The stellar populations of spiral galaxies

We have used a large sample of low-inclination spiral galaxies with radially resolved optical and near-infrared photometry to investigate trends in star formation history with radius as a function of galaxy structural parameters. A maximum-likelihood method was used to match all the available photometry of our sample to the colours predicted by stellar population synthesis models. The use of simplistic star formation histories, uncertainties in the stellar population models and considering the importance of dust all compromise the absolute ages and metallicities derived in this work; however, our conclusions are robust in a relative sense. We find that most spiral galaxies have stellar population gradients, in the sense that their inner regions are older and more metal rich than their outer regions. Our main conclusion is that the surface density of a galaxy drives its star formation history, perhaps through a local density dependence in the star formation law. The mass of a galaxy is a less important parameter; the age of a galaxy is relatively unaffected by its mass; however, the metallicity of galaxies depends on both surface density and mass. This suggests that galaxy‐mass-dependent feedback is an important process in the chemical evolution of galaxies. In addition, there is significant cosmic scatter suggesting that mass and density may not be the only parameters affecting the star formation history of a galaxy.     

Properties of stellar populations in isolated lenticular galaxies

We present the results of observations of a sample of isolated lenticular galaxies, performed at the SCORPIO and SCORPIO-2 spectrographs of the 6-meter BTA telescope of the SAO RAS in the long-slit mode. By direct spectra approximation, using the evolutionary synthesis models, we have measured the radial profiles of the rotation velocity as well as the dispersions of velocities, average age, and average metallicity of stars in 12 objects. The resulting average ages of the stellar population in bulges and discs fill an entire range of possible values from 1.5 to 15 Gyr which indicates the absence in the isolated lenticular galaxies, unlike in the members of groups and clusters, of a certain epoch when the structural components are formed: they could have been formed at a redshift of z > 2 as well as only several billion years ago. Unlike the S0 galaxies in a more dense environment, isolated galaxies typically have the same age of stars in the bulges and discs. The lenses and rings of increased stellar brightness, identified from the photometry of 7 of 11 galaxies, do not significantly differ from the stellar discs by the properties of stellar populations and velocity dispersion of stars. We draw a conclusion that the final arrangement of the morphological type of a lenticular galaxy in complete isolation is critically dependent on the possible modes of accretion of the cold external gas.     

Narrow-band photometry and the stellar populations in elliptical galaxies

The modified Strömgrenuvby filter system, which has been used to investigate the spectrophotometric evolution of elliptical galaxies, is also found to be a powerful tool for the determination of stellar parameters in elliptical galaxies, especially metal content and the stellar type of the dominant population. We present an introduction to the behaviour of the filter system based on comparison to stellar libraries and then explore the results with respect to composite systems: globular clusters, spirals, and ellipticals.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

Kinematics and stellar populations of 17 dwarf early-type galaxies

We present kinematics and stellar population properties of 17 dwarf early-type galaxies in the luminosity range -14 ≥ M _B ≥ -19. Our sample fills the gap between the intensively studied giant elliptical and Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The dwarf ellipticals of the present sample have constant velocity dispersion profiles within their effective radii and do not show significant rotation, hence are clearly anisotropic. The dwarf lenticulars, instead, rotate faster and are, at least partially, supported by rotation. From optical Lick absorption indices, we derive metallicities and element abundances. Combining our sample with literature data of the Local Group dwarf spheroidals and giant ellipticals, we find a surprisingly tight linear correlation between metallicity and luminosity over a wide range: -8 ≥ M _B ≥ -22. The α/Fe ratios of our dwarf ellipticals are significantly lower than the ones of giant elliptical galaxies, which is in agreement with spectroscopy of individual stars in Local Group dwarf spheroidals. Our results suggest the existence of a clear kinematic and stellar population dichotomy between dwarf and giant elliptical galaxies. This result is important for theories of galaxy formation, because it implies that present-day dwarf ellipticals are not the fossiled building blocks of giant ellipticals. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The stellar populations of starburst galaxies through near-infrared spectroscopy

We study the central (inner few hundred parsecs) stellar populations of four starburst galaxies (NGC 34, 1614, 3310 and 7714) in the near-infrared (NIR), from 0.8 to 2.4 μm, by fitting combinations of stellar population models of various ages and metallicities. The NIR spectra of these galaxies feature many absorption lines. For the first time, we fit simultaneously as much as 15 absorption features in the NIR. The observed spectra are best explained by stellar populations containing a sizable amount (20–56 per cent by mass) of ∼1-Gyr-old stellar population with thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch stars. We found that the metallicity of the stars which dominates the light is solar. Metallicities substantially different from solar give a worse fit. Though the ages and metallicities we estimate using the NIR spectroscopy are in agreement with values from the literature based on the ultraviolet/optical, we find older ages and a larger age spread. This may be due to the fact that the optical is mostly sensitive to the last episode of star formation, while the NIR better maintains the record of previous stellar generations. Another interesting result is that the reddening estimated from the whole NIR spectrum is considerably lower than that based on emission lines. Finally, we find a good agreement of the free emission-line spectrum with photoionization models, using as input spectral energy distribution the synthetic composite template we derived as best fit.     

