Sersic Research Articles

DES J024008.08-551047.5: A new member of the polar ring galaxy family

Aims. This study presents the discovery of a new polar ring galaxy (PRG) candidate and highlights its unique features and characteristics. We provide evidence from photometric analysis that supports the inclusion of galaxy DES J024008.08-551047.5 (DJ0240) in the PRG catalogue. Methods. During the visual observations of optical imaging data obtained from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey, a serendipitous discovery was made of a ringed galaxy, DJ0240. We conducted a one-dimensional isophotal analysis to determine the position angle of the ring component and its relative orientation to the host galaxy. A two-dimensional GALFIT analysis was performed to confirm the orthogonal nature of the ring galaxy and identify distinct components within the host galaxy. We compared the photometric properties of the host and ring components of DJ0240 with PRGs and other ring-type galaxies (RTGs), finding that DJ0240 shares similar properties with both of these galaxy types. Results. We have discovered the galaxy DJ0240, a PRG candidate with a ring component positioned almost perpendicular to the host galaxy. The position angles of the ring and host components are ∼80° and ∼10°, respectively, indicating that they are nearly orthogonal to each other. The extension of the ring component is three times greater than that of the host galaxy and shows a distinct colour separation, being bluer than the host. The estimated g − r colour values of the host and ring components are 0.86 ± 0.02 and 0.59 ± 0.10 mag, respectively. The colour value of the ring component is similar to those of typical spiral galaxies. The host galaxy’s colour and the presence of a bulge and disc components indicate that the host galaxy may be lenticular. Our findings reveal a subtle yet noticeable colour difference between the host and ring components of PRGs and RTGs. We observe that both the host and ring components of DJ0240 align more closely with PRGs than with RTGs. Furthermore, we compared the Sersic index values of the ring component (nring) of galaxy DJ0240 with a selected sample of PRGs and Hoag-type galaxies. The results show that DJ0240 has a remarkably low nring value of 0.13, supporting the galaxy’s classification as a PRG. Hence, we suggest that the ring galaxy DJ0240 is a highly promising candidate for inclusion in the family of PRGs.

Simulating strong gravity-lensing effect using python with 10 source and 20 lensing galaxies

This report explores using Python, a coding language, to create simulated images of a gravitational lens system, using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) parameters. With Pythons helpful tools, like NumPy for math operations and Astropy for astronomy tasks, we build algorithms that recreate the interactions within our chosen group of galaxies and take into account HSTs unique imaging capabilities. Our method combines theory of gravitational lensing with practical coding strategies to make simulations show these complex light-bending interactions. The report walks through how the algorithms are developed with specific scientific simulation models like Sersic profile and point-spread function (PSF), showcasing the important role of computer simulations in deepening our understanding of space. In this report, I will introduce how we can use python code to create simulation images of a gravitational lens system. This system involves with 10 source galaxies ,20 lensing galaxies and with consideration of dark matter halo.

Galaxy populations in the most distant SPT-SZ clusters

We investigate structural properties of massive galaxy populations in the central regions (< 0.7 r500) of five very massive (M200 > 4 × 1014 M⊙), high-redshift (1.4 ≲ z ≲ 1.7) galaxy clusters from the 2500 deg2 South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel’dovich effect (SPT-SZ) survey. We probe the connection between galaxy structure and broad stellar population properties at stellar masses of log(M/M⊙) > 10.85. We find that quiescent and star-forming cluster galaxy populations are largely dominated by bulge- and disk-dominated sources, respectively, with relative contributions being fully consistent with those of field counterparts. At the same time, the enhanced quiescent galaxy fraction observed in these clusters with respect to the coeval field is reflected in a significant morphology-density relation, with bulge-dominated galaxies already clearly dominating the massive galaxy population in these clusters at z ∼ 1.5. At face value, these observations show no significant environmental signatures in the correlation between broad structural and stellar population properties. In particular, the Sersic index and axis ratio distribution of massive, quiescent sources are consistent with field counterparts, in spite of the enhanced quiescent galaxy fraction in clusters. This consistency suggests a tight connection between quenching and structural evolution towards a bulge-dominated morphology, at least in the probed cluster regions and galaxy stellar mass range, irrespective of environment-related processes affecting star formation in cluster galaxies. We also probe the stellar mass–size relation of cluster galaxies, and find that star-forming and quiescent sources populate the mass–size plane in a manner largely similar to their field counterparts, with no evidence of a significant size difference for any probed sub-population. In particular, both quiescent and bulge-dominated cluster galaxies have average sizes at fixed stellar mass consistent with their counterparts in the field.

