Probing star formation in five of the most massive spiral galaxies observed through ASTROSAT UltraViolet Imaging Telescope

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present highly resolved and sensitive imaging of the five nearby massive spiral galaxies (with rotation velocities $\rm \gt 300\, km\, s^{-1}$) observed by the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope onboard India’s multiwavelength astronomy satellite ASTROSAT, along with other archival observations. These massive spirals show a far-ultraviolet star formation rate in the range of ∼ 1.4 – 13.7 ${\rm M}_{\odot } \, \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ and fall in the ‘Green Valley’ region with a specific star formation rate within ∼ 10−11.5 – 10−10.5 yr−1. Moreover, the mean star formation rate density of the highly resolved star-forming clumps of these objects is in the range 0.011 – 0.098 ${\rm M}_{\odot }\, \mathrm{ yr}^{-1}\, \mathrm{kpc}^{-2}$, signifying localized star formation. From the spectral energy distributions, under the assumption of a delayed star formation model, we show that the star formation of these objects had peaked in the period of ∼ 0.8 – 2.8 Gyr after the ‘Big Bang’ and the object that has experienced the peak sooner after the ‘Big Bang’ show relatively less star-forming activity at z ∼ 0 and falls below the main-sequence relation for a stellar content of $\rm \gtrsim 10^{11} \, {\rm M}_{\odot }$. We also show that these objects accumulated much of their stellar mass in the early period of evolution with ∼ 31 – 42 per cent of the total stellar mass obtained in a time of (1/16) – (1/5)th the age of the Universe. We estimate that these massive objects convert their halo baryons into stars with efficiencies falling between ∼ 7 and 31 per cent.