2012/05/28 by Sidney van den Bergh · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Asymmetry #Bulge #Disc #Elliptical galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Lenticular galaxy #Luminosity #Peculiar galaxy #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Spiral galaxy #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/754/1/68
Astrophysical Journal, in press
arxiv created 2012/05/28 · openalex publication_date 2012/07/06 · arxiv updated 2015/06/05 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Lenticular galaxies with M B < −21.5 are almost exclusively unbarred, whereas both barred and unbarred objects occur at fainter luminosity levels. This effect is observed both for objects classified in blue light, and for those that were classified in the infrared. This result suggests that the most luminous (massive) S0 galaxies find it difficult to form bars. As a result, the mean luminosity of unbarred lenticular galaxies in both B and IR light is observed to be ∼0.4 mag brighter than that of barred lenticulars. A small contribution to the observed luminosity difference that is found between SA0 and SB0 galaxies may also be due to the fact that there is an asymmetry between the effects of small classification errors on SA0 and SB0 galaxies. An elliptical (E) galaxy might be misclassified as a lenticular (S0) or an S0 as an E. However, an E will never be misclassified as an SB0, nor will an SB0 ever be called an E. This asymmetry is important because E galaxies are typically twice as luminous as S0 galaxies. The present results suggest that the evolution of luminous lenticular galaxies may be closely linked to that of elliptical galaxies, whereas fainter lenticulars might be more closely associated with ram-pressure stripped spiral galaxies. Finally, it is pointed out that fine details of the galaxy formation process might account for some of the differences between the classifications of the same galaxy by individual competent morphologists.