Milky Way galaxy-analogs and isolated galaxies with bars: environmental density in the Local Volume

Рубрика: 
Astronomy and Astrophysics
1Kompaniiets, OV, 1Kukhar, OM, 1Vavilova, IB, 1Dobrycheva, DV, 2Fedorov, PM, 2Dmytrenko, AM, 2Khramtsov, VP, 1Sergijenko, O, 1Vasylenko, AA
1Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2Institute of Astronomy of Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Space Sci. & Technol. 2025, 31 ;(6):134-148
https://doi.org/10.15407/knit2025.06.134
Язык публикации: English
Аннотация: 
The environmental density of galaxies within the cosmic web provides insight into their 3D locations in filaments, voids, groups, and clusters of the large-scale structure of the Universe. This parameter reflects the distribution of baryonic matter and the influence of dark matter halos on galaxy evolution. Understanding environmental density is crucial for identifying the external physical processes - such as feedback from supernovae and active galactic nuclei, tidal interactions, ram-pressure stripping, and large-scale matter flows - that shape galaxies beyond their internal properties. In this article, we focus on the isolated galaxies with bars as the ensemble of galaxies for which the Milky Way galaxy-analogs belong. To obtain local environmental density parameters and verify the isolation criterion (v  500 km/s), we developed a Python-based pipeline operating in two redshift regimes: low (z0 < 0.02) and high (z0  0.02). Local densities Σ were estimated using both k-nearest neighbor and Voronoi tessellation methods and classified as void (Σ < 0.05), filament (0.05  Σ < 0.5), group (0.5  Σ < 2.0), and cluster (Σ  2.0).
             Our sample of 311 isolated barred galaxies from the 2MIG catalog, supplemented by Milky Way-analog systems (z < 0.07), covers the northern sky. We find 157 galaxies in voids, 84 in filaments, 27 in groups, and 11 in clusters; 30 exhibit no detectable neighbors  A subset of 67 galaxies occupies extremely low-density regions (Σ₃D < 0.01 gal Mpc⁻³), while 22 have their nearest companion farther than 5 Mpc, suggesting their location within extended cosmological voids. The Milky Way (Σ₅NN  0.13 gal Mpc⁻³, R  2.1 Mpc) and its close analog NGC 3521 both reside in filamentary environments, consistent with intermediate-density surroundings at the boundary of a nearby void. For galaxies with z > 0.02, the estimated local densities of the Milky Way and the analyzed systems allow us to identify three additional candidates that satisfy the supplementary environmental density criterion. Based on 3D Voronoi tessellation density estimates, one Milky Way-analog candidate is CGCG 208-043, while according to the fifth-nearest-neighbor approach, the candidates are NGC 5231 and CGCG 047-026. These results highlight the importance of local environmental density
as an additional indicator in the search for Milky Way galaxy-analogs.
Ключевые слова: galaxies, Milky Way, Milky Way galaxy-analogs, voids, Voronoi tessellation
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