R. Cid Fernandes

Bio: R. Cid Fernandes is an academic researcher from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. The author has contributed to research in topics: Galaxy & Star formation. The author has an hindex of 55, co-authored 154 publications receiving 10512 citations. Previous affiliations of R. Cid Fernandes include Spanish National Research Council & Johns Hopkins University.

A characteristic oxygen abundance gradient in galaxy disks unveiled with CALIFA

Abstract: We present the largest and most homogeneous catalog of H ii regions and associations compiled so far The catalog comprises more than 7000 ionized regions, extracted from 306 galaxies observed by the CALIFA survey We describe the procedures used to detect, select, and analyze the spectroscopic properties of these ionized regions In the current study we focus on characterizing of the radial gradient of the oxygen abundance in the ionized gas, based on the study of the deprojecteddistribution of H ii regions We found that all galaxies without clear evidence of an interaction present a common gradient in the oxygen abundance, with a characteristic slope of α_O/H = −01 dex/r_e between 03 and 2 disk effective radii (r_e), and a scatter compatible with random fluctuations around this value, when the gradient is normalized to the disk effective radius The slope is independent of morphology, the incidence of bars, absolute magnitude, or mass Only those galaxies with evidence of interactions and/or clear merging systems present a significantly shallower gradient, consistent with previous results The majority of the 94 galaxies with H ii regions detected beyond two disk effective radii present a flattening in the oxygen abundance The flattening is statistically significant We cannot provide a conclusive answer regarding the origin of this flattening However, our results indicate that its origin is most probably related to the secular evolution of galaxies Finally, we find a drop/truncation of the oxygen abundance in the inner regions for 26 of the galaxies All of them are non-interacting, mostly unbarred Sb/Sbc galaxies This feature is associated with a central star-forming ring, which suggests that both features are produced by radial gas flows induced by resonance processes Our result suggests that galaxy disks grow inside-out, with metal enrichment driven by the local star formation history and with a small variation galaxy-by-galaxy At a certain galactocentric distance, the oxygen abundance seems to be correlated well with the stellar mass density and total stellar mass of the galaxies, independently of other properties of the galaxies Other processes, such as radial mixing and inflows/outflows seem to have a limited effect on shaping of the radial distribution of oxygen abundances, although they are not ruled out

A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: how to tell true from fake AGN?

Abstract: We use the W Hα versus [NII]/Hα (WHAN) diagram introduced by us in previous work to provide a comprehensive emission-line classification of Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies. This classification is able to cope with the large population of weak line galaxies that do not appear in traditional diagrams due to a lack of some of the diagnostic lines. A further advantage of the WHAN diagram is to allow the differentiation between two very distinct classes that overlap in the low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) region of traditional diagnostic diagrams. These are galaxies hosting a weakly active galactic nucleus (wAGN) and 'retired galaxies' (RGs), i.e. galaxies that have stopped forming stars and are ionized by their hot low-mass evolved stars. A useful criterion to distinguish true from fake AGN (i.e. the RGs) is the value of ξ, which measures the ratio of the extinction-corrected Hα luminosity with respect to the Hα luminosity expected from photoionization by stellar populations older than 10 8 yr. We find that ξ follows a markedly bimodal distribution, with a ξ≫1 population composed by systems undergoing star formation and/or nuclear activity, and a peak at ξ~1 corresponding to the prediction of the RG model. We base our classification scheme not on ξ but on a more readily available and model-independent quantity which provides an excellent observational proxy for ξ: the equivalent width of Hα. Based on the bimodal distribution of W Hα , we set the practical division between wAGN and RGs at W Hα = 3 A. Five classes of galaxies are identified within the WHAN diagram: (i) pure star-forming galaxies: log[N II]/Hα 3 A; (ii) strong AGN (i.e. Seyferts): log[NII]/Hα > -0.4 and W Hα > 6A; (iii) weak AGN: log[N n]/Hα > -0.4 and W Hα between 3 and 6 A; (iv) RGs (i.e. fake AGN): W Hα < 3 A; (v) passive galaxies (actually, lineless galaxies): W Hα and W [NII] < 0.5 A. A comparative analysis of star formation histories and of other physical and observational properties in these different classes of galaxies corroborates our proposed differentiation between RGs and wAGN in the LINER-like family. This analysis also shows similarities between strong and weak AGN on the one hand, and retired and passive galaxies on the other.

