In this paper we use ASPECS, the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field in band. 3 and band. 6, to place blind constraints on the CO luminosity function and the evolution of the cosmic molecular gas density as a function of redshift up to z similar to 4.5. This study is based on galaxies that have been selected solely through their CO emission and not through any other property. In all of the redshift bins the ASPECS measurements reach the predicted "knee" of the CO luminosity function (around 5 x 10(9) K km s(-1) pc(2)). We find clear evidence of an evolution in the CO luminosity function with respect to z similar to 0, with more CO-luminous galaxies present at z similar to 2. The observed galaxies at z similar to 2 also appear more gas-rich than predicted by recent semi-analytical models. The comoving cosmic molecular gas density within galaxies as a function of redshift shows a drop by a factor of 3-10 from z similar to 2 to z similar to 0 (with significant error bars), and possibly a decline at z > 3. This trend is similar to the observed evolution of the cosmic star formation rate density. The latter therefore appears to be at least partly driven by the increased availability of molecular gas reservoirs at the peak of cosmic star formation (z similar to 2).

We present; 0 4 resolution extinction-independent distributions of star formation and dust in 11 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z. =. 1.3-3.0. These galaxies are selected from sensitive blank-field surveys of the 2 x 2' Hubble Ultra-Deep Field at gimel = 5 cm and 1.3 mm using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. They have star formation rates (SFRs), stellar masses, and dust properties representative of massive main-sequence SFGs at z similar to 2. Morphological classification performed on spatially resolved stellar mass maps indicates a mixture of disk and morphologically disturbed systems; half of the sample harbor X-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs), thereby representing a diversity of z similar to 2 SFGs undergoing vigorous mass assembly. We find that their intense star formation most frequently occurs at the location of stellar-mass concentration and extends over an area comparable to their stellar-mass distribution, with a median diameter of 4.2 similar to 1.8 kpc. This provides direct evidence of galaxy-wide star formation in distant blank-field-selected main-sequence SFGs. The typical galactic-average SFR surface density is 2.5Me circle dot yr(-1) kpc(-2), sufficiently high to drive outflows. In X-ray-selected AGN where radio emission is enhanced over the level associated with star formation, the radio excess pinpoints the AGNs, which are found to be cospatial with star formation. The median extinctionindependent size of main-sequence SFGs is two times larger than those of bright submillimeter galaxies, whose SFRs are 3-8 times larger, providing a constraint on the characteristic SFR (similar to 300Me yr(-1)) above which a significant population of more compact SFGs appears to emerge.

During an intensive Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) UV monitoring campaign of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 performed from 2014 February to July, the normally highly correlated far UV continuum and broad emission line variations decorrelated for similar to 60-70 days, starting similar to 75 days after the first HST/COS observation. Following this anomalous state, the flux and variability of the broad emission lines returned to a more normal state. This transient behavior, characterized by significant deficits in flux and equivalent width of the strong broad UV emission lines, is the first of its kind to be unambiguously identified in an active galactic nucleus reverberation mapping campaign. The largest corresponding emission line flux deficits occurred for the high ionization, collisionally excited lines C IV and Si IV(+O IV]), and also He II(+O III]), while the anomaly in Ly alpha was substantially smaller. This pattern of behavior indicates a depletion in the flux of photons with E-ph > 54 eV relative to those near 13.6 eV. We suggest two plausible mechanisms for the observed behavior: (i) temporary obscuration of the ionizing continuum incident upon broad line region (BLR) clouds by a moving veil of material lying between the inner accretion disk and inner (BLR), perhaps resulting from an episodic ejection of material from the disk, or (ii) a temporary change in the intrinsic ionizing continuum spectral energy distribution resulting in a deficit of ionizing photons with energies > 54 eV, possibly due to a transient restructuring of the Comptonizing atmosphere above the disk. Current evidence appears to favor the latter explanation.

Swift monitoring of NGC 4151 with an similar to 6 hr sampling over a total of 69 days in early 2016 is used to construct light curves covering five bands in the X-rays (0.3-50 keV) and six in the ultraviolet (UV)/optical (1900-5500 angstrom). The three hardest X-ray bands (> 2.5 keV) are all strongly correlated with no measurable interband lag, while the two softer bands show lower variability and weaker correlations. The UV/optical bands are significantly correlated with the X-rays, lagging similar to 3-4 days behind the hard X-rays. The variability within the UV/optical bands is also strongly correlated, with the UV appearing to lead the optical by similar to 0.5-1 days. This combination of greater than or similar to 3 day lags between the X-rays and UV and less than or similar to 1 day lags within the UV/optical appears to rule out the "lamp-post" reprocessing model in which a hot, X-ray emitting corona directly illuminates the accretion disk, which then reprocesses the energy in the UV/optical. Instead, these results appear consistent with the Gardner & Done picture in which two separate reprocessings occur: first, emission from the corona illuminates an extreme-UV-emitting toroidal component that shields the disk from the corona; this then heats the extreme-UV component, which illuminates the disk and drives its variability.

