Stellar population of elliptical galaxies in different environments: spectroscopic CO observations

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

15

Galaxies: Clusters: Individual: Pisces, Galaxies: Clusters: Individual: Abell 2634, Galaxies: Elliptical And Lenticular, Cd, Galaxies: Fundamental Parameters, Galaxies: Stellar Content, Infrared: Galaxies

Scientific paper

Near-infrared spectra of a sample of 21 elliptical galaxies in the Pisces and Abell 2634 clusters and the general field have been obtained. The strengths of CO (2.3 μm) absorption features in these galaxies are used to explore the presence of an intermediate-age population (e.g., asymptotic giant branch stars) in ellipticals in different environments. The CO absorption features in the spectra of field ellipticals are found to be stronger than those in clusters, with average indices of 0.247+/-0.018 and 0.218+/-0.018 respectively. The two distributions are different at the 95 per cent confidence level. Differences in metallicities and absolute magnitudes among the field and cluster ellipticals cannot explain these observations. This is interpreted as evidence for an intermediate-age stellar population in the field galaxies, indicative of a more extended or recent epoch of star formation. The effect of CO indices on the scatter in the optical D_n-sigma and L-sigma relations of ellipticals is explored, and there are indications of a smaller intrinsic scatter in these relations for isolated galaxies compared to those in richer environments.

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

Stellar population of elliptical galaxies in different environments: spectroscopic CO observations 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 Stellar population of elliptical galaxies in different environments: spectroscopic CO observations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Stellar population of elliptical galaxies in different environments: spectroscopic CO observations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1301531

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