Main Galaxy Sample Research Articles

Environmental dependence of stellar mass, SFR, and SSFR for the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the SDSS DR7

AbstractUsing the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7), we investigate the environmental dependence of stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (SSFR) of LRGs. It is found that stellar mass of LRGs nearly is independent of local environments, and that the environmental dependence of SFR and SSFR in the LRG sample is much weaker than the one in the Main galaxy sample. One possible explanation is that galaxy color and morphology are a pair of galaxy properties most predictive of local environments, while LRGs are a group of galaxies that are likely to be luminous, red and of early types (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Stellar Population Analysis on a Large Sample of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

AbstractWe study the stellar populations of a large sample of nearly face-on disk Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (LSBGs), with B-band central surface brightness μ0(B) > 22 mag arcsec−2, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS-DR4) main galaxy sample (similar to Zhong et al. 2008; Liang et al. 2010).

The stellar populations of host galaxies of supernovae

AbstractWe study and compare the stellar populations of host galaxies of different types of supernovae (SNe): SN Ia and core collapse SN (SN II and SN Ibc) at the same time. The 234 sample galaxies are selected by cross-matching the Asiago Supernova Catalogue (ASC) and the SDSS-DR7 main galaxy sample (MGS). The STARLIGHT software is used to analyze their stellar populations by fitting the continua and absorption lines of the hosts.

Revealing galactic scale bars with the help of Galaxy Zoo

AbstractWe use visual classifications of the brightest 250,000 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample provided by citizen scientists via the Galaxy Zoo project (www.galaxyzoo.org, Lintott et al. 2008) to identify a sample of local disc galaxies with reliable bar identifications.These data, combined with information on the atomic gas content from the ALFALFA survey (Haynes et al. 2011) show that disc galaxies with higher gas content have lower bar fractions.We use a gas deficiency parameter to show that disc galaxies with more/less gas than expected for their stellar mass are less/more likely to host bars. Furthermore, we see that at a fixed gas content there is no residual correlation between bar fraction and stellar mass. We argue that this suggests previously observed correlations between galaxy colour/stellar mass and (strong) bar fraction (e.g. from the sample in Masters et al. 2011, and also see Nair & Abraham 2010) could be driven by the interaction between bars and the gas content of the disc, since more massive, optically redder disc galaxies are observed to have lower gas contents.Furthermore we see evidence that at a fixed gas content the global colours of barred galaxies are redder than those of unbarred galaxies. We suggest that this could be due to the exchange of angular momentum beyond co-rotation which might stop a replenishment of gas from external sources, and act as a source of feedback to temporarily halt or reduce the star formation in the outer parts of barred discs.These results (published as Masters et al. 2012) combined with those of Skibba et al. (2012), who use the same sample to show a clear (but subtle and complicated) environmental dependence of the bar fraction in disc galaxies, suggest that bars are intimately linked to the evolution of disc galaxies.

SOME PROPERTIES OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN THE VOLUME-LIMITED MAIN GALAXY SAMPLES OF SDSS DR8

Using two volume-limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 above and below the value of M* r , we have explored some properties of AGNs. In the luminous volume-limited sample, 9.5% is composite galaxies (C) and 5.0% AGNs, while in the faint volume-limited sample, these fractions are 7.2% and 2.9%, respectively. The C and AGN fractions increase with luminosity. We also note that the fraction of star-forming galaxies decreases with luminosity, but the fraction of low signal-to-noise star-forming galaxies slightly increases with luminosity. In two volume-limited samples, the fraction of star-forming galaxies decreases with density, while the AGN fraction is nearly insensitive to the local environment. If composite galaxies (C) are classified as AGNs, then the fraction of AGNs in the luminous volume-limited sample declines with increasing local density. When focusing on some properties of AGN host galaxies, we find that galaxies hosting AGNs are preferentially more massive and have high concentration indices. In the faint volume-limited sample, AGN host galaxies preferentially have low star formation rates (SFRs) and specific SFRs (SSFRs). However, in the luminous volume-limited sample, AGN host galaxies preferentially have moderate SFRs and SSFRs.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF THE FRACTION OF 'UNCONVENTIONAL' GALAXIES: FAINT RED AND LUMINOUS BLUE

Using the volume-limited Main galaxy sample constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7), we explore the environmental dependence of the fraction of 'unconventional' galaxies: luminous blue and faint red. It is found that the fraction of faint red increases apparently with increasing local density, and the fraction of luminous blue declines substantially with increasing local density, which shows that there is an environmental dependence for color beyond that for luminosity.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF THE STAR FORMATION RATE, SPECIFIC STAR FORMATION RATE, AND THE PRESENCE OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI FOR HIGH STELLAR MASS AND LOW STELLAR MASS GALAXIES

Using two volume-limited main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 (SDSS DR8), we explore the environmental dependence of the star formation rate (SFR), specific star formation rate (SSFR), and the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) for high stellar mass (HSM) and low stellar mass (LSM) galaxies. It is found that the environmental dependence of the SFR and SSFR for luminous HSM galaxies and faint LSM ones remains very strong: galaxies in the lowest density regime preferentially have higher SFR and SSFR than galaxies in the densest regime, while the environmental dependence of the SFR and SSFR for luminous LSM galaxies is substantially reduced. Our result also shows that the fraction of AGNs in HSM galaxies decreases as a function of density, while the one in LSM galaxies depends very little on local density. In the faint LSM galaxy sample, the SFR and SSFR of galaxies strongly decrease with increasing density, but the fraction of AGNs depends very little on local density. Such a result can rule out that AGNs are fueled by the cold gas in the disk component of galaxies that is also driving the star formation of those galaxies.

In the neighbourhood of Tame Monsters

The impact of quasars on their galaxy neighbours is an important factor in the understanding of galaxy evolution models. The aim of this work is to characterize the intermediate-scale environments of quasars at low redshift (z $<$ 0.2) with the most statistically complete sample to date using the seventh data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have used 305 quasar-galaxy associations with spectroscopically measured redshifts within the projected distance range of 350 kpc, to calculate how surface densities of galaxies, colors, degree of ionization, dust extinction and star-formation rates change as a function of the distance to our quasar sample. We also identify the companion Active Galactic Nuclei from our main galaxy sample and calculate surface density for different galaxy types. We have done this in three different quasar-galaxy redshift difference ranges $|\Delta$z$|<$ 0.001, 0.006, and 0.012. Our results suggest that there is a significant increase of the surface density of blue neighbours around our low-redshift quasar sample that is steeper than around non-active field galaxies of the same luminosity and redshift range. This may indicate that quasar formation is accomplished via a merging scenario. No significant changes in star formation rate, dust extinction, degree of ionization or color as a function of distance from the quasars was observed. We could not observe any effects from quasars on their companion galaxies.

The environmental dependence of u-, g-, r-, i-, and z-band luminosities for galaxies above and below the value of M r *

Using two volume-limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6), we have explored the difference of the environmental dependence of u-, g-, r-, i-, and z-band luminosities between galaxies above and below the value of Mr*. It turns out that in the luminous volume-limited sample, all the five band luminosities strongly correlate with local environments. Because the u-band luminosity of galaxies still strongly depends on local environments in the faint volumelimited sample, we conclude that Mr* is not an important characteristic parameter for the environmental dependence of the u-band luminosity. It is worth noting that for the u-band, the subsample at low density has a higher proportion of luminous galaxies and a lower proportion of faint galaxies than the one at high density, which is opposite to widely accepted conclusion: luminous galaxies exist preferentially in the densest regions of the universe, but faint galaxies are located preferentially in low density regions. Our results show that the environmental dependence of luminosity is not a single trend in different luminosity regions and for different bands.

Investigation of the correlation between morphology and luminosity for two classes of main galaxies

Using an apparent-magnitude limited Main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7(SDSS DR7), we investigate the correlation between morphologies and luminosity for the Main galaxy sample. Our Main galaxy sample is divided into two classes: Main galaxies only with TARGET_GALAXY flag (bestPrimtarget = 64), and ones also with other flags. It is found that for the second class Main galaxies, the early-type proportion monotonously increases with increasing luminosity nearly in the whole luminosity region. But for the first class Main galaxies, the early-type proportion increases with increasing luminosity only within a certain luminosity region (−22.2 < M r < −19.8). In the high luminosity region (M r < −22.2), the early-type proportion of the first class Main galaxies even decreases dramatically with increasing luminosity. We also analyze the correlation between morphologies and luminosity of galaxies around the peak of the redshift distribution ( 0.07 ≤ z ≤ 0.08 ). In such a narrow redshift region, we still observe strong correlation between morphologies and luminosity, which shows that this correlation is fundamental.

Can Self-Organizing Maps Accurately Predict Photometric Redshifts?

ABSTRACTWe present an unsupervised machine-learning approach that can be employed for estimating photometric redshifts. The proposed method is based on a vector quantization called the self-organizing-map (SOM) approach. A variety of photometrically derived input values were utilized from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s main galaxy sample, luminous red galaxy, and quasar samples, along with the PHAT0 data set from the Photo- z Accuracy Testing project. Regression results obtained with this new approach were evaluated in terms of root-mean-square error (RMSE) to estimate the accuracy of the photometric redshift estimates. The results demonstrate competitive RMSE and outlier percentages when compared with several other popular approaches, such as artificial neural networks and Gaussian process regression. SOM RMSE results (using Δz = zphot - zspec) are 0.023 for the main galaxy sample, 0.027 for the luminous red galaxy sample, 0.418 for quasars, and 0.022 for PHAT0 synthetic data. The results demonstrate that there are nonunique solutions for estimating SOM RMSEs. Further research is needed in order to find more robust estimation techniques using SOMs, but the results herein are a positive indication of their capabilities when compared with other well-known methods.

Astrophysically motivated bulge-disc decompositions of Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies

We present a set of bulge-disk decompositions for a sample of 71,825 SDSS main-sample galaxies in the redshift range 0.003<z<0.05. We have fit each galaxy with either a de Vaucouleurs ('classical') or an exponential ('pseudo-') bulge and an exponential disk. Two dimensional Sersic fits are performed when the 2-component fits are not statistically significant or when the fits are poor, even in the presence of high signal-to-noise. We study the robustness of our 2-component fits by studying a bright subsample of galaxies and we study the systematics of these fits with decreasing resolution and S/N. Only 30% of our sample have been fit with two-component fits in which both components are non-zero. The g-r and g-i colours of each component for the two-component models are determined using linear templates derived from the r-band model. We attempt a physical classification of types of fits into disk galaxies, pseudo-bulges, classical bulges, and ellipticals. Our classification of galaxies agrees well with previous large B+D decomposed samples. Using our galaxy classifications, we find that Petrosian concentration is a good indicator of B/T, while overall Sersic index is not. Additionally, we find that the majority of green valley galaxies are bulge+disk galaxies. Furthermore, in the transition from green to red B+D galaxies, the total galaxy colour is most strongly correlated with the disk colour.

The clustering of X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei at z= 0.1

The clustering properties of moderate luminosity ($L_X = \rm 10^{41} - 10^{44} \, erg \,s^{-1}$) X-ray selected AGN at $z\approx0.1$ are explored. X-ray sources in the redshift interval $0.03<z<0.2$ are selected from a serendipitous XMM survey of the SDSS footprint (XMM/SDSS) and are cross-correlated with the SDSS Main galaxy sample. The inferred X-ray AGN auto-correlation function is described by a power law with amplitude $r_0\approx5\,$h$^{-1}$Mpc and slope $\gamma\approx2.0$. The corresponding mass of the dark matter haloes that host X-ray AGN at $z\approx0.1$ is $\approx 10^{13} \,h ^{-1} \, M_{\sun}$. Comparison with studies at higher redshift shows that this mass scale is characteristic of moderate luminosity X-ray AGN out to $z\approx 1$. Splitting the AGN sample by rest-frame color shows that X-ray sources in red hosts are more clustered than those associated with blue galaxies, in agreement with results at $z\approx1$. We also find that the host galaxies of X-ray AGN have lower stellar masses compared to the typical central galaxy of a $\approx 10^{13} \,h ^{-1} \, M_{\sun}$ dark matter halo. AGN hosts either have experienced less stellar mass growth compared to the average central galaxy of a $\approx 10^{13} \,h ^{-1} \, M_{\sun}$ halo or a fraction of them are associated with satellite galaxies.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF ALL OF THE FIVE-BAND LUMINOSITIES FOR THE APPARENT-MAGNITUDE-LIMITED MAIN GALAXY SAMPLE OF THE SDSS DR7

In this study, I use the apparent-magnitude-limited Main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 and investigate the environmental dependence of all of the five-band luminosities. To decrease the radial selection effect, I divide the whole sample into many subsamples with a redshift binning size of {Delta}z = 0.01 and analyze the environmental dependence of all of the five-band luminosities of subsamples in each redshift bin. It turns out that luminous galaxies in M{sub u} (the u-band absolute magnitude) exist preferentially in low-density regions of the universe, while faint galaxies in M{sub u} are located preferentially in high-density regions, especially in the redshift range 0.05 {<=} z {<=} 0.10.

THREE-POINT CORRELATION FUNCTIONS OF SDSS GALAXIES: CONSTRAINING GALAXY-MASS BIAS

We constrain the linear and quadratic bias parameters from the configuration dependence of the three-point correlation function (3PCF) in both redshift and projected space, utilizing measurements of spectroscopic galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Main Galaxy Sample. We show that bright galaxies (M_r < -21.5) are biased tracers of mass, measured at a significance of 4.5 sigma in redshift space and 2.5 sigma in projected space by using a thorough error analysis in the quasi-linear regime (9-27 Mpc/h). Measurements on a fainter galaxy sample are consistent with an unbiased model. We demonstrate that a linear bias model appears sufficient to explain the galaxy-mass bias of our samples, although a model using both linear and quadratic terms results in a better fit. In contrast, the bias values obtained from the linear model appear in better agreement with the data by inspection of the relative bias, and yield implied values of sigma_8 that are more consistent with current constraints. We investigate the covariance of the 3PCF, which itself is a measurement of galaxy clustering. We assess the accuracy of our error estimates by comparing results from mock galaxy catalogs to jackknife re-sampling methods. We identify significant differences in the structure of the covariance. However, the impact of these discrepancies appears to be mitigated by an eigenmode analysis that can account for the noisy, unresolved modes. Our results demonstrate that using this technique is sufficient to remove potential systematics even when using less-than-ideal methods to estimate errors.

Environmental dependence of star formation rate, specific star formation rate and stellar mass for blue and red galaxies

Using the two volume-limited main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we explore the environmental dependence of the star formation rate (SFR), the specific star formation rate (SSFR) and the stellar mass for blue and red galaxies. It is found that the environmental dependence of the SFR, the SSFR and the stellar mass for red galaxies is still fairly strong, but the environmental dependence of these parameters for blue galaxies is very weak. Our analyses suggest that the strong environmental dependence of these parameters for red galaxies is mainly a result of the environmental dependence of these parameters in the red late-type sample. Our results also show that the SFR and the SSFR of a galaxy depend on its environment as well as its colour.

The environmental dependence of the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galaxies

AbstractUsing two volume‐limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6) with the luminosity –20.0 ≤ Mr ≤ –18.5 and –22.40 ≤ Mr ≤–20.16, we have explored the environmental dependence of the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galaxies. It is found that the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galax‐ies decline mildly with increasing local density in the luminous volume‐limited sample, but in the faint volume‐limited sample these fractions rise slightly with increasing local density except that the fraction of red star‐forming decreases with density in the densest regime. Only according to statistical results of this study, it is difficult to reach the conclusion: there is an environmental dependence for color beyond that for star formation activities or for star formation activities beyond that for color. In this condition, we preferentially believe that star formation activities and color possiblely have equally strong environmental dependence. In the faint volume‐limited sample, we observe that the fraction of star‐forming galaxies‐the density relation has a “critical density” at the projected local density PLD ≈ 1 h–2 Mpc–2: below this density the fraction of star‐forming galaxies is high and nearly constant, while above this density this fraction drops rapidly. Thus, it is possible that in the densest regime of the faint volume‐limited sample, there is an environmental dependence for star formation activities beyond that for color, which leads to the fraction of red star‐forming decreasing with density in the densest regime of the faint volume‐limited sample (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

