Star-forming, rotating spheroidal galaxies in the GAMA and SAMI Surveys
Date
10/2019Author
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Abstract
The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey has morphologically identified a class of “Little Blue Spheroid” (LBS) galaxies whose relationship to other classes of galaxies we now examine in detail. Considering a sample of 868 LBSs, we find that such galaxies display similar but not identical colours, specific star formation rates, stellar population ages, mass-to-light ratios, and metallicities to Sd-Irr galaxies. We also find that LBSs typically occupy environments of even lower density than those of Sd-Irr galaxies, where ∼65% of LBS galaxies live in isolation. Using deep, high-resolution imaging from VST KiDS and the new Bayesian, two-dimensional galaxy profile modeling code PROFIT, we further examine the detailed structure of LBSs and find that their Sérsic indices, sizes, and axial ratios are compatible with those of low-mass elliptical galaxies. We then examine SAMI Galaxy survey integral field emission line kinematics for a subset of 62 LBSs and find that the majority (42) of these galaxies display ordered rotation with the remainder displaying disturbed/non-ordered dynamics. Finally, we consider potential evolutionary scenarios for a population with this unusual combination of properties, concluding that LBSs are likely formed by a mixture of merger and accretion processes still recently active in low-redshift dwarf populations. We also infer that if LBS-like galaxies were subjected to quenching in a rich environment, they would plausibly resemble cluster dwarf ellipticals.
Citation
Moffett , A J , Phillipps , S , Robotham , A S G , Driver , S P , Bremer , M N , Cortese , L , Wong , O I , Brough , S , Brown , M J I , Bryant , J J , Conselice , C J , Croom , S M , George , K , Goldstein , G , Goodwin , M , Holwerda , B W , Hopkins , A M , Konstantopoulos , I S , Lawrence , J S , Lorente , N P F , Medling , A M , Owers , M S , Pimbblet , K A , Richards , S N , Sweet , S M & Van De Sande , J 2019 , ' Star-forming, rotating spheroidal galaxies in the GAMA and SAMI Surveys ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 489 , no. 2 , pp. 2830–2843 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2237
Publication
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0035-8711Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2237
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