Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-29-2023

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

The large-scale structure of the Universe is comprised of galaxy filaments, tendrils, and voids. The majority of the Universe’s volume is taken up by these voids, which exist as underdense, but not empty, regions. The galaxies found inside these voids are expected to be some of the most isolated objects in the Universe. This study, using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Galaxy Zoo surveys, aims to investigate basic physical properties and morphology of void galaxies versus field (filament and tendril) galaxies. We use void galaxies with stellar masses (⁠M∗" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">M∗�∗⁠) of 109.35 M⊙ < M* < 1011.25 M⊙, and this sample is split by identifying two redshift-limited regions, 0 < z < 0.075 and 0.075 < z < 0.15. To find comparable objects in the sample of field galaxies from GAMA and Galaxy Zoo, we identify ‘twins’ of void galaxies as field galaxies within ±0.05 and ±0.15 dex of M∗" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">M∗�∗ and specific star formation rate. We determine the statistical significance of our results using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. We see that void galaxies, in contrast with field galaxies, seem to be disc-dominated and have predominantly round bulges (with >50 per cent of the Galaxy Zoo citizen scientists agreeing that bulges are present).

Comments

© 2023 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)

Original Publication Information

Lori E Porter and others, The loneliest galaxies in the Universe: a GAMA and Galaxy Zoo study on void galaxy morphology, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 524, Issue 4, October 2023, Pages 5768–5780, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1125

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stad1125

ORCID

0000-0002-4884-6756

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