Edges of galaxies. Limits of star formation Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Chamba N.
  2. Trujillo I.
  3. Knapen J.H.
  4. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

The outskirts of galaxies have been studied from multiple perspectives for the past few decades. However, it is still unknown if all galaxies have clear-cut edges similar to everyday objects. We address this question by developing physically motivated criteria to define the edges of galaxies. Based on the gas density threshold required for star formation, we define the edge of a galaxy as the outermost radial location associated with a significant drop in either past or ongoing in situ star formation. We explore ~1000 low-inclination galaxies with a wide range in morphology (dwarfs to ellipticals) and stellar mass (10^7^M_{sun}_<M*<10^12^M_{sun}_). The location of the edges of these galaxies (R_edge_) were visually identified as the outermost cutoff or truncation in their radial profiles using deep multi-band optical imaging from the IAC Stripe82 Legacy Project. We find this characteristic feature at the following mean stellar mass density, which varies with galaxy morphology: 2.9+/-0.10M_{sun}_/pc^2^ for ellipticals, 1.1+/-0.04M_{sun}_/pc^2^ for spirals, and 0.6+/-0.03 M_{sun}_/pc^2^ for present-day star-forming dwarfs. Additionally, we find that R_edge_ depends on its age (colour) where bluer galaxies have larger R_edge_ at a fixed stellar mass. The resulting stellar mass-size plane using R_edge_ as a physically motivated galaxy size measure has a very narrow intrinsic scatter (<~0.06dex). These results highlight the importance of new deep imaging surveys to explore the growth of galaxies and trace the limits of star formation in their outskirts.

Keywords
  1. galaxies
  2. visible-astronomy
  3. photometry
  4. sloan-photometry
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2022A&A...667A..87C
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/667/A87
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/667/A87
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.36670087

Access

Web browser access HTML
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/667/A87
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/667/A87
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/667/A87
IVOA Table Access TAP
https://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/dwarfs?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/dwarfs?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/dwarfs?
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/eltgs?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/eltgs?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/667/A87/eltgs?

History

2023-12-13T18:13:37Z
Resource record created
2023-12-13T18:13:37Z
Created
2024-09-03T20:01:07Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr