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arXiv 1303.6293astro-ph.GA
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球状星团的非线性颜色-金属丰度关系。V. M31球状星团的非线性吸收线指数与金属丰度关系及双峰指数分布

Nonlinear Color-Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. V. Nonlinear Absorption-line Index versus Metallicity Relations and Bimodal Index Distributions of M31 Globular Clusters

Sooyoung Kim, Suk-Jin Yoon, Chul Chung, Nelson Caldwell, Ricardo P. Schiavon, Yongbeom Kang, Soo-Chang Rey, Young-Wook Lee

摘要:

最近对M31的球状星团(GC)系统的光谱学研究以前所未有的精度证实了老GC吸收线指数分布的双峰性。这种河外GC的划分,到目前为止主要是通过光度颜色双峰性来断言的,已经被认为是在单个星系内仅仅存在两个不同的金属丰度亚群,并且形成了各种星系形成理论的关键支柱。由于光谱学比光度学更能详细地探测恒星星族,因此指数双峰的发现可能表明双GC族的存在。然而,在这里,我们表明,所观察到的光谱二分法M31 GC出现由于金属性指数转换的非线性性质,因此不一定要调用两个单独的GC子系统。我们把这作为一个密切的类比,最近的观点,金属性颜色非线性主要负责观察到的GC颜色双峰。我们还表明,金属敏感镁线显示不可忽略的金属指数的非线性和巴耳末线显示相当强的非线性。这就产生了双峰指数分布,这通常被解释为双峰金属丰度分布,不考虑金属丰度指数的非线性。我们的发现为M31 GC系统的构成提供了新的见解,这可能会改变目前对GC系统及其宿主星系形成的许多想法。

英文摘要:

Recent spectroscopy on the globular cluster (GC) system of M31 with unprecedented precision witnessed a clear bimodality in absorption-line index distributions of old GCs. Such division of extragalactic GCs, so far asserted mainly by photometric color bimodality, has been viewed as the presence of merely two distinct metallicity subgroups within individual galaxies and forms a critical backbone of various galaxy formation theories. Given that spectroscopy is a more detailed probe into stellar population than photometry, the discovery of index bimodality may point to the very existence of dual GC populations. However, here we show that the observed spectroscopic dichotomy of M31 GCs emerges due to the nonlinear nature of metallicity-to-index conversion and thus one does not necessarily have to invoke two separate GC subsystems. We take this as a close analogy to the recent view that metallicity-color nonlinearity is primarily responsible for observed GC color bimodality. We also demonstrate that the metallicity-sensitive magnesium line displays non-negligible metallicity-index nonlinearity and Balmer lines show rather strong nonlinearity. This gives rise to bimodal index distributions, which are routinely interpreted as bimodal metallicity distributions, not considering metallicity-index nonlinearity. Our findings give a new insight into the constitution of M31's GC system, which could change much of the current thought on the formation of GC systems and their host galaxies.

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