Photometric properties of void galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7

Abstract

Using the sample presented by Pan et al., we analyse the photometric properties of 88 794 void galaxies and compare them to galaxies that reside in higher density environments with the same absolute magnitude distribution as the void galaxies. We analysed the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 and found a total of 1054 dynamically distinct voids with radius larger than 10 h−1 Mpc. The voids are not empty, but are underdense, with δρ/ρ < −0.9 in their centres. In this paper, we study the photometric properties of these void galaxies. We look at the u − r colours as an indication of star formation activity and the inverse concentration index as an indication of galaxy type. We find that void galaxies are statistically bluer than galaxies found in higher density environments with the same magnitude distribution. We examine the colours of the galaxies as a function of magnitude, dividing the galaxies into bright, medium, faint and dwarf groups, and we fit each colour distribution with a double-Gaussian model for the red and blue subpopulations. As we move from bright to dwarf galaxies, the population of red galaxies steadily decreases and the fraction of blue galaxies increases in both voids and walls; however, the fraction of blue galaxies in the voids is always higher and bluer than in the walls. We also split the void and wall galaxies into samples depending on galaxy type, as measured by the inverse concentration index. We find that late-type void galaxies are bluer than late-type wall galaxies and the same holds for early galaxies. We also find that early-type and dwarf void galaxies are blue in colour. We also study the properties of void galaxies as a function of their distance from the centre of the void. We find very little variation in the properties, such as magnitude, colour and type, of void galaxies as a function of their location in the void. The only exception is that the dwarf void galaxies may live closer to the centres of voids. As shown by Pan et al., the centres of voids have very similar density contrast and hence all void galaxies live in very similar density environments, which may explain the lack of variation of galaxy properties with location within voids.