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The Star Formation Histories of Red Sequence Galaxies Mike Hudson U. Waterloo / IAP Steve Allanson (Waterloo) Allanson, MH et al 09, ApJ 702, 1275 Russell.

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Presentation on theme: "The Star Formation Histories of Red Sequence Galaxies Mike Hudson U. Waterloo / IAP Steve Allanson (Waterloo) Allanson, MH et al 09, ApJ 702, 1275 Russell."— Presentation transcript:

1 The Star Formation Histories of Red Sequence Galaxies Mike Hudson U. Waterloo / IAP Steve Allanson (Waterloo) Allanson, MH et al 09, ApJ 702, 1275 Russell Smith (Durham) Coma/Hectospec team, esp. Ron Marzke

2 70% of the stellar mass density is in present red-sequence galaxies Red-sequence galaxies dominated the star formation rate at z > 1

3 Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment

4 Cluster Samples Red and emission-free but not morphologically- selected. Large dynamic range in galaxy mass Shapley 340 galaxies in 3 rich clusters from deep 8hr AAOmega. Smith et al. 07 MNRAS 381 1035; Smith et al. 09 Coma Cluster Survey Deep Hectospec of 90 dwarfs. Smith et al. 08; Smith et al. 09a

5 Ages, Metallicities &  -Enhancements from Spectra Measure Lick indices (typically H , H , H , several Fe lines, Mgb) Compare with  -enhanced models e.g. Thomas/Maraston et al., Schiavon. Get (“luminosity-weighted”) ages, metallicity,  -enhancement

6 The “Driving Parameter” of Stellar Populations Velocity dispersion,  is the driving scaling parameter, with little or no residual dependence on stellar mass. Smith, Lucey, MH ‘09 Graves & Faber ‘09

7 Shapley (Smith et al 07, Allanson et al 09) 70 km/s ~ L*+1.5 The End of Downsizing?

8 Ages from Balmer Lines … are luminosity- weighted ages. EXP SSP Quenched FR Very hard to distinguish these toy models with spectra

9 Ages from Balmer Lines only old stars Linestrengths cannot easily distinguish SF history.

10 The End of Downsizing?

11 Stellar M/L vs Dynamical M/L Old SSP, Exponential SFR: M * /L > M dyn /L Quenched: OK Young SSP: OK Allanson, MH, Smith & Lucey 2009 Dynamical M/L Stellar M/L (Kroupa)

12 Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment

13 Buildup of the red sequence If age is a strong function of mass/velocity dispersion then the red- sequence itself is built “top-down”

14 Dwarf-to-Giant Ratio as a function of redshift DGR evolution rules out frosting and exponential models.

15 The “typical” star formation history Pure SSP is certainly unrealistic, but high  - enhancement suggests most of the stellar mass formed in short (<1 Gyr) burst. Any residual star formation must have been quenched quite abruptly. It does not continue to the present-day.

16 Outline “Semi-empirical” galaxy formation models: Fit star formation models to low-z spectra Compare with high-z observations What quenches star formation: the role of environment

17 Environmental Dependence For giant (~L*) galaxies, dependence of stellar populations on environment is very weak. Smith et al. ‘06 found a 15% variation in age from the cluster core to the virial radius. For dwarfs the story is very different …

18 Recently-quenched Coma red dwarfs Smith et al. 2008, 2009 SSP NGC4839 Smith et al ‘10 in prep

19 Recently-quenched Coma dwarfs Coma red dwarfs consistent with having been “quenched” within the last 1-2 Gyr. Effect seems stronger in NGC 4839 group Morphologically, most of the recently-quenched galaxies appear to be early-type with Sersic n ~ 2 (but ~40% do have disks).

20 Cluster Red Sequence Galaxies Strong age (“downsizing”), metallicity and  - enhancements along red velocity dispersion sequence. Downsizing in stellar age stops at  ~ 70 km/s. Comparisons with both z ~ 0 and high-z RS data favour a star formation history in which the younger ages are due to star formation quenching at intermediate epochs and not due to a small amount of very recent star formation. Red sequence dwarf ages show strong environmental dependence.


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