Shaping physical properties of galaxy subtypes in the VIPERS survey: Environment matters

Aims. This study aims to explore the relation between the physical properties of di ff erent galaxy sub-classes, from red passive to blue star-forming, and their environment. Our work is based on the analysis of 31631 galaxies from the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS), observed at 0 . 5 < z < 0 . 9. The unprecedented volume of VIPERS and the wealth of auxiliary derived data allow us to associate sub-classes of the main galaxy populations with their possibly di ff erent evolutionary paths. This is the first time such a study is performed with such statistical precision. to subclasses of fifth mass assembly appears to be dominated by mergers. When it comes to blue galaxies, the trend of decreasing fraction with denser environments seen for the group as a whole (sub-classes C7–11) is found to be driven mostly by one (the most numerous) group of galaxies; sub-class C10. These are compact low-mass galaxies with high, specific star formation rates, which are preferentially found in low-density environments. However, the remaining blue galaxies (sub-classes C7–9) are larger and appear in denser environments than galaxies within C10.