scholarly journals On the Star-formation History in the LMC: Observations of the Interstellar C18O/C17O Ratio

1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 275-276
Author(s):  
Arto Heikkilä ◽  
Lars E.B. Johansson ◽  
Hans Olofsson

The re-cycling of gas between stars and the interstellar medium (ISM) leads to a gradual metal-enrichment of a galaxy. Accordingly, information on the chemical evolution of a galaxy, e.g., its star-formation history (SFH), is contained in the chemical composition of the ISM. In this context, the abundance ratio of the rare oxygen isotopes, 18O/17O (usually taken as the C18O/C17O column density ratio), appears to be a particularly promising probe of the SFH. According to present understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, 17O is mainly produced in intermediate-mass stars (say a few to ten M⊙) while 18O is synthesised in massive stars (say >10M⊙) (e.g., Prantzos et al. 1996). Thus, the 18O/17O abundance ratio possibly reflects the relative number of massive stars compared to intermediate-mass stars, and thereby (qualitatively) constrains the SFH in terms of the average star-formation rate (SFR) and the initial mass-function (IMF). However, it should be remembered that the stellar nucleosynthesis of 17,18O is not yet fully understood, leaving room for other interpretations of the 18O/17O ratio.

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-160
Author(s):  
Simone Recchi

AbstractWe study the effect of different star formation regimes on the dynamical and chemical evolution of IZw18, the most metal-poor dwarf galaxy locally known. To do that we adopt a two-dimensional hydrocode coupled with detailed chemical yields originating from Type II and Type Ia supernovae and from intermediate-mass stars. Particular emphasis is devoted to the problem of mixing of metals. We conclude that, under particular conditions, cooling of metals occurs with a timescale of the order of 10 Myr, thus confirming the hypothesis of instantaneous mixing adopted in chemical evolution models. We try to draw conclusions about the star formation history and the age of the last burst in IZw18.


Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6400) ◽  
pp. eaat6506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will M. Farr ◽  
Ilya Mandel

Schneider et al. (Reports, 5 January 2018, p. 69) used an ad hoc statistical method in their calculation of the stellar initial mass function. Adopting an improved approach, we reanalyze their data and determine a power-law exponent of 2.05−0.13+0.14. Alternative assumptions regarding dataset completeness and the star formation history model can shift the inferred exponent to 2.11−0.17+0.19 and 2.15−0.13+0.13, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 386-390
Author(s):  
Lucimara P. Martins

AbstractWith the exception of some nearby galaxies, we cannot resolve stars individually. To recover the galaxies star formation history (SFH), the challenge is to extract information from their integrated spectrum. A widely used tool is the full spectral fitting technique. This consists of combining simple stellar populations (SSPs) of different ages and metallicities to match the integrated spectrum. This technique works well for optical spectra, for metallicities near solar and chemical histories not much different from our Galaxy. For everything else there is room for improvement. With telescopes being able to explore further and further away, and beyond the optical, the improvement of this type of tool is crucial. SSPs use as ingredients isochrones, an initial mass function, and a library of stellar spectra. My focus are the stellar libraries, key ingredient for SSPs. Here I talk about the latest developments of stellar libraries, how they influence the SSPs and how to improve them.


2004 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 579-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Meynet ◽  
Max Pettini

We use the rotating stellar models described in the paper by A. Maeder & G. Meynet in this volume to consider the effects of rotation on the evolution of the most massive stars into and during the Wolf–Rayet phase, and on the post-Main Sequence evolution of intermediate mass stars. The two main results of this discussion are the following. First, we show that rotating models are able to account for the observed properties of the Wolf–Rayet stellar populations at solar metallicity. Second, at low metallicities, the inclusion of stellar rotation in the calculation of chemical yields can lead to a longer time delay between the release of oxygen and nitrogen into the interstellar medium following an episode of star formation, since stars of lower masses (compared to non-rotating models) can synthesize primary N. Qualitatively, such an effect may be required to explain the relative abundances of N and O in extragalactic metal–poor environments, particularly at high redshifts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (S316) ◽  
pp. 167-168
Author(s):  
M. Messineo ◽  
J. S. Clark ◽  
D. F. Figer ◽  
K. M. Menten ◽  
R.-P. Kudritzki ◽  
...  

AbstractWe conducted infrared spectroscopic observations of bright stars in the direction of the molecular clouds W33 and GMC G23.3 − 0.3. We compared stellar spectro-photometric distances with parallactic distances to these regions, and we were able to assess the association of the detected massive stars with these molecular complexes. The spatial and temporal distributions of the detected stars enabled us to locate sources of ionizing radiation and to gather precise information on the star formation history of these clouds. The studied clouds present different distributions of massive stars.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S303) ◽  
pp. 252-253
Author(s):  
Francisco Najarro ◽  
Diego de la Fuente ◽  
Tom R. Geballe ◽  
Don F. Figer

AbstractThe Galactic center (GC) region hosts three of the most massive resolved young clusters in the Local Group and constitutes a test bed for studying the star formation history of the region and inferring the possibility of a top-heavy scenario. Further, recent detection of a large number of apparently isolated massive stars within the inner 80 pc of the Galactic center has raised fundamental questions regarding massive star formation in a such a dense and harsh environment. Noting that most of the isolated massive stars have spectral analogs in the Quintuplet cluster, we have undertaken a combined analysis of the infrared spectra of both selected Quintuplet stars and the isolated objects using Gemini spectroscopy. We present preliminary results, aiming at α-elements versus iron abundances, stellar properties, ages and radial velocities which will differentiate the top-heavy and star-formation scenarios.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 178-181
Author(s):  
Miriam Garcia ◽  
Artemio Herrero ◽  
Francisco Najarro ◽  
Norberto Castro ◽  
Inés Camacho

AbstractThe community of massive stars is working intensively on Local Group dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrr). They are a reservoir of metal-poor massive stars that serve to understand the physics of their higher redshift siblings and population III stars, interpret the farthest, most energetic SNe and GRBs, and compute feedback through Cosmic History. Along the way, we became interested in the recent star-formation history and initial mass-function of the host dIrr’s, their chemical evolution, and gas and dust content. Our team is working to unveil and characterize with spectroscopy the OB-stars in IC 1613, Sextans A and SagDIG, that form a sequence of decreasing metal content. We showcase some results to stimulate synergies between both communities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (S316) ◽  
pp. 77-83
Author(s):  
Michele Cignoni ◽  

AbstractI will present new results on the star formation history of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud based on the panchromatic imaging survey Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project (HTTP). Here the focus is on the starburst cluster NGC2070. The star formation history is derived by comparing the deepest ever optical and NIR color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) with state-of-the-art synthetic CMDs generated with the latest PARSEC models, which include all stellar phases from pre-main sequence to post-main sequence. For the first time in this region we are able to measure the star formation using intermediate and low mass stars simultaneously. Our results suggest that NGC2070 experienced a prolonged activity. I will discuss the detailed star formation history, initial mass function and reddening distribution.


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