Bibcode
Fernández Lorenzo, M.; Cepa, J.; Bongiovanni, A.; Castañeda, H.; Pérez García, A. M.; Lara-López, M. A.; Pović, M.; Sánchez-Portal, M.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 496, Issue 2, 2009, pp.389-397
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3
2009
Journal
Citations
21
Refereed citations
19
Description
Context: The study of the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation has
been controversial in the past years. The main difficulty is in
determining the required parameters for intermediate and high redshift
galaxies, given the cosmological corrections and biases involved. Aims: This work aims to identify the main problems of the study of the
Tully-Fisher relation at high redshift using optical emission lines, in
order to draw conclusions about the possible evolution of this relation
in the B, R, and I-bands. Methods: With this aim, the rotational
velocities obtained from the widths of different optical lines using
DEEP2 spectra are compared. This method allows reaching higher redshifts
against the rotation curve one, due to spatial resolution limitations.
Morphology has been determined via HST images, using and comparing
different methodologies. Instrumental magnitudes are then corrected for
K and extinction and the absolute magnitudes derived for the concordance
cosmological model. Finally, the optical Tully-Fisher relations in B, R,
and I-bands at different redshifts up to z = 1.3 are derived. Results: Although most studies (this one included) find evidence of
evolution, the results are not conclusive enough, since the possible
luminosity evolution is within the scattering of the relation, and the
evolution in slope is difficult to determine because at high redshift
only the brightest galaxies can be measured. Nevertheless, our study
shows a clear tendency, which is the same for all bands studied, that
favours a luminosity evolution where galaxies were brighter in the past
for the same rotation velocity. This result also implies that the colour
of the Tully-Fisher relation does not change with redshift, supporting
the collapse model versus the accretion model of disc galaxy formation.