Vestige of the Star Cluster Burst in M51

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

12 pages, 12 figures in emulateapj format, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/709/1/411

We present a study of the star cluster formation in M51 based on the image data taken with Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) of Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We have derived the star cluster formation rate using the ages and masses of about 2,000 star clusters estimated by comparing photometric data (F336W, F435W, F555W, and F814W) with theoretical population synthesis models. The star cluster formation rate increased significantly during the period of 100 ~ 250 Myr ago. This period roughly coincides with the epoch of dynamical encounters of two galaxies, NGC 5194 and NGC 5195, expected by theoretical models. The age distribution of the star clusters also shows two peaks at about 100 Myr and 250 Myr ago. The star cluster mass ranges from 10^3 to 10^6 M_{\odot} and the mass function can be represented by a power law with an index ranging from \alpha = -2.23 \pm 0.34 for t<10 Myr to \alpha = -1.37 \pm 0.11 for t>100 Myr. The mass function of star clusters older than 10 Myr also appears to display the steepest distribution with \alpha \approx -1.50 at around 200 Myr ago, near the expected epoch of the galaxy interaction. We also confirm the correlations of cluster size increasing with cluster mass (with a best fit slope of 0.16 \pm 0.02), and with cluster age (0.14 \pm 0.03).

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Vestige of the Star Cluster Burst in M51 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Vestige of the Star Cluster Burst in M51, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vestige of the Star Cluster Burst in M51 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-508239

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.