The impact of alpha/Fe enhanced stellar evolutionary tracks on the ages of elliptical galaxies

We complement our study of alpha/Fe enhanced stellar population models of Lick absorption indices (Thomas et al. 2003) by comparing two sets of alpha/Fe enhanced models. In both models the impact on Lick indices due to alpha/Fe enhancement is accounted for through a modification of the stellar absorption line-strengths using the response functions of Tripicco & Bell (1995). One set of models, however, uses solar-scaled, the other alpha/Fe enhanced stellar evolutionary tracks. Since the alpha/Fe enhanced tracks are hotter than the solar-scaled ones (Salasnich et al. 2000), the correspondent stellar population models have slightly weaker metallic indices (i.e. Mgb, etc.) and stronger Balmer line indices (Hbeta) (Maraston et al 2003). Here we explore quantitatively the impact of this effect on the alpha/Fe ratios, metallicities and ages that are derived for elliptical galaxies. We find that the modest decrease of the metallic indices Mgb and balance each other, such that fully consistent alpha/Fe ratios are derived for stellar systems using alpha/Fe enhanced models with either solar-scaled or alpha/Fe enhanced stellar tracks. The decrease of the metallic indices and the increase of Hbeta conspire in a way that also consistent metallicities are obtained. The derived ages, instead, are significantly different. The inclusion of alpha/Fe enhanced stellar tracks leads to the derivation of ages as high as 30 Gyr for elliptical galaxies. For the same objects, ages not older than 15 Gyr are obtained, if alpha/Fe enhanced models using solar-scaled tracks are adopted. This may indicate that current stellar evolutionary models overestimate the bluing of stellar evolutionary tracks due to alpha/Fe enhanced chemical mixtures at super-solar metallicities.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by A&

Line-strength indices and velocity dispersions for 148 early-type galaxies in different environments

We have derived high quality line-strength indices and velocity dispersions for a sample of 148 early-type galaxies in different environments. The wavelength region covered by the observations ($\lambda \simeq 4600$ to 6600 Å) includes the Lick/IDS indices H${\beta}$, Mg1, Mg2, Mgb, Fe5015, Fe5270, Fe5335, Fe5406, Fe5709, Fe5782, NaD, TiO1 and TiO2. The data are intended to address possible differences of the stellar populations of early-type galaxies in low- and high-density environments. This paper describes the sample properties, explains the data reduction and presents the complete list of all the measurements. Most galaxies of the sample (85%) had no previous measurements of any Lick/IDS indices and for 30% of the galaxies we present first-time determinations of their velocity dispersions. Special care is taken to identify galaxies with emission lines. We found that 62 per cent of the galaxies in the sample have emission lines, as measured by the equivalent width of the [OIII] 5007Å line, EW[OIII] > 0.3 Å

The nature of the red disk-like galaxies at high redshift: dust attenuation and intrinsically red stellar populations

We investigate which conditions of dust attenuation and stellar populations allow models of dusty, continuously star-forming, bulge-less disk galaxies at 0.8<z<3.2 to meet the different colour selection criteria of high-z ``red'' galaxies (e.g. Rc-K>5.3, Ic-K>4, J-K>2.3). As a main novelty, we use stellar population models that include the thermally pulsating Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) phase of stellar evolution. The star formation rate of the models declines exponentially as a function of time, the e-folding time being longer than 3 Gyr. In addition, we use calculations of radiative transfer of the stellar and scattered radiation through different dusty interstellar media in order to explore the wide parameter space of dust attenuation. We find that synthetic disks can exhibit red optical/near-infrared colours because of reddening by dust, but only if they have been forming stars for at least about 1 Gyr. Extremely few models barely exhibit Rc-K>5.3, if the inclination i=90 deg and if the opacity 2*tauV>6. Hence, Rc-K-selected galaxies at 1<z<2 most probably are either systems with an old, passively evolving bulge or starbursts. Synthetic disks at 1<z<2 exhibit 4<Ic-K<4.8, if they are seen edge on (i.e. at i about 90 deg) and if 2*tauV>0.5. This explains the large fraction of observed, edge-on disk-like galaxies with Ks4. Finally, models with 2<z<3.2 exhibit 2.3<J-K<3, with no bias towards i about 90 deg and for a large range in opacity (e.g. 2*tauV>1 for i about 70 deg). In conclusion, red disk-like galaxies at 0.8<z<3.2 may not necessarily be dustier than nearby disk galaxies (with 0.5<2*tauV<2) and/or much older than about 1 Gyr. This result is due both to a realistic description of dust attenuation and to the emission contribution by TP-AGB stars... (Abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 8 ps figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The evolution of the color gradients of early-type cluster galaxies

