Constraining the Stellar Populations and Star Formation Histories of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies with SED Fits

Journal Article · Fri Feb 10 04:00:00 EST 2017 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/836/1/128· OSTI ID:22663805

Janowiecki, Steven ^[1]; Salzer, John J.; Zee, Liese van ^[2]; Rosenberg, Jessica L. ^[3]; Skillman, Evan ^[4]

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1. International Center for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009 (Australia)
2. Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, 727 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 (United States)
4. Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street, SE Minneapolis, MN, 55455 (United States)

We discuss and test possible evolutionary connections between blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) and other types of dwarf galaxies. BCDs provide ideal laboratories to study intense star formation episodes in low-mass dwarf galaxies, and have sometimes been considered a short-lived evolutionary stage between types of dwarf galaxies. To test these connections, we consider a sample of BCDs as well as a comparison sample of nearby galaxies from the Local Volume Legacy (LVL) survey for context. We fit the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions (SED, far-ultra-violet to far-infrared) of each galaxy with a grid of theoretical models to determine their stellar masses and star formation properties. We compare our results for BCDs with the LVL galaxies to put BCDs in the context of normal galaxy evolution. The SED fits demonstrate that the star formation events currently underway in BCDs are at the extreme of the continuum of normal dwarf galaxies, both in terms of the relative mass involved and in the relative increase over previous star formation rates. Today’s BCDs are distinctive objects in a state of extreme star formation that is rapidly transforming them. This study also suggests ways to identify former BCDs whose star formation episodes have since faded.

• OSTI ID: 22663805
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 836; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DWARF STARS
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
MASS
PHOTOMETRY
STARS
WAVELENGTHS