Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T13:30:50.666Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Stellar Populations in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

J. Gorgas
Affiliation:
Dpto. de Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid
S. Pedraz
Affiliation:
Dpto. de Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid
N. Cardiel
Affiliation:
Dpto. de Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense, Madrid
J.J. Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomía, U.N.A.M., México

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We present the results of a spectroscopic study in which we have measured line-strength indices in a sample of 5 dwarf and 2 compact elliptical galaxies (mostly from Virgo). Some conclusions about the stellar populations in dwarf E's are derived by comparing the sample with classical E galaxies. In the adjacent figure, we plot in the Hβ-[MgFe] plane the central indices of our sample of dwarf and compact E's together with data from González (1993, PhD Thesis). The grid represents the predictions of single-burst stellar population models from Worthey (1994, ApJS, 95, 107). The main conclusion is that, whilst the central regions of giant, intermediate and compact ellipticals span, according to stellar population models, a wide range in mean stellar ages, bright dwarf ellipticals are found to be old, compatible with a ∼ 10 Gyr old stellar population. This means that the dichotomy found in the Fundamental Plane between dwarf ellipticals and the gE-iE-cE sequence (Bender, Burstein & Faber 1992, ApJ, 399, 462) is also observed in the stellar populations.

Type
Poster Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1996