Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001ap%26ss.276..847b&link_type=abstract
Astrophysics and Space Science, v. 276, Issue 2/4, p. 847-850 (2001).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
2
Scientific paper
When and how red S0 galaxies were formed is a longstanding and noteworthy problem. Recent morphological and photometric studies of S0s in distant clusters of galaxies have revealed a smaller S0 population fraction and the existence of S0s with bluer colours, which suggests that some physical processes drive continuous creation of S0s with younger stellar populations in higher-redshift clusters. We propose here that the major mechanism for S0 creation is galaxy merging between two spirals of unequal masses. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that galaxy merging exhausts a large amount of the interstellar medium of two gas-rich spirals owing to the moderately enhanced star formation, and subsequently transforms the two into a single gas-poor S0 galaxy with structure and kinematics strikingly similar to those observed. This secondary S0 formation via unequal-mass merging thus provides an evolutionary link between a larger number of blue spirals observed in intermediate-redshift clusters and the red S0s prevalent in present-day ones.
No associations
LandOfFree
Galaxy Mergers and the Creation of Cluster S0 Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Galaxy Mergers and the Creation of Cluster S0 Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Galaxy Mergers and the Creation of Cluster S0 Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1005487