CaltechAUTHORS
Published November 11, 2014 | Version Submitted + Published
Journal Article Open

The ATLAS^(3D) project – XXVII. Cold gas and the colours and ages of early-type galaxies

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
  • 2. ROR icon Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica
  • 3. ROR icon University of Sydney
  • 4. ROR icon Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
  • 5. ROR icon Australia Telescope National Facility
  • 6. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 7. ROR icon University of Oxford
  • 8. ROR icon University of California, Berkeley
  • 9. ROR icon Paris Observatory
  • 10. ROR icon University of Paris
  • 11. ROR icon University of Toledo
  • 12. ROR icon European Southern Observatory
  • 13. ROR icon Leiden University
  • 14. ROR icon Lyon Observatory
  • 15. ROR icon Royal Observatory
  • 16. ROR icon Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam
  • 17. ROR icon Macquarie University
  • 18. ROR icon University of Groningen
  • 19. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
  • 20. ROR icon University of Hertfordshire
  • 21. ROR icon University of St Andrews

Abstract

We present a study of the cold gas contents of the ATLAS^(3D) early-type galaxies, in the context of their optical colours, near-ultraviolet colours and Hβ absorption line strengths. Early-type (elliptical and lenticular) galaxies are not as gas poor as previously thought, and at least 40 per cent of local early-type galaxies are now known to contain molecular and/or atomic gas. This cold gas offers the opportunity to study recent galaxy evolution through the processes of cold gas acquisition, consumption (star formation) and removal. Molecular and atomic gas detection rates range from 10 to 34 per cent in red sequence early-type galaxies, depending on how the red sequence is defined, and from 50 to 70 per cent in blue early-type galaxies. Notably, massive red sequence early-type galaxies (stellar masses >5 × 10^(10) M_⊙, derived from dynamical models) are found to have H i masses up to M(H i)/M_* ∼ 0.06 and H_2 masses up to M(H_2)/M_* ∼ 0.01. Some 20 per cent of all massive early-type galaxies may have retained atomic and/or molecular gas through their transition to the red sequence. However, kinematic and metallicity signatures of external gas accretion (either from satellite galaxies or the intergalactic medium) are also common, particularly at stellar masses ≤5 × 10^(10) M_⊙, where such signatures are found in ∼50 per cent of H_2-rich early-type galaxies. Our data are thus consistent with a scenario in which fast rotator early-type galaxies are quenched former spiral galaxies which have undergone some bulge growth processes, and in addition, some of them also experience cold gas accretion which can initiate a period of modest star formation activity. We discuss implications for the interpretation of colour–magnitude diagrams.

Additional Information

© 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. Accepted 2013 December 16. Received 2013 December 11; in original form 2013 November 5. First published online September 17, 2014. This research was partially supported by grant NSF-1109803 to LMY. Thanks also to Dr Paul T. P. Ho for the invitation to spend a sabbatical at ASIAA. MC acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. This work was supported by the rolling grants Astrophysics at Oxford PP/E001114/1 and ST/H002456/1 and visitors grants PPA/V/S/2002/00553, PP/E001564/1 and ST/H504862/1 from the UK Research Councils. RLD acknowledges travel and computer grants from Christ Church, Oxford and support from the Royal Society in the form of a Wolfson Merit Award 502011.K502/jd. RLD is also grateful for support from the Australian Astronomical Observatory Distinguished Visitors programme, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics and the University of Sydney during a sabbatical visit. SK acknowledges support from the Royal Society Joint Projects grant JP0869822. RMMcD is supported by the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., on behalf of the international Gemini partnership of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, UK and USA. TN and MBois acknowledge support from the DFG Cluster of Excellence 'Origin and Structure of the Universe'. MS acknowledges support from a STFC Advanced Fellowship ST/F009186/1. PS acknowledges support of a NWO/Veni grant (TAD). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (/FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement no. 229517. MBois has received, during this research, funding from the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant Programme no. 267399-Momentum. The authors acknowledge financial support from ESO. Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation and the USA Department of Energy Office of Science. The SDSS-III website is http://www.sdss3.org/. SDSS-III is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS-III Collaboration including the University of Arizona, the Brazilian Participation Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Florida, the French Participation Group, the German Participation Group, Harvard University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, New Mexico State University, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the Spanish Participation Group, University of Tokyo, University of Utah, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, University of Washington and Yale University.

Attached Files

Published - MNRAS-2014-Young-3408-26.pdf

Submitted - 1312.6318v1.pdf

Files

1312.6318v1.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
52045
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20141121-113619499

Related works

Describes
http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.6318 (URL)

Funding

NSF
AST-1109803
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)
PP/E001114/1
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
ST/H002456/1
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)
PPA/V/S/2002/00553
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)
PP/E001564/1
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
ST/H504862/1
Royal Society
502011.K502/jd
Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO)
Australian Research Council
University of Sydney
Royal Society
JP0869822
Gemini Observatory
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
ST/F009186/1
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)
European Research Council (ERC)
229517
European Research Council (ERC)
267399-Momentum
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Dates

Created
2014-11-21
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field