We study the alignments of galaxy spin axes with respect to cosmic web filaments as a function of various properties of the galaxies and their constituent bulges and discs. We exploit the SAMI Galaxy Survey to identify 3D spin axes from spatially resolved stellar kinematics and to decompose the galaxy into the kinematic bulge and disc components. The GAMA survey is used to reconstruct the cosmic filaments. The mass of the bulge, defined as the product of stellar mass and bulge-to-total flux ratio Mbulge = M⋆ × (B/T), is the primary parameter of correlation with spin–filament alignments: galaxies with lower bulge masses tend to have their spins parallel to the closest filament, while galaxies with higher bulge masses are more perpendicularly aligned. M⋆ and B/T separately show correlations, but they do not fully unravel spin–filament alignments. Other galaxy properties, such as visual morphology, stellar age, star formation activity, kinematic parameters, and local environment, are secondary tracers. Focussing on S0 galaxies, we find preferentially perpendicular alignments, with the signal dominated by high-mass S0 galaxies. Studying bulge and disc spin–filament alignments separately reveals additional information about the formation pathways of the corresponding galaxies: bulges tend to have more perpendicular alignments, while discs show different tendencies according to their kinematic features and the mass of the associated bulge. The observed correlation between the flipping of spin–filament alignments and the growth of the bulge can be explained by mergers, which drive both alignment flips and bulge formation.
Morphology and star formation in IllustrisTNG: the build-up of spheroids and discs
ABSTRACT Using the IllustrisTNG simulations, we investigate the connection between galaxy morphology and star formation in central galaxies with stellar masses in the range 109–1011.5 M⊙. We quantify galaxy morphology by a kinematical decomposition of the stellar component into a spheroidal and a disc component (spheroid-to-total ratio, S/T) and by the concentration of the stellar mass density profile (C82). S/T is correlated with stellar mass and star formation activity, while C82 correlates only with stellar mass. Overall, we find good agreement with observational estimates for both S/T and C82. Low- and high-mass galaxies are dominated by random stellar motion, while only intermediate-mass galaxies (M⋆ ≈ 1010–1010.5 M⊙) are dominated by ordered rotation. Whereas higher mass galaxies are typical spheroids with high concentrations, lower mass galaxies have low concentration, pointing to different formation channels. Although we find a correlation between S/T and star formation activity, in the TNG model galaxies do not necessarily change their morphology when they transition through the green valley or when they cease their star formation, this depending on galaxy stellar mass and morphological estimator. Instead, the morphology (S/T and C82) is generally set during the star-forming phase of galaxies. The apparent correlation between S/T and star formation arises because earlier forming galaxies had, on average, a higher S/T at a given stellar mass. Furthermore, we show that mergers drive in situ bulge formation in intermediate-mass galaxies and are responsible for the recent spheroidal mass assembly in the massive galaxies with M⋆ > 1011 M⊙. In particular, these massive galaxies assemble about half of the spheroidal mass while star-forming and the other half through mergers while quiescent.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10104834
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 487
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5416 to 5440
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1657
