We perform two-dimensional, point-spread-function-convolved, bulge+disk decompositions in the g and r bandpasses on a sample of 1,123,718 galaxies from the Legacy area of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven. Four different decomposition procedures are investigated which make improvements to sky background determinations and object deblending over the standard SDSS procedures that lead to more robust structural parameters and integrated galaxy magnitudes and colors, especially in crowded environments. We use a set of science-based quality assurance metrics, namely, the disk luminosity-size relation, the galaxy color-magnitude diagram, and the galaxy central (fiber) colors to show the robustness of our structural parameters. The best procedure utilizes simultaneous, two-bandpass decompositions. Bulge and disk photometric errors remain below 0.1 mag down to bulge and disk magnitudes of g 19 and r 18.5. We also use and compare three different galaxy fitting models: a pure Sérsic model, an n b = 4 bulge + disk model, and a Sérsic (free n b ) bulge + disk model. The most appropriate model for a given galaxy is determined by the F-test probability. All three catalogs of measured structural parameters, rest-frame magnitudes, and colors are publicly released here. These catalogs should provide an extensive comparison set for a wide range of observational and theoretical studies of galaxies.

We present the KMOS 3D survey, a new integral field survey of over 600 galaxies at 0.7 < z < 2.7 using KMOS at the Very Large Telescope. The KMOS 3D survey utilizes synergies with multi-wavelength ground-and spacebased surveys to trace the evolution of spatially resolved kinematics and star formation from a homogeneous sample over 5 Gyr of cosmic history. Targets, drawn from a mass-selected parent sample from the 3D-HST survey, cover the star formation-stellar mass (M * ) and rest-frame (U − V ) − M * planes uniformly. We describe the selection of targets, the observations, and the data reduction. In the first-year of data we detect Hα emission in 191 M * = 3 × 10 9 -7 × 10 11 M galaxies at z = 0.7-1.1 and z = 1.9-2.7. In the current sample 83% of the resolved galaxies are rotation dominated, determined from a continuous velocity gradient and v rot /σ 0 > 1, implying that the star-forming "main sequence" is primarily composed of rotating galaxies at both redshift regimes. When considering additional stricter criteria, the Hα kinematic maps indicate that at least ∼70% of the resolved galaxies are disk-like systems. Our high-quality KMOS data confirm the elevated velocity dispersions reported in previous integral field spectroscopy studies at z 0.7. For rotation-dominated disks, the average intrinsic velocity dispersion decreases by a factor of two from 50 km s −1 at z ∼ 2.3 to 25 km s −1 at z ∼ 0.9. Combined with existing results spanning z ∼ 0-3, we show that disk velocity dispersions follow an evolution that is consistent with the dependence of velocity dispersion on gas fractions predicted by marginally stable disk theory.

Galaxy-galaxy interactions are predicted to cause gas inflows leading to enhanced nuclear star formation. This prediction is borne out observationally, and is also supported by the gas-phase metallicity dilution in the inner regions of galaxies in close pairs. In this paper we test the further prediction that the gas inflows lead to enhanced accretion on to the central supermassive black hole, triggering activity in the nucleus. Based on a sample of 11 060 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies with a close companion (r p < 80 h −1 70 kpc, V < 200 km s −1 ), we classify active galactic nuclei (AGN) based either on emission line ratios or on spectral classification as a quasar. The AGN fraction in the close pairs sample is compared to a control sample of 110 600 mass-and redshift-matched control galaxies with no nearby companion. We find a clear increase in the AGN fraction in close pairs of galaxies with projected separations < 40 h −1 70 kpc by up to a factor of 2.5 relative to the control sample [although the enhancement depends on the chosen signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) cut of the sample]. The increase in AGN fraction is strongest in equal-mass galaxy pairings, and weakest in the lower mass component of an unequal-mass pairing. The increased AGN fraction at small separations is accompanied by an enhancement in the number of 'composite' galaxies whose spectra are the result of photoionization by both AGN and stars. Our results indicate that AGN activity occurs (at least in some cases) well before final coalescence and concurrently with ongoing star formation. Finally, we find a marked increase at small projected separations of the fraction of pairs in which both galaxies harbour AGN. We demonstrate that the fraction of double AGN exceeds the expected random fraction, indicating that some pairs undergo correlated nuclear activity. We discuss some of the factors that have led to conflicting results in previous studies of AGN in close pairs. Taken together with complementary studies, we favour an interpretation where interactions trigger AGN, but are not the only cause of nuclear activity.

We present a catalog of bulge, disk, and total stellar mass estimates for ∼660,000 galaxies in the Legacy area of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. These masses are based on a homogeneous catalog of gand r-band photometry described by Simard et al. (2011), which we extend here with bulge+disk and Sérsic profile photometric decompositions in the SDSS u, i, and z bands. We discuss the methodology used to derive stellar masses from these data via fitting to broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and show that the typical statistical uncertainty on total, bulge, and disk stellar mass is ∼0.15 dex. Despite relatively small formal uncertainties, we argue that SED modeling assumptions, including the choice of synthesis model, extinction law, initial mass function, and details of stellar evolution likely contribute an additional 60% systematic uncertainty in any mass estimate based on broadband SED fitting. We discuss several approaches for identifying genuine bulge+disk systems based on both their statistical likelihood and an analysis of their one-dimensional surface-brightness profiles, and include these metrics in the catalogs. Estimates of the total, bulge and disk stellar masses for both normal and dust-free models and their uncertainties are made publicly available here.

