A large population of 'Lyman-break' galaxies in a protocluster at redshift z approximately 4.1

The most massive galaxies and the richest clusters are believed to have emerged from regions with the largest enhancements of mass density relative to the surrounding space. Distant radio galaxies may pinpoint the locations of the ancestors of rich clusters, because they are massive systems associated with 'overdensities' of galaxies that are bright in the Lyman-alpha line of hydrogen. A powerful technique for detecting high-redshift galaxies is to search for the characteristic 'Lyman break' feature in the galaxy colour, at wavelengths just shortwards of Lyalpha, which is due to absorption of radiation from the galaxy by the intervening intergalactic medium. Here we report multicolour imaging of the most distant candidate protocluster, TN J1338-1942 at a redshift z approximately 4.1. We find a large number of objects with the characteristic colours of galaxies at that redshift, and we show that this excess is concentrated around the targeted dominant radio galaxy. Our data therefore indicate that TN J1338-1942 is indeed the most distant cluster progenitor of a rich local cluster, and that galaxy clusters began forming when the Universe was only ten per cent of its present age.     

The star-formation history of the Universe from the stellar populations of nearby galaxies

The determination of the star-formation history of the Universe is a key goal of modern cosmology, as it is crucial to our understanding of how galactic structures form and evolve. Observations of young stars in distant galaxies at different times in the past have indicated that the stellar birthrate peaked some eight billion years ago before declining by a factor of around ten to its present value. Here we report an analysis of the 'fossil record' of the current stellar populations of 96,545 nearby galaxies, from which we obtained a complete star-formation history. Our results broadly support those derived from high-redshift galaxies. We find, however, that the peak of star formation was more recent--around five billion years ago. We also show that the bigger the stellar mass of the galaxy, the earlier the stars were formed, which indicates that high- and low-mass galaxies have very different histories.     

The evolution of galaxies from primeval irregulars to present-day ellipticals

Galaxy formation is believed to proceed in a 'bottom up' manner, starting with the formation of small clumps of gas and stars that then merge hierarchically into giant systems. The baryonic gas loses thermal energy by radiative cooling and falls towards the centres of the new galaxies, while supernovae blow gas out. Any realistic model therefore requires a proper treatment of these processes, but hitherto this has been far from satisfactory. Here we report a simulation that follows evolution from the earliest stages of galaxy formation through the period of dynamical relaxation, at which point the resulting galaxy is in its final form. The bubble structures of gas revealed in our simulation (for times of less than 3 x 10(8) years) resemble closely high-redshift Lyman-alpha emitters. After 10(9) years, these bodies are dominated by stellar continuum radiation and then resemble the Lyman break galaxies, which are high-redshift star-forming galaxies. At this point, the abundance of elements heavier than helium ('metallicity') appears to be solar. After 1.3 x 10(10) years, these galaxies resemble present-day ellipticals.     

Rapid growth of black holes in massive star-forming galaxies

The tight relationship between the masses of black holes and galaxy spheroids in nearby galaxies implies a causal connection between the growth of these two components. Optically luminous quasars host the most prodigious accreting black holes in the Universe, and can account for greater than or approximately equal to 30 per cent of the total cosmological black-hole growth. As typical quasars are not, however, undergoing intense star formation and already host massive black holes (> 10(8)M(o), where M(o) is the solar mass), there must have been an earlier pre-quasar phase when these black holes grew (mass range approximately (10(6)-10(8))M(o)). The likely signature of this earlier stage is simultaneous black-hole growth and star formation in distant (redshift z > 1; >8 billion light years away) luminous galaxies. Here we report ultra-deep X-ray observations of distant star-forming galaxies that are bright at submillimetre wavelengths. We find that the black holes in these galaxies are growing almost continuously throughout periods of intense star formation. This activity appears to be more tightly associated with these galaxies than any other coeval galaxy populations. We show that the black-hole growth from these galaxies is consistent with that expected for the pre-quasar phase.     

