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Register a new userThe influence of the environment on bar formation
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J. Mendez-Abreu
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Galaxy mergers and interactions are mechanisms which could drive the formation of bars. Therefore, we could expect that the fraction of barred galaxies increases with the local density. Here we show the first results of an extensive search for barred galaxies in different environments. We conclude that the bar fraction on bright (L>L*) field, Virgo, and Coma cluster galaxies is compatible. These results point towards an scenario where the formation and/or evolution of bars depend mostly on internal galaxy processes rather than external ones.
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We derive the bar fraction in three different environments ranging from the field to Virgo and Coma clusters, covering an unprecedentedly large range of galaxy luminosities (or, equivalently, stellar masses). We confirm that the fraction of barred galaxies strongly depends on galaxy luminosity. We also show that the difference between the bar fraction distributions as a function of galaxy luminosity (and mass) in the field and Coma cluster are statistically significant, with Virgo being an intermediate case. We interpret this result as a variation of the effect of environment on bar formation depending on galaxy luminosity. We speculate that brighter disk galaxies are stable enough against interactions to keep their cold structure, thus, the interactions are able to trigger bar formation. For fainter galaxies the interactions become strong enough to heat up the disks inhibiting bar formation and even destroying the disks. Finally, we point out that the controversy regarding whether the bar fraction depends on environment could be resolved by taking into account the different luminosity ranges of the galaxy samples studied so far.
The influence of the environment on gas surface density and star formation efficiency of cluster spiral galaxies is investigated. We extend previous work on radial profiles by a pixel-to pixel analysis looking for asymmetries due to environmental interactions. The star formation rate is derived from GALEX UV and Spitzer total infrared data. As in field galaxies, the star formation rate for most Virgo galaxies is approximately proportional to the molecular gas mass. Except for NGC 4438, the cluster environment does not affect the star formation efficiency with respect to the molecular gas. Gas truncation is not associated with major changes in the total gas surface density distribution of the inner disk of Virgo spiral galaxies. In three galaxies, possible increases in the molecular fraction and the star formation efficiency with respect to the total gas, of factors of 1.5 to 2, are observed on the windward side of the galactic disk. A significant increase of the star formation efficiency with respect to the molecular gas content on the windward side of ram pressure-stripped galaxies is not observed. The ram-pressure stripped extraplanar gas of 3 highly inclined spiral galaxies shows a depressed star formation efficiency with respect to the total gas, and one of them (NGC 4438) shows a depressed rate even with respect to the molecular gas. The interpretation is that stripped gas loses the gravitational confinement and associated pressure of the galactic disk, and the gas flow is diverging, so the gas density decreases and the star formation rate drops. However, the stripped extraplanar gas in one highly inclined galaxy (NGC 4569) shows a normal star formation efficiency with respect to the total gas. We propose this galaxy is different because it is observed long after peak pressure, and its extraplanar gas is now in a converging flow as it resettles back into the disk.
We have used a sample of 15749 galaxies taken from the Las Campanas Redshift Survey to investigate the effects of environment on the rate of star formation (SFR) in galaxies. The size and homogeneity of this data set allows us to sample, for the first time, the entire range of galactic environment, from the voids to the clusters, in a uniform manner, thus, we could decouple the local galaxy density from the membership in associations. This decoupling is very crucial for constraining the physical processes responsible for the environmental dependencies of SFR. On the other hand, the use of an automatically-measured concentration index (C), rather than Hubble type, allows us to cleanly separate the morphological component from the SFR vs. environment relationship. We find that cluster galaxies exhibit lower SFR for the same C than field galaxies, while a further division of clusters by `richness reveals a new possible excitation of `starbursts in poor clusters. Meanwhile, a more general environmental investigation reveals that the SFR of a given C shows a continuous correlation with the local density. Interestingly, this trend is also observed both inside and outside of clusters, implying that physical processes responsible for this correlation might not be intrinsic to the cluster environment. On the other hand, galaxies with differing levels of SFR appear to respond differently to the local density. Low levels of SFR are more sensitive to environment inside than outside of clusters. In contrast, high levels of SFR, identified as ``starbursts, are as sensitive to local density in the field as in clusters. We conclude that at least two separate processes are responsible for the environmental sensitivity of the SFR.
(Abridged) We present a detailed study of the stellar populations of a volume-limited sample of early-type galaxies from SDSS, across a range of environments -- defined as the mass of the host dark matter halo. The stellar populations are explored through the SDSS spectra, via projection onto a set of two spectral vectors determined from Principal Component Analysis. We find the velocity dispersion of the galaxy to be the main driver behind the different star formation histories of early-type galaxies. However, environmental effects are seen to play a role (although minor). Galaxies populating the lowest mass halos have stellar populations on average ~1Gyr younger than the rest of the sample. The fraction of galaxies with small amounts of recent star formation is also seen to be truncated when occupying halos more massive than 3E13Msun. The sample is split into satellite and central galaxies for a further analysis of environment. Satellites are younger than central galaxies of the same stellar mass. The younger satellite galaxies in 6E12Msun halos have stellar populations consistent with the central galaxies found in the lowest mass halos of our sample (i.e. 1E12Msun). This result is indicative of galaxies in lower mass halos being accreted into larger halos.
We examine the influence of the environment on the chemical abundances of late-type galaxies with masses of 10^9.1 M_sun - 10^11 M_sun using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS). We find that the environmental influence on galactic chemical abundances is strongest for galaxies with masses of 10^9.1 M_sun to 10^9.6 Msun. The galaxies in the densest environments may exceed the average oxygen abundances by about 0.05 dex (the median value of the overabundances for 101 galaxies in the densest environments) and show higher abundances in nitrogen by about 0.1. The abundance excess decreases with increasing galaxy mass and with decreasing environmental density. Since only a small fraction of late-type galaxies is located in high-density environments these galaxies do not have a significant influence on the general X/H - M relation. The metallicity - mass relations for isolated galaxies and for galaxies with neighbors are very similar. The mean shift of non-isolated galaxies around the metallicity - mass relation traced by the isolated galaxies is less than 0.01 dex for oxygen and less than 0.02 dex for nitrogen. The scatter in the galactic chemical abundances is large for any number of neighbor galaxies (at any environmental density), i.e., galaxies with both enhanced and reduced abundances can be found at any environmental density. This suggests that environmental effects do not play a key role in evolution of late-type galaxies as was also concluded in some of the previous studies.
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