Stellar Age Distribution Research Articles

Are “U-shape” age profiles a universal feature in spiral galaxies?

In this work we study the effect of satellite accretion on the building-up of the radial stellar age distribution in the discs of spiral galaxies. In addition, we analyse its effect on other chemical and dynamical properties of these systems up to their outskirts.

The IMF-SFH connection in massive early-type galaxies

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is one of the fundamental pillars in studies of stellar populations. It is the mass distribution of stars at birth, and it is traditionally assumed to be universal, adopting generic functions constrained by resolved (i.e. nearby) stellar populations (e.g., Salpeter 1955; Kroupa 2001; Chabrier 2003). However, for the vast majority of cases, stars are not resolved in galaxies. Therefore, the interpretation of the photo-spectroscopic observables is complicated by the many degeneracies present between the properties of the unresolved stellar populations, including IMF, age distribution, and chemical composition. The overall good match of the photometric and spectroscopic observations of galaxies with population synthesis models, adopting standard IMF choices, made this issue a relatively unimportant one for a number of years. However, improved models and observations have opened the door to constraints on the IMF in unresolved stellar populations via gravity-sensitive spectral features. At present, there is significant evidence of a non-universal IMF in early-type galaxies (ETGs), with a trend towards a dwarf-enriched distribution in the most massive systems (see, e.g., van Dokkum & Conroy 2010; Ferreras et al. 2013; La Barbera et al. 2013). Dynamical and strong-lensing constraints of the stellar M/L in similar systems give similar results, with heavier M/L in the most massive ETGs (see, e.g., Cappellari et al. 2012; Posacki et al. 2015). Although the interpretation of the results is still open to discussion (e.g., Smith 2014; La Barbera 2015), one should consider the consequences of such a bottom-heavy IMF in massive galaxies.

On the interpretation of sub-giant branch morphologies of intermediate-age star clusters with extended main sequence turnoffs

Recent high-quality photometry of many star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds with ages of 1$\,-\,$2 Gyr revealed main sequence turnoffs (MSTOs) that are significantly wider than can be accounted for by a simple stellar population (SSP). Such extended MSTOs (eMSTOs) are often interpreted in terms of an age spread of several $10^8$ yr, challenging the traditional view of star clusters as being formed in a single star formation episode. Li et al. and Bastian & Niederhofer recently investigated the sub-giant branches (SGBs) of NGC 1651, NGC 1806, and NGC 1846, three star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) that exhibit an eMSTO. They argued that the SGB of these star clusters can be explained only by a SSP. We study these and two other similar star clusters in the LMC, using extensive simulations of SSPs including unresolved binaries. We find that the shapes of the cross-SGB profiles of all star clusters in our sample are in fact consistent with their cross-MSTO profiles when the latter are interpreted as age distributions. Conversely, SGB morphologies of star clusters with eMSTOs are found to be inconsistent with those of simulated SSPs. Finally, we create PARSEC isochrones from tracks featuring a grid of convective overshoot levels and a very fine grid of stellar masses. A comparison of the observed photometry with these isochrones shows that the morphology of the red clump (RC) of such star clusters is also consistent with that implied by their MSTO in the age spread scenario. We conclude that the SGB and RC morphologies of star clusters featuring eMSTOs are consistent with the scenario in which the eMSTOs are caused by a distribution of stellar ages.

Stellar population gradients in galaxy discs from the CALIFA survey

While studies of gas-phase metallicity gradients in disc galaxies are common, very little has been done in the acquisition of stellar abundance gradients in the same regions. We present here a comparative study of the stellar metallicity and age distributions in a sample of 62 nearly face-on, spiral galaxies with and without bars, using data from the CALIFA survey. We measure the slopes of the gradients and study their relation with other properties of the galaxies. We find that the mean stellar age and metallicity gradients in the disc are shallow and negative. Furthermore, when normalized to the effective radius of the disc, the slope of the stellar population gradients does not correlate with the mass or with the morphological type of the galaxies. Contrary to this, the values of both age and metallicity at $\sim$2.5 scale-lengths correlate with the central velocity dispersion in a similar manner to the central values of the bulges, although bulges show, on average, older ages and higher metallicities than the discs. One of the goals of the present paper is to test the theoretical prediction that non-linear coupling between the bar and the spiral arms is an efficient mechanism for producing radial migrations across significant distances within discs. The process of radial migration should flatten the stellar metallicity gradient with time and, therefore, we would expect flatter stellar metallicity gradients in barred galaxies. However, we do not find any difference in the metallicity or age gradients in galaxies with without bars. We discuss possible scenarios that can lead to this absence of difference.

STELLAR AGE SPREADS IN CLUSTERS AS IMPRINTS OF CLUSTER-PARENT CLUMP DENSITIES

It has recently been suggested that high-density clusters have stellar age distributions narrower than that of the Orion Nebula Cluster, indicating a possible trend of narrower age distributions for denser clusters. We show this effect to likely arise from star formation being faster in gas with a higher density. We model the star formation history of molecular clumps in equilibrium by associating a star formation efficiency (SFE) per free-fall time, \eff, to their volume density profile. Our model predicts a steady decline of the star formation rate (SFR), which we quantify with its half-life time, namely, the time needed for the SFR to drop to half its initial value. Given the uncertainties affecting the SFE per free-fall time, we consider two distinct values: 0.1 and 0.01. For isothermal spheres, \eff=0.1 leads to a half-life time of order the clump free-fall time, \tff. Therefore, the age distributions of stars formed in high-density clumps have smaller full-widths at half-maximum than those of stars formed in low-density clumps. When \eff=0.01, the half-life time is 10 times longer. We explore what happens if the star formation duration is shorter than 10\tff, that is, if the half-life time of the SFR cannot be defined. There, we build on the invariance of the shape of the young cluster mass function to show that an anti-correlation between clump density and star formation duration is expected. Therefore, regardless of whether the star formation duration is longer than the SFR half-life time, denser molecular clumps yield narrower star age distributions in clusters. Published densities and stellar age spreads of young clusters actually suggest that the time-scale for star formation is of order 1-4\tff. We conclude that there is no need to invoke the existence of multiple cluster formation mechanisms to explain the observed range of stellar age spreads in clusters.

Barred S0 galaxies in the Coma cluster

This study uses r-band images from the Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS DR8) to study bars in lenticular (S0) galaxies in one of the nearest rich cluster environments, the Coma cluster. We develop techniques for bar detection and assess their success when applied to SDSS image data. To detect and characterize bars, we perform 2D bulge+disc+bar light decompositions of galaxy images with galfit. Using a sample of artificial galaxy images, we determine the faintest magnitude at which bars can be successfully measured at the depth and resolution of SDSS. We perform detailed decompositions of 83 S0 galaxies in Coma, 64 from a central sample, and 19 from a cluster outskirt sample. For the central sample, the S0 bar fraction is |$72^{+5}_{-6}$| per cent. This value is significantly higher than that obtained using an ellipse-fitting method for bar detection, |$48^{+6}_{-6}$| per cent. At a fixed luminosity, barred S0s are redder in g − r colour than unbarred S0s by 0.02 mag. The frequency and strength of bars increase towards fainter luminosities. Neither central metallicity nor stellar age distributions differ significantly between barred and unbarred S0s. There is an increase in the bar fraction towards the cluster core, but this is at a low significance level. Bars have at most a weak correlation with cluster-centric radius.

The dependence of stellar age distributions on giant molecular cloud environment

Abstract In this Letter, we analyse the distributions of stellar ages in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in spiral arms, interarm spurs and at large galactic radii, where the spiral arms are relatively weak. We use the results of numerical simulations of galaxies, which follow the evolution of GMCs and include star particles where star formation events occur. We find that GMCs in spiral arms tend to have predominantly young (<10 Myr) stars. By contrast, clouds which are the remainders of spiral arm giant molecular asssociations that have been sheared into interarm GMCs contain fewer young (<10 Myr) stars and more ∼20 Myr stars. We also show that clouds which form in the absence of spiral arms, due to local gravitational and thermal instabilities, contain preferentially young stars. We propose that the age distributions of stars in GMCs will be a useful diagnostic to test different cloud evolution scenarios, the origin of spiral arms and the success of numerical models of galactic star formation. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of Galactic and extragalactic molecular clouds.

