SDSS-IV MaNGA: Environmental dependence of the Mgb/<Fe>-sigma_* relation for nearby galaxies (1902.07387v1)

Abstract: We use a sample of ~3000 galaxies from the MaNGA MPL-7 internal data release to study the alpha abundance distribution within low-redshift galaxies. We use the Lick index ratio Mgb/<Fe> as an alpha abundance indicator to study relationships between the alpha abundance distribution and galaxy properties such as effective stellar velocity dispersion within 0.3 effective radii (sigma_), galaxy environment, and dark matter halo formation time (z_f). We find that (1) all galaxies show a tight correlation between Mgb/<Fe> and sigma_; (2) old' (H_beta < 3) low-sigma_* galaxies in high local density environment and inner regions within galaxy groups are enhanced in Mgb/<Fe>, whileyoung' (H_beta>3) galaxies and high-mass galaxies show no or less environmental dependence; (3) `old' galaxies with high-z_f show enhanced Mgb/<Fe> over low- and medium-z_f; (4) Mgb/<Fe> gradients are close to zero and show dependence on sigma_* but no obvious dependence on the environment or z_f. Our study indicates that stellar velocity dispersion or galaxy mass is the main parameter driving the Mgb/<Fe> enhancement, although environments appear to have modest effects, particularly for low- and medium-mass galaxies.