Curriculum Vitae
I am a Henry Norris Russell
Postdoctoral Fellow in the
Department of Astrophysical Sciences
at Princeton University. I started
my graduate study at UC Santa Cruz, and completed my PhD at Harvard University with Prof. Charlie Conroy. I'm learning the formation and evolution of massive galaxies in the universe using both observational and theoretical approaches.
Coordinated Assembly of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in massive dark
matter halos are shaped by complex merging processes. We present
a detailed stellar population analysis in the central region of
Abell 3827 at z~0.1, including five-nucleus galaxies involved in
a BCG assembly. Based on deep spectroscopy from Multi Unit
Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), we fit the optical spectra of 13
early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the central 70 kpc of the cluster.
The stellar populations in the central R=1 kpc of these ETGs are old
(6-10Gyr). Their [Fe/H] increases with stellar velocity and stellar mass.
More importantly, [α/Fe] of galaxies close to the cluster center do
not seem to depend on stellar velocity or stellar mass, indicating that
the cluster center shapes the [α/Fe]-σ and [α/Fe]-M relations differently
than other environments. Our results reveal the coordinated assembly of
BCGs: their building blocks are different from the general low mass
populations by their high [α/Fe]. Massive galaxies thus grow by
accreting preferentially high [α/Fe] systems.
Low Metallicities and Old Ages for Three
Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
A large population of ultra-diffuse galaxies
(UDGs) was recently discovered in the Coma cluster. We present
optical spectra of three such UDGs, DF7, DF44 and DF17, which have
central surface brightnesses of 24.4-25.1 mag/arcsec^2 in g band.
The spectra were acquired as part of an ancillary program within the
SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey. We spectroscopically confirming that all of
them reside in the Coma cluster. The stellar populations of these three
galaxies are old and metal-poor. The UDGs in our sample are as old or
older than galaxies at similar stellar mass or velocity dispersion.
They all follow the well-established stellar mass-stellar metallicity
relation, while DF44 lies below the velocity dispersion-metallicity relation.
These results, combined with the fact that UDGs are unusually large
for their stellar mass, suggest that stellar mass plays a more important
role in setting stellar population properties for these galaxies than
either size or surface brightness.
Hierarchical Galaxy Growth and Scatter in the Stellar Mass-Halo Mass Relation
The relation between galaxies and dark matter halos
reflects the combined effects of many distinct physical processes.
Observations indicate that the z=0 stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation
has remarkably small scatter in stellar mass at fixed halo mass (~0.2 dex),
with little dependence on halo mass. We investigate the origins of this
scatter by combining N-body simulations with observational constraints on the
SMHM relation. We find that at the group and cluster scale the scatter due
purely to hierarchical assembly is ~0.16 dex, which is comparable to recent
direct observational estimates. At lower masses, mass buildup since z~2 is
driven largely by in situ growth. We include a model for the in situ buildup
of stellar mass and find that an intrinsic scatter in this growth channel of
0.2 dex produces a relation between scatter and halo mass that is consistent
with observations. The approximately constant scatter across a wide range of
halo masses at z = 0 thus appears to be a coincidence, as it is determined
largely by in situ growth at low masses and by hierarchical assembly at high
masses. These results indicate that the scatter in the SMHM relation can
provide unique insight into the regularity of the galaxy formation process.
A Novel Approach to Constrain the Mass Ratio of Minor Mergers in Elliptical Galaxies:
Application to NGC4889, the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in Coma
Minor mergers are thought to be important for the
buildup and structural evolution of massive elliptical galaxies. In
this work, we report the discovery of a system of four shell features in
NGC4889, one of the brightest members of the Coma cluster, using optical
images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
The shells are well aligned with the major axis of the host and are likely to have
been formed by the accretion of a small satellite galaxy. We firmly detect the
low-surface brightness shells, and accurately measure their luminosities and colors.
The shells are bluer than the underlying stars at the same radius in the main galaxy.
We make use of the colors of the shells and the color–magnitude relation of the Coma
cluster to infer the luminosity (or mass) of the progenitor galaxy. The shells in NGC4889
appear to have been produced by the minor merger of a moderate-luminosity
disk (S0 or spiral) galaxy with a luminosity (mass) ratio of ∼90:1 with respect to the primary galaxy.
The novel methodology presented in this work can be exploited to decode the fossil record imprinted
in the photometric substructure of other nearby early-type galaxies.