Beyond the Local Group -- I: Cosmic Filaments Govern the Spatial Alignments of Galaxy Pairs

TL;DR

This study uses SDSS data to show galaxy pairs tend to align with cosmic filaments, especially near filament cores, supporting models of anisotropic accretion and tidal influences in galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first observational evidence linking galaxy pair alignments with cosmic filaments and their dependence on proximity to filament spines.

Findings

Galaxy pairs show a 7% excess of alignment with filaments.

Alignment strength decreases with distance from filament spine.

Bimodal angle distribution near filament cores indicates different dynamical populations.

Abstract

Using a large observational sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we investigate the spatial alignment between galaxy pairs and their local cosmic filaments. Focusing on pairs with stellar masses and separations comparable to the Milky Way-Andromeda (MW-M31) system, we measure the angle between the pair connecting line and the orientation of the host filament, determined using a filament catalog constructed via the Bisous model. Our analysis reveals a statistically significant tendency of galaxy pairs to align their connecting lines along their host filaments, manifesting as an overall $\sim$7\% excess of alignment angles smaller than the MW-M31 case compared to a random distribution. Crucially, the strength of this alignment exhibits a strong dependence on the distance to the filament spine. Pairs located within 0.2 Mpc from the filament spine show the strongest alignment, while those beyond 1 Mpc display no significant alignment. Furthermore, we identify a bimodal distribution of alignment angles near filament cores, suggesting distinct dynamical populations potentially associated with infall and interaction processes. Our results provide robust observational support for theoretical models in which anisotropic accretion and tidal forces within the cosmic web drive galaxy pair evolution. They also position the MW-M31 system as a representative filament-aligned pair, offering insights into Local Group assembly. This study demonstrates the cosmic web's critical role in dictating pair orientations and motivates future work with kinematic data to unravel galaxy-environment interplay.