Gaseous versus Stellar Velocity Dispersion in Emission-Line Galaxies

Abstract

We compare the ionized gas velocity dispersion σgas with the stellar velocity dispersion σ∗ in star-forming galaxies, composite galaxies, Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Regions (LINERs) and Seyfert 2s, compiled from a cross-identification of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Fourth Data Release (SDSS DR4) and Point Source Catalogue Redshift Survey (PSCz). We measure σgas from the FWHMs of emission lines (Hα, [NII]λλ6548, 6583 and [SII]λλ6716, 6731). A significant correlation between the gas and stellar velocity dispersion exists, despite substantial scatter. The mean value of the gas to stellar velocity dispersion ratio is close to unity. This suggests that gas velocity dispersion can substitute for the stellar velocity dispersion as a tracer of the gravitational potential well for all the four types of galaxies, but the involved uncertainties are different from type to type. We also studied gas/σ∗ as a function of the redshift and the axial ratio to test the effects of aperture and galaxy inclination, and found that both effects are weak. Finally we checked the trend of gas/σ∗ with the infrared luminosity and found no significant correlation.