Theoretical predictions for the effect of nebular emission on the broad-band photometry of high-redshift galaxies

By combining optical and near-IR observations from the Hubble Space Telescope with near-IR photometry from the Spitzer Space Telescope, it is possible to measure the rest-frame UV–optical colours of galaxies at z = 4–8. The UV–optical spectral energy distribution of star formation dominated galaxies is the result of several different factors. These include the joint distribution of stellar masses, ages and metallicities (solely responsible for the pure stellar spectral energy distribution), and the subsequent reprocessing by dust and gas in the interstellar medium. Using a large cosmological hydrodynamical simulation (MassiveBlack-II), we investigate the predicted spectral energy distributions of galaxies at high redshift with a particular emphasis on assessing the potential contribution of nebular emission. We find that the average (median) pure stellar UV–optical colour correlates with both luminosity and redshift such that galaxies at lower redshift and higher luminosity are typically redder. Assuming that the escape fraction of ionizing photons is close to zero, the effect of nebular emission is to redden the UV–optical 1500 − Vw colour by, on average, 0.4 mag at z = 8 declining to 0.25 mag at z = 4. Young and low-metallicity stellar populations, which typically have bluer pure stellar UV–optical colours, produce larger ionizing luminosities and are thus more strongly affected by the reddening effects of nebular emission. This causes the distribution of 1500 − Vw colours to narrow and the trends with luminosity and redshift to weaken. The strong effect of nebular emission leaves observed-frame colours critically sensitive to the redshift of the source. For example, increasing the redshift by 0.1 can result in observed-frame colours changing by up to ∼0.6. These predictions reinforce the need to include nebular emission when modelling the spectral energy distributions of galaxies at high redshift and also highlight the difficultly in interpreting the observed colours of individual galaxies without precise redshift information.

Star formation in galaxies: the role of spiral arms

AbstractStudying star formation in spiral arms tells us not only about the evolution of star formation, and molecular clouds, but can also tell us about the nature of spiral structure in galaxies. I will address both these topics using the results of recent simulations and observations. Galactic scale simulations are beginning to examine in detail the evolution of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMC) as they form in spiral arms, and then disperse by stellar feedback or shear. The overall timescale for this process appears comparable to the crossing time of the GMCs, a few Myrs for 105 M⊙ clouds, 20 Myr or so for more massive GMCs. Both simulations and observations show that the massive clouds are found in the spiral arms, likely as a result of cloud-cloud collisions. Simulations including stars should also tell us about the stellar age distribution in GMCs, and across spiral arms. More generally, recent work on spiral galaxies suggests that the dynamics of gas flows in spiral arms are different in longlived and transient spiral arms, resulting in different age patterns in the stars. Such results could be used to help establish the main driver of spiral structure in the Milky Way (Toomre instabilities, the bar, or nearby companion galaxies) in conjunction with future surveys.

Rejuvenation of bulges by bars: evidence from stellar population analysis

AbstractWe obtained stellar ages and metallicities via spectrum fitting for a sample of 575 bulges with spectra available from the SDSS. Using the whole sample, where galaxy stellar mass distributions for barred and unbarred galaxies are similar, we find that the distribution of bulge ages in barred galaxies shows an excess of populations younger than 4 Gyr, when compared to bulges in unbarred galaxies. KS statistics confirm that the age distributions are different with a significance of 99.94%. If we select sub-samples for which the bulge stellar mass distributions are similar for barred and unbarred galaxies, this excess vanishes for galaxies with low-mass bulges, while for more massive bulges we find a bimodal stellar age distribution for barred galaxies only, corresponding to two normal distributions with mean ages of 10.4 and 4.7 Gyr (see Fig. 1). These results lend strong support to models in which bars trigger star formation activity in the centers of galaxies. We also find twice as much AGN among barred galaxies, as compared to unbarred galaxies, for low-mass bulges. Full results are in Coelho & Gadotti (2011).

Quantitative evidence of an intrinsic luminosity spread in the Orion nebula cluster

Aims. We study the distribution of stellar ages in the Orion nebula cluster (ONC) using accurate HST photometry taken from HST Treasury Program observations of the ONC utilizing the cluster distance estimated by Menten and collaborators. We investigate whether there is an intrinsic age spread in the region and whether the age depends on the spatial distribution.

Spectral fitting of SDSS passive galaxies with α-enhanced single stellar populations

