193 research outputs found
Elemental Abundances in M31: Alpha and Iron Element Abundances from Low-Resolution Resolved Stellar Spectroscopy in the Stellar Halo
Measurements of [Fe/H] and [/Fe] can probe the minor merging history
of a galaxy, providing a direct way to test the hierarchical assembly paradigm.
While measurements of [/Fe] have been made in the stellar halo of the
Milky Way, little is known about detailed chemical abundances in the stellar
halo of M31. To make progress with existing telescopes, we apply spectral
synthesis to low-resolution DEIMOS spectroscopy (R 2500 at 7000
Angstroms) across a wide spectral range (4500 Angstroms 9100
Angstroms). By applying our technique to low-resolution spectra of 170 giant
stars in 5 MW globular clusters, we demonstrate that our technique reproduces
previous measurements from higher resolution spectroscopy. Based on the
intrinsic dispersion in [Fe/H] and [/Fe] of individual stars in our
combined cluster sample, we estimate systematic uncertainties of 0.11 dex
and 0.09 dex in [Fe/H] and [/Fe], respectively. We apply our
method to deep, low-resolution spectra of 11 red giant branch stars in the
smooth halo of M31, resulting in higher signal-to-noise per spectral resolution
element compared to DEIMOS medium-resolution spectroscopy, given the same
exposure time and conditions. We find [/Fe] = 0.49
0.29 dex and [Fe/H] = 1.59 0.56 dex for our
sample. This implies that---much like the Milky Way---the smooth halo of M31 is
likely composed of disrupted dwarf galaxies with truncated star formation
histories that were accreted early in the halo's formation.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Ap
Elemental Abundances in M31: A Comparative Analysis of Alpha and Iron Element Abundances in the the Outer Disk, Giant Stellar Stream, and Inner Halo of M31
We measured [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] using spectral synthesis of low-resolution stellar spectroscopy for 70 individual red-giant-branch stars across four fields spanning the outer disk, Giant Stellar Stream (GSS), and inner halo of M31. Fields at M31-centric projected distances of 23 kpc in the halo, 12 kpc in the halo, 22 kpc in the GSS, and 26 kpc in the outer disk are α-enhanced, with ⟨ [α/Fe]〉= 0.43, 0.50, 0.41, and 0.58, respectively. The 23 and 12 kpc halo fields are relatively metal-poor, with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −1.54 and −1.30, whereas the 22 kpc GSS and 26 kpc outer disk fields are relatively metal-rich with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −0.84 and −0.92, respectively. For fields with substructure, we separated the stellar populations into kinematically hot stellar halo components and kinematically cold components. We did not find any evidence of a radial [α/Fe] gradient along the high surface brightness core of the GSS between ~17 and 22 kpc. However, we found tentative suggestions of a negative radial [α/Fe] gradient in the stellar halo, which may indicate that different progenitor(s) or formation mechanisms contributed to the build up of the inner versus outer halo. Additionally, the [α/Fe] distribution of the metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −1.5), smooth inner stellar halo (r_(proj) ≾ 26 kpc) is inconsistent with having formed from the disruption of a progenitor(s) similar to present-day M31 satellite galaxies. The 26 kpc outer disk is most likely associated with the extended disk of M31, where its high α-enhancement provides support for an episode of rapid star formation in M31's disk possibly induced by a major merger
Modelling chemical abundance distributions for dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: the impact of turbulent metal diffusion
We investigate stellar metallicity distribution functions (MDFs), including
Fe and -element abundances, in dwarf galaxies from the Feedback in
Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We examine both isolated dwarf galaxies
and those that are satellites of a Milky Way-mass galaxy. In particular, we
study the effects of including a sub-grid turbulent model for the diffusion of
metals in gas. Simulations that include diffusion have narrower MDFs and
abundance ratio distributions, because diffusion drives individual gas and star
particles toward the average metallicity. This effect provides significantly
better agreement with observed abundance distributions of dwarf galaxies in the
Local Group, including the small intrinsic scatter in [/Fe] vs.
