SAMI Galaxy Survey: the link between [α/Fe] and kinematic morphology.

We explore a sample of 1492 galaxies with measurements of the mean stellar population properties and the spin parameter proxy, |$\lambda _{R_{\rm {e}}}$|⁠ , drawn from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. We fit a global |$[\alpha /\rm {Fe}]$| –σ relation, finding that |${[\alpha /\rm {Fe}]}=(0.395\pm 0.010)\rm {log}_{10}(\sigma)-(0.627\pm 0.002)$|⁠. We observe an anti-correlation between the residuals |$\Delta [\alpha /\rm {Fe}]$| and the inclination-corrected |$\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}$|⁠ , which can be expressed as |${\Delta [\alpha /\rm {Fe}]}=(-0.057\pm 0.008){\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}}+(0.020\pm 0.003)$|⁠. The anti-correlation appears to be driven by star-forming galaxies, with a gradient of |${\Delta [\alpha /\rm {Fe}]}\sim (-0.121\pm 0.015){\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}}$|⁠ , although a weak relationship persists for the subsample of galaxies for which star formation has been quenched. We take this to be confirmation that disc-dominated galaxies have an extended duration of star formation. At a reference velocity dispersion of 200 km s⁻¹, we estimate an increase in half-mass formation time from ∼0.5 Gyr to ∼1.2 Gyr from low- to high- |$\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}$| galaxies. Slow rotators do not appear to fit these trends. Their residual α-enhancement is indistinguishable from other galaxies with |${\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}}\lessapprox 0.4$|⁠ , despite being both larger and more massive. This result shows that galaxies with |${\lambda _{\, R_{\rm {e}}}^{\rm {\, eo}}}\lessapprox 0.4$| experience a similar range of star formation histories, despite their different physical structure and angular momentum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]