A Study of Binary Stellar Population Synthesis of Elliptical Galaxies

We determined the relative stellar ages and metallicities of about 80 elliptical galaxies in both low and high density environments using the latest binary stellar population （BSP） synthesis model and tested the predictions of a recent hierarchical formation model that adopted the new ACDM cosmology. The stellar ages and metallicities were estimated from two high-quality published spectra line indices, the Hβ and [MgFe] indices. The results show that the stellar populations of elliptical galaxies are older than 3.9 Gyr and more metal rich than 0.02. Most of our results are in agreement with the model predictions; （1） elliptical galaxies in denser environment are redder and have older populations than field galaxies; （2） elliptical galaxies with more massive stellar components are redder and have older and more metal rich populations than less massive ones; （3） the most massive galaxies have the oldest and most metal rich stars. However, some of our results differ from the model predictions on the metallicity distributions of low- and high-density elliptical galaxies and the dependence on the distance to the cluster center.

Photometrically estimating the spatially-resolved stellar mass-to-light ratios for low-redshift galaxies

The stellar mass-to-light ratio(M_*/L) of galaxies in a given wave band shows tight correlations with optical colors, which have been widely applied as cheap estimators of galaxy stellar masses. These estimators are usually calibrated using either broadband spectral energy distributions(SEDs) or spectroscopy at galactic centers. However, it is unclear whether the same estimators provide unbiased M_*/L for different regions within a galaxy. In this work we employ integral field spectroscopy from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory(Ma NGA) survey. We also examine the correlations of spatially resolved M_*/L obtained from full spectral fitting, with different color indices, as well as galaxy morphology types, distances to the galactic center, and stellar population parameters such as stellar age and metallicity.We find that the(g-r) color is better than any other color indices, and it provides almost unbiased M_*/L for all the SDSS five bands and for all types of galaxies or regions, with only slight biases depending on stellar age and metallicity. Our analysis indicates that combining multiple colors and/or including other properties to reduce the systematics and scatters of the estimator does not work better than a single color index defined by two bands. Therefore, we have obtained a best estimator with the(g-r) color and applied it to the Ma NGA galaxies. Both the two-dimensional map and radial profile of M_*/L are reproduced well in most cases. Our estimator may be applied to obtain surface mass density maps for large samples of galaxies from imaging surveys at both low and high redshifts.

Stellar ages and metallicities of nearby elliptical galaxies

Stellar ages and metallicities are crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies. However, due to the age-metallicity degeneracy, it is hard to measure these two parameters accurately with broad-band photometry. In this paper, we observed high-resolution spectra for a sample of 20 nearby elliptical galaxies （EGs） with the NAOC 2.16 m telescope, and determined stellar ages and metallicities by using the empirical population synthesis and Lick/IDS index system methods. We found that stellar ages from these two methods are consistent with each other for purely old EGs; however, stellar metallicities show a zeropoint offset of 0.5 Z⊙. Our results confirm that stellar populations in low-density environment galaxies are more diverse compared to their high-density counterparts. We also investigated the element abundance-galaxy mass relation for nearby elliptical galaxies.

Stellar population analysis on the stacked spectra of double-peaked emission-line galaxies

Double-peaked emission-line galaxies have long been perceived as objects related to merging galaxies or other phenomena with disturbed dynamical activities, such as outflows and disk rotation. In order to find the connection between the unique activities happening in these objects and their stellar population physics, we study the stellar populations of the stacked spectra drawn from double-peaked emission-line galaxies in the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST) Data Release 4(DR4) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) Data Release 7(DR7) databases. We group the selected double-peaked emission-line objects into 10 different types of pairs based on the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich(BPT) diagnosis for each pair of blueshifted and redshifted components, and then stack the spectra of each group for analysis. The software STARLIGHT is employed to fit each stacked spectrum, and the contributions of stars at different ages and metallicities are quantified for subsequent comparative study and analysis. To highlight the commonality and uniqueness in these double-peaked emitting objects, we compare the population synthesis results of the stacked spectra of double-peaked emission-line galaxies with those of their counterpart reference samples displaying single-peaked emission features. The reference samples are also selected from the LAMOST DR4 and SDSS DR7 databases. From the comparison results,we confirm the strong correlations between stellar populations and their spectral classes, and find that the double-peaked emitting phenomenon is more likely to occur in an ‘older’ stellar environment and the subgroups hosting different BPT components will show an obvious heterogeneous star formation history.

