The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies
The well-established correlations between the mass of a galaxy and the properties of its stars are considered to be evidence for mass driving the evolution of the stellar population (SP). However, for early-type galaxies (ETGs), we find that g - i color and stellar metallicity [Z/H] correlate more s...
Published in: | The Astrophysical Journal |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
American Astronomical Society
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461926 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e |
id |
ftswinburne:tle:39df0653-92cb-4397-bf4e-2cddd232e280:28f49f06-0da8-44be-9edc-ad1dd0a9c582:1 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftswinburne:tle:39df0653-92cb-4397-bf4e-2cddd232e280:28f49f06-0da8-44be-9edc-ad1dd0a9c582:1 2023-05-15T18:13:11+02:00 The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies Barone, Tania M. D’Eugenio, Francesco Colless, Matthew Scott, Nicholas Sande, Jesse van de Bland-Hawthorn, Joss Brough, Sarah Bryant, Julia J. Cortese, Luca Croom, Scott M. Foster, Caroline Goodwin, Michael Konstantopoulos, Iraklis S. Lawrence, Jon S. Lorente, Nuria P. F. Medling, Anne M. Owers, Matt S. Richards, Samuel N. Swinburne University of Technology 2018 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461926 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e unknown American Astronomical Society http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461926 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e Copyright © 2018 The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 856, no. 1 (Mar 2018), 64 Journal article 2018 ftswinburne https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e 2021-07-26T22:26:28Z The well-established correlations between the mass of a galaxy and the properties of its stars are considered to be evidence for mass driving the evolution of the stellar population (SP). However, for early-type galaxies (ETGs), we find that g - i color and stellar metallicity [Z/H] correlate more strongly with gravitational potential Φ than with mass M, whereas SP age correlates best with surface density Σ. Specifically, for our sample of 625 ETGs with integral-field spectroscopy from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field Galaxy Survey, compared to correlations with mass, the color-Φ, [Z/H]-Φ, and age-Σ relations show both a smaller scatter and a lower residual trend with galaxy size. For the star formation duration proxy [α/Fe], we find comparable results for trends with Φ and Σ, with both being significantly stronger than the [α/Fe]-M relation. In determining the strength of a trend, we analyze both the overall scatter, and the observational uncertainty on the parameters, in order to compare the intrinsic scatter in each correlation. These results lead us to the following inferences and interpretations: (1) the color-Φ diagram is a more precise tool for determining the developmental stage of the SP than the conventional color-mass diagram; and (2) gravitational potential is the primary regulator of global stellar metallicity, via its relation to the gas escape velocity. Furthermore, we propose the following two mechanisms for the age and [α/Fe] relations with Σ: (a) the age-Σ and [α/Fe]-Σ correlations arise as results of compactness-driven quenching mechanisms; and/or (b) as fossil records of the relation in their disk-dominated progenitors. Article in Journal/Newspaper sami Swinburne University of Technology: Swinburne Research Bank The Astrophysical Journal 856 1 64 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Swinburne University of Technology: Swinburne Research Bank |
op_collection_id |
ftswinburne |
language |
unknown |
description |
The well-established correlations between the mass of a galaxy and the properties of its stars are considered to be evidence for mass driving the evolution of the stellar population (SP). However, for early-type galaxies (ETGs), we find that g - i color and stellar metallicity [Z/H] correlate more strongly with gravitational potential Φ than with mass M, whereas SP age correlates best with surface density Σ. Specifically, for our sample of 625 ETGs with integral-field spectroscopy from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field Galaxy Survey, compared to correlations with mass, the color-Φ, [Z/H]-Φ, and age-Σ relations show both a smaller scatter and a lower residual trend with galaxy size. For the star formation duration proxy [α/Fe], we find comparable results for trends with Φ and Σ, with both being significantly stronger than the [α/Fe]-M relation. In determining the strength of a trend, we analyze both the overall scatter, and the observational uncertainty on the parameters, in order to compare the intrinsic scatter in each correlation. These results lead us to the following inferences and interpretations: (1) the color-Φ diagram is a more precise tool for determining the developmental stage of the SP than the conventional color-mass diagram; and (2) gravitational potential is the primary regulator of global stellar metallicity, via its relation to the gas escape velocity. Furthermore, we propose the following two mechanisms for the age and [α/Fe] relations with Σ: (a) the age-Σ and [α/Fe]-Σ correlations arise as results of compactness-driven quenching mechanisms; and/or (b) as fossil records of the relation in their disk-dominated progenitors. |
author2 |
Swinburne University of Technology |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barone, Tania M. D’Eugenio, Francesco Colless, Matthew Scott, Nicholas Sande, Jesse van de Bland-Hawthorn, Joss Brough, Sarah Bryant, Julia J. Cortese, Luca Croom, Scott M. Foster, Caroline Goodwin, Michael Konstantopoulos, Iraklis S. Lawrence, Jon S. Lorente, Nuria P. F. Medling, Anne M. Owers, Matt S. Richards, Samuel N. |
spellingShingle |
Barone, Tania M. D’Eugenio, Francesco Colless, Matthew Scott, Nicholas Sande, Jesse van de Bland-Hawthorn, Joss Brough, Sarah Bryant, Julia J. Cortese, Luca Croom, Scott M. Foster, Caroline Goodwin, Michael Konstantopoulos, Iraklis S. Lawrence, Jon S. Lorente, Nuria P. F. Medling, Anne M. Owers, Matt S. Richards, Samuel N. The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
author_facet |
Barone, Tania M. D’Eugenio, Francesco Colless, Matthew Scott, Nicholas Sande, Jesse van de Bland-Hawthorn, Joss Brough, Sarah Bryant, Julia J. Cortese, Luca Croom, Scott M. Foster, Caroline Goodwin, Michael Konstantopoulos, Iraklis S. Lawrence, Jon S. Lorente, Nuria P. F. Medling, Anne M. Owers, Matt S. Richards, Samuel N. |
author_sort |
Barone, Tania M. |
title |
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
title_short |
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
title_full |
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
title_fullStr |
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
title_full_unstemmed |
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Gravitational Potential and Surface Density Drive Stellar Populations. I. Early-type Galaxies |
title_sort |
sami galaxy survey: gravitational potential and surface density drive stellar populations. i. early-type galaxies |
publisher |
American Astronomical Society |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461926 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e |
genre |
sami |
genre_facet |
sami |
op_source |
The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 856, no. 1 (Mar 2018), 64 |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/461926 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2018 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaaf6e |
container_title |
The Astrophysical Journal |
container_volume |
856 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
64 |
_version_ |
1766185680795336704 |