We present an updated catalog of 1300 objects in the field of M31, including 670 likely star clusters of various types, the rest being stars or background galaxies once thought to be clusters. The coordinates in the catalog are accurate to 0.2", and are based on images from the Local Group Survey (LGS) or from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS). Archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images and the LGS were inspected to confirm cluster classifications where possible, but most of the classifications are based on spectra taken of ~1000 objects with the Hectospec fiber positioner and spectrograph on the 6.5m MMT.
We present new high signal-to-noise spectroscopic data on the M31 globular cluster (GC) system, obtained with the Hectospec multifiber spectrograph on the 6.5m MMT. More than 300 clusters have been observed at a resolution of 5{AA} and with a median S/N of 75 per{AA}, providing velocities with a median uncertainty of 6km/s. The primary focus of this paper is the determination of mean cluster metallicities, ages, and reddenings. Metallicities were estimated using a calibration of Lick indices with [Fe/H] provided by Galactic GCs.
We carry out a joint spatial-kinematical-metallicity analysis of globular clusters (GCs) around the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), using a homogeneous, high-quality spectroscopic data set. In particular, we remove the contaminating young clusters that have plagued many previous analyses. We find that the clusters can be divided into three major metallicity groups based on their radial distributions: (1) an inner metal-rich group ([Fe/H]>-0.4); (2) a group with intermediate metallicity (with median [Fe/H]=-1); and (3) a metal-poor group, with [Fe/H]. The metal-rich group has kinematics and spatial properties like those of the disk of M31, while the two more metal-poor groups show mild prograde rotation overall, with larger dispersions --in contrast to previous claims of stronger rotation. The metal-poor GCs are the least concentrated group; such clusters occur five times less frequently in the central bulge than do clusters of higher metallicity. Despite some well-known differences between the M31 and Milky Way GC systems, our revised analysis points to remarkable similarities in their chemodynamical properties, which could help elucidate the different formation stages of galaxies and their GCs. In particular, the M31 results motivate further exploration of a metal-rich GC formation mode in situ, within high-redshift, clumpy galactic disks.
In this paper we derive ages and masses for 276 clusters in the merger galaxy NGC 3256. This was achieved by taking accurate photometry in four wavebands from archival Hubble Space Telescope images. Photometric measurements are compared to synthetic stellar population (SSP) models to find the most probable age, mass and extinction. The cluster population of NGC 3256 reveals an increase in the star formation rate (SFR) over the last 100Myr and the initial cluster mass function (ICMF) is best described by a power-law relation with slope alpha=1.85+/-0.12.
We present deep near-infrared images of the Antennae galaxies, taken with the Palomar Wide-Field Infrared Camera (WIRC). The images cover a 4.33'x4'33' (24.7x24.7kpc) area around the galaxy interaction zone. We derive J- and K_s_-band photometric fluxes for 172 infrared star clusters and discuss details of the two galactic nuclei and the overlap region.
Star formation activities in MaNGA low-mass galaxies
Short Name:
J/ApJ/894/57
Date:
03 Dec 2021 00:39:35
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We explore the environmental influences on the star formation (SF) in low-mass galaxies with stellar mass 8<=log(M_*_/M_{sun}_)<=10 at a redshift of 0.01<z<0.07. We identify the neighboring galaxies for our sample using the spectroscopically observed galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our 287 selected pair candidates have a neighboring galaxy with a stellar mass ratio of M_Neighbor_/M_Candidate_<=4 at a projected separation within d_proj_<=1500kpc and a line-of-sight kinematic separation of {Delta}v_LOS_<=300km/s. Our control galaxies are isolated from other galaxies within a projected radius of 1500kpc. All selected galaxies in our sample are spectroscopically observed by the fourth generation of SDSS/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (SDSS-IV/MaNGA) integral field spectroscopy survey. We radially bin our selected galaxies into three regions with a radial distance of 0<=R/R_e_<=0.5 (inner), 0.5<=R/R_e_<=1.0 (middle), and 1.0<=R/R_e_<=1.5 (outer), in which R_e_ is the effective radius at where the galaxy emit half of its light. We conclude that the SF activities in low-mass galaxies are affected by their environmental conditions when {Delta}v_LOS_<=100km/s at d_proj_<=400kpc. We use stellar-mass-weighted SF rate surface density ({Sigma}SFR/M_*_) to describe the SF strength in each radially binned region. For the pair candidates with 0.25<=M_Neighbor_/M_Candidate_<=4 at d_proj_<=100kpc and {Delta}v_LOS_<=100km/s, we observe an SF enhancement of f_{Delta}SF_=1.75+/-0.96 (f_{Delta}SF_=[({Sigma}SFR/M_*_)_Pair_-({Sigma}SFR/M_*_)_Control,mean_] /({Sigma}SFR/M_*_)_Control,mean_) in their inner regions, which decreases with increasing galactic radii.
