The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology

L. Cortese; L. M.R. Fogarty; K. Bekki; J. van de Sande; W. Couch; B. Catinella; M. Colless; D. Obreschkow; D. Taranu; E. Tescari; D. Barat; J. Bland-Hawthorn; J. Bloom; J. J. Bryant; M. Cluver; S. M. Croom; M. J. Drinkwater; F. d'Eugenio; I. S. Konstantopoulos; A. Lopez-Sanchez; S. Mahajan; N. Scott; C. Tonini; O. I. Wong; J. T. Allen; S. Brough; M. Goodwin; A. W. Green; I. T. Ho; L. S. Kelvin; J. S. Lawrence; N. P.F. Lorente; A. M. Medling; M. S. Owers; S. Richards; R. Sharp; S. M. Sweet

doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1891

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology

L. Cortese^*, L. M.R. Fogarty, K. Bekki, J. van de Sande, W. Couch, B. Catinella, M. Colless, D. Obreschkow, D. Taranu, E. Tescari, D. Barat, J. Bland-Hawthorn, J. Bloom, J. J. Bryant, M. Cluver, S. M. Croom, M. J. Drinkwater, F. d'Eugenio, I. S. Konstantopoulos, A. Lopez-SanchezS. Mahajan, N. Scott, C. Tonini, O. I. Wong, J. T. Allen, S. Brough, M. Goodwin, A. W. Green, I. T. Ho, L. S. Kelvin, J. S. Lawrence, N. P.F. Lorente, A. M. Medling, M. S. Owers, S. Richards, R. Sharp, S. M. Sweet

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

138 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between stellar and gas specific angular momentum j, stellar massM* and optical morphology for a sample of 488 galaxies extracted from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field Galaxy Survey.We find that j, measured within one effective radius, monotonically increases with M* and that, for M* > 10^9.5 M_⊙, the scatter in this relation strongly correlates with optical morphology (i.e. visual classification and Sérsic index). These findings confirm that massive galaxies of all types lie on a plane relating mass, angular momentum and stellar-light distribution, and suggest that the large-scale morphology of a galaxy is regulated by its mass and dynamical state. We show that the significant scatter in the M*-j relation is accounted for by the fact that, at fixed stellar mass, the contribution of ordered motions to the dynamical support of galaxies varies by at least a factor of 3. Indeed, the stellar spin parameter (quantified via λ_R) correlates strongly with Sérsic and concentration indices. This correlation is particularly strong once slow rotators are removed from the sample, showing that late-type galaxies and early-type fast rotators form a continuous class of objects in terms of their kinematic properties.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	170-184
Number of pages	15
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	463
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1891
Publication status	Published - 21 Nov 2016

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Cortese, L., Fogarty, L. M. R., Bekki, K., van de Sande, J., Couch, W., Catinella, B., Colless, M., Obreschkow, D., Taranu, D., Tescari, E., Barat, D., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Bloom, J., Bryant, J. J., Cluver, M., Croom, S. M., Drinkwater, M. J., d'Eugenio, F., Konstantopoulos, I. S., ... Sweet, S. M. (2016). The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 463(1), 170-184. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1891

@article{f46ec3074bc74e3aa6a378e955734475,

title = "The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology",

abstract = "We investigate the relationship between stellar and gas specific angular momentum j, stellar massM* and optical morphology for a sample of 488 galaxies extracted from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field Galaxy Survey.We find that j, measured within one effective radius, monotonically increases with M* and that, for M* > 109.5 M⊙, the scatter in this relation strongly correlates with optical morphology (i.e. visual classification and S{\'e}rsic index). These findings confirm that massive galaxies of all types lie on a plane relating mass, angular momentum and stellar-light distribution, and suggest that the large-scale morphology of a galaxy is regulated by its mass and dynamical state. We show that the significant scatter in the M*-j relation is accounted for by the fact that, at fixed stellar mass, the contribution of ordered motions to the dynamical support of galaxies varies by at least a factor of 3. Indeed, the stellar spin parameter (quantified via λR) correlates strongly with S{\'e}rsic and concentration indices. This correlation is particularly strong once slow rotators are removed from the sample, showing that late-type galaxies and early-type fast rotators form a continuous class of objects in terms of their kinematic properties.",

keywords = "Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: fundamental parameters, Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics",

author = "L. Cortese and Fogarty, {L. M.R.} and K. Bekki and {van de Sande}, J. and W. Couch and B. Catinella and M. Colless and D. Obreschkow and D. Taranu and E. Tescari and D. Barat and J. Bland-Hawthorn and J. Bloom and Bryant, {J. J.} and M. Cluver and Croom, {S. M.} and Drinkwater, {M. J.} and F. d'Eugenio and Konstantopoulos, {I. S.} and A. Lopez-Sanchez and S. Mahajan and N. Scott and C. Tonini and Wong, {O. I.} and Allen, {J. T.} and S. Brough and M. Goodwin and Green, {A. W.} and Ho, {I. T.} and Kelvin, {L. S.} and Lawrence, {J. S.} and Lorente, {N. P.F.} and Medling, {A. M.} and Owers, {M. S.} and S. Richards and R. Sharp and Sweet, {S. M.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2016",

month = nov,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stw1891",

language = "English",

volume = "463",

pages = "170--184",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "1",

}

Cortese, L, Fogarty, LMR, Bekki, K, van de Sande, J, Couch, W, Catinella, B, Colless, M, Obreschkow, D, Taranu, D, Tescari, E, Barat, D, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Bloom, J, Bryant, JJ, Cluver, M, Croom, SM, Drinkwater, MJ, d'Eugenio, F, Konstantopoulos, IS, Lopez-Sanchez, A, Mahajan, S, Scott, N, Tonini, C, Wong, OI, Allen, JT, Brough, S, Goodwin, M, Green, AW, Ho, IT, Kelvin, LS, Lawrence, JS, Lorente, NPF, Medling, AM, Owers, MS, Richards, S, Sharp, R & Sweet, SM 2016, 'The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 463, no. 1, pp. 170-184. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1891

TY - JOUR

T1 - The SAMI Galaxy Survey

T2 - The link between angular momentum and optical morphology

AU - Cortese, L.

AU - Fogarty, L. M.R.

AU - Bekki, K.

AU - van de Sande, J.

AU - Couch, W.

AU - Catinella, B.

AU - Colless, M.

AU - Obreschkow, D.

AU - Taranu, D.

AU - Tescari, E.

AU - Barat, D.

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, J.

AU - Bloom, J.

AU - Bryant, J. J.

AU - Cluver, M.

AU - Croom, S. M.

AU - Drinkwater, M. J.

AU - d'Eugenio, F.

AU - Konstantopoulos, I. S.

AU - Lopez-Sanchez, A.

AU - Mahajan, S.

AU - Scott, N.

AU - Tonini, C.

AU - Wong, O. I.

AU - Allen, J. T.

AU - Brough, S.

AU - Goodwin, M.

AU - Green, A. W.

AU - Ho, I. T.

AU - Kelvin, L. S.

AU - Lawrence, J. S.

AU - Lorente, N. P.F.

AU - Medling, A. M.

AU - Owers, M. S.

AU - Richards, S.

AU - Sharp, R.

AU - Sweet, S. M.

PY - 2016/11/21

Y1 - 2016/11/21

N2 - We investigate the relationship between stellar and gas specific angular momentum j, stellar massM* and optical morphology for a sample of 488 galaxies extracted from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field Galaxy Survey.We find that j, measured within one effective radius, monotonically increases with M* and that, for M* > 109.5 M⊙, the scatter in this relation strongly correlates with optical morphology (i.e. visual classification and Sérsic index). These findings confirm that massive galaxies of all types lie on a plane relating mass, angular momentum and stellar-light distribution, and suggest that the large-scale morphology of a galaxy is regulated by its mass and dynamical state. We show that the significant scatter in the M*-j relation is accounted for by the fact that, at fixed stellar mass, the contribution of ordered motions to the dynamical support of galaxies varies by at least a factor of 3. Indeed, the stellar spin parameter (quantified via λR) correlates strongly with Sérsic and concentration indices. This correlation is particularly strong once slow rotators are removed from the sample, showing that late-type galaxies and early-type fast rotators form a continuous class of objects in terms of their kinematic properties.

AB - We investigate the relationship between stellar and gas specific angular momentum j, stellar massM* and optical morphology for a sample of 488 galaxies extracted from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field Galaxy Survey.We find that j, measured within one effective radius, monotonically increases with M* and that, for M* > 109.5 M⊙, the scatter in this relation strongly correlates with optical morphology (i.e. visual classification and Sérsic index). These findings confirm that massive galaxies of all types lie on a plane relating mass, angular momentum and stellar-light distribution, and suggest that the large-scale morphology of a galaxy is regulated by its mass and dynamical state. We show that the significant scatter in the M*-j relation is accounted for by the fact that, at fixed stellar mass, the contribution of ordered motions to the dynamical support of galaxies varies by at least a factor of 3. Indeed, the stellar spin parameter (quantified via λR) correlates strongly with Sérsic and concentration indices. This correlation is particularly strong once slow rotators are removed from the sample, showing that late-type galaxies and early-type fast rotators form a continuous class of objects in terms of their kinematic properties.

KW - Galaxies: evolution

KW - Galaxies: fundamental parameters

KW - Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015668174&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stw1891

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw1891

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 463

SP - 170

EP - 184

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 1

ER -

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: The link between angular momentum and optical morphology

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