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arXiv · 1803.07223

Color Dispersion as an Indicator of Stellar Population Complexity: Insights from the Pixel Color-Magnitude Diagrams of 32 Bright Galaxies in Abell 1139 and Abell 2589

Joon Hyeop Lee·Mina Pak·Hye-Ran Lee·Sree Oh
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Abstract

We investigate the properties of bright galaxies with various morphological types in Abell 1139 and Abell 2589, using the pixel color-magnitude diagram (pCMD) analysis technique. The sample is 32 galaxies brighter than Mr = -21.3 mag with spectroscopic redshifts, which are deeply imaged in the g and r bands using the MegaCam mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. After masking contaminants with two-step procedures, we examine how the detailed properties in pCMDs depend on galaxy morphology and infrared color. The mean g - r color as a function of surface brightness (mu_r) in the pCMD of a galaxy shows fine performance in distinguishing between early- and late-type galaxies, but it is not perfect because of the similarity between elliptical galaxies and bulge-dominated spiral galaxies. On the other hand, the g - r color dispersion as a function of mu_r works better. We find that the best set of parameters for galaxy classification is the combination of the minimum color dispersion at mu_r <= 21.2 mag/arcsec^2 and the maximum color dispersion at 20.0 <= mu_r <= 21.0 mag/arcsec^2: the latter reflects the complexity of stellar populations at the disk component in a typical spiral galaxy. Finally, the color dispersion measurements of an elliptical galaxy appear to be correlated with the WISE infrared color ([4.6] - [12]). This indicates that the complexity of stellar populations in an elliptical galaxy is related with its recent star formation activities. From this observational evidence, we infer that gas-rich minor mergers or gas interactions may have usually happened during the recent growth of massive elliptical galaxies.

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Joon Hyeop Lee, Mina Pak, Hye-Ran Lee, Sree Oh. 2018-03-20. Color Dispersion as an Indicator of Stellar Population Complexity: Insights from the Pixel Color-Magnitude Diagrams of 32 Bright Galaxies in Abell 1139 and Abell 2589. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab892

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