Stellar populations of massive elliptical galaxies in very rich clusters
| dc.creator | Carretero, C. | |
| dc.creator | Vazdekis, A. | |
| dc.creator | Beckman, J. E. | |
| dc.creator | . | |
| dc.date | 2006-12-05 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T10:21:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T10:21:09Z | |
| dc.description | We present a detailed stellar population analysis of 27 massive elliptical galaxies within 4 very rich clusters at redshift z~0.2: A115, A655, A963 and A2111. Using the new, high-resolution stellar populations models developed in our group, we obtained accurate estimates of the mean luminosity-weighted ages and relative abundances of CN, Mg and Fe. We have found that [CN/H] and [Mg/H] are correlated with sigma while [Fe/H] and Log(age) are not. In addition, both abundance ratios [CN/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] increase with sigma. Furthermore, the [CN/H]-sigma and [CN/Fe]-sigma slopes are steeper for galaxies in very rich clusters than those in the less dense Virgo and Coma clusters. On the other hand, [Mg/H]-sigma and [Mg/Fe]-sigma slopes keep constant as functions of the environment. Our results are compatible with a scenario in which the stellar populations of massive elliptical galaxies, independently of their environment and mass, had formation timescales shorter than ~1 Gyr. This result implies that massive elliptical galaxies have evolved passively since, at least, as long ago as z~2. For a given galaxy mass the duration of star formation is shorter in those galaxies belonging to more dense environments; whereas the mass-metallicity relation appears to be also a function of the cluster properties: the denser the environment is, the steeper are the correlations. Finally, we show that the abundance ratios [CN/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] are the key "chemical clocks" to infer the star formation history timescales in ellipticals. In particular, [Mg/Fe] provides an upper limit for those formation timescales, while [CN/Fe] apperars to be the most suitable parameter to resolve them in elliptical galaxies with sigma<300 km/s. | |
| dc.description | Accepted for publication in MNRAS | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612119 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612119 | |
| dc.identifier | Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.375:1025-1033,2007 | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.11370.x | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/175080 | |
| dc.subject | Astrophysics | |
| dc.title | Stellar populations of massive elliptical galaxies in very rich clusters | |
| dc.type | text |