The connection between galaxy structure and quenching efficiency

CMB Omand, ML Balogh…�- Monthly Notices of the�…, 2014 - academic.oup.com
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2014academic.oup.com
Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-DR7, including structural
measurements from 2D surface brightness fits with gim2d, we show how the fraction of
quiescent galaxies depends on galaxy stellar mass M*, effective radius R e, fraction of r-
band light in the bulge, B/T, and their status as a central or satellite galaxy at 0.01< z< 0.2.
For central galaxies we confirm that the quiescent fraction depends not only on stellar mass,
but also on R e. The dependence is particularly strong as a function of, with α∼ 1.5. This�…
Abstract
Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-DR7, including structural measurements from 2D surface brightness fits with gim2d, we show how the fraction of quiescent galaxies depends on galaxy stellar mass M*, effective radius Re, fraction of r-band light in the bulge, B/T, and their status as a central or satellite galaxy at 0.01�<�z�<�0.2. For central galaxies we confirm that the quiescent fraction depends not only on stellar mass, but also on Re. The dependence is particularly strong as a function of , with α�∼�1.5. This appears to be driven by a simple dependence on B/T over the mass range 9�<�log (M*/M)�<�11.5, and is qualitatively similar even if galaxies with B/T�>�0.3 are excluded. For satellite galaxies, the quiescent fraction is always larger than that of central galaxies, for any combination of M*, Re and B/T. The quenching efficiency is not constant, but reaches a maximum of ∼0.7 for galaxies with 9�<�log (M*/M)�<�9.5 and Re�<�1�kpc. This is the same region of parameter space in which the satellite fraction itself reaches its maximum value, suggesting that the transformation from an active central galaxy to a quiescent satellite is associated with a reduction in Re due to an increase in dominance of a bulge component.
Oxford University Press