Modelling the red halos of blue compact galaxies

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dc.creatorZackrisson, E.
dc.creatorBergvall, N.
dc.creatorMarquart, T.
dc.creatorMattsson, L.
dc.creatorOstlin, G.
dc.date2004-11-18
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:15:56Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:15:56Z
dc.descriptionOptical/near-IR broadband photometry of the halos of blue compact galaxies (BCGs) have revealed a very red spectral energy distribution, which cannot easily be reconciled with any normal, metal-poor stellar population. Here, three possible explanations for the red excess are explored: nebular emission, metal-rich stars and a stellar population with a very bottom-heavy initial mass function (IMF). We find, that nebular emission in BCG halos would produce very blue near-IR colours, and hence fails to explain the observed red excess. Although metal-rich stars may in principle explain the colours observed, the required stellar metallicity is very high (solar or higher), which would be a curious halo property given the low gas metallicity (~10% solar) of the central starburst in these objects. A stellar population with a low to intermediate metallicity and a very bottom-heavy IMF does however adequately reproduce the observed BCG halo colours. A bottom-heavy IMF also proves successful in explaining a similar red excess observed in the halos of stacked edge-on disk galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This may indicate that halos dominated by low-mass stars is a phenomenon common to galaxies of very different Hubble types.
dc.description6 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of the conference "Starbursts: From 30 Doradus to Lyman Break Galaxies", held in Cambridge, UK, September 6-10, 2004
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0411537
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0411537
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/8598
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleModelling the red halos of blue compact galaxies
dc.typetext

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