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arXiv 0802.2713astro-ph
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哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的红色合并图像:它们有多干燥?

Hubble Space Telescope Images of Red Mergers: How Dry are They?

K. E. Whitaker, P. G. van Dokkum

摘要:

红色星系之间的合并在附近的宇宙中被观察到是很常见的,并且被认为是大质量星系在后期增加质量的主要机制。这些"干“合并可以很容易地确定在非常深的地面为基础的图像,由于其扩展的低表面亮度潮汐功能。然而,地面图像缺乏所需的分辨率来确定合并星系的形态,并测量尘埃和相关气体的数量。我们提出了HST/ACS和WFPC 2观测的31个膨胀为主的红色序列星系的样本在z~0.1,包括正在进行的合并,合并残留物,和未受干扰的星系。几乎所有的星系都有早期的形态,并且大多数都很好地符合r^1/4定律的表面亮度轮廓。我们发现只有10%的星系显示出尘埃存在的证据。冷气体的量(或其上限)是根据平均色余计算的,假设气体质量和尘埃质量之间有一个简单的关系。所有星系的气体质量都很低,我们发现Mgas/Mstellar <3 × 10 ^-4。我们推断,附近宇宙中的红色合并主要涉及包含少量冷气体和尘埃的早型星系。这可能意味着祖细胞大多没有气体和/或反馈机制在防止气体冷却方面非常有效。在这些天体中缺乏气体也可能意味着在大质量椭圆星系的中心有相对较大比例的双黑洞。

英文摘要:

Mergers between red galaxies are observed to be common in the nearby Universe, and are thought to be the dominant mechanism by which massive galaxies grow their mass at late times. These ``dry'' mergers can be readily identified in very deep ground based images, thanks to their extended low surface brightness tidal features. However, ground-based images lack the required resolution to determine the morphologies of the merging galaxies, and to measure the amount of dust and associated gas. We present HST/ACS and WFPC2 observations of a sample of 31 bulge-dominated red-sequence galaxies at z~0.1, comprised of ongoing mergers, merger remnants, and undisturbed galaxies. Nearly all galaxies have early-type morphologies and most are well-fit by r^1/4 law surface brightness profiles. We find that only 10% of the galaxies show evidence for the presence of dust. The amount of cold gas (or its upper limit) is calculated from the mean color-excess, assuming a simple relation between gas mass and dust mass. The gas mass is low for all galaxies, and we find that Mgas/Mstellar < 3x10^-4. We infer that red mergers in the nearby Universe mostly involve early-type galaxies containing little cold gas and dust. This may imply that the progenitors were mostly devoid of gas and/or that feedback mechanisms are very effective in preventing the gas to cool. The lack of gas in these objects may also imply a relatively large fraction of binary black holes in the centers of massive ellipticals.

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