Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?

L. J. M. Davies; A. S. G. Robotham; S. P. Driver; M. Alpaslan; I. K. Baldry; J. Bland-Hawthorn; S. Brough; M. J. I. Brown; M. E. Cluver; B. W. Holwerda; A. M. Hopkins; M. A. Lara-López; S. Mahajan; A. J. Moffett; M. S. Owers; S. Phillipps

doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2573

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?

L. J. M. Davies, A. S. G. Robotham, S. P. Driver, M. Alpaslan, I. K. Baldry, J. Bland-Hawthorn, S. Brough, M. J. I. Brown, M. E. Cluver, B. W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, M. A. Lara-López, S. Mahajan, A. J. Moffett, M. S. Owers, S. Phillipps

School of Physics and Astronomy

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Abstract

Both theoretical predictions and observations of the very nearby Universe suggest that low-mass galaxies(log₁₀[M*/M⊙] < 9.5) are likely to remain star-forming unless they are affected by their local environment. To test this premise, we compare and contrast the local environment of both passive and star-forming galaxies as a function of stellar mass, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that passive fractions are higher in both interacting pair and group galaxies than the field at all stellar masses, and that this effect is most apparent in the lowest mass galaxies. We also find that essentially all passive log₁₀[M*/M⊙] < 8.5 galaxies are found in pair/group environments, suggesting that local interactions with a more massive neighbour cause them to cease forming new stars. We find that the effects of immediate environment (local galaxy–galaxy interactions) in forming passive systems increase with decreasing stellar mass, and highlight that this is potentially due to increasing interaction time-scales giving sufficient time for the galaxy to become passive via starvation. We then present a simplistic model to test this premise, and show that given our speculative assumptions, it is consistent with our observed results.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4013-4029
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	455
Issue number	4
Early online date	1 Feb 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2573
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2016

Keywords

Galaxies: evolution
Galaxies: interactions

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10.1093/mnras/stv2573

Davies-2016-GAMA-MNRAS-4013
© 2016, the Author(s). This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2573
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GAMA Data Release 2
Liske, J. (Creator), Baldry, I. K. (Creator), Driver, S. P. (Creator), Tuffs, R. J. (Creator), Alpaslan, M. (Creator), Andrae, E. (Creator), Brough, S. (Creator), Cluver, M. E. (Creator), Grootes, M. W. (Creator), Gunawardhana, M. L. P. (Creator), Kelvin, L. S. (Creator), Loveday, J. (Creator), Robotham, A. S. G. (Creator), Bamford, S. P. (Creator), Bland-Hawthorn, J. (Creator), Brown, M. J. I. (Creator), Drinkwater, M. J. (Creator), Hopkins, A. M. (Creator), Meyer, M. J. (Creator), Norberg, P. (Creator), Peacock, J. A. (Creator), Agius, N. K. (Creator), Andrews, S. K. (Creator), Bauer, A. E. (Creator), Ching, J. H. Y. (Creator), Colles, M. (Creator), Conselice, C. J. (Creator), Croom, S. M. (Creator), Davies, L. J. M. (Creator), De Propris, R. (Creator), Dunne, L. (Creator), Eardley, E. M. (Creator), Ellis, S. (Creator), Foster, C. (Creator), Frenk, C. S. (Creator), Haußler, B. (Creator), Holwerda, B. W. (Creator), Howlett, C. (Creator), Ibarra, H. (Creator), Jarvis, M. J. (Creator), Jones, D. H. (Creator), Kafle, P. R. (Creator), Lacey, C. G. (Creator), Lange, R. (Creator), Lara-Ĺopez, M. A. (Creator), López-Sánchez, Á. R. (Creator), Maddox, S. (Creator), Madore, B. F. (Creator), McNaught-Roberts, T. (Creator), Moffett, A. J. (Creator), Nichol, R. C. (Creator), Owers, M. S. (Creator), Palamara, D. (Creator), Penny, S. J. (Creator), Phillipps, S. (Creator), Pimbblet, K. A. (Creator), Popescu, C. C. (Creator), Prescott, M. (Creator), Proctor, R. (Creator), Sadler, E. M. (Creator), Sansom, A. E. (Creator), Seibert, M. (Creator), Sharp, R. (Creator), Sutherland, W. (Creator), Vazquez-Mata, J. A. (Creator), van Kampen, E. (Creator), Wilkins, S. M. (Creator), Williams, R. (Creator) & Wright, A. H. (Creator), Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA), 11 Sept 2015
http://www.gama-survey.org/dr2/
Dataset

Cite this

Davies, L. J. M., Robotham, A. S. G., Driver, S. P., Alpaslan, M., Baldry, I. K., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Brough, S., Brown, M. J. I., Cluver, M. E., Holwerda, B. W., Hopkins, A. M., Lara-López, M. A., Mahajan, S., Moffett, A. J., Owers, M. S., & Phillipps, S. (2016). Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive? Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 455(4), 4013-4029. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2573