This thesis presents new and unique wide-field imaging and spectroscopic observations of 21 X-ray selected rich clusters of galaxies in the redshift range 0.07 < z < 0.16 from the Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) / Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) Rich Cluster Survey (LARCS). Mosaic two colour broad-band CCD imaging extending to 10 Mpc at the mean redshift of the survey have been taken at LCO; comprising over 50Gb of raw data. A reduction pipeline is developed for these data and catalogues are constructed for these clusters. Four of these fields are compared to the APM catalogue (Maddox et al. 1990) to confirm their photometric accuracy. In making the comparison several populations of galaxies are discovered to be absent from the APM.A statistical background correction technique is developed to examine the photometric properties of cluster members. Eleven clusters are combined together to investigate environmental trends in the stellar populations of the combined sample. It is found that the modal colours of galaxies lying on the colour-magnitude relation in the clusters become bluer by d (B - R)/dr(_p) = -0.022 ±0.004 with radius or d (B - R)/dlog(_10) (Σ) = -0.076 ± 0.009 with local galaxy density. The 2dF spectroscope at the A AT is used to make spectroscopic follow-up observations of three clusters. A reduction pipeline for these data is developed and redshifts for the galaxies are determined. The spectral catalogues are used to define cluster membership and confirm the photometric environmental trends. Spectral line strengths are used to classify the galaxy population and examine environmental trends across the clusters. The cluster cores are found to be predominantly passive compared to the field. A comparison of the two cluster membership assignment techniques underscores the need for spectroscopy to define the cluster population.

An important question in extragalactic astronomy concerns the distribution of black hole accretion rates of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Based on observations at X-ray wavelengths, the observed Eddington ratio distribution appears as a power law, while optical studies have often yielded a lognormal distribution. There is increasing evidence that these observed discrepancies may be due to contamination by star formation and other selection effects. Using a sample of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we test whether or not an intrinsic Eddington ratio distribution that takes the form of a Schechter function is consistent with previous work suggesting that young galaxies in optical surveys have an observed lognormal Eddington ratio distribution. We simulate the optical emission line properties of a population of galaxies and AGNs using a broad, instantaneous luminosity distribution described by a Schechter function near the Eddington limit. This simulated AGN population is then compared to observed galaxies via their positions on an emission line excitation diagram and Eddington ratio distributions. We present an improved method for extracting the AGN distribution using BPT diagnostics that allows us to probe over one order of magnitude lower in Eddington ratio, counteracting the effects of dilution by star formation. We conclude that for optically selected AGNs in young galaxies, the intrinsic Eddington ratio distribution is consistent with a possibly universal, broad power law with an exponential cutoff, as this distribution is observed in old, optically selected galaxies and X-rays.

“The nature of the nebulae and their place in the scheme of the universe have been favorite subjects of controversy since the very dawn of telescopic observations. In these later days, when the non-galactic nebulae have been clearly differentiated from the diffuse and the planetary, the discussion has concentrated around the spectacular forms of the spirals… island universes, scattered through the remote depths of space.” – Edwin P. Hubble It was only a mere 45 years ago, that some of the foremost astronomers such as Allan Sandage and Donald Lynden Bell believed that spiral galaxies were monolithic islands which were dynamically closed. This thesis has awaited the dawning of a new era wherein the disks of spiral galaxies can be “dust penetrated”. Prevalent ideas in the literature are overturned. Unprecedented images from IRAC onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the dynamic nature of nearby disk galaxies, including the two dominant spirals in our Local Group beyond the Milky Way. We show that M33 is a spiral galaxy whose disk grows outwards with time and which serves as a local Rosetta stone of a dynamically open system. We next show that the present-day morphology of M31 was induced only 210 million years ago. IRAC images betray its tumultuous recent past with the presence of two spectacular off-centre rings of dust, glowing at 8.0μm. A collision scenario seems most likely, with one of its larger satellite galaxies, M32. In our local universe, the bar phenomenon is ubiquitous. We separate bars from their parent disks in a sample of about 40 spiral galaxies, revealing that stronger spirals are not necessarily driven by stronger bars. Bars are not the universal excitation mechanism by which spiral structure is induced. Finally, surprising insights are gleaned from the IRAC 8.0μm window pertaining to the dust morphology of barred spirals. Three distinct form families of stellar bars are presented. May this thesis serve as “one small step for man” in our quest to expand our knowledge in the new epoch of quantitative galaxy classification in the dust-penetrated regime.

Lenticular and elliptical galaxies, collectively referred to as "early-type galaxies" (ETGs), are commonly thought to represent the end-points of galaxy evolution. Lying in the red sequence of galaxies, these objects are defined by their mostly old stellar populations and by their "red and dead" appearance in optical observations. Much progress in understanding these objects has been made with integral-field spectroscopy in recent years, with results repeatedly pointing to a link between early-type galaxies and high-redshift spiral galaxies. However, the exact nature of this link remains unclear, with a wide variety of evolution scenarios likely required to fully explain the range of observed early-type galaxy properties. In my study, I analysed observations of twelve early-type galaxies taken with the Mitchell Integral-Field Spectrograph at McDonald Observatory, Texas. These galaxies have previously been found to contain detectable quantities of neutral hydrogen gas, with ten out of the twelve displaying large-scale hydrogen disks. I extracted line-of-sight kinematics of the stellar and ionised gas components of these galaxies, and I used various modelling approaches to constrain their stellar population parameters as well as their three-dimensional mass structure in terms of both dark and visible components. An important feature of this study is the wide field of view of the spectroscopic observations, which reach beyond two half-light radii for almost all of the sample; this remains rare for integral-field unit (IFU) studies of ETGs, and so sets this study apart from most earlier works. The gas-rich nature of the sample is likewise novel. I find all aspects of my analysis to yield a consistent view of these galaxies' evolution, in which one or more gaseous interaction events served to shape them into their observed forms. I find these galaxies to contain low dark matter fractions on average within the inner half-light radius, and I also find mass modelling to favour near-isothermal total density profiles over much of the sample.

Dissertation--University of Oulu, 2000. / Bibliogr.

Thesis (Ph. D.) in Physics--University of Maine, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-153).