Astrophysics and Astronomy | Open Access Articles

The Causes Of The Red Sequence, The Blue Cloud, The Green Valley, And The Green Mountain, Stephen A. Eales, Maarten Baes, Nathan Bourne, Malcolm Bremer, Michael J.I. Brown, Christopher Clark, David Clements, Pieter De Vis, Simon Driver, Loretta Dunne, Simon Dye, Cristina Furlanetto, Benne W. Holwerda, R. J. Ivison, L. S. Kelvin, Maritza Lara-Lopez, Lerothodi Leeuw, Jon Loveday, Steve Maddox, Michal J. Michalowski, Steven Phillipps, Aaron Robotham, Dan Smith, Matthew Smith, Elisabetta Valiante, Paul Van Der Werf, Angus Wright

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The galaxies found in optical surveys fall in two distinct regions of a diagram of optical colour versus absolute magnitude: the red sequence and the blue cloud, with the green valley in between. We show that the galaxies found in a submillimetre survey have almost the opposite distribution in this diagram, forming a 'green mountain'. We show that these distinctive distributions follow naturally from a single, continuous, curved Galaxy Sequence in a diagram of specific star formation rate versus stellar mass, without there being the need for a separate star-forming galaxy main sequence and region of passive galaxies. The cause …

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Deep Extragalactic Visible Legacy Survey (Devils): Motivation, Design, And Target Catalogue, L. J.M. Davies, A. S.G. Robotham, S. P. Driver, C. P. Lagos, L. Cortese, E. Mannering, C. Foster, C. Lidman, A. Hashemizadeh, S. Koushan, S. O'Toole, I. K. Baldry, M. Bilicki, J. Bland-Hawthorn, M. N. Bremer, M. J.I. Brown, J. J. Bryant, B. Catinella, S. M. Croom, M. W. Grootes, Benne W. Holwerda, M. J. Jarvis, N. Maddox, M. Meyer, A. J. Moffett, S. Phillipps, E. N. Taylor, R. A. Windhorst, C. Wolf

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The Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) is a large spectroscopic campaign at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) aimed at bridging the near and distant Universe by producing the highest completeness survey of galaxies and groups at intermediate redshifts (0.3 < z < 1.0). Our sample consists of ~60 000 galaxies to Y < 21.2mag, over ~6 deg2 in threewell-studied deep extragalactic fields (Cosmic Origins Survey field, COSMOS; Extended Chandra Deep Field South, ECDFS; and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission Large-Scale Structure region, XMM-LSS - all Large Synoptic Survey Telescope deep-drill fields). This paper presents the broad experimental design of DEVILS. Our target sample has been selected from deep Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Y-band imaging (VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations, VIDEO and UltraVISTA), with photometry measured by PROFOUND. Photometric star/galaxy separation is done on the basis of near-infrared colours and has been validated by visual inspection. To maximize our observing efficiency for faint targets, we employ a redshift feedback strategy, which continually updates our target lists, feeding back the results from the previous night's observations. We also present an overview of the initial spectroscopic observations undertaken in late 2017 and early 2018.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Environmental Dependence Of The Galaxy Main Sequence, L. Wang, P. Norberg, S. Brough, M. J.I. Brown, E. Da Cunha, L. J. Davies, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Liske, J. Loveday, M. W. Grootes, C. C. Popescu, A. H. Wright

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Aims: We aim to investigate if the environment (characterised by the host dark matter halo mass) plays any role in shaping the galaxy star formation main sequence (MS). Methods: The Galaxy and Mass Assembly project (GAMA) combines a spectroscopic survey with photometric information in 21 bands from the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to the far-infrared (FIR). Stellar masses and dust-corrected star-formation rates (SFR) are derived from spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling using MAGPHYS. We use the GAMA galaxy group catalogue to examine the variation of the fraction of star-forming galaxies (SFG) and properties of the MS with respect to the environment. Results: …

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): Morphological Transformation Of Galaxies Across The Green Valley, M. N. Bremer, S. Phillipps, S. Kelvin, R. De Propris, Rebecca Kennedy, Amanda J. Moffett, S. Bamford, L. J.M. Davies, S. P. Driver, B. Häußler, Benne W. Holwerda, A. Hopkins, P. A. James, J. Liske, S. Percival, N. Taylor

