The details of bulge formation via collapse, mergers, secular processes or their interplay remain unresolved. To start answering this question and quantify the importance of distinct mechanisms, we ...mapped a sample of three galactic bulges using data from the integral field spectrograph WiFeS on the ANU's 2.3-m telescope in Siding Spring Observatory. Its high-resolution gratings (R similar to 7000) allow us to present a detailed kinematic and stellar population analysis of their inner structures with classical and novel techniques. The comparison of those techniques calls for the necessity of inversion algorithms in order to understand complex substructures and separate populations. We use line-strength indices to derive single stellar population equivalent ages and metallicities. Additionally, we use full spectral fitting methods, here the code steckmap, to extract their star formation histories. The high quality of our data allows us to study the 2D distribution of different stellar populations (i.e. young, intermediate and old). We can identify their dominant populations based on these age-discriminated 2D light and mass contribution. In all galactic bulges studied, at least 50 per cent of the stellar mass already existed 12 Gyr ago, more than currently predicted by simulations. A younger component (age between similar to 1 and similar to 8 Gyr) is also prominent and its present day distribution seems to be affected much more strongly by morphological structures, especially bars, than the older one. This in-depth analysis of the three bulges supports the notion of increasing complexity in their evolution, likely to be found in numerous bulge structures if studied at this level of detail, which cannot be achieved by mergers alone and require a non-negligible contribution of secular evolution.
The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is central to our interpretation of astronomical observables and to our understanding of most baryonic processes within galaxies. The universality of the IMF, ...suggested by observations in our own Milky Way, has been thoroughly revisited due to the apparent excess of low-mass stars in the central regions of massive quiescent galaxies. As part of the efforts within the Fornax 3D project, we aim to characterize the two-dimensional IMF variations in a sample of 23 quiescent galaxies within the Fornax cluster. For each galaxy in the sample, we measured the mean age, metallicity, Mg/Fe, and IMF slope maps from spatially resolved integrated spectra. The IMF maps show a variety of behaviors and internal substructures, roughly following metallicity variations. However, metallicity alone is not able to fully explain the complexity exhibited by the IMF maps. In particular, for relatively metal-poor stellar populations (M/H ≲ −0.1), the slope of the IMF seems to depend on the (specific) star formation rate at which stars were formed. Moreover, metallicity maps have systematically higher ellipticities than IMF slope ones. At the same time, both metallicity and IMF slope maps have at the same time higher ellipticities than the stellar light distribution in our sample of galaxies. In addition we find that, regardless of the stellar mass, every galaxy in our sample shows a positive radial Mg/Fe gradient. This results in a strong Fe/H–Mg/Fe relation, similar to what is observed in nearby, resolved galaxies. Since the formation history and chemical enrichment of galaxies are causally driven by changes in the IMF, our findings call for a physically motivated interpretation of stellar population measurements based on integrated spectra that take into account any possible time evolution of the stellar populations.
The fraction of star-forming to quiescent dwarf galaxies varies from almost infinity in the field to zero in the centers of rich galaxy clusters. What is causing this pronounced morphology-density ...relation? What do quiescent dwarf galaxies look like when studied in detail, and what conclusions can be drawn about their formation mechanism? Here we study a nearly magnitude-complete sample (-19 < M sub(r) < -16 mag) of 121 Virgo cluster early types with deep near-infrared images from the SMAKCED project. We fit two-dimensional models with optional inner and outer components, as well as bar and lens components (in ~15% of the galaxies), to the galaxy images. While a single Sersic function may approximate the overall galaxy structure, it does not entirely capture the light distribution of two-thirds of our galaxies, for which multicomponent models provide a better fit. This fraction of complex galaxies shows a strong dependence on luminosity, being larger for brighter objects. We analyze the global and component-specific photometric scaling relations of early-type dwarf galaxies and discuss similarities with bright early and late types. The dwarfs' global galaxy parameters show scaling relations that are similar to those of bright disk galaxies. The inner components are mostly fitted with Sersic n values close to 1. At a given magnitude, they are systematically larger than the bulges of spirals, suggesting that they are not ordinary bulges. We argue that the multicomponent structures in early-type dwarfs are mostly a phenomenon inherent to the disks and may indeed stem from environmental processing.
