The Stellar Mass Tully-Fisher Relation to <i>z</i> = 1.2 from AEGIS

Abstract

We combine newly measured rotation velocities, velocity dispersions, and stellar masses to construct stellar mass Tully-Fisher relations (M*TFRs) for 544 galaxies with strong emission lines at 0.1 &lt; z &lt; 1.2 from the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS) and the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) survey. The conventional M*TFR using only rotation velocity (Vrot) shows large scatter (∼ 1.5 dex in velocity). The scatter and residuals are correlated with morphology in the sense that disturbed, compact, and major merger galaxies have lower velocities for their masses. We construct an M*TFR using the kinematic estimator S0.5, which is defined as img1.gif1/2 and accounts for disordered or noncircular motions through the gas velocity dispersion (σg). The new M*TFR, termed S0.5/M*TFR, is remarkably tight over 0.1 &lt; z &lt; 1.2, with no detectable evolution of its intercept or slope with redshift. The average best-fit relation has 0.47 dex scatter in stellar mass, corresponding to ∼1.2 'magnitudes,' assuming a constant mass-to-light ratio. Interestingly, the S0.5/M*TFR is consistent with the absorption-line-based stellar mass Faber-Jackson relation for nearby elliptical galaxies in terms of slope and intercept, which might suggest a physical connection between the two relations.