Curvature in the color-magnitude relation but not in color-sigma: Major dry mergers at M* > 2 x 10^11 Msun?

The color-magnitude relation of early-type galaxies differs slightly but significantly from a pure power-law, curving downwards at low and upwards at large luminosities (Mr>-20.5 and Mr<-22.5). This remains true of the color-size relation, and is even more apparent with stellar mass (M* < 3x10^10 Msun and M* > 2x10^11 Msun). The upwards curvature at the massive end does not appear to be due to stellar population effects. In contrast, the color-sigma relation is well-described by a single power law. Since major dry mergers change neither the colors nor sigma, but they do change masses and sizes, the clear features observed in the scaling relations with M*, but not with sigma > 150 km/s, suggest that M* > 2x10^11 Msun is the scale above which major dry mergers dominate the assembly history. We discuss three models of the merger histories since z ~ 1 which are compatible with our measurements. In all three models, dry mergers are responsible for the flattening of the color-M* relation at M* > 3x10^10 Msun - wet mergers only matter at smaller masses. At M* > 2 x 10^11 Msun, the merger histories in one model are dominated by major rather than minor dry mergers, as suggested by the axis ratio and color gradient trends. In another, although both major and minor mergers occur at the high mass end, the minor mergers contribute primarily to the formation of the ICL, rather than to the mass growth of the central massive galaxy. A final model assumes that the reddest objects were assembled by a mix of major and minor dry mergers.Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures and 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Galaxy luminosities, stellar masses, sizes, velocity dispersions as a function of morphological type

We provide fits to the distribution of galaxy luminosity, size, velocity dispersion and stellar mass as a function of concentration index C_r and morphological type in the SDSS. We also quantify how estimates of the fraction of `early' or `late' type galaxies depend on whether the samples were cut in color, concentration or light profile shape, and compare with similar estimates based on morphology. Our fits show that Es account for about 20% of the r-band luminosity density, rho_Lr, and 25% of the stellar mass density, rho_*; including S0s and Sas increases these numbers to 33% and 40%, and 50% and 60%, respectively. Summed over all galaxy types, we find rho_* ~ 3 * 10^8 M_Sun Mpc^{-3} at z ~ 0. This is in good agreement with expectations based on integrating the star formation history. However, compared to most previous work, we find an excess of objects at large masses, up to a factor of ~ 10 at M_* ~ 5*10^{11} M_Sun. The stellar mass density further increases at large masses if we assume different IMFs for Es and spiral galaxies, as suggested by some recent chemical evolution models, and results in a better agreement with the dynamical mass function. We also show that the trend for ellipticity to decrease with luminosity is primarily because the E/S0 ratio increases at large L. However, the most massive galaxies, M_* > 5 * 10^{11} M_Sun, are less concentrated and not as round as expected if one extrapolates from lower L, and they are not well-fit by pure deVaucouleur laws. This suggests formation histories with recent radial mergers. Finally, we show that the age-size relation is flat for Es of fixed dynamical mass, but, at fixed M_dyn, S0s and Sas with large sizes tend to be younger. Explaining this difference between E and S0 formation is a new challenge for models of early-type galaxy formation.Comment: 42 pages, 34 figures, 9 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA