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Register a new userThe Influence of Environment on the Chemical Evolution in Low-mass Galaxies
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The mean alpha-to-iron abundance ratio ([$alpha$/Fe]) of galaxies is sensitive to the chemical evolution processes at early time, and it is an indicator of star formation timescale ($tau_{{rm SF}}$). Although the physical reason remains ambiguous, there is a tight relation between [$alpha$/Fe] and stellar velocity dispersion ($sigma$) among massive early-type galaxies (ETGs). However, no work has shown convincing results as to how this relation behaves at low masses. We assemble 15 data sets from the literature and build a large sample that includes 192 nearby low-mass ($18<sigma<80$~kms) ETGs. We find that the [$alpha$/Fe]-$sigma$ relation generally holds for low-mass ETGs, except in extreme environments. Specifically, in normal galaxy cluster environments, the [$alpha$/Fe]-$sigma$ relation and its intrinsic scatter are, within uncertainties, similar for low-mass and high-mass ETGs. However, in the most massive relaxed galaxy cluster in our sample, the zero point of the relation is higher and the intrinsic scatter is significantly larger. By contrast, in galaxy groups the zero point of the relation offsets in the opposite direction, again with substantial intrinsic scatter. The elevated [$alpha$/Fe] of low-mass ETGs in the densest environments suggests that their star formation was quenched earlier than in high-mass ETGs. For the low-mass ETGs in the lowest density environments, we suggest that their more extended star formation histories suppressed their average [$alpha$/Fe]. The large scatter in [$alpha$/Fe] may reflect stochasticity in the chemical evolution of low-mass galaxies.
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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.
We study how the void environment affects galactic chemical evolution by comparing the oxygen and nitrogen abundances of dwarf galaxies in voids with dwarf galaxies in denser regions. Using spectroscopic observations from SDSS DR7, we estimate oxygen, nitrogen, and neon abundances of 889 void dwarf galaxies and 672 dwarf galaxies in denser regions. A substitute for the [OII] 3727 doublet is developed, permitting oxygen abundance estimates of SDSS dwarf galaxies at all redshifts with the Direct Te method. We find that void dwarf galaxies have about the same oxygen abundance and Ne/O ratio, slightly higher neon abundances, and slightly lower nitrogen abundance and N/O ratio than dwarf galaxies in denser environments. We conclude that the void environment has a slight influence on dwarf galaxy chemical evolution. Our mass-N/O relationship shows that the secondary production of nitrogen commences at a lower stellar mass in void dwarf galaxies than in dwarf galaxies in denser environments. Our dwarf galaxy sample demonstrates a strong anti-correlation between the sSFR and N/O ratio, providing evidence that oxygen is produced in higher mass stars than those which synthesize nitrogen. The lower N/O ratios and smaller stellar mass for secondary nitrogen production seen in void dwarf galaxies may indicate both delayed star formation and a dependence of cosmic downsizing on the large-scale environment. A shift toward slightly higher oxygen abundances in void dwarf galaxies could be evidence of larger ratios of dark matter halo mass to stellar mass in voids than in denser regions.
In this paper we investigate whether the stellar initial mass function of early-type galaxies depends on their host environment. To this purpose, we have selected a sample of early-type galaxies from the SPIDER catalogue, characterized their environment through the group catalogue of Wang et al. and used their optical SDSS spectra to constrain the IMF slope, through the analysis of IMF-sensitive spectral indices. To reach a high enough signal-to-noise ratio, we have stacked spectra in velocity dispersion ($sigma_0$) bins, on top of separating the sample by galaxy hierarchy and host halo mass, as proxies for galaxy environment. In order to constrain the IMF, we have compared observed line strengths to predictions of MIUSCAT/EMILES synthetic stellar population models, with varying age, metallicity, and bimodal (low-mass tapered) IMF slope ($rm Gamma_b$). Consistent with previous studies, we find that $rm Gamma_b$ increases with $sigma_0$, becoming bottom-heavy (i.e. an excess of low-mass stars with respect to the Milky-Way-like IMF) at high $sigma_0$. We find that this result is robust against the set of isochrones used in the stellar population models, as well as the way the effect of elemental abundance ratios is taken into account. We thus conclude that it is possible to use currently state-of-the-art stellar population models and intermediate resolution spectra to consistently probe IMF variations. For the first time, we show that there is no dependence of $Gamma_b$ on environment or galaxy hierarchy, as measured within the $3$ SDSS fibre, thus leaving the IMF as an intrinsic galaxy property, possibly set already at high redshift.
We study how the void environment affects the formation and evolution of galaxies in the universe by comparing the ratio of dark matter halo mass to stellar mass of galaxies in voids with galaxies in denser regions. Using spectroscopic observations from the SDSS MaNGA DR15, we estimate the dark matter halo mass of 642 void galaxies and 938 galaxies in denser regions. We use the relative velocities of the H-alpha emission line across the galaxys surface to measure the rotation curve of each galaxy because the kinematics of the interstellar medium is smoother than the stellar kinematics. We find that neither the stellar-to-halo-mass relation nor the relationship between the gas-phase metallicity and the ratio of dark matter halo mass to stellar mass is affected by the void environment. We also observe no difference in the distribution of the ratio of dark matter halo mass to stellar mass between void galaxies and galaxies in denser regions, implying that the shape of the dark matter halo profile is independent of a galaxys environment.
We study the evolution of disc galaxies in group environments under the effect of both the global tidal field and close-encounters between galaxies, using controlled N-body simulations of isolated mergers. We find that close-range encounters between galaxies are less frequent and less damaging to disc galaxies than originally expected, since they mostly occur when group members have lost a significant fraction of their initial mass to tidal stripping. We also find that group members mostly affect disc galaxies indirectly by modifying their common global tidal field. Different initial orbital parameters of group members introduce a significant scatter in the evolution of general properties of disc galaxies around a median evolution that is similar to when only the effect of the global tidal field is included. Close-encounters introduce a high variability in the properties of disc galaxies, even slowing their evolution in some cases, and could wash out correlations between galaxy properties and the group total mass. The combined effect of the global tidal field and close-encounters appears to be inefficient at forming/enhancing central stellar bulges. This implies that bulges of S0 galaxies should be mostly composed by young stars, which is consistent with recent observations.
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