Radial distribution of stars, gas and dust in SINGS galaxies. III. Modeling the evolution of the stellar component in galaxy disks

TL;DR

This study models the evolution of stellar components in 42 spiral galaxies using multi-wavelength profiles, successfully reproducing observations and inferring key dynamical parameters, revealing insights into galaxy growth and angular momentum distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent modeling framework that fits multi-wavelength profiles to infer galaxy evolution parameters, aligning well with cosmological simulations.

Findings

Galaxy disks increase their scale-lengths over time.

Spin parameter distribution matches cosmological N-body simulations.

Galaxies evolve along a constant mass-size relation.

Abstract

(Abridged) We analyze the evolution of 42 spiral galaxies in the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, using extinction-corrected UV, optical and near-infrared radial profiles to probe the emission of stars of different ages as a function of radius. We fit these profiles with models that describe the chemical and spectro-photometric evolution of spiral disks within a self-consistent framework. These backward models succesfully reproduce the multi-wavelength profiles of our galaxies, except the UV profiles of some early-type disks. From the model fitting we infer the maximum circular velocity of the rotation curve (Vc) and the dimensionless spin parameter (lambda). The values of Vc are in good agreement with the velocities measured in HI rotation curves. While our sample is not volume-limited, the resulting distribution of spins is close to the lognormal function obtained in cosmological N-body simulations, peaking at ~0.03 regardless of the total halo mass. We do not find any evident trend between spin and Hubble type, besides an increase in the scatter for the latest types. According to the model, galaxies evolve along a roughly constant mass-size relation, increasing their scale-lengths as they become more massive. The radial scale-length of most disks in our sample seems to have increased at a rate of 0.05-0.06 kpc/Gyr, being now 20-25% larger than at z=1.