Blue Interacting Disk Galaxies: Massive Stellar Contents from IUE and Optical Observations

Details Blue Interacting Disk Galaxies: Massive Stellar Contents from IUE and Optical Observations Blue Interacting Disk Galaxies: Massive Stellar Contents from IUE and Optical Observations

Dec 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994aas...185.7503b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 185th AAS Meeting, #75.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.1430

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We are interested in the effects of collisions involving gaseous disk galaxies on the global production of massive stars during the ensuing dynamical readjustments of the system. The interaction timescale for systems of galaxies is of the order of 10(8) years and we seek information on this and smaller timescales. Analysis of optical and UV spectra allows an investigation of the massive star formation over the relevant dynamical time scale. To aid in this investigation we have obtained UV and optical spectra of seven interacting disk galaxies. This enables us to put observational constraints on both the current massive star populations and those of the preceding 10(8) years. The galaxies were chosen from the Bushouse (1986 AJ, 91, 255) optically selected sample of closely interacting disk galaxies to have optical indications of current star formation, such as strong optical HII emission-line features and blue continuum colors. The short wavelength IUE (lambda lambda 1000 - 2000 Angstroms) UV spectra of these objects is typically dominated by velocity broadened C IV lambda 1550 Angstroms and Si IV lambda 1400 Angstroms doublet lines originating in the outflowing atmospheres of young, massive stars. The shape and strength of the composite C IV and Si IV line profiles can, when compared with synthesized UV spectra give information about the massive star formation history over the previous 10(6) - 10(7) years, provide indications of the upper mass cut-off of the initial mass function (IMF), constrain the slope of the IMF for the most massive stars, and distinguish between continuous and episodic star formation. The IUE results can be placed in the larger context of star formation on a time scale of 10(8) years by comparison with the results obtained from interpretation of relevant optical spectra. Our optical observations were obtained at the Kitt Peak 36" and the Steward observatory 90" telescopes, using Reticon spectrographs, at various times from 1984 to 1990. Here the star formation history is also inferred from population synthesis studies which involve fitting library spectra (based on synthetic narrow-band continuum colors) to the composite galaxy spectra.

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