Early-type Galaxies on the Star Formation Main Sequence: Internal Star Formation Geometry Revealed with MaNGA and Their Environmental Origin

Abstract

Star-forming galaxies on the main sequence (MS) are often regarded as a uniform population characterized by similar global star formation properties. However, there exists a diversity in galaxy morphologies at fixed stellar mass and SFR. In this study, using spatially-resolved properties from the MaNGA final data release, we classify MS galaxies into late-type (MS-late) and early-type (MS-early). In addition, we further divide the MS-early galaxies into two distinct subgroups based on their internal star formation and stellar mass distributions within the galaxies. The first group -- ``MS-early\_SF'' -- shows centrally concentrated star formation without prominent stellar bulges and resides preferentially in dense environments, suggesting environmentally-driven evolution. The second group -- ``MS-early\_stellar'' -- exhibits significant stellar bulges with suppressed central star formation, maintains disk-like star formation patterns, and inhabits environments similar to those of late-type galaxies, indicating evolution through internal secular processes. Our findings demonstrate that spatially-resolved observations play critical roles in revealing the diverse evolutionary pathways hidden within galaxies that share similar global properties.

17 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