THE STELLAR HALOS OF MASSIVE ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES
- Department of Astrophysics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1400, Austin, TX 71712 (United States)
We use the Mitchell Spectrograph (formerly VIRUS-P) on the McDonald Observatory 2.7 m Harlan J. Smith Telescope to search for the chemical signatures of massive elliptical galaxy assembly. The Mitchell Spectrograph is an integral-field spectrograph with a uniquely wide field of view (107'' Multiplication-Sign 107''), allowing us to achieve remarkably high signal-to-noise ratios of {approx}20-70 pixel{sup -1} in radial bins of 2-2.5 times the effective radii of the eight galaxies in our sample. Focusing on a sample of massive elliptical galaxies with stellar velocity dispersions {sigma}{sub *} > 150 km s{sup -1}, we study the radial dependence in the equivalent widths (EW) of key metal absorption lines. By twice the effective radius, the Mgb EWs have dropped by {approx}50%, and only a weak correlation between {sigma}{sub *} and Mgb EW remains. The Mgb EWs at large radii are comparable to those seen in the centers of elliptical galaxies that are {approx} an order of magnitude less massive. We find that the well-known metallicity gradients often observed within an effective radius continue smoothly to 2.5 R{sub e} , while the abundance ratio gradients remain flat. Much like the halo of the Milky Way, the stellar halos of our galaxies have low metallicities and high {alpha}-abundance ratios, as expected for very old stars formed in small stellar systems. Our observations support a picture in which the outer parts of massive elliptical galaxies are built by the accretion of much smaller systems whose star formation history was truncated at early times.
- OSTI ID:
- 22034581
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 750, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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