scholarly journals Dissecting the stellar content of Leo I: A dwarf irregular caught in transition

Author(s):  
T Ruiz-Lara ◽  
C Gallart ◽  
M Monelli ◽  
T K Fritz ◽  
G Battaglia ◽  
...  

Abstract Leo I is considered one of the youngest dwarf spheroidals (dSph) in the Local Group. Its isolation, extended star formation history (SFH), and recent perigalacticon passage (∼1 Gyr ago) make Leo I one of the most interesting nearby stellar systems. Here, we analyse deep photometric Hubble Space Telescope data via colour-magnitude diagram fitting techniques to study its global and radially-resolved SFH. We find global star formation enhancements in Leo I ∼13, 5.5, 2.0, and 1.0 Gyr ago, after which it was substantially quenched. Within the context of previous works focused on Leo I, we interpret the most ancient and the youngest ones as being linked to an early formation (surviving reionisation) and the latest perigalacticon passage (transition from dIrr to dSph), respectively. We clearly identify the presence of very metal poor stars ([Fe/H] ∼ −2) ageing ∼5–6 and ∼13 Gyr old. We speculate with the possibility that this metal-poor population in Leo I is related to the merging with a low mass system (possibly an ultra-faint dwarf). This event would have triggered star formation (peak of star formation ∼5.5 Gyr ago) and accumulated old, metal poor stars from the accreted system in Leo I. Some of the stars born during this event would also form from accreted gas of low-metallicity (giving rise to the 5-6 Gyr low-metallicity tail). Given the intensity and extension of the 2.0 Gyr burst, we hypothesise that this enhancement could also have an external origin. Despite the quenching of star formation around 1 Gyr ago (most probably induced by ram pressure stripping with the Milky Way halo at pericentre), we report the existence of stars as young as 300-500 Myr. We also distinguish two clear spatial regions: the inner ∼190 pc presents an homogeneous stellar content (size of the gaseous star forming disc in Leo I from ∼4.5 to 1 Gyr ago), whereas the outer regions display a clear positive age gradient.

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 139-142
Author(s):  
Rima Stonkutė ◽  
Marius Čeponis ◽  
Alina Leščinskaitė ◽  
Vladas Vansevičius

AbstractWe have studied young stellar populations and star clusters in the dwarf irregular galaxy Leo A using multicolor (B, V, R, I, Hα) photometry data obtained with the Subaru Suprime-Cam and two-color photometry results measured on archival HST/ACS F475W & F814W frames. The analysis of the main sequence (MS) and blue supergiant (BSG – “blue loop”) stars enabled us to study the star formation history in the Leo A galaxy during the last ~200 Myr. Also, we have discovered 5 low-mass (≲ 400 M⊙) star clusters within the ACS field. This finding, taking into account a low metallicity environment and a yet-undetected molecular gas in Leo A, constrains star formation efficiency estimates and scenarios. Inside the well known “hole” in the H i column density map (Hunter et al. 2012) we found a shock front (prominent in Hα), implying an unseen progenitor and reminding the “hole” problems widely discussed by Warren et al. (2011).


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S235) ◽  
pp. 327-327
Author(s):  
P. Papaderos

The star-formation history and chemodynamical evolution of Blue Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxies are central issues in dwarf galaxy research. In spite of being old in their vast majority, BCDs resemble in many aspects unevolved low-mass galaxies in the early universe. They are gas-rich (Hi mass fraction of typically > 30%) and metal-deficient (7.1 $\la$ 12+log(O/H) $\la$ 8.3) extragalactic systems, undergoing intense star-forming (SF) activity within an underlying low-surface brightness (LSB) host galaxy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (2) ◽  
pp. 1568-1590
Author(s):  
Lukas J Furtak ◽  
Hakim Atek ◽  
Matthew D Lehnert ◽  
Jacopo Chevallard ◽  
Stéphane Charlot

ABSTRACT We present new measurements of the very low mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) at z ∼ 6−7 computed from a rest-frame ultraviolet selected sample of dropout galaxies. These galaxies lie behind the six Hubble Frontier Field clusters and are all gravitationally magnified. Using deep Spitzer/IRAC and Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we derive stellar masses by fitting galaxy spectral energy distributions and explore the impact of different model assumptions and parameter degeneracies on the resulting GSMF. Our sample probes stellar masses down to $M_{\star }\gt 10^{6}\, \text{M}_{\odot}$ and we find the z ∼ 6−7 GSMF to be best parametrized by a modified Schechter function that allows for a turnover at very low masses. Using a Monte Carlo Markov chain analysis of the GSMF, including accurate treatment of lensing uncertainties, we obtain a relatively steep low-mass end slope $\alpha \simeq -1.96_{-0.08}^{+0.09}$ and a turnover at $\log (M_T/\text{M}_{\odot})\simeq 7.10_{-0.56}^{+0.17}$ with a curvature of $\beta \simeq 1.00_{-0.73}^{+0.87}$ for our minimum assumption model with constant star formation history (SFH) and low dust attenuation, AV ≤ 0.2. We find that the z ∼ 6−7 GSMF, in particular its very low mass end, is significantly affected by the assumed functional form of the star formation history and the degeneracy between stellar mass and dust attenuation. For example, the low-mass end slope ranges from $\alpha \simeq -1.82_{-0.07}^{+0.08}$ for an exponentially rising SFH to $\alpha \simeq -2.34_{-0.10}^{+0.11}$ when allowing AV of up to 3.25. Future observations at longer wavelengths and higher angular resolution with the James Webb Space Telescope are required to break these degeneracies and to robustly constrain the stellar mass of galaxies on the extreme low-mass end of the GSMF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison W. S. Man ◽  
Matthew D. Lehnert ◽  
Joël D. R. Vernet ◽  
Carlos De Breuck ◽  
Theresa Falkendal

