scholarly journals Cosmology with Nearby Dwarf Galaxies: The View from HST

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-130
Author(s):  
Eline Tolstoy

Stellar Evolution theory is based upon well understood physics and provides clear predictions as to how a Colour-Magnitude Diagram (CMD) will change due to effects of age and metallicity. The theory has been tested by looking at nearby coeval star clusters. The power of applying CMD analysis to galaxies has been demonstrated in studies of the Carina dSph (Smecker-Hane et al. 1996). In Carina the observation of separate, distinct Main Sequence (MS) Turnoffs has forced us to believe that this small, nearby companion of our Galaxy has had a very complex star formation history. No similar direct evidence for “bursting” behaviour on a global scale has been seen indisputably in larger systems. Partly this is due to the greater distances of larger systems, but also to the complications in distinguishing old star formation events (> 1 Gyr old) in systems which are currently forming stars. Where we lack MS turnoffs we have to resort to statistical modeling of the CMD. This has been applied using a a number of different approaches, but all generally based on Monte-Carlo techniques (e.g. Tosi et al. 1992; Bertelli et al. 1992; Tolstoy &; Saha 1996). However, even using these more sophisticated analysis techniques, it is difficult to find unique solutions. This is mostly due to the age-metallicity degeneracy on the Red Giant Branch (RGB). The RGB is usually the most populated, easiest to observe phase of stellar evolution. The Carina CMD reveals the dangers of blindly interpreting the RGB, because from the RGB alone it is impossible to extract the information revealed by the MS Turnoffs.

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (S330) ◽  
pp. 148-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edouard J. Bernard

AbstractWe took advantage of the Gaia DR1 to combine TGAS parallaxes with Tycho-2 and APASS photometry to calculate the star formation history (SFH) of the solar neighbourhood within 250 pc using the colour-magnitude diagram fitting technique. We present the determination of the completeness within this volume, and compare the resulting SFH with that calculated from the Hipparcos catalogue within 80 pc of the Sun. We also show how this technique will be applied out to ~5 kpc thanks to the next Gaia data releases, which will allow us to quantify the SFH of the thin disc, thick disc and halo in situ, rather than extrapolating based on the stars from these components that are today in the solar neighbourhood.


2004 ◽  
Vol 606 (2) ◽  
pp. 869-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. Barker ◽  
Ata Sarajedini ◽  
Jason Harris

1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 343-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Smecker-Hane ◽  
J. S. Gallagher ◽  
Andrew Cole ◽  
P. B. Stetson ◽  
E. Tolstoy

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is unique among galaxies in the Local Group in that it is the most massive non-spiral, is relatively gas-rich, and is actively forming stars. Determining its star-formation rate (SFR) as a function of time will be a cornerstone in our understanding of galaxy evolution. The best method of deriving a galaxy's past SFR is to compare the densities of stars in a color-magnitude diagram (CMD), a Hess diagram, with model Hess diagrams. The LMC has a complex stellar population with ages ranging from 0 to ~ 14 Gyr and metallicities from −2 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ −0.4, and deriving its SFR and simultaneously constraining model input parameters (distance, age-metallicity relation, reddening, and stellar models) requires well-populated CMDs that span the magnitude range 15 ≤ V ≤ 24. Although existing CMDs of field stars in the LMC show tantalizing evidence for a significant burst of star formation that occurred ~ 3 Gyr ago (for examples, see Westerlund et al. 1995; Vallenari et al. 1996; Elson, et al. 1997; Gallagher et al. 1999, and references therein), estimates of the enhancement in the SFR vary from factors of 3 to 50. This uncertainty is caused by the relatively large photometric errors that plague crowded ground-based images, and the small number statistics that plague CMDs created from single Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images.


1999 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 151-157
Author(s):  
C. Gallart ◽  
W. L. Freedman

We advance some results of our study of the star formation history of the Local Group dSph galaxy Leo I, obtained through the analysis of its deep HST color-magnitude diagram (CMD) using model CMDs computed from stellar evolutionary models. We conclude that most star formation (≃ 90%) took place in Leo I between 7 and 1 Gyr ago. It seems to have started at a very low rate ≃ 15 Gyr ago and continued, also at a very low rate, from 1 Gyr ago until the present time. A constant Z=0.0004 and a large fraction of binary stars are required to obtain the best agreement with both the distribution of stars across the CMD and with its morphology. An IMF like the one obtained by Kroupa et al. (1993) for the solar neighborhood, or steeper, is compatible with the data.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S334) ◽  
pp. 158-161
Author(s):  
Edouard J. Bernard

AbstractTaking advantage of the Gaia DR1, we combined TGAS parallaxes with the Tycho-2 and APASS photometry to calculate the star formation history (SFH) of the solar neighbourhood within 250 pc using the colour-magnitude diagram fitting technique. Our dynamically-evolved SFH is in excellent agreement with that calculated from the Hipparcos catalogue within 80 pc of the Sun, showing an enhanced star formation rate (SFR) in the past ~4 Gyr. We then correct the SFR for the disc thickening with age to obtain a SFR that is representative of the whole solar cylinder, and show that even with an extreme correction our results are not consistent with an exponentially decreasing SFR as found by recent studies. Finally, we discuss how this technique can be applied out to ~5 kpc thanks to the next Gaia data releases, which will allow us to quantify the SFH of the thin disc, thick disc and halo in situ.


1999 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 464-468
Author(s):  
R.E. Schulte-Ladbeck ◽  
U. Hopp ◽  
M. M. Crone

There are no examples of Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxies known within the Local Group (LG). Multicolor HST/WFPC2 observations of the nearby BCD VII Zw 403 (= UGC 6456) now resolve single stars with the quality (in terms of limiting magnitude and completeness) previously achieved for LG dwarfs from the ground. We use the MI, V - I color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of several LG dwarfs as templates to assess the stellar content and star-formation history (SFH) of the BCD VII Zw 403. This is the first BCD for which a clear spatial segregation of the resolved stellar content into a “core-halo” structure is detected: active star formation is observed in the central region of VII Zw 403, while in “Baade's red sheet”, this young population is strikingly absent. If BCD halos are home to dominant ancient stellar populations, then the fossil record conflicts with delayed-format ion scenarios for dwarfs. We present a sketch of the SFH in the core and halo of VII Zw 403.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (C198) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carme Gallart ◽  
Antonio Aparicio ◽  
R. Zinn ◽  
R. Buonanno ◽  
E. Hardy ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S255) ◽  
pp. 392-396
Author(s):  
Matteo Monelli ◽  

AbstractWe present here the latest results of the LCID project (Local Cosmology from Isolated Dwarfs), aimed at recovering the full star formation history (SFH) of six isolated dwarf galaxies of the Local Group (LG). Our method of analysis is based on the IAC-pop code, which derives the SFH of a resolved stellar system by comparing the observed and a model color-magnitude diagram (CMD). We summarize here basic technical issues and the main results concerning our sample of galaxies. We show that LeoA is the only object showing a clear delay in the onset of the major SF event, while all the other galaxies present a dominant component older than 10 Gyrs.


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