Bibcode
González Delgado, R. M.; García-Benito, R.; Pérez, E.; Cid Fernandes, R.; de Amorim, A. L.; Cortijo-Ferrero, C.; Lacerda, E. A. D.; López Fernández, R.; Vale-Asari, N.; Sánchez, S. F.; Mollá, M.; Ruiz-Lara, T.; Sánchez-Blázquez, P.; Walcher, C. J.; Alves, J.; Aguerri, J. A. L.; Bekeraité, S.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Galbany, L.; Gallazzi, A.; Husemann, B.; Iglesias-Páramo, J.; Kalinova, V.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Marino, R. A.; Márquez, I.; Masegosa, J.; Mast, D.; Méndez-Abreu, J.; Mendoza, A.; del Olmo, A.; Pérez, I.; Quirrenbach, A.; Zibetti, S.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 581, id.A103, 44 pp.
Advertised on:
9
2015
Journal
Citations
257
Refereed citations
246
Description
Various different physical processes contribute to the star formation
and stellar mass assembly histories of galaxies. One important approach
to understanding the significance of these different processes on galaxy
evolution is the study of the stellar population content of today's
galaxies in a spatially resolved manner. The aim of this paper is to
characterize in detail the radial structure of stellar population
properties of galaxies in the nearby universe, based on a uniquely large
galaxy sample, considering the quality and coverage of the data. The
sample under study was drawn from the CALIFA survey and contains 300
galaxies observed with integral field spectroscopy. These cover a wide
range of Hubble types, from spheroids to spiral galaxies, while stellar
masses range from M⋆ ~ 109 to 7 ×
1011 M⊙. We apply the fossil record method
based on spectral synthesis techniques to recover the following physical
properties for each spatial resolution element in our target galaxies:
the stellar mass surface density (μ⋆), stellar
extinction (AV), light-weighted and mass-weighted ages
(⟨log age⟩L, ⟨log age⟩M), and
mass-weighted metallicity (⟨log
Z⋆⟩M). To study mean trends with overall
galaxy properties, the individual radial profiles are stacked in seven
bins of galaxy morphology (E, S0, Sa, Sb, Sbc, Sc, and Sd). We confirm
that more massive galaxies are more compact, older, moremetal rich, and
less reddened by dust. Additionally, we find that these trends are
preserved spatially with the radial distance to the nucleus. Deviations
from these relations appear correlated with Hubble type: earlier types
are more compact, older, and more metal rich for a given
M⋆, which is evidence that quenching is related to
morphology, but not driven by mass. Negative gradients of ⟨log
age⟩L are consistent with an inside-out growth of
galaxies, with the largest ⟨log age⟩L gradients in
Sb-Sbc galaxies. Further, the mean stellar ages of disks and bulges are
correlated and with disks covering a wider range of ages, and late-type
spirals hosting younger disks. However, age gradients are only mildly
negative or flat beyond R ~ 2 HLR (half light radius), indicating that
star formation is more uniformly distributed or that stellar migration
is important at these distances. The gradients in stellar mass surface
density depend mostly on stellar mass, in the sense that more massive
galaxies are more centrally concentrated. Whatever sets the
concentration indices of galaxies obviously depends less on
quenching/morphology than on the depth of the potential well. There is a
secondary correlation in the sense that at the same M⋆
early-type galaxies have steeper gradients. The μ⋆
gradients outside 1 HLR show no dependence on Hubble type. We find
mildly negative ⟨log Z⋆⟩M
gradients, which are shallower than predicted from models of galaxy
evolution in isolation. In general, metallicity gradients depend on
stellar mass, and less on morphology, hinting that metallicity is
affected by both - the depth of the potential well and
morphology/quenching. Thus, the largest ⟨log
Z⋆⟩M gradients occur in Milky Way-like
Sb-Sbc galaxies, and are similar to those measured above the Galactic
disk. Sc spirals show flatter ⟨log
Z⋆⟩M gradients, possibly indicating a
larger contribution from secular evolution in disks. The galaxies from
the sample have decreasing-outward stellar extinction; all spirals show
similar radial profiles, independent from the stellar mass, but redder
than E and S0. Overall, we conclude that quenching processes act in
manners that are independent of mass, while metallicity and galaxy
structure are influenced by mass-dependent processes.
Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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Galaxies in the universe can be located in different environments, some of them are isolated or in low density regions and they are usually called field galaxies. The others can be located in galaxy associations, going from loose groups to clusters or even superclusters of galaxies. One of the foremost challenges of the modern Astrophysics is to
Jairo
Méndez Abreu