Quiescent galaxies generally possess denser cores than star-forming galaxies with similar mass. As a measurement of the core density, the central stellar mass surface density within a radius of 1 kpc (Σ1) was thus suggested to be closely related to galaxy quenching. Massive star-forming galaxies with high Σ1 do not fit into this picture. To understand the origin of such galaxies, we compare the spatially-resolved stellar population and star formation properties of massive (>1010.5M⊙) blue spiral galaxies with high and low Σ1, divided by Σ1=109.4M⊙kpc−2, based on the final release of MaNGA IFU data. We find that both high Σ1 and low Σ1 blue spirals show large diversities in stellar population and star formation properties. Despite the diversities, high Σ1 blue spirals are statistically different from the low Σ1 ones. Specifically, the radial profiles of the luminosity-weighted age and Mgb/⟨Fe⟩ show that high Σ1 blue spirals consist of a larger fraction of galaxies with younger and less α-element enhanced centers than their low Σ1 counterparts, ∼55% versus ∼30%. The galaxies with younger centers mostly have higher central specific star formation rates, which still follow the spaxel-based star formation main sequence relation though. Examinations of the Hα velocity field and the optical structures suggest that galactic bars or galaxy interactions should be responsible for the rejuvenation of these galaxies. The remaining ∼45% of high Σ1 blue spirals are consistent with the inside-out growth scenario.
@article{arxiv.2404.03850,
title = {Are High $\Sigma_1$ Massive Blue Spiral Galaxies Rejuvenated Systems?},
author = {Cai-Na Hao and Xiaoyang Xia and Yong Shi and Rui Guo and Yanmei Chen and Shuai Feng and Junqiang Ge and Qiusheng Gu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.03850},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
22 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