The SAMI Galaxy Survey: On the importance of applying multiple selection criteria for finding Milky Way Analogues ...

• Main Authors: Tuntipong, Sujeeporn, van de Sande, Jesse, Croom, Scott M., Barsanti, Stefania, Bland-Hawthorn, Joss, Brough, Sarah, Bryant, Julia J., Casura, Sarah, Fraser-McKelvie, Amelia, Lawrence, Jon S., Ristea, Andrei, Sweet, Sarah M., Zafar, Tayyaba
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2024
• Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies astro-ph.GA; FOS: Physical sciences; Milky Way; sami
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2408.12223; https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.12223

Milky Way Analogues (MWAs) provide an alternative insight into the various pathways that lead to the formation of disk galaxies with similar properties to the Milky Way. In this study, we explore different selection techniques for identifying MWAs in the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We utilise a nearest neighbours method to define MWAs using four selection parameters including stellar mass ($M_{\star}$), star formation rate ($SFR$), bulge-to-total ratio ($B/T$) and disk effective radius ($R_{\rm{e}}$). Based on 15 different selection combinations, we find that including $M_{\star}$ and SFR is essential for minimising biases in the average MWA properties as compared to the Milky Way. Furthermore, given the Milky Way's smaller-than-average size, selection combinations without $R_{\rm{e}}$ result in MWAs being too large. Lastly, we find that $B/T$ is the least important parameter out of the four tested parameters. Using all four selection criteria, we define the top 10 most Milky Way-like galaxies in the GAMA and ... : 26 pages, 16 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS ...