Bibcode
Carretero, C.; Vazdekis, A.; Beckman, J. E.; Sánchez-Blázquez, P.; Gorgas, J.
Bibliographical reference
From Lithium to Uranium: Elemental Tracers of Early Cosmic Evolution, IAU Symposium Proceedings of the international Astronomical Union 228, Held in Paris, France, May 23-27, 2005. edited by Hill, V.; François, P.; Primas, F. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005., pp.589-590
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2005
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Description
We present the values of CN and Mg overabundances with respect to Fe,
for a large sample of elliptical galaxies in different environments.
Abundances were derived by confronting observed absorption line indices
with stellar population model spectra. We obtained significant
differences between the [CN/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] abundance ratios as a
functions of: i) the environment, and ii) the galaxy mass. This is
interpreted as implying varying formation timescales for CN, Mg and Fe,
combined with different star formation histories in elliptical galaxies
depending on their mass and environment. Our principal conclusions are:
1) CN is sensitive to the characteristic assembly timescales of
elliptical galaxies, 2) more massive elliptical galaxies are assembled
on shorter timescales than less massive ones, 3) elliptical galaxies in
denser environments are assembled on shorter timescales than those in
lower density environments, and 4) our results strongly suggest an upper
limit for the assembly timescale of ˜1 Gy, in all cases.