Category: Christian Maier Publications

Here are Christian Maier’s top 5 extragalactic astronomy publications. Christian Maier’s main research interests in extragalactic astronomy include the evolution of star formation rates and metallicities of galaxies, and therole of AGN and (cluster) environment on galaxy evolution and on quenching. These topics are part of Christian Maier’s  top 5 extragalactic astronomy publications.

Extragalactic Astronomy Publication 1 : Star-formation quenching of cluster galaxies as traced by metallicity and presence of active galactic nuclei, and galactic conformity

We explored 18 clusters from the Local Cluster Substructure Survey at 0.15 < z < 0.26, using spectra from the Arizona Cluster Redshift Survey Hectospec survey of about 1800 cluster members. As a result, we found that massive cluster galaxies suffer a rapid quenching of star formation, likely due to AGN triggered by the increasing ram pressure stripping toward the cluster center, which can compress the gas and fuel AGN.

Extragalactic Astronomy Publication 2: Cluster induced quenching of galaxies in the massive cluster XMMXCS J2215.9-1738 at z ∼ 1.5 traced by enhanced metallicities inside half R₂₀₀

We explored the massive cluster XMMXCS J2215.9-1738 at z ∼ 1.5 with KMOS spectroscopy. As a result, the enhanced metallicities of cluster galaxies at z ∼ 1.5 inside 0.5R₂₀₀ indicate that the density of the intracluster medium in this massive cluster becomes high enough toward the cluster center such that the ram pressure exceeds the restoring pressure of the hot gas reservoir of cluster galaxies.

Extragalactic Astronomy Publication 3: The Mass-Metallicity and Fundamental Metallicity Relations at z > 2 Using Very Large Telescope and Subaru Near-infrared Spectroscopy of zCOSMOS Galaxies

To explore the so-called “fundamental metallicity relation” (FMR) at z > 2, we used VLT-SINFONI and Subaru-MOIRCS near-infrared spectroscopy of 20 zCOSMOS-deep galaxies at 2.1 < z < 2.5. The galaxies show direct evidence that the SFR is still a second parameter in the MZR at these redshifts.

Extragalactic Astronomy Publication 4 (in collaboration with Lisa Kewley): The Cosmic BPT Diagram: Confronting Theory with Observations

We used our theoretical models to derive a new redshift-dependent classification line diagram that utilizes the standard optical diagnostic line ratios.

Extragalactic Astronomy Publication 5: Mass and Environment as Drivers of Galaxy Evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the Origin of the Schechter Function

We explored the simple inter-relationships between mass, star formation rate, and environment in the SDSS, zCOSMOS, and other deep surveys. A purely empirical approach was taken to identify those features of galaxy evolution that are demanded by the data. We then explored the analytic consequences of these.