Bibcode
Monachesi, Antonela; Trager, Scott C.; Lauer, Tod R.; Hidalgo, S. L.; Freedman, Wendy; Dressler, Alan; Grillmair, Carl; Mighell, Kenneth J.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 745, Issue 1, article id. 97 (2012).
Fecha de publicación:
1
2012
Revista
Número de citas
39
Número de citas referidas
38
Descripción
We use deep Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys/High
Resolution Channel observations of a field within M32 (F1) and an M31
background field (F2) to determine the star formation history (SFH) of
M32 from its resolved stellar population. We find that 2-5 Gyr old stars
contribute ~40% ± 17% of M32's mass, while ~55% ± 21% of
M32's mass comes from stars older than 5 Gyr. The mass-weighted mean age
and metallicity of M32 at F1 are langAgerang = 6.8 ± 1.5 Gyr and
lang[M/H]rang = -0.01 ± 0.08 dex. The SFH additionally
indicates the presence of young (<2 Gyr old), metal-poor ([M/H] ~
-0.7) stars, suggesting that blue straggler stars contribute ~2%
of the mass at F1; the remaining ~3% of the mass is in young metal-rich
stars. Line-strength indices computed from the SFH imply a
light-weighted mean age and metallicity of 4.9 Gyr and [M/H] = -0.12
dex, and single stellar population-equivalent parameters of 2.9 ±
0.2 Gyr and [M/H] = 0.02 ± 0.01 dex at F1 (~2.7 re ).
This contradicts spectroscopic studies that show a steep age gradient
from M32's center to 1 re . The inferred SFH of the M31
background field F2 reveals that the majority of its stars are old, with
~95% of its mass already acquired 5-14 Gyr ago. It is composed of two
dominant populations; ~30% ± 7.5% of its mass is in a 5-8 Gyr old
population, and ~65% ± 9% of the mass is in an 8-14 Gyr old
population. The mass-weighted mean age and metallicity of F2 are
langAgerang = 9.2 ± 1.2 Gyr and lang[M/H]rang = -0.10
± 0.10 dex, respectively. Our results suggest that the inner disk
and spheroid populations of M31 are indistinguishable from those of the
outer disk and spheroid. Assuming the mean age of M31's disk at F2 (~1
disk scale length) to be ~5-9 Gyr, our results agree with an inside-out
disk formation scenario for M31's disk.
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,
obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by
the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under
NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with GO
proposal 10572.
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