Bibcode
Lietzen, H.; Tempel, E.; Heinämäki, P.; Nurmi, P.; Einasto, M.; Saar, E.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 545, id.A104, 10 pp.
Advertised on:
9
2012
Journal
Citations
56
Refereed citations
49
Description
Context. The majority of all galaxies reside in groups of fewer than 50
member galaxies. These groups are distributed in various large-scale
environments from voids to superclusters. Aims: The evolution of
galaxies is affected by the environment in which they reside. Our aim is
to study the effects of the local group scale and the supercluster scale
environments on galaxy evolution. Methods: We use a
luminosity-density field to determine the density of the large-scale
environment of galaxies in groups of various richnesses. We calculate
the fractions of different types of galaxies in groups with richnesses
of up to 50 member galaxies and in different large-scale environments
from voids to superclusters. Results: The fraction of passive
elliptical galaxies rises and the fraction of star-forming spiral
galaxies declines when the richness of a group of galaxies rises from
two to approximately ten galaxies. On large scales, passive elliptical
galaxies become more numerous than star-forming spirals when the
environmental density grows to values typical of superclusters. The
large-scale environment affects the level of these fractions in groups:
galaxies in equally rich groups are more likely to be elliptical in
supercluster environments than at lower densities. The crossing point,
where the number of passive and star-forming galaxies is equal, occurs
in superclusters in groups that are of lower richness than in voids.
Galaxies in low-density environments need to occupy richer groups to
evolve from star-forming to passive than galaxies in high-density
environments. Groups in superclusters are on average more luminous than
groups in large-scale environments of lower density. These results imply
that the large-scale environment affects the properties of galaxies and
groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the evolution of
galaxies is affected by both, the group in which the galaxy resides and
its large-scale environment. Galaxies in lower-density regions develop
later than galaxies in similar mass groups in high-density environments.