Environmental dependence of stellar mass,SFR, and SSFR for the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the SDSS DR7

Using the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7), we investigate the environmental dependence of stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (SSFR) of LRGs. It is found that stellar mass of LRGs nearly is independent of local environments, and that the environmental dependence of SFR and SSFR in the LRG sample is much weaker than the one in the Main galaxy sample. One possible explanation is that galaxy color and morphology are a pair of galaxy properties most predictive of local environments, while LRGs are a group of galaxies that are likely to be luminous, red and of early types (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Environmental dependence of stellar mass and stellar velocity dispersion of CMASS galaxies

In this study, I attempt to apply for a new statistical method and investigate the environmental dependence of stellar mass and stellar velocity dispersion in the CMASS sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 9 (SDSS DR9). I divide the CMASS sample with redshifts 0.44 ≤ z ≤ 0.59 into many subsamples with a redshift binning size of Δz = 0.01, and analyze the environmental dependence of stellar mass and stellar velocity dispersion of subsamples in each redshift bin. It is found that stellar mass and stellar velocity dispersions of CMASS galaxies are very weakly correlated with the local environment. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The environmental dependence of the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galaxies

Using two volume‐limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6) with the luminosity –20.0 ≤ M_r ≤ –18.5 and –22.40 ≤ M_r ≤–20.16, we have explored the environmental dependence of the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galaxies. It is found that the fractions of red star‐forming and blue passive galax‐ies decline mildly with increasing local density in the luminous volume‐limited sample, but in the faint volume‐limited sample these fractions rise slightly with increasing local density except that the fraction of red star‐forming decreases with density in the densest regime. Only according to statistical results of this study, it is difficult to reach the conclusion: there is an environmental dependence for color beyond that for star formation activities or for star formation activities beyond that for color. In this condition, we preferentially believe that star formation activities and color possiblely have equally strong environmental dependence. In the faint volume‐limited sample, we observe that the fraction of star‐forming galaxies‐the density relation has a “critical density” at the projected local density PLD ≈ 1 h^–2 Mpc^–2: below this density the fraction of star‐forming galaxies is high and nearly constant, while above this density this fraction drops rapidly. Thus, it is possible that in the densest regime of the faint volume‐limited sample, there is an environmental dependence for star formation activities beyond that for color, which leads to the fraction of red star‐forming decreasing with density in the densest regime of the faint volume‐limited sample (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Correlations among color,morphology, and luminosity for the luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample of the SDSS data release 5

We have investigated the correlations among color, morphology and luminosity for all LRGs, cut I LRGs, cut II LRGs, and Main galaxies that are also classified as LRGs. It is found that the morphology of LRGs is tightly correlated with luminosity. The rest-frame u-g color of cut I LRGs and cut II LRGs is nearly independent of luminosity, but the color of Main galaxies is correlated with luminosity. For cut I LRGs and Main galaxies, the early type proportion apparently changes with color: at the rest-frame u-g < 1.3 it increases strongly with increasing color, while at the rest-frame u-g > 1.3 it decreases with increasing color. We also notice that the morphology of cut II LRGs is only a weak function of color. Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 335–345 (August 2007).     

Environmental dependence of five photometric band concentration indexes for luminous red galaxies from the SDSS Data Release 7

Using the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7), we explore the environmental dependence of five photometric band concentration indexes of LRGs. It turns out that the trends for all the five band concentration indexes to change with the local density are the same: galaxies with higher concentration reside preferentially in overdense environments, while galaxies with lower concentration are located preferentially in underdense environments (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Holmberg effect of Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) pairs of the SDSS Data Release 4 (SDSS4)

We investigate the Holmberg effect of Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) pairs of the SDSS Data Release 4 (SDSS4). It is found that the Holmberg effect of LRG pairs has no statistical significance. According to types of the two components in each pair, we divide the isolated LRG pair sample into three subsamples: the early+early subsample, the late+late subsample and the early+late subsample. Further analyses show that all LRG pair subsamples do not exhibit statistically significant Holmberg effect. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Edge‐on disk galaxies in the SDSS DR6: Fractions of bulgeless and other disk galaxies