Structural Parameter of a Merging Compact Dwarf Galaxy CG 0315

Structural parameters like size, Sersic index, total luminosity and ellipticity are important tools to study galaxy formation and evolution. This work studies a compact dwarf galaxy CG 0325, originated from a merger, and performs a detailed analysis of morphological parameters. The galaxy size is derived by using two different methods, i.e., parametric and non-parametric. The parametric uses the Sersic modeling, but it is found that the observed light profile of CG 0325 cannot be modeled with a simple Sersic function. This is, however, common in merging feature galaxies. Therefore, for further analysis, the half-light radius derived from the non-parametric method can be used as the size of the galaxy. CG 0315 is far more compact than a typical galaxy. We measured its effective radius of 4.05 arcseconds and half-light radius of 2.60 arcseconds that corresponds to a physical value of 221 parsec. Its ratio between the minor and major axis is 0.82, and the position angle is 179 degrees to the North. The star formation rate of the galaxy is 0.051Mʘ year-1. We conclude from these observational data that CG 0315 will continue to be a compact dwarf galaxy when star formation stops and transforms into a well-known compact elliptical galaxy. Therefore, CG 0315 might be a progenitor of an elliptical galaxy.

Strong lensing in UNIONS: Toward a pipeline from discovery to modeling

We present a search for galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses in the initial 2500 square degrees of the Canada-France Imaging Survey (CFIS). We designed a convolutional neural network (CNN) committee that we applied to a selection of 2 344 002 exquisite-seeingr-band images of color-selected luminous red galaxies. Our classification uses a realistic training set where the lensing galaxies and the lensed sources are both taken from real data, namely the CFISr-band images themselves and theHubbleSpace Telescope (HST). A total of 9460 candidates obtain a score above 0.5 with the CNN committee. After a visual inspection of the candidates, we find a total of 133 lens candidates, of which 104 are completely new. The set of false positives mainly contains ring, spiral, and merger galaxies, and to a lesser extent galaxies with nearby companions. We classify 32 of the lens candidates as secure lenses and 101 as maybe lenses. For the 32 highest quality lenses, we also fit a singular isothermal ellipsoid mass profile with external shear along with an elliptical Sersic profile for the lens and source light. This automated modeling step provides distributions of properties for both sources and lenses that have Einstein radii in the range 0.5″ < θE < 2.5″. Finally, we introduce a new lens and/or source single-band deblending algorithm based on auto-encoder representation of our candidates. This is the first time an end-to-end lens-finding and modeling pipeline is assembled together, in view of future lens searches in a single band, as will be possible withEuclid.