GALAXY CLUSTERING IN THE COMPLETED SDSS REDSHIFT SURVEY: THE DEPENDENCE ON COLOR AND LUMINOSITY

We measure the luminosity and color dependence of galaxy clustering in the SDSS DR7 main galaxy sample, focusing on the projected correlation function w_p(r_p) of volume-limited samples. We interpret our measurements using halo occupation distribution (HOD) modeling assuming a Lambda-CDM cosmology. The amplitude of w_p(r_p) grows slowly with luminosity for L < L_* and increases sharply at higher luminosities, with bias factor b(>L)=1.06+0.23(L/L_*)^{1.12}. At fixed luminosity, redder galaxies have a stronger and steeper w_p(r_p), a trend that runs steadily from the bluest galaxies to the reddest galaxies. The individual luminosity trends for the red and blue galaxy populations are strikingly different. Blue galaxies show a slow but steady increase of w_p(r_p) with luminosity, at all scales. The large-scale clustering of red galaxies shows little luminosity dependence until a sharp increase at L > 4L_*, but the lowest luminosity red galaxies (0.04-0.25 L_*) show very strong clustering on scales r_p < 2 Mpc/h. Most of the observed trends can be naturally understood within the LCDM+HOD framework. The growth of w_p(r_p) with luminosity reflects an overall shift in the halo mass scale, in particular an increase in the minimum host halo mass Mmin. The mass at which a halo has, on average, one satellite galaxy brighter than L is M_1 ~ 17 Mmin(L) over most of the luminosity range. The growth and steepening of w_p(r_p) for redder galaxies reflects the increasing fraction of galaxies that are satellite systems in high mass halos instead of central systems in low mass halos, a trend that is especially marked at low luminosities. Our extensive measurements, provided in tabular form, will allow detailed tests of theoretical models of galaxy formation, a firm grounding of semi-empirical models of the galaxy population, and new cosmological tests.

Color-size Relations of Disk Galaxies with Equivalent Masses

The local face-on disk galaxies are selected as galaxy sample from the main galaxy sample of the Seventh Data Release of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR7). The correlations between the colors and sizes of disk galaxies with equivalent total stellar masses are statistically investigated and their realities are tested. It is found that for the disk galaxies with equivalent masses, the correlation between u-r color and size is very weak. However, there are anticorrelations between g-r, r-i, r-z colors and sizes, i.e., the larger are the sizes of galaxies, the bluer are their colors. This result means that the mass distribution of disk galaxies has a significant influence on their star formation history. The galaxies with more extended mass distributions evolve more slowly.

FR II radio galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: observational facts

Starting from the Cambridge Catalogues of radio sources, we have created a sample of 401 FRII radio sources that have counterparts in the main galaxy sample of the 7th Data release of the SDSS and analyse their radio and optical properties. We find that the luminosity in the Halpha line - which we argue gives a better measure of the total emission-line flux than the widely used O[III] luminosity - is strongly correlated with the radio luminosity P1.4GHz. We show that the absence of emission lines in about one third of our sample is likely due to a detection threshold and not to a lack of optical activity. We find that the properties of FRII galaxies are mainly driven by the Eddington parameter LHa/"MBH" or, equivalently, P1.4GHz/"MBH". Radio galaxies with hot spots are found among the ones with the highest values of P1.4GHz/"MBH". Compared to classical AGN hosts in the main galaxy sample of the SDSS, our FRII galaxies show a larger proportion of objects with very hard ionizing radiation field and large ionization parameter. A few objects are, on the contrary, ionized by a softer radiation field. We find that the black hole masses and stellar masses in FRII galaxies are very closely related. A comparison sample of line-less galaxies in the SDSS follows the same relation, although on average the masses are smaller. This suggests that the FRII radio phenomenon occurs in normal elliptical galaxies, preferentially in the most massive ones. Although most FRII galaxies are old, some contain traces of young stellar populations. Such young populations are not seen in normal line-less galaxies, suggesting that the activity in some FRII galaxies may be triggered by recent star formation. The "MBH"-Mgal relation in a comparison sample of radio-quiet AGNs from the SDSS is very different, suggesting that galaxies which are still forming stars are also still building their central black holes.