Investigating merging galaxies by using Pan-STARRS images

Lin, Y.-F.; Yu, P.-C.; Huang, J.-C.; Hwang, C.-Y.; Chen, W.-P.; Kaiser, N.; Metcalfe, N.; Waters, C.

Abstract

Aims. We studied the r′-, z′-, and y′-band images of merging galaxies from the observations of the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). The merging galaxies were selected from our merging catalog that was created by checking the images of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey 2 from the observations of the Canada France Hawaii Telescope. Methods. By using the homomorphic-aperture, we determined the photometric results of these merging systems. To obtain accurate photometry, we calibrated the Pan-STARRS r′-, z′-, and y′-band data to match the results of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 9. We also investigated the stellar masses of the merging galaxies by comparing the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 3.4 μm emission with the calibrated y′-band data. Results. We present a catalog of the r′-, z′-, and y′-band photometric results for 4698 merging galaxies. For extended sources, our results suggest that the homomorphic-aperture method can obtain more reasonable results than the Desktop Virtual Observatory photometry. We derived new relations between the Pan-STARRS y′-band luminosities and the stellar masses of the merging galaxies. Our results show that the stellar masses of the merging galaxies range from 108 to 1013M⊙; some of the dry mergers could be as massive as 1013M⊙.

Citation

Lin, Y., Yu, P., Huang, J., Hwang, C., Chen, W., Kaiser, N., …Waters, C. (2017). Investigating merging galaxies by using Pan-STARRS images. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 600, Article A28. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201628600

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 15, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Mar 23, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 23, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2017
• Journal: Astronomy and astrophysics.
• Print ISSN: 0004-6361
• Electronic ISSN: 1432-0746
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 600
• Article Number: A28
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201628600
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1385752