|
Description
The paper is the first of a series (Longhetti et al., 1998A&AS..130..267L, 1998b (Paper III) in press) dedicated to the study of the star formation history in early-type galaxies which show fine structures and/or interaction signatures. It presents nuclear line-strength indices for a sample composed of 21 shell galaxies, from the Malin & Carter (1983ApJ...274..534M) southern survey, and 30 members of isolated interacting pairs, from the Reduzzi & Rampazzo (1995ApL....30....1R) catalogue, located in low density environments. The spectral range covers 3700{AA}<{lambda}<5700{AA} at 2.1{AA}FWHM resolution. We measure 16 red ({lambda}>4200{AA}) indices defined by the Lick Group. Measures have been transformed into the Lick-IDS ``standard'' system. The procedure has been tested on a set of 5 elliptical galaxies selected from the Gonzalez (1993, Ph.D. thesis) sample. We derive also three blue ({lambda}<4200) indices, namely {DELTA}(4000{AA}) defined by Hamilton (1985ApJ...297..371H), H+K(CaII) and Hdelta/FeI defined by Rose (1984AJ.....89.1238R, 1985AJ.....90.1927R). Blue indices are correlated to the age of the last starburst occurred in a galaxy (Leonardi & Rose, 1996AJ....111..182L). The indices determination, the estimate of the measurement errors and the correction for the galaxies velocity dispersions are discussed in detail. In the Appendix A we present the indices for a set of hot stars (T>10000K) which may be used for extending, toward high temperatures, Worthey (1992, Ph.D. Thesis) fitting functions.
|
