arXiv subjects

Yun-Kyeong Sheen

Publications and source records attributed to Yun-Kyeong Sheen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

On the Origin of Gas-stripping of Galaxies in Group Environments

We investigate how low-mass group environments ($M_{\rm vir} \sim 10^{12-13}\,M_{\odot}$) influence the gas content of their satellite galaxies with $M_* > 10^{7}\,M_{\odot}$ using the \NHtwo\ simulation. Many satellite galaxies preserve substantial gas reservoirs, yet show signs of outer gas stripping, reminiscent of jellyfish galaxies in clusters. In contrast, low-mass satellites ($<10^8 \, M_{\odot}$) are largely gas-deficient, and some of them undergo gas removal within their host group by external pressure triggered by either galaxy interactions or ram pressure exerted by the hot intragroup medium. Complete gas removal in these satellite galaxies occurs when the external hydrodynamic pressure exceeds the gravitational restoring force, typically due to stochastic events such as galaxy-galaxy interaction or nearby galactic outflows. The emergence of a characteristic stellar mass of $10^8 \, M_{\odot}$ which determines the efficiency of gas removal in groups, likely reflects the differing scaling relations of external pressure with halo mass and gravitational restoring force with stellar mass. While tidal interactions can be a significant cause of gas loss in satellite galaxies, those severe enough to affect the gas content in the central regions typically lead to the complete disruption of the galaxy. Consequently, gas loss driven by tidal interactions may be underestimated in the studies focusing solely on surviving galaxies. Group environments, where environmental effects are weaker and satellite galaxies tend to have lower restoring forces due to their low masses, exhibit complex manifestations of gas loss that are not seen in more massive environments such as clusters.

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arXiv2024

Distribution of merging and post-merging galaxies in nearby galaxy clusters

We study the incidence and spatial distribution of galaxies that are currently undergoing gravitational merging (M) or that have signs of a post merger (PM) in six galaxy clusters (A754, A2399, A2670, A3558, A3562, and A3716) within the redshift range, 0.05$\lesssim$$z$$\lesssim$0.08. To this aim, we obtained Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mosaics in $u^{\prime}$, $g^{\prime}$, and $r^{\prime}$-bands covering up to $3\times R_{200}$ of the clusters, reaching 28 mag/arcsec$^2$ surface brightness limits. We visually inspect $u^{\prime}$$g^{\prime}$$r^{\prime}$ color-composite images of volume-limited ($M_r < -20$) cluster-member galaxies to identify whether galaxies are of M or PM types. We find 4% M-type and 7% PM-type galaxies in the galaxy clusters studied. By adding spectroscopic data and studying the projected phase space diagram (PPSD) of the projected clustocentric radius and the line-of-sight velocity, we find that PM-type galaxies are more virialized than M-type galaxies, having 1--5% point higher fraction within the escape-velocity region, while the fraction of M-type was $\sim$10% point higher than PM-type in the intermediate environment. Similarly, on a substructure analysis, M types were found in the outskirt groups, while PM types populated groups in ubiquitous regions of the PPSD. Adopting literature-derived dynamical state indicator values, we observed a higher abundance of M types in dynamically relaxed clusters. This finding suggests that galaxies displaying post-merging features within clusters likely merged in low-velocity environments, including cluster outskirts and dynamically relaxed clusters.

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arXiv2024

Pre- and post-processing of cluster galaxies out to $5 \times R_{200}$: The extreme case of A2670

