How the cosmic voids contribute to stalling and quenching the giant galaxies on their surfaces

TL;DR

This study investigates how cosmic voids influence the shape, color, and star formation activity of giant galaxies on their surfaces, suggesting void expansion may suppress galaxy growth and star formation.

Contribution

It reveals a correlation between void formation and galaxy quenching, supported by simulations and an analytical model, highlighting the role of void dynamics in galaxy evolution.

Findings

Perpendicular galaxy alignments are stronger for elliptical, red, low sSFR galaxies.

Alignment signals are robust against different void-finder algorithms and observational effects.

Void expansion may inhibit matter infall, contributing to galaxy quenching.

Abstract

We report a numerical hint that the formations of cosmic voids may be closely linked with the mechanism through which the giant galaxies on void surfaces establish elliptical shapes, redder colors, and lower specific star formation rates (sSFR). Identifying the voids from the TNG300-1 simulations via the Void-Finder algorithm~\cite{HV02} at $z=0$, $0.5$ and $1$, we explore if and how the shapes of the TNG galaxies located on void surfaces are aligned with the directions toward the void centers. Noting that only the giant void-surface galaxies with stellar masses $M_{\star}\ge 10^{10.5}\,h^{-1}\,M_{\odot}$ exhibit significant tendency of perpendicular alignments, we dichotomize them into two $M_{\star}$-controlled samples according to their morphologies (elliptical or spiral), colors (redder or bluer), sSFR (lower or higher) and stellar ages (older or younger). It is found at all of the three redshifts that the perpendicular alignments of void-surface galaxies become stronger for the cases that they have elliptical shapes, redder colors, and lower sSFR, but showing weak dependence on the stellar ages. It is also shown that the numerical results are well described by the analytical one-parameter model developed by Lee~\cite{lee19} under the assumption of the existence of a linear scaling between the covariance matrices of galaxy shape axes and local tidal tensors. We test the robustness of alignment signals against the variation of void-finder algorithms and its feasibility against the redshift-space and projection effects. Our results lead us to speculate that the formation and expansion of voids may have an effect of stalling and quenching the giant void-surface galaxies by compressing adjacent matter and then preventing them from radial infall/accretion.