Further Investigation of the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Star Formation

Abstract

From the apparent magnitude-limited the Main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we construct a paired galaxy sample and a control sample without close companions with the projected separations rp < 100 h−1 kpc and relative velocity ΔV < 350 km/s, and then perform their comparative studies. It is found that galaxy pairs have significantly lower star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (SSFR) than galaxies without close companions. We also find that this effect probably originates due to a correlation between the environment and the SFR.

Keywords

• galaxies: fundamental parameters
• galaxies: interactions
• galaxies: statistics