scholarly journals Ages and Masses of Star Clusters in M33: a Multiwavelength Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Caitlin Moeller ◽  
Daniela Calzetti

Abstract We combine archival images for the nearby galaxy M33 (Triangulum Galaxy) from the ultraviolet (UV) to the infrared to derive ages, masses, and extinctions for the young star cluster population, and compare our physical parameters with published ones. Our goal is to test the robustness of clusters ages and masses, and possibly improve on existing ones both by expanding the wavelength range of the spectral-energy distribution (SED) fits and by using more recent population synthesis models. The rationale for this experiment is to verify the sensitivity of the clusters physical parameters to observational setups and model choices that span those commonly found in the literature. We derive the physical parameters of 137 clusters, using SEDs measured in eight UV-to-I bands, including Hα, from GALEX and ground-based images. We also add the 24 μm image from the Spitzer Space Telescope to help break some age degeneracies. We find that our derived cluster ages show significant differences with earlier determinations, while the masses remain relatively insensitive to the fitting approach adopted. We also highlight an already known difficulty in recovering old, low-extinction clusters, as SED-fitting codes tend to prefer younger, higher extinction solutions when the extinction is a free parameter. We publish updated ages, masses, and extinctions, with uncertainties for all sample star clusters, together with their photometry. Given the proximity of M33, this represents an important population to secure for the study of star formation and cluster evolution in spirals.

2019 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
pp. A60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémy Fensch ◽  
Pierre-Alain Duc ◽  
Médéric Boquien ◽  
Debra M. Elmegreen ◽  
Bruce G. Elmegreen ◽  
...  

Context. The formation of globular clusters remains an open debate. Dwarf starburst galaxies are efficient at forming young massive clusters with similar masses as globular clusters and may hold the key to understanding their formation. Aims. We study star cluster formation in a tidal debris, including the vicinity of three tidal dwarf galaxies, in a massive gas-dominated collisional ring around NGC 5291. These dwarfs have physical parameters that differ significantly from local starbursting dwarfs. They are gas rich, highly turbulent, their gas metallicity is already enriched up to half solar values, and they are expected to be free of dark matter. The aim is to study massive star cluster formation in this as yet unexplored type of environment. Methods. We used imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope using broadband filters that cover the wavelength range from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. We determined the masses and ages of the cluster candidates by using the spectral energy distribution-fitting code CIGALE. We considered age-extinction degeneracy effects on the estimation of the physical parameters. Results. We find that the tidal dwarf galaxies in the ring of NGC 5291 are forming star clusters with an average efficiency of ∼40%, which is similar to blue compact dwarf galaxies. We also find massive star clusters for which the photometry suggests that they were formed at the very birth of the tidal dwarf galaxies. These clusters have survived for several hundred million years. Therefore our study shows that extended tidal dwarf galaxies and compact clusters may be formed simultaneously. In the specific case observed here, the young star clusters are not massive enough to survive for a Hubble time. However, it may be speculated that similar objects at higher redshift, with a higher star formation rate, might form some of the long-lived globular clusters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1563-1570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Rastello ◽  
Michela Mapelli ◽  
Ugo N Di Carlo ◽  
Nicola Giacobbo ◽  
Filippo Santoliquido ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Young star clusters are likely the most common birthplace of massive stars across cosmic time and influence the formation of compact binaries in several ways. Here, we simulate the formation of black hole–neutron star binaries (BHNSs) in young star clusters, by means of the binary population synthesis code MOBSE interfaced with the N-body code NBODY6++GPU. BHNSs formed in young star clusters (dynamical BHNSs) are significantly more massive than BHNSs formed from isolated binaries (isolated BHNSs): ∼40 per cent of the dynamical BHNS mergers have a total mass of >15 M⊙, while only ∼0.01 per cent of the isolated BHNS mergers have mass in excess of this value. Hence, our models strongly support a dynamical formation scenario for GW190814, given its total mass of ∼26 M⊙, if this event is a BHNS merger. All our dynamical BHNSs are ejected from their parent star cluster before they reach coalescence. Thus, a significant fraction of BHNS mergers occurring in the field might have originated in a young star cluster. The mass spectrum of BHNS mergers from gravitational-wave detections will provide a clue to differentiate between dynamical and isolated formation of BHNSs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (S311) ◽  
pp. 82-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Sick ◽  
Stephane Courteau ◽  
Jean-Charles Cuillandre ◽  
Julianne Dalcanton ◽  
Roelof de Jong ◽  
...  

AbstractOur proximity and external vantage point make M31 an ideal testbed for understanding the structure of spiral galaxies. The Andromeda Optical and Infrared Disk Survey (ANDROIDS) has mapped M31's bulge and disk out to R=40 kpc in ugriJKs bands with CFHT using a careful sky calibration. We use Bayesian modelling of the optical-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) to estimate profiles of M31's stellar populations and mass along the major axis. This analysis provides evidence for inside-out disk formation and a declining metallicity gradient. M31's i-band mass-to-light ratio (M/Li*) decreases from 0.5 dex in the bulge to ~ 0.2 dex at 40 kpc. The best-constrained stellar population models use the full ugriJKs SED but are also consistent with optical-only fits. Therefore, while NIR data can be successfully modelled with modern stellar population synthesis, NIR data do not provide additional constraints in this application. Fits to the gi-SED alone yield M/Li* that are systematically lower than the full SED fit by 0.1 dex. This is still smaller than the 0.3 dex scatter amongst different relations for M/Li via g – i colour found in the literature. We advocate a stellar mass of M*(30 kpc) = 10.3+2.3-1.7 × 1010 M⊙ for the M31 bulge and disk.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Skopal

AbstractSymbiotic binaries consist of a few sources of radiation contributing to spectral energy distribution (SED) from hard X-rays to radio wavelengths. To identify the basic physical processes forming the observed spectrum, we have to disentangle the composite SED into its individual components of radiation, i.e., to determine their physical parameters. Spectral disentangling of different objects at different stages of activity allows us to understand the mechanism of their outbursts. In this contribution I demonstrate the method of multiwave-length modeling SEDs on the example of two classical symbiotic stars, AG Dra and Z And.


