arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 0903.1855astro-ph.COastro-ph.GA
收藏

NGC 300极暗外盘的绝对梯度

The Abundance Gradient in the Extremely Faint Outer Disk of NGC 300

Marija Vlajić, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Ken C. Freeman

摘要:

在早期的工作中,我们首次发现NGC 300的恒星盘非常延伸,没有截断的证据,这种现象在其他盘星系中已经观察到。我们重访NGC 300的外盘,以确定暗恒星星族的金属丰度。用双子座南的GMOS照相机,在测光条件和0.7”视宁度下,我们在(g ',i')=(26.8- 27.4,26.1 -27.0)处达到50%的完整性。在这些微弱的深度,必须仔细考虑背景星系的人口。外盘恒星的平均颜色落在背景星系的颜色范围内,但恒星密度以约2:1的比例支配背景星系。在外盘中占主导地位的老恒星星族表现出负的丰度梯度-正如星系演化模型所预期的那样-到大约10 kpc,丰度趋势改变符号。我们提出了两个方案来解释扁平化,或向上翻转,在NGC 300的金属丰度梯度,并讨论了这对更广泛的星系形成的影响。

英文摘要:

In earlier work, we showed for the first time that the resolved stellar disk of NGC 300 is very extended with no evidence for truncation, a phenomenon that has since been observed in other disk galaxies. We revisit the outer disk of NGC 300 in order to determine the metallicity of the faint stellar population. With the GMOS camera at Gemini South, we reach 50% completeness at (g', i')=(26.8-27.4,26.1-27.0) in photometric conditions and 0.7" seeing. At these faint depths, careful consideration must be given to the background galaxy population. The mean colors of the outer disk stars fall within the spread of colors for the background galaxies, but the stellar density dominates the background galaxies by ~2:1. The predominantly old stellar population in the outer disk exhibits a negative abundance gradient - as expected from models of galaxy evolution - out to about 10 kpc where the abundance trend changes sign. We present two scenarios to explain the flattening, or upturn, in the metallicity gradient of NGC 300 and discuss the implication this has for the broader picture of galaxy formation.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