ONE PLANE FOR ALL: MASSIVE STAR-FORMING AND QUIESCENT GALAXIES LIE ON THE SAME MASS FUNDAMENTAL PLANE AT z ∼ 0 AND z ∼ 0.7
- Steward Observatory, Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
- Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, NL-2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 (United States)
Scaling relations between galaxy structures and dynamics have been studied extensively for early- and late-type galaxies, both in the local universe and at high redshifts. The abundant differences between the properties of disky and elliptical, or star-forming and quiescent, galaxies seem to be characteristic of the local universe; such clear distinctions begin to disintegrate as observations of massive galaxies probe higher redshifts. In this paper we investigate the existence of the mass fundamental plane of all massive galaxies (σ ≳ 100 km s{sup –1}). This work includes local galaxies (0.05 < z < 0.07) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, in addition to 31 star-forming and 72 quiescent massive galaxies at intermediate redshift (z ∼ 0.7) with absorption-line kinematics from deep Keck-DEIMOS spectra and structural parameters from Hubble Space Telescope imaging. In two-parameter scaling relations, star-forming and quiescent galaxies differ structurally and dynamically. However, we show that massive star-forming and quiescent galaxies lie on nearly the same mass fundamental plane, or the relationship between stellar mass surface density, stellar velocity dispersion, and effective radius. The scatter in this relation (measured about log σ) is low: 0.072 dex (0.055 dex intrinsic) at z ∼ 0 and 0.10 dex (0.08 dex intrinsic) at z ∼ 0.7. This 3D surface is not unique: virial relations, with or without a dependence on luminosity profile shapes, can connect galaxy structures and stellar dynamics with similar scatter. This result builds on the recent finding that mass fundamental plane has been stable for early-type galaxies since z ∼ 2. As we now find that this also holds for star-forming galaxies to z ∼ 0.7, this implies that these scaling relations of galaxies will be minimally susceptible to progenitor biases owing to the evolving stellar populations, structures, and dynamics of galaxies through cosmic time.
- OSTI ID:
- 22364384
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 799, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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