The relation between galaxy morphology and colour in the EAGLE simulation

Correa, Camila A.; Schaye, Joop; Clauwens, Bart; Bower, Richard G.; Crain, Robert A.; Schaller, Matthieu; Theuns, Tom; Thob, Adrien C.R.

Abstract

We investigate the relation between kinematic morphology, intrinsic colour and stellar mass of galaxies in the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We calculate the intrinsic u − r colours and measure the fraction of kinetic energy invested in ordered corotation of 3562 galaxies at z = 0 with stellar masses larger than 1010 M⊙. Inspection of gri-composite images suggests that the kinematic morphology is a useful proxy for visual morphology. EAGLE produces a galaxy population for which morphology is tightly correlated with the location in the colour–mass diagram, with the red sequence mostly populated by elliptical galaxies and the blue cloud by disc galaxies. Satellite galaxies are more likely to be on the red sequence than centrals, and for satellites the red sequence is morphologically more diverse. These results show that the connection between mass, intrinsic colour and morphology arises from galaxy-formation models that reproduce the observed galaxy mass function and sizes.

Citation

Correa, C. A., Schaye, J., Clauwens, B., Bower, R. G., Crain, R. A., Schaller, M., …Thob, A. C. (2017). The relation between galaxy morphology and colour in the EAGLE simulation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 472(1), L45-L49. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slx133

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 18, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 23, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 21, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2018
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-3933
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 472
• Issue: 1
• Pages: L45-L49
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slx133
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1365383