AbstractThe power of population synthesis as a mean to estimate the star-formation and chemical histories of galaxies has been well established in the last decade. The major developments were due to a huge avalanche of methods, codes and high-quality galaxy data sets, such as the 2dF, 6dF and SDSS surveys. Semi-empirical spectral synthesis allows for the decomposition of a galaxy spectrum in terms of linear combinations of base elements, i.e. Single Stellar Populations (SSPs) of different ages and metallicities, which are computed from evolutionary synthesis codes (BPASS, GALEV, GALAXEV, MILES, PÉGASE, etc. . .), containing distinct ingredients like: stellar library, evolutionary tracks, metallicities and Initial Mass Function. In general, they have solar-scaled relative abundances, but this is about to change with the unfolding of new α-enhanced SSP models (Coelho et al. 2007). However, passive galaxies have some spectral features corresponding to “enhanced-ratios” ([E/Fe]), like O, Ne, Si, S, Mg, Na, C and N over Fe that are not well modeled using solar-scaled SSPs (Trager et al. 2000), leading to residuals between observed and modeled spectra, which also correlate with the velocity dispersion (σ*) and stellar mass (M*): Massive galaxies exhibit a larger [E/Fe] discrepancy than less massive ones. This result can be interpreted as a signature of distinct previous star-formation efficiencies in passive galaxies, leading to distinctive ratios of type Ia and II SNe.We have applied the starlight spectral synthesis code (Cid Fernandes et al. 2005) to a sample of ~ 1000 passive galaxies from the SDSS DR7 with a S/N at the continuum ≥ 20 to investigate possible enhancements in the derived [E/Fe] ratios. Three sets of SSPs based on Coelho et al. (2007) theoretical models and Walcher et al. (2009) prescriptions were computed for [α/Fe]=0.0, [α/Fe]=0.2 and [α/Fe]=0.4. Our aim is to determine: (1) the quality of the fits, (2) the mean stellar age and metallicity distributions, and (3) the star-formation history of passive galaxies.Using [α/Fe]=0.0 SSPs, we have identified the strongest residuals in the CN (4142.125-4177.125 Å), Na D (5876.875-5909.375 Å) and Mg (5069.125-5196.625 Å) bands. On the other hand, [α/Fe]=0.2 and [α/Fe]=0.4 SSP models tend to reproduce better the Mg band, as compared to solar-scaled SSPs ([α/Fe]=0.0). The residuals are decreased by 1.77 Å ([α/Fe]=0.2) and 2.92 Å ([α/Fe]=0.4). However, as expected, these α--enhanced models lead to worse fits for the CN and Na D bands. These residuals may even reach up to 2.08 Å (CN) and 4.20 Å (Na D), using [α/Fe]=0.2 SSPs and 2.28 Å (CN) and 7.94 Å (Na D), using [α/Fe]=0.4 SSPs.In terms of mean stellar ages and metallicities, we obtain non-negligible biases in both quantities when we compare the solar-scaled SSPs with α-enhanced ones, which tend to have mean stellar ages by 0.12 dex ([α/Fe]=0.2) and 0.14 dex ([α/Fe]=0.4) higher and mean stellar metallicities by 0.1 dex ([α/Fe]=0.2) and 0.2 dex ([α/Fe]=0.4) lower.

From Dwarf Spheroidals to cDs: Simulating the Full Galaxy Population in a LCDM Cosmology

We use the combination of the very large Millennium and Millennium-II simulations to follow galaxy formation over a stellar mass range of more than five orders of magnitude throughout representative cosmological volumes. These are the first simulations to address the abundance and spatial distribution of galaxies ranging from cD’s down to dSph’s. We demonstrate that stronger feedback is needed than in previous models, epically at low mass, if the SDSS stellar mass function is to be matched in a LCDM universe. Models which satisfy this constraint also reproduce the observed abundance of faint dwarfs around the Milky Way and M 31. Only the very faintest objects are significantly affected by the treatment of reionisation. Our model can reproduce most galaxy properties in the local Universe. Problems remain with respect to the stellar age distributions and kinematics of dwarfs.

Quantifying the Redistribution of Mass in Galactic Disks due to Bars

AbstractNumerical simulations have shown that strong gravitational torque by non-axisymmetric components induce evolutionary processes such as redistribution of mass and angular momentum in the galactic disks and consequent change of chemical abundance profiles. If we hope to understand chemical evolution gradients and their evolution we must understand the secular processes and re-arrangement of material by non-axisymmetric components and vice-versa. The most obvious of these aforementioned non-axisymmetric components are bars - at least 2/3 of spiral galaxies host a bar, and possibly all disk galaxies have hosted a bar at some point in their evolution. While observationally it has been found that barred galaxies have shallower gas-phase metallicity gradients than non-barred galaxies, a complementary analysis of the stellar abundance profiles has not yet been undertaken. This is unfortunate because the study of both gas and stars is important in providing a complete picture, as the two components undergo (and suffer from) very different evolutionary process. We present here a pilot study of the gas and stellar metallicity and age distributions in a sample of barred and non-barred galaxies using 2D spectroscopic observations. We found that the majority of the stellar mass in our sample is composed of old (~10 Gyr) stars. This is true in the bulge and the disc region, even beyond two disc scalelengths. In the disc region, a larger fraction of young stars is present in the external parts of the disc compared with the inner disc. The disc growth is, therefore, compatible with a moderate inside-out formation scenario, where the luminosity-weighted age changes from ~10 Gyrs in the centre, to ~4 Gyrs at two disc scalelengths, depending upon the galaxy. However, the presence of substructure, like star forming rings, can produce stellar population trends that are not directly related with the growing of the disc but to the bar potential. In the disc region, the metallicity gradient always decrease with the radius. In the bulge region this is not always true and we find inverse metallicity gradients in several galaxies.

DOES M31 RESULT FROM AN ANCIENT MAJOR MERGER?

The numerous streams in the M31 halo are currently assumed to be due to multiple minor mergers. Here we use the GADGET2 simulation code to test whether M31 could have experienced a major merger in its past history. It results that a 3+/-0.5:1 gaseous rich merger with r(per)=25+/-5 kpc and a polar orbit can explain many properties of M31 and of its halo. The interaction and the fusion may have begun 8.75+/-0.35 Gyr and 5.5 +/-0.5 Gyr ago, respectively. With an almost quiescent star formation history before the fusion we retrieve fractions of bulge, thin and thick disks as well as relative fractions of intermediate age and old stars in both the thick disk and the Giant Stream. The Giant Stream is caused by returning stars from a tidal tail previously stripped from the satellite prior to the fusion. These returning stars are trapped into elliptical orbits or loops for almost a Hubble time period. Large loops are also predicted and they scale rather well with the recently discovered features in the M31 outskirts. We demonstrate that a single merger could explain first-order (intensity and size), morphological and kinematical properties of the disk, thick disk, bulge and streams in the halo of M31, as well as the distribution of stellar ages, and perhaps metallicities. It challenges scenarios assuming one minor merger per feature in the disk (10 kpc ring) or at the outskirts (numerous streams & thick disk). Further constraints will help to properly evaluate the impact of such a major event to the Local Group.

THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION AND YOUNG BROWN DWARF CANDIDATES IN NGC 2264. IV. THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION AND STAR FORMATION HISTORY

We have studied the star formation history and the initial mass function (IMF) using the age and mass derived from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting and from color-magnitude diagrams. We also examined the physical and structural parameters of more than 1,000 pre-main sequence stars in NGC 2264 using the on-line SED fitting tool (SED fitter) of Robitaille et al. The cumulative distribution of stellar ages showed a distinct difference among SFRs. The results indicate that star formation in NGC 2264 started at the surface region (Halo and Field regions) about 6 - 7 Myr ago, propagated into the molecular cloud and finally triggered the recent star formation in the Spokes cluster. The kind of sequential star formation that started in the low-density surface region (Halo and Field regions) implies that star formation in NGC 2264 was triggered by an external source. The IMF of NGC 2264 was determined in two different ways. The slope of the IMF of NGC 2264 for massive stars (log m >= 0.5) is -1.7 \pm 0.1, which is somewhat steeper than the so-called standard "Salpeter-Kroupa" IMF. We also present data for 79 young brown dwarf candidates.

The light-weighted age and metallicity of Galactic globular clusters

Spectra synthesis is entering a new era with the availability of large and high-quality spectroscopic data and full spectrum fitting methods. Establishing the reliability whether the STARLIGHT code (a full spectrum fitting code, Cid Fernandes et al. (Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 358:363, 2005)) is suitable to study the properties of various types of galaxies is vital to galaxy study. In testing this possibility, Galactic globular clusters (GCs) provide an excellent medium. Taking the 40 Galactic GCs as an example in our work, we analyze their integrated spectra from Schiavon et al. (Astrophys. J. Suppl. 160:163, 2005) and obtain their mixtures of stellar populations that best represents their composite nature. Through analyzing the distributions of stellar ages and metallicities respectively, we find that the stellar metallicity distribution is centered at a low value and the stellar age distribution is very scattered. To compare with the literature, we also calculate the light-weighted ages and metallicities of GCs, and we find that the light-weighted metallicities agree with the literature, while the light-weighted ages are lower than those of the literature. This demonstrates that STARLIGHT can be used to obtain the metallicities of GCs.

