties of the stellar population in the nuclear rings,associating the rings hosting older and less massive star clusters with low values of CIR.Thus,the CIR can serve as a crucial parameter in unfolding the coupled evolution of bars and rings as it is intimately connected with both their properties.

Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and Its Black Holes and Quasars

Galaxy formation and evolution is one of the most active research areas in astrophysics,so many people have studied this area.But since they didn’t understand thoroughly the evolution law from satellite to planet then to star,their theories are very weak.In their theories,they proposed that large gas clouds collapsing to form a galaxy or more recently that matter started out in smaller clumps merged to form galaxy,which is incredible.Hence,the author of this paper,through studying the formation and orbit-variation of satellites,planets and stars,has put forward a new theory of galaxy formation and evolution,therefore revealing the hierarchical structure of galaxies and the formation and evolution of black holes and quasars.

Low-ionization galaxies and evolution in a pilot survey up to z=1

We present galactic spectroscopic data from a pencil beam of 10.75×7.5 centered on the X-ray cluster RXJ0054.0–2823 at z=0.29.We study the spectral evolution of galaxies from z=1 down to the cluster redshift in a magnitude-limited sample at R≤23,for which the statistical properties of the sample are well understood.We divide emission-line galaxies into star-forming galaxies,Low Ionization Nuclear Emission line Regions（LINERs） ,and Seyferts by using emission-line ratios of[OII],Hβ,and[OIII],and derive stellar fractions from population synthesis models. We focus our analysis on absorption and low-ionization galaxies.For absorption-line galaxies,we recover the well-known result that these galaxies have had no detectable evolution since z～0.6-0.7,but we also find that in the range z=0.65-1,at least 50% of the stars in bright absorption systems are younger than 2.5 Gyr.Faint absorption-line galaxies in the cluster at z=0.29 also had significant star formation during the previous 2-3 Gyr,but their brighter counterparts seem to be only composed of old stars.At z～0.8,our dynamically young cluster had a truncated red-sequence.This result seems to be consistent with a scenario where the final assembly of E/S0 took place at z1.In the volume-limited range 0.35≤z≤0.65,we find that 23% of the early-type galaxies have LINER-like spectra with Hβin absorption and have a significant component of A stars.The vast majority of LINERs in our sample have significant populations of young and intermediate-aged stars and are thus not related to AGNs,but to the population of‘retired galaxies’recently identified by Cid Fernandes et al.in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey（SDSS） .Early-type LINERs with various fractions of A stars and E＋A galaxies appear to play an important role in the formation of the red sequence.

Neutral Hydrogen Content of Dwarf Galaxies in Different Environments

Environments play an important role in galaxy formation and evolution,particularly in regulating the content of neutral gas.However,current HI surveys have limitations in their depth,which prevents them from adequately studying low HI content galaxies in high-density regions.In this study,we address this issue by employing the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope with extensive integration times to complement the relatively shallow Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array HI survey.This approach allows us to explore the gas content of dwarf galaxies across various environments.We observe a positive relationship between HI mass and stellar mass in dwarf galaxies,with a well-defined upper boundary for HI mass that holds true in both observations and simulations.Furthermore,we find a decrease in the H I-to-stellar mass ratio(M_(HI)/M_*)as the density of the environment increases,irrespective of whether it is determined by the proximity to the nearest group or the projected number density.Comparing our observations to simulations,we note a steeper slope in the relationship,indicating a gradual gas-stripping process in the observational data.Additionally,we find that the scaling relation between the M_(HI)/M_*and optical properties can be improved by incorporating galaxy environments.

