English

Two Conditions for Galaxy Quenching: Compact Centres and Massive Haloes

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2015-01-19 v3

Abstract

We investigate the roles of two classes of quenching mechanisms for central and satellite galaxies in the SDSS (z<0.075z<0.075): those involving the halo and those involving the formation of a compact centre. For central galaxies with inner compactness Σ1kpc1099.4Mkpc2\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc} \sim 10^{9-9.4}M_{\odot} {\rm kpc}^{-2}, the quenched fraction fqf_{q} is strongly correlated with Σ1kpc\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc} with only weak halo mass MhM_{\rm h} dependence. However, at higher and lower Σ1kpc\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc}, sSFR is a strong function of MhM_{\rm h} and mostly independent of Σ1kpc\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc}. In other words, Σ1kpc1099.4Mkpc2\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc} \sim 10^{9-9.4} M_{\odot} {\rm kpc}^{-2} divides galaxies into those with high sSFR below and low sSFR above this range. In both the upper and lower regimes, increasing MhM_{\rm h} shifts the entire sSFR distribtuion to lower sSFR without a qualitative change in shape. This is true even at fixed MM_{*}, but varying MM_{*} at fixed MhM_{\rm h} adds no quenching information. Most of the quenched centrals with Mh>1011.8MM_{\rm h} > 10^{11.8}M_{\odot} are dense (Σ1kpc>109 Mkpc2\Sigma_{\rm 1kpc} > 10^{9}~ M_{\odot} {\rm kpc}^{-2}), suggesting compaction-related quenching maintained by halo-related quenching. However, 21% are diffuse, indicating only halo quenching. For satellite galaxies in the outskirts of halos, quenching is a strong function of compactness and a weak function of host MhM_{\rm h}. In the inner halo, MhM_{\rm h} dominates quenching, with 90%\sim 90\% of the satellites being quenched once Mh>1013MM_{\rm h} > 10^{13}M_{\odot}. This regional effect is greatest for the least massive satellites. As demonstrated via semi-analytic modelling with simple prescriptions for quenching, the observed correlations can be explained if quenching due to central compactness is rapid while quenching due to halo mass is slow.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.5372,
  title  = {Two Conditions for Galaxy Quenching: Compact Centres and Massive Haloes},
  author = {Joanna Woo and Avishai Dekel and S. M. Faber and David C. Koo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.5372},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

16 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS accepted

R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:43:15.897Z