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The morphology-density relation: a constant of nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2007

Arjen van der Wel
Arjen van der Wel*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and photometric/spectroscopic surveys of two z ~ 0.8 massive clusters of galaxies and the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDFS) are used to construct volume-limited, stellar mass-selected samples of galaxies at redshifts 0 < z < 1 in a large range of environments. Morphologies are determined visually and with an automated method, using the Sérsic parameter n and a measure of the residual from the Sérsic model fits, called “bumpiness”, to distinguish different morphologies. The agreement between the visual and automated methods is excellent. The fraction of E+S0 galaxies with masses larger than ~ 0.5 M* is 40 − 50% in the field, and > 80% in the clusters, without significant changes with redshift. Therefore, we find that the morphology-density relation (MDR) for galaxies more massive than ~ 0.5 M* has remained constant since at least z ~ 0.8. This implies that galaxy evolution (in terms of mass, star formation, color, morphology, etc.) must happen such that the MDR does not change.

Keywords

galaxies: clusters: generalgalaxies: elliptical and lenticularcDgalaxies: evolutiongalaxies: formationgalaxies: fundamental parameters
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 3 , Symposium S245: Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Bulges , July 2007 , pp. 59 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

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