Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21922907k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #229.07
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We update van den Bergh's (1976, ApJ, 206, 883) parallel sequence galaxy classification in which S0 galaxies form a sequence S0a-S0b-S0c that parallels the sequence Sa-Sb-Sc of spiral galaxies. The ratio B/T of bulge to total light defines the position of a galaxy in this tuning fork diagram. Our classification makes one main improvement. We extend the S0a-S0b-S0c sequence to spheroidal (Sph) galaxies that are positioned in parallel to irregular galaxies in a similarly extended Sa-Sb-Sc-Im sequence. This provides a natural home for spheroidals, which previously were thought to be low-surface-brightness ellipticals. To motivate our juxtaposition of spheroidals and irregulars, we present photometry and bulge-disk decompositions of late-type S0s that bridge the gap between the more common S0b and Sph galaxies. We find several S0s in the Virgo cluster that have B/T <= 0.1. They are the S0cs that were missing from van den Bergh's paper. We update the structural parameter correlations of Sph, spiral and irregular, and elliptical galaxies. We show that spheroidals of increasing luminosity form a continuous sequence with the disks (but not bulges) of S0c-S0b-S0a galaxies. Remarkably, this Sph-S0-disk sequence is almost identical to that of irregular and spiral galaxies. We suggest that spheroidal galaxies are transformed, "red and dead" Scd-Im galaxies in the same way that many S0 galaxies are transformed, red and dead Sa-Sc spiral galaxies. Plausible transformation processes include ram-pressure gas stripping, gravitational harassment, and starvation by cutting off the late infall of cold gas. We suggest that many different processes act together to engineer S0 and Sph galaxies.
This work was supported by NSF grant AST-0607490.
Bender Ralf
Kormendy John
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