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arXiv 0801.1995astro-ph
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星系形态和结构对环境和恒星质量的依赖性

The Dependence of Galaxy Morphology and Structure on Environment and Stellar Mass

Arjen van der Wel

摘要:

从斯隆数字巡天(SDSS)数据发布5(DR5)中,我们提取了4594个星系的样本,其红移为0.02<z<0.03,完整的恒星质量为M=10^10 Msol。我们量化它们的结构(Sersic指数),形态(Sersic指数+“颠簸”)和当地环境。我们发现,形态和结构本质上是不同的星系属性,我们证明,这是一个物理相关的区别,显示这些属性取决于不同的星系质量和环境。结构主要取决于星系质量,而形态主要取决于环境。这是由恒星形成活动的变化所驱动的,如颜色所示,这对星系的结构影响很小,但对它的形态外观影响很大。我们的结果的含义是,形态密度关系的存在是内在的,而不仅仅是由于更基本的,潜在的关系的组合。我们的发现对高红移研究有影响,高红移研究通常使用某种结构测量作为形态学的代表。通过视觉分类的形态选择的本地样本的直接比较可能会导致偏见的星系人口的形态组合的推断演化,以及误解的星系演化如何取决于质量和环境。

英文摘要:

From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5), we extract a sample of 4594 galaxies at redshifts 0.02<z<0.03, complete down to a stellar mass of M=10^10 Msol. We quantify their structure (Sersic index), morphology (Sersic index + ``Bumpiness''), and local environment. We show that morphology and structure are intrinsically different galaxy properties, and we demonstrate that this is a physically relevant distinction by showing that these properties depend differently on galaxy mass and environment. Structure mainly depends on galaxy mass whereas morphology mainly depends on environment. This is driven by variations in star formation activity, as traced by color, which only weakly affects the structure of a galaxy but strongly affects its morphological appearance. The implication of our results is that the existence of the morphology-density relation is intrinsic and not just due to a combination of more fundamental, underlying relations. Our findings have consequences for high-redshift studies, which often use some measure of structure as a proxy for morphology. A direct comparison with local samples selected through visually classified morphologies may lead to biases in the inferred evolution of the morphological mix of the galaxy population, and misinterpretations in terms of how galaxy evolution depends on mass and environment.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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