Galaxy Alignments with Surrounding Structure in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Desai, Dhvanil D.; Ryden, Barbara S.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac83a8

Galaxy Alignments with Surrounding Structure in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Journal Article · Fri Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · The Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac83a8· OSTI ID:1983292

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The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Legacy Survey, we study the alignment of luminous galaxies with spectroscopic data with the surrounding larger-scale structure as defined by galaxies with only photometric data. We find that galaxies from the red sequence have a statistically significant tendency for their apparent long axes to align parallel to the projected surrounding structure. Red galaxies more luminous than the median of our sample (M_r < –21.78) have a mean alignment angle $$\langle$$Φ$$\rangle$$ < 45°, indicating preferred parallel alignment, at a significance level >4.5σ on projected scales 0.1 Mpc < r_p ≤ 7.5 Mpc. Fainter red galaxies have $$\langle$$Φ$$\rangle$$ < 45° at a significance level >4.3σ at scales 1 Mpc < r_p < 3 Mpc. At a projected scale r_p = 3.0 Mpc, the mean alignment angle decreases steadily with increasing luminosity for red galaxies with M_r ≲ –22.5, reaching $$\langle$$Φ$$\rangle$$ = 40$$^{°}_{.}$$49 ± 0$$^{°}_{.}$$56 for the most luminous 1% (M_r ~ –23.57). Galaxies from the blue sequence show no statistically significant tendency for their axes to align with larger-scale structure, regardless of galaxy luminosity. Galaxies in higher-density regions do not show a statistically significant difference in the mean alignment angle from galaxies in lower-density regions; this holds true for the faint blue, luminous blue, faint red, and luminous red subsets.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Science, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)

Sponsoring Organization:: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI ID:: 1983292

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 936; ISSN 0004-637X

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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