Stellar Mass Profiles of Quiescent Galaxies in Different Environments at $z\sim0$

TL;DR

This study analyzes stellar mass profiles of 147 isolated quiescent galaxies in low-density environments at $z o0$, finding their profiles similar to those in denser environments, suggesting environment has limited impact on their mass distribution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of stellar mass profiles of quiescent galaxies in voids versus denser environments at low redshift, highlighting environment's minimal influence.

Findings

Similar central mass densities across environments.

Quiescent galaxies in voids are 10-25% smaller in size.

Environmental effects are negligible on mass profiles for $10^{10}-10^{11} M_\\odot$ galaxies.

Abstract

We present the stellar mass profiles of 147 isolated quiescent galaxies in very low-density environments (i.e., void regions) in the local Universe ($0.01<z<0.06$) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These galaxies have stellar masses between $ 9.8\lesssim \log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})\lesssim11.2$ and they represent $\sim15\%$ of the whole galaxy population in the void regions down to $M_{r} = -19$. We do not find any isolated quiescent galaxies with $\log(M_{\ast}/M_{\odot})\gtrsim11.2$. We compare the stellar mass profiles of these isolated quiescent galaxies with the profiles of stellar mass-matched samples of the quiescent galaxies in group and cluster environments. We find that, at fixed mass, quiescent galaxies in voids have similar central ($1$ kpc) mass densities ($\Sigma_1$) and central velocity dispersions ($\sigma_1$) compared to their counterparts in groups and clusters. We show that quiescent galaxies in voids have at most $10-25\%$ smaller half-mass (and half-light) sizes compared to quiescent galaxies in groups and clusters. We conclude that for the intermediate stellar mass range of $10^{10}-10^{11}M_{\odot}$ in the local Universe, environmental mechanisms have no significant additional effect on the mass profiles of the quiescent galaxies.