The Dependence of galaxy colors on luminosity and environment at z~0.4

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Astrophys.J.629:L77-L80,2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/444618· OSTI ID:15020261

Yee, H K.C.; Hsieh, B C; Lin, Huan; Gladders, M D

The authors analyze the B-R{sub c} colors of galaxies as functions of luminosity and local galaxy density using a large photometric redshift catalog based on the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. They select two samples of galaxies with a magnitude limit of M{sub R{sub e}} < -18.5 and redshift ranges of 0.2 {le} z < 0.4 and 0.4 {le} x < 0.6 containing 10{sup 5} galaxies each. they model the color distributions of subsamples of galaxies and derive the red galaxy fraction and peak colors of red and blue galaxies as functions of galaxy luminosity and environment. The evolution of these relationships over the redshift range of x {approx} 0.5 to z {approx} 0.05 is analyzed in combination with published results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They find that there is a strong evolution in the restframe peak color of bright blue galaxies in that they become redder with decreasing redshift, while the colors of faint blue galaxies remain approximately constant. This effect supports the ''downsizing'' scenario of star formation in galaxies. While the general dependence of the galaxy color distributions on the environment is small, they find that the change of red galaxy fraction with epoch is a function of the local galaxy density, suggesting that the downsizing effect may operate with different timescales in regions of different galaxy densities.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03000
• OSTI ID: 15020261
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-05-349-CD; arXiv eprint number astro-ph/0508016
• Journal Information: Astrophys.J.629:L77-L80,2005, Journal Name: Astrophys.J.629:L77-L80,2005
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
Astrophysics
COLOR
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
MILKY WAY
SKY
STARS