The central spectra of massive star-forming galaxies

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sheil, Jaimie R., Brown, Michael J. I ., Kilborn, Virginia A., Cluver, Michelle E., Jarrett, Thomas
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909645117849600
author Sheil, Jaimie R.
Brown, Michael J. I .
Kilborn, Virginia A.
Cluver, Michelle E.
Jarrett, Thomas
author_facet Sheil, Jaimie R.
Brown, Michael J. I .
Kilborn, Virginia A.
Cluver, Michelle E.
Jarrett, Thomas
contents We have examined the nuclear spectra of very massive star-forming galaxies at $z \sim 0$ to understand how they differ from other galaxies with comparable masses, which are typically passive. We selected a sample of 126 nearby massive star-forming galaxies ($<100~{\rm Mpc}$, $10^{11.3}~\rm{M_\odot} \leq M_{\rm stellar} \leq 10^{11.7}~\rm{M_\odot}$, $1 ~{\rm M_\odot~yr^{-1}}< {\rm SFR} <13 ~{\rm M_\odot~yr^{-1}}$) from the 2MRS-Bright WXSC catalogue. LEDA morphologies indicate at least 63\% of our galaxies are spirals, while visual inspection of Dark Energy Survey images reveals 75\% of our galaxies to be spirals with the remainder being lenticular. Of our sample 59 have archival nuclear spectra, which we have modelled and subsequently measured emission lines ([NII]$\rm{λ6583}$, H$α\rm{λ6563}$, [OIII]$\rm{λ5008}$, and H$β\rm{λ4863}$), classifying galaxies as star-forming, LINERS, or AGNs. Using a BPT diagram we find $83 \pm 6$ \% of our galaxies, with sufficient signal-to-noise to measure all 4 emission lines, to be LINERs. Using the [NII]$\rm{λ6583}$/H$α\rm{λ6563}$ emission line ratio alone we find that $79 \pm 6$ \% of the galaxies (46 galaxies) with archival spectra are LINERs, whereas just $\sim 30\%$ of the overall massive galaxy population are LINERs (Belfiore et al. 2016). Our sample can be considered a local analogue of the Ogle et al. (2016, 2019) sample of $z \sim 0.22$ massive star-forming galaxies in terms of selection criteria, and we find 64\% of their galaxies are LINERs using SDSS spectra. The high frequency of LINER emission in these massive star-forming galaxies indicates that LINER emission in massive galaxies may be linked to the presence of gas that fuels star formation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_08474
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The central spectra of massive star-forming galaxies
Sheil, Jaimie R.
Brown, Michael J. I .
Kilborn, Virginia A.
Cluver, Michelle E.
Jarrett, Thomas
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We have examined the nuclear spectra of very massive star-forming galaxies at $z \sim 0$ to understand how they differ from other galaxies with comparable masses, which are typically passive. We selected a sample of 126 nearby massive star-forming galaxies ($<100~{\rm Mpc}$, $10^{11.3}~\rm{M_\odot} \leq M_{\rm stellar} \leq 10^{11.7}~\rm{M_\odot}$, $1 ~{\rm M_\odot~yr^{-1}}< {\rm SFR} <13 ~{\rm M_\odot~yr^{-1}}$) from the 2MRS-Bright WXSC catalogue. LEDA morphologies indicate at least 63\% of our galaxies are spirals, while visual inspection of Dark Energy Survey images reveals 75\% of our galaxies to be spirals with the remainder being lenticular. Of our sample 59 have archival nuclear spectra, which we have modelled and subsequently measured emission lines ([NII]$\rm{λ6583}$, H$α\rm{λ6563}$, [OIII]$\rm{λ5008}$, and H$β\rm{λ4863}$), classifying galaxies as star-forming, LINERS, or AGNs. Using a BPT diagram we find $83 \pm 6$ \% of our galaxies, with sufficient signal-to-noise to measure all 4 emission lines, to be LINERs. Using the [NII]$\rm{λ6583}$/H$α\rm{λ6563}$ emission line ratio alone we find that $79 \pm 6$ \% of the galaxies (46 galaxies) with archival spectra are LINERs, whereas just $\sim 30\%$ of the overall massive galaxy population are LINERs (Belfiore et al. 2016). Our sample can be considered a local analogue of the Ogle et al. (2016, 2019) sample of $z \sim 0.22$ massive star-forming galaxies in terms of selection criteria, and we find 64\% of their galaxies are LINERs using SDSS spectra. The high frequency of LINER emission in these massive star-forming galaxies indicates that LINER emission in massive galaxies may be linked to the presence of gas that fuels star formation.
title The central spectra of massive star-forming galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08474