We study galaxy interactions in the large scale environment around A2670, a massive ($M_{200}$ = $8.5 \pm 1.2~\times 10^{14} \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$) and interacting galaxy cluster at z = 0.0763. We first characterize the environment of the cluster out to 5$\times R_{200}$ and find a wealth of substructures, including the main cluster core, a large infalling group, and several other substructures. To study the impact of these substructures (pre-processing) and their accretion into the main cluster (post-processing) on the member galaxies, we visually examined optical images to look for signatures indicative of gravitational or hydrodynamical interactions. We find that $\sim 21$ % of the cluster galaxies have clear signs of disturbances, with most of those ($\sim60$ %) likely being disturbed by ram pressure. The number of ram-pressure stripping candidates found (101) in A2670 is the largest to date for a single system, and while they are more common in the cluster core, they can be found even at $> 4 \times R_{200}$, confirming cluster influence out to large radii. In support of a pre-processing scenario, most of the disturbed galaxies follow the substructures found, with the richest structures having more disturbed galaxies. Post-processing also seems plausible, as many galaxy-galaxy mergers are seen near the cluster core, which is not expected in relaxed clusters. In addition, there is a comparable fraction of disturbed galaxies in and outside substructures. Overall, our results highlight the complex interplay of gas stripping and gravitational interactions in actively assembling clusters up to $5\times R_{200}$, motivating wide-area studies in larger cluster samples.

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arXiv2023

Discovery of a large-scale H I plume in the NGC 7194 Group

We present the discovery of a new H I structure in the NGC 7194 group from the observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. NGC 7194 group is a nearby (z ~ 0.027) small galaxy group with five quiescent members. The observations reveal a 200 kpc-long H I plume that spans the entire group with a total mass of M$_{HI}$ = 3.4 x 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$. The line-of-sight velocity of the H I gas gradually increases from south (7200 km s$^{-1}$) to north (8200 km $^{-1}$), and the local velocity dispersion is up to 70 km s$^{-1}$. The structure is not spatially coincident with any member galaxies but it shows close associations with a number of blue star-forming knots. Intragroup H I gas is not rare, but this particular structure is still one of the unusual cases in the sense that it does not show any clear connection with sizable galaxies in the group. We discuss the potential origins of this large-scale H I gas in the NGC 7194 group and its relation with the intergalactic star-forming knots. We propose that this HI feature could have originated from tidal interactions among group members or the infall of a late-type galaxy into the group. Alternatively, it might be leftover gas from flyby intruders.

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arXiv2023

Photometric Selection of Unobscured QSOs in the Ecliptic Poles: KMTNet in the South Field and Pan-STARRS in the North Field

We search for quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) in a wide area of the south ecliptic pole (SEP) field, which has been and will continue to be intensively explored through various space missions. For this purpose, we obtain deep broadband optical images of the SEP field covering an area of $\sim$$14.5\times14.5$ deg$^2$ with the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network. The 5$σ$ detection limits for point sources in the $BVRI$ bands are estimated to be $\sim$22.59, 22.60, 22.98, and 21.85 mag, respectively. Utilizing data from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, unobscured QSO candidates are selected among the optically point-like sources using the mid-infrared (MIR) and optical-MIR colors. To further refine our selection and eliminate any contamination not adequately removed by the color-based selection, we perform the spectral energy distribution fitting with archival photometric data ranging from optical to MIR. As a result, we identify a total of 2,383 unobscured QSO candidates in the SEP field. We also apply a similar method to the north ecliptic pole field using the Pan-STARRS data and obtain a similar result of identifying 2,427 candidates. The differential number count per area of our QSO candidates is in good agreement with those measured from spectroscopically confirmed ones in other fields. Finally, we compare the results with the literature and discuss how this work will be implicated in future studies, especially with the upcoming space missions.

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arXiv2022

Ram Pressure Stripping and ISM disc Truncation : Prediction vs. Observation

Ram pressure stripping (RPS) is known to be a key environmental effect that can remove interstellar gas from galaxies in a cluster. The RPS process is commonly described as a competition between the ram pressure by the intracluster medium (ICM) and the anchoring pressure on the interstellar medium (ISM) by the gravitational potential of a galaxy. However, the actual gas stripping process can be more complicated due to the complexity of gas physics such as compression and geometrical self-shielding as well as cooling and heating. In order to verify how well the observed signatures of the RPS process can be understood as simple momentum transfer, we compare the stripping radii of Virgo cluster galaxies in different stages of RPS measured from the HI observation with the predicted gas truncation radii for the given conditions. For the sample undergoing active RPS, we generally find good agreements between predictions and observations within a measurement uncertainty. On the other hand, galaxies likely in the early or later RPS stage and/or the ones with signs of environmental impacts other than RPS such as tidal interaction or starvation, show some discrepancies. Our results imply that the conventional RPS relation works reasonably well in a broad sense when RPS is the most dominant process and the galaxy is located where the surrounding environment can be well defined. Otherwise, more careful inspections on the second mechanism and local environment are required to assess the impact of RPS on the target.

