Comparing IMF-sensitive indices of intermediate-mass quiescent galaxies in various environments

Abstract

Using samples drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we study for the first time the relation between large-scale environments (Clusters, Groups and Voids) and the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF). We perform an observational approach based on the comparison of IMF-sensitive indices of quiescent galaxies with similar mass in varying environments. These galaxies are selected within a narrow redshift interval ($0.020<z<0.055$) and spanning a range in velocity dispersion from 100 to 200 kms${}^{-1}$. The results of this paper are based upon analysis of composite spectra created by stacking the spectra of galaxies, binned by their velocity dispersion and redshift. The trends of spectral indices as measured from the stacked spectra, with respect to velocity dispersion, are compared in different environments. We find a lack of dependence of the IMF on the environment for intermediate-mass galaxy regime. We verify this finding by providing a more quantitative measurement of the IMF variations among galactic environments using MILES stellar population models with a precision of $\Delta {\Gamma }_b\sim 0.2$.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (76)

• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Initial Mass Function of Stars: Evidence for Uniformity in Variable Systems
• The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
• The Environmental Dependence of the Relations between Stellar Mass, Structure, Star Formation and Nuclear Activity in Galaxies
• A Universal Stellar Initial Mass Function? A Critical Look at Variations
• The Tenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
• Galaxy bimodality versus stellar mass and environment
• Stellar population models of Lick indices with variable element abundance ratios
• Evolutionary Stellar Population Synthesis with MILES. Part I: The Base Models and a New Line Index System
• Galaxy Star-Formation as a Function of Environment in the Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: The environmental dependence of galaxy star formation rates near clusters
• Ram Pressure Stripping of Spiral Galaxies in Clusters
• The Atlas3D project - XX. Mass-size and mass-sigma distributions of early-type galaxies: bulge fraction drives kinematics, mass-to-light ratio, molecular gas fraction and stellar initial mass function
• Old Stellar Populations. VI. Absorption-Line Spectra of Galaxy Nuclei and Globular Clusters
• Relationship between environment and the broad-band optical properties of galaxies in the SDSS
• A systematic variation of the stellar initial mass function in early-type galaxies
• Galaxy Zoo: the dependence of morphology and colour on environment
• UV-extended E-MILES stellar population models: young components in massive early-type galaxies
• A Substantial Population of Low Mass Stars in Luminous Elliptical Galaxies
• The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Galaxies From Absorption Line Spectroscopy. II. Results
• Mass and Environment as Drivers of Galaxy Evolution II: The quenching of satellite galaxies as the origin of environmental effects
• The initial mass function of early-type galaxies
• The Morphology - Density Relation in z ~ 1 Clusters
• A new chemo-evolutionary population synthesis model for early-type galaxies. I: Theoretical basis
• Evolutionary stellar population synthesis with MILES - II. Scaled-solar and α-enhanced models
• Empirical calibration of the near-IR Ca II triplet - I. The stellar library and index definition
• MIUSCAT: extended MILES spectral coverage. I. Stellar populations synthesis models
• Strangulation in Galaxy Groups
• SPIDER VIII - Constraints on the Stellar Initial Mass Function of Early-type Galaxies from a Variety of Spectral Features
• Counting Low-Mass Stars in Integrated Light
• Flux- and volume-limited groups/clusters for the SDSS galaxies: catalogues and mass estimation
• Dark Matter Contraction and the Stellar Content of Massive Early-type Galaxies: Disfavoring "Light" Initial Mass Functions
• Systematic variation of the stellar Initial Mass Function with velocity dispersion in early-type galaxies
• Stellar populations of early-type galaxies in different environments II. Ages and metallicities
