Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-12-11
Astrophys.J.655:L29-L32,2007
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters
Scientific paper
10.1086/511678
We present empirical HII region oxygen abundances for a sample of low-luminosity starburst galaxies which are in a short lived evolutionary state. All five galaxies are characterized by centrally concentrated star formation, which is embedded in smooth stellar envelopes resembling dE-like systems. The galaxies also have small gas contents with typical M_{HI}/L_{B} ~ 0.1 resulting in gas exhaustion timescales less than 1 Gyr, even when molecular gas is considered. We find, compared to other morphologically similar systems, the galaxies of this sample have surprisingly high oxygen abundances with 12 + log(O/H) ~ 9.0. We propose that these objects are a subclass of evolved blue compact dwarfs, which have exhausted most of their gas supply while retaining their metals. We further propose that we are seeing these objects during a short phase in which they are nearing the end of their starburst activity, and could become early-type dwarfs.
Dellenbusch Kate E.
Gallagher Jay S.
Knezek Patricia M.
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