Observations of star formation rates (SFRs) in galaxies provide vital clues to the physical nature of the Hubble sequence and are key probes of the evolutionary histories of galaxies. The focus of this review is on the broad patterns in the star formation properties of galaxies along the Hubble sequence and their implications for understanding galaxy evolution and the physical processes that drive the evolution. Star formation in the disks and nuclear regions of galaxies are reviewed separately, then discussed within a common interpretive framework. The diagnostic methods used to measure SFRs are also reviewed, and a self-consistent set of SFR calibrations is presented as an aid to workers in the field. One of the most recognizable features of galaxies along the Hubble sequence is the wide range in young stellar content and star formation activity. This variation in stellar content is part of the basis of the Hubble classification itself (Hubble 1926), and understanding its physical nature and origins is fundamental to understanding galaxy evolution in its broader context. This review deals with the global star formation properties of galaxies, the systematics of those properties along the Hubble sequence, and their implications for galactic evolution. I interpret “Hubble sequence” in this context very loosely, to encompass not only morphological type but other properties such as gas content, mass, bar structure, and dynamical environment, which can strongly influence the largescale star formation rate (SFR).

/pdf/star-formation-in-galaxies-along-the-hubble-sequence-31q0r4zp4u.pdf

Star formation in galaxies along the hubble sequence

We present far-infrared (FIR) photometry at 150 and 205 micron(s) of eight low-redshift starburst galaxies obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) ISOPHOT. Five of the eight galaxies are detected in both wave bands, and these data are used, in conjunction with IRAS archival photometry, to model the dust emission at lambda approximately greater than 40 microns. The FIR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are best fitted by a combination of two modified Planck functions, with T approx. 40 - 55 K (warm dust) and T approx. 20-23 K (cool dust) and with a dust emissivity index epsilon = 2. The cool dust can be a major contributor to the FIR emission of starburst galaxies, representing up to 60% of the total flux. This component is heated not only by the general interstellar radiation field, but also by the starburst itself. The cool dust mass is up to approx. 150 times larger than the warm dust mass, bringing the gas-to-dust ratios of the starbursts in our sample close to Milky Way values, once resealed for the appropriate metallicity. The ratio between the total dust FIR emission in the range 1-1000 microns and the IRAS FIR emission in the range 40 - 120 microns is approx. 1.75, with small variations from galaxy to galaxy. This ratio is about 40% larger than previously inferred from data at millimeter wavelengths. Although the galaxies in our sample are generally classified as "UV bright," for four of them the UV energy emerging shortward of 0.2 microns is less than 15% of the FIR energy. On average, about 30% of the bolometric flux is coming out in the UV-to-near-IR wavelength range; the rest is emitted in the FIR. Energy balance calculations show that the FIR emission predicted by the dust reddening of the UV-to-near-IR stellar emission is within a factor of approx. 2 of the observed value in individual galaxies and within 20% when averaged over a large sample. If our sample of local starbursts is representative of high-redshift (z approx. greater than 1), UV - bright star-forming galaxies, these galaxies' FIR emission will be generally undetected in submillimeter surveys, unless: (1) their bolometric luminosity is comparable to or larger than that of ultraluminous FIR galaxies and (2) their FIR SED contains a cool dust component.

/pdf/the-dust-content-and-opacity-of-actively-star-forming-3rvrlvzkyq.pdf

The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies

Over the past two decades, an avalanche of data from multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopic surveys has revolutionized our view of galaxy formation and evolution. Here we review the range of complementary techniques and theoretical tools that allow astronomers to map the cosmic history of star formation, heavy element production, and reionization of the Universe from the cosmic "dark ages" to the present epoch. A consistent picture is emerging, whereby the star-formation rate density peaked approximately 3.5 Gyr after the Big Bang, at z~1.9, and declined exponentially at later times, with an e-folding timescale of 3.9 Gyr. Half of the stellar mass observed today was formed before a redshift z = 1.3. About 25% formed before the peak of the cosmic star-formation rate density, and another 25% formed after z = 0.7. Less than ~1% of today's stars formed during the epoch of reionization. Under the assumption of a universal initial mass function, the global stellar mass density inferred at any epoch matches reasonably well the time integral of all the preceding star-formation activity. The comoving rates of star formation and central black hole accretion follow a similar rise and fall, offering evidence for co-evolution of black holes and their host galaxies. The rise of the mean metallicity of the Universe to about 0.001 solar by z = 6, one Gyr after the Big Bang, appears to have been accompanied by the production of fewer than ten hydrogen Lyman-continuum photons per baryon, a rather tight budget for cosmological reionization.

/pdf/cosmic-star-formation-history-5ce1d74cmt.pdf

Cosmic Star-Formation History

We review progress over the past decade in observations of large-scale star formation, with a focus on the interface between extragalactic and Galactic studies. Methods of measuring gas contents and star-formation rates are discussed, and updated prescriptions for calculating star-formation rates are provided. We review relations between star formation and gas on scales ranging from entire galaxies to individual molecular clouds.

Star Formation in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies

▪ Abstract The Universe is in transition. At early times, galactic evolution was dominated by hierarchical clustering and merging, processes that are violent and rapid. In the far future, evolution will mostly be secular—the slow rearrangement of energy and mass that results from interactions involving collective phenomena such as bars, oval disks, spiral structure, and triaxial dark halos. Both processes are important now. This review discusses internal secular evolution, concentrating on one important consequence, the buildup of dense central components in disk galaxies that look like classical, merger-built bulges but that were made slowly out of disk gas. We call these pseudobulges. We begin with an “existence proof”—a review of how bars rearrange disk gas into outer rings, inner rings, and stuff dumped onto the center. The results of numerical simulations correspond closely to the morphology of barred galaxies. In the simulations, gas is transported to small radii, where it reaches high densities and...

