Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters

Richard M. McDermid; Michele Cappellari; Katherine Alatalo; Estelle Bayet; Leo Blitz; Maxime Bois; Frederic Bournaud; Martin Bureau; Alison F. Crocker; Roger L. Davies; Timothy A. Davis; P. T. de Zeeuw; Pierre-Alain Duc; Eric Emsellem; Sadegh Khochfar; Davor Krajnovic; Harald Kuntschner; Raffaella Morganti; Thorsten Naab; Tom Oosterloo; Marc Sarzi; Nicholas Scott; Paolo Serra; Anne-Marie Weijmans; Lisa M. Young

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters

Richard M. McDermid, Michele Cappellari, Katherine Alatalo, Estelle Bayet, Leo Blitz, Maxime Bois, Frederic Bournaud, Martin Bureau, Alison F. Crocker, Roger L. Davies, Timothy A. Davis, P. T. de Zeeuw, Pierre-Alain Duc, Eric Emsellem, Sadegh Khochfar, Davor Krajnovic, Harald Kuntschner, Raffaella Morganti, Thorsten Naab, Tom OosterlooMarc Sarzi, Nicholas Scott, Paolo Serra, Anne-Marie Weijmans, Lisa M. Young

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the Atlas^3D project. We study trends between our dynamically-derived IMF normalisation and absorption line strengths, and interpret these via single stellar population- (SSP-) equivalent ages, abundance ratios(measured as [alpha/Fe]), and total metallicity, [Z/H]. We find that old and alpha-enhanced galaxies tend to have on average heavier (Salpeter-like) mass normalisation of the IMF, but stellar population does not appear to be a good predictor of the IMF, with a large range of normalisation at a given population parameter. As a result, we find weak IMF-[alpha/Fe] and IMF-age correlations, and no significant IMF-[Z/H]correlation. The observed trends appear significantly weaker than those reported in studies that measure the IMF normalisation via low-mass star demographics inferred through stellar spectral analysis.

Original language	English
Article number	L37
Number of pages	5
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	792
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37
Publication status	Published - 27 Aug 2014

Keywords

Galaxies: abundances
Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD
Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
Galaxies: stellar content

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10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

astroph_1408.3189
© 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published online in the Astrophysical Journal on 27 August 2014, available online: http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/792/2/L37/article?fromSearchPage=true
Accepted author manuscript, 1.41 MB

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McDermid, R. M., Cappellari, M., Alatalo, K., Bayet, E., Blitz, L., Bois, M., Bournaud, F., Bureau, M., Crocker, A. F., Davies, R. L., Davis, T. A., de Zeeuw, P. T., Duc, P.-A., Emsellem, E., Khochfar, S., Krajnovic, D., Kuntschner, H., Morganti, R., Naab, T., ... Young, L. M. (2014). Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 792(2), Article L37. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

@article{c47bde8dea7a4fecbf879f40c059ca49,

title = "Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters",

abstract = "We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the Atlas3D project. We study trends between our dynamically-derived IMF normalisation and absorption line strengths, and interpret these via single stellar population- (SSP-) equivalent ages, abundance ratios(measured as [alpha/Fe]), and total metallicity, [Z/H]. We find that old and alpha-enhanced galaxies tend to have on average heavier (Salpeter-like) mass normalisation of the IMF, but stellar population does not appear to be a good predictor of the IMF, with a large range of normalisation at a given population parameter. As a result, we find weak IMF-[alpha/Fe] and IMF-age correlations, and no significant IMF-[Z/H]correlation. The observed trends appear significantly weaker than those reported in studies that measure the IMF normalisation via low-mass star demographics inferred through stellar spectral analysis.",

keywords = "Galaxies: abundances, Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD, Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, Galaxies: stellar content",

author = "McDermid, {Richard M.} and Michele Cappellari and Katherine Alatalo and Estelle Bayet and Leo Blitz and Maxime Bois and Frederic Bournaud and Martin Bureau and Crocker, {Alison F.} and Davies, {Roger L.} and Davis, {Timothy A.} and {de Zeeuw}, {P. T.} and Pierre-Alain Duc and Eric Emsellem and Sadegh Khochfar and Davor Krajnovic and Harald Kuntschner and Raffaella Morganti and Thorsten Naab and Tom Oosterloo and Marc Sarzi and Nicholas Scott and Paolo Serra and Anne-Marie Weijmans and Young, {Lisa M.}",

note = "The authors thank the referee for helping to improve this article. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community{\textquoteright}s Seventh Framework Programme (/FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement No 229517. MC acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. This work was supported by the rolling grants PP/E001114/1 and ST/H002456/1 and visitors grants PPA/V/S/2002/00553, PP/E001564/1 and ST/H504862/1 from the UK Research Councils. RLD acknowledges grants from Christ Church, Oxford and support from the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award 502011.K502/jd. SK acknowledges support from the Royal Society Joint Projects Grant JP0869822. TN and MBois acknowledge support from the DFG Cluster of Excellence {\textquoteleft}Origin and Structure of the Universe{\textquoteright}. MS acknowledges support from a STFC Advanced Fellowship ST/F009186/1. LY acknowledges support from NSF grant AST-1109803. The authors acknowledge financial support from ESO.",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37",

language = "English",

volume = "792",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8205",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2",

