Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-06-15
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 362 (2005) 2-8
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
8 pages, 3 figures (2 in color); accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09288.x
We investigate the effect of a small contamination of hot, old, metal-poor starlight on the inferred stellar populations of early-type galaxies in the core of the Coma Cluster. We find that the required correction to the Balmer and metal absorption-line strengths for old, metal-poor stars does not significantly affect the inferred age of the stellar population when the Hbeta strength is large. Intermediate-aged populations are therefore still needed to explain enhanced Balmer-line strengths in early-type galaxies. This gives us increased confidence in our age estimates for these objects. For galaxies with weak Balmer-line strengths corresponding to very old populations (t>10 Gyr), however, a correction for hot stars may indeed alter the inferred age, as previously suggested. Finally, the inferred metallicity [Z/H] will always be higher after any correction for old, metal-poor starlight than without, but the enhancement ratios [E/Fe] will strengthen only slightly.
Dressler Alan
Faber Sandra M.
Trager Scott Charles
Worthey Guy
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