We investigate the origin of color gradients in cluster early-type galaxies to probe whether pure age or pure metallicity gradients can explain the observed data in local and distant (z approx 0.4) samples. We measure the surface brightness profiles of the 20 brightest early-type galaxies of CL0949+44 (hereafter CL0949) at redshift z=0.35-0.38 from HST WF2 frames taken in the filters F555W, F675W, F814W. We determine the color profiles (V-R)(r), (V-I)(r), and (R-I)(r) as a function of the radial distance r in arcsec, and fit logarithmic gradients in the range -0.2 to 0.1 mag per decade. These values are similar to what is found locally for the colors (U-B), (U-V), (B-V) which approximately match the (V-R), (V-I), (R-I) at redshift approx 0.4. We analyse the results with up to date stellar population models. We find that passive evolution of metallicity gradients (approx 0.2 dex per radial decade) provides a consistent explanation of the local and distant galaxies' data. Invoking pure age gradients (with fixed metallicity) to explain local color gradients produces too steep gradients at redshifts z approx 0.4. Pure age gradients are consistent with the data only if large present day ages (>=15 Gyr) are assumed for the galaxy centers.Comment: 23 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in A&

Modeling the color evolution of luminous red galaxies - improvements with empirical stellar spectra

Predicting the colors of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been a long-standing problem. The g,r,i colors of LRGs are inconsistent with stellar population models over the redshift range 0.1<z<0.7. The g-r colors in the models are on average redder than the data while the r-i colors in the models are bluer towards low redshift. Beyond redshift 0.4, the predicted r-i color becomes instead too red, while the predicted g-r agrees with the data. We provide a solution to this problem, through a combination of new astrophysics and a fundamental change to the stellar population modeling. We find that the use of the empirical library of Pickles (1998) instead of theoretical spectra modifies the predicted colors exactly in the way suggested by the data. The reason is a lower flux in the empirical libraries, with respect to the theoretical ones, in the wavelength range 5500-6500 AA. The discrepancy increases with decreasing effective temperature independently of gravity. This result has general implications for a variety of studies from globular clusters to high-redshift galaxies. The astrophysical part of our solution regards the composition of the stellar populations of these massive Luminous Red Galaxies. We find that on top of the previous effect one needs to consider a model in which ~3% of the stellar mass is in old metal-poor stars. Other solutions such as substantial blue Horizontal Branch at high metallicity or young stellar populations can be ruled out by the data. Our new model provides a better fit to the g-r and r-i colors of LRGs and gives new insight into the formation histories of these most massive galaxies. Our model will also improve the k- and evolutionary corrections for LRGs which are critical for fully exploiting present and future galaxy surveys.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters. High resolution version available at http://www.maraston.eu/Maraston_etal_2008.pd

The Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS) - Number density evolution of massive field galaxies to z ~ 1.2 as derived from the K-band selected survey

