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Chemical clocks for early-type galaxies in clusters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2006

Conrado Carretero ,
Alexandre Vazdekis  and
John E. Beckman
Conrado Carretero
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain email: cch@iac.es
Alexandre Vazdekis
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain email: cch@iac.es
John E. Beckman
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain email: cch@iac.es Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain.
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Abstract

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We present a detailed stellar population analysis of 27 massive elliptical galaxies within 4 very rich clusters at redshift z∼0.2. We obtained accurate estimates of the mean luminosity-weighted ages and relative abundances of CN, Mg and Fe as functions of the galaxy velocity dispersion, σ. Our results are compatible with a scenario in which the stellar populations of massive elliptical galaxies, independently of their environment and mass, had formation timescales shorter than ∼1 Gyr. This result implies that massive elliptical galaxies have evolved passively since, at least, as long ago as z∼2. For a given galaxy mass the duration of star formation is shorter in those galaxies belonging to more dense environments. Finally, we show that the abundance ratios [CN/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] are the key “chemical clocks” to infer the star formation history timescales in ellipticals. In particular, [Mg/Fe] provides an upper limit for those formation timescales, while [CN/Fe] apperars to be the most suitable parameter to resolve them in elliptical galaxies with σ<300 km s−1.

Keywords

galaxies: abundancesgalaxies: clusters: generalgalaxies: elliptical and lenticularcDgalaxies: evolutiongalaxies: formation
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S241: Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies , December 2006 , pp. 551 - 555
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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