Environmental dependence of stellar velocity dispersion in the Main galaxy sample of SDSS DR10

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this work is to examine the environmental dependence of stellar velocity dispersion in local galaxies. In studies that likely suffer from the radial selection effect, one has a preference for the use of volumelimited samples. Two volume-limited samples with different redshift and luminosity ranges were constructed from the Main galaxy data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10 (SDSS DR10). Considering some drawbacks of volume-limited samples, the apparent magnitude-limited Main galaxy sample was also applied. Statistical analyses in these different galaxy samples can reach the same conclusion: galaxies with large stellar velocity dispersions exist preferentially in high density regimes, while galaxies with small stellar velocity dispersions are located preferentially in low density regions, which is inconsistent with that obtained at intermediate redshifts.