Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userThe star formation history of the Local Group dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 185: II. Gradients in the stellar population
134
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
David Martinez Delgado
Publication date
1999
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The star formation history of the dE NGC 185, together with its spatial variations, has been investigated using new ground-based $H_alpha$ and $BVI$ photometry, and synthetic color--magnitude diagrams (CMDs). We find that the bulk of the stars were formed in NGC 185 at an early epoch of its evolution. After that, the star formation proceeded at a low rate until the recent past, the age of the most recent traces of star formation activity detected in the galaxy being some 100 Myr. The star formation rate, $psi(t)$ for old and intermediate ages shows a gradient in the sense of taking smaller values for higher galactocentric radii. Moreover, recent star formation is detected in the central $150 times 90$ pc$^2$ only, where the youngest, 100 Myr old population is found. The luminous blue {it stars} discovered by Baade (1951) in the center of NGC 185 are discussed using new CCD images in $B$ and Baades original photographic plates, reaching the conclusion that most of them are in fact star clusters. A consistent picture arises in which the gas observed in the central region of NGC 185 would have an internal origin. The rate at which evolved stars return gas to the ISM is enough to seed the recent star formation observed in the center of the galaxy and the SN rate is probably low enough to allow the galaxy to retain the gas not used in the new stellar generations.
rate research
Read More
In this review I will describe a number of recent advances in extragalactic astronomy. First of all I will describe our current best estimates of the star formation history of the Universe. Then I will describe measurements of local galaxies and their stellar populations, concentrating on measurements of the luminosity functions and stellar population compositions of the different kinds of galaxies. Finally, I will investigate the relationship between these two sets of results. The ultimate aim is to tell at what stage in the history of the Universe the different stars seen in the local galaxies formed. At present much is known but there are significant uncertainties and I will highlight some prospects for the future.
$Lambda$-Warm Dark Matter (WDM) has been proposed as alternative scenario to $Lambda$ cold dark matter (CDM), motivated by discrepancies at the scale of dwarf galaxies, with less small-scale power and realized by collisionless particles with energies in the range $1-3$ keV. We present a new approach to constrain the viability of such WDM models using star formation histories of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the Local Group. We compare their high time-resolution star formation histories (SFHs) obtained with HST-based color magnitude diagrams with the range of possible collapse redshifts of their dark matter halos expected in CDM and in different WDM scenarios. The collapse redshift is inferred after determining a plausible infall mass of the subhalo. This is based on the current mass of individual dwarf inferred from stellar kinematics combined with results of cosmological simulations providing information on the subhalo evolution. Since WDM subhalos close to the filtering mass scale form significantly later than CDM, we show that they are in the first place difficult to reconcile with a truncation of star formation occurring as early as $zgeq 3$. The Ultra-Faint Dwarfs (UFDs) provide the most stringent constraints. Using 6 UFDs with the best determination of the SFHs, we show that we can exclude a 1 keV warm particle to a 2-$sigma$ confidence interval consistently with other methods reported in the literature. For some objects the $2$ keV model is also excluded. We discuss the various caveats of the method, most notably the low number of dwarfs with accurately determined star formation histories and the uncertainties in the determination of the infall mass of the subhalos. Our preliminary analysis serves as a pathfinder for future investigations that will combine upcoming accurate SFHs for more local dSphs with direct analysis of WDM cosmological simulations with baryons.