A close nuclear black-hole pair in the spiral galaxy NGC 3393

The current picture of galaxy evolution advocates co-evolution of galaxies and their nuclear massive black holes, through accretion and galactic merging. Pairs of quasars, each with a massive black hole at the centre of its galaxy, have separations of 6,000 to 300,000 light years (refs 2 and 3; 1 parsec = 3.26 light years) and exemplify the first stages of this gravitational interaction. The final stages of the black-hole merging process, through binary black holes and final collapse into a single black hole with gravitational wave emission, are consistent with the sub-light-year separation inferred from the optical spectra and light-variability of two such quasars. The double active nuclei of a few nearby galaxies with disrupted morphology and intense star formation (such as NGC 6240 with a separation of about 2,600 light years and Mrk 463 with a separation of about 13,000 light years between the nuclei) demonstrate the importance of major mergers of equal-mass spiral galaxies in this evolution; such mergers lead to an elliptical galaxy, as in the case of the double-radio-nucleus elliptical galaxy 0402+379 (with a separation of about 24 light years between the nuclei). Minor mergers of a spiral galaxy with a smaller companion should be a more common occurrence, evolving into spiral galaxies with active massive black-hole pairs, but have hitherto not been seen. Here we report the presence of two active massive black holes, separated by about 490 light years, in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3393 (50 Mpc, about 160 million light years). The regular spiral morphology and predominantly old circum-nuclear stellar population of this galaxy, and the closeness of the black holes embedded in the bulge, provide a hitherto missing observational point to the study of galaxy/black hole evolution. Comparison of our observations with current theoretical models of mergers suggests that they are the result of minor merger evolution.     

Massive star formation in 100,000 years from turbulent and pressurized molecular clouds

Massive stars (with mass m* > 8 solar masses Mmiddle dot in circle) are fundamental to the evolution of galaxies, because they produce heavy elements, inject energy into the interstellar medium, and possibly regulate the star formation rate. The individual star formation time, t*f, determines the accretion rate of the star; the value of the former quantity is currently uncertain by many orders of magnitude, leading to other astrophysical questions. For example, the variation of t*f with stellar mass dictates whether massive stars can form simultaneously with low-mass stars in clusters. Here we show that t*f is determined by the conditions in the star's natal cloud, and is typically about 105yr. The corresponding mass accretion rate depends on the pressure within the cloud--which we relate to the gas surface density--and on both the instantaneous and final stellar masses. Characteristic accretion rates are sufficient to overcome radiation pressure from about 100M middle dot in circle protostars, while simultaneously driving intense bipolar gas outflows. The weak dependence of t*f on the final mass of the star allows high- and low-mass star formation to occur nearly simultaneously in clusters.     

Evidence against a redshift z > 6 for the galaxy STIS123627+621755

The identification of galaxies at extreme distances provides the most direct information about the earliest phases of galaxy formation. But at redshifts z > 5 even the most luminous galaxies appear faint; the interpretation of low signal-to-noise ratio data is difficult and misidentifications do occur. Here we report optical and near-infrared observations of the source STIS123627+621755, which was previously suggested to be at a redshift of 6.68 (ref. 1). At that redshift, and with the reported spectral energy distribution, the galaxy should be essentially invisible at wavelengths less than 9,300 A, because the intervening intergalactic medium absorbs almost all light energetic enough to ionize neutral hydrogen--that is, with wavelengths less than the redshifted Lyman limit of lambda = (1 + z) x 912A. At near-infrared wavelengths, however, the galaxy should be relatively bright. Here we report a detection of the galaxy at 6,700 A and a non-detection at a wavelength of 1.2 microm, contrary to expectations for z approximately 6.68. The data conservatively require that STIS123627+621755 has a redshift z < 6.     

The essential signature of a massive starburst in a distant quasar

Observations of carbon monoxide emission in high-redshift (zeta > 2) galaxies indicate the presence of large amounts of molecular gas. Many of these galaxies contain an active galactic nucleus powered by accretion of gas onto a supermassive black hole, and a key question is whether their extremely high infrared luminosities result from the active galactic nucleus, from bursts of massive star formation (associated with the molecular gas), or both. In the Milky Way, high-mass stars form in the dense cores of interstellar molecular clouds, where gas densities are n(H2) > 10(5) cm(-3) (refs 1, 2). Recent surveys show that virtually all galactic sites of high-mass star formation have similarly high densities. The bulk of the cloud material traced by CO observations, however, is at a much lower density. For galaxies in the local Universe, the HCN molecule is an effective tracer of high-density molecular gas. Here we report observations of HCN emission from the infrared-luminous 'Cloverleaf' quasar (at a redshift zeta = 2.5579). The HCN line luminosity indicates the presence of 10 billion solar masses of very dense gas, an essential feature of an immense starburst, which contributes, together with the active galactic nucleus it harbours, to its high infrared luminosity.     

High-redshift galaxy populations

We now see many galaxies as they were only 800 million years after the Big Bang, and that limit may soon be exceeded when wide-field infrared detectors are widely available. Multi-wavelength studies show that there was relatively little star formation at very early times and that star formation was at its maximum at about half the age of the Universe. A small number of high-redshift objects have been found by targeting X-ray and radio sources and most recently, gamma-ray bursts. The gamma-ray burst sources may provide a way to reach even higher-redshift galaxies in the future, and to probe the first generation of stars.     

A galaxy at a redshift z = 6.96

When galaxy formation started in the history of the Universe remains unclear. Studies of the cosmic microwave background indicate that the Universe, after initial cooling (following the Big Bang), was reheated and reionized by hot stars in newborn galaxies at a redshift in the range 6 < z < 14 (ref. 1). Though several candidate galaxies at redshift z > 7 have been identified photometrically, galaxies with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts have been confined to z < 6.6 (refs 4-8). Here we report a spectroscopic redshift of z = 6.96 (corresponding to just 750 Myr after the Big Bang) for a galaxy whose spectrum clearly shows Lyman-alpha emission at 9,682 A, indicating active star formation at a rate of approximately 10M(o) yr(-1), where M(o) is the mass of the Sun. This demonstrates that galaxy formation was under way when the Universe was only approximately 6 per cent of its present age. The number density of galaxies at z approximately 7 seems to be only 18-36 per cent of the density at z = 6.6.     

The rapid formation of a large rotating disk galaxy three billion years after the Big Bang

Observations and theoretical simulations have established a framework for galaxy formation and evolution in the young Universe. Galaxies formed as baryonic gas cooled at the centres of collapsing dark-matter haloes; mergers of haloes and galaxies then led to the hierarchical build-up of galaxy mass. It remains unclear, however, over what timescales galaxies were assembled and when and how bulges and disks--the primary components of present-day galaxies--were formed. It is also puzzling that the most massive galaxies were more abundant and were forming stars more rapidly at early epochs than expected from models. Here we report high-angular-resolution observations of a representative luminous star-forming galaxy when the Universe was only 20% of its current age. A large and massive rotating protodisk is channelling gas towards a growing central stellar bulge hosting an accreting massive black hole. The high surface densities of gas, the high rate of star formation and the moderately young stellar ages suggest rapid assembly, fragmentation and conversion to stars of an initially very gas-rich protodisk, with no obvious evidence for a major merger.     

The suppression of star formation by powerful active galactic nuclei

The old, red stars that constitute the bulges of galaxies, and the massive black holes at their centres, are the relics of a period in cosmic history when galaxies formed stars at remarkable rates and active galactic nuclei (AGN) shone brightly as a result of accretion onto black holes. It is widely suspected, but unproved, that the tight correlation between the mass of the black hole and the mass of the stellar bulge results from the AGN quenching the surrounding star formation as it approaches its peak luminosity. X-rays trace emission from AGN unambiguously, whereas powerful star-forming galaxies are usually dust-obscured and are brightest at infrared and submillimetre wavelengths. Here we report submillimetre and X-ray observations that show that rapid star formation was common in the host galaxies of AGN when the Universe was 2-6 billion years old, but that the most vigorous star formation is not observed around black holes above an X-ray luminosity of 10(44) ergs per second. This suppression of star formation in the host galaxy of a powerful AGN is a key prediction of models in which the AGN drives an outflow, expelling the interstellar medium of its host and transforming the galaxy's properties in a brief period of cosmic time.     

Reconstructing galaxy histories from globular clusters

Nearly a century after the true nature of galaxies as distant 'island universes' was established, their origin and evolution remain great unsolved problems of modern astrophysics. One of the most promising ways to investigate galaxy formation is to study the ubiquitous globular star clusters that surround most galaxies. Globular clusters are compact groups of up to a few million stars. They generally formed early in the history of the Universe, but have survived the interactions and mergers that alter substantially their parent galaxies. Recent advances in our understanding of the globular cluster systems of the Milky Way and other galaxies point to a complex picture of galaxy genesis driven by cannibalism, collisions, bursts of star formation and other tumultuous events.     

团星系和场星系的恒星形成性质

通过对团星系和场星系的聚度参数、特征恒星形成率、星系中包含的恒星质量、金属丰度等物理参量的比较,研究了处在不同引力环境中星系的恒星形成性质.研究表明,聚度高的星系主要居于星系团中,大部分低质量星系是场星系,星系的特征恒星形成率与恒星质量和金属丰度之间存在着显著的相关.另外,团星系和场星系在红移小于0.1的范围内仍表现出了明显的宇宙学演化效应.     