The AGN Feedback in Compact Galaxies:On the Impact of a More Massive Central Black Hole

We conduct high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations using the MACER framework to investigate the interplay between the interstellar medium,active galactic nuclei(AGN)feedback and black hole(BH)feeding in a massive compact galaxy,with an emphasis on the impact of different central BH masses.We find that with a more massive central BH,high-speed outflows are more prominent,and the gas fraction in the compact galaxy is reduced.Due to the lower gas density and higher gas temperature,the compact galaxy with a more massive BH(MAS galaxy)remains predominantly single-phase with the cooling time t_(cool)■100t_(ff).In contrast,the compact galaxy with the reference BH mass(REF galaxy)maintains a higher gas fraction with a shorter cooling time,slightly more multiphase gas and less prominent outflows.We further demonstrate that the difference in gas thermal states and kinematics is caused by the stronger AGN feedback in the compact galaxy with a more massive BH,where the AGN wind power is twice as much as that with the reference BH.Since the AGN feedback efficiently suppresses the inflow rate and the BH feeding rate,the BH mass growth is significant in neither the compact galaxy with the reference BH nor that with the more massive BH,only by 24%and 11%of the initial BH mass,respectively,over the entire evolution time of 10 Gyr.We thus posit that without ex situ mass supply from mergers,the massive BHs in compact galaxies cannot grow significantly via gas accretion during the late phase,but might have already formed by the end of the rapid early phase of galaxy formation.

Quenched Galaxies are Important Host Candidates of Binary Black Hole and Binary Neutron Star Mergers

In this work,we present the probabilities of mergers of binary black holes(BBHs)and binary neutron stars(BNSs)as functions of stellar mass,metallicity,specific star formation rate(sSFR),and age for galaxies with redshift z≤0.1.Using the binary-star evolution(BSE)code and some fitting formulae,we construct a phenomenological model of cosmic gravitational wave(GW)merger events.By using the Bayesian analysis method and the observations from Advanced LIGO and Virgo,we obtain the relevant parameters of the phenomenological model(such as the maximum black hole mass is 93_(-22)^(+73)M_(⊙)).Combining the above model results with the galaxy catalog given by the EMERGE empirical galaxy model,we find the normalized probability of occurrence of a merger event varying with log10 sSFR yr(-1)for galaxies with z≤0.1 is different from that in previous studies,that is,two peaks exist in this work while there is only one peak(log_(10)(sSFR/yr^(−1))=−10)in the previous work.The sSFR value corresponding to the new peak is log_(10)(sSFR/yr^(−1))=−12 and in line with the value(log_(10)(sSFR yr^-1)=-12.65_(-0.66)^(+0.44)of NGC 4493,the host galaxy of BNS merger event GW170817.The new peak is caused by today’s quenched galaxies,which give a large contribution to the total SFR at high redshift in the EMERGE empirical galaxy model.Moreover,we find that the BNS mergers are most likely detected in galaxies with age∼11 Gyr,which is greater than previous results(6−8Gyr)and close to the age of NGC 4993,13.2_(-0.9)^(+0.5)Gyr.

Multiwavelength study of nearly face-on low surface brightness disk galaxies

We study the ages of a large sample （1802） of nearly face-on disk low surface brightness galaxies （LSBGs） using the evolutionary population synthesis （EPS） model PEGASE with an exponentially decreasing star formation rate to fit their mul- tiwavelength spectral energy distributions （SEDs） from far-ultraviolet （FUV） to nearinfrared （NIR）. The derived ages of LSBGs are 1-5 Gyr for most of the sample no matter if constant or varying dust extinction is adopted, which are similar to most of the previous studies on smaller samples. This means that these LSBGs formed the majority of their stars quite recently. However, a small part of the sample （~2%-3%） has larger ages of 5-8 Gyr, meaning their major star forming process may have occurred earlier. At the same time, a large sample （5886） of high surface brightness galaxies （HSBGs） are selected and studied using the same method for comparisons. The de- rived ages are 1-5 Gyr for most of the sample （97%） as well. These results probably mean that these LSBGs have not much different star formation histories from their HSBGs counterparts. However, we should notice that the HSBGs are generally about 0.2 Gyr younger, which could mean that the HSBGs may have undergone more recent star forming activities than the LSBGs.