Morphology, colour–magnitude, and scaling relations of galaxies in Abell 426

ABSTRACT We present photometric properties of 183 member galaxies in the Abell 426 cluster using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging and spectroscopic observation. Detailed morphology based on visual classification followed by multicomponent image decomposition of 179 galaxies is presented in the SDSS g, r, i bands. More than 80 per cent of the members are early-type galaxies (ETGs), with elliptical, dwarf elliptical (dE), and lenticular morphology and follow the red-sequence in the colour–magnitude diagram (CMD). With a few dEs and spirals in the blue cloud, the cluster CMD is nearly unimodal. The dEs are ∼2-mag fainter and follow a different Sersic index and central velocity dispersion distribution than their bright counterparts. Further, we establish the Kormendy relation (KR) and the fundamental plane relation (FPR) for five different samples of ETGs constructed based on derived physical parameters such as Sersic index, concentration, central velocity dispersion in g, r, i bands. The mean r-band slope and zero-point of the KR are 3.02 ± 0.1 and 18.65 ± 0.03 in close agreement to other cluster ellipticals in the local and higher redshift. Kinematics-based ETG sample produces the least scatter in KR with zero-point getting brighter by ∼1.3 mag from g to i band. The dEs and other low-mass ETGs follow the KR with a similar slope but with ∼1.3 mag fainter zero-point and form a parallel KR. The bright ellipticals follow an FPR with a = 1.37 ± 0.003, b = 0.35 ± 0.05, and c = −9.37 ± 0.02 in the r band; galaxies tend to deviate from this relation at the low-mass end. A catalogue with morphology and 2D structural analysis is available online.

Virial masses of late-type galaxies from the SDSS DR16

ABSTRACT Motivated by the challenges of calculating the dynamical masses of late-type galaxies (LTGs) and the enormous amount of data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we calculate virial masses of a sample of approximately 126 000 LTGs from the sixteenth data release of the SDSS. The virial mass estimations were made considering Newtonian mechanics, virial equilibrium and velocity dispersion from stars and gas. The procedure gave as a result seven mass estimations for each galaxy. The calculated masses were calibrated using a sample of spiral galaxies with velocity rotation curves. Considering the results from the calibration, we find that the correlation between virial and dynamical (rotation curve) masses is stronger for high inclination values. Therefore, the calibration relies more on the available data for higher inclination angle galaxies. We also show that if we have a heterogeneous sample of galaxies one must take into consideration the size and colour of these galaxies by using the following variables: Sersic index n, concentration index, and colour of the stars. For relatively smaller and bluer LTGs, the gas velocity dispersion provides a more consistent mass calculation, while for LTGs that are relatively larger and redder the stellar velocity dispersion provides a better correlated mass calculation.

SDSS-IV MaNGA – gas rotation velocity lags in the final sample of MaNGA galaxies

ABSTRACT We consider the largest sample of 561 edge-on galaxies observed with integral field units by the MaNGA survey and find 300 galaxies where the ionized gas shows a negative vertical gradient (lag) in its rotational speed. We introduce the stop altitude as the distance to the galactic mid-plane at which the gas rotation should stop in the linear approximation. We find correlations between the lags, stop altitude and galactic mass, stellar velocity dispersion, and overall Sersic index. We do not find any correlation of the lags or stop altitude with the star formation activity in the galaxies. We conclude that low-mass galaxies (log(M*/M⊙) < 10) with low-Sersic index and with low-stellar velocity dispersion possess a wider ‘zone of influence’ in the extragalactic gas surrounding them with respect to higher mass galaxies that have a significant spherical component. We estimated the trend of the vertical rotational gradient with radius and find it flat for most of the galaxies in our sample. A small subsample of galaxies with negative radial gradients of lag has an enhanced fraction of objects with aged low-surface brightness structures around them (e.g. faint shells), which indicates that noticeable accretion events in the past affected the extraplanar gas kinematics and might have contributed to negative radial lag gradients. We conclude that an isotropic accretion of gas from the circumgalactic medium plays a significant role in the formation of rotation velocity lags.

Advanced morphology of VIPERS galaxies

We calculated morphological parameters for 70821 galaxies from VIPERS (spectroscopic galaxy survey performed on VIMOS spectroscope at VLT). These parameters includes Gini, M20, Concentration, Asymmetry and Smoothness. Results correlate with the distribution of these parameters for other simulated and observed samples. We also studied dependence of these parameters with Sersic power index of radial distribution of surface brightness of galaxy image. Our aim was to find a clear separation of VIPERS galaxies on elliptical and spiral. This is necessary for testing the method of Sersic index (ns) calculation in statmorph program. To find such bimodality we use B-V color index from VIPERS database. To perform the error analysis of morphological parameters we simulated galaxy images with random background of different magnitude and estimated the errors as dispersion of the parameters. We also found asymptotic values of errors of morphological parameters by increasing the numbers of mock images. To analyse the possible variation of each morphological parameter during the convolution of close galactic images, we have simulated them to research. In the result of this investigation we have analysed the dependence of the every morphological parameter from CAS and Gini/M20 statistics from the distance between galactic centers. The differences between our results for VIPERS and Gini-M20 distribution for PanStarrs galaxies at z<0.5 could be explained it by cosmological evolution of galaxies. We found out that in modern Universe there are much more elliptical galaxies than at z>0.5 which corresponds to VIPERS sample. Also we concluded that galaxy mergers were more frequent in the early Universe.

A Detailed Morphological and Spectroscopic Study of Merging Dwarf Galaxy PGC 030133

We present a detailed morphology and spectroscopic study of a merging dwarf galaxy PGC 030133. Using the publicly available fiber spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we analyzed nine-strong emission lines of wavelength range 4336 Å to 6739 Å. We find that the strongest emission line is OIII5007, with an intensity of 146.32 × 10-17 erg/s/cm2 /Å. The observed emission lines are well fitted with a Gaussian profile with a coefficient of regression greater than 96%, and the derived full-width half maximum (FWHM) is less than 4.2Å. The Balmer decrement, characterized by the line ratio between Hα and Hβ is 3.07, suggesting a presence of dust at the center of PGC 030133. We derived the star-formation rate and emission line metallicity of PGC 030133 using extinction corrected emission line fluxes. SFR derived from Hα emission line flux is 0.0033 Mʘyear-1 and emission line metallicity derived from flux ratio between NII and Hα is 8.13 dex. Using the SDSS, g, and z-band imaging data, we derived morphological parameters. PGC 030133 has a half-light radius of 3.38 arc second and 3.05 arc second in g-band and z-band respectively and observed one-dimensional light profile is well fitted with a Sersic function with near exponential Sersic index ~ 0.9.

Implications of a spatially resolved main sequence for the size evolution of star-forming galaxies

ABSTRACT Two currently debated problems in galaxy evolution, the fundamentally local or global nature of the main sequence of star formation and the evolution of the mass–size relation of star-forming galaxies (SFGs), are shown to be intimately related to each other. As a preliminary step, a growth function g is defined, which quantifies the differential change in half-mass radius per unit increase in stellar mass (g = d log R1/2/d log M⋆) due to star formation. A general derivation shows that g = KΔ(sSFR)/sSFR, meaning that g is proportional to the relative difference in specific star formation rate between the outer and the inner half of a galaxy, with K a dimensionless structural factor for which handy expressions are provided. As an application, it is shown that galaxies obeying a fundamentally local main sequence also obey, to a good approximation, g ≃ γn, where γ is the slope of the normalized local main sequence ($\mathrm{ sSFR} \,\, \propto \,\, \Sigma _\star ^{-\gamma }$) and n is the Sersic index. An exact expression is also provided. Quantitatively, a fundamentally local main sequence is consistent with SFGs growing along a stationary mass–size relation, but inconsistent with the continuation at z = 0 of evolutionary laws derived at higher z. This demonstrates that either the main sequence is not fundamentally local, or the mass–size relation of SFGs has converged to an equilibrium state at some finite time in the past, or both.

Galaxy flybys: evolution of the bulge, disc, and spiral arms

ABSTRACT Galaxy flybys are as common as mergers in low-redshift Universe and are important for galaxy evolution as they involve the exchange of significant amounts of mass and energy. In this study, we investigate the effect of minor flybys on the bulges, discs, and spiral arms of Milky Way mass galaxies for two types of bulges – classical bulges and boxy/peanut pseudo-bulges. Our N-body simulations comprise of two disc galaxies of mass ratios 10:1 and 5:1, where the discs of the galaxies lie in their orbital plane and the pericentre distance is varied. We performed photometric and kinematic bulge–disc decomposition at regular time-steps and traced the evolution of the disc size, spiral structure, bulge sersic index, bulge mass, and bulge angular momentum. Our results show that the main effect on the discs is disc thickening, which is seen as the increase in the ratio of disc scale height to scale radius. The strength of the spiral structure A2/A0 shows small oscillations about the mean time-varying amplitude in the pseudo-bulge host galaxies. The flyby has no significant effect on non-rotating classical bulge, which shows that these bulges are extremely stable in galaxy interactions. However, the pseudo-bulges become dynamically hotter in flybys indicating that flybys may play an important role in accelerating the rate of secular evolution in disc galaxies. This effect on pseudo-bulges is a result of their rotating nature as part of the bar. Also, flybys do not affect the time and strength of bar buckling.

The ALMaQUEST Survey – V. The non-universality of kpc-scale star formation relations and the factors that drive them

ABSTRACT Using a sample of ∼15 000 kpc-scale star-forming spaxels in 28 galaxies drawn from the ALMA-MaNGA QUEnching and STar formation (ALMaQUEST) survey, we investigate the galaxy-to-galaxy variation of the ‘resolved’ Schmidt–Kennicutt relation (rSK; $\Sigma _{\rm H_2}$–ΣSFR), the ‘resolved’ star-forming main sequence (rSFMS; Σ⋆–ΣSFR), and the ‘resolved’ molecular gas main sequence (rMGMS; Σ⋆–$\Sigma _{\rm H_2}$). The rSK relation, rSFMS, and rMGMS all show significant galaxy-to-galaxy variation in both shape and normalization, indicating that none of these relations is universal between galaxies. The rSFMS shows the largest galaxy-to-galaxy variation and the rMGMS the least. By defining an ‘offset’ from the average relations, we compute a ΔrSK, ΔrSFMS, ΔrMGMS for each galaxy, to investigate correlations with global properties. We find the following correlations with at least 2σ significance: The rSK is lower (i.e. lower star formation efficiency) in galaxies with higher M⋆, larger Sersic index, and lower specific SFR (sSFR); the rSFMS is lower (i.e. lower sSFR) in galaxies with higher M⋆ and larger Sersic index; and the rMGMS is lower (i.e. lower gas fraction) in galaxies with lower sSFR. In the ensemble of all 15 000 data points, the rSK relation and rMGMS show equally tight scatters and strong correlation coefficients, compared with a larger scatter and weaker correlation in the rSFMS. Moreover, whilst there is no correlation between ΔrSK and ΔrMGMS in the sample, the offset of a galaxy’s rSFMS does correlate with both of the other two offsets. Our results therefore indicate that the rSK and rMGMS are independent relations, whereas the rSFMS is a result of their combination.

New X-shaped bulge photometric model as a tool for measuring B/PS bulges and their X-structures in photometric studies

ABSTRACT Recent orbital studies of 3D bar structure in various numerical and analytical models show that X-structures that reside in boxy/peanut-shaped (B/PS) bulges are not delineated by some specific type of orbits, but are natural parts of them and formed by the same orbits that constitute such bulges. This implies that to accurately account for B/PS bulges and their X-structures in photometric studies, one needs the photometric model of B/PS bulge that includes an X-structure as its natural part. To find such a model, we considered a self-consistent numerical galaxy model where a typical B/PS bulge arises. Using spectral characteristics of particle-‘stars’, we decomposed the galaxy model on to the bar and non-bar components. We used the extracted 3D bar component to find an appropriate B/PS bulge photometric model, which can account for X-structures residing in such bulges. The resulted B/PS bulge photometric model has a truncated 2D Sersic profile with truncations introduced above (in the upper half-plane) and below (in the bottom half-plane) the rays of X-structures. We applied this model to represent B/PS bulges of various numerical models and some real galaxies. The comparison with previous works revealed that there are systematic shifts between the X-structure parameters of the same galaxies measured within the different approaches. We found that the geometric parameters of X-structures of real and modelled galaxies are consistent with each other if we measure them using our new model.

