Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006hst..prop10885a&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10885. Cycle 15
Other
Scientific paper
Massive starbursts drive the evolution of galaxies at high redshift, but they can only be studied in detail in the nearby Universe where they are much rarer. The dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1569 at 2.2 Mpc is the closest example of a true starburst. It has sustained exceptionally high star formation SF activity over the last Gyr, 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than in normal dwarf irregulars and spirals. This SF has been probed extensively by previous HST observations that have reached just below the tip of the red giant branch RGB. But the data have not been able to constrain the more ancient SF history SFH, so that our understanding remains very incomplete. It is an open question whether NGC 1569 just started to form stars around 1 Gyr ago, or whether significant SF was already active before that. We do not know what triggered the recent SF, how long the current intense SF activity has been going on, and whether such SF activity has been a more common occurrence in the past history of this galaxy. More importantly, most of these questions remain unanswered for other starburst galaxies in the nearby and distant universe as well. HST is the only telescope that can do the necessary crowded-field photometry to resolve these issues. We propose to use ACS/WFC to build a deep I vs. V-I color-magnitude diagram CMD that goes some 4 magnitudes deeper than the RGB tip. This will detect and characterize the red clump RC and horizontal branch HB features. The CMD will be interpreted by fitting synthetic CMDs constructed from evolutionary tracks to infer the SFH. The joint constraints from the presence, apparent magnitude, and width of the RC, HB and RGB features will independently constrain both the age and metallicity of the old and evolved stellar population of NGC 1569, the presence of multiple bursts if any, and their duration and metallicity spread. This will reveal the evolutionary status over cosmic time, and more generally will constrain the processes at play in the origin and evolution of galaxies. This project is only possible because of the high sensitivity of ACS, and it can be done very efficiently because of the location of NGC 1569 in the CVZ. Since NGC 1569 is so close, it may be the only nearby starburst for which these issues can be addressed in the foreseeable future.
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