Spectroscopy and Imaging of Starburst Knots in Wolf-Rayet Galaxies

Physics

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Hst Proposal Id #5900 Stellar Populations

Scientific paper

Wolf-Rayet (W-R) galaxies are a subset of starburst galaxies observed at a propitious moment, soon after the onset of the burst of star formation, when a large number of the most massive stars have evolved to the W-R stage. HST UV images of 17 of these galaxies, obtained as part of Cycle 2, revealed that the O, B, and W-R stars in the starbursts are clustered within intense, compact knots. We now propose a detailed investigation, employing both optical images and UV spectra, of the recently discovered starburst knots in 3 such W-R galaxies: He2-10, NGC3125, and NGC1741. WFPC2 optical photometry of individual knots will be used with spectral synthesis models to constrain the ages of the starburst events in the knots. If the initial mass function is ``normal'', and there are no lower mass cut-offs in this kind of star formation, the superior imaging of HST should allow detection of the knots in contrast against the host galaxy continuum. GHRS UV spectra of starburst regions can be used in a spectral synthesis analysis to determine their hot star populations and to constrain the parameters of their initial mass functions. The physical parameters of such regions located in each of two galaxies of an interacting pair will be compared. All three of our proposed target galaxies are known merger remnants or merger candidates. The intense bursts of star formation in the compact knots observed in W-R galaxies may have been triggered by these galaxy - galaxy interactions.

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