Revealing ringed galaxies in group environments

FERNANDEZ, JULIA; ALONSO, SOL; MESA, VALERIA; DUPLANCIC, FERNANDA

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

EDP SCIENCES S A

Año: 2024

0004-6361

Aims. We explore galaxies with ringed structures inhabiting poor and rich groups with the aim of assessing the effects of local density environments on ringed galaxy properties. Methods. We identified galaxies with inner, outer, nuclear, inner+outer (inner and outer rings combined), and partial rings that reside in groups by cross-correlating a sample of ringed galaxies with a group catalog obtained from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The resulting sample was divided based on group richness. To quantify the effects of rings and the role of local density environment on galaxy properties, we constructed a suitable control sample for each catalog of ringed galaxies, consisting of non-ringed galaxies with similar values for the z, magnitude, morphology, group masses, and environmental density distributions as those of ringed ones. We explored the occurrence of ringed galaxies in poor and rich groups and analyzed several galaxy properties, such as SFR, stellar populations, and colors. Results. We obtained a sample of 637 ringed galaxies residing in groups. With 76% of these galaxies inhabiting poor groups and 24% rich groups. In addition, ringed galaxies in groups display a reduction in their star formation activity and aged stellar populations, compared to non-ringed ones in the control samples. However, the SFR is higher for nuclear rings in poor groups than for other types. This disparity may stem from the environmental influence on the internal processes of galaxies, either enhancing or diminishing star formation. Ringed galaxies also show an excess of red colors and tend to populate the green valley and the red sequence of color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, with a surplus of galaxies in the red sequence, while non-ringed galaxies are found in the green valley and the blue region. These trends are more significant in galaxies with ringed structures residing in rich groups.