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arXiv 1306.4195astro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR
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从白矮星光度函数看太阳邻域的恒星形成历史

The Star Formation History of the Solar Neighbourhood from the White Dwarf Luminosity Function

Nicholas Rowell

摘要:

白矮星光度函数的终止是测量附近恒星星族总年龄的标准诊断工具。本文提出了一种反演白矮星全光度函数的算法,以获得宿主恒星星族的时变恒星形成率的极大似然估计。与合成数据的测试表明,该算法收敛于广泛的一类潜在的恒星形成率的形式。该算法成功地估计的移动平均恒星形成率作为一个函数的回望时间在现实的测量噪声的存在下,虽然遭受退化周围的基础恒星形成率的不连续性。反演结果对白矮星冷却模型的选择最为敏感,不同的研究小组所建立的模型给出了截然不同的结果。结果对大气层白矮星的初始金属丰度、初始质量函数、初末质量关系和H/He比值相对不敏感。应用于太阳邻域白矮星光度函数的两次独立测定,得到了类似的结果。恒星形成率有一个双峰形式,在过去的2-3 Gyr和7-9 Gyr有一个宽峰,根据冷却模型的选择,中间有一个30-90%的明显的间歇。恒星形成的开始发生在大约8-10 Gyr前。在太阳附近,对于质量大于0.6 M_{solar}的恒星,总的恒星形成率约为0.014颗恒星/pc 3。

英文摘要:

The termination in the white dwarf luminosity function is a standard diagnostic tool for measuring the total age of nearby stellar populations. In this paper, an algorithm is presented for inverting the full white dwarf luminosity function to obtain a maximum likelihood estimate of the time varying star formation rate of the host stellar population. Tests with synthetic data demonstrate that the algorithm converges over a wide class of underlying star formation rate forms. The algorithm successfully estimates the moving average star formation rate as a function of lookback time in the presence of realistic measurement noise, though suffers from degeneracies around discontinuities in the underlying star formation rate. The inversion results are most sensitive to the choice of white dwarf cooling models, with the models produced by different groups giving quite different results. The results are relatively insensitive to the progenitor metallicity, initial mass function, initial-final mass relation and ratio of H/He atmosphere white dwarfs. Application to two independent determinations of the Solar neighbourhood white dwarf luminosity function gives similar results. The star formation rate has a bimodal form, with broad peaks at 2-3 Gyr and 7-9 Gyr in the past, separated by a significant lull of magnitude 30-90% depending on choice of cooling models. The onset of star formation occurs around 8-10 Gyr ago. The total integrated star formation rate is ~0.014 stars/pc3 in the Solar neighbourhood, for stars more massive than 0.6M_{solar}.

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