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arXiv2022

KMTNet Nearby Galaxy Survey: Overview and a Survey Description

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for deep imaging surveys to investigate the history of the mass assembly of galaxies in detail by examining the remnants of mergers and accretions, both of which have very low surface brightness (LSB). In addition, the nature of star formation in LSB regions, such as galaxy outer disks, is also an intriguing topic in terms of understanding the physical mechanisms of disk evolution. To address these issues, this study conducts a survey project, called the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) Nearby Galaxy Survey to construct a deep imaging data set of nearby galaxies in the southern hemisphere using KMTNet. It provides deep and wide-field images with a field-of-view of $\sim$12 deg$^2$ for 13 nearby galaxies drawn from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey catalog, in optical broadbands ($BRI$) and an H$α$ narrowband. Through a dedicated data reduction, the surface brightness limit in 10$^{\prime\prime}\times10^{\prime\prime}$ boxes was found to reach as deep as $μ_{1σ}\sim29$-31 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in the optical broadbands and $f_{1σ}\sim1$-$2\times 10^{-18}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$ in the H$α$ narrowband. To conclude the paper, several possible scientific applications for this data set are described.

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arXiv2022

Simulating Jellyfish Galaxies: A Case Study for a Gas-Rich Dwarf Galaxy

We investigate the formation of jellyfish galaxies using radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of gas-rich dwarf galaxies with a multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM). We find that the ram-pressure-stripped (RPS) ISM is the dominant source of molecular clumps in the near wake within 10 kpc from the galactic plane, while in-situ formation is the major channel for dense gas in the distant tail of the gas-rich galaxy. Only 20% of the molecular clumps in the near wake originate from the intracluster medium (ICM); however, the fraction reaches 50% in the clumps located at $80\,{\rm kpc}$ from the galactic center since the cooling time of the RPS gas tends to be short due to the ISM--ICM mixing ($\lesssim$ 10 Myr). The tail region exhibits a star formation rate of $0.001-0.01\,{\rm M_{\odot}\,yr^{-1}}$, and most of the tail stars are born in the stripped wake within 10 kpc from the galactic plane. These stars induce bright H$α$ blobs in the tail, while H$α$ tails fainter than $6\times10^{38}\,{\rm erg\,s^{-1}\,kpc^{-2}}$ are mostly formed via collisional radiation and heating due to mixing. We also find that the stripped tails have intermediate X-ray to H$α$ surface brightness ratios (1.5$\lesssim F_{\rm X}/F_{\rm Hα}\lesssim$20), compared to the ISM ($\lesssim$1.5) or pure ICM ($\gg$20). Our results suggest that jellyfish features emerge when the ISM from gas-rich galaxies is stripped by strong ram pressure, mixes with the ICM, and enhances the cooling in the tail.

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arXiv2021

KMTNet Nearby Galaxy Survey III. Deficient H$α$ flux in the Extended Disks of Spiral Galaxies

