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Abstract We explore the growth of the stellar disks in 14 nearby spiral galaxies as part of the Deciphering the Interplay between the Interstellar medium, Stars, and the Circumgalactic medium (DIISC) survey. We study the radial distribution of specific star formation rates (sSFRs) and investigate the ratio of the difference in the outer and inner sSFRs (ΔsSFR= sSFRout– sSFRin) of the disk and the total sSFR, ΔsSFR/sSFR, to quantify disk growth. We find ΔsSFR/sSFR and the Higas fraction to show a mild correlation of Spearman’sρ= 0.30, indicating that star formation and disk growth are likely to proceed outward in galactic disks with high Higas fractions. The Higas fractions and ΔsSFR/sSFR of the galaxies also increase with the distance to the nearestL⋆neighbor, suggesting that galaxies are likely to sustain the cold gas in their interstellar medium and exhibit inside-out growth in isolated environments. However, the Hicontent in their circumgalactic medium (CGM), probed by the Lyαequivalent width (WLyα) excess, is observed to be suppressed in isolated environments, as is apparent from the strong anticorrelation between theWLyαexcess and the distance to the fifth nearestL⋆neighbor (Spearman’sρ= −0.62). As expected,WLyαis also found to be suppressed in cluster galaxies. We find no relation between theWLyαexcess of the detected CGM absorber and ΔsSFR/sSFR, implying that the enhancement and suppression of the circumgalactic Higas does not affect the direction in which star formation proceeds in a galactic disk or vice versa.
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You Are What You Eat: The Circumgalactic Medium around BreakBRD Galaxies Has Low Mass and Angular Momentum
Abstract Observed breakBRD (“break bulges in red disks”) galaxies are a nearby sample of face-on disk galaxies with particularly centrally concentrated star formation: they have red disks but recent star formation in their centers as measured by the Dn4000 spectral index. In Kopenhafer et al., a comparable population of breakBRD analogs was identified in the TNG simulation, in which the central concentration of star formation was found to reflect a central concentration of dense, star-forming gas caused by a lack of dense gas in the galaxy outskirts. In this paper, we examine the circumgalactic medium of the central breakBRD analogs to determine if the extended halo gas also shows differences from that around comparison galaxies with comparable stellar mass. We examine the circumgalactic medium gas mass, specific angular momentum, and metallicity in these galaxy populations. We find less gas in the circumgalactic medium of breakBRD galaxies, and that the breakBRD circumgalactic medium is slightly more concentrated than that of comparableM*galaxies. In addition, we find that the angular momentum in the circumgalactic medium of breakBRD galaxies tends to be low for their stellar mass, and shows more misalignment to the angular momentum vector of the stellar disk. Finally, we find that the circumgalactic medium metallicity of breakBRD galaxies tends to be high for their stellar mass. Together with their low star formation rate, we argue that these circumgalactic medium properties indicate a small amount of disk feeding concentrated in the central regions and a lack of low-metallicity gas accretion from the intergalactic medium.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1813462
- PAR ID:
- 10427187
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 951
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 16
- Size(s):
- Article No. 16
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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