Evolution of the infrared Tully-Fisher relation up to z = 1.4

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), C/ Vía Láctea S/N, 38200 La Laguna, Spain e-mail: mfernan@iac.es
² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain
³ Herschel Science Centre, INSA/ESAC, Madrid, Spain

Received: 11 February 2010
Accepted: 8 May 2010

Abstract

Context. The Tully-Fisher relation represents a connection between fundamental galaxy parameters, such as its total mass and the mass locked in stars. Therefore, the study of the evolution of this relation in the optical and infrared bands can provide valuable information about the evolution of the individual galaxies through the changes found in each band.

Aims. This work aims to study the Tully-Fisher relation at high redshift in the B, V, R, I, and K_S-bands by comparison with the local relations derived from a large sample of galaxies in the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.3, processed in the same way, and with the same instrumental constraints that the high-redshift sample.

Methods. Using the large amount of photometric information available in the AEGIS database, we determined the optimal procedure for obtaining reliable k-corrections. Instrumental magnitudes were then k- and extinction corrected and the absolute magnitudes derived, using the concordance cosmological model. The rotational velocities were inferred from the widths of optical lines in DEEP2 spectra. At high redshift, this method is found to provide more accurate results than using the rotation curve, because of spatial resolution limitations. Morphology was determined by visual classification of the HST images. From the above information, the Tully-Fisher relations in B, V, R, I, and K_S-bands are derived for the local and high-redshift sample.

Results. We detect evolution in the B, V, and R-bands in the sense that galaxies were brighter in the past at the same rotation velocity. The change in luminosity is more noticeable in the bluer bands. This colour evolution, unnoticed in our previous work, is detected thanks to the more reliable k-corrections carried out in this paper, which included photometry from B to IRAC bands. The change in the (V–K_S) and (R–I) colours (for a fixed velocity) could be interpreted as an ageing of the stellar populations as consequence of the star formation decrease since z = 1.25. In addition, we conclude that spiral galaxies may have doubled their stellar masses in the past 8.6 Gyr.