We present the star formation history (SFH) of the isolated (D~970 kpc) Local Group dwarf galaxy WLM measured from color-magnitude diagrams constructed from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Our observations include a central (0.5 $r_h$) and outer field (0.7 $ r_h$) that reach below the oldest main sequence turnoff. WLM has no early dominant episode of star formation: 20% of its stellar mass formed by ~12.5 Gyr ago (z~5). It also has an SFR that rises to the present with 50% of the stellar mass within the most recent 5 Gyr (z<0.7). There is evidence of a strong age gradient: the mean age of the outer field is 5 Gyr older than the inner field despite being only 0.4 kpc apart. Some models suggest such steep gradients are associated with strong stellar feedback and dark matter core creation. The SFHs of real isolated dwarf galaxies and those from the the Feedback In Realistic Environment suite are in good agreement for $M_{star}(z=0) sim 10^7-10^9 M_{odot}$, but in worse agreement at lower masses ($M_{star}(z=0) sim 10^5-10^7 M_{odot}$). These differences may be explainable by systematics in the models (e.g., reionization model) and/or observations (HST field placement). We suggest that a coordinated effort to get deep CMDs between HST/JWST (crowded central fields) and WFIRST (wide-area halo coverage) is the optimal path for measuring global SFHs of isolated dwarf galaxies.
[abridged] We study the resolved stellar populations and derive the SFH of the SDIG, a gas-rich dwarf galaxy member of the NGC7793 subgroup in the Sculptor group. We construct a CMD using archival HST observations and examine its stellar content. We derive its SFH using a maximum-likelihood fit to the CMD. The CMD shows that SDIG contains stars from 10Myr to several Gyr old, as revealed from the MS, BL, luminous AGB, and RGB stars. The young stars with ages less than ~250Myr show a spatial distribution confined to its central regions, and additionally the young MS stars exhibit an off-center density peak. The intermediate-age and older stars are more spatially extended. SDIG is dominated by intermediate-age stars with an average age of 6.4Gyr. The average metallicity inferred is [M/H]approx -1.5dex. Its SFH is consistent with a constant SFR, except for ages younger than ~200Myr. The lifetime average SFR is 1.3x10^{-3} Mo/yr. More recently than 100Myr, there has been a burst of SF at a rate ~2-3 times higher than the average SFR. The inferred recent SFR from CMD modelling is higher than inferred from the Ha flux of the galaxy; we interpret this to mean that the upper end of the IMF is not being fully sampled due to the low SFR. Additionally, an observed lack of bright blue stars in the CMD could indicate a downturn in SFR on 10^7-yr timescales. A previous SF enhancement appears to have occurred between 600-1100Myr ago, with amplitude similar to the most recent 100Myr. Older bursts of similar peak SFR and duration would not be resolvable with these data. The observed enhancements in SF suggest that SDIG is able to sustain a complex SFH without the effect of interactions with its nearest massive galaxy. Integrating the SFR over the entire history of SDIG yields a total stellar mass 1.77x10^{7}Mo, and a current V-band stellar mass-to-light ratio 3.2Mo/Lo.
We present the deepest optical photometry for any dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxy based on Hubble Space Telescope ACS observations of the Local Group dE galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185. The resulting F606W and F814W color-magnitude diagrams are the first to reach below the main sequence turnoff in a dE galaxy, allowing us to determine full star formation histories in these systems. The ACS fields are located ~1.5 effective radii from the galaxy center to avoid photometric crowding. While our ACS pointings in both dEs show unambiguous evidence for old and intermediate age stars, the mean age in NGC 147 is ~ 4 Gyr younger as compared to NGC 185. In NGC 147, only 40% of stars were in place 12.5 Gyrs ago (z~5), with the bulk of the remaining stellar population forming between 5 to 7 Gyr. In contrast, 70% of stars were formed in NGC 185 field more than12.5 Gyr ago with the majority of the remaining population forming between 8 to 10 Gyr. Star formation ceased in both ACS fields at least 3 Gyr ago. Previous observations in the central regions of NGC 185 show evidence for star formation as recent as 100 Myr ago and a strong metallicity gradient with radius. We suggest that the orbit of NGC 185 has a larger pericenter as compared to NGC 147, allowing it to preserve radial gradients and maintain a small central reservoir of recycled gas. We interpret the inferred differences in star formation histories to imply an earlier infall time into the M31 environment for NGC 185 as compared to NGC 147.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
