The effect of the environment on the Faber Jackson relation

TL;DR

This study examines how the environment influences the Faber Jackson relation in elliptical galaxies, revealing that high-density environments lead to a tighter correlation, which may inform galaxy formation theories.

Contribution

It provides the first observational evidence that galaxy environment affects the intrinsic scatter of the Faber Jackson relation.

Findings

Intrinsic scatter of FJ relation is reduced in high-density environments.

Environmental effects are significant within certain overdensity ranges.

Results suggest a link between galaxy environment and formation mechanisms.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the environment on the Faber Jackson (FJ) relation, using a sample of 384 nearby elliptical galaxies and estimating objectively their environment on the typical scale of galaxy clusters. We show that the intrinsic scatter of the FJ is significantly reduced when ellipticals in high density environments are compared to ellipticals in low density ones. This result, which holds on a limited range of overdensities, is likely to provide an important observational link between scaling relations and formation mechanisms in galaxies.