377 research outputs found
Observations of Lick Standard Stars Using the SCORPIO Multi-Slit Unit at the SAO 6-m Telescope
We present Lick line-index measurements of standard stars from the list of
Worthey. The spectra were taken with the multi-slit unit of the SCORPIO
spectrograph at the 6-m Special Astrophysical observatory telescope. We
describe in detail our method of analysis and explain the importance of using
the Lick index system for studying extragalactic globular clusters. Our results
show that the calibration of our instrumental system to the standard Lick
system can be performed with high confidence.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Balmer and Metal Absorption Feature Gradients in M32
Spectra from MDM Observatory are used to assess Lick/IDS feature strength
gradients inside the half-light radius of the compact Local Group elliptical
galaxy M32. All but a few (of 24 measured) indices show a statistically
significant gradient. Comparing with models, the index gradients indicate a
mean age and abundance gradient in the sense that the nucleus is a factor of
2.5 younger and a factor of 0.3 dex more metal-rich than at 1 effective radius.
This conclusion is only weakly dependent on which index combinations are used
and is robust to high accuracy. Stars near the M32 nucleus have a mean age and
heavy element abundance [M/H] of (4.7 Gyr, +0.02), judging from models by
Worthey with variable abundance ratios. This result has very small formal
random errors, although, of course, there is significant age-metallicity
degeneracy along an (age, abundance) line segment from (5.0 Gyr, 0.00) to (4.5
Gyr, +0.05). An abundance pattern of [C/M]=+0.077, [N/M]=-0.13, [Mg/M]=-0.18,
[Fe/M]~0.0, and [Na/M]=+0.12 is required to fit the feature data, with a
fitting precision of about 0.01 dex. Model uncertainties make the accuracies of
these values at least twice the magnitude of the precision. Forcing
scaled-solar abundances does not change the age very much, but it increases the
rms goodness of model-data fit by a factor of 3 and broadens the allowed range
of age to Gyr. The overall abundance pattern contrasts with larger
elliptical galaxies, in which all measurable lighter elements are enhanced
relative to iron and calcium.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, Astronomical Journal, in pres
Stellar Population Models and Individual Element Abundances I: Sensitivity of Stellar Evolution Models
Integrated light from distant galaxies is often compared to stellar
population models via the equivalent widths of spectral features--spectral
indices--whose strengths rely on the abundances of one or more elements. Such
comparisons hinge not only on the overall metal abundance but also on relative
abundances. Studies have examined the influence of individual elements on
synthetic spectra but little has been done to address similar issues in the
stellar evolution models that underlie most stellar population models. Stellar
evolution models will primarily be influenced by changes in opacities. In order
to explore this issue in detail, twelve sets of stellar evolution tracks and
isochrones have been created at constant heavy element mass fraction Z that
self-consistently account for varying heavy element mixtures. These sets
include scaled-solar, alpha-enhanced, and individual cases where the elements
C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Ti, and Fe have been enhanced above their
scaled-solar values. The variations that arise between scaled-solar and the
other cases are examined with respect to the H-R diagram and main sequence
lifetimes.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, accepted to Ap
Evidence for a Young Stellar Population in NGC 5018
Two absorption line indices, Ca II and Hdelta/FeI4045, measured from high
resolution spectra are used with evolutionary synthesis models to verify the
presence of a young stellar population in NGC 5018. The derived age of this
population is about ~2.8 Gyr with a metallicity roughly solar and it completely
dominates the integrated light of the galaxy near 4000 A.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures (figs 3-7 are color figures), to be published in
the May 2000 issue of the Astrophysical Journa
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal
We present an F606W-F814W color-magnitude diagram for the Draco dwarf
spheroidal galaxy based on Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 images. The luminosity
function is well-sampled to 3 magnitudes below the turn-off. We see no evidence
for multiple turnoffs and conclude that, at least over the field of the view of
the WFPC2, star formation was primarily single-epoch. If the observed number of
blue stragglers is due to extended star formation, then roughly 6% (upper
limit) of the stars could be half as old as the bulk of the galaxy. The color
difference between the red giant branch and the turnoff is consistent with an
old population and is very similar to that observed in the old, metal-poor
Galactic globular clusters M68 and M92. Despite its red horizontal branch,
Draco appears to be older than M68 and M92 by 1.6 +/- 2.5 Gyrs, lending support
to the argument that the ``second parameter'' which governs horizontal branch
morphology must be something other than age. Draco's observed luminosity
function is very similar to that of M68, and the derived initial mass function
is consistent with that of the solar neighborhood.Comment: 16 pages, AASTeX, 9 postscript figures, figures 1 and 2 available at
ftp://bb3.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/draco/. Accepted for publication in the
Astronomical Journa
MIUSCAT: extended MILES spectral coverage. II. Constraints from optical photometry
In the present work we show a comprehensive comparison of our new stellar
population synthesis MIUSCAT models with photometric data of globular clusters
and early-type galaxies. The models compare remarkably well with the colours of
Milky Way globular clusters in the optical range. Likewise, the colours of M31
globular clusters can also be explained by the models by assuming younger ages
then their Galactic counterparts. When compared with quiescent galaxies we
reproduce the colour evolution at intermediate redshift. On the other hand we
find that the colour relations of nearby early-type galaxies are still a
challenge for present-day stellar population synthesis models. We investigate a
number of possible explanations and establish the importance of alpha-enhanced
models to bring down the discrepancy with observations.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures; MNRAS in press. Model predictions available at
our website: http://miles.iac.e
PACCE: Perl Algorithm to Compute Continuum and Equivalent Widths
We present Perl Algorithm to Compute continuum and Equivalent Widths (pacce).
