Hydro-cosmological simulations reveal that massive galaxies at high redshift are fed by long narrow streams of merging galaxies and a smoother component of cold gas. We postprocess seven high-resolution simulated galaxies with radiative transfer to study the absorption characteristics of the gas in galaxies and streams, in comparison with the statistics of observed absorption-line systems. We find that much of the stream gas is ionized by UV radiation from background and local stellar sources, but still optically thick (N H I > 10 17 cm −2 ) so that the streams appear as Lyman-limit systems (LLSs). At z > 3, the fraction of neutral gas in streams becomes non-negligible, giving rise to damped Lyman α absorbers (DLAs) as well. The gas in the central and incoming galaxies remains mostly neutral, responsible for DLAs. Within one (two) virial radii, the covering factor of optically thick gas is <25 per cent (10 per cent) for LLSs and <5 per cent (1 per cent) for DLAs, slowly declining with time following the universal expansion. Nevertheless, galaxies and their cold streams in the studied mass range, M vir = 10 10 -10 12 M , account for >30 per cent of the observed absorbers in the foreground of quasars, the rest possibly arising from smaller galaxies or the intergalactic medium. The mean metallicity in the streams is ∼1 per cent solar, much lower than in the galaxies. The simulated galaxies reproduce the Lyα-absorption equivalent widths observed around Lymanbreak galaxies, but they severely underpredict the equivalent widths in metal lines, suggesting that the latter may arise from outflows. We conclude that the observed metal-poor LLSs are likely detections of the predicted cold streams. Revised analysis of the observed LLSs kinematics and simulations with more massive outflows in conjunction with the inflows may enable a clearer distinction between the signatures of the various gas modes.

Citation for published item:rohskD tF vier nd erkD tessi uF nd orsekD q¡ or nd rippD odd wF nd umlinsonD tson nd furhettD toseph xF nd poxD endrew tF nd pumglliD wihele nd vehnerD xiols nd eeplesD wolly F nd ejosD xiols @PHIUA 9he gyErlos survey X metlliities in the lowEredshift irumglti mediumF9D estrophysil journlFD VQU @PAF pF ITWF Further information on publisher's website: Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractWe analyze new far-ultraviolet spectra of 13quasars from thez 0.2 COS-Halos survey that cover the H I Lyman limit of 14circumgalactic medium (CGM) systems. These data yield precise estimates or more constraining limits than previous COS-Halos measurements on the H I column densities N H I . We then apply a Monte-Carlo Markov chain approach on 32systems from COS-Halos to estimate the metallicity of the cool (T 10 4 K) CGM gas that gives rise to low-ionization state metal lines, under the assumption of photoionization equilibrium with the extragalactic UV background. The principle results are: (1) the CGM of field L * galaxies exhibits a declining H I surface density with impact parameterR (at >99.5% confidence), (2) the transmission of ionizing radiation through CGM gas alone is 70±7%; (3) the metallicity distribution function of the cool CGM is unimodal with a median of - to >  Z 3 ; the incidence of metal-poor (<  Z 1 100 ) gas is low, implying any such gas discovered along quasar sightlines is typically unrelated to L * galaxies; (4) we find an unexpected increase in gas metallicity with declining N H I (at >99.9% confidence) and, therefore, also with increasingR ; the high metallicity at large radii implies early enrichment; and (5) a non-parametric estimate of the cool CGM gas mass is = ´ ( ) M M 9.2 4.3 10 CGM cool 10, which together with new mass estimates for the hot CGM may resolve the galactic missing baryons problem. Future analyses of halo gas should focus on the underlying astrophysics governing the CGM, rather than processes that simply expel the medium from the halo.

Citation for published item:orsekD qF nd rohskD tFF nd y9werD tF nd fekerD qF nd illisonD F nd vopezD F nd weiksinD eF nd w¡ enrdD fF nd wurphyD wF nd pumglliD wF @PHIRA 9he qint qemini qwy survey of zem b RFR qusrs ! sF wesuring the men free pth ross osmi timeF9D wonthly noties of the oyl estronomil oietyFD RRS @PAF ppF IURSEIUTHF Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

