The ages and metallicities of post-starburst stellar populations

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

4

Scientific paper

Starbursts are surmised to be key contributors to such astrophysical phenomena as the Butcher-Oemler effect and the appearance of galactic merger remnants. Characterizing the stellar populations formed in starbursts can place important constraints on the theoretical descriptions of the interactions which produced the starburst. A technique for accurately determining the ages and metallicities of post-starburst stellar populations is presented. Through integrated light spectroscopy, it uses two spectral absorption feature indices, Hδ/Fe I λ4045 and Ca II, as well as an index based on the height of the Balmer discontinuity. These indices are demonstrated to be sensitive to age for young stellar populations. The indices are able to separate the effects of burst strength from burst age in a spectrum comprised of a post-starburst population and an underlying old stellar population. Observed indices for post-starburst populations are compared to evolutionary synthesis models, which formulate the theoretical spectral index behavior as a function of age and metallicity. The method is applied to a set of stellar systems to simultaneously determine the ages and metallicities of several different types of starburst populations. The stellar systems include a sample of Magellanic Cloud star clusters, a group of recent post-starburst galaxies, and the suspected merger remnant NGC 5018. The derived ages are shown to be consistent with previous determinations.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The ages and metallicities of post-starburst stellar populations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The ages and metallicities of post-starburst stellar populations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The ages and metallicities of post-starburst stellar populations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1107008

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.