(Abridged) We perform integral field spectroscopy of a sample of Blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies with the aim of analyzing their morphology, the spatial distribution of some of their physical properties (excitation, extinction, and electron density) and their relationship with the distribution and evolutionary state of the stellar populations. Integral field spectroscopy observations of the sample galaxies were carried out with the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) at the 3.5 m telescope at Calar Alto Observatory. An area 16 arcsec x 16 arcsec in size was mapped with a spatial sampling of 1 arcsec x 1 arcsec. We obtained data in the 3590-6996 Angstroms spectral range, with a linear dispersion of 3.2 Angstroms per pixel. From these data we built two-dimensional maps of the flux of the most prominent emission lines, of two continuum bands, of the most relevant line ratios, and of the gas velocity field. Integrated spectra of the most prominent star-forming regions and of whole objects within the FOV were used to derive their physical parameters and the gas metal abundances. Six galaxies display the same morphology both in emission line and in continuum maps; only in two objects, Mrk 32 and Tololo 1434+032, the distributions of the ionized gas and of the stars differ considerably. In general the different excitation maps for a same object display the same pattern and trace the star-forming regions, as expected for objects ionized by hot stars; only the outer regions of Mrk 32, I Zw 123 and I Zw 159 display higher [SII]/Halpha values, suggestive of shocks. Six galaxies display an inhomogeneous dust distribution. Regarding the kinematics, Mrk 750, Mrk 206 and I Zw 159 display a clear rotation pattern, while in Mrk 32, Mrk 475 and I Zw 123 the velocity fields are flat.
The Stellar Population and Star Formation Properties of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies
利用Gil de Paz等人(2003)的样本与Sloan数字巡天数据第6版(SDSS DR 6)进行交叉相关,选取了一个蓝色致密矮星系(BCD)样本,研究了该样本的恒星星族、恒星形成历史和恒星形成特性。该样本包括31个BCD,它们跨越了银河系参数的大范围。利用恒星布居综合方法,我们导出了这些BCD的恒星星族,并重建了它们的恒星形成历史。我们的研究证实,BCDs不是经历第一次恒星形成的年轻系统,而是经历恒星爆发活动的老系统。大多数星系的恒星质量加权年龄可以达到10 Gyr,而光度加权年龄可能达到$\sim 3$年轻几个数量级($\sim 10$ Myr)。基于多波长数据,我们还研究了恒星形成的综合性质。我们的样本星系的SFR跨越近3个数量级,从几个$10^{-3}$到$\sim1\,M_\odot$ yr $^{-1}$,中值为$\sim 0.1\, M_\odot$ yr $^{-1}$。我们发现,约90%的BCD在我们的样本有他们的出生率参数(当前SFR的平均过去SFR的比值)$b>2-3$。我们进一步讨论了当前SFR与星系恒星质量的相关性,并探讨了SFR与金属丰度之间的联系。
It has long been speculated that many starburst or compact dwarf galaxies are resulted from dwarf-dwarf galaxy merging, but unequivocal evidence for this possibility has rarely been reported in the literature. We present the first study of deep optical broadband images of a gas-dominated blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) VCC848 (Mstar=2e8Msun) which hosts extended stellar shells and thus is confirmed to be a dwarf-dwarf merger. VCC848 is located in the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster. By analyzing the stellar light distribution, we found that VCC848 is the result of a merging between two dwarf ga…
The Gaia HR diagram shows the presence of apparently young stars at high tangential velocities. Using a simple analytical model I show that these stars are likely to be blue stragglers. Once normalized to red giant stars, the fraction of nearby halo blue stragglers is of order 20 percent, and remarkably close to that measured in dwarf galaxies. Motivated by this similarity, I apply to field blue stragglers scaling relations inferred from blue stragglers in dwarf galaxies. Doing this for the Milky Way halo returns an average stellar density of 3.4 x 10^-5 Msun/pc^3 and a dark matter density of …