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The Star Formation Histories of Red Sequence Galaxies Mike Hudson U. Waterloo / IAP Steve Allanson (Waterloo) Allanson, MH et al 09, ApJ 702, 1275 Russell Smith (Durham) Coma/Hectospec team, esp. Ron Marzke
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70% of the stellar mass density is in present red-sequence galaxies Red-sequence galaxies dominated the star formation rate at z > 1
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Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment
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Cluster Samples Red and emission-free but not morphologically- selected. Large dynamic range in galaxy mass Shapley 340 galaxies in 3 rich clusters from deep 8hr AAOmega. Smith et al. 07 MNRAS 381 1035; Smith et al. 09 Coma Cluster Survey Deep Hectospec of 90 dwarfs. Smith et al. 08; Smith et al. 09a
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Ages, Metallicities & -Enhancements from Spectra Measure Lick indices (typically H , H , H , several Fe lines, Mgb) Compare with -enhanced models e.g. Thomas/Maraston et al., Schiavon. Get (“luminosity-weighted”) ages, metallicity, -enhancement
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The “Driving Parameter” of Stellar Populations Velocity dispersion, is the driving scaling parameter, with little or no residual dependence on stellar mass. Smith, Lucey, MH ‘09 Graves & Faber ‘09
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Shapley (Smith et al 07, Allanson et al 09) 70 km/s ~ L*+1.5 The End of Downsizing?
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Ages from Balmer Lines … are luminosity- weighted ages. EXP SSP Quenched FR Very hard to distinguish these toy models with spectra
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Ages from Balmer Lines only old stars Linestrengths cannot easily distinguish SF history.
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The End of Downsizing?
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Stellar M/L vs Dynamical M/L Old SSP, Exponential SFR: M * /L > M dyn /L Quenched: OK Young SSP: OK Allanson, MH, Smith & Lucey 2009 Dynamical M/L Stellar M/L (Kroupa)
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Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment
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Buildup of the red sequence If age is a strong function of mass/velocity dispersion then the red- sequence itself is built “top-down”
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Dwarf-to-Giant Ratio as a function of redshift DGR evolution rules out frosting and exponential models.
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The “typical” star formation history Pure SSP is certainly unrealistic, but high - enhancement suggests most of the stellar mass formed in short (<1 Gyr) burst. Any residual star formation must have been quenched quite abruptly. It does not continue to the present-day.
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Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment
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Environmental Dependence For giant (~L*) galaxies, dependence of stellar populations on environment is very weak. Smith et al. ‘06 found a 15% variation in age from the cluster core to the virial radius. For dwarfs the story is very different …
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Recently-quenched Coma red dwarfs Smith et al. 2008, 2009 SSP NGC4839 Smith et al ‘10 in prep
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Recently-quenched Coma dwarfs Coma red dwarfs consistent with having been “quenched” within the last 1-2 Gyr. Effect seems stronger in NGC 4839 group Morphologically, most of the recently-quenched galaxies appear to be early-type with Sersic n ~ 2 (but ~40% do have disks).
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Cluster Red Sequence Galaxies Strong age (“downsizing”), metallicity and - enhancements along red velocity dispersion sequence. Downsizing in stellar age stops at ~ 70 km/s. Comparisons with both z ~ 0 and high-z RS data favour a star formation history in which the younger ages are due to star formation quenching at intermediate epochs and not due to a small amount of very recent star formation. Red sequence dwarf ages show strong environmental dependence.
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