Discovery of a near-infrared bar and a pseudo-bulge in the collisional ring galaxy Cartwheel

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a bar, a pseudo-bulge, and unresolved point source in the archetype collisional ring galaxy Cartwheel using careful morphological analysis of a near-infrared (NIR) Ks-band image of excellent quality (seeing = 0.42″) at the ESO archive. The bar is oval-shaped with a semi-major axis length of 3.23″ (∼2.09 kpc), with almost a flat light distribution along it. The bulge is almost round (ellipticity = 0.21) with an effective radius of 1.62″ (∼1.05 kpc) and a Sersic index of 0.99, parameters typical of pseudo-bulges in late-type galaxies. The newly discovered bar is not recognizable as such in the optical images even with more than a factor of 2 higher spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, due to a combination of its red colour and the presence of dusty features. The observed bar and pseudo-bulge most likely belonged to the pre-collisional progenitor of the Cartwheel. The discovery of a bar in an archetype collisional ring galaxy Cartwheel is the first observational evidence to confirm the prediction that bars can survive a drop-through collision along with the morphological structures like a central bulge (pseudo).

Analysis of the galaxy size versus stellar mass relation

Abstract The scatter in the galaxy size versus stellar mass (M⋆) relation gets largely reduced when, rather than the half-mass radius Re, the size at a fixed surface density is used. Here we address why this happens. We show how a reduction is to be expected because any two galaxies with the same M⋆ have at least one radius with identical surface density, where the galaxies have identical size. However, the reason why the scatter is reduced to the observed level is not trivial, and we pin it down to the galaxy surface density profiles approximately following Sersic profiles with their Re and Sersic index (n) anti-correlated (i.e., given M⋆, n increases when Re decreases). Our analytical results describe very well the behavior of the observed galaxies as portrayed in the NASA Sloan Atlas (NSA), which contains more than half a million local objects with 7 &amp;lt; log (M⋆/M⊙) &amp;lt; 11.5. The comparison with NSA galaxies also allows us to find the optimal values for the mass surface density ($2.4_{-0.9}^{+1.3}\, M_\odot \, {\rm pc}^{-2}$) and surface brightness (r-band 24.7 ± 0.5 mag arcsec−2) that minimize the scatter, although the actual values depend somehow on the subset of NSA galaxies used for optimization. The physical reason for the existence of optimal values is unknown but, as Trujillo et al. (2020) point out, they are close to the gas surface density threshold to form stars and thus may trace the physical end of a galaxy. Our NSA-based size–mass relation agrees with theirs on the slope as well as on the magnitude of the scatter. As a by-product of the narrowness of the size–mass relation (only 0.06 dex), we propose to use the size of a galaxy to measure its stellar mass. In terms of observing time, it is not more demanding than the usual photometric techniques and may present practical advantages in particular cases.

The Impact of the Dynamical State of Galaxy Groups on the Stellar Populations of Central Galaxies

Abstract We study the stellar populations of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) in groups with different dynamical states, using Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey data. We use two independent, luminosity-dependent indicators to probe the relaxedness of their groups: the magnitude gap between the two most luminous galaxies (ΔM 12), and the offset between BGGs and the luminosity center (D offset) of the group. Combined, these two indicators were previously found useful for identifying relaxed and unrelaxed groups. We find that the BGGs of unrelaxed groups have significantly bluer near-ultraviolet-r colors than in relaxed groups. This is also true at the fixed sersic index. We find the bluer colors cannot be explained away by differing dust fraction, suggesting there are real differences in their stellar populations. Star formation rates derived from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting tend to be higher in unrelaxed systems. This is in part because of a greater fraction of BGGs with non-elliptical morphology, but also because unrelaxed systems have larger numbers of mergers, some of which may bring fuel for star formation. The SED-fitted stellar metallicities of BGGs in unrelaxed systems also tend to be higher by around 0.05 dex, perhaps because their building blocks were more massive. We find that the ΔM 12 parameter is the most important parameter behind the observed differences in the relaxed/unrelaxed groups, in contrast with the previous study of Trevisan et al. We also find that groups selected to be unrelaxed using our criteria tend to have higher velocity offsets between the BGG and their group.

