It is widely accepted that the distribution function of the masses of young star clusters is universal and can be purely interpreted as a probability density distribution function with a constant upper mass limit. As a result of this picture the mass
es of the most-massive objects are exclusively determined by the size of the sample. Here we show, with very high confidence, that the masses of the most-massive young star clusters in M33 decrease with increasing galactocentric radius in contradiction to the expectations from a model of a randomly sampled constant cluster mass function with a constant upper mass limit. Pure stochastic star formation is thereby ruled out. We use this example to elucidate how naive analysis of data can lead to unphysical conclusions.
We analyze the relationship between maximum cluster mass, and surface densities of total gas (Sigma_gas), molecular gas (Sigma_H_2), neutral gas (Sigma_HI) and star formation rate (Sigma_SFR) in the grand design galaxy M51, using published gas data a
nd a catalog of masses, ages, and reddenings of more than 1800 star clusters in its disk, of which 223 are above the cluster mass distribution function completeness limit. We find for clusters older than 25 Myr that M_3rd, the median of the 5 most massive clusters, is proportional to Sigma_HI^0.4. There is no correlation with Sigma_gas, Sigma_H2, or Sigma_SFR. For clusters younger than 10 Myr, M_3rd is proportional to Sigma_HI^0.6, M_3rd is proportional to Sigma_gas^0.5; there is no correlation with either Sigma_H_2 or Sigma_SFR. The results could hardly be more different than those found for clusters younger than 25 Myr in M33. For the flocculent galaxy M33, there is no correlation between maximum cluster mass and neutral gas, but M_3rd is proportional to Sigma_gas^3.8; M_3rd is proportional to Sigma_H_2^1.2; M_3rd proportional to Sigma_SFR^0.9. For the older sample in M51, the lack of tight correlations is probably due to the combination of the strong azimuthal variations in the surface densities of gas and star formation rate, and the cluster ages. These two facts mean that neither the azimuthal average of the surface densities at a given radius, nor the surface densities at the present-day location of a stellar cluster represent the true surface densities at the place and time of cluster formation. In the case of the younger sample, even if the clusters have not yet traveled too far from their birthsites, the poor resolution of the radio data compared to the physical sizes of the clusters results in measured Sigmas that are likely quite diluted compared to the actual densities relevant for the formation of the clusters.
Azimuthal age/color gradients across spiral arms are a signature of long-lived spirals. From a sample of 19 normal (or weakly barred) spirals where we have previously found azimuthal age/color gradient candidates, 13 objects were further selected if
a two-armed grand-design pattern survived in a surface density stellar mass map. Mass maps were obtained from optical and near-infrared imaging, by comparing with a Monte Carlo library of stellar population synthesis models that allowed us to obtain the mass-to-light ratio in the J band, (M/L)_J, as a function of (g-i) versus (i-J) color. The selected spirals were analyzed with Fourier methods in search for other signatures of long-lived modes related to the gradients, such as the gradient divergence toward corotation, and the behavior of the phase angle of the two-armed spiral in different wavebands, as expected from theory. The results show additional signatures of long-lived spirals in at least 50% of the objects.
We analyze the relationship between maximum cluster mass, M_max, and surface densities of total gas (Sigma_gas), molecular gas (Sigma_H2) and star formation rate (Sigma_SFR) in the flocculent galaxy M33, using published gas data and a catalog of more
than 600 young star clusters in its disk. By comparing the radial distributions of gas and most massive cluster masses, we find that M_max is proportional to Sigma_gas^4.7, M_max is proportional Sigma_H2^1.3, and M_max is proportional to Sigma_SFR^1.0. We rule out that these correlations result from the size of sample; hence, the change of the maximum cluster mass must be due to physical causes.
Assuming that density waves trigger star formation, and that young stars preserve the velocity components of the molecular gas where they are born, we analyze the effects that non-circular gas orbits have on color gradients across spiral arms. We try
two approaches, one involving semi-analytical solutions for spiral shocks, and another with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulation data. We find that, if non-circular motions are ignored, the comparison between observed color gradients and stellar population synthesis models would in principle yield pattern speed values that are systematically too high for regions inside corotation, with the difference between the real and the measured pattern speeds increasing with decreasing radius. On the other hand, image processing and pixel averaging result in systematically lower measured spiral pattern speed values, regardless of the kinematics of stellar orbits. The net effect is that roughly the correct pattern speeds are recovered, although the trend of higher measured $Omega_p$ at lower radii (as expected when non-circular motions exist but are neglected) should still be observed. We examine the Martinez-Garcia et al. (2009) photometric data and confirm that this is indeed the case. The comparison of the size of the systematic pattern speed offset in the data with the predictions of the semi-analytical and MHD models corroborates that spirals are more likely to end at Outer Lindblad Resonance, as these authors had already found.
We present optical and IR integrated colours and SBF magnitudes, computed from stellar population synthesis models that include emission from the dusty envelopes surrounding TP-AGB stars undergoing mass-loss. We explore the effects of varying the mas
s-loss rate by one order of magnitude around the fiducial value, modifying accordingly both the stellar parameters and the output spectra of the TP-AGB stars plus their dusty envelopes. The models are single burst, and range in age from a few Myr to 14 Gyr, and in metallicity between $Z$ = 0.0001 and $Z$ = 0.07; they combine new calculations for the evolution of stars in the TP-AGB phase, with star plus envelope SEDs produced with the radiative transfer code DUSTY. We compare these models to optical and near-IR data of single AGB stars and Magellanic star clusters. This comparison validates the current understanding of the role of mass-loss in determining stellar parameters and spectra in the TP-AGB. However, neither broad-band colours nor SBF measurements in the optical or the near-IR can discern global changes in the mass-loss rate of a stellar population. We predict that mid-IR SBF measurements can pick out such changes, and actually resolve whether a relation between metallicity and mass-loss exists.
Relying on infrared surface brightness fluctuactions to trace AGB properties in a sample of elliptical galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax clusters, we assess the puzzling origin of the UV-upturn phenomenon, recently traced down to the presence of a hot
horizontal branch stellar component. We find that the UV-upturn actually signals a profound change in the c-m diagram of stellar populations in elliptical galaxies, involving both the hot stellar component and red-giant evolution.