We propose an "extended Schmidt law" with explicit dependence of the star formation efficiency (SFE=SFR/M_gas_) on the stellar mass surface density ({Sigma}_star_). This relation has a power-law index of 0.48+/-0.04 and a 1{sigma} observed scatter on the SFE of 0.4 dex, which holds over five orders of magnitude in the stellar density for individual global galaxies, including various types and especially the low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies that deviate significantly from the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) law. When applying it to regions of a sample of 12 spiral galaxies at sub-kiloparsec resolution, the extended Schmidt law not only holds for LSB regions but also shows significantly smaller scatters both within and across galaxies compared with the KS law. We argue that this new relation points to the role of existing stars in regulating the SFE, thus better encoding the star formation physics. Comparison with physical models of star formation recipes shows that the extended Schmidt law can be reproduced by some models including gas free fall in a stellar-gravitational potential and pressure-supported star formation. By implementing this new law into the analytic model of gas accretion in {Lambda}CDM, we show that it can reproduce the observed main sequence of star-forming galaxies (a relation between the SFR and stellar mass) from z=0 up to z=2.
We measure the star formation efficiency (SFE), the star formation rate (SFR) per unit of gas, in 23 nearby galaxies and compare it with expectations from proposed star formation laws and thresholds. We use HI maps from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) and derive H_2_ maps of CO measured by HERA CO-Line Extragalactic Survey and Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association Survey of Nearby Galaxies. We estimate the SFR by combining Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) far-ultraviolet maps and the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) 24um maps, infer stellar surface density profiles from SINGS 3.6um data, and use kinematics from THINGS.
We present uniformly measured star formation histories (SFHs) of 40 Local Group (LG) dwarf galaxies based on color-magnitude diagram (CMD) analysis from archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging. We demonstrate that accurate SFHs can be recovered from CMDs that do not reach the oldest main sequence turn-off (MSTO), but emphasize that the oldest MSTO is critical for precisely constraining the earliest epochs of star formation. We find that: (1) the average lifetime SFHs of dwarf spheroidals (dSphs) can be approximated by an exponentially declining SFH with {tau} ~ 5 Gyr; (2) lower luminosity dSphs are less likely to have extended SFHs than more luminous dSphs; (3) the average SFHs of dwarf irregulars (dIrrs), transition dwarfs, and dwarf ellipticals can be approximated by the combination of an exponentially declining SFH ({tau} ~ 3-4 Gyr) for lookback ages >10-12 Gyr ago and a constant SFH thereafter; (4) the observed fraction of stellar mass formed prior to z = 2 ranges considerably (80% for galaxies with M < 10^5^ M_{sun}_ to 30% for galaxies with M > 10^7^ M_{sun}_) and is largely explained by environment; (5) the distinction between "ultra-faint" and "classical" dSphs is arbitrary; (6) LG dIrrs formed a significantly higher fraction of stellar mass prior to z = 2 than the Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies from Leitner and the SFHs from the abundance matching models of Behroozi et al. This may indicate higher than expected star formation efficiencies at early times in low mass galaxies. Finally, we provide all the SFHs in tabulated electronic format for use by the community.
We investigated the properties of the host galaxies of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We used radio emission around the nuclei of the host galaxies to represent AGN activity and used infrared (IR) emission to represent the star-forming activity and stellar population of the host galaxies. We determined that active galaxies have higher stellar masses (SMs) within the central kiloparsec radius than normal galaxies do independent of the Hubble types of the host galaxies; but both active and normal galaxies exhibit similar specific star formation rates (SSFRs), ranging between 10^-10.5^ and 10^-9.5^/yr. We find that the central SM surface density might be used as an indicator to identify AGNs. We also discovered that certain AGNs exhibit substantial inner stellar structures in the IR images; most of the AGNs with inner structures are Seyferts, whereas only a few LINERs exhibit inner structures. We note that the AGNs with inner structures show a positive correlation between the radio activity of the AGNs and the SFRs of the host galaxies, but the sources without inner structures show a negative correlation between the radio power and the SFRs. These results might be explained with a scenario of starburst-AGN evolution. In this scenario, AGN activities are triggered following a nuclear starburst; during the evolution, AGN activities are accompanied by SF activity in the inner regions of the host galaxies; at the final stage of the evolution, the AGNs might transform into LINERs, exhibiting weak SF activity in the central regions of the host galaxies.
