Projects per year
Abstract
Recent integral field spectroscopic (IFS) surveys have revealed radial gradients in the optical spectral indices of post-starburst galaxies, which can be used to constrain their formation histories. We study the spectral indices of post-processed mock IFS datacubes of binary merger simulations, carefully matched to the properties of the MaNGA IFS survey, with a variety of black hole feedback models, progenitor galaxies, orbits and mass ratios. Based on our simulation sample, we find that only major mergers on prograde-prograde or retrograde-prograde orbits in combination with a mechanical black hole feedback model can form galaxies with weak enough ongoing star formation, and therefore absent Hα emission, to be selected by traditional PSB selection methods. We find strong fluctuations in nebular emission line strengths, even within the PSB phase, suggesting that Hα selected PSBs are only a subsample of the underlying population. The global PSB population can be more robustly identified using stellar continuum-based approaches. The difficulty in reproducing the very young PSBs in simulations potentially indicates that new sub-resolution star formation recipes are required to properly model the process of star formation quenching. In our simulations, we find that the starburst peaks at the same time at all radii, but is stronger and more prolonged in the inner regions. This results in a strong time evolution in the radial gradients of the spectral indices which can be used to estimate the age of the starburst without reliance on detailed star formation histories from spectral synthesis models.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1259–1277 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 498 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 17 Aug 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2020 |
Keywords
- Galaxies: evolution
- Galaxies: interactions
- Galaxies: star formation
- Galaxies: stellar content
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Comparison of stellar populations in simulated and real post-starburst galaxies in MaNGA'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
Starting Grant - SEDmorph: Starting Grant 2012 SEDMorph
Wild, V. (PI)
1/09/12 → 31/01/18
Project: Standard
Datasets
-
Comparison of stellar populations in simulated and real post-starburst galaxies in MaNGA (dataset)
Zheng, Y. (Creator), Wild, V. (Supervisor), Lahén, N. (Contributor), Johansson, P. H. (Contributor), Law, D. (Contributor), Weaver , J. R. (Contributor) & Martinez, N. J. (Contributor), University of St Andrews, 2020
DOI: 10.17630/ff244265-6540-494e-af3e-0969fdc5ff24
Dataset
File