Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Defining passive galaxy samples and searching for the UV upturn

Autor: Mehmet Alpaslan, Sarah Brough, Andrew M. Hopkins, Luke J. M. Davies, Phil A. James, Aaron S. G. Robotham, Michelle E. Cluver, Kevin A. Pimbblet, Anne E. Sansom, Malcolm N. Bremer, Michael J. I. Brown, Benne W. Holwerda, Simon P. Driver, Lingyu Wang, Meiert W. Grootes, S. S. Ali, Steven Phillipps, Edward N. Taylor, R. De Propris
Přispěvatelé: University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomy
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492(2), 2128-2139. Oxford University Press
Phillipps, S, Ali, S S, Bremer, M N, De Propris, R, Sansom, A E, Cluver, M E, Alpaslan, M, Brough, S, Brown, M J I, Davies, L J M, Driver, S P, Grootes, M W, Holwerda, B W, Hopkins, A M, James, P A, Pimbblet, K, Robotham, A S G, Taylor, E N & Wang, L 2019, ' Galaxy and Mass Asseembly (GAMA) : Defining Passive Galaxy Samples and Searching for the UV Upturn ', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3552
ISSN: 1365-2966
0035-8711
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3552
Popis: We use data from the GAMA and GALEX surveys to demonstrate that the UV upturn, an unexpected excess of ultraviolet flux from a hot stellar component, seen in the spectra of many early-type galaxies, arises from processes internal to individual galaxies with no measurable influence from the galaxies' larger environment. We first define a clean sample of passive galaxies without a significant contribution to their UV flux from low-level star formation. We confirm that galaxies with the optical colours of red sequence galaxies often have signs of residual star formation, which, without other information, would prevent a convincing demonstration of the presence of UV upturns. However, by including (NUV$-u$) and {\it WISE} (W2-W3) colours, and FUV data where it exists, we can convincingly constrain samples to be composed of non-star-forming objects. Using such a sample, we examine GALEX photometry of low redshift GAMA galaxies in a range of low-density environments, from groups to the general field, searching for UV upturns. We find a wide range of (NUV$-r$) colours, entirely consistent with the range seen -- and attributed to the UV upturn -- in low-redshift red sequence cluster galaxies. The range of colours is independent of group multiplicity or velocity dispersion, with isolated passive galaxies just as likely to have blue UV-to-optical colours, implying significant upturn components, as those in richer groups and in the previous data on clusters. This is supported by equivalent results for (FUV$-r$) colours which are clear indicators of upturn components.
Accepted by MNRAS
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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