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We explore constraints on the joint photometric and morphological evolution of typical low redshift galaxies as they move from the blue cloud through the green valley and on to the red sequence. We select Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey galaxies with 10.25 < log(M*/Mo˙) < 10.75 and z < 0.2 classified according to their intrinsic u* - r* colour. From single component Śersic fits, we find that the stellar mass-sensitive K-band profiles of red and green galaxy populations are very similar while g-band profiles indicate more disc-like morphologies for the green galaxies: apparent (optical) morphological differences arise primarily from radial mass-to-light ratio variations. Two-component fits show that most green galaxies have significant bulge and disc components and that the blue to red evolution is driven by colour change in the disc. Together, these strongly suggest that galaxies evolve from blue to red through secular disc fading and that a strong bulge is present prior to any decline in star formation. The relative abundance of the green population implies a typical time-scale for traversing the green valley ~1-2 Gyr and is independent of environment, unlike that of the red and blue populations. While environment likely plays a role in triggering the passage across the green valley, it appears to have little effect on time taken. These results are consistent with a green valley population dominated by (early type) disc galaxies that are insufficiently supplied with gas to maintain previous levels of disc star formation, eventually attaining passive colours. No single event is needed to quench their star formation.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): Blue Spheroids Within 87 Mpc, Smriti Mahajan, Michael J. Drinkwater, S. Driver, A. M. Hopkins, Alister W. Graham, S. Brough, Michael J.I. Brown, Benne W. Holwerda, Matt S. Owers, Kevin A. Pimbblet

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In this paper, we test if nearby blue spheroid (BSph) galaxies may become the progenitors of star-forming spiral galaxies or passively evolving elliptical galaxies. Our sample comprises 428 galaxies of various morphologies in the redshift range 0.002 < Ζ < 0.02 (8-87 Mpc) with panchromatic data from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. We find that BSph galaxies are structurally (mean effective surface brightness, effective radius) very similar to their passively evolving red counterparts. However, their star formation and other properties such as colour, age, and metallicity are more like star-forming spirals than spheroids (ellipticals and lenticulars). We show that BSph galaxies are statistically distinguishable from other spheroids as well as spirals in the multidimensional space mapped by luminosity-weighted age, metallicity, dust mass, and specific star formation rate. We use HI data to reveal that some of the BSphs are (further) developing their discs, hence their blue colours. They may eventually become spiral galaxies - if sufficient gas accretion occurs - or more likely fade into low-mass red galaxies.

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Consistency Of Gama And Wise Derived Mass-To-Light Ratios, T. Kettlety, J. Hesling, S. Phillipps, M. N. Bremer, M. E. Cluver, E. N. Taylor, J. Bland-Hawthorn, S. Brough, R. De Propris, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, L. S. Kelvin, W. Sutherland, A. H. Wright

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Recent work has suggested that mid-IR wavelengths are optimal for estimating the mass-to-light ratios of stellar populations and hence the stellar masses of galaxies. We compare stellar masses deduced from spectral energy distribution (SED) models, fitted to multiwavelength optical-NIR photometry, to luminosities derived from WISE photometry in the W1 and W2 bands at 3.6 and 4.5 μmfor non-star forming galaxies. The SED-derived masses for a carefully selected sample of low-redshift (z≤0.15) passive galaxies agree with the prediction from stellar population synthesis models such that M*/LW1 ≃0.6 for all such galaxies, independent of other stellar population parameters. The small scatter between …

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Mechanisms For Quiescent Galaxy Formation At Z < 1, K. Rowlands, V. Wild, N. Bourne, M. Bremer, S. Brough, S. P. Driver, A. M. Hopkins, M. S. Owers, S. Phillipps, K. Pimbblet, A. E. Sansom, L. Wang, M. Alpaslan, J. Bland-Hawthorn, M. Colless, Benne W. Holwerda, E. N. Taylor

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One key problem in astrophysics is understanding how and why galaxies switch off their star formation, building the quiescent population that we observe in the local Universe. From the Galaxy And Mass Assembly and VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph Public Extragalactic Redshift surveys, we use spectroscopic indices to select quiescent and candidate transition galaxies. We identify potentially rapidly transitioning post-starburst (PSB) galaxies and slower transitioning green-valley galaxies. Over the last 8Gyr, the quiescent population has grown more slowly in number density at high masses (M* > 1011M⊙) than at intermediate masses (M* > 1010.6M⊙). There is evolution in both the PSB and green-valley stellar …

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Environmental Dependence Of The Galaxy Main Sequence, L. Wang, P. Norberg, S. Brough, M. J.I. Brown, E. Da Cunha, L. J. Davies, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, M. A. Lara-Lopez, J. Liske, J. Loveday, M. W. Grootes, C. C. Popescu, A. H. Wright

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): Blue Spheroids Within 87 Mpc, Smriti Mahajan, Michael J. Drinkwater, S. Driver, A. M. Hopkins, Alister W. Graham, S. Brough, Michael J.I. Brown, Benne W. Holwerda, Matt S. Owers, Kevin A. Pimbblet

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): The Consistency Of Gama And Wise Derived Mass-To-Light Ratios, T. Kettlety, J. Hesling, S. Phillipps, M. N. Bremer, M. E. Cluver, E. N. Taylor, J. Bland-Hawthorn, S. Brough, R. De Propris, S. P. Driver, Benne W. Holwerda, L. S. Kelvin, W. Sutherland, A. H. Wright

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