Comparison of Composite and Star-forming Early-type Galaxies

• Published in: The Astronomical journal Vol. 163; no. 1; pp. 28 - 38
• Main Author: Wu, Yu-Zhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison The American Astronomical Society 01.01.2022; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Astronomy; Early-type galaxies; Emission measurements; Galactic evolution; Galaxies; Galaxy abundances; Galaxy evolution; Nitrogen; Sky surveys (astronomy); Star & galaxy formation; Star formation; Stars; Stellar evolution; Stellar mass
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac3484

I assemble 4684 star-forming early-type galaxies (ETGs) and 2011 composite ETGs (located in the composite region on the BPT diagram) from the catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 MPA-JHU emission-line measurements. I compare the properties of both ETG samples and investigate their compositions, stellar masses, specific star formation rates (sSFRs), and excitation mechanisms. Compared with star-forming ETGs, composite ETGs have higher stellar mass and lower sSFR. In the stellar mass and u − r color diagram, more than 60% of star-forming ETGs and composite ETGs are located in the green valley, showing that the two ETG samples may have experienced star formation and that ∼17% of star-forming ETGs lie in the blue cloud, while ∼30% of composite ETGs lie in the red sequence. In the [N II ]/H α versus EW H α (the H α equivalent width) diagram, all star-forming ETGs and most of the composite ETGs are located in the star-forming galaxy region, and composite ETGs have lower EW H α than their counterparts. We show the relations between 12+log(O/H) and log(N/O) for both ETG samples, and suggest that nitrogen production of some star-forming ETGs can be explained by the evolution scheme of Coziol et al., while the prodution of composite ETGs may be a consequence of the inflowing of metal-poor gas and these more evolved massive galaxies.