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title = "Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?",

abstract = "Both theoretical predictions and observations of the very nearby Universe suggest that low-mass galaxies(log10[M*/M⊙] < 9.5) are likely to remain star-forming unless they are affected by their local environment. To test this premise, we compare and contrast the local environment of both passive and star-forming galaxies as a function of stellar mass, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that passive fractions are higher in both interacting pair and group galaxies than the field at all stellar masses, and that this effect is most apparent in the lowest mass galaxies. We also find that essentially all passive log10[M*/M⊙] < 8.5 galaxies are found in pair/group environments, suggesting that local interactions with a more massive neighbour cause them to cease forming new stars. We find that the effects of immediate environment (local galaxy–galaxy interactions) in forming passive systems increase with decreasing stellar mass, and highlight that this is potentially due to increasing interaction time-scales giving sufficient time for the galaxy to become passive via starvation. We then present a simplistic model to test this premise, and show that given our speculative assumptions, it is consistent with our observed results.",

keywords = "Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: interactions",

author = "Davies, {L. J. M.} and Robotham, {A. S. G.} and Driver, {S. P.} and M. Alpaslan and Baldry, {I. K.} and J. Bland-Hawthorn and S. Brough and Brown, {M. J. I.} and Cluver, {M. E.} and Holwerda, {B. W.} and Hopkins, {A. M.} and Lara-L{\'o}pez, {M. A.} and S. Mahajan and Moffett, {A. J.} and Owers, {M. S.} and S. Phillipps",

year = "2016",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stv2573",

language = "English",

volume = "455",

pages = "4013--4029",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

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Davies, LJM, Robotham, ASG, Driver, SP, Alpaslan, M, Baldry, IK, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Brough, S, Brown, MJI, Cluver, ME, Holwerda, BW, Hopkins, AM, Lara-López, MA, Mahajan, S, Moffett, AJ, Owers, MS & Phillipps, S 2016, 'Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 455, no. 4, pp. 4013-4029. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2573

TY - JOUR

T1 - Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA)

T2 - growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?

AU - Davies, L. J. M.

AU - Robotham, A. S. G.

AU - Driver, S. P.

AU - Alpaslan, M.

AU - Baldry, I. K.

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, J.

AU - Brough, S.

AU - Brown, M. J. I.

AU - Cluver, M. E.

AU - Holwerda, B. W.

AU - Hopkins, A. M.

AU - Lara-López, M. A.

AU - Mahajan, S.

AU - Moffett, A. J.

AU - Owers, M. S.

AU - Phillipps, S.

PY - 2016/2/1

Y1 - 2016/2/1

N2 - Both theoretical predictions and observations of the very nearby Universe suggest that low-mass galaxies(log10[M*/M⊙] < 9.5) are likely to remain star-forming unless they are affected by their local environment. To test this premise, we compare and contrast the local environment of both passive and star-forming galaxies as a function of stellar mass, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that passive fractions are higher in both interacting pair and group galaxies than the field at all stellar masses, and that this effect is most apparent in the lowest mass galaxies. We also find that essentially all passive log10[M*/M⊙] < 8.5 galaxies are found in pair/group environments, suggesting that local interactions with a more massive neighbour cause them to cease forming new stars. We find that the effects of immediate environment (local galaxy–galaxy interactions) in forming passive systems increase with decreasing stellar mass, and highlight that this is potentially due to increasing interaction time-scales giving sufficient time for the galaxy to become passive via starvation. We then present a simplistic model to test this premise, and show that given our speculative assumptions, it is consistent with our observed results.

AB - Both theoretical predictions and observations of the very nearby Universe suggest that low-mass galaxies(log10[M*/M⊙] < 9.5) are likely to remain star-forming unless they are affected by their local environment. To test this premise, we compare and contrast the local environment of both passive and star-forming galaxies as a function of stellar mass, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that passive fractions are higher in both interacting pair and group galaxies than the field at all stellar masses, and that this effect is most apparent in the lowest mass galaxies. We also find that essentially all passive log10[M*/M⊙] < 8.5 galaxies are found in pair/group environments, suggesting that local interactions with a more massive neighbour cause them to cease forming new stars. We find that the effects of immediate environment (local galaxy–galaxy interactions) in forming passive systems increase with decreasing stellar mass, and highlight that this is potentially due to increasing interaction time-scales giving sufficient time for the galaxy to become passive via starvation. We then present a simplistic model to test this premise, and show that given our speculative assumptions, it is consistent with our observed results.

KW - Galaxies: evolution

KW - Galaxies: interactions

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stv2573

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stv2573

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 455

SP - 4013

EP - 4029

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 4

ER -

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): growing up in a bad neighbourhood - how do low-mass galaxies become passive?

Abstract

Keywords

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Datasets

GAMA Data Release 2

Cite this