Tidally Triggered Star Formation in Close Pairs of Galaxies
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We analyze optical spectra of a sample of 502 galaxies in close pairs and N -tuples, separated by ≤50 h -1 kpc. We extracted the sample objectively from the CfA2 redshift survey, without regard to the surroundings of the tight systems; we remeasure the spectra with longer exposures, to explore the spectral characteristics of the galaxies. We use the new spectra to probe the relationship between star formation and the dynamics of the systems of galaxies. The equivalent widths of Hα [EW(Hα)] and other emission lines anticorrelate strongly with pair spatial separation (Δ D ) and velocity separation; the anticorrelations do not result from any large-scale environmental effects that we detect. We use the measured EW(Hα) and the starburst models of Leitherer et al. to estimate the time since the most recent burst of star formation began for galaxies in our sample. In the absence of a large contribution from an old stellar population to the continuum around Hα that correlates with the orbit parameters, the observed Δ D -EW(Hα) correlation signifies that starbursts with larger separations on the sky are, on average, older. We also find a population of galaxies with small to moderate amounts of Balmer absorption. These galaxies support our conclusion that the sample includes many aging bursts of star formation; they have a narrower distribution of velocity separations, consistent with a population of orbiting galaxies near apogalacticon. By matching the dynamical timescale to the burst timescale, we show that the data support a simple picture in which a close pass initiates a starburst; EW(Hα) decreases with time as the pair separation increases, accounting for the anticorrelation. Recent N -body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of interacting pairs suggest a physical basis for the correlation—for galaxies with shallow central potentials, they predict gas infall before the final merger. This picture leads to a method for measuring the duration and the initial mass function of interaction-induced starbursts: our data are compatible with the starburst models and orbit models in many respects, as long as the starburst lasts longer than ~10 8 yr and the delay between the close pass and the initiation of the starburst is less than a few times 10 7 yr. If there is no large contribution from an old stellar population to the continuum around Hα, the Miller-Scalo and cutoff ( M ≤ 30 M ☉ ) Salpeter initial mass functions (IMFs) fit the data much better than a standard Salpeter IMF.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".