The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies

Lisa M. Young; Martin Bureau; Timothy A. Davis; Francoise Combes; Richard M. McDermid; Katherine Alatalo; Leo Blitz; Maxime Bois; Frederic Bournaud; Michele Cappellari; Roger L. Davies; P. T. de Zeeuw; Eric Emsellem; Sadegh Khochfar; Davor Krajnovic; Harald Kuntschner; Pierre-Yves Lablanche; Raffaella Morganti; Thorsten Naab; Tom Oosterloo; Marc Sarzi; Nicholas Scott; Paolo Serra; Anne-Marie Weijmans

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x

The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies

Lisa M. Young, Martin Bureau, Timothy A. Davis, Francoise Combes, Richard M. McDermid, Katherine Alatalo, Leo Blitz, Maxime Bois, Frederic Bournaud, Michele Cappellari, Roger L. Davies, P. T. de Zeeuw, Eric Emsellem, Sadegh Khochfar, Davor Krajnovic, Harald Kuntschner, Pierre-Yves Lablanche, Raffaella Morganti, Thorsten Naab, Tom OosterlooMarc Sarzi, Nicholas Scott, Paolo Serra, Anne-Marie Weijmans

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Abstract

We have carried out a survey for CO J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited ATLAS(3D) sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass similar to 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot; they are selected by their morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259 = 0.22 +/- 0.03, with no dependence on the K luminosity and only a modest dependence on the dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo cluster members; statistical analysis of their H-2 mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the cluster's influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster. There are also a few extremely CO-rich early-type galaxies with H2 masses greater than or similar to 10(9) M-circle dot and these are in low-density environments. We do find a significant trend between the molecular content and stellar specific angular momentum. The galaxies of low angular momentum also have low CO detection rates, suggesting that their formation processes were more effective at destroying the molecular gas or preventing its re-accretion. We speculate on the implications of these data for the formation of various subclasses of early-type galaxies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	940-967
Number of pages	28
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	414
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x
Publication status	Published - Jun 2011

Keywords

galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD
galaxies: evolution
galaxies: ISM
galaxies: structure
radio lines: galaxies

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Young, L. M., Bureau, M., Davis, T. A., Combes, F., McDermid, R. M., Alatalo, K., Blitz, L., Bois, M., Bournaud, F., Cappellari, M., Davies, R. L., de Zeeuw, P. T., Emsellem, E., Khochfar, S., Krajnovic, D., Kuntschner, H., Lablanche, P.-Y., Morganti, R., Naab, T., ... Weijmans, A.-M. (2011). The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 414(2), 940-967. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x

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title = "The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies",

abstract = "We have carried out a survey for CO J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited ATLAS(3D) sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass similar to 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot; they are selected by their morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259 = 0.22 +/- 0.03, with no dependence on the K luminosity and only a modest dependence on the dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo cluster members; statistical analysis of their H-2 mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the cluster's influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster. There are also a few extremely CO-rich early-type galaxies with H2 masses greater than or similar to 10(9) M-circle dot and these are in low-density environments. We do find a significant trend between the molecular content and stellar specific angular momentum. The galaxies of low angular momentum also have low CO detection rates, suggesting that their formation processes were more effective at destroying the molecular gas or preventing its re-accretion. We speculate on the implications of these data for the formation of various subclasses of early-type galaxies.",

keywords = "galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: ISM, galaxies: structure, radio lines: galaxies",

author = "Young, {Lisa M.} and Martin Bureau and Davis, {Timothy A.} and Francoise Combes and McDermid, {Richard M.} and Katherine Alatalo and Leo Blitz and Maxime Bois and Frederic Bournaud and Michele Cappellari and Davies, {Roger L.} and {de Zeeuw}, {P. T.} and Eric Emsellem and Sadegh Khochfar and Davor Krajnovic and Harald Kuntschner and Pierre-Yves Lablanche and Raffaella Morganti and Thorsten Naab and Tom Oosterloo and Marc Sarzi and Nicholas Scott and Paolo Serra and Anne-Marie Weijmans",

note = "The definitive version can be found at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Copyright Royal Astronomical Society",

year = "2011",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x",

language = "English",

volume = "414",

pages = "940--967",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press (OUP)",

number = "2",

}

Young, LM, Bureau, M, Davis, TA, Combes, F, McDermid, RM, Alatalo, K, Blitz, L, Bois, M, Bournaud, F, Cappellari, M, Davies, RL, de Zeeuw, PT, Emsellem, E, Khochfar, S, Krajnovic, D, Kuntschner, H, Lablanche, P-Y, Morganti, R, Naab, T, Oosterloo, T, Sarzi, M, Scott, N, Serra, P & Weijmans, A-M 2011, 'The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 414, no. 2, pp. 940-967. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x

TY - JOUR

T1 - The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies

AU - Young, Lisa M.

AU - Bureau, Martin

AU - Davis, Timothy A.

AU - Combes, Francoise

AU - McDermid, Richard M.

AU - Alatalo, Katherine

AU - Blitz, Leo

AU - Bois, Maxime

AU - Bournaud, Frederic

AU - Cappellari, Michele

AU - Davies, Roger L.

AU - de Zeeuw, P. T.

AU - Emsellem, Eric

AU - Khochfar, Sadegh

AU - Krajnovic, Davor

AU - Kuntschner, Harald

AU - Lablanche, Pierre-Yves

AU - Morganti, Raffaella

AU - Naab, Thorsten

AU - Oosterloo, Tom

AU - Sarzi, Marc

AU - Scott, Nicholas

AU - Serra, Paolo

AU - Weijmans, Anne-Marie

N1 - The definitive version can be found at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Copyright Royal Astronomical Society

PY - 2011/6

Y1 - 2011/6

N2 - We have carried out a survey for CO J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited ATLAS(3D) sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass similar to 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot; they are selected by their morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259 = 0.22 +/- 0.03, with no dependence on the K luminosity and only a modest dependence on the dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo cluster members; statistical analysis of their H-2 mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the cluster's influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster. There are also a few extremely CO-rich early-type galaxies with H2 masses greater than or similar to 10(9) M-circle dot and these are in low-density environments. We do find a significant trend between the molecular content and stellar specific angular momentum. The galaxies of low angular momentum also have low CO detection rates, suggesting that their formation processes were more effective at destroying the molecular gas or preventing its re-accretion. We speculate on the implications of these data for the formation of various subclasses of early-type galaxies.

AB - We have carried out a survey for CO J = 1-0 and J = 2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited ATLAS(3D) sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass similar to 3 x 10(10) M-circle dot; they are selected by their morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259 = 0.22 +/- 0.03, with no dependence on the K luminosity and only a modest dependence on the dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo cluster members; statistical analysis of their H-2 mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the cluster's influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster. There are also a few extremely CO-rich early-type galaxies with H2 masses greater than or similar to 10(9) M-circle dot and these are in low-density environments. We do find a significant trend between the molecular content and stellar specific angular momentum. The galaxies of low angular momentum also have low CO detection rates, suggesting that their formation processes were more effective at destroying the molecular gas or preventing its re-accretion. We speculate on the implications of these data for the formation of various subclasses of early-type galaxies.

KW - galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD

KW - galaxies: evolution

KW - galaxies: ISM

KW - galaxies: structure

KW - radio lines: galaxies

U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18561.x

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 414

SP - 940

EP - 967

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 2

ER -

The ATLAS(3D) project - IV. The molecular gas content of early-type galaxies

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Keywords

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