On the two different sequences of the mass-size relation for early-type galaxies

  • Kim, Jin-Ah (Department of Astronomy and Center for Galaxy Evolution Research, Yonsei University) ;
  • Yoon, Suk-Jin (Department of Astronomy and Center for Galaxy Evolution Research, Yonsei University)
  • Published : 2015.10.15

Abstract

Scaling relations of early-type galaxies (ETG) provide a deep insight into their formation and evolution. Interestingly enough, most relations extending into the dwarf regimes display non-linear or broken-linear features, unlike the linear relations for normal (i.e., intermediate-mass to giant) ETGs only. Here we investigate the mass-size scaling relation of ETGs using a massive database of galaxies from SDSS DR12. We divide ETGs into two groups by the indication of star formation such as colors, and examine their distinction along the mass-size relation. We find that the mass-size distribution of blue, young normal galaxies is in good agreement with that of dwarf ETGs. Our result suggests that blue, young normal ETGs may serve as links between (passive) normal ETGs and dwarfs. We discuss the possibility of blue, young ETGs being progenitors of dwarf ETGs.

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