We present spectroscopic metallicities of individual stars in seven gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrrs), and we show that dIrrs obey the same mass-metallicity relation as the dwarf spheroidal ...(dSph) satellites of both the Milky Way and M31: Z sub(*) is proportional to M super(0.30+ or -0.02) sub(*). The uniformity of the relation is in contradiction to previous estimates of metallicity based on photometry. This relationship is roughly continuous with the stellar mass-stellar metallicity relation for galaxies as massive as M sub(*) = 10 super(12) M sub(middot in circle). Although the average metallicities of dwarf galaxies depend only on stellar mass, the shapes of their metallicity distributions depend on galaxy type. The metallicity distributions of dIrrs resemble simple, leaky box chemical evolution models, whereas dSphs require an additional parameter, such as gas accretion, to explain the shapes of their metallicity distributions. Furthermore, the metallicity distributions of the more luminous dSphs have sharp, metal-rich cut-offs that are consistent with the sudden truncation of star formation due to ram pressure stripping.
We present Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of stars in the recently discovered Milky Way satellites Hydra II, Pisces II, and Laevens 1. We measured a velocity dispersion of (ProQuest: Formulae and/or ...non-USASCII text omitted) for Pisces II, but we did not resolve the velocity dispersions of Hydra II or Laevens 1. We marginally resolved the metallicity dispersions of Hydra II and Pisces II but not Laevens 1. Furthermore, Hydra II and Pisces II obey the luminosity-metallicity relation for Milky Way dwarf galaxies (left angle bracketFe/Hright angle bracket = -2.02 + or - 0.08 and -2.45 + or - 0.07, respectively), whereas Laevens 1 does not (left angle bracketFe/Hright angle bracket = -1.68 + or - 0.05). The kinematic and chemical properties suggest that Hydra II and Pisces II are dwarf galaxies, and Laevens 1 is a globular cluster. We determined that two of the previously observed blue stars near the center of Laevens 1 are not members of the cluster. A third blue star has ambiguous membership. Hydra II has a radial velocity left angle bracketnuhelioright angle bracket = 303.1 + or - 1.4 km s super(-1), similar to the leading arm of the Magellanic stream. The mass-to-light ratio for Pisces II is (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) It is not among the most dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies, but it is still worthy of inclusion in the search for gamma-rays from dark matter self-annihilation.
We present an abundance analysis based on high-resolution spectra of 10 stars selected to span the full range in metallicity in the Ursa Minor (UMi) dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy. We find that Fe/H ...for the sample stars ranges from -1.35 to -3.10 dex. Combining our sample with previously published work for a total of 16 luminous UMi giants, we establish the trends of abundance ratios X/Fe as functions of Fe/H for 15 elements. In key cases, particularly for the {alpha}-elements, these trends resemble those for stars in the outer part of the Galactic halo, especially at the lowest metallicities probed. The neutron-capture elements show an r-process distribution over the full range of Fe metallicity reached in this dSph galaxy. This suggests that the duration of star formation in the UMi dSph was shorter than in other dSph galaxies. The derived ages for a larger sample of UMi stars with more uncertain metallicities also suggest a population dominated by uniformly old ({approx}13 Gyr) stars, with a hint of an age-metallicity relationship. Upon comparing our results for UMi, our earlier work in Draco, and published studies of more metal-rich dSph Galactic satellites, there appears to be a pattern of moving from a chemical inventory for dSph giants with Fe/H {approx}<-2 dex, which is very similar to that of stars in the outer part of the Galactic halo (enhanced {alpha}/Fe relative to the Sun, coupled with subsolar X/Fe for the heavy neutron-capture elements and r-process domination), switching to subsolar {alpha}-elements and super-solar s-process-dominated neutron-capture elements for the highest Fe/H dSph stars. The combination of low star formation rates over a varying and sometimes extended duration that produced the stellar populations in the local dSph galaxies with Fe/H > - 1.5 dex leads to a chemical inventory wildly discrepant from that of any component of the Milky Way. We note the presence of two UMi giants with Fe/H <-3.0 dex in our sample and reaffirm that the inner Galactic halo could have been formed by early accretion of Galactic satellite galaxies and dissolution of young globular clusters, while the outer halo could have formed from those satellite galaxies that accreted somewhat later.