Ionized gas kinematics provide important clues to the dynamical structure of galaxies and hold constraints to the processes driving their evolution. The motivation of this work is to provide an ...overall characterization of the kinematic behavior of the ionized gas of the galaxies included in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral field Area (CALIFA), offering kinematic clues to potential users of the CALIFA survey for including kinematical criteria in their selection of targets for specific studies. From the first 200 galaxies observed by CALIFA survey in its two configurations, we present the two-dimensional kinematic view of the 177 galaxies satisfaying a gas content/detection threshold. This work constitutes the first determination of the ionized gas kinematics of the galaxies observed in the CALIFA survey. The derived velocity fields, the reported kinematic distortions/peculiarities and the identification of the presence of several gaseous components in different regions of the objects might be used as additional criteria for selecting galaxies for specific studies.
Context.
Voids are the most under-dense large-scale regions in the Universe. Galaxies inhabiting voids are one of the keys for understanding the intrinsic processes of galaxy evolution, as external ...factors such as multiple galaxy mergers or a dense self-collapsing environment are negligible.
Aims.
We present the first molecular gas mass survey of void galaxies. We compare these new data together with data for the atomic gas mass (
M
H
I
) and star formation rate (SFR) from the literature to those of galaxies in filaments and walls in order to better understand how molecular gas and star formation are related to the large-scale environment.
Methods.
We observed at the IRAM 30 m telescope the CO(1−0) and CO(2−1) emission of 20 void galaxies selected from the Void Galaxy Survey, with a stellar mass range from 10
8.5
to 10
10.3
M
⊙
. We detected 15 objects in at least one CO line. We compared the molecular gas mass (
M
H
2
), the star formation efficiency (SFE = SFR/
M
H
2
), the atomic gas mass, the molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio, and the specific star formation rate (sSFR) of the void galaxies with two control samples of galaxies in filaments and walls, selected from xCOLD GASS and EDGE-CALIFA, for different stellar mass bins and taking the star formation activity into account.
Results.
In general, we do not find any significant differences between void galaxies and the control sample. In particular, we do not find any evidence for a difference in the molecular gas mass or molecular gas mass fraction. For the other parameters (SFE, atomic gas mass, molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio, and sSFR), we also find similar (within the errors) mean values between void and filament and wall galaxies when the sample is limited to star-forming galaxies. We find no evidence for an enhanced sSFR in void galaxies. Some tentative differences emerge when trends with stellar mass are studied: The SFE of void galaxies might be lower than in filament and wall galaxies for low stellar masses, and there might be a trend of increasing deficiency in the HI content in void galaxies compared to galaxies in filaments and walls for higher stellar masses, accompanied by an increase in the molecular-to-atomic gas mass ratio. However, all trends with stellar mass are based on a low number of galaxies and need to be confirmed for a larger sample.
Conclusions.
The results for the molecular gas mass for a sample of 20 voids galaxies allowed us to make a statistical comparison to galaxies in filaments and walls for the first time. We do not find any significant differences of the molecular gas properties and the SFE, but we note that a larger sample is necessary to confirm this and be sensitive to subtle trends.
We apply a population-orbit superposition metho1d to 16 galaxies in the Fornax cluster observed with MUSE/VLT in the context of the Fornax3D project. By fitting the luminosity distribution, stellar ...kinematics, and age and metallicity maps simultaneously, we obtained the internal stellar orbit distribution, as well as the age and metallicity distribution of stars on different orbits for each galaxy. Based on the model, we decompose each galaxy into a dynamically cold disk (orbital circularity
λ
z
≥ 0.8) and a dynamically hot non-disk component (orbital circularity
λ
z
< 0.8), and obtain the surface-brightness, age, and metallicity radial profiles of each component. The galaxy infall time into the cluster is strongly correlated with galaxy cold-disk age with older cold disks in ancient infallers. We quantify the infall time
t
infall
of each galaxy with its cold-disk age using a correlation calibrated with TNG50 cosmological simulations. For galaxies in the Fornax cluster, we found that the luminosity fraction of cold disk in galaxies with
t
infall
> 8 Gyr are a factor of ∼4 lower than in more recent infallers while controlling for total stellar mass. Nine of the 16 galaxies have spatially extended cold disks, and most of them show positive or zero age gradients; stars in the inner disk are ∼2 − 5 Gyr younger than that in the outer disk, in contrast to the expectation of inside-out growth. Our results indicate that the assembly of cold disks in galaxies is strongly affected by their infall into clusters, by either removal of gas in outer regions or even tidally stripping or heating part of the pre-existing disks. Star formation in outer disks can stop quickly after the galaxy falls into the cluster, while star formation in the inner disks can last for a few Gyrs more, building the positive age gradient measured in cold disks.
We perform a spectroscopic study to constrain the stellar initial mass function (IMF) by using a large sample of 24 781 early-type galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-based Spheroids ...Panchromatic Investigation in Different Environmental Regions survey. Clear evidence is found of a trend between IMF and central velocity dispersion (σ0), evolving from a standard Kroupa/Chabrier IMF at σ0 ∼ 100 km s−1 towards a more bottom-heavy IMF with increasing σ0, becoming steeper than the Salpeter function at σ0 220 km s−1. We analyse a variety of spectral indices, combining gravity-sensitive features, with age- and metallicity-sensitive indices, and we also consider the effect of non-solar abundance variations. The indices, corrected to solar scale by means of semi-empirical correlations, are fitted simultaneously with the (nearly solar-scaled) extended MILES (MIUSCAT) stellar population models. Similar conclusions are reached when analysing the spectra with a hybrid approach, combining constraints from direct spectral fitting in the optical with those from IMF-sensitive indices. Our analysis suggests that σ0, rather than α/Fe, drives the variation of the IMF. Although our analysis cannot discriminate between a single power-law (unimodal) IMF and a low-mass ( 0.5 M) tapered (bimodal) IMF, robust constraints can be inferred for the fraction in low-mass stars at birth. This fraction (by mass) is found to increase from ∼20 per cent at σ0 ∼ 100 km s−1, up to ∼80 per cent at σ0 ∼ 300 km s−1. However, additional constraints can be provided with stellar mass-to-light (M/L) ratios: unimodal models predict M/L significantly larger than dynamical M/L, across the whole σ0 range, whereas a bimodal IMF is compatible. Our results are robust against individual abundance variations. No significant variation is found in Na and Ca in addition to the expected change from the correlation between α/Fe and σ0.
The Fornax cluster provides a uniquely compact laboratory in which to study the detailed history of early-type galaxies and the role played by the environment in driving their evolution and their ...transformation from late-type galaxies. Using the superb capabilities of the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer on the Very Large Telescope, high-quality integral-field spectroscopic data were obtained for the inner regions of all the bright (mB ≤ 15) galaxies within the virial radius of Fornax. The stellar haloes of early-type galaxies are also covered out to about four effective radii. State-of-the-art stellar dynamical and population modelling allows characterising the disc components of fast-rotating early-type galaxies, constraining radial variations in the stellar initial-mass functions and measuring the stellar age, metallicity, and α-element abundance of stellar haloes in cluster galaxies. This paper describes the sample selection, observations, and overall goals of the survey, and provides initial results based on the spectroscopic data, including the detailed characterisation of stellar kinematics and populations to large radii; decomposition of galaxy components directly via their orbital structure; the ability to identify globular clusters and planetary nebulae, and derivation of high-quality emission-line diagnostics in the presence of complex ionised gas.
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