Stellar mass–halo mass relation for the brightest central galaxies of X-ray clusters since z ∼ 0.65

We present the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) catalog for SPectroscoic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS) DR14 cluster program value-added catalog. We list the 416 BCGs identified as part of this process, along with their stellar mass, star formation rates (SFRs), and morphological properties. We identified the BCGs based on the available spectroscopic data from SPIDERS and photometric data from SDSS. We computed stellar masses and SFRs of the BCGs on the basis of SDSS, WISE, and GALEX photometry using spectral energy distribution fitting. Morphological properties for all BCGs were derived by Sersic profile fitting using the software package SIGMA in different optical bands (g,r,i). We combined this catalog with the BCGs of galaxy groups and clusters extracted from the deeper AEGIS, CDFS, COSMOS, XMM-CFHTLS, and XMM-XXL surveys to study the stellar mass–halo mass relation using the largest sample of X-ray groups and clusters known to date. This result suggests that the mass growth of the central galaxy is controlled by the hierarchical mass growth of the host halo. We find a strong correlation between the stellar mass of BCGs and the mass of their host halos. This relation shows no evolution since z ∼ 0.65. We measure a mean scatter of 0.21 and 0.25 for the stellar mass of BCGs in a given halo mass at low (0.1 &lt; z &lt; 0.3) and high (0.3 &lt; z &lt; 0.65) redshifts, respectively. We further demonstrate that the BCG mass is covariant with the richness of the host halos in the very X-ray luminous systems. We also find evidence that part of the scatter between X-ray luminosity and richness can be reduced by considering stellar mass as an additional variable.

The Hubble Sequence at z ∼ 0 in the IllustrisTNG simulation with deep learning

ABSTRACT We analyse the optical morphologies of galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation at z ∼ 0 with a convolutional neural network trained on visual morphologies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We generate mock SDSS images of a mass complete sample of $\sim 12\, 000$ galaxies in the simulation using the radiative transfer code SKIRT and include PSF and noise to match the SDSS r-band properties. The images are then processed through the exact same neural network used to estimate SDSS morphologies to classify simulated galaxies in four morphological classes (E, S0/a, Sab, Scd). The CNN model classifies simulated galaxies in one of the four main classes with the same uncertainty as for observed galaxies. The mass–size relations of the simulated galaxies divided by morphological type also reproduce well the slope and the normalization of observed relations which confirms a reasonable diversity of optical morphologies in the TNG suite. However we find a weak correlation between optical morphology and Sersic index in the TNG suite as opposed to SDSS which might require further investigation. The stellar mass functions (SMFs) decomposed into different morphologies still show some discrepancies with observations especially at the high-mass end. We find an overabundance of late-type galaxies ($\sim 50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ versus $\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) at the high-mass end [log(M*/M⊙) &gt; 11] of the SMF as compared to observations according to the CNN classifications and a lack of S0 galaxies ($\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ versus $\sim 40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) at intermediate masses. This work highlights the importance of detailed comparisons between observations and simulations in comparable conditions.

The evolution of bulges of galaxies in minor fly-by interactions

AbstractWe investigate the minor interactions of two disk galaxies with mass ratio of 10:1 in fly-by encounters that do not lead to the merging of the galaxies. In our N-body simulations, we vary only the pericenter distances to see the effect of the fly-by on the bulge of the major galaxy over the course of the trajectory. At different time steps of the evolution, we did two-dimensional fittings of disk, bulge and bar to trace the variation in the sersic index of the bulge. Our results suggest that galaxy bulges can become boxy/disky through flyby interactions of galaxies.