The dynamics of isolated Local Group galaxies Kirby, Evan N; Bullock, James S; Boylan-Kolchin, Michael ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
03/2014, Letnik:
439, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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We measured velocities of 862 individual red giant stars in seven isolated dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: NGC 6822, IC 1613, VV 124 (UGC 4879), the Pegasus dwarf irregular galaxy (DDO 216), Leo ...A, Cetus and Aquarius (DDO 210). We also computed velocity dispersions, taking into account the measurement uncertainties on individual stars. None of the isolated galaxies is denser than the densest Local Group satellite galaxy. Furthermore, the isolated dwarf galaxies have no obvious distinction in the velocity dispersion-half-light radius plane from the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and M31. The similarity of the isolated and satellite galaxies' dynamics and structural parameters imposes limitations on environmental solutions to the 'too big to fail' problem, wherein there are fewer dense dwarf satellite galaxies than would be expected from cold dark matter simulations. This data set also has many other applications for dwarf galaxy evolution, including the transformation of dwarf irregular into dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We intend to explore these issues in future work.
A key goal of the Stage IV dark energy experiments Euclid, LSST, and WFIRST is to measure the growth of structure with cosmic time from weak lensing analysis over large regions of the sky. Weak ...lensing cosmology will be challenging: in addition to highly accurate galaxy shape measurements, statistically robust and accurate photometric redshift (photo-z) estimates for billions of faint galaxies will be needed in order to reconstruct the three-dimensional matter distribution. Here we present an overview of and initial results from the Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey, which is designed specifically to calibrate the empirical galaxy color-redshift relation to the Euclid depth. These redshifts will also be important for the calibrations of LSST and WFIRST. The C3R2 survey is obtaining multiplexed observations with Keck (DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE), the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC; OSIRIS), and the Very Large Telescope (VLT; FORS2 and KMOS) of a targeted sample of galaxies that are most important for the redshift calibration. We focus spectroscopic efforts on undersampled regions of galaxy color space identified in previous work in order to minimize the number of spectroscopic redshifts needed to map the color-redshift relation to the required accuracy. We present the C3R2 survey strategy and initial results, including the 1283 high-confidence redshifts obtained in the 2016A semester and released as Data Release 1.
We present an abundance analysis based on high-resolution spectra of eight stars selected to span the full range in metallicity in the Draco dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy. We find that Fe/H for the ...sample stars ranges from -1.5 to -3.0 dex. Combining our sample with previously published work for a total of 14 luminous Draco giants, we show that the abundance ratios Na/Fe, Mg/Fe, and Si/Fe for the Draco giants overlap those of Galactic halo giants at the lowest Fe/H probed, but are significantly lower for the higher Fe-metallicity Draco stars. For the explosive Delta *a-elements Ca and Ti, the abundance ratios for Draco giants with Fe/H > - 2.4 dex are approximately constant and slightly subsolar, well below values characteristic of Galactic halo stars. The s-process contribution to the production of heavy elements begins at significantly lower Fe metallicity than in the Galactic halo. Using a toy model we compare the behavior of the abundance ratios within the sample of Draco giants with those from the literature of Galactic globular clusters, and the Carina and Sgr dSph galaxies. The differences appear to be related to the timescale for buildup of the heavy elements, with Draco having the slowest rate. We note the presence of a Draco giant with Fe/H <-3.0 dex in our sample, and reaffirm that the inner Galactic halo could have been formed by early accretion of Galactic satellite galaxies and dissolution of young globular clusters, while the outer halo could have formed from those satellite galaxies accreted later.