Significant primordial star formation at redshifts z approximately 3-4

Four recent observational results have challenged our understanding of high-redshift galaxies, as they require the presence of far more ultraviolet photons than should be emitted by normal stellar populations. First, there is significant ultraviolet emission from Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at wavelengths shorter than 912 A. Second, there is strong Lyman alpha emission from extended 'blobs' with little or no associated apparent ionizing continuum. Third, there is a population of galaxies with unusually strong Lyman alpha emission lines. And fourth, there is a strong He II (1,640 A) emission line in a composite of LBGs. The proposed explanations for the first three observations are internally inconsistent, and the fourth puzzle has remained hitherto unexplained. Here we show that all four problems are resolved simultaneously if 10-30 per cent of the stars in many galaxies at z approximately 3-4 are mainly primordial--unenriched by elements heavier than helium ('metals'). Most models of hierarchical galaxy formation assume efficient intragalactic metal mixing, and therefore do not predict metal-free star formation at redshifts significantly below z approximately 5. Our results imply that micromixing of metals within galaxies is inefficient on an approximately gigayear timescale, a conclusion that can be verified with higher-resolution simulations, and future observations of the He ii emission line.     

Clustered star formation as a natural explanation for the Halpha cut-off in disk galaxies

The rate of star formation in a galaxy is often determined by the observation of emission in the Halpha line, which is related to the presence of short-lived massive stars. Disk galaxies show a strong cut-off in Halpha radiation at a certain galactocentric distance, which has led to the conclusion that star formation is suppressed in the outer regions of disk galaxies. This is seemingly in contradiction to recent observations in the ultraviolet which imply that disk galaxies have star formation beyond the Halpha cut-off, and that the star-formation-rate surface density is linearly related to the underlying gas surface density, which is a shallower relationship than that derived from Halpha luminosities. In a galaxy-wide formulation, the clustered nature of star formation has recently led to the insight that the total galactic Halpha luminosity is nonlinearly related to the galaxy-wide star formation rate. Here we show that a local formulation of the concept of clustered star formation naturally leads to a steeper radial decrease in the Halpha surface luminosity than in the star-formation-rate surface density, in quantitative agreement with the observations, and that the observed Halpha cut-off arises naturally.     

An origin for short gamma-ray bursts unassociated with current star formation

Two short (< 2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have recently been localized and fading afterglow counterparts detected. The combination of these two results left unclear the nature of the host galaxies of the bursts, because one was a star-forming dwarf, while the other was probably an elliptical galaxy. Here we report the X-ray localization of a short burst (GRB 050724) with unusual gamma-ray and X-ray properties. The X-ray afterglow lies off the centre of an elliptical galaxy at a redshift of z = 0.258 (ref. 5), coincident with the position determined by ground-based optical and radio observations. The low level of star formation typical for elliptical galaxies makes it unlikely that the burst originated in a supernova explosion. A supernova origin was also ruled out for GRB 050709 (refs 3, 31), even though that burst took place in a galaxy with current star formation. The isotropic energy for the short bursts is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than that for the long bursts. Our results therefore suggest that an alternative source of bursts--the coalescence of binary systems of neutron stars or a neutron star-black hole pair--are the progenitors of short bursts.     

A2142星系团子结构中的星系演化

系统整理了星系团A2142的光谱和测光数据．利用花树算法得到的子结构,将星系团视场中的星系分为非子结构、子结构和外围星系3类．通过研究它们的分布、产星活动、D_n4000等物理信息,发现了A2142星系团中的星系存在明显的径向演化趋势．星系从星系团外围落入团中心的过程中,其演化不仅受到星系团内介质的影响,还受到子结构自身的调制．      

Suppression of star formation in early-type galaxies by feedback from supermassive black holes

Detailed high-resolution observations of the innermost regions of nearby galaxies have revealed the presence of supermassive black holes. These black holes may interact with their host galaxies by means of 'feedback' in the form of energy and material jets; this feedback affects the evolution of the host and gives rise to observed relations between the black hole and the host. Here we report observations of the ultraviolet emissions of massive early-type galaxies. We derive an empirical relation for a critical black-hole mass (as a function of velocity dispersion) above which the outflows from these black holes suppress star formation in their hosts by heating and expelling all available cold gas. Supermassive black holes are negligible in mass compared to their hosts but nevertheless seem to play a critical role in the star formation history of galaxies.