Chemical Evolution in the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal

We present metallicities for 487 red giants in the Carina dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy that were obtained from FLAMES low-resolution Ca triplet (CaT) spectroscopy. We find a mean [Fe/H] of -1.91 dex with an intrinsic dispersion of 0.25 dex, whereas the full spread in metallicities is at least one dex. The analysis of the radial distribution of metallicities reveals that an excess of metal poor stars resides in a region of larger axis distances. These results can constrain evolutionary models and are discussed in the context of chemical evolution in the Carina dSph.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the ESO/Arcetri-workshop on "Chemical Abundances and Mixing in Stars", 13.-17. Sep. 2004, Castiglione della Pescaia, Italy, L. Pasquini, S. Randich (eds.

Low-Surface-Brightness Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. Search Method and Test Sample

In this paper we present results of a pilot study to use imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to search for low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies. For our pilot study we use a test sample of 92 galaxies from the catalog of Impey et al. (1996) distributed over 93 SDSS fields of the Early Data Release (EDR). Many galaxies from the test sample are either LSB or dwarf galaxies. To deal with the SDSS data most effectively a new photometry software was created, which is described in this paper. We present the results of the selection algorithms applied to these 93 EDR fields. Two galaxies from the Impey et al. test sample are very likely artifacts, as confirmed by follow-up imaging. With our algorithms, we were able to recover 87 of the 90 remaining test sample galaxies, implying a detection rate of $\sim$96.5%. The three missed galaxies fall too close to very bright stars or galaxies. In addition, 42 new galaxies with parameters similar to the test sample objects were found in these EDR fields (i.e., $\sim$47% additional galaxies). We present the main photometric parameters of all identified galaxies and carry out first statistical comparisons. We tested the quality of our photometry by comparing the magnitudes for our test sample galaxies and other bright galaxies with values from the literature. All these tests yielded consistent results. We briefly discuss a few unusual galaxies found in our pilot study, including an LSB galaxy with a two-component disk and ten new giant LSB galaxies.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication by AJ, some figures were bitmapped to reduce the siz

Leo V: A Companion of a Companion of the Milky Way Galaxy

We report the discovery of a new Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the constellation of Leo identified in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Leo V lies at a distance of about 180 kpc, and is separated by about 3 degrees from another recent discovery, Leo IV. We present follow-up imaging from the Isaac Newton Telescope and spectroscopy from the Hectochelle fiber spectrograph at the Multiple Mirror Telescope. Leo V's heliocentric velocity is 173.4 km/s, which is offset by about 40 km/s from that of Leo IV. A simple interpretation of the kinematic data is that both objects may lie on the same stream, though the implied orbit is only modestly eccentric (e = 0.2)Comment: Submitted to ApJ (Letters

CN Variations in NGC 7006

Rotationally induced mixing with subsequent dredge-up of nucleosynthesized material is discussed as a second parameter of the horizontal branch morphology in globular clusters. CNO abundances have been proposed as tracers of the dredge up of processed material. \ngc is a prominent example of a second parameter GC: Its HB morphology is too red for its metallicity. We present spectroscopic measurements of CN molecular band strengths S(3839) and CH band CH(4300) strengths for 12 giants in \ngc to test rotationally-driven mixing as a second parameter in this cluster. Our observations reveal (i) a scatter in star-to-star CN absorption strengths with the same amplitude as seen in other GCs of the same metallicity, but different HB morphologies; (ii) a possible continuous distribution of CN absorption strength with a preference for CN-enriched stars, and (iii) a possible weak radial gradient in the number ratio of CN-strong and CN-weak stars. We argue against the hypothesis that CN-variations are directly correlated with the second parameter effect of the HB morphology. However, the small sample of stars measured in \ngc prevents us from drawing firm conclusions. Finally, we identify one star of our sample as a foreground dwarf carbon star.Comment: to be published in A&A (accepted

Present-day Mass Function of Six Small Magellanic Cloud Intermediate-age and Old Star Clusters

We determined the present-day mass functions (PDMFs) of the five intermediate-age star clusters Lindsay 1, Kron 3, NGC339, NGC416, and Lindsay 38 and the old star cluster NGC121 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) based on observations with the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. The global PDMFs are well matched by Salpeter-like power laws from their main-sequence turnoffs to 0.6 M with a power-law exponent α ranging from 1.51 0.11 (Lindsay 1) to 2.29 0.15 (NGC339). We derive total stellar masses of 105 M , except for Lindsay 38, whose mass is of the order of 104 M. Differences between the PDMFs most likely reflect the varying stages of dynamical evolution of the clusters. These SMC clusters do not follow the α versus concentration parameter c correlation as found for Galactic globular clusters of similar mass. This might be an age effect or due to their location in a galaxy where bulge and disk crossings do not play a role. No correlation is found between α and the cluster core and tidal radii (rc and rt , respectively), the half-light radii rh , age, central surface brightness, metallicity, and galactocentric radius rgc. All six clusters mass-segregated to different degrees. The two clusters Lindsay 1 and Kron 3 barely show signs for mass segregation, but have low-mass star deficient global PDMFs and might be the remnants of star clusters whose outer parts were stripped. A trend exists between the degree of mass segregation and the ratio age/relaxation time tr, h, which indicates the stage of dynamical evolution for a cluster. Our data thus suggest that the SMC clusters in the present sample had a range of initial densities and presumably different amounts of mass loss that led to different rates of dynamical evolution. The clusters' positions in the rh, m/rt versus r0/rh, m plane imply that all of the clusters are tidally filled. Our SMC clusters with projected distances larger than 3kpc from the SMC center should have Jacobi radii significantly larger than their observed King tidal radii. The clusters also have higher mean densities than the estimated central density of the SMC. It is possible that these clusters formed in a denser overall environment of the younger SMC, or that the cluster structures were unusually strongly influenced by encounters with giant molecular clouds

STAR FORMATION HISTORY OF THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD: SIX HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/ADVANCED CAMERA FOR SURVEY FIELDS

We observed six fields of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with the Advanced Camera for Survey on board the Hubble Space Telescope in the F555W and F814W filters. These fields sample regions characterized by very different star and gas densities, and, possibly, by different evolutionary histories. We find that the SMC was already forming stars similar to 12 Gyr ago, even if the lack of a clear horizontal branch suggests that in the first few billion years the star formation activity was low. Within the uncertainties of our two-band photometry, we find evidence of a radial variation in chemical enrichment, with the SMC outskirts characterized by lower metallicity than the central zones. From our color-magnitude diagrams, we also infer that the SMC formed stars over a long interval of time until similar to 2-3 Gyr ago. After a period of modest activity, star formation increased again in the recent past, especially in the bar and the wing of the SMC, where we see an enhancement in the star-formation activity starting from similar to 500 Myr ago. The inhomogeneous distribution of stars younger than similar to 100 Myr indicates that recent star formation has mainly developed locally

SMC in space and time: a project to study the evolution of the prototype interacting late-type dwarf galaxy

We introduce the SMC in space and time, a large coordinated space and ground-based program to study star formation processes and history, as well as variable stars, structure, kinematics and chemical evolution of the whole SMC. Here, we present the Colour-Magnitude Diagrams (CMDs) resulting from HST/ACS photometry, aimed at deriving the star formation history (SFH) in six fields of the SMC. The fields are located in the central regions, in the stellar halo, and in the wing toward the LMC. The CMDs are very deep, well beyond the oldest Main Sequence Turn-Off, and will allow us to derive the SFH over the entire Hubble tim