A characteristic oxygen abundance gradient in galaxy disks unveiled with CALIFA

Abstract: We present the largest and most homogeneous catalog of HII regions and associations compiled so far. The catalog comprises more than 7000 ionized regions, extracted from 306 galaxies observed by the CALIFA survey. We describe the procedures used to detect, select, and analyse the spectroscopic properties of these ionized regions. In the current study we focus on the characterization of the radial gradient of the oxygen abundance in the ionized gas, based on the study of the deprojected distribution of HII regions. We found that all galaxies without clear evidence of an interaction present a common gradient in the oxygen abundance, with a characteristic slope of alpha = -0.1 dex/re between 0.3 and 2 disk effective radii, and a scatter compatible with random fluctuations around this value, when the gradient is normalized to the disk effective radius. The slope is independent of morphology, incidence of bars, absolute magnitude or mass. Only those galaxies with evidence of interactions and/or clear merging systems present a significant shallower gradient, consistent with previous results. The majority of the 94 galaxies with H ii regions detected beyond 2 disk effective radii present a flattening in the oxygen abundance. The flattening is statistically significant. We cannot provide with a conclusive answer regarding the origin of this flattening. However, our results indicate that its origin is most probably related to the secular evolution of galaxies. Finally, we find a drop/truncation of the oxygen abundance in the inner regions for 26 of the galaxies. All of them are non-interacting, mostly unbarred, Sb/Sbc galaxies. This feature is associated with a central star-forming ring, which suggests that both features are produced by radial gas flows induced by resonance processes.

A comprehensive classification of galaxies in the SDSS: How to tell true from fake AGN?

Abstract: We use the W_Ha versus [NII]/Ha (WHAN) diagram to provide a comprehensive emission-line classification of SDSS galaxies. This classification is able to cope with the large population of weak line galaxies that do not appear in traditional diagrams due to a lack of some of the diagnostic lines. A further advantage of the WHAN diagram is to allow the differentiation between two very distinct classes that overlap in the LINER region of traditional diagnostic diagrams. These are galaxies hosting a weakly active nucleus (wAGN) and "retired galaxies" (RGs), i.e. galaxies that have stopped forming stars and are ionized by their hot evolved low-mass stars. A useful criterion to distinguish true from fake AGN (i.e. the RGs) is the ratio (\xi) of the extinction-corrected L_Ha with respect to the Ha luminosity expected from photoionization by stellar populations older than 100 Myr. This ratio follows a markedly bimodal distribution, with a \xi >> 1 population composed by systems undergoing star-formation and/or nuclear activity, and a peak at \xi ~ 1 corresponding to the prediction of the RG model. We base our classification scheme on the equivalent width of Ha, an excellent observational proxy for \xi. Based on the bimodal distribution of W_Ha, we set the division between wAGN and RGs at W_Ha = 3 A. Five classes of galaxies are identified within the WHAN diagram: (a) Pure star forming galaxies: log [NII]/Ha 3 A. (b) Strong AGN (i.e., Seyferts): log [NII]/Ha > -0.4 and W_Ha > 6 A. (c) Weak AGN: log [NII]/Ha > -0.4 and W_Ha between 3 and 6 A. (d) RGs: W_Ha < 3 A. (e) Passive galaxies (actually, line-less galaxies): W_Ha and W_[NII] < 0.5 A. A comparative analysis of star formation histories and of other properties in these different classes of galaxies corroborates our proposed differentiation between RGs and weak AGN in the LINER-like family. (Abridged)

Alternative diagnostic diagrams and the 'forgotten' population of weak line galaxies in the SDSS