Radial stellar populations of AGN-host dwarf galaxies in SDSS-Ⅳ MaNGA survey

Based on MaNGA integral field unit(IFU) spectroscopy we search 60 AGN candidates,which have stellar masses M*≤5 × 10^(9) M⊙ and show AGN ionization signatures in the BPT diagram.For these AGN candidates,we derive the spatially resolved stellar population with the stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT and measure the gradients of the mean stellar age and metallicity.We find that the gradients of mean stellar age(metallicity) of individual AGN-host dwarfs are diverse in 0-0.5 Re,0.5-1 Re and 0-1 Re.However,the overall behavior of the mean stellar age(metallicity) profiles tend to be flat,as the median values of the gradients are close to zero.We further study the overall behavior of the mean stellar age(metallicity) by plotting the co-added radial profiles for the AGN sample and compare with a control sample with similar stellar mass.We find that the median values of light-weighted mean stellar ages of the AGN sample are as old as 2-3 Gyr within 2 Re,which are about 4-7 times older than those of the control sample.Meanwhile,most of the AGN candidates are low-level AGNs,as only eight sources have L[OⅢ]>1039.5 erg s^(-1).Hence,the AGNs in dwarf galaxies might accelerate the evolution of galaxies by accelerating the consumption of the gas,resulting in an overall quenching of the dwarf galaxies,and the AGNs also become weak due to the lack of gas.The median values of mass-weighted mean stellar age of both samples within 2 Re are similar and as old as about 10 Gyr,indicating that the stellar mass is mainly contributed by old stellar populations.The gradients of co-added mean stellar metallicity for both samples tend to be negative but close to zero,and the similar mean stellar metallicity profiles for both samples indicate that the chemical evolution of the host galaxy is not strongly influenced by the AGN.

Relations between stellar mass and electron temperature-based metallicity for star-forming galaxies in a wide mass range

We select 947 star-forming galaxies from SDSS-DR7 with [O III]λ4363emission lines detected at a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 5σ. Their electron temperatures and direct oxygen abundances are then determined. We compare the results from different methods. t2, the electron temperature in the low ionization region, estimated from t3, that in the high ionization region, is compared using three analysis relations between t2- t3. These show obvious differences, which result in some different ionic oxygen abundances. The results of t3, t2, O＋＋/H＋and O＋/H＋derived by using methods from IRAF and literature are also compared. The ionic abundances O＋＋/H＋are higher than O＋/H＋for most cases. The different oxygen abundances derived from Teand the strong-line ratios show a clear discrepancy, which is more obvious following increasing stellar mass and strong-line ratio R23. The sample of galaxies from SDSS with detected [O III]λ4363 have lower metallicites and higher star formation rates, so they may not be typical representatives of the whole population of galaxies. Adopting data objects from Andrews ＆ Martini, Liang et al. and Lee et al. data, we derive new relations of stellar mass and metallicity for star-forming galaxies in a much wider stellar mass range： from 106 M to 1011 M.

Stellar mass estimation based on IRAC photometry for Spitzer SWIRE-field galaxies

We analyze the feasibility of estimating the stellar mass of galaxies by mid-infrared luminosities based on a large sample of galaxies cross-identified from Spitzer SWIRE fields and the SDSS spectrographic survey.We derived the formulae to calculate the stellar mass by using IRAC 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities.The massto-luminosity ratios of IRAC 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities are more sensitive to the star formation history of galaxies than to other factors,such as the intrinsic extinction,metallicity and star formation rate.To remove the effect of star formation history,we used g-r color to recalibrate the formulae and obtain a better result.Researchers must be more careful when estimating the stellar mass of low metallicity galaxies using our formulae.Due to the emission from dust heated by the hottest young stars,luminous infrared galaxies present higher IRAC 4.5μm luminosities compared to IRAC 3.6μm luminosities.For most of type-Ⅱ AGNs,the nuclear activity cannot enhance 3.6μm and 4.5μm luminosities compared with normal galaxies.Star formation in our AGNhosting galaxies is also very weak,almost all of which are early-type galaxies.

Stellar Population Analysis of Galaxies based on Genetic Algorithms

We present a new method for determining the age and relative contribution of different stellar populations in galaxies based on the genetic algorithm.We apply this method to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3384, using CCD images in U, B, V, R and I bands. This analysis indicates that the galaxy NGC 3384 is mainly inhabited by old stellar population （age 〉 10^9 yr）. Some problems were encountered when numerical simulations are used for determining the contribution of different stellar populations in the integrated color of a galaxy. The results show that the proposed genetic algorithm can search efficiently through the very large space of the possible ages.