}

McDermid, RM, Cappellari, M, Alatalo, K, Bayet, E, Blitz, L, Bois, M, Bournaud, F, Bureau, M, Crocker, AF, Davies, RL, Davis, TA, de Zeeuw, PT, Duc, P-A, Emsellem, E, Khochfar, S, Krajnovic, D, Kuntschner, H, Morganti, R, Naab, T, Oosterloo, T, Sarzi, M, Scott, N, Serra, P, Weijmans, A-M & Young, LM 2014, 'Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 792, no. 2, L37. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

TY - JOUR

T1 - Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters

AU - McDermid, Richard M.

AU - Cappellari, Michele

AU - Alatalo, Katherine

AU - Bayet, Estelle

AU - Blitz, Leo

AU - Bois, Maxime

AU - Bournaud, Frederic

AU - Bureau, Martin

AU - Crocker, Alison F.

AU - Davies, Roger L.

AU - Davis, Timothy A.

AU - de Zeeuw, P. T.

AU - Duc, Pierre-Alain

AU - Emsellem, Eric

AU - Khochfar, Sadegh

AU - Krajnovic, Davor

AU - Kuntschner, Harald

AU - Morganti, Raffaella

AU - Naab, Thorsten

AU - Oosterloo, Tom

AU - Sarzi, Marc

AU - Scott, Nicholas

AU - Serra, Paolo

AU - Weijmans, Anne-Marie

AU - Young, Lisa M.

N1 - The authors thank the referee for helping to improve this article. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (/FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement No 229517. MC acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. This work was supported by the rolling grants PP/E001114/1 and ST/H002456/1 and visitors grants PPA/V/S/2002/00553, PP/E001564/1 and ST/H504862/1 from the UK Research Councils. RLD acknowledges grants from Christ Church, Oxford and support from the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award 502011.K502/jd. SK acknowledges support from the Royal Society Joint Projects Grant JP0869822. TN and MBois acknowledge support from the DFG Cluster of Excellence ‘Origin and Structure of the Universe’. MS acknowledges support from a STFC Advanced Fellowship ST/F009186/1. LY acknowledges support from NSF grant AST-1109803. The authors acknowledge financial support from ESO.

PY - 2014/8/27

Y1 - 2014/8/27

N2 - We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the Atlas3D project. We study trends between our dynamically-derived IMF normalisation and absorption line strengths, and interpret these via single stellar population- (SSP-) equivalent ages, abundance ratios(measured as [alpha/Fe]), and total metallicity, [Z/H]. We find that old and alpha-enhanced galaxies tend to have on average heavier (Salpeter-like) mass normalisation of the IMF, but stellar population does not appear to be a good predictor of the IMF, with a large range of normalisation at a given population parameter. As a result, we find weak IMF-[alpha/Fe] and IMF-age correlations, and no significant IMF-[Z/H]correlation. The observed trends appear significantly weaker than those reported in studies that measure the IMF normalisation via low-mass star demographics inferred through stellar spectral analysis.

AB - We report on empirical trends between the dynamically determined stellar initial mass function (IMF) and stellar population properties for a complete, volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies from the Atlas3D project. We study trends between our dynamically-derived IMF normalisation and absorption line strengths, and interpret these via single stellar population- (SSP-) equivalent ages, abundance ratios(measured as [alpha/Fe]), and total metallicity, [Z/H]. We find that old and alpha-enhanced galaxies tend to have on average heavier (Salpeter-like) mass normalisation of the IMF, but stellar population does not appear to be a good predictor of the IMF, with a large range of normalisation at a given population parameter. As a result, we find weak IMF-[alpha/Fe] and IMF-age correlations, and no significant IMF-[Z/H]correlation. The observed trends appear significantly weaker than those reported in studies that measure the IMF normalisation via low-mass star demographics inferred through stellar spectral analysis.

KW - Galaxies: abundances

KW - Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD

KW - Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

KW - Galaxies: stellar content

UR - http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1408.3189M

U2 - 10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

DO - 10.1088/2041-8205/792/2/L37

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 792

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 2

M1 - L37

ER -

Connection between dynamically derived initial mass function normalisation and stellar population parameters

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Keywords

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