The Scaling of Stellar Mass and Central Stellar Velocity Dispersion for Quiescent galaxies at z < 0.7

TL;DR

This study investigates the relation between stellar mass and central stellar velocity dispersion in quiescent galaxies at z<0.7, finding a consistent, redshift-independent M-sigma relation that links galaxy properties to dark matter halos.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive comparison of the M-sigma relation at different redshifts using complete samples, revealing its independence from redshift and connection to dark matter halo properties.

Findings

The M-sigma relation is independent of redshift for M>10^10.3 M_solar.

The slope of the M-sigma relation matches dark matter halo scaling from simulations.

Central stellar velocity dispersion correlates with dark matter halo velocity dispersion.

Abstract

We examine the relation between stellar mass and central stellar velocity dispersion-the M-sigma relation-for massive quiescent galaxies at z<0.7. We measure the local relation from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the intermediate redshift relation from the Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey. Both samples are highly complete (>85%) and we consistently measure the stellar mass and velocity dispersion for the two samples. The M-sigma relation and its scatter are independent of redshift with sigma ~ M^0.3 for M>10^10.3 M_solar. The measured slope of the M-sigma relation is the same as the scaling between the total halo mass and the dark matter halo velocity dispersion obtained by N-body simulations. This consistency suggests that massive quiescent galaxies are virialized systems where the central dark matter concentration is either a constant or negligible fraction of the stellar mass. The relation between the total galaxy mass (stellar + dark matter) and the central stellar velocity dispersion is consistent with the observed relation between the total mass of a galaxy cluster and the velocity dispersion of the cluster members. This result suggests that the central stellar velocity dispersion is directly proportional to the velocity dispersion of the dark matter halo. Thus the central stellar velocity dispersion is a fundamental, directly observable property of galaxies that may robustly connect galaxies to dark matter halos in N-body simulations. To interpret the results further in the context of Lambda-CDM, it would be useful to analyze the relationship between the velocity dispersion of stellar particles and the velocity dispersion characterizing their dark matter halos in high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations.