Detalles de publicación

PP 015012

The GALEX/S4G UV-IR color-color diagram: Catching spiral galaxies away from the Blue Sequence

Alexandre Y. K. Bouquin (1), Armando Gil de Paz (1), Samuel Boissier (2,3), Juan-Carlos Muñoz-Mateos (4), Kartik Sheth (5), Dennis Zaritsky (6), Jarkko Laine (7), Jesús Gallego (1), Reynier F. Peletier (8), Benjamin R. Röck (9, 10), Johan H. Knapen (9,10)
(1) Universidad Complutense de Madrid, (2) LAM Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, (3) I.N.A.F. Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, (4) European Southern Observatory, (5) NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory, (6) University of Arizona, (7) University of Oulu, (8) Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, (9) Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, (10) Universidad de La Laguna
We obtained GALEX FUV, NUV, and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6μm photometry for > 2000 galaxies, available for 90% of the S4G sample. We find a very tight "GALEX Blue Sequence (GBS)" in the (FUV-NUV) versus (NUV-[3.6]) color-color diagram which is populated by irregular and spiral galaxies, and is mainly driven by changes in the formation timescale (τ) and a degeneracy between τ and dust reddening. The tightness of the GBS provides an unprecedented way of identifying star-forming galaxies and objects that are just evolving to (or from) what we call the "GALEX Green Valley (GGV)". At the red end of the GBS, at (NUV-[3.6]) > 5, we find a wider "GALEX Red Sequence (GRS)" mostly populated by E/S0 galaxies that has a perpendicular slope to that of the GBS and of the optical red sequence. We find no such dichotomy in terms of stellar mass (measured by M[3.6]), since both massive (M⋆>1011M⊙) blue and red sequence galaxies are identified. The type that is proportionally more often found in the GGV are the S0-Sa's and most of these are located in high-density environments. We discuss evolutionary models of galaxies that show a rapid transition from the blue to the red sequence on timescale of 108years.

 
Aceptado para publicación en ApJL | Enviado el 2015-01-28 | Proyecto 3I2407