2016 ◽  
Vol 458 (1) ◽  
pp. 624-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Crowther ◽  
S. M. Caballero-Nieves ◽  
K. A. Bostroem ◽  
J. Maíz Apellániz ◽  
F. R. N. Schneider ◽  
...  

1995 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 448-449
Author(s):  
Young-Wook Lee ◽  
Jang-Hyun Park

Recent UV observations of elliptical galaxies are interpreted as evidence for the global second parameter phenomenon of horizontal-branch (HB) morphology within, as well as between, these galaxies. In this picture, the origin of the UV radiation is mostly due to hot HB stars and their post-HB progeny produced by the metal-poor tail of the wide metallicity distribution expected to be present in these systems. The attractive feature of this model is that the bimodal temperature distributions of HB stars (and their progeny), required to generate the 2000 Å dip of the spectral energy distribution (SED), can naturally be reproduced from the standard HB population models with large range of metal abundance (see Lee 1994, ApJ, 430, L113). Detailed population synthesis models are presented, which reproduce the systematic variation of UV upturn among elliptical galaxies (Fig 1). If age is the major second parameter, as suggested by the fossil record in our Galaxy, the observed UV color gradient and the UV upturn-total mass (mean metallicity) correlation, within and between the early-type systems, would imply, respectively, (1) that most galaxies formed from the inside out, and (2) that there is age spread among galaxies, in the sense that more massive galaxies are older (and more metal-rich in the mean) than less massive galaxies as a result of more efficient star formation (and metal enrichment) in denser environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 4648-4665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hannon ◽  
Janice C Lee ◽  
B C Whitmore ◽  
R Chandar ◽  
A Adamo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The morphology of H ii regions around young star clusters provides insight into the time-scales and physical processes that clear a cluster’s natal gas. We study ∼700 young clusters (≤10 Myr) in three nearby spiral galaxies (NGC 7793, NGC 4395, and NGC 1313) using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic Ultraviolet Survey). Clusters are classified by their H α morphology (concentrated, partially exposed, no-emission) and whether they have neighbouring clusters (which could affect the clearing time-scales). Through visual inspection of the HST images, and analysis of ages, reddenings, and stellar masses from spectral energy distributions fitting, together with the (U− B), (V − I) colours, we find (1) the median ages indicate a progression from concentrated (∼3 Myr), to partially exposed (∼4 Myr), to no H α emission (>5 Myr), consistent with the expected temporal evolution of H ii regions and previous results. However, (2) similarities in the age distributions for clusters with concentrated and partially exposed H α morphologies imply a short time-scale for gas clearing (≲1 Myr). Also, (3) our cluster sample’s median mass is ∼1000 M⊙, and a significant fraction ($\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) contain one or more bright red sources (presumably supergiants), which can mimic reddening effects. Finally, (4) the median E(B − V) values for clusters with concentrated H α and those without H α emission appear to be more similar than expected (∼0.18 versus ∼0.14, respectively), but when accounting for stochastic effects, clusters without H α emission are less reddened. To mitigate stochastic effects, we experiment with synthesizing more massive clusters by stacking fluxes of clusters within each H α morphological class. Composite isolated clusters also reveal a colour and age progression for H α morphological classes, consistent with analysis of the individual clusters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S341) ◽  
pp. 138-142
Author(s):  
Frédéric Galliano

AbstractIn this paper, I review several dust evolution studies based on the DustPedia nearby galaxy sample. I first present the dust spectral energy distribution model, implementing a hierarchical Bayesian method, that we have developed. I then discuss the dust evolution trends we have derived among (integrated) and within (resolved) galaxies. In particular, we show that the trend of dust-to-gas ratio with metallicity is clearly non-linear, indicating the need for grain growth in the interstellar medium. Our trend is closer to the one derived with damped Lyα systems than what was suggested by previous studies. We finally demonstrate the universal processing of small amorphous carbon grains by stellar photons.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (S312) ◽  
pp. 201-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou Fan ◽  
Yanbin Yang

AbstractThe recent studies show that the formation and evolution process of the nearby galaxies are still unclear. By using the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) 3.6m telescope, the PanDAS shows complicated substructures (dwarf satellite galaxies, halo globular clusters, extended clusters, star streams, etc.) in the halo of M31 to ~150 kpc from the center of galaxy and M31-M33 interaction has been studied. In our work, we would like to investigate formation, evolution and interaction of M31 and M33, which are the nearest two spiral galaxies in Local Group. The star cluster systems of the two galaxies are good tracers to study the dynamics of the substructures and the interaction. Since 2010, the Xinglong 2.16m, Lijiang 2.4m and MMT 6.5m telescopes have been used for our spectroscopic observations. The radial velocities and Lick absorption-line indices can thus be measured with the spectroscopy and then ages, metallicities and masses of the star clusters can be fitted with the simple stellar population models. These parameters could be used as the input physical parameters for numerical simulations of M31-M33 interaction.


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