ThinkIR: The University of Louisville\u27s Institutional Repository
Abstract
Combining high-fidelity group characterization from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey and source-tailored z \u3c 0.1 photometry from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) survey, we present a comprehensive study of the properties of ungrouped galaxies, compared to 497 galaxy groups (4 ≤ N FoF ≤ 20) as a function of stellar and halo mass. Ungrouped galaxies are largely unimodal in WISE color, the result of being dominated by star-forming, late-type galaxies. Grouped galaxies, however, show a clear bimodality in WISE color, which correlates strongly with stellar mass and morphology. We find evidence for an increasing early-type fraction, in stellar mass bins between 1010 M o˙ ≲ M stellar ≲ 1011 M o˙, with increasing halo mass. Using ungrouped, late-type galaxies with star-forming colors (W2-W3 \u3e 3), we define a star-forming main sequence (SFMS), which we use to delineate systems that have moved below the sequence ( quenched for the purposes of this work). We find that with increasing halo mass, the relative number of late-type systems on the SFMS decreases, with a corresponding increase in early-type, quenched systems at high stellar mass (M stellar \u3e 1010.5 M o˙), consistent with mass quenching. Group galaxies with masses M stellar \u3c 1010.5 M o˙ show evidence of quenching consistent with environmentally driven processes. The stellar mass distribution of late-type, quenched galaxies suggests that it may be an intermediate population as systems transition from being star-forming and late-type to the red sequence. Finally, we use the projected area of groups on the sky to extract groups that are (relatively) compact for their halo mass. Although these show a marginal increase in their proportion of high-mass and early-type galaxies compared to nominal groups, a clear increase in quenched fraction is not evident
