Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Demonstrating the Power of WISE in the Study of Galaxy Groups to z < 0.1

Cluver, M. E.; Jarrett, T. H.; Taylor, E. N.; Hopkins, A. M.; Brough, S.; Casura, S.; Holwerda, B. W.; Liske, J.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Wright, A. H.

Abstract

© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Combining high-fidelity group characterization from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey and source-tailored z < 0.1 photometry from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey, we present a comprehensive study of the properties of ungrouped galaxies, compared to 497 galaxy groups (4 ≤ N FoF ≤ 20) as a function of stellar and halo mass. Ungrouped galaxies are largely unimodal in WISE color, the result of being dominated by star-forming, late-type galaxies. Grouped galaxies, however, show a clear bimodality in WISE color, which correlates strongly with stellar mass and morphology. We find evidence for an increasing early-type fraction, in stellar mass bins between 1010 M o˙ ≲ M stellar ≲ 1011 M o˙, with increasing halo mass. Using ungrouped, late-type galaxies with star-forming colors (W2-W3 > 3), we define a star-forming main sequence (SFMS), which we use to delineate systems that have moved below the sequence ("quenched"for the purposes of this work). We find that with increasing halo mass, the relative number of late-type systems on the SFMS decreases, with a corresponding increase in early-type, quenched systems at high stellar mass (M stellar > 1010.5 M o˙), consistent with mass quenching. Group galaxies with masses M stellar < 1010.5 M o˙ show evidence of quenching consistent with environmentally driven processes. The stellar mass distribution of late-type, quenched galaxies suggests that it may be an intermediate population as systems transition from being star-forming and late-type to the "red sequence."Finally, we use the projected area of groups on the sky to extract groups that are (relatively) compact for their halo mass. Although these show a marginal increase in their proportion of high-mass and early-type galaxies compared to nominal groups, a clear increase in quenched fraction is not evident.

Citation

Cluver, M. E., Jarrett, T. H., Taylor, E. N., Hopkins, A. M., Brough, S., Casura, S., Holwerda, B. W., Liske, J., Pimbblet, K. A., & Wright, A. H. (2020). Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Demonstrating the Power of WISE in the Study of Galaxy Groups to z < 0.1. The Astrophysical journal, 898(1), Article 20. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9cb8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 20, 2020
• Publication Date: Jul 20, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 17, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 21, 2021
• Journal: Astrophysical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0004-637X
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 898
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9cb8
• Keywords: Galaxy evolution; Galaxy quenching; Infrared galaxies; Late-type galaxies; Galaxy groups; Star formation
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3547459
• Publisher URL: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9cb8
• Additional Information: Journal title: The Astrophysical Journal; Article type: paper; Article title: Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Demonstrating the Power of WISE in the Study of Galaxy Groups to z < 0.1; Copyright information: © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.; Date received: 2020-03-29; Date accepted: 2020-06-12; Online publication date: 2020-07-20