Secular Evolution and the Formation of Pseudobulges in Disk Galaxies

NGC 7421 is a barred spiral displaced from the centre of its optical envelope, with a 'bow-shock'-like western boundary, both suggestive of interaction with an intracluster medium. We have used five configurations of the ATCA to map the distribution and kinematics of HI in NGC 7421, and find supportive evidence for this scenario in the form of an HI 'wake'. When compared with ROSAT PSPC observations of the diffuse hot gas in the surrounding group of galaxies, these new ATCA results will allow us to place new constraints on the density and dynamics of the intracluster medium.

NGC 7421: Surfing the Intracluster Medium?

We present a pilot study of a larger on-going survey to detect SSCs in LIRGs using K-band Adaptive Optics imaging. We show the first significant sample of NIR luminosity functions of extragalactic SSCs, which appear to be significantly shallower than typical power-law slopes determined from optical studies of lower IR-luminosity systems. We also present the first brightest cluster vs. star-formation rate of the host galaxy relation derived in the NIR.

Super Star Clusters in IR-Luminous Interacting Galaxies: The NIR Luminosity Function

We present Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) + Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) continuum and spectral-line polarization data on the massive molecular cloud BYF 73, revealing important details about the magnetic field morphology, gas structures, and energetics in this unusual massive star formation laboratory. The 154 μm HAWC+ polarization map finds a highly organized magnetic field in the densest, inner 0.55 × 0.40 pc portion of the cloud, compared to an unremarkable morphology in the cloud’s outer layers. The 3 mm continuum ALMA polarization data reveal several more structures in the inner domain, including a parsec-long, ∼500 M ⊙ “Streamer” around the central massive protostellar object MIR 2, with magnetic fields mostly parallel to the east–west Streamer but oriented north–south across MIR 2. The magnetic field orientation changes from mostly parallel to the column density structures to mostly perpendicular, at thresholds N crit = 6.6 × 1026 m−2, n crit = 2.5 × 1011 m−3, and B crit = 42 ± 7 nT. ALMA also mapped Goldreich–Kylafis polarization in 12CO across the cloud, which traces, in both total intensity and polarized flux, a powerful bipolar outflow from MIR 2 that interacts strongly with the Streamer. The magnetic field is also strongly aligned along the outflow direction; energetically, it may dominate the outflow near MIR 2, comprising rare evidence for a magnetocentrifugal origin to such outflows. A portion of the Streamer may be in Keplerian rotation around MIR 2, implying a gravitating mass 1350 ± 50 M ⊙ for the protostar+disk+envelope; alternatively, these kinematics can be explained by gas in free-fall toward a 950 ± 35 M ⊙ object. The high accretion rate onto MIR 2 apparently occurs through the Streamer/disk, and could account for ∼33% of MIR 2's total luminosity via gravitational energy release.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acac27/pdf

SOFIA and ALMA Investigate Magnetic Fields and Gas Structures in Massive Star Formation: The Case of the Masquerading Monster in BYF 73

A b s t r a c t : Some initial results of a flux-calibrated CCD Ha imaging program of bright, nearby southern spiral galaxies are presented. Very few southern hemisphere spiral galaxies have ever been completely imaged in Ha, let alone with a CCD. This survey (which mainly uses the MSSSO 1.0-m reflector with an f/3.5 focal reducer) will, when combined with spectrophotometry of the H II regions thus revealed, allow us to trace the chemical evolution of each galaxy. Furthermore, since the absolute Ha flux is a reliable measure of the high-mass star formation rate in a galaxy, such observational data will permit us to test the predictions of the various star formation theories.

A CCD H-alpha survey of nearby southern spiral galaxies.

The Macquart relation describes the correlation between the dispersion measure (DM) of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and the redshift $z$ of their host galaxies. The scatter of the Macquart relation is sensitive to the distribution of baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM) including those ejected from galactic halos through feedback processes. The width of the distribution in DMs from the cosmic web (${\rm DM}_{\rm cosmic}$) is parameterized by a fluctuation parameter $F$, which is related to the cosmic DM variance by $\sigma_{\rm DM}= F z^{-0.5}$. In this work, we present a new measurement of $F$ using 78 FRBs of which 21 have been localized to host galaxies. Our analysis simultaneously fits for the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the DM distribution due to the FRB host galaxy. We find that the fluctuation parameter is degenerate with these parameters, most notably $H_0$, and use a uniform prior on $H_0$ to measure $\log_{10} F>-0.89$ at the $3\sigma$ confidence interval and a new constraint on the Hubble constant $H_0 = 85.3_{-8.1}^{+9.4} \, {\rm km \, s^{-1} \, Mpc^{-1}}$. Using a synthetic sample of 100 localized FRBs, the constraint on the fluctuation parameter is improved by a factor of $\sim 2$. Comparing our $F$ measurement to simulated predictions from cosmological simulation (IllustrisTNG), we find agreement between $0.4<z<2$. However, at $z<0.4$, the simulations underpredict $F$ which we attribute to the rapidly changing extragalactic DM excess distribution at low redshift.

Stuart D. Ryder

Papers

NGC 7421: Surfing the Intracluster Medium?

Super Star Clusters in IR-Luminous Interacting Galaxies: The NIR Luminosity Function

SOFIA and ALMA Investigate Magnetic Fields and Gas Structures in Massive Star Formation: The Case of the Masquerading Monster in BYF 73

A CCD H-alpha survey of nearby southern spiral galaxies.

Measuring the Variance of the Macquart Relation in z-DM Modeling