A sample of metal-poor galaxies identified from the LAMOST spectral survey

We present a sample of 48 metal-poor galaxies at z 〈 0.14 selected from 92 510 galaxies in the LAMOST survey. These galaxies are identified by their detection of the auroral emission line[OⅢ]λ4363 above the 3σ level, which allows a direct measurement of electron temperature and oxygen abundance. The emission line fluxes are corrected for internal dust extinction using the Balmer decrement method. With electron temperature derived from [OⅢ]λλ4959, 5007/[OⅢ]λ4363 and electron density from [SⅡ]λ6731/[SⅡ]λ6717, we obtain the oxygen abundances in our sample which range from 12 ＋ log（O/H） = 7.63（0.09 Z_⊙） to 8.46（0.6 Z_⊙）. We find an extremely metal-poor galaxy with 12 ＋ log（O/H） = 7.63 ± 0.01. With multiband photometric data from FUV to NIR and Hαmeasurements, we also determine the stellar masses and star formation rates, based on the spectral energy distribution fitting and Hα luminosity, respectively. We find that our galaxies have low and intermediate stellar masses with 6.39 ≤ log（M/M_⊙） ≤ 9.27, and high star formation rates（SFRs） with-2.18 ≤ log（SFR/M_⊙yr^（-1）） ≤ 1.95. We also find that the metallicities of our galaxies are consistent with the local T_e-based mass-metallicity relation, while the scatter is about 0.28 dex. Additionally,assuming the coefficient of α = 0.66, we find most of our galaxies follow the local mass-metallicity-SFR relation, but a scatter of about 0.24 dex exists, suggesting the mass-metallicity relation is weakly dependent on SFR for those metal-poor galaxies.

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.

On fitting the full spectrum of luminous red galaxies by using ULySS and STARLIGHT

We select a sample of quiescent luminous red galaxies （LRGs） from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 with a high signal-to-noise ratio （S/N） to study the consistency of fitting the full spectrum by using different packages, mainly, ULySS and STARLIGHT. The spectrum of each galaxy in the sample is fitted by the full spectrum fitting packages ULySS and STARLIGHT. We find： （1） for spec- tra with higher S/Ns, the ages of stellar populations obtained from ULySS are slightly older than those from STARLIGHT, and metallicities derived from ULySS are slightly richer than those from STARLIGHT. In general, both packages can give roughly con- sistent fitting results. （2） For low S/N spectra, it is possible that the fitting by ULySS can become trapped at some local minimum in the parameter space during execution and thus may give unreliable results, but STARLIGHT can still give reliable results. Based on the fitting results of LRGs, we further analyze their star formation history and the relation between their age and velocity dispersion, and find that they agree well with conclusions from previous works.

Four new observational H(z) data from luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release seven

By adopting the differential age method, we select 17 832 luminous red galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven covering redshift 0 〈 z 〈 0.4 to measure the Hubble parameter. Using the full spectrum fitting package UZySS, these spectra are reduced with single stellar population models and optimal age information from our selected sample is derived. With the decreasing age-redshift relation, four new observational H（z） data （OHD） points are obtained, which are H（z） = 69.0 ± 19.6 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 at z = 0.07, H（z） = 68.6± 26.2 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 at z = 0.12, H（z）=72.9 ± 29.6 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 at z = 0.2 and H（z）=88.8 ± 36.6 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 at z = 0.28, respectively. Combined with 21 other available OHD data points, the performance of the constraint on both flat and non-flat ACDM models is presented.

A new estimation of manganese distribution for local dwarf spheroidal galaxies

The distribution of abundance for iron-peak elements in dwarf spheroidal galaxies （dSphs） is important for galaxy evolution and supernova （SN） nucleosynthesis. Nowadays, manganese （Mn） is one of the most observed iron-peak elements in local dSphs. Studies of its distributions allow us to derive and understand the evolution history of these dSphs. We improve a phenomenological model by a two-curve model including a new initial condition, that includes detailed calculations of SN explosion rates and yields. We compare the results with the observed Mn distribution data for three dSphs： Fornax, Sculpture and Sextans. We find that the model can describe the observed Fe and Mn distributions well simultaneously for the three dSphs. The results also indicate that the initial conditions should be determined by the low metallicity sam- ples in the beginning time of the galaxies and the previous assumption of metellicity-dependant Mn yield of SNIa is not needed when a wide mass range of core-collapse SNe is included. Our method is applicable to the chemical evolution of other iron-peak elements in dSphs and can be modified to provide more detailed processes for the evolution of dSphs.