From detailed abundance analysis of >100 Hamburg/ESO candidate extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars we find 45 with Fe/H < -3.0 dex. We identify a heretofore unidentified group; Ca-deficient stars with ...sub-solar Ca/Fe ratios and the lowest neutron-capture abundances; the Ca-deficient group comprises ~ 10% of the sample, excluding Carbon stars. Our radial velocity distribution shows that the carbon-enhanced stars with no s-process enhancements, CEMP-no, and which do not show C sub(2) bands are not preferentially binary systems. Ignoring Carbon stars, approximately 15% of our sample are strong (> or =, slant 5sigma) outliers in one or more elements between Mg and Ni; this rises to ~19% if very strong (> or =, slant10sigma) outliers for Sr and Ba are included. Examples include: HE0305-0554 with the lowest Ba/H known; HE1012-1540 and HE2323-0256, two (non-velocity variable) C-rich stars with very strong Mg,A1/Fe enhancements; and HE1226-1149, an extremely r-process rich star.
The Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey is a multi-institution, multi-instrument survey that aims to map the empirical relation of galaxy color to redshift to i ∼ 24.5 ...(AB), thereby providing a firm foundation for weak lensing cosmology with the Stage IV dark energy missions Euclid and WFIRST. Here we present 3171 new spectroscopic redshifts obtained in the 2016B and 2017A semesters with a combination of DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE on the Keck telescopes.13 The observations come from all of the Keck partners: Caltech, NASA, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California. Combined with the 1283 redshifts published in DR1, the C3R2 survey has now obtained and published 4454 high-quality galaxy redshifts. We discuss updates to the survey design and provide a catalog of photometric and spectroscopic data. Initial tests of the calibration method performance are given, indicating that the sample, once completed and combined with extensive data collected by other spectroscopic surveys, should allow us to meet the cosmology requirements for Euclid, and make significant headway toward solving the problem for WFIRST. We use the full spectroscopic sample to demonstrate that galaxy brightness is weakly correlated with redshift once a galaxy is localized in the Euclid or WFIRST color space, with potentially important implications for the spectroscopy needed to calibrate redshifts for faint WFIRST and LSST sources.
We present new Keck/HIRES observations of six red giants in the globular cluster (GC) NGC 2419. Although the cluster is among the most distant and most luminous in the Milky Way, it was considered ...chemically ordinary until very recently. Our previous work showed that the near-infrared Ca II triplet line strength varied more than expected for a chemically homogeneous cluster, and that at least one star had unusual abundances of Mg and K. Here, we confirm that NGC 2419 harbors a population of stars, comprising about one-third of its mass, that is depleted in Mg by a factor of eight and enhanced in K by a factor of six with respect to the Mg-normal population. Although the majority, Mg-normal population appears to have a chemical abundance pattern indistinguishable from ordinary, inner-halo GCs, the Mg-poor population exhibits dispersions of several elements. The abundances of K and Sc are strongly anti-correlated with Mg, and some other elements (Si and Ca among others) are weakly anti-correlated with Mg. These abundance patterns suggest that the different populations of NGC 2419 sample the ejecta of diverse supernovae in addition to asymptotic giant branch ejecta. However, the abundances of Fe-peak elements except Sc show no star-to-star variation. We find no nucleosynthetic source that satisfactorily explains all of the abundance variations in this cluster. Because NGC 2419 appears like no other GC, we reiterate our previous suggestion that it is not a GC at all, but rather the core of an accreted dwarf galaxy.
We derive the star formation histories of eight dwarf spheroidal (dSph) Milky Way satellite galaxies from their alpha element abundance patterns. Nearly 3000 stars from our previously published ...catalog comprise our data set. The average Delta *a/Fe ratios for all dSphs follow roughly the same path with increasing Fe/H. We do not observe the predicted knees in the Delta *a/Fe versus Fe/H diagram, corresponding to the metallicity at which Type Ia supernovae begin to explode. Instead, we find that Type Ia supernova ejecta contribute to the abundances of all but the most metal-poor (Fe/H < --2.5) stars. We have also developed a chemical evolution model that tracks the star formation rate, Types II and Ia supernova explosions, and supernova feedback. Without metal enhancement in the supernova blowout, massive amounts of gas loss define the history of all dSphs except Fornax, the most luminous in our sample. All six of the best-fit model parameters correlate with dSph luminosity but not with velocity dispersion, half-light radius, or Galactocentric distance.