53 research outputs found
The Effects of Age on Red Giant Metallicities Derived from the Near-Infrared Ca II Triplet
We have obtained spectra with resolution 2.5 Angstroms in the region
7500-9500 Angstroms for 116 red giants in 5 Galactic globular clusters and 6
old open clusters (5 with published metallicities, and one previously
unmeasured). The signal-to-noise ranges from 20 to 85. We measure the
equivalent widths of the infrared Ca II triplet absorption lines in each stars
and compare to cluster metallicities taken from the literature. With globular
cluster abundances on the Carretta & Gratton scale, and open cluster abundances
taken from the compilation of Friel and collaborators, we find a linear
relation between [Fe/H] and Ca II line strength spanning the range -2 < [Fe/H]
< -0.2 and ages from 2.5 - 13 Gyr. No evidence for an age effect on the
metallicity calibration is observed. Using this calibration, we find the
metallicity of the old open cluster Trumpler 5 to be [Fe/H] = -0.56 +/-0.11.
Considering the 10 clusters of known metallicity shifted to a common distance
and reddening, we find that the additional metallicity error introduced by the
variation of horizontal branch/red clump magnitude with metallicity and age is
of order +/-0.05 dex, which can be neglected in comparison to the intrinsic
scatter in our method. The results are discussed in the context of abundance
determinations for red giants in Local Group galaxies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 21 pages in LaTeX MNRAS style, 6 tables, 6 figure
The Stellar Populations of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy: I. a New Color-Magnitude Diagram for the Giant and Horizontal Branches
We report on the first in a series of studies of the Carina dwarf spheroidal
galaxy, a nearby satellite of our Galaxy. Our two major results are: 1) precise
BI photometry (\sigma_{B-I} \simlt 0.05 for V \simlt 22) for 11,489 stars
in the Carina field, and 2) the detection of two, morphologically distinct,
horizontal branches, which confirms that star formation in Carina occurred in
two well-separated episodes. The old horizontal branch and RR Lyrae instability
strip belong to a > 10 Gyr stellar population, while the populous red-clump
horizontal branch belongs to an approximately 6 Gyr stellar population. We
derive a distance modulus for Carina from the apparent
magnitudes of the old horizontal branch and the tip of the red giant branch,
and discuss modifications to the previously estimated distance, total
magnitude, and stellar ages. Using the color of the red giant branch, we
estimate the metallicities of the younger and older populations to be [Fe/H] =
-2.0 and -2.2, respectively.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, uses AAS LaTex macros, PostScript figures
available through anonymous ftp, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journal, DAO-tsh94-
The Star Formation History of the Large Magellanic Cloud
Using WFPC2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we have created deep
color-magnitude diagrams in the V and I passbands for approximately 100,000
stars in a field at the center of the LMC bar and another in the disk. The
main--sequence luminosity functions (LFs) from 19 mag < V < 23.5 mag, the red
clump and horizontal branch morphologies, and the differential Hess diagram of
the two fields all strongly imply that the disk and bar have significantly
different star-formation histories (SFHs). The disk's SFH has been relatively
smooth and continuous over the last 15 Gyr while the bar's SFH was dominated by
star formation episodes at intermediate ages. Comparison of the LF against
predictions based on Padova theoretical stellar evolution models and an assumed
age-metallicity relationship allows us to identify the dominant stellar
populations in the bar with episodes of star formation that occurred from 4 to
6 and 1 to 2 Gyr ago. These events accounted, respectively, for approximately
25% and 15% of its stellar mass. The disk field may share a mild enhancement in
SF for the younger episode, and thus we identify the 4 to 6 Gyr episode with
the formation of the LMC bar.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, Latex, also available at
http://www.ps.uci.edu/physics/smeckerhane.html. Accepted for publication in
Ap
Dwarf Cepheids in the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
We have discovered 20 dwarf Cepheids (DC) in the Carina dSph galaxy from the
analysis of individual CCD images obtained for a deep photometric study of the
system. These short-period pulsating variable stars are by far the most distant
(~100 kpc) and faintest (V ~ 23.0) DCs known. The Carina DCs obey a
well-defined period-luminosity relation, allowing us to readily distinguish
between overtone and fundamental pulsators in nearly every case. Unlike RR Lyr
stars, the pulsation mode turns out to be uncorrelated with light-curve shape,
nor do the overtone pulsators tend towards shorter periods compared to the
fundamental pulsators. Using the period-luminosity (PL) relations from Nemec et
al. (1994 AJ, 108, 222) and McNamara (1995, AJ, 109, 1751), we derive (m-M)_0 =
20.06 +/- 0.12, for E(B-V) = 0.025 and [Fe/H] = -2.0, in good agreement with
recent, independent estimates of the distance/reddening of Carina. The error
reflects the uncertainties in the DC distance scale, and in the metallicity and
reddening of Carina. The frequency of DCs among upper main sequence stars in
Carina is approximately 3%. The ratio of dwarf Cepheids to RR Lyr stars in
Carina is 0.13 +/- 0.10, though this result is highly sensitive to the
star-formation history of Carina and the evolution of the Horizontal Branch. We
discuss how DCs may be useful to search effectively for substructure in the
Galactic halo out to Galactocentric distances of ~100 kpc.Comment: 20 pages of text, 7 figure
A Search for Ionized Gas in the Draco and Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
The Wisconsin H Alpha Mapper has been used to set the first deep upper limits
on the intensity of diffuse H alpha emission from warm ionized gas in the Local
Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) Draco and Ursa Minor. Assuming a
velocity dispersion of 15 km/s for the ionized gas, we set limits for the H
alpha intensity of less or equal to 0.024 Rayleighs and less or equal to 0.021
Rayleighs for the Draco and Ursa Minor dSphs, respectively, averaged over our 1
degree circular beam. Adopting a simple model for the ionized interstellar
medium, these limits translate to upper bounds on the mass of ionized gas of
approximately less than 10% of the stellar mass, or approximately 10 times the
upper limits for the mass of neutral hydrogen. Note that the Draco and Ursa
Minor dSphs could contain substantial amounts of interstellar gas, equivalent
to all of the gas injected by dying stars since the end of their main star
forming episodes more than 8 Gyr in the past, without violating these limits on
the mass of ionized gas.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, AASTeX two-column format. Accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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