We present the first results of a wide-field mapping survey of the M81 group conducted with Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. Our deep photometry reaches $sim2$ magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and reveals the spatial d
istribution of both old and young stars over an area of $sim 100times115$ kpc at the distance of M81. The young stars ($sim30-160$ Myr old) closely follow the neutral hydrogen distribution and can be found in a stellar stream between M81 and NGC,3077 and in numerous outlying stellar associations, including the known concentrations of Arps Loop, Holmberg,IX, an arc in the halo of M82, BK3N, and the Garland. Many of these groupings do not have counterparts in the RGB maps, suggesting they may be genuinely young systems. Our survey also reveals for the first time the very extended ($geq 2times rm{R_{25}}$) halos of RGB stars around M81, M82 and NGC,3077, as well as faint tidal streams that link these systems. The halos of M82 and NGC,3077 exhibit highly disturbed morphologies, presumably a consequence of the recent gravitational encounter and their ongoing disruption. While the halos of M81, NGC,3077 and the inner halo of M82 have the similar $(g-i)_{0}$ colors, the outer halo of M82 is significantly bluer indicating it is more metal-poor. Remarkably, our deep panoramic view of the M81 group demonstrates that the complexity long-known to be present in HI is equally matched in the low surface brightness stellar component.
We determined chemical abundances of the Extremely Metal-Poor (EMP) star S15-19 ([Fe/H]=-3.0) in the Sextans dwarf galaxy. While heavy neutron-capture elements (e.g., Ba) are generally deficient in EMP stars in dwarf galaxies, this object was shown t
o have an exceptional over-abundance of Ba ([Ba/Fe] +0.5) by a previous study, which is similar to those of r-process-enhanced stars found in the field halo. Our new high-resolution spectroscopy for this object for the blue region, however, reveals that no clear excess of r-process elements, like Eu, appears in this object. Moreover, a significant excess of carbon ([C/Fe]= +1.0) and a deficiency of Sr ([Sr/Fe] = -1.4) are found for this object. Taking the variation of radial velocities measured at the two different epochs into consideration, the origin of the excesses of heavy neutron-capture elements in S15-19 is not the r-process, but is the s-process in an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star that was the binary companion (primary) of this object. Carbon- and s-process-enhanced material should have been transferred to the surface of S15-19 across the binary system. These results are compared with carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in the field halo.
Results are presented from NIR spectroscopy of a sample of BzK-selected, massive star-forming galaxies (sBzKs) at 1.5<z<2.3 that were obtained with OHS/CISCO at Subaru and with SINFONI at VLT. Among the 28 sBzKs observed, Ha emission was detected in
14 objects, and for 11 of them the [NII]6583 was also measured. Multiwavelength photometry was also used to derive stellar masses and extinction parameters, whereas Ha and [NII] have allowed us to estimate SFR, metallicities, ionization mechanisms, and dynamical masses. In order to enforce agreement between SFRs from Ha with those derived from rest-frame UV and MIR, additional obscuration for the emission lines (that originate in HII regions) was required compared to the extinction derived from the slope of the UV continuum. We have also derived the stellar mass-metallicity relation, as well as the relation between stellar mass and specific SFR, and compared them to the results in other studies. At a given stellar mass, the sBzKs appear to have been already enriched to metallicities close to those of local star-forming galaxies of similar mass. The sBzKs presented here tend to have higher metallicities compared to those of UV-selected galaxies, indicating that NIR selected galaxies tend to be a chemically more evolved population. The sBzKs show specific SFRs that are systematically higher, by up to ~2 orders of magnitude, compared to those of local galaxies of the same mass. The empirical correlations between stellar mass and metallicity, and stellar mass and specific SFR are then compared with those of population synthesis models constructed either with the simple closed-box assumption, or within an infall scenario. Within the assumptions that are built-in such models, it appears that a short timescale for the star-formation (~100 Myr) and large initial gas mass appear to be required if one wants to reproduce both relations simultaneously.
We report a discovery of an extended globular-like star cluster, M33-EC1, at the outer edge of the spiral galaxy M33. The distance to the cluster is 890 kpc, and it lies at a 12.5 kpc projected distance from the center of M33. Old age (>~7 Gyr) and l
ow metallicity ([M/H] <~ -1.4) are estimated on the basis of isochrone fits. Color-magnitude diagrams of stars, located in the clusters area, photometric and structural parameters of the cluster are presented. Clusters luminosity (M_V = -6.6) and half-light radius (r_h = 20.3 pc) are comparable to those of the extended globular clusters, discovered in more luminous Local Group galaxies, the Milky Way and M31. Extended globular clusters are suspected to be remnants of accreted dwarf galaxies, and the finding of such a cluster in the late-type dwarf spiral galaxy M33 would imply a complex merging history in the past.