We perform a deep wide-field imaging survey of nearby galaxies using H$α$ and broadband filters to investigate the characteristics of star formation in galaxies. Motivated by the finding that star formation rates (SFRs) derived from H$α$ fluxes in dwarf galaxies are systematically lower than those inferred from far-ultraviolet (FUV) fluxes, we attempt to determine whether the same trend exists in the extended disks of two star-forming galaxies. We perform spatially resolved photometry using grid-shaped apertures to measure the FUV and H$α$ fluxes of star-forming regions. We also perform spectral energy distribution (SED) fittings using 11 photometric data (FUV-to-MIR) including data from the literature to estimate the local properties such as internal attenuation of individual star-forming clumps. Comparing SFR$_\mathrm{FUV}$ and SFR$_\mathrm{Hα}$, which are converted from the H$α$ and FUV fluxes corrected for the local properties, we find that SFR$_\mathrm{Hα}$/SFR$_\mathrm{FUV}$ tends to decrease as the SFR decreases. We evaluate possible causes of this discrepancy between the two SFRs by restricting parameters in the SED fitting and conclude that deficient H$α$ fluxes in the extended disks of galaxies are tightly correlated with recent starbursts. The strong and short starburst which is being rapidly suppressed over the last 10 Myr seems to induce a significant discrepancy between the SFR$_\mathrm{Hα}$ and SFR$_\mathrm{FUV}$. In addition, the recent bursts in the extended disks of galaxies appear to have occurred azimuth-symmetrically, implying that these were likely triggered by gas accretion or internal processes rather than external perturbation.

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arXiv2020

Formation of S0s in extreme environments II: the star-formation histories of bulges, discs and lenses

Different processes have been proposed to explain the formation of S0s, including mergers, disc instabilities and quenched spirals. These processes are expected to dominate in different environments, and thus leave characteristic footprints in the kinematics and stellar populations of the individual components within the galaxies. New techniques enable us to cleanly disentangle the kinematics and stellar populations of these components in IFU observations. In this paper, we use buddi to spectroscopically extract the light from the bulge, disc and lens components within a sample of 8 S0 galaxies in extreme environments observed with MUSE. While the spectra of bulges and discs in S0 galaxies have been separated before, this work is the first to isolate the spectra of lenses. Stellar populations analysis revealed that the bulges and lenses have generally similar or higher metallicities than the discs, and the $α$-enhancement of the bulges and discs are correlated, while those of the lenses are completely unconnected to either component. We conclude that the majority of the mass in these galaxies was built up early in the lifetime of the galaxy, with the bulges and discs forming from the same material through dissipational processes at high redshift. The lenses, on the other hand, formed over independent timescales at more random times within the lifetime of the galaxy, possibly from evolved bars. The younger stellar populations and asymmetric features seen in the field S0s may indicate that these galaxies have been affected more by minor mergers than the cluster galaxies.

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arXiv2020

KMTNet Nearby Galaxy Survey II. Searching for Dwarf Galaxies in Deep and Wide-field Images of the NGC 1291 system

We present newly discovered dwarf galaxy candidates in deep and wide-field images of NGC 1291 obtained with the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network. We identify 15 dwarf galaxy candidates by visual inspection. Using imaging simulations, we demonstrate that the completeness rate of our detection is greater than 70% for the central surface brightness value of $μ_{0,R}\lesssim26$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ and for magnitudes $M_R\lesssim-10$ mag. The structural and photometric properties of the dwarf galaxy candidates appear to be broadly consistent with those of ordinary dwarf galaxies in nearby groups and clusters, with $μ_{0,R}\sim$ 22.5 to 26.5 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ and effective radii of 200 pc to 1 kpc. The dwarf galaxy candidates show a concentration towards NGC 1291 and tend to be redder the closer they are to the center, possibly indicating that they are associated with NGC 1291. The dwarf candidates presented in this paper appear to be bluer than those in denser environments, revealing that the quenching of star formation in dwarf galaxies is susceptible to the environment, while the morphology shaping is not.

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arXiv2019

Formation of S0s in extreme environments I: clues from kinematics and stellar populations

Despite numerous efforts, it is still unclear whether lenticular galaxies (S0s) evolve from spirals whose star formation was suppressed, or formed trough mergers or disk instabilities. In this paper we present a pilot study of 21 S0 galaxies in extreme environments (field and cluster), and compare their spatially-resolved kinematics and global stellar populations. Our aim is to identify whether there are different mechanisms that form S0s in different environments. Our results show that the kinematics of S0 galaxies in field and cluster are, indeed, different. Lenticulars in the cluster are more rotationally supported, suggesting that they are formed through processes that involve the rapid consumption or removal of gas (e.g. starvation, ram pressure stripping). In contrast, S0s in the field are more pressure supported, suggesting that minor mergers served mostly to shape their kinematic properties. These results are independent of total mass, luminosity, or disk-to-bulge ratio. On the other hand, the mass-weighted age, metallicity, and star formation time-scale of the galaxies correlate more with mass than with environment, in agreement with known relations from previous work such as the one between mass and metallicity. Overall, our results re-enforce the idea that there are multiple mechanisms that produce S0s, and that both mass $and$ environment play key roles. A larger sample is highly desirable to confirm or refute the results and the interpretation of this pilot study.

