Observing the Effects of Galaxy Interactions on the Circumgalactic Medium

Abstract

We continue our empirical study of the emission line flux originating in the cool ($T\sim 10^4$ K) gas that populates the halos of galaxies and their environments. Specifically, we present results obtained for a sample of galaxy pairs with a range of projected separations, {\bf $10<S_p/\mathrm{kpc}<200$}, and mass ratios $<$ 1:5, intersected by 5,443 SDSS lines of sight at projected radii of 10 to 50 kpc from either or both of the two galaxies. We find significant enhancement in H$\alpha$ emission and a moderate enhancement in [N {\small II}]6583 emission for low mass pairs (mean stellar mass per galaxy, ${\overline{\mathrm{M}}}_{\ast },<10^{10.4}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$) relative to the results from a control sample. This enhanced H$\alpha$ emission comes almost entirely from sight lines located between the galaxies, consistent with a short-term, interaction-driven origin for the enhancement. We find no enhancement in H$\alpha$ emission, but significant enhancement in [N {\small II}]6583 emission for high mass (${\overline{\mathrm{M}}}_{\ast }>10^{10.4}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$) pairs. Furthermore, we find a dependence of the emission line properties on the galaxy pair mass ratio such that those with a mass ratio below 1:2.5 have enhanced [N {\small II}]6583 and those with a mass ratio between 1:2.5 and 1:5 do not. In all cases, departures from the control sample are only detected for close pairs ($S_p<$ 100 kpc). Attributing an elevated [N {\small II}]6583/H$\alpha$ ratio to shocks, we infer that shocks play a role in determining the CGM properties for close pairs that are among the more massive and have mass ratios closer to 1:1.

arXiv comment6 pages and 3 figures

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