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Wang, Yunchong

Publications and source records attributed to Wang, Yunchong.

The SAGA Survey. IV. The Star Formation Properties of 101 Satellite Systems around Milky Way–mass Galaxies

We present the star-forming properties of 378 satellite galaxies around 101 Milky Way analogs in the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey, focusing on the environmental processes that suppress or quench star formation. In the SAGA stellar mass range of 10 6−10 M ⊙ , we present quenched fractions, star-forming rates, gas-phase metallicities, and gas content. The fraction of SAGA satellites that are quenched increases with decreasing stellar mass and shows significant system-to-system scatter. SAGA satellite quenched fractions are highest in the central 100 kpc of their hosts and decline out to the virial radius. Splitting by specific star formation rate (sSFR), the least star-forming satellite quartile follows the radial trend of the quenched population. The median sSFR of star-forming satellites increases with decreasing stellar mass and is roughly constant with projected radius. Star-forming SAGA satellites are consistent with the star formation rate–stellar mass relationship determined in the Local Volume, while the median gas-phase metallicity is higher and median H i gas mass is lower at all stellar masses. We investigate the dependence of the satellite quenched fraction on host properties. Quenched fractions are higher in systems with larger host halo mass, but this trend is only seen in the inner 100 kpc; we do not see significant trends with host color or star formation rate. Our results suggest that lower-mass satellites and satellites inside 100 kpc are more efficiently quenched in a Milky Way–like environment, with these processes acting sufficiently slowly to preserve a population of star-forming satellites at all stellar masses and projected radii.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The SAGA Survey. III. A Census of 101 Satellite Systems around Milky Way–mass Galaxies

We present Data Release 3 (DR3) of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey, a spectroscopic survey characterizing satellite galaxies around Milky Way (MW)-mass galaxies. The SAGA Survey DR3 includes 378 satellites identified across 101 MW-mass systems in the distance range of 25–40.75 Mpc, and an accompanying redshift catalog of background galaxies (including about 46,000 taken by SAGA) in the SAGA footprint of 84.7 deg 2 . The number of confirmed satellites per system ranges from zero to 13, in the stellar mass range of 10 6−10 M ⊙ . Based on a detailed completeness model, this sample accounts for 94% of the true satellite population down to M ⋆ = 10 7.5 M ⊙ . We find that the mass of the most massive satellite in SAGA systems is the strongest predictor of satellite abundance; one-third of the SAGA systems contain LMC-mass satellites, and they tend to have more satellites than the MW. The SAGA satellite radial distribution is less concentrated than the MW's, and the SAGA quenched fraction below 10 8.5 M ⊙ is lower than the MW's, but in both cases, the MW is within 1σ of SAGA system-to-system scatter. SAGA satellites do not exhibit a clear corotating signal as has been suggested in the MW/M31 satellite systems. Although the MW differs in many respects from the typical SAGA system, these differences can be reconciled if the MW is an older, slightly less massive host with a recently accreted LMC/SMC system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SAGAbg. II. The Low-mass Star-forming Sequence Evolves Significantly between 0.05 < z < 0.21

The redshift-dependent relation between galaxy stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR), known as the star-forming sequence (SFS), is a key observational yardstick for galaxy assembly. We use the SAGAbg-A sample of background galaxies from the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey to model the low-redshift evolution of the low-mass SFS. The sample is comprised of 23,258 galaxies with Hα-based SFRs spanning 6 < log 10 (M * /[M ⊙ ]) < 10 and z < 0.21 (t < 2.5 Gyr). Although it is common to bin or stack galaxies at z ≲ 0.2 for galaxy population studies, the difference in lookback time between z = 0 and z = 0.21 is comparable to the time between z = 1 and z = 2. We develop a model to account for both the physical evolution of low-mass SFS and the selection function of the SAGA Survey, allowing us to disentangle redshift evolution from redshift-dependent selection effects across the SAGAbg-A redshift range. Our findings indicate significant evolution in the SFS over the last ∼2.5 Gyr, with a rising normalization: $\langle$SRF(M * = 10 8.5 M ⊙ )$\rangle$ (z) = 1.24$^{+0.25}_{–0.23}$z – 1.47$^{+0.03}_{–0.03}$. We also identify the redshift limit at which a static SFS is ruled out at the 95% confidence level, which is z = 0.05 based on the precision of the SAGAbg-A sample. Comparison with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations reveals that some contemporary simulations underpredict the recent evolution of the low-mass SFS. This demonstrates that the recent evolution of the low-mass SFS can provide new constraints on the assembly of the low-mass Universe and highlights the need for improved models in this regime.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The DESI One-Percent Survey: exploring a generalized SHAM for multiple tracers with the UNIT simulation