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arXiv2019

Impact of Galaxy Mergers on the Colours of Cluster Galaxies

We examine the ultraviolet and optical colours of 906 cluster galaxies from the KASI-Yonsei Deep Imaging Survey of Clusters (KYDISC). Galaxies have been divided into two categories, morphologically-disturbed and undisturbed galaxies, based on the visual signatures related to recent mergers. We find that galaxies with signatures of recent mergers show significantly bluer colours than undisturbed galaxies. Disturbed galaxies populate more on the cluster outskirts, suggesting recent accretion into the cluster environment, which implies that disturbed galaxies can be less influenced by the environmental quenching process and remain blue. However, we still detect bluer colours of disturbed galaxies in all locations (cluster core and outskirts) for the fixed morphology, which is difficult to understand just considering the difference in time since infall into a cluster. Moreover, blue disturbed galaxies show features seemingly related to recent star formation. Therefore, we suspect that mergers make disturbed galaxies keep their blue colour longer than undisturbed galaxies under the effect of the environmental quenching through either merger-induced star formation or central gas concentration which is less vulnerable for gas stripping.

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arXiv2018

KMTNet Nearby Galaxy Survey I. : Optimal strategy for low surface brightness imaging with KMTNet

In hierarchical galaxy formation models, galaxies evolve through mergers and accretions. Tidally-disrupted debris from these processes can remain as diffuse, faint structures, which can provide useful insight into the assembly history of galaxies. To investigate the properties of the faint structures in outskirts of nearby galaxies, we conduct deep and wide-field imaging survey with KMTNet. We present our observing strategy and optimal data reduction process to recover the faint extended features in the imaging data of NGC 1291 taken with KMTNet. Through the dark sky flat-fielding and optimal sky subtraction, we can effectively remove inhomogeneous patterns. In the combined images, the peak-to-peak global sky gradients were reduced to less than $\sim0.5$% and $\sim0.3$% of the original $B$- and $R$-band sky levels, respectively. However, we find local spatial fluctuations in the background sky which can affect the precise measurement of the sky value. Consequently, we can reach the surface brightness of $μ_{B,1σ} \sim$ 29.5 and $μ_{R,1σ}\sim$ 28.5 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in azimuthally averaged one-dimensional surface brightness profiles, that is mainly limited by the uncertainty in the sky determination. These results suggest that the deep imaging data produced by KMTNet are suitable to study the faint features of nearby galaxies such as outer disks and dwarf companions, but unideal (not impossible) to detect stellar halos. The one-dimensional profile revealed that NGC 1291 appeared to have Type I disk out to $R$ $\sim$ 30 kpc with no obvious color gradient and excess light due to a stellar halo was undetected.

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arXiv2018

JINGLE, a JCMT legacy survey of dust and gas for galaxy evolution studies: I. Survey overview and first results

JINGLE is a new JCMT legacy survey designed to systematically study the cold interstellar medium of galaxies in the local Universe. As part of the survey we perform 850um continuum measurements with SCUBA-2 for a representative sample of 193 Herschel-selected galaxies with M*>10^9Msun, as well as integrated CO(2-1) line fluxes with RxA3m for a subset of 90 of these galaxies. The sample is selected from fields covered by the Herschel-ATLAS survey that are also targeted by the MaNGA optical integral-field spectroscopic survey. The new JCMT observations combined with the multi-wavelength ancillary data will allow for the robust characterization of the properties of dust in the nearby Universe, and the benchmarking of scaling relations between dust, gas, and global galaxy properties. In this paper we give an overview of the survey objectives and details about the sample selection and JCMT observations, present a consistent 30 band UV-to-FIR photometric catalog with derived properties, and introduce the JINGLE Main Data Release (MDR). Science highlights include the non-linearity of the relation between 850um luminosity and CO line luminosity, and the serendipitous discovery of candidate z>6 galaxies.

