The Dirt on Dry Mergers

Details The Dirt on Dry Mergers The Dirt on Dry Mergers

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21536307d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #363.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.552

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Dry merging (i.e., merging without gas) is invoked in models of hiearchical galaxy formation as an important mode of galaxy assembly, necessary to reproduce the observed fractions and luminosities of galaxies in the red sequence. In one prominent study, van Dokkum (2005), hereafter vD05, found that 70% of nearby (z 0.1) optically red early-type galaxies show signs of tidal interaction, and concluded that the majority of luminous field ellipticals were formed via dry mergers. We present the long wavelength Spitzer/MIPS (3.6-70 micron) SEDs of the vD05 sample. We find that a significant fraction of the dry mergers identified by vD05 are found to have mid-IR emission in excess of what would be expected from a passively evolving galaxy. Based on mid-IR colors, dusty star formation is the likely source of this mid-IR excess. The derived SFRs are large for passive galaxies, with approximately 25% of the dry merger candidates exhibiting SFRs > 1 Msun/yr. We will discuss the implications of these results for the relevance of dry merging in the formation of early-type galaxies.

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