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In order to investigate the effects of galaxy mergers throughout the interaction sequence, we present a study of 10,800 galaxies in close pairs and a smaller sample of 97 post-mergers identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that the average central star formation rate (SFR) enhancement (×3.5) and the fraction of starbursts (20 per cent) peak in the postmerger sample. The post-mergers also show a stronger deficit in gas phase metallicity than the closest pairs, being more metal-poor than their control by −0.09 dex. Combined with the observed trends in SFR and the timescales predicted in merger simulations, we estimate that the post-mergers in our sample have undergone coalescence within the last few hundred Myr. In contrast with the incidence of star-forming galaxies, the frequency of active galactic nuclei (AGN) peaks in the post-mergers, outnumbering AGN in the control sample by a factor of 3.75. Moreover, amongst the galaxies that host an AGN, the black hole accretion rates in the closest pairs and post-mergers are higher by a factor of ∼ 3 than AGN in the control sample. These results are consistent with a picture in which star formation is initiated early on in the encounter, with AGN activity peaking post-coalescence.

We present a sample of 1899 galaxies with a close companion taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. The galaxy pairs are selected to have velocity differences Δv < 300 km s−1, projected separations (rp) < 80 h70−1 kpc, mass ratios between 0.1 and 10, and robust measurements of star formation rates and gas‐phase metallicities. We match the galaxies in total stellar mass, redshift and local density to a set of 10 control galaxies per pair galaxy. For each pair galaxy, we can therefore calculate the statistical change in star formation rate (SFR) and metallicity associated with the interaction process. Relative to the control sample, we find that galaxies in pairs show typical SFR enhancements that are, on average, 60 per cent higher than the control sample at rp < 30 h70−1 kpc. It is at these small separations that the strongest enhancements in SFR (by up to a factor of ∼10) are measured, although such starbursts are rare, even amongst the closest pairs. In addition, the pairs demonstrate more modest SFR enhancements of ∼30 per cent out to at least 80 h70−1 kpc (the widest separations in our sample). This is the first time that enhanced SFRs have been robustly detected out to such large projected separations. Galaxies in both major and minor mergers show significant SFR enhancements at all rp, although the strongest starbursts (with SFR enhancements of a factor of ∼10) appear to be found only in the major mergers. We also find evidence that SFR enhancements are synchronized in an interacting pair, such that a higher SFR in one galaxy is accompanied by an increased SFR in its companion. For the first time, we are also able to trace the metallicity changes in galaxy pairs as a function of projected separation. The metallicity is generally diluted in galaxy pairs by ∼0.02 dex, with an average metallicity decrement of −0.03 dex at the smallest separations, a trend that mirrors the SFR enhancements as a function of rp. The SFR and metallicity trends with projected separation are interpreted through a comparison with theoretical models. These simulations indicate that the peak in SFR enhancements at small separations is due to systems near the end of the merger process. The extended plateau in SFR enhancements out to at least 80 h70−1 kpc is dominated by galaxies that have made a pericentric passage and are now experiencing triggered star formation on their trajectory towards apogalacticon, or on a subsequent close approach.

In the cold dark matter cosmology, the baryonic components of galaxies-stars and gas-are thought to be mixed with and embedded in non-baryonic and non-relativistic dark matter, which dominates the total mass of the galaxy and its dark-matter halo. In the local (low-redshift) Universe, the mass of dark matter within a galactic disk increases with disk radius, becoming appreciable and then dominant in the outer, baryonic regions of the disks of star-forming galaxies. This results in rotation velocities of the visible matter within the disk that are constant or increasing with disk radius-a hallmark of the dark-matter model. Comparisons between the dynamical mass, inferred from these velocities in rotational equilibrium, and the sum of the stellar and cold-gas mass at the peak epoch of galaxy formation ten billion years ago, inferred from ancillary data, suggest high baryon fractions in the inner, star-forming regions of the disks. Although this implied baryon fraction may be larger than in the local Universe, the systematic uncertainties (owing to the chosen stellar initial-mass function and the calibration of gas masses) render such comparisons inconclusive in terms of the mass of dark matter. Here we report rotation curves (showing rotation velocity as a function of disk radius) for the outer disks of six massive star-forming galaxies, and find that the rotation velocities are not constant, but decrease with radius. We propose that this trend arises because of a combination of two main factors: first, a large fraction of the massive high-redshift galaxy population was strongly baryon-dominated, with dark matter playing a smaller part than in the local Universe; and second, the large velocity dispersion in high-redshift disks introduces a substantial pressure term that leads to a decrease in rotation velocity with increasing radius. The effect of both factors appears to increase with redshift. Qualitatively, the observations suggest that baryons in the early (high-redshift) Universe efficiently condensed at the centres of dark-matter haloes when gas fractions were high and dark matter was less concentrated.