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arXiv 0905.3386astro-ph.CO
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近成对早型星系的恒星形成和核活动

Star formation and nuclear activity in close pairs of early-type galaxies

Ben Rogers, Ignacio Ferreras, Sugata Kaviraj, Anna Pasquali, Marc Sarzi

摘要:

我们从斯隆数字巡天中提取了347个系统的样本,这些系统涉及早期类型的星系,它们之间的距离小于30 kpc,在投影中,径向速度为500 km/s。这些紧密的配对很可能是干合并的祖先。(光学)光谱用于确定相互作用如何影响星系的恒星形成历史和核活动。发射谱线(或缺乏发射谱线)被用来将样品分为活动星系核、恒星形成或静止。活动星系核活动的增加和已经相互作用的早期型对中恒星形成的减少表明合并过程改变了星云活动的性质,这一发现也得到了活动星系核亮度增加和对分离减少的支持。通过主成分分析和与复合恒星星族模型的光谱比较,研究了最近恒星形成的吸收线光谱。我们发现,最近的恒星形成的水平在密切的对相对于控制样本的早期型星系。这种过剩的残余恒星形成在整个样本中发现的密切对,并不与对分离或相互作用的视觉迹象。我们的研究结果是一致的情况下,第一阶段的遭遇(涉及外部的晕)触发剩余的恒星形成,其次是一个更有效的流入中心-切换到活动星系核阶段-之后,系统是静止的。

英文摘要:

We extract from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey a sample of 347 systems involving early type galaxies separated by less than 30 kpc, in projection, and 500 km/s in radial velocity. These close pairs are likely progenitors of dry mergers. The (optical) spectra is used to determine how the interaction affects the star formation history and nuclear activity of the galaxies. The emission lines (or lack thereof) are used to classify the sample into AGN, star forming or quiescent. Increased AGN activity and reduced star formation in early-type pairs that already appear to be interacting indicate that the merging process changes the nature of nebular activity, a finding that is also supported by an increase in AGN luminosity with decreasing pair separation. Recent star formation is studied on the absorption line spectra, both through principal component analysis as well as via a comparison of the spectra with composite stellar population models. We find that the level of recent star formation in close pairs is raised relative to a control sample of early-type galaxies. This excess of residual star formation is found throughout the sample of close pairs and does not correlate with pair separation or with visual signs of interaction. Our findings are consistent with a scenario whereby the first stage of the encounter (involving the outer parts of the halos) trigger residual star formation, followed by a more efficient inflow towards the centre -- switching to an AGN phase -- after which the systems are quiescent.

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