Color-magnitude relations of late-type galaxies

Abstract

We use a large sample of galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Two Micro All Sky Survey (2MASS) to present Color-Magnitude Relations (CMRs) for late-type galaxies in both optical and optical-infrared bands. A sample from SDSS Data Release 4 (DR4) is selected to investigate the optical properties. Optical-infrared colors are estimated from a position matched sample of DR4 and 2MASS, in which the photometric aperture mismatch between these two surveys is carefully corrected. It is shown that, after correcting the dust attenuation, the optical colors for faint galaxies (i.e. $M_r > -21$) have very weak correlation with the luminosity, while the optical colors for bright galaxies (i.e. $M_r < -21$) are redder for more luminous galaxies. All (optical, optical-infrared and infrared) colors show similar but stronger correlations with stellar mass than with absolute magnitude. The optical colors correlate more strongly with stellar mass surface density than with stellar mass, while optical-infrared and infrared colors show stronger correlations with stellar mass. By comparing the observed colors of our sample galaxies with the colors predicted by stellar population synthesis model, we find that massive late-type galaxies have older and higher metallicity stellar population than less massive galaxies. This suggests that CMRs for late-type galaxies are trends defined by the combination of stellar mean age and metallicity. Moreover, our results suggest that the stellar mean metallicity of late-type galaxy is mainly determined by its stellar mass, while the star formation history is mainly regulated by the stellar mass surface density.