Journal
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
Volume 139, Issue 2, Pages 794-802Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/139/2/794
Keywords
galaxies: evolution; galaxies: formation; galaxies: interactions
Categories
Funding
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- American Museum of Natural HistoryAstrophysical Institute Potsdam
- University of Basel
- University of Cambridge
- Case Western Reserve University
- University of Chicago
- Drexel University
- Fermilab
- Institute for Advanced Study
- Japan Participation Group
- Johns Hopkins University
- Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
- Korean Scientist Group
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA)
- Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA)
- New Mexico State University
- Ohio State University
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Portsmouth
- Princeton University
- United States Naval Observatory
- University of Washington
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Japanese Monbukagakusho
- Max Planck Society
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/G001987/1, ST/F002858/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- STFC [ST/I003088/1, ST/F002858/1, ST/G001987/1, ST/H00131X/1, ST/H008578/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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We measure the fraction of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in dynamically close pairs (with projected separation less than 20 h(-1) kpc and velocity difference less than 500 km s(-1)) to estimate the dry merger rate for galaxies with -23 < M(r)(k+e,z=0.2) + 5 log h < -21.5 and 0.45 < z < 0.65 in the 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO (2SLAQ) redshift survey. For galaxies with a luminosity ratio of 1:4 or greater we determine a 5 sigma upper limit to the merger fraction of 1.1% and a merger rate of < 0.8 x 10(-5) Mpc(-3) Gyr(-1) (assuming that all pairs merge on the shortest possible timescale set by dynamical friction). This is significantly smaller than predicted by theoretical models and suggests that major dry mergers do not contribute to the formation of the red sequence at z < 0.7.
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