The Determination of the Star Formation Rate in Galaxies

A spectrophotometric model able to compute the integrated spectrum of a galaxy, including the contribution both of the stellar populations and of the ionized interstellar gas of the HII regions powered by young hot stars, has been used to study several spectral features and photometric quantities in order to derive calibrations of the star formation history of late type galaxies. Attention has been paid to analyze the emission of the Balmer lines and the [OII]$\lambda$3727 line to test their attitude at providing estimates of the present star formation rate in galaxies. Other features, like D$_{4000}$ and the equivalent width of the H$_{\delta}$ line, influenced by the presence of intermediate age stars, have been considered. Several ways of estimating the star formation rates in normal galaxies are discussed and some considerations concerning the applicability of the models are presented. Criteria have been also studied for ascertaining the presence of a burst, current or ended not long ago. Bursts usually hinder the determination of the past star formation rate.Comment: 21 pages, needs A&A l-aa.sty, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Emission line galaxies in clusters

At the present epoch, clusters of galaxies are known to be a hostile environment for emission-line galaxies, which are more commonly found in low density regions outside of clusters. In contrast, going to higher redshifts the population of emission-line galaxies in clusters becomes progressively more conspicuous, and large numbers of star-forming late-type galaxies are observed. I present an overview of the observational findings and the theoretical expectations regarding the evolution of emission-line galaxies in dense environments, discussing the properties of these galaxies and the current evidence for environmental influences on their evolution.Comment: 15 pages, 8 postscript figures - Invited review at the Plenary Session of the JENAM (Joint European and National Astronomical Meeting), Granada 13-17 Sep 200

Optical Spectral Signatures of Dusty Starburst Galaxies

We analyse the optical spectral properties of the complete sample of Very Luminous Infrared Galaxies presented by Wu et al. (1998a,b) and we find a high fraction (~50 %) of spectra showing both a strong H_delta line in absorption and relatively modest [OII] emission (e(a) spectra). The e(a) signature has been proposed as an efficient method to identify dusty starburst galaxies and we study the star formation activity and the nature of these galaxies, as well as the effects of dust on their observed properties. We examine their emission line characteristics, in particular their [OII]/H_alpha ratio, and we find this to be greatly affected by reddening. A search for AGN spectral signatures reveals that the e(a)'s are typically HII/LINER galaxies. We compare the star formation rates derived from the FIR luminosities with the estimates based on the H_alpha line and find that the values obtained from the optical emission lines are a factor of 10-70 (H_alpha) and 20-140 ([OII]) lower than the FIR estimates (50-300 M_sun yr^-1). We then study the morphological properties of the e(a) galaxies, looking for a near companion or signs of a merger/interaction. In order to explore the evolution of the e(a) population, we present an overview of the available observations of e(a)'s in different environments both at low and high redshift. Finally, we discuss the role of dust in determining the e(a) spectral properties and we propose a scenario of selective obscuration in which the extinction decreases with the stellar age.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, including 7 postscript figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Indicators of star formation: 4000 Angstrom break and Balmer lines

The behaviour of the 4000 Angstrom break index and of the equivalent width of the main Balmer lines is investigated a) for a single star as a function of effective temperature, gravity and metallicity and b) for a single stellar population as a function of age and metallicity. Consequences for the interpretation of integrated spectra are presented.Comment: 5 pages, needs A&A l-aa.sty, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, complete preprint with figures available on request at [email protected]

Starbursts and the Butcher-Oemler effect in galaxy clusters

In order to explain the spectroscopic observations of most of the galaxies in intermediate redshift clusters, bursts of star formation superimposed to the traditional scenario of galactic evolution are needed. The analysis of spectral lines and colours by means of an evolutionary synthesis model, including both the stellar contribution and the emission of the ionized gas, allows in most of the cases the determination of the time elapsed since the end of the burst and the fraction of galactic mass involved in it. In the four clusters considered (AC103, AC114, AC118 at \rm z=0.31 and Cl1358+6245 at \rm z=0.33), the theoretical analysis demonstrates that the bursts affect substantial galactic mass fractions, typically 30 \% or more. The observations can be equally well reproduced by either elliptical+burst models or by spiral+burst models in which the star formation is truncated at the end of the burst. A way to determine the galactic original type is suggested

The evolution of the galactic morphological types in clusters

The morphological types of galaxies in nine clusters in the redshift range 0.1<z<0.25 are derived from very good seeing images taken at the NOT and the La Silla Danish telescopes. With the purpose of investigating the evolution of the fraction of different morphological types with redshift, we compare our results with the morphological content of nine distant clusters studied by the MORPHS group, five clusters observed with HST-WFPC2 at redshift z = 0.2-0.3, and Dressler's (1980) large sample of nearby clusters. After having checked the reliability of our morphological classification both in an absolute sense and relative to the MORPHS scheme, we analyze the relative occurrence of elliptical, S0 and spiral galaxies as a function of the cluster properties and redshift. We find a large intrinsic scatter in the S0/E ratio, mostly related to the cluster morphology. In particular, in our cluster sample, clusters with a high concentration of ellipticals display a low S0/E ratio and, vice-versa, low concentration clusters have a high S0/E. At the same time, the trend of the morphological fractions and ratios with redshift clearly points to a morphological evolution: as the redshift decreases, the S0 population tends to grow at the expense of the spiral population, whereas the frequency of Es remains almost constant. We also analyze the morphology-density (MD) relation in our clusters and find that -similarly to higher redshift clusters- a good MD relation exists in the high-concentration clusters, while it is absent in the less concentrated clusters. Finally, the comparison of the MD relation in our clusters with that of the D97 sample suggests that the transformation of spirals into S0 galaxies becomes more efficient with decreasing local density.Comment: 24 pages including 11 figures and 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap