蓝致密星系的星族合成

介绍了简单星族的定义和星族合成方法;简述了蓝致密星系的观测特征和研究意义;列出了我们利用北京天文台２ ．１６ ｍ 望远镜已成功观测蓝致密星系样本。在此基础上,我们运用恒星团星族合成方法,分析了一些蓝致密星系的光学谱。给出了它们中年龄和金属丰度不同的星族对星系５８７ｎｍ 处连续谱流量贡献的百分比;同时还给出星系内部恒星形成的历史和内红化值。     

蓝致密星系谱的星族合成

利用星团谱样本的星族合成方法,分析了四个蓝致密星系（ＢｌｕｅＣｏｍｐａｃｔＧａｌａｘｉｅｓ,ＢＣＧ）的光学谱,给出了在各个ＢＣＧ中,年龄和金属丰度不同的星族对星系５８７ｎｍ处连续谱测量贡献的比率,同时还给出了ＢＣＧ内部恒星演化的历史和星系内部的红化值,通过对星系内部星族及光蝗分析,解决了ＢＣＧ研究中存在的这类星系年龄和其内部光学不可见物质等问题,结果表明ＢＣＧ是年老星系,其内部恒星形成过程为长时间     

蓝致密星系谱的星族合成

利用星团谱样本的星族合成方法,分析了四个蓝致密星系（ＢｌｕｅＣｏｍｐａｃｔＧａｌａｘｉｅｓ,ＢＣＧ）的光学谱．给出了在各个ＢＣＧ中,年龄和金属丰度不同的星族对星系５８７ｎｍ处连续谱流量贡献的比率,同时还给出ＢＣＧ内部恒星演化的历史和星系内部的红化值．通过对星系内部星族及光谱的分析,解决了ＢＣＧ研究中存在的这类星系年龄和其内部光学不可见物质等问题．结果表明ＢＣＧ是年老星系,其内部恒星形成过程为长时间的宁静相上叠加有短暂且剧烈恒星形成的爆发,其内部存在光学不可见物质,且至少有一部分为年老的球状星团;根据由光学连续谱和发射线计算星系的内红化值的不同,得出ＢＣＧ星系内部尘埃对连续谱和发射线的产生区遮挡程度不同．     

棒对星系核区恒星形成活动的影响

利用SDSS光谱,研究了IRAS卫星亮红外源星表中的盘状星系中的恒星形成性质,并着重探讨了棒对星系核区恒星形成活动的影响.利用星族合成的方法得到了每个样本星系核区的恒星组成性质、恒星形成活动的强度等信息,并比较了星系整体和核区恒星形成性质的差异.得到的结论:除去相互作用,样本中的棒星系显示出比非棒旋星系更强的核区恒星形成活动和更多的年轻星族成分.     

低面亮度星系的观测特性

光学、近红外、红外、紫外、射电等波段及CO的观测研究表明,低面亮度星系是相对没有充分演化的系统,气体成分比例较高,金属丰度和恒星形成率较低。这样的星系为研究星系的形成和演化提供了新的资料和证据。主要阐述了低面亮度星系的观测特性,包括探测与搜寻、选择效应对观测研究的影响、低面亮度星系的划分、星系的颜色和星族特征、星系的演化和恒星形成、金属丰度、数密度及光度密度;最后,介绍了几个特殊的低面亮度星系。     

双星对早型星系化学演化和冷却函数的影响

通过星族合成方法发现:在星系参数拟合计算中,相比于单星星族,双星星族可以得到更大的年龄和更高的金属丰度,但双星如何影响星系演化仍不清楚.另外,对于早型星系存在的紫外超现象,目前存在两种主流的解释,一种是有年轻的星族形成,另一种是由双星星族中产生的高温天体引起,但具体哪一种形成机制仍不确定.计算了双星演化抛入星际介质的元素,结合星系化学演化模型和MAPPINGS III程序,研究了双星星族对早型星系气体冷却以及星系演化影响.结果显示,相比于单星演化,双星演化使得抛出的物质和金属丰度增加.另外,得到了早型星系紫外超两种机制下,抛入星际介质的各种元素丰度,发现一些元素的丰度比是不同的,这就意味着,这两种机制可以利用元素丰度比和平均金属丰度进一步认证.同时也计算了两种机制下星系的冷却函数,发现双星机制下的冷却更加有效.     

红移z≈1极红天体的研究进展

极红天体(EROs)是指利用光学和近红外两个波段的色指数(如I-K4 mag)挑选出来的一类星系。研究表明极红天体可分为两类:一类是被大量尘埃红化的高红移恒星形成星系,主要是较年轻的旋涡或不规则星系,有恒星正在形成,称为DGs;另一类是由年老星族(≥1 Ga)主导的高红移椭圆星系,基本上没有或仅有弱的恒星形成,简称为OGs。极红天体中这两种不同类型的星系,很可能是近邻大质量星系的前身星系,只是分别代表着不同的形成历史。介绍了不同类型极红天体的各种物理性质的研究进展,如形态和结构、光谱特征、成团性、红移分布和星系计数等,以及阐述了该领域未来的研究方向。     

蓝致密矮星系谱的星族合成

利用星团谱样本的星族合成方法,分析了７个ＢＣＤＧ的光学谱,研究蓝致密矮星系（ＢＣＤＧ）内部的恒星形成历史、能源机制和尘埃分布情况．星族合成结果不仅能够解释ＢＣＤＧ的主要观测特征,解决ＢＣＤＧ研究中存在的一些问题,而且揭示了ＢＣＤＧ的一些未知的特性．谱合成结果表明：ＢＣＤＧ是年老的天体,其内部较早已经有恒星形成发生,恒星形成呈爆发式的,在ｔ＝５×１０７～１０９ｙｒ时的恒星形成率较高,最近（ｔ＝１０７ｙｒ）的恒星形成率开始下降;光谱分析显示大量大质量的年轻恒星提供了ＢＣＤＧ中心区的主要能源．利用扣除恒星吸收影响的发射线光谱,计算了发射线产生区的内红化值,发现它明显大于由连续谱计算得到的内红化值,这种差异的可能解释是ＢＣＤＧ内部尘埃对连续谱和发射线的产生区遮挡程度不同．最后,比较了ＢＣＧ和ＢＣＤＧ星族合成结果,提出了矮星系间一种可能的演化序列．     

E+A星系的研究进展

E+A星系的光谱具有很强的巴耳末吸收线,缺乏与恒星形成相关的发射线,将典型的椭圆星系(E)和A型恒星的光谱进行线性组合就能够拟合出这类星系的光谱.它们的颜色、形态、星族年龄等参数介于典型的早型和晚型星系之间.E+A星系近期经历了星暴活动,在星系演化进程中,它们处于晚型到早型的过渡阶段,可能在演变过程中扮演着重要角色.介...     

疏散星团在近红外波段的巨星支斜率与[Fe/H]的关系以及半人马座矮球状星系中心的金属丰度（英文）

导出了疏散星团在近红外波段的巨星支斜率与[Fe/H]的关系。将这一关系应用于半人马座矮球状星系的中心,得到了金属丰度[Fe/H]=-0.13±0.09。这一富金属星族的存在表明,在几十亿年前,这个星系经历了一次恒星形成过程。     

Nuclear star formation in the hotspot galaxy NGC 2903

We present high-resolution near-infrared imaging obtained using adaptive optics and HST /NICMOS, and ground-based spectroscopy of the hotspot galaxy NGC 2903. Our near-infrared resolution imaging enables us to resolve the infrared hotspots into individual young stellar clusters or groups of these. The spatial distribution of the stellar clusters is not coincident with that of the bright H  ii regions, as revealed by the HST /NICMOS Pa α image. Overall, the circumnuclear star formation in NGC 2903 shows a ring-like morphology with an approximate diameter of 625 pc.
The star formation properties of the stellar clusters and H  ii regions have been studied using the photometric and spectroscopic information in conjunction with evolutionary synthesis models. The population of bright stellar clusters shows a very narrow range of ages, 4–7×10⁶ yr after the peak of star formation, or absolute ages 6.5–9.5×10⁶ yr (for the assumed short-duration Gaussian bursts), and luminosities similar to the clusters found in the Antennae interacting galaxy. This population of young stellar clusters accounts for some 7–12 per cent of the total stellar mass in the central 625 pc of NGC 2903. The H  ii regions in the ring of star formation have luminosities close to that of the supergiant H  ii region 30 Doradus, they are younger than the stellar clusters, and they will probably evolve into bright infrared stellar clusters similar to those observed today. We find that the star formation efficiency in the central regions of NGC 2903 is higher than in normal galaxies, approaching the lower end of infrared luminous galaxies.     

Elliptical Galaxies with Emission Lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

As part of a study of star formation history along the Hubble sequence, we present here the results for 11 elliptical galaxies with strong nebular emission lines.After removing the dilution from the underlying old stellar populations by use of stellar population synthesis model,we derive the accurate fluxes of all the emission lines in these objects,which are then classified,using emission line ratios, into one Seyfert 2,six LINERs and four HII galaxies.We also identify one HII galaxy (A1216 04)as a hitherto unknown Wolf-Rayet galaxy from the presence of the Wolf- Rayet broad bump at 4650 (?).We propose that the star-forming activities in elliptical galaxies are triggered by either galaxy-galaxy interaction or the merging of a small satellite/a massive star cluster,as has been suggested by recent numerical simulations.     

Recent star-forming activity in local elliptical galaxies

The formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies (EGs) are still an open question. In particular, recent observations suggest that EGs are not only simple spheroidal systems of old stars. In this paper, we analyse a sample of EGs selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in order to study the star-forming activity in local EGs. Among these 487 ellipticals, we find that 13 EGs show unambiguous evidence of recent star formation activity betrayed by conspicuous nebular emission lines. Using the evolutionary stellar population synthesis models and Lick absorption line indices, we derive stellar ages, metallicities and α-element abundances, and thus reconstruct the star formation and chemical evolution history of the star-forming elliptical galaxies (SFEGs) in our sample.
We find that SFEGs have relative younger stellar population age, higher metallicity and lower stellar mass, and that their star formation history can be well described by a recent minor and short starburst superimposed on old stellar component. We also detect 11 E+A galaxies whose stellar population properties are closer to those of quiescent (normal) ellipticals than to star-forming ones. However, from the analysis of their absorption line indices, we note that our E+A galaxies show a significant fraction of intermediate-age stellar populations, remarkably different from the quiescent galaxies. This might suggest an evolutionary link between E+As and star-forming ellipticals. Finally, we confirm the relations between age, metallicity, α-element abundance and stellar mass for local EGs.     

The Effect of Bar on Star-forming Activities in Nuclear Regions of Nearby Spiral Galaxies

By using the SDSS spectra, we have studied the star formation properties of the nearby spiral galaxies selected from the Revised Bright Galaxy Sample, and tried to find the effect of bar structure on the star formation activity in the nuclear regions of nearby galaxies. The stellar population composition and the intensity of star formation activities of each sample galaxy are acquired by using the stellar population synthesis code—STARLIGHT, and the star formation properties of nuclear regions are compared with those of integral sample galaxies. We find that the star formation in barred spiral galaxies is more active than that of unbarred spirals, and that barred spirals have younger stellar populations.     

Nuclear Starburst Activity in the Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 2273

We present spectrophotometric results of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2273. The presence of high-order Balmer absorption lines (H8, H9, H10) and weak equivalent widths of Call K A3933, CN A4200, G-band A4300 and MgIb 5173 clearly indicate recent star-forming activity in the nuclear region. Using a simple stellar population synthesis model, we find that for the best fit, the contributions of a power-law featureless continuum, an intermediate-age (~ 108 yr) and an old (> 109yr) stellar population to the total light at the reference normalization wavelength are 10.0%, 33.4% and 56.6%, respectively. The existence of recent starburst activity is also consistent with its high far-infrared luminosity (log LFIR/L = 9.9), its infrared color indexes [a(25,60) = -1.81 and a(60,100) = -0.79, typical values for Seyfert galaxies with circumnuclear starburst], and its q-value (2.23, ratio of infrared to radio flux, very similar to that of normal spirals and starburst galaxies). Byrd et al. have suggested that NGC 2273 mig     

Cooling Flow Star Formation and the Apparent Stellar Ages of Elliptical Galaxies

Simple theoretical arguments indicate that cooled interstellar gas in bright elliptical galaxies forms into a young stellar population having a bottom-heavy but optically luminous initial mass function extending to approximately 2 M middle dot in circle. When the colors and spectral features of this young population are combined with those of the underlying old stellar population, the apparent ages are significantly reduced, similar to the relatively young apparent ages observed in many elliptical galaxies. Galactic mergers are not required to resupply young stars. The sensitivity of continuous star formation to LB and LX&solm0;LB is likely to account for the observed spread in apparent ages among elliptical galaxies. Local star formation is accompanied by enhanced stellar Hbeta equivalent widths, stronger optical emission lines, more thermal X-ray emission, and lower apparent temperatures in the hot gas. The young stars should cause M&solm0;L to vary with galactic radius, perturbing the fundamental plane of the old stars alone.     

Empirical population synthesis for 74 blue compact galaxies

We have observed the largest optical spectra sample of 97 blue compact galaxies. Stellar population properties of 74 star-forming BCGs of them were derived by comparing the equivalent widths of strong absorption features and continuum colors, using a method of empirical population synthesis based on star cluster sample. The results indicate that blue compact galaxies are typically age-composite stellar system, the continuum flux fractions at 5870Å due to old stellar components and young stellar components are both important for most of the galaxies. The stellar populations of blue compact galaxies present a variety of characteristics, and the contribution from different age and metallicity components is different. The star formation episodes are usually short, some galaxies maybe undergoing their first global episode of star formation, while for the most sample galaxies, older stars contribute to at most half the optical emission. Our results suggest that BCGs are old galaxies, in which star formation occurs in short intense burst separated by long quiescent phases.     

Constraining the star formation histories of spiral bulges

Stellar populations in spiral bulges are investigated using the Lick system of spectral indices. Long-slit spectroscopic observations of line strengths and kinematics made along the minor axes of four spiral bulges are reported. Comparisons are made between central line strengths in spiral bulges and those in other morphological types [elliptical, spheroidal (Sph) and S0]. The bulges investigated are found to have central line strengths comparable to those of single stellar populations of approximately solar abundance or above. Negative radial gradients are observed in line strengths, similar to those exhibited by elliptical galaxies. The bulge data are also consistent with correlations between Mg₂, Mg₂ gradient and central velocity dispersion observed in elliptical galaxies. In contrast to elliptical galaxies, central line strengths lie within the loci defining the range of 〈Fe〉 and Mg₂ achieved by Worthey's solar abundance ratio, single stellar populations (SSPs). The implication of solar abundance ratios indicates significant differences in the star formation histories of spiral bulges and elliptical galaxies. A 'single zone with infall' model of galactic chemical evolution, using Worthey's SSPs, is used to constrain the possible star formation histories of our sample. We show that the 〈Fe〉, Mg₂ and H β line strengths observed in these bulges cannot be reproduced using primordial collapse models of formation but can be reproduced by models with extended infall of gas and star formation (2–17 Gyr) in the region modelled. One galaxy (NGC 5689) shows a central population with a luminosity-weighted average age of ∼5 Gyr, supporting the idea of extended star formation. Kinematic substructure, possibly associated with a central spike in metallicity, is observed at the centre of the Sa galaxy NGC 3623.     

Stellar populations in barred spirals

OASIS observations obtained at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope for the spiral galaxies NGC 4900 and NGC 5430 produce one spectrum for each 0.41″ element of the 11″ × 15″ field of view. This allows for the spatial characterisation of the different stellar populations. From these observations we study the young (10 Myr) and older stellar populations using evolutionary synthesis codes. Based on the gas emission lines, we find that the young populations are located in relatively small regions and dominate the integrated flux. In NGC 4900, the young populations are distributed in a bar-like structure featuring a hole near the position of the galaxy’s centre. The young stellar populations of NGC 5430 form a nuclear ring and two patches at the base of the spiral arms. Based on Mg₂ and FeI absorption lines, we find that in both galaxies, the young stars are superimposed on a relatively homogenous population of a few Gyr.