Non-parametric cell-based photometric proxies for galaxy morphology : methodology and application to the morphologically defined star formation-stellar mass relation of spiral galaxies in the local universe
Abstract
We present a non-parametric cell-based method of selecting highly pure and largely complete samples of spiral galaxies using photometric and structural parameters as provided by standard photometric pipelines and simple shape fitting algorithms. The performance of the method is quantified for different parameter combinations, using purely human-based classifications as a benchmark. The discretization of the parameter space allows a markedly superior selection than commonly used proxies relying on a fixed curve or surface of separation. Moreover, we find structural parameters derived using passbands longwards of the g band and linked to older stellar populations, especially the stellar mass surface density μ* and the r-band effective radius re, to perform at least equally well as parameters more traditionally linked to the identification of spirals by means of their young stellar populations, e.g. UV/optical colours. In particular, the distinct bimodality in the parameter μ*, consistent with expectations of different evolutionary paths for spirals and ellipticals, represents an often overlooked yet powerful parameter in differentiating between spiral and non-spiral/elliptical galaxies. We use the cell-based method for the optical parameter set including re in combination with the Sérsic index n and the i-band magnitude to investigate the intrinsic specific star formation rate-stellar mass relation (ψ*-M*) for a morphologically defined volume-limited sample of local Universe spiral galaxies. The relation is found to be well described by ψ* α M*-0.5over the range of 109.5 ≤ M* ≤ 1011M⊙ with a mean interquartile range of 0.4 dex. This is somewhat steeper than previous determinations based on colour-selected samples of starforming galaxies, primarily due to the inclusion in the sample of red quiescent discs.
Citation
Grootes , M W , Tuffs , R J , Popescu , C C , Robotham , A S G , Seibert , M & Kelvin , L S 2014 , ' Non-parametric cell-based photometric proxies for galaxy morphology : methodology and application to the morphologically defined star formation-stellar mass relation of spiral galaxies in the local universe ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 437 , no. 4 , pp. 3883-3917 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt2184
Publication
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0035-8711Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
SDSS-IV MaNGA: How the stellar populations of passive central galaxies depend on stellar and halo mass
Oyarzún, Grecco A.; Bundy, Kevin; Westfall, Kyle B.; Tinker, Jeremy L.; Belfiore, Francesco; Argudo-Fernández, Maria; Zheng, Zheng; Conroy, Charlie; Masters, Karen L.; Wake, David; Law, David R.; McDermid, Richard M.; Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso; Parikh, Taniya; Yan, Renbin; Bershady, Matthew; Sánchez, Sebastián F.; Andrews, Brett H.; Fernández-Trincado, José G.; Lane, Richard R.; Bizyaev, D.; Boardman, Nicholas Fraser; Lacerna, Ivan; Brownstein, J. R.; Drory, Niv; Zhang, Kai (2022-07-06) - Journal articleWe analyze spatially resolved and co-added SDSS-IV MaNGA spectra with signal-to-noise ratio ∼100 from 2200 passive central galaxies (z ∼ 0.05) to understand how central galaxy assembly depends on stellar mass (M*) and halo ... -
Secular-and merger-built bulges in barred galaxies
Mendez Abreu, Jairo; Debattista, V. P.; Corsini, E. M.; Aguerri, J. A. L. (2014-12) - Journal articleContext. Historically, galaxy bulges were thought to be single-component objects at the center of galaxies. However, this picture is now questioned since different bulge types with different formation paths, namely classical ... -
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) : galaxy close pairs, mergers and the future fate of stellar mass
Robotham, A. S. G.; Driver, S. P.; Davies, L. J. M.; Hopkins, A. M.; Baldry, I. K.; Agius, N. K.; Bauer, A. E.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Brown, M. J. I.; Cluver, M.; De Propris, R.; Drinkwater, M. J.; Holwerda, B. W.; Kelvin, L. S.; Lara-Lopez, M. A.; Liske, J.; Lopez-Sanchez, A. R.; Loveday, J.; Mahajan, S.; McNaught-Roberts, T.; Moffett, A.; Norberg, P.; Obreschkow, D.; Owers, M. S.; Penny, S. J.; Pimbblet, K.; Prescott, M.; Taylor, E. N.; van Kampen, E.; Wilkins, S. M. (2014-11-11) - Journal articleWe use a highly complete subset of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly II (GAMA-II) redshift sample to fully describe the stellar mass dependence of close pairs and mergers between 10(8) and 10(12)M(circle dot). Using the analytic ...