The Environmental Dependence of the Mass-Size Relation for the Most Massive Galaxies

We study the environmental dependence of the mass-size relation for the most massive early type galaxies (M > $10^{10.7}M_{\odot}$) in the redshift range 0.10~0.15. As a measure of the environment, galaxy number densities are measured by the $10^{th}$ nearest galaxies within 6500km/s from galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. The sizes of galaxies are measured by non-parametric method. We find that galaxies more massive than $10^{11.1}M_{\odot}$ show the environmental dependence in the mass-size relation. The galaxies with M > $10^{11.1}M_{\odot}$ located in the densest, cluster like environment have larger sizes and extended surface brightness profiles than their counterparts located in a low dense environment. We also find that the environmental dependence of the mass-size relation is more significant for the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) than non-BCGs. Our result can be explained with a hierarchical growth of the most massive galaxies through dissipation-less merger in dense environment.