SPATIALLY RESOLVED STAR FORMATION HISTORY ALONG THE DISK OF M82 USING MULTI-BAND PHOTOMETRIC DATA

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/726/1/51· OSTI ID:21567702

Rodriguez-Merino, L H; Rosa-Gonzalez, D

We present results on the star formation history and extinction in the disk of M82 over spatial scales of 10'' ({approx}180 pc). Multi-band photometric data covering the far-ultraviolet to the near-infrared bands were fitted to a grid of synthetic spectral energy distributions. We obtained distribution functions of age and extinction for each of the 117 apertures analyzed, taking into account observational errors through Monte Carlo simulations. These distribution functions were fitted with Gaussian functions to obtain the mean ages and extinctions together with their errors. The zones analyzed include the high surface brightness complexes defined by O'Connell and Mangano. We found that these complexes share the same star formation history and extinction as the field stellar populations in the disk. There is an indication that the stellar populations are marginally older at the outer disk (450 Myr at {approx}3 kpc) as compared to the inner disk (100 Myr at 0.5 kpc). For the nuclear region (radius less than 500 pc), we obtained an age of less than 10 Myr. The results obtained in this work are consistent with the idea that the 0.5-3 kpc part of the disk of M82 formed around 90% of the stellar mass in a star-forming episode that started around 450 Myr ago and lasted for about 350 Myr. We found that field stars are the major contributors to the flux over the spatial scales analyzed in this study, with the stellar cluster contribution being 7% in the nucleus and 0.7% in the disk.

• OSTI ID: 21567702
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 726; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BRIGHTNESS
CALCULATION METHODS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY SPECTRA
EVOLUTION
FAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
FUNCTIONS
GALAXIES
GAUSS FUNCTION
MONTE CARLO METHOD
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHOTOMETRY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
STAR CLUSTERS
STAR EVOLUTION
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION