Ultraviolet color-color relation of early-type galaxies at 0.05 < z < 0.12

Abstract

We present the ultraviolet (UV) color-color relation of early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the nearby universe (0.05 < z < 0.12) to investigate the properties of hot stellar populations responsible for the UV excess (UVX). The initial sample of ETGs is selected by the spectroscopic redshift and the morphology parameter from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7, and then cross-matched with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) Far-UV (FUV) and Near-UV (NUV) GR6 data. The cross-matched ETG sample is further classified by their emission line characteristics in the optical spectra into quiescent, star-forming, and AGN categories. Contaminations from early-type spiral galaxies, mergers, and morphologically disturbed galaxies are removed by visual inspection. By drawing the FUV - NUV (as a measure of UV spectral shape) vs. FUV - r (as a measure of UVX strength) diagram for the final sample of ~3700 quiescent ETGs, we find that the "old and dead" ETGs consist of a well-defined sequence in UV colors, the "UV red sequence", so that the stronger UVX galaxies should have a harder UV spectral shape systematically. However, the observed UV spectral slope is too steep to be reproduced by the canonical stellar population models in which the UV flux is mainly controlled by age or metallicity parameters. Moreover, 2 mag of color spreads both in FUV - NUV and FUV - r appear to be ubiquitous among any subsets in distance or luminosity. This implies that the UVX in ETGs could be driven by yet another parameter which might be even more influential than age or metallicity.

5 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

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