Spectroscopic evolutionary synthesis models of Wolf-Rayet galaxies

We present spectroscopic evolutionary synthesis calculations for starburst galaxies of various metallicities in order to model the broad emission lines HeII 4686 and CIII 4650 produced by Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the spectra of WR galaxies. The strengths of both lines strongly decrease with decreasing metallicity. The presence of WR emission features is a clear indicator of very recent star formation less than 4 to 7 × 10⁶ yr ago. Bursts of duration 1 to 5 × 10⁶ yr which lead to an increase in the total stellar mass in the galaxy by 0.1 to 10 % are compatible with the equivalent width of Hell »4686 observed in WR galaxies.     

Spatially resolved kinematics and stellar populations of brightest cluster and group galaxies

We present an examination of the kinematics and stellar populations of a sample of three brightest group galaxies (BGGs) and three brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray groups and clusters. We have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio Gemini/Gemini South Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) long-slit spectra of these galaxies and use Lick indices to determine ages, metallicities and α-element abundance ratios out to at least their effective radii. We find that the BGGs and BCGs have very uniform masses, central ages and central metallicities. Examining the radial dependence of their stellar populations, we find no significant velocity dispersion, age, or α-enhancement gradients. However, we find a wide range of metallicity gradients, suggesting a variety of formation mechanisms. The range of metallicity gradients observed is surprising, given the homogeneous environment these galaxies probe and their uniform central stellar populations. However, our results are inconsistent with any single model of galaxy formation and emphasize the need for more theoretical understanding of both the origins of metallicity gradients and galaxy formation itself. We postulate two possible physical causes for the different formation mechanisms.     

The link between the masses and central stellar populations of S0 galaxies

Using high signal-to-noise ratio VLT/FORS2 long-slit spectroscopy, we have studied the properties of the central stellar populations and dynamics of a sample of S0 galaxies in the Fornax cluster. The central absorption-line indices in these galaxies correlate well with the central velocity dispersions (σ₀) in accordance with what previous studies found for elliptical galaxies. However, contrary to what it is usually assumed for cluster ellipticals, the observed correlations seem to be driven by systematic age and α-element abundance variations, and not changes in overall metallicity. We also found that the observed scatter in the index–σ₀ relations can be partially explained by the rotationally supported nature of these systems. Indeed, even tighter correlations exist between the line indices and the maximum circular velocity of the galaxies. This study suggests that the dynamical mass is the physical property driving these correlations, and for S0 galaxies such masses have to be estimated assuming a large degree of rotational support. The observed trends imply that the most massive S0s have the shortest star formation time-scales and the oldest stellar populations.     

Old stellar subsystems in dwarf galaxies

Based on archival Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC images, we have performed stellar photometry for eight dwarf galaxies of different types (Irr, S0, E) with a populated horizontal branch on their Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams. We have identified probable RR Lyr stars in these galaxies and constructed the distribution of their number density along the minor axes of the galaxies. For comparison, similar distributions have also been constructed for red giants in the same galaxies. In all cases, the size of the subsystem of RR Lyr stars exceeds that of the subsystem of, on average, younger stars, red giants. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis about expansion of the stellar subsystems in dwarf galaxies that we suggested previously.     

Near-infrared template spectra of normal galaxies: k-corrections, galaxy models and stellar populations

We have observed 28 local galaxies in the wavelength range between 1 and 2.4 μm in order to define template spectra of the normal galaxies along the Hubble sequence. Five galaxies per morphological type were observed in most cases, and the resulting rms spread of the normalized spectra of each class, including both intrinsic differences and observational uncertainties, is about 1 per cent in K , 2 per cent in H and 3 per cent in J . Many absorption features can be accurately measured. The target galaxies and the spectroscopic aperture (7×53 arcsec²) were chosen to be similar to those used by Kinney et al. to define template UV and optical spectra. The two data sets are matched in order to build representative spectra between 0.1 and 2.4 μm. The continuum shape of the optical spectra and the relative normalization of the near-IR ones were set to fit the average effective colours of the galaxies of the various Hubble classes. The resulting spectra are used to compute the k -corrections of the normal galaxies in the near-IR bands, and to check the predictions of various spectral synthesis models: while the shape of the continuum is generally well predicted, large discrepancies are found in the absorption lines. Among the other possible applications, here we also show how these spectra can be used to place constraints on the dominant stellar population in local galaxies. Spectra and k -corrections are publicly available and can be downloaded from the web site http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~filippo/spectra .