Massive Early-type Galaxies in the HSC-SSP: Flux Fraction of Tidal Features and Merger Rates

Huang, Qifeng; Fan, Lulu

doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ac85b1

ApJS

2022

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/ac85b1

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Massive Early-type Galaxies in the HSC-SSP: Flux Fraction of Tidal Features and Merger Rates

Qifeng Huang¹,

Lulu Fan

Abstract: Here we present a statistical study on tidal features around massive early-type galaxies (ETGs). Utilizing the imaging data of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP), we measure the flux fraction of tidal features (f tidal) in 2649 ETGs with stellar mass M * > 1011 M ⊙ and redshift 0.05 < z < 0.15 using automated techniques. The Wide layer of HSC-SSP reaches a depth of ∼28.5 mag arcsec−2 in the i band. Under thi… Show more

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Cited by 7 publications

References 72 publications

(109 reference statements)

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The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

Sánchez-Alarcón¹,

Román²,

Knapen³

et al. 2023

A&A

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Context. In the standard cosmological model of galaxy evolution, mergers and interactions play a fundamental role in shaping galaxies. Galaxies that are currently isolated are thus interesting because they allow us to distinguish between internal and external processes that affect the galactic structure. However, current observational limits may obscure crucial information in the low-mass or low-brightness regime. Aims. We use optical imaging of a subsample of the AMIGA catalogue of isolated galaxies to explore the impact of different factors on the structure of these galaxies. In particular, we study the type of disc break as a function of the degree of isolation and the presence of interaction indicators such as tidal streams or plumes, which are only detectable in the ultra-low surface brightness regime. Methods. We present ultra-deep optical imaging in the r band of a sample of 25 low-redshift (z < 0.035) isolated galaxies. Through careful data processing and analysis techniques, the nominal surface brightness limits achieved are comparable to those to be obtained on the ten-year LSST coadds (μr,lim ≳ 29.5 mag arcsec−2 [3σ; 10″ × 10″]). We place special emphasis on preserving the low surface brightness features throughout the processing. Results. The extreme depth of our imaging allows us to study the interaction signatures of 20 galaxies since Galactic cirrus is a strong limiting factor in the characterisation of interactions for the remaining 5 of them. We detect previously unreported interaction features in 8 (40% ± 14%) galaxies in our sample. We identify 9 galaxies (36% ± 10%) with an exponential disc (Type I), 14 galaxies (56% ± 10%) with a down-bending (Type II) profile, and only 2 galaxies (8% ± 5%) with up-bending (Type III) profiles. Isolated galaxies have considerably more purely exponential discs and fewer up-bending surface brightness profiles than field or cluster galaxies. We find clear minor merger activity in some of the galaxies with single exponential or down-bending profiles, and both of the galaxies with up-bending profiles show signatures of a past interaction. Conclusions. We show the importance of ultra-deep optical imaging in revealing faint external features in galaxies that indicate a probable history of interaction. We confirm that up-bending profiles are likely produced by major mergers, while down-bending profiles are probably formed by a threshold in star formation. Unperturbed galaxies that slowly evolve with a low star formation rate could induce the high rate of Type I discs in isolated galaxies.

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The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

Sánchez-Alarcón¹,

Román²,

Knapen³

et al. 2023

A&A

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Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): comparing visually and spectroscopically identified galaxy merger samples

Alice

Brough

Martínez-Lombilla

et al. 2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We conduct a comparison of the merging galaxy populations detected by a sample of visual identification of tidal features around galaxies as well as spectroscopically-detected close pairs of galaxies to determine whether our method of selecting merging galaxies biases our understanding of galaxy interactions. Our volume-limited parent sample consists of 852 galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey in the redshift range 0.04 ≤ z ≤ 0.20 and stellar mass range 9.50 ≤ log$_{10}(M_{\star }/\rm {M}_{\odot })\le ~11.0$. We conduct our comparison using images from the Ultradeep layer of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) to visually-classify galaxies with tidal features and compare these to the galaxies in the GAMA spectroscopic close-pair sample. We identify 198 galaxies possessing tidal features, resulting in a tidal feature fraction ftidal = 0.23 ± 0.02. We also identify 80 galaxies involved in close pairs, resulting in a close pair fraction fpair = 0.09 ± 0.01. Upon comparison of our tidal feature and close pair samples we identify 42 galaxies that are present in both samples, yielding a fraction fboth = 0.05 ± 0.01. We find evidence to suggest that the sample of close pairs of galaxies is more likely to detect early-stage mergers, where two separate galaxies are still visible, and the tidal feature sample detects later-stage mergers, where only one galaxy nucleus remains visible. The overlap of the close pair and tidal feature samples likely detect intermediate-stage mergers. Our results are in good agreement with the predictions of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations regarding the populations of merging galaxies detected by close pair and tidal feature samples.

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IllustrisTNG in the HSC-SSP: image data release and the major role of mini mergers as drivers of asymmetry and star formation

Bottrell,

Yesuf,

Popping

et al. 2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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At fixed galaxy stellar mass, there is a clear observational connection between structural asymmetry and offset from the star forming main sequence, ΔSFMS. Herein, we use the TNG50 simulation to investigate the relative roles of major mergers (stellar mass ratios μ ≥ 0.25), minor (0.1 ≤ μ < 0.25), and mini mergers (0.01 ≤ μ < 0.1) in driving this connection amongst star forming galaxies (SFGs). We use dust radiative transfer post-processing with SKIRT to make a large, public collection of synthetic Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) images of simulated TNG galaxies over 0.1 ≤ z ≤ 0.7 with log (M⋆/M⊙) ≥ 9 (∼750k images). Using their instantaneous SFRs, known merger histories/forecasts, and HSC-SSP asymmetries, we show (1) that TNG50 SFGs qualitatively reproduce the observed trend between ΔSFMS and asymmetry and (2) a strikingly similar trend emerges between ΔSFMS and the time-to-coalescence for mini mergers. Controlling for redshift, stellar mass, environment, and gas fraction, we show that individual mini merger events yield small enhancements in SFRs and asymmetries that are sustained on long timescales (at least ∼3 Gyr after coalescence, on average) – in contrast to major/minor merger remnants which peak at much greater amplitudes but are consistent with controls only ∼1 Gyr after coalescence. Integrating the boosts in SFRs and asymmetries driven by μ ≥ 0.01 mergers since z = 0.7 in TNG50 SFGs, we show that mini mergers are responsible for (i) 55 per cent of all merger-driven star formation and (ii) 70 per cent of merger-driven asymmetric structure. Due to their relative frequency and prolonged boost timescales, mini mergers dominate over their minor and major counterparts in driving star formation and asymmetry in SFGs.

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Massive Early-type Galaxies in the HSC-SSP: Flux Fraction of Tidal Features and Merger Rates

Cited by 7 publications

References 72 publications

The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies

Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): comparing visually and spectroscopically identified galaxy merger samples

IllustrisTNG in the HSC-SSP: image data release and the major role of mini mergers as drivers of asymmetry and star formation

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