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San Jose State University

Galaxies: stellar content

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy

Extreme Chemical Abundance Ratio Suggesting An Exotic Origin For An Ultradiffuse Galaxy, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Anna Ferr´E-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Margarita Sharina, Alexa Villaume, Viraj Pandya, David Martinez-Delgado Apr 2019

Extreme Chemical Abundance Ratio Suggesting An Exotic Origin For An Ultradiffuse Galaxy, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Anna Ferr´E-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Margarita Sharina, Alexa Villaume, Viraj Pandya, David Martinez-Delgado

Faculty Publications

Ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) are a population of extended galaxies but with relatively low luminosities. The origin of these objects remains unclear, largely due to the observational challenges of the low surface brightness Universe. We present here a detailed stellar population analysis of a relatively isolated UDG, DGSAT I, based on spectroscopic data from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager integral field unit. The star formation history of DGSAT I seems to be extended, with a mean luminosity-weighted age of ∼3 Gyr, in agreement with previous photometric studies. However, we find a very high [Mg/Fe] abundance ratio, which is extreme even in …


Origins Of Ultradiffuse Galaxies In The Coma Cluster – Ii. Constraints From Their Stellar Populations, Anna Ferre-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Viraj Pandya, Ignacio Mart´In-Navarro, Sabine Bellstedt, Asher Wasserman, Maria Stone, Nobuhiro Okabe Oct 2018

Origins Of Ultradiffuse Galaxies In The Coma Cluster – Ii. Constraints From Their Stellar Populations, Anna Ferre-Mateu, Adebusola Alabi, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Viraj Pandya, Ignacio Mart´In-Navarro, Sabine Bellstedt, Asher Wasserman, Maria Stone, Nobuhiro Okabe

Faculty Publications

In this second paper of the series we study, with new Keck/DEIMOS spectra, the stellar populations of seven spectroscopically confirmed ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) in the Coma cluster. We find intermediate to old ages (∼7 Gyr), low metallicities ([Z/H] ∼ −0.7 dex) and mostly supersolar abundance patterns ([Mg/Fe] ∼ 0.13 dex). These properties are similar to those of low-luminosity (dwarf) galaxies inhabiting the same area in the cluster and are mostly consistent with being the continuity of the stellar mass scaling relations of more massive galaxies. These UDGs’ star formation histories imply a relatively recent infall into the Coma cluster, consistent …


The Stellar Populations Of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies From Optical And Near-Infrared Photometry, Viraj Pandya, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Seppo Laine, Jean Brodie, Benjamin Johnson, William Glaccum, Alexa Villaume, Jean-Charles Cuillandre, Stephen Gwyn, Jessica Krick, Ronald Lasker, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, David Martinez-Delgado, Pieter Van Dokkum Apr 2018

The Stellar Populations Of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies From Optical And Near-Infrared Photometry, Viraj Pandya, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Seppo Laine, Jean Brodie, Benjamin Johnson, William Glaccum, Alexa Villaume, Jean-Charles Cuillandre, Stephen Gwyn, Jessica Krick, Ronald Lasker, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, David Martinez-Delgado, Pieter Van Dokkum

Faculty Publications

We present observational constraints on the stellar populations of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) using optical through near-infrared (NIR) spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. Our analysis is enabled by new Spitzer-IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm imaging, archival optical imaging, and the prospectorfully Bayesian SED fitting framework. Our sample contains one field UDG (DGSAT I), one Virgo cluster UDG (VCC 1287), and one Virgo cluster dwarf elliptical for comparison (VCC 1122). We find that the optical–NIR colors of the three galaxies are significantly different from each other. We infer that VCC 1287 has an old (7.7 Gyr) and surprisingly metal-poor …


On The Formation Mechanisms Of Compact Elliptical Galaxies, Anna Ferré-Mateu, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Joachim Janz, Christopher Dixon Jan 2018

On The Formation Mechanisms Of Compact Elliptical Galaxies, Anna Ferré-Mateu, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky, Joachim Janz, Christopher Dixon

Faculty Publications

In order to investigate the formation mechanisms of the rare compact elliptical (cE) galaxies, we have compiled a sample of 25 cEs with good SDSS spectra, covering a range of stellar masses, sizes and environments. They have been visually classified according to the interaction with their host, representing different evolutionary stages. We have included clearly disrupted galaxies, galaxies that despite not showing signs of interaction are located close to a massive neighbour (thus are good candidates for a stripping process), and cEs with no host nearby. For the latter, tidal stripping is less likely to have happened and instead they …


Initial Mass Function Variability (Or Not) Among Low-Velocity Dispersion, Compact Stellar Systems, Alexa Villaume, Jean Brodie, Charlie Conroy, Aaron Romanowsky, Pieter Van Dokkum Nov 2017

Initial Mass Function Variability (Or Not) Among Low-Velocity Dispersion, Compact Stellar Systems, Alexa Villaume, Jean Brodie, Charlie Conroy, Aaron Romanowsky, Pieter Van Dokkum

Faculty Publications

Analyses of strong gravitational lenses, galaxy-scale kinematics, and absorption-line stellar population synthesis (SPS) have all concluded that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) varies within the massive early-type galaxy (ETG) population. However, the physical mechanism that drives variation in the IMF is an outstanding question. Here we use new SPS models to consider a diverse set of compact, low-velocity dispersion stellar systems: globular clusters (GCs), an ultra-compact dwarf (UCD), and the compact elliptical (cE) galaxy M32. We compare our results to massive ETGs and available dynamical measurements. We find that the GCs have stellar mass-to-light ratios (M/L) that are either …