QUANTITATIVE SPECTROSCOPY OF BLUE SUPERGIANT STARS IN THE DISK OF M81: METALLICITY, METALLICITY GRADIENT, AND DISTANCE
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg and ECAP, D-96049 Bamberg (Germany)
- Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Concepcion, Casilla 160-C, Concepcion (Chile)
The quantitative spectral analysis of low-resolution ({approx}5 A) Keck LRIS spectra of blue supergiants in the disk of the giant spiral galaxy M81 is used to determine stellar effective temperatures, gravities, metallicities, luminosities, interstellar reddening, and a new distance using the flux-weighted gravity-luminosity relationship. Substantial reddening and extinction are found with E(B - V) ranging between 0.13 and 0.38 mag and an average value of 0.26 mag. The distance modulus obtained after individual reddening corrections is 27.7 {+-} 0.1 mag. The result is discussed with regard to recently measured tip of the red giant branch and Cepheid distances. The metallicities (based on elements such as iron, titanium, magnesium) are supersolar ( Almost-Equal-To 0.2 dex) in the inner disk (R {approx}< 5 kpc) and slightly subsolar ( Almost-Equal-To - 0.05 dex) in the outer disk (R {approx}> 10 kpc) with a shallow metallicity gradient of 0.034 dex kpc{sup -1}. The comparison with published oxygen abundances of planetary nebulae and metallicities determined through fits of Hubble Space Telescope color-magnitude diagrams indicates a late metal enrichment and a flattening of the abundance gradient over the last 5 Gyr. This might be the result of gas infall from metal-rich satellite galaxies. Combining these M81 metallicities with published blue supergiant abundance studies in the Local Group and the Sculptor Group, a galaxy mass-metallicity relationship based solely on stellar spectroscopic studies is presented and compared with recent studies of Sloan Digital Sky Survey star-forming galaxies.
- OSTI ID:
- 22016340
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 747, 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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