Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21730905w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #309.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Observations of lower than expected Hα-FUV flux ratios in nearby dwarf galaxies have led to suggestions that the upper stellar IMF may systematically vary with respect to environment. We investigate the influence of star formation histories (SFHs) on the Hα-FUV flux ratios in nearby galaxies to assess the plausibility that SFHs could account for the observed trends. We model a wide range of SFH parameters, including some that resemble those of measured SFHs from studies of resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies. Assuming a fully populated Chabrier IMF, we generate model predictions of the Hα-FUV flux ratios, R-band surface brightness, and total stellar mass, and compare to observations of 127 nearby star forming galaxies from the LVL and SDSS samples. We find excellent agreement between the model SFH predications and the observational data, demonstrating that a systematically varying IMF is unnecessary to explain the observed trends. We also explore the how extinction corrections, sample completeness, and choice of independent physical parameter (e.g., stellar mass, R-band surface brightness) can all introduce unphysical biases into the data. Our findings do not rule out competing effects such as photon leakage or stochastic sampling of the IMF, and are consistent with a combination of these effects causing the observed trends.
Johnson Benjamin D.
Johnson Clifton L.
LVL Team
Skillman Evan D.
Weisz Daniel R.
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