Galaxy Assembly Bias on the Red Sequence
  Using samples drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we study the
relationship between local galaxy density and the properties of galaxies on the
red sequence. After removing the mean dependence of average overdensity (or
"environment") on color and luminosity, we find that there remains a strong
residual trend between luminosity-weighted mean stellar age and environment,
such that galaxies with older stellar populations favor regions of higher
overdensity relative to galaxies of like color and luminosity (and hence of
like stellar mass). Even when excluding galaxies with recent star-formation
activity (i.e., younger mean stellar ages) from the sample, we still find a
highly significant correlation between stellar age and environment at fixed
stellar mass. This residual age-density relation provides direct evidence for
an assembly bias on the red sequence such that galaxies in higher-density
regions formed earlier than galaxies of similar mass in lower-density
environments. We discuss these results in the context of the age-metallicity
degeneracy and in comparison to previous studies at low and intermediate
redshift. Finally, we consider the potential role of assembly bias in
explaining recent results regarding the evolution of post-starburst (or
post-quenching) galaxies and the environmental dependence of the type Ia
supernova rate.