Comparisons of Jet Properties between GeV Radio Galaxies and Blazars

We compile a sample of spectral energy distributions （SEDs） of 12 GeV radio galaxies （RGs）, including eight FR I RGs and four FR II RGs. These SEDs can be represented with the one-zone leptonic model. No significant unification, as expected in the unification model, is found for the derived jet parameters between FR I RGs and BL Lacertae objects （BL Lacs） and between FR II RGs and flat spectrum radio quasars （FSRQs）. However, on average FR I RGs have a larger ＇Tb （break Lorentz factor of electrons） and lower B （magnetic field strength） than FR II RGs, analogous to the differences be- tween BL Lacs and FSRQs. The derived Doppler factors （~） of RGs are on average smaller than those of blazars, which is consistent with the unification model such that RGs are the misaligned parent pop- ulations of blazars with smaller tS. On the basis of jet parameters from SED fits, we calculate their jet powers and the powers carded by each component, and compare their jet compositions and radiation efficiencies with blazars. Most of the RG jets may be dominated by particles, like BL Lacs, not FSRQs. However, the jets of RGs with higher radiation efficiencies tend to have higher jet magnetization. A strong anticorrelation between synchrotron peak frequency and jet power is observed for GeV RGs and blazars in both the observer and co-moving frames, indicating that the ＂sequence＂ behavior among blazars, together with the GeV RGs, may be intrinsically dominated by jet power.

Luminosity Function of the Cluster of Galaxies Abell 566

We investigate the Luminosity Function （LF） of the cluster of galaxies Abell 566. The photometric data of 15 intermediate-bands are obtained from the Beijing-Arizona- Taiwan-Connecticut （BATC） photometric sky survey. For each of the 15 wavebands, the LF of cluster galaxies is well modelled by the Schechter function, with characteristic luminosities from -18.0 to -21.9 magnitude, from the α- to the p-band. Morphological dependence of the LF is investigated by separating the cluster members into ＇red＇ and ＇blue＇ subsamples. It is clear that late type galaxies have a steeper shape of LF than the early type galaxies. We also divided the sample galaxies by their local environment. It was found that galaxies in the sparser region have steeper shape of LF than galaxies in the denser region. Combining the results of morphological and environmental dependence of LFs, we show that Abell 566 is a well relaxed cluster with positive evidence of galaxy interaction and merger, and excess number of bright early type galaxies located in its denser region.

Are Seyfert 2 Galaxies without Polarized Broad Emission Lines More Obscured?

New XMM-Newton data of seven Seyfert 2 galaxies with optical spectropolarimetric observations are presented. An analysis of the 0.5 - 10 keV spectra shows that four Seyfert 2 galaxies with polarized broad lines （PBLs） are absorbed by NH 〈 1024 cm^-2, while two of three Seyfert 2 galaxies without PBLs show evidence of Compton-thick obscuration, supporting the conclusion that Seyfert 2 galaxies without PBLs are more obscured than those with PBLs, Adding the measured obscuration indicators （NH, T ratio, and Fe Kα line EW） of six luminous AGNs to our previous sample improves the significance level of the difference in absorption from 92.3% to 96.3% for NH, 99.1% to 99.4% for T ratio, and 95.3% to 97.4% for Fe Kα line EW. The present results support and enhance the suggestions that the absence of PBLs in Seyfert 2 galaxies can be explained by larger viewing angles of the line of sight to the putative dusty toms, which leads to the obscuration of the broad-line scattering screen, as expected in the unification model.

Lensing clusters of galaxies in the SDSS-Ⅲ

We identify new strong lensing clusters of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Ⅲ （SDSS DR8） by visually inspecting color images of a large sample of clusters of galaxies. We find 68 new clusters showing giant arcs in addition to 30 known lensing systems. Among 68 cases, 13 clusters are ＂almost certain＂ lensing systems with tangential giant arcs, 22 clusters are ＂probable＂ and 31 clusters are ＂pos- sible＂ lensing systems. We also find two exotic systems with blue rings. The giant arcs have angular separations of 2.0jj - 25.7j~ from the bright central galaxies. We note that the rich clusters are more likely to be lensing systems and the separations between the arcs and the central galaxies increase with cluster richness.