Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Davies, Roger L.

Publications and source records attributed to Davies, Roger L..

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: stellar population and structural trends across the Fundamental Plane

ABSTRACT We study the Fundamental Plane (FP) for a volume- and luminosity-limited sample of 560 early-type galaxies from the SAMI survey. Using r-band sizes and luminosities from new multi-Gaussian expansion photometric measurements, and treating luminosity as the dependent variable, the FP has coefficients a = 1.294 ± 0.039, b = 0.912 ± 0.025, and zero-point c = 7.067 ± 0.078. We leverage the high signal-to-noise ratio of SAMI integral field spectroscopy, to determine how structural and stellar population observables affect the scatter about the FP. The FP residuals correlate most strongly (8σ significance) with luminosity-weighted simple stellar population (SSP) age. In contrast, the structural observables surface mass density, rotation-to-dispersion ratio, Sérsic index, and projected shape all show little or no significant correlation. We connect the FP residuals to the empirical relation between age (or stellar mass-to-light ratio Υ⋆ ) and surface mass density, the best predictor of SSP age amongst parameters based on FP observables. We show that the FP residuals (anti)correlate with the residuals of the relation between surface density and Υ⋆ . This correlation implies that part of the FP scatter is due to the broad age and Υ⋆ distribution at any given surface mass density. Using virial mass and Υ⋆, we construct a simulated FP and compare it to the observed FP. We find that, while the empirical relations between observed stellar population relations and FP observables are responsible for most (75 per cent) of the FP scatter, on their own they do not explain the observed tilt of the FP away from the virial plane.

D’Eugenio, Francesco↗

The KMOS Cluster Survey (KCS). I. The Fundamental Plane and the Formation Ages of Cluster Galaxies at Redshift 1.4 < Z < 1.6

We present the analysis of the fundamental plane (FP) for a sample of 19 massive red-sequence galaxies (M{sub ⋆}>4×10{sup 10} M{sub ⊙}) in three known overdensities at 1.39 11) in our sample, we translate the FP zero-point evolution into a mass-to-light-ratio M/L evolution, finding ΔlogM/L{sub B}=(−0.46±0.10)z, ΔlogM/L{sub B}=(−0.52±0.07)z, to ΔlogM/L{sub B}=(−0.55±0.10)z, respectively. We assess the potential contribution of the galaxy structural and stellar velocity dispersion evolution to the evolution of the FP zero-point and find it to be ∼6%–35% of the FP zero-point evolution. The rate of M/L evolution is consistent with galaxies evolving passively. Using single stellar population models, we find an average age of 2.33{sub −0.51}{sup +0.86} Gyr for the logM{sub ⋆}/M{sub ⊙}>11 galaxies in our massive and virialized cluster at z = 1.39, 1.59{sub −0.62}{sup +1.40} Gyr in a massive but not virialized cluster at z = 1.46, and 1.20{sub −0.47}{sup +1.03} Gyr in a protocluster at z = 1.61. After accounting for the difference in the age of the universe between redshifts, the ages of the galaxies in the three overdensities are consistent within the errors, with possibly a weak suggestion that galaxies in the most evolved structure are older.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

CONNECTION BETWEEN DYNAMICALLY DERIVED INITIAL MASS FUNCTION NORMALIZATION AND STELLAR POPULATION PARAMETERS

We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the ATLAS{sup 3D} project. We study trends between our dynamically derived IMF normalization α{sub dyn} ≡ (M/L){sub stars}/(M/L){sub Salp} and absorption line strengths, and interpret these via single stellar population-equivalent ages, abundance ratios (measured as [α/Fe]), and total metallicity, [Z/H]. We find that old and alpha-enhanced galaxies tend to have on average heavier (Salpeter-like) mass normalization of the IMF, but stellar population does not appear to be a good predictor of the IMF, with a large range of α{sub dyn} at a given population parameter. As a result, we find weak α{sub dyn}-[α/Fe] and α{sub dyn} –Age correlations and no significant α{sub dyn} –[Z/H] correlation. The observed trends appear significantly weaker than those reported in studies that measure the IMF normalization via the low-mass star demographics inferred through stellar spectral analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Velocity mapping and models of the elliptical galaxies NGC 720, NGC 1052, and NGC 4697

CCD surface photometry and extensive long-slit spectroscopy are used to construct detailed models of the flattened ellipticals NGC 720, 1052, and 4697. The models are combined with the Jeans equations to yield predicted fields of line-of-sight velocity dispersion and streaming velocity. By comparing these fields with observed velocities, it is concluded that none of these systems can have isotropic velocity dispersion tensors, and diminishing the assumed inclination of any given galaxy tends to decrease the line-of-sight velocity dispersion and, counterintuitively, to increase the line-of-sight rotation speeds. The ratio of the line-of-sight velocity dispersion along the minor axis to that along the major axis is found to be a sensitive diagnostic of the importance of a third integral for the galaxy's structure.

Binney, J. J.↗