We describe the methods used in the computations and the requirements for its
usage. We compare the measurements made with pacce and "manual" ones made using
iraf splot task. These tests show that for SSP models the equivalent widths
strengths are very similar (differences <0.2A) for both measurements. In real
stellar spectra, the correlation between both values is still very good, but
with differences of up to 0.5A. pacce is also able to determine mean continuum
and continuum at line center values, which are helpful in stellar population
studies. In addition, it is also able to compute the uncertainties in the
equivalent widths using photon statistics. The code is made available for the
community through the web at http://www.if.ufrgs.br/~riffel/software.html.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Diffuse gas in galaxies sheds new light on the origin of Type Ia supernovae
Date of Acceptance: 05/05/2014We measure the strength of He II λ4686 nebular emission in passively evolving ('retired') galaxies, aiming to constrain their populations of hot accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in the context of the single-degenerate (SD) scenario of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In the SD scenario, as a WD burns hydrogen-rich material accreted from a companion star, it becomes a powerful source of ionizing ultraviolet emission. If significant populations of such sources exist in galaxies, strong emission in the recombination lines of He II should be expected from the interstellar medium. To explore this conjecture, we select from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ~11 500 emission-line galaxies with stellar ages >1 Gyr showing no signs of active galactic nuclei activity and co-add their spectra in bins of stellar population age. For the first time, we detect He II λ4686 nebular emission in retired galaxies and find it to be significantly weaker than that expected in the SD scenario, especially in the youngest age bin (1-4 Gyr) where the SN Ia rate is the highest. Instead, the strength of the observed He II λ4686 nebular emission is consistent with post-asymptotic giant branch stars being the sole ionizing source in all age bins. These results limit populations of accretingWDs with photospheric temperatures (Teff) in the range ~(1.5-6) Ă 105 K to the level at which they can account for no more than ~5-10 per cent of the observed SN Ia rate. Conversely, should all WD progenitors of SN Ia go through the phase of steady nuclear burning with Teff ~ (1.5-6) Ă 105 K, they do not increase their mass by more than ~0.03Mâ in this regime.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
A six-parameter space to describe galaxy diversification
Galaxy diversification proceeds by transforming events like accretion,
interaction or mergers. These explain the formation and evolution of galaxies
that can now be described with many observables. Multivariate analyses are the
obvious tools to tackle the datasets and understand the differences between
different kinds of objects. However, depending on the method used,
redundancies, incompatibilities or subjective choices of the parameters can
void the usefulness of such analyses. The behaviour of the available parameters
should be analysed before an objective reduction of dimensionality and
subsequent clustering analyses can be undertaken, especially in an evolutionary
context. We study a sample of 424 early-type galaxies described by 25
parameters, ten of which are Lick indices, to identify the most structuring
parameters and determine an evolutionary classification of these objects. Four
independent statistical methods are used to investigate the discriminant
properties of the observables and the partitioning of the 424 galaxies:
Principal Component Analysis, K-means cluster analysis, Minimum Contradiction
Analysis and Cladistics. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publicationin A\&
Chemodynamics of Compact Stellar Systems in NGC 5128: How similar are Globular Clusters, Ultra-Compact Dwarfs, and Dwarf Galaxies?
Velocity dispersion measurements are presented for luminous GCs in NGC 5128
derived from high-res. UVES spectra. The measurements are made with the pPXF
code that parametrically recovers line-of-sight velocity dispersions. Combining
the measured velocity dispersions with surface photometry and structural
parameter data from HST enables both dynamical masses and M/L ratios to be
derived. The fundamental plane relations of these clusters are investigated in
order to fill the apparent gap between the relations of Local Group GCs and
more massive early-type galaxies. It is found that the properties of these
massive stellar systems match those of nuclear clusters in dwarf elliptical
galaxies and UCDs better than those of Local Group GCs, and that all objects
share similarly old (>8 Gyr) ages, suggesting a possible link between the
formation and evolution of dE,Ns, UCDs and massive GCs. We find a very steep
correlation between dynamical (M/L) ratio and dynamical mass of the form
(M/L)_dyn ~ M_dyn^(0.24+/-0.02) above M_dyn = 2x10^6 Msol. Formation scenarios
are investigated with a chemical abundance analysis using absorption line
strengths calibrated to the Lick/IDS index system. The results lend support to
two scenarios contained within a single general formation scheme. Old, massive,
super-solar [alpha/Fe] systems are formed on short (<100 Myr) timescales
through the merging of single-collapse GCs which themselves are formed within
single, giant molecular clouds. More intermediate- and old-aged (~3-10 Gyr),
solar- to sub-solar [alpha/Fe] systems are formed on much longer (~Gyr)
timescales through the stripping of dE,Ns in the 10^13-10^15 Msol potential
wells of massive galaxies and galaxy clusters.Comment: 12 pages (ApJ style) with 11 figures and 7 tables, accepted for
publication in Ap
- âŠ