Creating S0s with Major Mergers: A 3D View

Galaxies

Miguel Querejeta⁷  M. Carmen Eliche-Moral⁴  Trinidad Tapia¹  Alejandro Borlaff⁶  Glenn van de Ven⁷  Mariya Lyubenova²  Marie Martig⁷  Jesús Falcón-Barroso⁶  Jairo Méndez-Abreu³  Jaime Zamorano⁴  Jesús Gallego⁴  José Alfonso López Aguerri⁵  Enrichetta Iodice⁵ 

[1] Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ensenada BC-22800, Mexico; E-Mail:;Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Postbus 800, Groningen NL-9700, The Netherlands; E-Mail:;School of Physics and Astronomy, University St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9SS, UK; E-Mail:;Departamento de Astrofísica y Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid E-28040, Spain; E-Mails:Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany;;Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/ Vía Láctea, La Laguna E-38200, Tenerife, Spain; E-Mails:;Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany; E-Mails:

关键词: galaxies;    lenticular;    kinematics and dynamics;    structure;    evolution;    interactions;   

DOI  :  10.3390/galaxies3040202

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

A number of simulators have argued that major mergers can sometimes preserve discs, but the possibility that they could explain the emergence of lenticular galaxies (S0s) has been generally neglected. In fact, observations of S0s reveal a strong structural coupling between their bulges and discs, which seems difficult to reconcile with the idea that they come from major mergers. However, in our recent papers we have used N-body simulations of binary mergers to show that, under favourable conditions, discs are first destroyed but soon regrow out of the leftover debris, matching observational photometric scaling relations. Additionally, we have shown how the merger scenario agrees with the recent discovery that S0s and most spirals are not compatible in an angular momentum–concentration plane. This important result from CALIFA constitutes a serious objection to the idea that spirals transform into S0s mainly by fading (e.g., via ram-pressure stripping, as that would not explain the observed simultaneous change inand concentration), but our simulations of major mergers do explain that mismatch. From such a 3D comparison we conclude that mergers must be a relevant process in the build-up of the current population of S0s.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.