The objective of this work is to study how active galactic nuclei (AGN) influence star formation in host galaxies. We present a detailed investigation of the star-formation history and conditions of a z = 2.57 massive radio galaxy based on VLT/X-shooter and ALMA observations. The deep rest-frame ultraviolet spectrum contains photospheric absorption lines and wind features indicating the presence of OB-type stars. The most significantly detected photospheric features are used to characterize the recent star formation: neither instantaneous nor continuous star-formation history is consistent with the relative strength of the Si IIλ1485 and S Vλ1502 absorption. Rather, at least two bursts of star formation took place in the recent past, at 6+1-2 Myr and ≳20 Myr ago, respectively. We deduce a molecular H2 gas mass of (3.9 ± 1.0) × 1010 M⊙ based on ALMA observations of the [C I] 3P2−3P1 emission. The molecular gas mass is only 13% of its stellar mass. Combined with its high star-formation rate of (1020-170+190 M⊙ yr-1, this implies a high star-formation efficiency of (26 ± 8) Gyr−1 and a short depletion time of (38 ± 12) Myr. We attribute the efficient star formation to compressive gas motions in order to explain the modest velocity dispersions (⩽55 km s−1) of the photospheric lines and of the star-forming gas traced by [C I]. Because of the likely very young age of the radio source, our findings suggest that vigorous star formation consumes much of the gas and works in concert with the AGN to remove any residual molecular gas, and eventually quenching star formation in massive galaxies.


2010 ◽  
Vol 716 (1) ◽  
pp. 474-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junfeng Wang ◽  
Eric D. Feigelson ◽  
Leisa K. Townsley ◽  
Patrick S. Broos ◽  
Carlos G. Román-Zúñiga ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 661-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha M. Förster Schreiber ◽  
Stijn Wuyts

Ever deeper and wider look-back surveys have led to a fairly robust outline of the cosmic star-formation history, which culminated around [Formula: see text]; this period is often nicknamed “cosmic noon.” Our knowledge about star-forming galaxies at these epochs has dramatically advanced from increasingly complete population censuses and detailed views of individual galaxies. We highlight some of the key observational insights that influenced our current understanding of galaxy evolution in the equilibrium growth picture: ▪  Scaling relations between galaxy properties are fairly well established among massive galaxies at least out to [Formula: see text], pointing to regulating mechanisms already acting on galaxy growth. ▪  Resolved views reveal that gravitational instabilities and efficient secular processes within the gas- and baryon-rich galaxies at [Formula: see text] play an important role in the early buildup of galactic structure. ▪  Ever more sensitive observations of kinematics at [Formula: see text] are probing the baryon and dark matter budget on galactic scales and the links between star-forming galaxies and their likely descendants. ▪  Toward higher masses, massive bulges, dense cores, and powerful AGNs and AGN-driven outflows are more prevalent and likely play a role in quenching star formation. We outline emerging questions and exciting prospects for the next decade with upcoming instrumentation, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the next generation of extremely large telescopes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 470-472
Author(s):  
Eva K. Grebel ◽  
Wolfgang Brandner

A new age calibration of Cepheids and supergiants is used to study the large-scale recent star formation history of the LMC and the SMC. We find evidence for migration of star formation along the LMC bar as well as for the existence of long-lived (≈ 200 Myr) extended star-forming features.


Author(s):  
James E. Upjohn ◽  
Michael J. I. Brown ◽  
Andrew M. Hopkins ◽  
Nicolas J. Bonne

AbstractWe measure the cosmic star formation history out to z = 1.3 using a sample of 918 radio-selected star-forming galaxies within the 2-deg2 COSMOS field. To increase our sample size, we combine 1.4-GHz flux densities from the VLA-COSMOS catalogue with flux densities measured from the VLA-COSMOS radio continuum image at the positions of I < 26.5 galaxies, enabling us to detect 1.4-GHz sources as faint as 40 μJy. We find that radio measurements of the cosmic star formation history are highly dependent on sample completeness and models used to extrapolate the faint end of the radio luminosity function. For our preferred model of the luminosity function, we find the star formation rate density increases from 0.017 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3 at z ∼ 0.225 to 0.092 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3 at z ∼ 1.1, which agrees to within 40% of recent UV, IR and 3-GHz measurements of the cosmic star formation history.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document