IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms13269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies

Author

Listed:
  • Yan-Mei Chen

    (School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University
    Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University)
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration)

  • Yong Shi

    (School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University
    Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University)
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration)

  • Christy A. Tremonti

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Ave)

  • Matt Bershady

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Ave)

  • Michael Merrifield

    (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park)

  • Eric Emsellem

    (European Southern Observatory
    Université Lyon 1, Observatoire de Lyon, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon and Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon)

  • Yi-Fei Jin

    (School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University
    Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University)
    Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Astronomy and Space Exploration)

  • Song Huang

    (Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU, WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, the University of Tokyo)

  • Hai Fu

    (University of Iowa)

  • David A. Wake

    (The Open University)

  • Kevin Bundy

    (Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU, WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, the University of Tokyo)

  • David Stark

    (Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU, WPI), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study, the University of Tokyo)

  • Lihwai Lin

    (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica)

  • Maria Argudo-Fernandez

    (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
    Universidad de Antofagasta, Unidad de Astronoma, Facultad Cs. Bsicas, Av. U. de Antofagasta)

  • Thaisa Storchi Bergmann

    (Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CP 15051, 91501-970
    Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia—LIneA)

  • Dmitry Bizyaev

    (Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State University
    Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University)

  • Joel Brownstein

    (University of Utah)

  • Martin Bureau

    (University of Oxford)

  • John Chisholm

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Ave)

  • Niv Drory

    (University of California)

  • Qi Guo

    (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Lei Hao

    (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

  • Jian Hu

    (Tsinghua University
    Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University)

  • Cheng Li

    (Tsinghua University
    Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University)

  • Ran Li

    (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Alexandre Roman Lopes

    (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Serena)

  • Kai-Ke Pan

    (Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State University)

  • Rogemar A. Riffel

    (Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia—LIneA
    Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria)

  • Daniel Thomas

    (Institute for Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth)

  • Lan Wang

    (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Kyle Westfall

    (Institute for Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth)

  • Ren-Bin Yan

    (University of Kentucky)

Abstract

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (

Suggested Citation

  • Yan-Mei Chen & Yong Shi & Christy A. Tremonti & Matt Bershady & Michael Merrifield & Eric Emsellem & Yi-Fei Jin & Song Huang & Hai Fu & David A. Wake & Kevin Bundy & David Stark & Lihwai Lin & Maria A, 2016. "The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13269
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13269
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13269
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms13269?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.