FAKE STAR FORMATION BURSTS: BLUE HORIZONTAL BRANCH STARS MASQUERADE AS YOUNG MASSIVE STARS IN OPTICAL INTEGRATED LIGHT SPECTROSCOPY

Model color magnitude diagrams of low-metallicity globular clusters usually show a deficit of hot evolved stars with respect to observations. We investigate quantitatively the impact of such modelling inaccuracies on the significance of star formation history reconstructions obtained from optical integrated spectra. To do so, we analyse the sample of spectra of galactic globular clusters of Schiavon et al. with STECKMAP (Ocvirk et al.) and the stellar population models Vazdekis et al. and Bruzual & Charlot, and focus on the reconstructed stellar age distributions. Firstly, we show that background/foreground contamination correlates with E(B-V), which allows us to define a clean subsample of uncontaminated GCs, on the basis of a E(B-V) filtering. We then identify a "confusion zone" where fake young bursts of star formation pop up in the star formation history although the observed population is genuinely old. These artifacts appear for 70-100% of cases depending on the population model used, and contribute up to 12% of the light in the optical. Their correlation with the horizontal branch ratio indicates that the confusion is driven by HB morphology: red horizontal branch clusters are well fitted by old stellar population models while those with a blue HB require an additional hot component. The confusion zone extends over [Fe/H]=[-2,-1.2], although we lack the data to probe extreme high and low metallicity regimes. As a consequence, any young starburst superimposed on an old stellar population in this metallicity range could be regarded as a modeling artifact, if it weighs less than 12% of the optical light, and if no emission lines typical of an HII region are present.

ON THE EXTENDED STRUCTURE OF THE PHOENIX DWARF GALAXY

We present the star formation history (SFH) and its variations with galactocentric distance for the Local Group dwarf galaxy of Phoenix. Color-magnitude diagram was obtained from WFPC2@HST reaching the oldest main sequence turnoffs. The IAC-star and IAC-pop codes and the MinnIAC suite have been used to obtain the star formation rate as a function of time, metallicity, and radius. We find that Phoenix has had ongoing but gradually decreasing star formation over nearly a Hubble time. The highest level of star formation occurred from the formation of the galaxy till 10.5 Gyr ago, when 50% of the total star formation had already taken place. From that moment, star formation continues at a significant level until 6 Gyr ago, and at a very low level till the present time. The chemical enrichment law shows a trend of slowly increasing metallicity as a function of time till 8--6 Gyr ago, when Z starts to increase steeply to the current value. Young stars are found in the inner region of the galaxy only, but intermediate-age and old stars can be found at all galactocentric distances. This study shows that star formation started at all galactocentric distances in Phoenix at an early epoch. Our results are compatible with a scenario in which the star formation region envelope slowly shrinks as time goes on, possibly as a natural result of pressure support reduction as gas supply diminishes. As a consequence, star formation stopped first in outer regions and the scale-length of the stellar mass density distribution decreased with time. No traces of a true, old halo are apparent in Phoenix either in its stellar age distribution or in the stellar mass density distribution, at least out to 0.5 kpc (about 2.5 scale-lengths) from the center.

THE STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF RED-SEQUENCE GALAXIES, MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS AND THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE

This paper addresses the challenge of understanding the typical star formation histories of red sequence galaxies, using linestrength indices and mass-to-light ratios as complementary constraints on their stellar age distribution. We construct simple parametric models of the star formation history that bracket a range of scenarios, and fit these models to the linestrength indices of low-redshift cluster red-sequence galaxies. For giant galaxies, we confirm the downsizing trend. We find, however, that this trend flattens or reverses at sigma < 70 km/s. We then compare predicted stellar mass-to-light ratios with dynamical mass-to-light ratios derived from the Fundamental Plane (FP), or by the SAURON group. For galaxies with sigma ~ 70 km/s, models with a frosting of young stars and models with exponential star formation histories have stellar mass-to-light ratios that are larger than observed dynamical mass-to-light ratios by factors of 1.7 and 1.4, respectively, and so are rejected. The SSP model is consistent with the FP, and requires a modest amount of dark matter (20-30%) to account for the difference between stellar and dynamical mass-to-light ratios. A model in which star formation was at intermediate ages is also consistent with the observations. We find that the contribution of stellar populations to the of the FP is highly dependent on the assumed star-formation history: for the SSP model, the tilt of the FP is driven primarily by stellar-population effects. For a quenched model, two-thirds of the tilt is due to stellar populations and only one third is due to dark matter or non-homology.