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arXiv2018

KYDISC: Galaxy Morphology, Quenching, and Mergers in the Cluster Environment

We present the KASI-Yonsei Deep Imaging Survey of Clusters (KYDISC) targeting 14 clusters at 0.015 < z < 0.144 using the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph on the 6.5-meter Magellan Baade telescope and the MegaCam on the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We provide a catalog of cluster galaxies that lists magnitudes, redshifts, morphologies, bulge-to-total ratios, and local density. Based on the 1409 spectroscopically-confirmed cluster galaxies brighter than -19.8 in the r-band, we study galaxy morphology, color, and visual features generated by galaxy mergers. We see a clear trend between morphological content and cluster velocity dispersion, which was not presented by previous studies using local clusters. Passive spirals are preferentially found in a highly dense region (i.e., cluster center), indicating that they have gone through the environmental quenching. In deep images (mu_r ~ 27 mag/"^2), 20% of our sample show signatures of recent mergers, which is not expected from theoretical predictions and a low frequency of ongoing mergers in our sample (~ 4%). Such a high fraction of recent mergers in the cluster environment supports a scenario that the merger events that made the features have preceded the galaxy accretion into the cluster environment. We conclude that mergers affect a cluster population mainly through the pre-processing on recently accreted galaxies.

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arXiv2017

Discovery of ram-pressure stripped gas around an elliptical galaxy in Abell 2670

Studies of cluster galaxies are increasingly finding galaxies with spectacular one-sided tails of gas and young stars, suggestive of intense ram-pressure stripping. These so-called "jellyfish" galaxies typically have late-type morphology. In this paper, we present MUSE observations of an elliptical galaxy in Abell 2670 with long tails of material visible in the optical spectra, as well as blobs with tadpole-like morphology. The spectra in the central part of the galaxy reveals a stellar component as well as ionized gas. The stellar component does not have significant rotation, while the ionized gas defines a clear star-forming gas disk. We argue, based on deep optical images of the galaxy, that the gas was most likely acquired during a past wet merger. It is possible that the star-forming blobs are also remnants of the merger. In addition, the direction and kinematics of the one-sided ionized tails, combined with the tadpole morphology of the star-forming blobs, strongly suggests that the system is undergoing ram pressure from the intracluster medium. In summary, this paper presents the discovery of a post-merger elliptical galaxy undergoing ram pressure stripping.

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arXiv2016

The SAMI galaxy survey: Galaxy Interactions and Kinematic Anomalies in Abell 119

Galaxy mergers are important events that can determine the fate of a galaxy by changing its morphology, star-formation activity and mass growth. Merger systems have commonly been identified from their disturbed morphologies, and we now can employ Integral Field Spectroscopy to detect and analyze the impact of mergers on stellar kinematics as well. We visually classified galaxy morphology using deep images ($μ_{\rm r} = 28\,\rm mag\,\, arcsec^{-2}$) taken by the Blanco 4-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. In this paper we investigate 63 bright ($M_{\rm r}<-19.3$) spectroscopically-selected galaxies in Abell 119; of which 53 are early type and 20 galaxies show a disturbed morphology by visual inspection. A misalignment between the major axes in the photometric image and the kinematic map is conspicuous in morphologically-disturbed galaxies. Our sample is dominated by early-type galaxies, yet it shows a surprisingly tight Tully-Fisher relation except for the morphologically-disturbed galaxies which show large deviations. Three out of the eight slow rotators in our sample are morphology disturbed. The visually-selected morphologically-disturbed galaxies are generally more asymmetric, visually as well as kinematically. Our findings suggest that galaxy interactions, including mergers and perhaps fly-bys, play an important role in determining the orientation and magnitude of galaxy's angular momentum.

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