An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The relation between the → stellar mass and the physical size of a galaxy. Studies show that the sizes increase with stellar mass, but that the relation weakens with increasing → redshift. Separating galaxies by their → star formation rate, model simulations show that → passive galaxies are typically smaller than → active galaxies at a fixed stellar mass. These trends are consistent with those found in observations; the level of agreement between the predicted and observed size-mass relations is of the order of 0.1 dex for redshifts < 1 and 0.2-0.3 dex from redshift 1 to 2. Known also as the → luminosity-size relation
(Furlong et al., 2016, MNRAS 465, 722, and references therein).

See also: → mass; → size; → relation.