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arxiv: 0709.3964 · v1 · submitted 2007-09-25 · 🌌 astro-ph

Fast and Slow Rotators: The build-up of the Red Sequence

classification 🌌 astro-ph
keywords galaxiessequenceangularearly-typefastmomentumpopulationsrotators
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Using the unique dataset obtained within the course of the SAURON project, a radically new view of the structure, dynamics and stellar populations of early-type galaxies has emerged. We show that galaxies come in two broad flavours (slow and fast rotators), depending on whether or not they exhibit clear large-scale rotation, as indicated via a robust measure of the specific angular momentum of baryons. This property is also linked with other physical characteristics of early-type galaxies, such as: the presence of dynamically decoupled cores, orbital structure and anisotropy, stellar populations and dark matter content. I here report on the observed link between this baryonic angular momentum and a mass sequence, and how this uniquely relates to the building of the red sequence via dissipative/dissipationless mergers and secular evolution.

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