Bibcode
Mollá, M.; García-Vargas, M. L.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.359, p.18-28 (2000)
Advertised on:
7
2000
Journal
Citations
35
Refereed citations
25
Description
We present a grid of theoretical models where the calculation of
absorption line spectral indices in both the blue and red wavelength
ranges is done with the same evolutionary synthesis code. We have
computed some of these indices: CaT, Na i, Mg i in the near infrared and
Mgb, Mg2, Fe52, Fe53, NaD and Hβ , in the blue-visible
range, for Single Stellar Population (SSP) of 6 different metallicities,
(Z=0.0004, 0.001, 0.004, 0.008, 0.02 and 0.05), and ages from 4 Myr to
20 Gyr. From the comparison of these evolutionary synthesis models with
a compilation of elliptical galaxy data from the literature, we find
that the observed CaT index follows the blue index rather
than Mg2 as the models predict. If this implies an
over-abundance [Mg/Ca] and we take into account the masses of stars
which produce Mg and Ca, these stars could form in a time scale shorter
than 5 Myr from the beginning of the star formation process.
Alternatively, an IMF biased towards very massive stars (M> 40
Msun) at the early epoch of star formation in elliptical
nuclei has to be assumed. We also suggest to revise the calculation of
the nucleosynthesis yield of Magnesium. By using the diagnostic diagram
CaT-Hβ to disentangle age and metallicity in such populations, we
obtain around solar abundances and a sequence of ages between 4 and 16
Gyr for the galaxy sample. Complete set of Table~2 is only available in
electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr
(130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html