Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 730, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/730/2/130
Keywords
galaxies: active; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: formation; infrared: galaxies
Categories
Funding
- Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Spitzer
- Spitzer through JPL/Caltech/NASA
- National Optical Astronomy Observatory
- National Science Foundation
- JPL/Caltech
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Japanese Monbukagakusho
- Max Planck Society
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
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Using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, we analyze themid-infrared (3-70 mu m) spectral energy distributions of dry merger candidates in the Bootes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. These candidates were selected by previous authors to be luminous, red, early-type galaxies with morphological evidence of recent tidal interactions. We find that a significant fraction of these candidates exhibit 8 and 24 mu m excesses compared to expectations for old stellar populations. We estimate that a quarter of dry merger candidates have mid-infrared-derived star formation rates greater than similar to 1 M-circle dot yr(-1). This represents a frosting on top of a large old stellar population, and has been seen in previous studies of elliptical galaxies. Further, the dry merger candidates include a higher fraction of star-forming galaxies relative to a control sample without tidal features. We therefore conclude that the star formation in these massive ellipticals is likely triggered by merger activity. Our data suggest that the mergers responsible for the observed tidal features were not completely dry, and may be minor mergers involving a gas-rich dwarf galaxy.
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