Abstract: A numerous population of weak line galaxies (WLGs) is often left out of statistical studies on emission-line galaxies (ELGs) due to the absence of an adequate classification scheme, since classical diagnostic diagrams, such as [O III]/Hβ versus [N II]/Hα (the BPT diagram), require the measurement of at least four emission lines. This paper aims to remedy this situation by transposing the usual divisory lines between star-forming (SF) galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) hosts and between Seyferts and LINERs to diagrams that are more economical in terms of line quality requirements. By doing this, we rescue from the classification limbo a substantial number of sources and modify the global census of ELGs. More specifically, (1) we use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 to constitute a suitable sample of 280 000 ELGs, one-third of which are WLGs. (2) Galaxies with strong emission lines are classified using the widely applied criteria of Kewley et al., Kauffmann et al. and Stasinska et al. to distinguish SF galaxies and AGN hosts and Kewley et al. to distinguish Seyferts from LINERs. (3) We transpose these classification schemes to alternative diagrams keeping [N II]/Hα as a horizontal axis, but replacing Hβ by a stronger line (Hα or [O II]), or substituting the ionization-level sensitive [O III]/Hβ ratio with the equivalent width of Hα (W Hα ). Optimized equations for the transposed divisory lines are provided. (4) We show that nothing significant is lost in the translation, but that the new diagrams allow one to classify up to 50 per cent more ELGs. (5) Introducing WLGs in the census of galaxies in the local Universe increases the proportion of metal-rich SF galaxies and especially LINERs. In the course of this analysis, we were led to make the following points. (i) The Kewley et al. BPT line for galaxy classification is generally ill-used. (ii) Replacing [O III]/Hβ by W Hα in the classification introduces a change in the philosophy of the distinction between LINERs and Seyferts, but not in its results. Because the W Hα versus [N II]/Hα diagram can be applied to the largest sample of ELGs without loss of discriminating power between Seyferts and LINERs, we recommend its use in further studies. (iii) The dichotomy between Seyferts and LINERs is washed out by WLGs in the BPT plane, but it subsists in other diagnostic diagrams. This suggests that the right wing in the BPT diagram is indeed populated by at least two classes, tentatively identified with bona fide AGN and 'retired' galaxies that have stopped forming stars and are ionized by their old stellar populations.

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Abstract: Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

The host galaxies of active galactic nuclei

Abstract: We examine the properties of the host galaxies of 22 623 narrow-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) with 0.02 < z < 0.3 selected from a complete sample of 122 808 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We focus on the luminosity of the [O III] λ5007 emission line as a tracer of the strength of activity in the nucleus. We study how AGN host properties compare with those of normal galaxies and how they depend on L[O III]. We find that AGN of all luminosities reside almost exclusively in massive galaxies and have distributions of sizes, stellar surface mass densities and concentrations that are similar to those of ordinary early-type galaxies in our sample. The host galaxies of low-luminosity AGN have stellar populations similar to normal early types. The hosts of high-luminosity AGN have much younger mean stellar ages. The young stars are not preferentially located near the nucleus of the galaxy, but are spread out over scales of at least several kiloparsecs. A significant fraction of high-luminosity AGN have strong Hδ absorption-line equivalent widths, indicating that they experienced a burst of star formation in the recent past. We have also examined the stellar populations of the host galaxies of a sample of broad-line AGN. We conclude that there is no significant difference in stellar content between type 2 Seyfert hosts and quasars (QSOs) with the same [O III] luminosity and redshift. This establishes that a young stellar population is a general property of AGN with high [O III] luminosities.

The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments

Abstract: We introduce the Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and AGN in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn off cooling or hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from first principles, we calibrate them to the z~0 galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy-central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy mass function is reproduced to ≲0.2 dex over the full mass range, 108

Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies

Abstract: Supermassive black holes (BHs) have been found in 85 galaxies by dynamical modeling of spatially resolved kinematics. The Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized BH research by advancing the subject from its proof-of-concept phase into quantitative studies of BH demographics. Most influential was the discovery of a tight correlation between BH mass and the velocity dispersion σ of the bulge component of the host galaxy. Together with similar correlations with bulge luminosity and mass, this led to the widespread belief that BHs and bulges coevolve by regulating each other's growth. Conclusions based on one set of correlations from in brightest cluster ellipticals to in the smallest galaxies dominated BH work for more than a decade. New results are now replacing this simple story with a richer and more plausible picture in which BHs correlate differently with different galaxy components. A reasonable aim is to use this progress to refine our understanding of BH-galaxy coevolution. BHs with masses of 105−106M...

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Abstract: Monthly Notices is one of the three largest general primary astronomical research publications. It is an international journal, published by the Royal Astronomical Society. This article 1 describes its publication policy and practice.