We report the large effort that is producing comprehensive high-level young star cluster (YSC) catalogs for a significant fraction of galaxies observed with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) Hubble treasury program. We present the methodology developed to extract cluster positions, verify their genuine nature, produce multiband photometry (from NUV to NIR), and derive their physical properties via spectral energy distribution fitting analyses. We use the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628 as a test case for demonstrating the impact that LEGUS will have on our understanding of the formation and evolution of YSCs and compact stellar associations within their host galaxy. Our analysis of the cluster luminosity function from the UV to the NIR finds a steepening at the bright end and at all wavelengths suggesting a dearth of luminous clusters. The cluster mass function of NGC 628The 1 is consistent with a power-law distribution of slopes~-2 and a truncation of a few times 10 5  M . After their formation, YSCs and compact associations follow different evolutionary paths. YSCs survive for a longer time frame, confirming their being potentially bound systems. Associations disappear on timescales comparable to hierarchically organized star-forming regions, suggesting that they are expanding systems. We find massindependent cluster disruption in the inner region of NGC 628, while in the outer part of the galaxy there is little or no disruption. We observe faster disruption rates for low mass (10 4  M ) clusters, suggesting that a massdependent component is necessary to fully describe the YSC disruption process in NGC 628.Astrophysical Journal, 841:131 (26pp), 2017 June 1 https:

The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope, aimed at the investigation of star formation and its relation with galactic environment in nearby galaxies, from the scales of individual stars to those of ∼kpc-size clustered structures. Five-band imaging, from the near-ultraviolet to the I-band, with the Wide Field Camera 3, plus parallel optical imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, is being collected for selected pointings of 50 galaxies within the local 12 Mpc. The filters used for the observations with the Wide Field Camera 3 are: F275W(λ2,704Å), F336W(λ3,355Å), F438W(λ4,325Å), F555W(λ5,308Å), and F814W(λ8,024Å); the parallel observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys use the filters: F435W(λ4,328Å), F606W(λ5,921Å), and F814W(λ8,057Å). The multi-band images are yielding accurate recent ( 50 Myr) star formation histories from resolved massive stars and the extinction-corrected ages and masses of star clusters and associations. The extensive inventories of massive stars and clustered systems will be used to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of star formation * Einstein Fellow within galaxies. This will, in turn, inform theories of galaxy evolution and improve the understanding of the physical underpinning of the gas-star formation relation and the nature of star formation at high redshift. This paper describes the survey, its goals and observational strategy, and the initial science results. Because LEGUS will provide a reference survey and a foundation for future observations with JWST and with ALMA, a large number of data products are planned for delivery to the community.

We study the role of the environment on galaxy evolution using a sample of 868 galaxies in the Virgo cluster and in its surrounding regions that are selected from the GALEX Ultraviolet Virgo Cluster Survey (GUViCS) with the purpose of understanding the origin of the red sequence in dense environments. The sample spans a wide range in morphological types (from dwarf ellipticals to Im and BCD) and stellar masses (10 7 M star 10 11.5 M ). We collected multifrequency data covering the whole electromagnetic spectrum for most of the galaxies, including UV, optical, mid-and far-infrared imaging data, as well as optical and HI spectroscopic data. We first identify the different dynamical substructures that compose the Virgo cluster, and we calculate the local density of galaxies using different methods. We then study the distribution of galaxies belonging to the red sequence, the green valley, and the blue cloud within the different cluster substructures or as a function of galaxy density. Our analysis indicates that all the most massive galaxies (M star 10 11 M ) are slow rotators and are the dominant galaxies of the different cluster substructures, which are generally associated with a diffuse X-ray emission. They are probably the result of major merging events that occurred at early epochs, as also indicated by their very old stellar populations. Slow rotators of lower stellar mass (10 8.5M star 10 11 M ) are also preferentially located within the different high-density substructures of the cluster. Their position in the velocity space indicates that they are virialised within the cluster; thus, they are Virgo members since its formation. They have been shaped by gravitational perturbations occurring within the infalling groups that later form the cluster (pre-processing). On the contrary, low-mass star-forming systems are extremely rare in the inner regions of the Virgo cluster A, where the density of the intergalactic medium is at its maximum. Our ram pressure stripping models consistently indicate that these star-forming systems can be rapidly deprived of their interstellar medium during their interaction with the intergalactic medium. The lack of gas quenches their star-formation activity transforming them into quiescent dwarf ellipticals. This mild transformation does not perturb the kinematic properties of these galaxies, which still have rotation curves typical of star-forming systems.

In the current cosmological model, only the three lightest elements were created in the first few minutes after the Big Bang; all other elements were produced later in stars. To date, however, heavy elements have been observed in all astrophysical environments. We report the detection of two gas clouds with no discernible elements heavier than hydrogen. These systems exhibit the lowest heavy-element abundance in the early universe, and thus are potential fuel for the most metal-poor halo stars. The detection of deuterium in one system at the level predicted by primordial nucleosynthesis provides a direct confirmation of the standard cosmological model. The composition of these clouds further implies that the transport of heavy elements from galaxies to their surroundings is highly inhomogeneous.

Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.