The SAMI Galaxy Survey: galaxy spin is more strongly correlated with stellar population age than mass or environment ...

• Main Authors: Croom, S. M., van de Sande, J., Vaughan, S. P., Rutherford, T. H., Lagos, C. P., Barsanti, S., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Brough, S., Bryant, J. J., Colless, M., Cortese, L., D'Eugenio, F., Fraser-McKelvie, A., Goodwin, M., Lorente, N. P. F., Richards, S. N., Ristea, A., Sweet, S. M., Yi, S. K., Zafar, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2024
• Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies astro-ph.GA; FOS Physical sciences; sami
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2402.06877; https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.06877

We use the SAMI Galaxy Survey to examine the drivers of galaxy spin, $λ_{R_e}$, in a multi-dimensional parameter space including stellar mass, stellar population age (or specific star formation rate) and various environmental metrics (local density, halo mass, satellite vs. central). Using a partial correlation analysis we consistently find that age or specific star formation rate is the primary parameter correlating with spin. Light-weighted age and specific star formation rate are more strongly correlated with spin than mass-weighted age. In fact, across our sample, once the relation between light-weighted age and spin is accounted for, there is no significant residual correlation between spin and mass, or spin and environment. This result is strongly suggestive that present-day environment only indirectly influences spin, via the removal of gas and star formation quenching. That is, environment affects age, then age affects spin. Older galaxies then have lower spin, either due to stars being born ... : 24 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS ...