Nonparametric galaxy morphology from stellar and nebular emission with the CALIFA sample (2303.01907v1)

Abstract: We present a nonparametric morphology analysis of the stellar continuum and nebular emission lines for a sample of local galaxies. We explore the dependence of the various morphological parameters on wavelength and morphological type. Our goal is to quantify the difference in morphology between the stellar and nebular components. We derive the nonparametric morphological indicators of 364 galaxies from the CALIFA Survey. To calculate those indicators, we apply the StatMorph package on the high-quality integral field spectroscopic data cubes, as well as to the most prominent nebular emission-line maps, namely [OIII]$\lambda$5007, H$\alpha$, and [NII]$\lambda$6583. We show that the physical size of galaxies, M$_{20}$ index, and concentration have a strong gradient from blue to red optical wavelengths. We find that the light distribution of the nebular emission is less concentrated than the stellar continuum. A comparison between the nonparametric indicators and the galaxy physical properties revealed a very strong correlation of the concentration with the specific star-formation rate and morphological type. Furthermore, we explore how the galaxy inclination affects our results. We find that edge-on galaxies show a more rapid change in physical size and concentration with increasing wavelength due to the increase in optical free path. We conclude that the apparent morphology of galaxies originates from the pure stellar distribution, but the morphology of the ISM presents differences with respect to the morphology of the stellar component. Our analysis also highlights the importance of dust attenuation and galaxy inclination in the measurement of nonparametric morphological indicators, especially in the the wavelength range 4000-5000 \r{A}.