Abstract
We use a volume-, magnitude-limited sample of nearby galaxies to investigate the effect of the environment on the HI scaling relations. We confirm that the HI-to-stellar mass ratio anti correlates with stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and NUV-r colour across the whole range of parameters covered by our sample (10^9 <M*<10^11 Msol, 7.5 <mu*<9.5 Msol kpc^-2, 2<NUV-r<6 mag). These scaling relations are also followed by galaxies in the Virgo cluster, although they are significantly offset towards lower gas content. Interestingly, the difference between field and cluster galaxies gradually decreases moving towards massive, bulge-dominated systems. By comparing our data with the predictions of chemo-spectrophotometric models of galaxy evolution, we show that starvation alone cannot explain the low gas content of Virgo spirals and that only ram-pressure stripping is able to reproduce our findings. Finally, motivated by previous studies, we investigate the use of a plane obtained from the relations between the HI-to-stellar mass ratio, stellar mass surface density and NUV-r colour as a proxy for the HI deficiency parameter. We show that the distance from the `HI gas fraction plane' can be used as an alternative estimate for the HI deficiency, but only if carefully calibrated on pre-defined samples of `unperturbed' systems.
Highlights
Understanding the role played by the cold gas component in galaxy evolution is one of the main challenges for extragalactic studies
In order to quantify how the Hi gas fraction varies as a function of integrated galaxy properties, we plot in Fig.1 the Hito-stellar mass ratio as a function of stellar mass, observed N U V − r colour, concentration index in r-band (C31(r), defined as the ratio between the radii containing 75% and 25% of the total r-band light) and stellar mass surface density (i.e., M∗/(2πR520,i), where R50,i is the radius containing 50% of the total i-band light i.e., the effective radius)
In this paper we have shown the relations between Hito-stellar mass ratio, galaxy structure and colour for the HRS, a volume, magnitude-limited sample of nearby galaxies
Summary
Understanding the role played by the cold gas component in galaxy evolution is one of the main challenges for extragalactic studies. Catinella et al (2010) used the first GASS data release to quantify the main scaling relations linking the Hi-to-stellar mass ratio to stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and colour They suggested the existence of a ‘gas fraction plane’ linking Hi gas fraction to stellar mass surface density and N U V − r colour and proposed to use this plane to isolate interesting outliers that might be in the process of accreting or loosing a significant fraction of their gas content. In this context, the plane might be considered as an alternative way to define Hi deficiency when accurate morphological classification is not available. Our main goals are a) to accurately quantify the effect of the cluster environment on the Hi scaling relations, b) to investigate the validity of the Hi plane as a proxy for Hi deficiency and c) to highlight the power of Hi scaling relations to constrain models of galaxy formation and evolution
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