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arXiv 2004.09433astro-ph.GA
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星系大小与恒星质量关系的分析

Analysis of the galaxy size versus stellar mass relation

J. Sanchez Almeida

摘要:

在星系大小与恒星质量(Mstar)的关系中,当使用固定表面密度的大小而不是半质量半径Re时,散射会大大减少。在这里,我们解决为什么会发生这种情况。我们展示了如何减少是可以预期的,因为任何两个星系具有相同的Mstar至少有一个半径相同的表面密度,星系具有相同的大小。然而,散射降低到观测水平的原因并不是微不足道的,我们将其归结为星系表面密度分布近似遵循Sersic分布,其Re和Sersic指数(n)反相关(即,当Re减少时,n增加)。我们的分析结果很好地描述了所观察到的星系的行为,如美国宇航局斯隆图集(NSA)所描绘的,其中包含超过50万个本地对象,7 < log(Mstar/Msun)< 11.5。与NSA星系的比较也使我们能够找到最佳值的质量表面密度(2.4m0.9p1.3 Msun/pc 2)和表面亮度(r波段24.7pm0.5 mag/arcsec 2),最大限度地减少散射,虽然实际值在某种程度上取决于用于优化的NSA星系的子集。最佳值存在的物理原因尚不清楚,但正如Trujillo+20指出的那样,它们接近形成恒星的气体表面密度阈值,因此可能会追踪星系的物理终点。我们的NSA为基础的大小-质量关系同意他们的斜率,以及对散射的幅度。作为一个副产品的狭窄的大小-质量关系(只有0.06德克斯),我们建议使用星系的大小来衡量其恒星质量。就观测时间而言,它并不比通常的光度技术要求更高,并且在特定情况下可能具有实际优势。

英文摘要:

The scatter in the galaxy size versus stellar mass (Mstar) relation gets largely reduced when, rather than the half-mass radius Re, the size at a fixed surface density is used. Here we address why this happens. We show how a reduction is to be expected because any two galaxies with the same Mstar have at least one radius with identical surface density, where the galaxies have identical size. However, the reason why the scatter is reduced to the observed level is not trivial, and we pin it down to the galaxy surface density profiles approximately following Sersic profiles with their Re and Sersic index (n) anti-correlated (i.e., given Mstar, n increases when Re decreases). Our analytical results describe very well the behavior of the observed galaxies as portrayed in the NASA Sloan Atlas (NSA), which contains more than half a million local objects with 7 < log(Mstar/Msun) < 11.5. The comparison with NSA galaxies also allows us to find the optimal values for the mass surface density (2.4m0.9p1.3 Msun/pc2) and surface brightness (r-band 24.7pm0.5 mag/arcsec2) that minimize the scatter, although the actual values depend somehow on the subset of NSA galaxies used for optimization. The physical reason for the existence of optimal values is unknown but, as Trujillo+20 point out, they are close to the gas surface density threshold to form stars and thus may trace the physical end of a galaxy. Our NSA-based size--mass relation agrees with theirs on the slope as well as on the magnitude of the scatter. As a by-product of the narrowness of the size--mass relation (only 0.06 dex), we propose to use the size of a galaxy to measure its stellar mass. In terms of observing time, it is not more demanding than the usual photometric techniques and may present practical advantages in particular cases.

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