• Radial variations in the stellar initial mass function of early-type galaxies
• Empirical calibration of the near-IR CaII triplet - IV. The stellar population synthesis models
• Effects of Local Environment and Stellar Mass on Galaxy Quenching out to z~3
• Evidence For A Mild Steepening And Bottom-Heavy IMF In Massive Galaxies From Sodium And Titanium-Oxide Indicators
• The stellar IMF determined in early-type galaxies from a non-degenerate set of optical line indices
• The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Galaxies from Absorption Line Spectroscopy. III. Radial Gradients
• Near-IR line-strengths in elliptical galaxies: evidence for IMF variations?
• Dynamical masses of early-type galaxies: a comparison to lensing results and implications for the stellar IMF and the distribution of dark matter
• Star formation quenching in simulated group and cluster galaxies: When, how, and why?
• Early-type galaxies in low-density environments
• The Las Campanas/AAT Rich Cluster Survey II: The Environmental Dependance of Galaxy Colours in Clusters at z~0.1
• An inventory of the stellar initial mass function in early-type galaxies
• The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Galaxies From Absorption Line Spectroscopy. I. Data and Empirical Trends
• Confirmation of Enhanced Dwarf-sensitive Absorption Features in the Spectra of Massive Elliptical Galaxies: Further Evidence for a Non-universal Initial Mass Function
• The stellar initial mass function of early type galaxies from low to high stellar velocity dispersion: homogeneous analysis of ATLAS${}^{3D}$ and Sloan Lens ACS galaxies
• Radial constraints on the Initial Mass Function from TiO features and Wing-Ford band in Early-type Galaxies
• The Star Formation Rate-Density Relation at 0.6<z<0.9 and the Role of Star Forming Galaxies
• A giant elliptical galaxy with a lightweight initial mass function
• Dynamical Versus Stellar Masses in Compact Early-Type Galaxies: Further Evidence for Systematic Variation in the Stellar Initial Mass Function
• MUSE observations of M87: radial gradients for the stellar initial-mass function and the abundance of Sodium
• The initial mass function of a massive relic galaxy
• Unveiling dark halos in lensing galaxies
• The Near Infrared NaI Doublet Feature in M Stars
• The stellar initial mass function in red-sequence galaxies: 1-micron spectroscopy of Coma Cluster galaxies with Subaru/FMOS
• On the occurrence of galaxy harassment
• MIUSCAT: extended MILES spectral coverage. II. Constraints from optical photometry
• On the Origin of the Hubble Sequence: I. Insights on Galaxy Color Migration from Cosmological Simulations
• Spatially resolved variations of the IMF mass normalisation in early-type galaxies as probed by molecular gas kinematics
• The Concentration-Density Relation of Galaxies in Las Campanas Redshift Survey
• Strong Gravitational Lensing and the Stellar IMF of Early-type Galaxies
• Where do "red and dead" early-type void galaxies come from?
• On the Star Formation Properties of Void Galaxies
• Constraining the low-mass end of the Initial Mass Function with Gravitational Lensing
• Near-infrared Spectral Features in Single-aged Stellar Populations
• Radial gradients in initial mass function sensitive absorption features in the Coma brightest cluster galaxies
• MOND and IMF variations in early-type galaxies from $ATLA{S}^{3D}$
• The Influence of Galaxy Environment on the Stellar Initial Mass Function of Early-Type Galaxies
• The Galaxy Population In Voids: Are All Voids The Same?
• Dark Matter and IMF normalization in Virgo dwarf early-type galaxies
• Evidence of a Bottom-heavy Initial Mass Function in Massive Early-type Galaxies from Near-infrared Metal Lines
• Stellar Mass Profiles of Quiescent Galaxies in Different Environments at $z\sim 0$

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Galaxy Sizes Since $z=2$ from the Perspective of Stellar Mass Distribution within Galaxies
• Young stellar population gradients in central cluster galaxies from NUV and optical spectroscopy
• The Fornax3D project: Intrinsic Correlations between Orbital Properties and the Stellar Initial Mass Function
• The Stellar Initial Mass Function and Population Properties of M89 from Optical and NIR Spectroscopy: Addressing Biases in Spectral Index Analysis