Dynamical and chemical evolution of gas-rich dwarf galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

25 pages, Latex, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Scientific paper

10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04189.x

We study the effect of a single, instantaneous starburst on the dynamical and chemical evolution of a gas-rich dwarf galaxy, whose potential well is dominated by a dark matter halo. We follow the dynamical and chemical evolution of the ISM by means of an improved 2-D hydrodynamical code coupled with detailed chemical yields originating from type II SNe, type Ia SNe and single low and intermediate mass stars (IMS). In particular we follow the evolution of the abundances of H, He, C, N, O, Mg, Si and Fe. We find that for a galaxy resembling IZw18, a galactic wind develops as a consequence of the starburst and it carries out of the galaxy mostly the metal-enriched gas. In addition, we find that different metals are lost differentially in the sense that the elements produced by type Ia SNe are more efficiently lost than others. As a consequence of that we predict larger [$\alpha$/Fe] ratios for the gas inside the galaxy than for the gas leaving the galaxy. A comparison of our predicted abundances of C, N, O and Si in the case of a burst occurring in a primordial gas shows a very good agreement with the observed abundances in IZw18 as long as the burst has an age of $\sim 31$ Myr and IMS produce some primary nitrogen. However, we cannot exclude that a previous burst of star formation had occurred in IZw18 especially if the preenrichment produced by the older burst was lower than $Z=0.01$ Z$_{\odot}$. Finally, at variance with previous studies, we find that most of the metals reside in the cold gas phase already after few Myr. This result is mainly due to the assumed low SNII heating efficiency, and justifies the generally adopted homogeneous and instantaneous mixing of gas in chemical evolution models.

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

Dynamical and chemical evolution of gas-rich dwarf galaxies 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 Dynamical and chemical evolution of gas-rich dwarf galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dynamical and chemical evolution of gas-rich dwarf galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-459325

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