The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies

Yan Mei Chen; Yong Shi; Christy A. Tremonti; Matt Bershady; Michael Merrifield; Eric Emsellem; Yi Fei Jin; Song Huang; Hai Fu; David A. Wake; Kevin Bundy; David Stark; Lihwai Lin; Maria Argudo-Fernandez; Thaisa Storchi Bergmann; Dmitry Bizyaev; Joel Brownstein; Martin Bureau; John Chisholm; Niv Drory; Qi Guo; Lei Hao; Jian Hu; Cheng Li; Ran Li; Alexandre Roman Lopes; Kai Ke Pan; Rogemar A. Riffel; Daniel Thomas; Lan Wang; Kyle Westfall; Ren Bin Yan

doi:10.1038/ncomms13269

The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies

Yan Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Christy A. Tremonti, Matt Bershady, Michael Merrifield, Eric Emsellem, Yi Fei Jin, Song Huang, Hai Fu, David A. Wake, Kevin Bundy, David Stark, Lihwai Lin, Maria Argudo-Fernandez, Thaisa Storchi Bergmann, Dmitry Bizyaev, Joel Brownstein, Martin Bureau, John Chisholm, Niv DroryQi Guo, Lei Hao, Jian Hu, Cheng Li, Ran Li, Alexandre Roman Lopes, Kai Ke Pan, Rogemar A. Riffel, Daniel Thomas, Lan Wang, Kyle Westfall, Ren Bin Yan

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35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (<1 kpc) to form new stars.

Original language	English
Article number	13269
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13269
State	Published - 19 Oct 2016
Externally published	Yes

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Chen, Y. M., Shi, Y., Tremonti, C. A., Bershady, M., Merrifield, M., Emsellem, E., Jin, Y. F., Huang, S., Fu, H., Wake, D. A., Bundy, K., Stark, D., Lin, L., Argudo-Fernandez, M., Bergmann, T. S., Bizyaev, D., Brownstein, J., Bureau, M., Chisholm, J., ... Yan, R. B. (2016). The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies. Nature Communications, 7, Article 13269. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13269

@article{e62e8fac72ce481c83fb1fb3bacd2c7b,

title = "The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies",

abstract = "Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (<1 kpc) to form new stars.",

author = "Chen, {Yan Mei} and Yong Shi and Tremonti, {Christy A.} and Matt Bershady and Michael Merrifield and Eric Emsellem and Jin, {Yi Fei} and Song Huang and Hai Fu and Wake, {David A.} and Kevin Bundy and David Stark and Lihwai Lin and Maria Argudo-Fernandez and Bergmann, {Thaisa Storchi} and Dmitry Bizyaev and Joel Brownstein and Martin Bureau and John Chisholm and Niv Drory and Qi Guo and Lei Hao and Jian Hu and Cheng Li and Ran Li and Lopes, {Alexandre Roman} and Pan, {Kai Ke} and Riffel, {Rogemar A.} and Daniel Thomas and Lan Wang and Kyle Westfall and Yan, {Ren Bin}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2016.",

year = "2016",

month = oct,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms13269",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

Chen, YM, Shi, Y, Tremonti, CA, Bershady, M, Merrifield, M, Emsellem, E, Jin, YF, Huang, S, Fu, H, Wake, DA, Bundy, K, Stark, D, Lin, L, Argudo-Fernandez, M, Bergmann, TS, Bizyaev, D, Brownstein, J, Bureau, M, Chisholm, J, Drory, N, Guo, Q, Hao, L, Hu, J, Li, C, Li, R, Lopes, AR, Pan, KK, Riffel, RA, Thomas, D, Wang, L, Westfall, K & Yan, RB 2016, 'The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies', Nature Communications, vol. 7, 13269. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13269

TY - JOUR

T1 - The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies

AU - Chen, Yan Mei

AU - Shi, Yong

AU - Tremonti, Christy A.

AU - Bershady, Matt

AU - Merrifield, Michael

AU - Emsellem, Eric

AU - Jin, Yi Fei

AU - Huang, Song

AU - Fu, Hai

AU - Wake, David A.

AU - Bundy, Kevin

AU - Stark, David

AU - Lin, Lihwai

AU - Argudo-Fernandez, Maria

AU - Bergmann, Thaisa Storchi

AU - Bizyaev, Dmitry

AU - Brownstein, Joel

AU - Bureau, Martin

AU - Chisholm, John

AU - Drory, Niv

AU - Guo, Qi

AU - Hao, Lei

AU - Hu, Jian

AU - Li, Cheng

AU - Li, Ran

AU - Lopes, Alexandre Roman

AU - Pan, Kai Ke

AU - Riffel, Rogemar A.

AU - Thomas, Daniel

AU - Wang, Lan

AU - Westfall, Kyle

AU - Yan, Ren Bin

PY - 2016/10/19

Y1 - 2016/10/19

N2 - Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (<1 kpc) to form new stars.

AB - Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (<1 kpc) to form new stars.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992151635&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms13269

DO - 10.1038/ncomms13269

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84992151635

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 7

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 13269

ER -

The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies

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