We perform SubHalo Abundance Matching (SHAM) studies on UNIT simulations with {σ, V ceil , v smear }-SHAM and {σ, V ceil , $f$ sat }-SHAM. They are designed to reproduce the clustering on 5–30 h -1 Mpc of luminous red galaxies (LRGs), emission-line galaxies (ELGs), and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at 0.4 < z < 3.5 from DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) One Percent Survey. V ceil is the incompleteness of the massive host (sub)haloes and is the key to the generalized SHAM. v smear models the clustering effect of redshift uncertainties, providing measurements consistent with those from repeat observations. A free satellite fraction $f$ sat is necessary to reproduce the clustering of ELGs. We find ELGs present a more complex galaxy–halo mass relation than LRGs reflected in their weak constraints on σ. LRGs, QSOs, and ELGs show increasing V ceil values, corresponding to the massive galaxy incompleteness of LRGs, the quenched star formation of ELGs and the quenched black hole accretion of QSOs. For LRGs, a Gaussian v smear presents a better profile for subsamples at redshift bins than a Lorentzian profile used for other tracers. The impact of the statistical redshift uncertainty on ELG clustering is negligible. The best-fitting satellite fraction for DESI ELGs is around 4 per cent, lower than previous estimations for ELGs. The mean halo mass log 10 ($\langle$M vir $\rangle$) in h -1 M ⊙ for LRGs, ELGs, and QSOs are 13.16 ± 0.01, 11.90 ± 0.06, and 12.66 ± 0.45, respectively. Our generalized SHAM algorithms facilitate the production of multitracer galaxy mocks for cosmological tests.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

UniverseMachine: Predicting Galaxy Star Formation over Seven Decades of Halo Mass with Zoom-in Simulations

In this work, we apply the empirical galaxy–halo connection model UniverseMachine to dark-matter-only zoom-in simulations of isolated Milky Way (MW)–mass halos, along with their parent cosmological simulations. This application extends UniverseMachine predictions into the ultrafaint dwarf galaxy regime (10 2 M ⊙ ≤ M * ≤ 10 5 M ⊙) and yields a well-resolved stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation over the peak halo mass range of 10 8 –10 15 M ⊙. The extensive dynamic range provided by the zoom-in simulations allows us to assess specific aspects of dwarf galaxy evolution predicted by UniverseMachine. In particular, although UniverseMachine is not constrained for dwarf galaxies with M * ≲ 10 8 M ⊙, our predicted SMHM relation is consistent with that inferred for MW satellite galaxies at z = 0 using abundance matching. However, UniverseMachine predicts that nearly all galaxies are actively star-forming below M * ~ 10 7 M ⊙ and that these systems typically form more than half of their stars at z ≲ 4, which is discrepant with the star formation histories of Local Group dwarf galaxies that favor early quenching.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SDSS-IV MaNGA: the inner density slopes of nearby galaxies

ABSTRACT We derive the mass-weighted total density slopes within the effective (half-light) radius, γ′, for more than 2000 nearby galaxies from the SDSS-IV (Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV) MaNGA survey using Jeans-anisotropic-models applied to integral field unit observations. Our galaxies span a wide range of the stellar mass (109 M⊙ < M* < 1012 M⊙) and the velocity dispersion (30 km s−1 < σv < 300 km s−1). We find that for galaxies with velocity dispersion σv > 100 km s−1, the density slope has a mean value 〈γ′〉 = 2.24 and a dispersion σγ = 0.22, almost independent of velocity dispersion, consistent with previous lensing and stellar dynamical analysis. We also quantitatively confirm with high accuracy a turnover in the γ′–σv relation is present at σ ∼ 100 km s−1, below which the density slope decreases rapidly with σv, consistent with the results reported by previous analysis of ${\rm ATLAS^{\rm 3D}}$ survey. Our analysis shows that a large fraction of dwarf galaxies (below M* = 1010 M⊙) have total density slopes shallower than 1, which implies that they may reside in cold dark matter haloes with shallow density slopes. We compare our results with that of galaxies in hydrodynamical simulations of EAGLE, Illustris, and IllustrisTNG projects, and find all simulations predict shallower density slopes for massive galaxies with high σv. Finally, we explore the dependence of γ′ on the positions of galaxies in haloes, namely centrals versus satellites, and find that for the same velocity dispersion, the amplitude of γ′ is higher for satellite galaxies by about 0.1.

Li, Ran↗