Metallicity gradients

Author(s): M. Koleva, Ph Prugniel, S. DeRijcke, W. W. Zeilinger, D. Michielsen
Abstract: The formation and evolution of galaxies is imprinted on their stellar population radial gradients. Two recent articles present conflicting results concerning the mass dependence of the metallicity gradients for early-type dwarf galaxies. On one side, Spolaor et al. (2009) show a tight positive correlation between the total metallicity [Z/H] and the mass. On the other side, in a distinct sample, we do not find any trend involving [Fe/H] (Koleva et al. 2009). In order to investigate the origin of the discrepancy, we examine various factors that may affect the determination of the gradients: namely the sky subtraction and the signal-to-noise ratio. We conclude that our detection of gradients are well above the possible analysis biases. Then, we measured the [Mg/Fe] relative abundance profile and found moderate gradients. The derived [Z/H] gradients scatter around -0.4 dex/r_e. The two samples contain the same types of objects and the reason of the disagreement is still not understood.
Organisation(s): Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s): Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, University of La Laguna, Université Claude-Bernard-Lyon-I, École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS Lyon), Ghent University
Journal: Astronomische Nachrichten
Volume: 330
Pages: 960-965
No. of pages: 6
ISSN: 0004-6337
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.200911272
Publication date: 12-2009
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/f45bede2-3475-4089-aad6-0fa81a546cd4

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