[Fe/H] (less than 0.1 dex). This small intrinsic scatter arises in our
simulations because the interstellar medium (ISM) in dwarf galaxies is
well-mixed at nearly all cosmic times, such that stars that form at a given
time have similar abundances to within 0.1 dex. Thus, most of the scatter in
abundances at z = 0 arises from redshift evolution and not from instantaneous
scatter in the ISM. We find similar MDF widths and intrinsic scatter for
satellite and isolated dwarf galaxies, which suggests that environmental
effects play a minor role compared with internal chemical evolution in our
simulations. Overall, with the inclusion of metal diffusion, our simulations
reproduce abundance distribution widths of observed low-mass galaxies, enabling
detailed studies of chemical evolution in galaxy formation.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, published in MNRA
Elemental Abundances in M31: A Comparative Analysis of Alpha and Iron Element Abundances in the the Outer Disk, Giant Stellar Stream, and Inner Halo of M31
We measured [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] using spectral synthesis of low-resolution stellar spectroscopy for 70 individual red-giant-branch stars across four fields spanning the outer disk, Giant Stellar Stream (GSS), and inner halo of M31. Fields at M31-centric projected distances of 23 kpc in the halo, 12 kpc in the halo, 22 kpc in the GSS, and 26 kpc in the outer disk are α-enhanced, with ⟨ [α/Fe]〉= 0.43, 0.50, 0.41, and 0.58, respectively. The 23 and 12 kpc halo fields are relatively metal-poor, with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −1.54 and −1.30, whereas the 22 kpc GSS and 26 kpc outer disk fields are relatively metal-rich with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −0.84 and −0.92, respectively. For fields with substructure, we separated the stellar populations into kinematically hot stellar halo components and kinematically cold components. We did not find any evidence of a radial [α/Fe] gradient along the high surface brightness core of the GSS between ~17 and 22 kpc. However, we found tentative suggestions of a negative radial [α/Fe] gradient in the stellar halo, which may indicate that different progenitor(s) or formation mechanisms contributed to the build up of the inner versus outer halo. Additionally, the [α/Fe] distribution of the metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −1.5), smooth inner stellar halo (r_(proj) ≾ 26 kpc) is inconsistent with having formed from the disruption of a progenitor(s) similar to present-day M31 satellite galaxies. The 26 kpc outer disk is most likely associated with the extended disk of M31, where its high α-enhancement provides support for an episode of rapid star formation in M31's disk possibly induced by a major merger
The Role of Gas in the Merging of Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei. I. Black Hole Merging in a Spherical Gas Cloud
Using high-resolution SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects
of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is
motivated by both observational and theoretical work that indicate the presence
of large amounts of gas in the central regions of merging galaxies. N-body
simulations have shown that the coalescence of a massive black hole binary
eventually stalls in a stellar background. However, our simulations suggest
that the massive black hole binary will finally merge if it is embedded in a
gaseous background. Here we present results in which the gas is assumed to be
initially spherical with a relatively smooth distribution. In the early
evolution of the binary, the separation dimishes due to the gravitational drag
exerted by the background gas. In the later stages, when the binary dominates
the gravitational potential in its vicinity, the medium responds by forming an
ellipsoidal density enhancement whose axis lags behind the binary axis, and
this offset produces a torque on the binary that causes continuing loss of
angular momentum and is able to reduce the binary separation to distances where
gravitational radiation is efficient. Assuming typical parameters from
observations of Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies, we predict that a black hole
binary will merge within yrs; therefore these results imply that in a
merger of gas-rich galaxies, any massive central black holes will coalescence
soon after the galaxies merge. Our work thus supports scenarios of massive
black hole evolution and growth where hierarchical merging plays an important
role. The final coalescence of the black holes leads to gravitational radiation
emission that would be detectable up to high redshift by LISA. We show that
similar physical effects are important for the formation of close binary stars.Comment: 38 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Ap
Elemental Abundances in M31: Iron and Alpha Element Abundances in M31’s Outer Halo
We present [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] abundances, derived using spectral synthesis techniques, for stars in M31's outer stellar halo. The 21 [Fe/H] measurements and 7 [α/Fe] measurements are drawn from fields ranging from 43 to 165 kpc in projected distance from M31. We combine our measurements with existing literature measurements, and compare the resulting sample of 23 stars with [Fe/H] and 9 stars with [α/Fe] measurements in M31's outer halo with [α/Fe] and [Fe/H] measurements, also derived from spectral synthesis, in M31's inner stellar halo (r < 26 kpc) and dSph galaxies. The stars in M31's outer halo have [α/Fe] patterns that are consistent with the largest of M31's dSph satellites (And I and And VII). These abundances provide tentative evidence that the [α/Fe] abundances of stars in M31's outer halo are more similar to the abundances of Milky Way halo stars than to the abundances of stars in M31's inner halo. We also compare the spectral synthesis–based [Fe/H] measurements of stars in M31's halo with previous photometric [Fe/H] estimates, as a function of projected distance from M31. The spectral synthesis–based [Fe/H] measurements are consistent with a large-scale metallicity gradient previously observed in M31's stellar halo to projected distances as large as 100 kpc
- …