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arXiv 1504.00909astro-ph.SRastro-ph.IM
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红巨星分支金属丰度分布函数的群体效应

Population Effects on the Metallicity Distribution Function Derived From the Red Giant Branch

Antonio J. Ordoñez, Ata Sarajedini

摘要:

我们已经测试了红巨星分支(RGB)的可靠性作为一个金属丰度指标占观测误差以及复杂的恒星形成历史(SFHS)和化学演化历史中观察到的各种恒星系统。我们生成模型颜色-星等图(CMD)与各种进化历史,并比较由此产生的金属丰度估计从RGB星的颜色和大小的真实输入金属丰度。我们在合成CMD中包含了光度误差和完整性的现实模型。正如预期的那样,对于以老恒星为主的简单的简单恒星星族,RGB提供了对恒星族的模块金属丰度值的非常准确的估计。这类研究的目标系统的年龄误差可能会产生十分之几个德克斯的金属丰度误差。这个金属丰度误差的大小线性依赖于年龄误差,我们发现这种依赖性与更精确的测光更强。如果星群在最近的$\sim$ 6 Gyr内经历了任何重要的恒星形成,那么从RGB中得出的金属丰度估计值[M/H]可能会有高达$\sim$ 0.5 dex的误差。也许这项技术最重要的考虑因素是对目标恒星系统的平均年龄进行准确、独立的估计,特别是如果很可能有很大一部分人口在$\sim$ 6 Gyr之前形成。

英文摘要:

We have tested the reliability of the red giant branch (RGB) as a metallicity indicator accounting for observational errors as well as the complexity of star formation histories (SFHs) and chemical evolution histories observed in various stellar systems. We generate model color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) produced with a variety of evolutionary histories and compare the resultant metallicity estimates from the colors and magnitudes of RGB stars to the true input metallicities. We include realistic models for photometric errors and completeness in our synthetic CMDs. As expected, for simple simple stellar populations dominated by old stars, the RGB provides a very accurate estimate of the modular metallicity value for a population. An error in the age of a system targeted for this type of study may produce metallicity errors of a few tenths of a dex. The size of this metallicity error depends linearly on the age error, and we find this dependence to be stronger with more precise photometry. If the population has experienced any significant star formation within the last $\sim$6 Gyr, the metallicity estimates, [M/H], derived from the RGB may be in error by up to $\sim$0.5 dex. Perhaps the most important consideration for this technique is an accurate, independent estimate of the average age for the target stellar system, especially if it is probable that a significant fraction of the population formed less than $\sim$6 Gyr ago.

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