We derive the number density evolution of massive field galaxies in the redshift range 0.4 < z < 1.2 using the K-band selected field galaxy sample from the Munich Near-IR Cluster Survey (MUNICS). We rely on spectroscopically calibrated photometric redshifts to determine distances and absolute magnitudes in the rest-frame K-band. To assign mass-to-light ratios, we use an approach which maximizes the stellar mass for any K-band luminosity at any redshift. We take the mass-to-light ratio, M/L_K, of a Simple Stellar Population (SSP) which is as old as the universe at the galaxy's redshift as a likely upper limit. This is the most extreme case of pure luminosity evolution and in a more realistic model M/L_K will probably decrease faster with redshift due to increased star formation. We compute the number density of galaxies more massive than 2 10^10 h^-2 solar masses, 5 10^10 h^-2 solar masses, and 1 10^11 h^-2 solar masses, finding that the integrated stellar mass function is roughly constant for the lowest mass limit and that it decreases with redshift by a factor of roughly 3 and by a factor of roughly 6 for the two higher mass limits, respectively. This finding is in qualitative agreement with models of hierarchical galaxy formation, which predict that the number density of ~ M* objects is fairly constant while it decreases faster for more massive systems over the redshift range our data probe.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

The Mass Function of Field Galaxies at 0.4 < z < 1.2 Derived From the MUNICS K-Selected Sample

We derive the number density evolution of massive field galaxies in the redshift range 0.4 < z < 1.2 using the K-band selected field galaxy sample from the Munich Near-IR Cluster Survey (MUNICS). We rely on spectroscopically calibrated photometric redshifts to determine distances and absolute magnitudes in the rest-frame K-band. To assign mass-to-light ratios, we use two different approaches. First, we use an approach which maximizes the stellar mass for any K-band luminosity at any redshift. We take the mass-to-light ratio of a Simple Stellar Population (SSP) which is as old as the universe at the galaxy's redshift as a likely upper limit. Second, we assign each galaxy a mass-to-light ratio by fitting the galaxy's colours against a grid of composite stellar population models and taking their M/L. We compute the number density of galaxies more massive than 2 x 10^10 h^-2 Msun, 5 x 10^10 h^-2 Msun, and 1 x 10^11 h^-2 Msun, finding that the integrated stellar mass function is roughly constant for the lowest mass limit and that it decreases with redshift by a factor of ~ 3 and by a factor of ~ 6 for the two higher mass limits, respectively. This finding is in qualitative agreement with models of hierarchical galaxy formation, which predict that the number density of ~ M* objects is fairly constant while it decreases faster for more massive systems over the redshift range our data probe.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the ESO/USM Workshop "The Mass of Galaxies at Low and High Redshift", Venice (Italy), October 24-26, 200

Stellar population models at high spectral resolution

We present new, high-to-intermediate spectral resolution stellar population models, based on four popular libraries of empirical stellar spectra, namely Pickles, ELODIE, STELIB and MILES. These new models are the same as our previous models, but with higher resolution and based on empirical stellar spectra, while keeping other ingredients the same including the stellar energetics, the atmospheric parameters and the treatment of the Thermally-Pulsating Asymptotic Giant Branch and the Horizontal Branch morphology. We further compute very high resolution (R=20,000) models based on the theoretical stellar library MARCS which extends to the near-infrared. We therefore provide merged high resolution stellar population models, extending from ~1000 AA to 25,000 AA. We compare how these libraries perform in stellar population models and highlight spectral regions where discrepancies are found. We confirm our previous findings that the flux around the V-band is lower (in a normalised sense) in models based on empirical libraries than in those based on the BaSeL-Kurucz library, which results in a bluer B-V colour. Most noticeably the theoretical library MARCS gives results fully consistent with the empirical libraries. This same effect is also found in other models using MILES, namely Vazdekis et al. and Conroy & Gunn, even though the latter authors reach the opposite conclusion. The bluer predicted B-V colour (by 0.05 magnitudes in our models) is in better agreement with both the colours of Luminous Red Galaxies and globular cluster data. We test the models on their ability to reproduce, through full spectral fitting, the ages and metallicities of galactic globular clusters as derived from CMD fitting and find overall good agreement. {Abridged}Comment: 30 pages, 36 figures, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in pres