Halpha3: an Halpha imaging survey of HI selected galaxies from ALFALFA. IV. Structure of galaxies in the Local and Coma Superclusters

TL;DR

This study analyzes the structural parameters of HI-rich, star-forming galaxies in the Local and Coma Superclusters using Halpha imaging, revealing how galaxy growth and morphology relate to environment and stellar mass.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of galaxy structural parameters across different types and environments, including a new size parameter EW/r, and compares young and old stellar populations.

Findings

Massive galaxies are more concentrated and bulge-dominated.

Galaxy growth is inside-out for massive galaxies and on the scale of existing mass for dwarfs.

CAS parameters on Halpha images do not correlate strongly with Hubble type.

Abstract

We present the analysis of the galaxy structural parameters from Halpha3, an Halpha narrow-band imaging follow-up survey of ~800 galaxies selected from the HI ALFALFA Survey in the Local and Coma Superclusters. Taking advantage of Halpha3 which provides the complete census of the recent star-forming, HI-rich galaxies in the local universe, we aim to investigate the structural parameters of both the young (<10 Myr) and the old (>1 Gyr) stellar populations. By comparing the sizes of these stellar components we investigated the spatial scale on which galaxies are growing at the present cosmological epoch and the role of the environment in quenching the star-formation activity. We computed the concentration, asymmetry, and clumpiness structural parameters. To quantify the sizes we computed half-light radii and a new parameter dubbed EW/r. The concentration index computed in the r band depends on the stellar mass and on the Hubble type, these variables being related since most massive galaxies are bulge dominated thus most concentrated. Going toward later spirals and irregulars both the concentration index and the stellar mass decrease. Blue Compact dwarfs represent an exception since they have similar stellar mass but they are more concentrated than dwarf irregulars. The asymmetry and the clumpiness increase along the spiral sequence then they decrease going into the dwarf regime, where the light distribution is smooth and more symmetric. When measured on Halpha images, the CAS parameters do not exhibit obvious correlations with Hubble type. We found that the concentration index is the main parameter that describes the current growth of isolated galaxies but, for a fixed concentration, the stellar mass plays a second order role. At the present epoch, massive galaxies are growing inside-out, conversely the dwarfs are growing on the scale of their already assembled mass.