The evolutionary history of early-type galaxies as derived from the fundamental plane

The fundamental plane (FP) scaling relations and their evolution are a powerful tool for studying the global properties of early-type galaxies and their evolutionary history. The form of the FP, as derived by surveys in the local Universe at wavelengths ranging from the U to the K band, cannot be ex...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysics and space science 2001-01, Vol.276 (2-4), p.983-990
Main Authors: Pahre, MA, Djorgovski, S G, De Carvalho, RR
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Galaxies
Star & galaxy formation
Stars & galaxies
Wavelengths
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The fundamental plane (FP) scaling relations and their evolution are a powerful tool for studying the global properties of early-type galaxies and their evolutionary history. The form of the FP, as derived by surveys in the local Universe at wavelengths ranging from the U to the K band, cannot be explained by metallicity variations alone among early-type galaxies; systematic variations in age, dark matter content, or homology breaking are required. A large-scale study of early-type galaxies at 0.1 < z < 0.6demonstrates that the SB intercept of the FP, the rest frame (U-V) colour, and the absorption line strengths all evolve passively, thereby implying a high mean formation redshift for the stellar content. The slope of the FP evolves with redshift, which is broadly consistent with systematic age effects occurring along the early-type galaxy sequence. The implication that the least luminous early-type galaxies formed later than the luminous galaxies is discussed in the context of the evolution of thecolour-magnitude relation, the Butcher-Oemler effect and hierarchical galaxy formation models.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0004-640X
1572-946X
DOI:10.1023/A:1017528430583