The aim of this study is to determine the fractions of different spiral galaxy types, especially bulgeless disks, from a complete and homogeneous sample of 15 127 edge‐on disk galaxies extracted from the sixth data release from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sample is divided in broad morphological classes and sub types consisting of galaxies with bulges, intermediate types and galaxies which appear bulgeless. A small fraction of disky irregulars is also detected. The morphological separation is based on automated classification criteria which resemble the bulge sizes and the flatness of the disks. Each of these broad classes contains about 1/3 of the total sample. Using strict criteria for selecting pure bulgeless galaxies leads to a fraction of 15% of simple disk galaxies. We compare this fraction to other galaxy catalogs and find an excellent agreement of the observed frequency of bulgeless galaxies. Although the fraction of simple disk galaxies in this study does not represent a “cosmic” fraction of bulgeless galaxies, it shows that the relative abundance of pure disks is comparable to other studies and offers a profound value of the frequency of simple disks in the local Universe. This fraction of simple disks emphasizes the challenge for formation and evolution models of disk galaxies since these models are hard pressed to explain the observed frequency of these objects (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The basic properties of galaxy groups from the volume-limited main galaxy sample of SDSS DR6

Using the Berlind et al. algorithm and the Davis et al. algorithm, we find that the mean velocity dispersion, virial radius, and virial mass of the group catalogs identified in the volume-limited sample are much smaller than those identified in the flux-limited sample. Our study shows that these properties of groups are heavily influenced by the relative values of the linking parameters and that there may be no values for the linking lengths that will work perfectly for every sample. In addition, we note that the luminosity distribution of member galaxies of groups identified by different algorithms is nearly the same, but member galaxies of groups identified using the linking lengths b_⊥ = 0.14, b_∥ = 0.75 have a higher proportion of blue galaxies and a lower proportion of red galaxies than member galaxies of groups identified using the linking length b = 0.2, and the early-type fraction of member galaxies of groups identified using the linking length b = 0.2 is higher than that of member galaxies of groups identified using the linking lengths b_⊥ = 0.14, b_∥ = 0.75. Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 555–566 (August 2008).     

The local environmental dependence of properties of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) from the SDSS data release 6 (SDSS6)

Using the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the SDSS Data Release 6, we investigate the dependence of LRG properties on the local environment. For each LRG, the local three-dimensional density within the distance to the 5th nearest galaxy is calculated. It turns out that there is no strong local environmental dependence of LRG morphologies, and that other galaxy properties do not present significant dependence on the local environment. We further calculate the local three-dimensional galaxy density within the distance to the 10th nearest galaxy, and find that results are similar to those for local density within the distance to the 5th nearest galaxy. Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 189–200 (May 2008).     

The environmental dependence of the chemical properties of star-forming galaxies

We use a  0.040 < z < 0.085  sample of 37 866 star-forming galaxies from the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate the dependence of gas-phase chemical properties on stellar mass and environment. The local density, determined from the projected distances to the fourth and fifth nearest neighbours, is used as an environment indicator. Considering environments ranging from voids, i.e.  log Σ≲−0.8  , to the periphery of galaxy clusters, i.e.  log Σ≈ 0.8  , we find no dependence of the relationship between galaxy stellar mass and gas-phase oxygen abundance, along with its associated scatter, on local galaxy density. However, the star-forming gas in galaxies shows a marginal increase in the chemical enrichment level at a fixed stellar mass in denser environments. Compared with galaxies of similar stellar mass in low-density environments, they are enhanced by a few per cent for massive galaxies to about 20 per cent for galaxies with stellar masses  ≲10^9.5 M_⊙  . These results imply that the evolution of star-forming galaxies is driven primarily by their intrinsic properties and is largely independent of their environment over a large range of local galaxy density.     

Environmental dependence of the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the volume‐limited Main galaxy samples of SDSS DR6

Using two volume‐limited Main galaxy samples of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6) above and below the value of M^∗︁_r, we have explored the environmental dependence of the AGN fraction. It is found that the fraction of AGNs declines substantially with increasing local density in the luminous volume‐limited sample, but in the faint volume‐limited sample this change is very weak. We also note that the presence of AGNs is not correlated with the stellar mass (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Comparison of some properties of star forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei between two BOSS galaxy samples from SDSS DR9

Using the LOWZ and CMASS samples of the ninth data release(DR9)from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey(BOSS), I investigate properties of star forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei(AGNs). The CMASS sample seriously suffers from the radial selection effect, even within the redshift0.44 ≤ z ≤ 0.6, which will likely lead to statistical conclusions in the CMASS sample being less robust. In the LOWZ sample, the fraction of star-forming galaxies is nearly constant from the least dense regime to the densest regime; the AGN fraction is also insensitive to the local environment. In addition, I note that in the LOWZ sample, the distributions of stellar mass and stellar velocity dispersion for star forming galaxies and AGNs are nearly the same.     

Color gradients of spiral disks in the SIoan Digital Sky Survey

We investigate the radial color gradients of galactic disks using a sample of - 20 000 face-on spiral galaxies selected from the fourth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey （SDSS-DR4）. We combine galaxies with similar concentrations, sizes and luminosities to construct composite galaxies, and then measure their color profiles by stacking the azimuthally averaged radial color profiles of all the member galaxies. Except for the smallest galaxies （R50 〈 3 kpc）, almost all galaxies show negative disk color gradients with mean 9 - r gradient Ggr = -0.006 magkpc-1 and r - z gradient Grz = -0.018 mag kpc^-1. The disk color gradients are independent of the morphological types of galaxies and strongly dependent on the disk surface brightness μd, with lower surface brightness galactic disks having steeper color gradients. We quantify the intrinsic correlation between color gradients and surface brightness as Ggr = -0.011μd ＋ 0.233 and Grz - -0.015μd ＋ 0.324. These quantified correlations provide tight observational constraints on the formation and evolution models of spiral galaxies.     

Galaxy star formation in different environments

We use a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation to study signatures of large-scale modulations in the star formation (SF) activity in galaxies. In order to do this, we carefully define local and global estimators of the density around galaxies. The former are computed using a voronoi tessellation technique and the latter are parametrized by the normalized distance to haloes and voids, in terms of the virial and void radii, respectively. As a function of local density, galaxies show a strong modulation in their SF, a result that is in agreement with those from several authors. When taking subsamples of equal local density at different large-scale environments, we find relevant global effects whereby the fraction of red galaxies diminishes for galaxies in equal local density environments farther away from clusters and closer to voids. In general, the semi-analytic simulation is in good agreement with the available observational results, and offers the possibility to disentangle many of the processes responsible for the variation of galaxy properties with the environment; we find that the changes found in samples of galaxies with equal local environment but different distances to haloes or voids come from the variations in the underlying mass function of dark matter (DM) haloes. There is an additional possible effect coming from the host DM halo ages, indicating that halo assembly also plays a small but significant role (1.14σ) in shaping the properties of galaxies, and in particular, hints at a possible spatial correlation in halo/stellar mass ages. An interesting result comes from the analysis of the coherence of flows in different large-scale environments of fixed local densities; the neighbourhoods of massive haloes are characterized by lower coherences than control samples, except for galaxies in filament-like regions, which show highly coherent motions.     

The star formation histories of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the results of a moped analysis of  ∼3 × 10⁵  galaxy spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS DR3), with a number of improvements in data, modelling and analysis compared with our previous analysis of DR1. The improvements include: modelling the galaxies with theoretical models at a higher spectral resolution of 3 Å, better calibrated data, an extended list of excluded emission lines and a wider range of dust models. We present new estimates of the cosmic star formation rate (SFR), the evolution of stellar mass density and the stellar mass function from the fossil record. In contrast to our earlier work the results show no conclusive peak in the SFR out to a redshift around 2 but continue to show conclusive evidence for 'downsizing' in the SDSS fossil record. The star formation history is now in good agreement with more traditional instantaneous measures. The galaxy stellar mass function is determined over five decades of mass, and an updated estimate of the current stellar mass density is presented. We also investigate the systematic effects of changes in the stellar population modelling, the spectral resolution, dust modelling, sky lines, spectral resolution and the change of data set. We find that the main changes in the results are due to the improvements in the calibration of the SDSS data, changes in the initial mass function and the theoretical models used.     

New estimates of scale heights and spiral structures for non-edge-on spiral galaxies

On the basis of Poisson＇s equation for the logarithmic perturbation of matter density, we provide improved estimates of scale heights and spiral structures for non-edge-on spiral galaxies by subtracting the surface brightness distributions from observed images. As examples, the non-edge-on spiral galaxies PGC 24996, which is face-on, and M31, which is inclined, are studied. The scale height, pitch angle and inclination angle of M31, our nearest neighbor, that are presented in this work, agree well with previous research.