常见的恒星质量和恒星形成率计算方法之间的对比

针对斯隆数字巡天计划中有测光及光谱认证的正常星系的样本,利用天文多波段巡天数据,分别使用恒星质量和恒星形成率(SFR)的数种不同计算方法,从原理到结果进行相互对比。研究发现,不同的恒星质量估算方法的结果相互差异并不显著,然而SFR的不同方法之间存在不同程度且重要的误差。因此,在对星系间SFR进行相互比较,或是研究星系演化时的SFR分析时,应使用相类似的观测数据资料,以及同一种SFR估算方式,避免不同估算方式的偏差造成的错误解读。

Fitting formulae for the effects of binary interactions on lick indices and colors of stellar populations

More than about 50% of stars are in binaries, but most stellar population studies take single star stellar population （ssSSP） models, which do not take binary interactions into account. In fact, the integrated peculiarities of ssSSPs are different from those of stellar populations with binary interactions （bsSSPs）. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of binary interactions on the Lick indices and colors of populations in detail. We show some formulae for calculating the difference between the Lick indices and colors of bsSSPs, and those of ssSSPs. Twenty-five Lick indices and 12 colors are studied in this work. The results can be conveniently used for calculating the effects of binary interactions on stellar population studies and for adding the effects of binary interactions into present ssSSP models. The electronic data and fortran procedures in the paper can be obtained on request from the authors.

The local properties of supernova explosions and their host galaxies

We aim to understand the properties at the locations of supernova(SN) explosions in their host galaxies and compare with the global properties of these host galaxies. We use the integral field spectrograph(IFS) of Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory(MaNGA) to generate 2 D maps of the parameter properties for 11 SN host galaxies. The sample galaxies are analyzed one by one in detail in terms of their properties of velocity field, star formation rate, oxygen abundance, stellar mass, etc.This sample of SN host galaxies has redshifts around z^0.03, which is higher than those of previous related works. The higher redshift distribution allows us to obtain the properties of more distant SN host galaxies. Metallicity(gas-phase oxygen abundance) estimated from integrated spectra can represent the local metallicity at SN explosion sites with small bias. All the host galaxies in our sample are metal-rich galaxies(12+log(O/H)> 8.5) except for NGC 6387, which means SNe may be more inclined to explode in metallicity-rich galaxies. There is a positive relation between global gas-phase oxygen abundance and the stellar mass of host galaxies. We also try to compare the differences of the host galaxies between SNe Ia and SNe II. In our sample, both SNe Ia and SNe II can explode in normal galaxies, but SNe II can also explode in an interacting or a merging system, in which star formation is occurring in the galaxy.

Automated Separation of Stars and Normal Galaxies Based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with RBF Neural Networks

For LAMOST, the largest sky survey program in China, the solution of the problem of automatic discrimination of stars from galaxies by spectra has shown that the results of the PSF test can be significantly refined. However, the problem is made worse when the redshifts of galaxies are not available. We present a new automatic method of star/(normal) galaxy separation, which is based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (SMM-RBFNN). This work is a continuation of our previous one, where active and non-active celestial objects were successfully segregated. By combining the method in this paper and the previous one, stars can now be effectively separated from galaxies and AGNs by their spectra-a major goal of LAMOST, and an indispensable step in any automatic spectrum classification system. In our work, the training set includes standard stellar spectra from Jacoby's spectrum library and simulated galaxy spectra of EO, SO, Sa, Sb types with redshift ranging from 0 to 1.2, and the test set of stellar spectra from Pickles' atlas and SDSS spectra of normal galaxies with SNR of 13. Experiments show that our SMM-RBFNN is more efficient in both the training and testing stages than the BPNN (back propagation neural networks), and more importantly, it can achieve a good classification accuracy of 99.22% and 96.52%, respectively for stars and normal galaxies.

Kinematics and stellar population properties of the Andromeda galaxy by using the spectroscopic observations of the Guoshoujing Telescope

The Andromeda galaxy was observed by the Guoshoujing Telescope （formerly named the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope -- LAMOST）, during the 2009 commissioning phase. Due to the absence of standard stars for flux calibration, we use the photometric data of 15 intermediate bands in the Beijing-Arizona-Taipei-Connecticut （BATC） survey to calibrate the spectra. In to- tal, 59 spectra located in the bulge and disk of the galaxy are obtained. Kinematic and stellar population properties of the stellar content are derived with these spectra. We obtain the global velocity field and calculate corresponding rotation velocities out to about 7 kpc along the major axis. These rotation velocity measurements comple- ment those of the gas content, such as the H I and CO. The radial velocity dispersion shows that the stars in the bulge are more dynamically thermal and the disk is more rotationally-supported. The age distribution shows that the bulge was formed about 12 Gyr ago, the disk is relatively younger and the ages of some regions along the spi- ral arms can reach as young as about 1 Gyr. These young stellar populations have a relatively richer abundance and larger reddening. The overall average metallicity of the galaxy approximates the solar metallicity and a very weak abundance gradient is gained. The reddening map gives a picture of a dust-free bulge and a distinct dusty ring in the disk.

Cold or Warm Dark Matter?: A Study of Galaxy Stellar Mass Distributions

We compare the observed galaxy stellar mass distributions in the redshift range with expectations of the cold ΛCDM and warm ΛWDM dark matter models, and obtain the warm dark matter cut-off wavenumber: . This result is in agreement with the independent measurements with spiral galaxy rotation curves, confirms that kfs is due to warm dark matter free-streaming, and is consistent with the scenario of dark matter with no freeze-in and no freeze-out. Detailed properties of warm dark matter can be derived from kfs. The data disfavors the ΛCDM model.

Local galaxies with compact cores as the possible descendants of massive compact quiescent galaxies at high redshift

In order to test a possible evolutionary scenario of high-z compact quiescent galaxies(cQGs)that they can survive as local compact cores embedded in local massive galaxies with different morphology classes, we explore the star formation histories of local compact cores according to their spectral analysis.We build a sample of 182 massive galaxies with compact cores(M*,core> 10^10.6 M⊙) at 0.02 ≤ z ≤ 0.06 from SDSS DR7 spectroscopic catalogue. The STARLIGHT package is used to analyze the median stacked spectra and derive the stellar ages and metallicities. Our main results show that local compact cores have the average age of about 12.1 ± 0.6 Gyr, indicating their early formation at z > 3, which is consistent with the formation redshifts of cQGs at 1 < z < 3. Together with previous studies, our result that local compact cores have similar formation redshifts as those of high-z cQGs, supports that local massive galaxies with compact cores are possible descendants of cQGs. Morphological study of local galaxies with compact cores suggests that there would be multiple possible evolutionary paths for high-z cQGs: most of them(> 80%)will evolve into local massive early-type galaxies according to dry minor merger, while some of them(~ 15%) will build substantial stellar/gas discs according to the late-time gas accretion and sustaining star formation, and finally grow up into spiral galaxies.

A relativistic model of stellar objects with core-crust-envelope division

In this work, we present a cogent and physically well-behaved solution for neutron stars envisaged with a core layer having quark matter satisfying the MIT-bag equation of state(Eo S), meso layer with Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) matter satisfying modified BEC Eo S and an envelope having neutron fluid and Coulomb liquids satisfying quadratic Eo S. All the required physical and geometrical parameters like gravitational potentials, pressures, radial velocity, anisotropy, adiabatic index, mass function, compactification factor, and gravitational and surface redshift functions show a feasible trend and are continuous with smooth variation throughout the interior and across the regions of the star.Further, causality condition, energy conditions, static stability criterion(using Tolman-OppenheimerVolkoff equation) and Herrera cracking stability criterion are met throughout the star. The approach seems to be resulting in more realistic and accurate modeling of stellar objects, particularly realized by us for X-ray binary stars 4 U 1608–52(M = 1.7 M_⊙, R = 9.5 km) and SAX J1808.4–3658(M = 1.2 M_⊙,R = 7.2 km). Furthermore, we have ascertained that the continuity of the stability factor in all three regions of the stars demand a smaller core. As the core region of the star increases, the stability factor becomes discontinuous at all the interfaces inside the star.

The properties of a large volume-limited sample of face-on low surface brightness disk galaxies

We select a large volume-limited sample of low surface brightness galax- ies （LSBGs, 2021） to investigate in detail their statistical properties and their dif- ferences from high surface brightness galaxies （HSBGs, 3639）. The distributions of stellar masses of LSBGs and HSBGs are nearly the same and they have the same me- dian values. Thus this volume-limited sample has good completeness and is further removed from the effect of stellar masses on their other properties when we compare LSBGs to HSBGs. We found that LSBGs tend to have lower stellar metallicities and lower effective dust attenuations, indicating that they have lower dust than HSBGs. The LSBGs have relatively higher stellar mass-to-light ratios, higher gas fractions, lower star forming rates （SFRs）, and lower specific SFRs than HSBGs. Moreover, with the decreasing surface brightness, gas fraction increases, but the SFRs and spe- cific SFRs decrease rapidly for the sample galaxies. This could mean that the star formation histories between LSBGs and HSBGs are different, and HSBGs may have stronger star forming activities than LSBGs.

Measurement of the Dark Matter Velocity Dispersion with Galaxy Stellar Masses, UV Luminosities, and Reionization

The root-mean-square of non-relativistic warm dark matter particle velocities scales as vhrms(a)=vhrms(1)/a , where a is the expansion parameter of the universe. This velocity dispersion results in a cut-off of the power spectrum of density fluctuations due to dark matter free-streaming. Let kfs (teq) be the free-streaming comoving cut-off wavenumber at the time of equal densities of radiation and matter. We obtain , and , at 68% confidence, from the observed distributions of galaxy stellar masses and rest frame ultra-violet luminosities. This result is consistent with reionization. From the velocity dispersion cut-off mass we obtain the limits vhrms(1)kfs (teq) >1.5 Mpc-1. These results are in agreement with previous measurements based on spiral galaxy rotation curves, and on the formation of first galaxies and reionization. These measured parameters determine the temperature-to-mass ratio of warm dark matter. This ratio happens to be in agreement with the no freeze-in and no freeze-out warm dark matter scenario of spin 0 dark matter particles decoupling early on from the standard model sector. Spin 1/2 and spin 1 dark matter are disfavored if nature has chosen the no freeze-in and no freeze-out scenario. An extension of the standard model of quarks and leptons, with scalar dark matter that couples to the Higgs boson that is in agreement with all current measurements, is briefly reviewed. Discrepancies with limits on dark matter particle mass that can be found in the literature are addressed.

Old stellar population synthesis:new age and mass estimates for Mayall II = G1

Mayall Ⅱ = G1 is one of the most luminous globular clusters （GCs） in M31. Here, we determine its age and mass by comparing multicolor photometry with theoretical stellar population synthesis models. Based on far- and near-ultraviolet GALEX photometry, broad-band UBVRI, and infrared JHKs 2MASS data, we construct the most extensive spectral energy distribution of G 1 to date, spanning the wavelength range from 1538 to 20 000A. A quantitative comparison with a variety of simple stellar population （SSP） models yields a mean age which is consistent with G1 being among the oldest building blocks of M31 and having formed within ～1.7 Gyr after the Big Bang. Irrespective of the SSP model or stellar initial mass function adopted, the resulting mass estimates （of order 10^7M⊙） indicate that GI is one of the most massive GCs in the Local Group. However, we speculate that the cluster＇s exceptionally high mass suggests that it may not be a genuine GC. Our results also suggest that G1 may contain, on average, （1.65±0.63） × 10^2L⊙ far-ultraviolet-bright, hot, extreme horizontal-branch stars, depending on the adopted SSP model. In addition, we demonstrate that extensive multi-passband photometry coupled with SSP analysis enables one to obtain age estimates for old SSPs that have similar accuracies as those from integrated spectroscopy or resolved stellar photometry, provided that some of the free parameters can be constrained independently.

The local and global properties of different types of supernova host galaxies

By using Data Analysis Pipeline(DAP)products of Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory(MaNGA),which are publicly available from the SDSS Data Release 15,we analyze the local properties at the SN explosion sites and global properties of different types of SN host galaxies to explore the explosion environments of different types of SNe.In our sample,there are 67 SN host galaxies in the field of view of MaNGA,including 32 Type Ia,29 core collapse SNe(CCSNe),1 superluminous SN(SLSN),1 Type I and 4 unclassified type of SNe,with which we can apply the K-S test for analysis and derive statistically robust results.Due to the limited sample size,we could not remove the mass dependence in this work,which is likely the true driver of the trends for the properties presented in this work.The global star formation rate(SFR)and EW(H)for SN Ia hosts are slightly lower than those for CCSN hosts on average.SN Ia host galaxies are0.3 dex more massive than CCSN hosts,which implies that the number ratio of CCSNe to Type Ia SNe will decrease with increasing stellar mass of host galaxies.The stellar population age of SN Ia host galaxies is older than that of CCSN hosts on average.There is no significant difference between different types of SN hosts for some properties,including local SFR density(SFR),and local and global gas-phase oxygen abundance.For most galaxies in our sample,the global gas-phase oxygen abundance estimated from the integrated spectra of SN hosts can represent the local gas-phase oxygen abundance at the SN explosion sites with small bias.