Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21731204k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #312.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Recent studies using ultraviolet (UV) and optical data have demonstrated the widespread presence of recent star formation in early-type galaxies (ETGs) since z 1. This star formation, plausibly driven by the accretion of gas-rich satellites, contributes a few percent in mass to individual ETGs. Combining the unprecedented UV/optical field-of-view and sensitivity of the WFC3 with integral field spectroscopy from SAURON, we perform a detailed, spatially-resolved analysis of young stars and their kinematics in the lenticular galaxy NGC 4150, a suspected recent merger remnant. A `pixel-by-pixel’ analysis in 5 WFC3 filters, spanning UV to i-band, reveals a central 0.9 Gyr old young stellar population, with a median metallicity of 0.5 solar, that contributes around 3% of the stellar mass. A lack of Halpha emission indicates that there is no ongoing star formation in this galaxy. Assuming that the metallicity of the young stars traces the gas-phase metallicity of the satellite that fuels the star formation, we estimate the mass ratio of the merger to be 1:15. The young stars coincide spatially with a kinematically-decoupled core (KDC), observed in the stellar kinematics. A dynamical model for the KDC, assuming that it forms from the young stars, reproduces all the SAURON kinematic observables with high precision, including a double peak in velocity dispersion, the core stellar velocities and the velocity RMS. In summary, NGC 4150 is a post-starburst remnant, of a minor merger with a mass ratio of 1:15, where the young stars reside in a central KDC containing around 3% of the total stellar mass. This study demonstrates the potentially powerful combination of high-resolution imaging and integral-field units on future telescopes.
Based on Early Release Science observations by the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee. We are grateful to the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute for awarding Director's Discretionary time for this program.
Bureau Martin
Cappellari Michele
Crockett Mark
Kaviraj Sugata
McDermid Richard
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