Strong CO absorption features in massive ETGs

Eftekhari, Elham; Barbera, F. La; Vazdekis, Alexandre; Prieto, C. Allende; Knowles, Adam Thomas

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac471

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Similarly, models based on the empirical RGB spectra perform better, but not for all features 39 . Notably, studies by different researchers show that all CO NIR spectral features from H to K in local massive earlytype galaxies, whose NIR spectrum is dominated by RGB stars, are systematically stronger than those in the models based on empirical libraries 41 . This is also supported by the analysis of observed NIR spectra from local spirals and starforming galaxies 42 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Strong asymptotic giant branch stars’ spectral features in distant quiescent galaxies: Impact on galaxy evolution

LU,

Daddi,

Maraston

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Age-dating and weighting stellar populations in galaxies at various cosmic epochs are essential steps to study galaxy formation through cosmic times. Evolutionary population synthesis models with different input physics are used towards this aim. In particular, the contribution from the thermally pulsing asymptotic-giant-branch (TP-AGB) stellar phase, which peaks for intermediate-age 0.6-2 Gyr systems, has been debated upon for decades. Here we report the detection of strong cool star signatures in the rest-frame near-infrared spectra of three young (~1 Gyr), massive (~10^10 Msun) quiescent galaxies at large look-back time, z=1-2, using JWST/NIRSpec. The co-existence of oxygen- and carbon-type absorption features, spectral edges and features from rare species such as Vanadium, and possibly Zirconium, reveal a strong contribution from TP-AGB stars. Population synthesis models with significant TP-AGB contribution reproduce the observations considerably better than those with weak TP-AGB, which are those commonly used. These findings call for revisions of published stellar population fitting results, pointing to lower masses and younger ages, with additional implications on cosmic dust production and chemical enrichment. These results will stimulate new generations of improved models informed by these and future observations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Strong asymptotic giant branch stars’ spectral features in distant quiescent galaxies: Impact on galaxy evolution

LU,

Daddi,

Maraston

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, there is a relative dearth of comparable libraries available for the NIR. Such observational libraries are essential, given that theoretical spectra are known to have difficulty reproducing the observed NIR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and spectral features of cool and luminous giants (Alvarez et al 2000;Tej et al 2003;Bonatto et al 2004;Maraston 2005;Levesque et al 2006;Lyubenova et al 2012;Aringer et al 2016Aringer et al , 2019Gonneau et al 2017;Baldwin et al 2018;Dahmer-Hahn et al 2018;Coelho et al 2020;Lancon et al 2021;Eftekhari et al 2022;Eriksson et al 2023).…”

Section: Empirical Spectral Libraries With Nir Coveragementioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical 2MASS–WFC3/IR Filter Transformations Across the H-R Diagram from Synthetic Photometry

Durbin,

Beaton,

Monson

et al. 2023

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Near-infrared bandpasses on spaceborne observatories diverge from their ground-based counterparts as they are free of atmospheric telluric absorption. Available transformations between respective filter systems in the literature rely on theoretical stellar atmospheres, which are known to have difficulties reproducing the observed spectral energy distributions of cool giants. We present new transformations between the Two Micron All Sky Survey JHK S and Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/IR F110W, F125W, and F160W photometric systems based on synthetic photometry of empirical stellar spectra from four spectral libraries. This sample comprises over 1000 individual stars, which together span nearly the full H-R diagram and sample stellar populations from the solar neighborhood out to the Magellanic Clouds, covering a broad range of ages, metallicities, and other relevant stellar properties. In addition to global color-dependent transformations, we examine band-to-band differences for cool, luminous giant stars in particular, including multiple types of primary distance indicators.

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“…To this aim, we compare the strengths of CO indices, defined in Eftekhari et al (2021) (hereafter E21), in the "genuine" relic galaxy NGC 1277 (Trujillo et al 2014;Ferré-Mateu et al 2015;Martín-Navarro et al 2015;Ferré-Mateu et al 2017), with the stellar population models. A recent study on CO absorption features in massive ETGs shows that stellar population synthesis (SPS) models predict systematically weaker CO absorptions than that observed in massive ETGs (Eftekhari et al 2022) (hereafter E22). As relic galaxies are massive galaxies that did not experience a significant merger event since their early collapse phase, they are perfect laboratories to study the in-situ stellar component of massive ETGs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relic galaxy NGC~1277 rules out intermediate-age stellar populations origin of CO-strong absorptions in massive early-type galaxies

Eftekhari,

La Barbera,

Vazdekis

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Massive Early-Type Galaxies (ETGs) show several strong CO absorption features in their H-and K-band spectra that cannot be explained by state-of-the-art stellar population models. For many years, the disagreement has been attributed to the presence of intermediate-age stellar components that are dominated by stars in the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase. However, no robust evidence of this scenario has been provided so far. One way to test this claim is by comparison of CO indices for ETGs and for relic galaxies. Lacking the intermediate-age stellar populations, relic galaxies provide us with a unique opportunity to address the origin of strong CO absorptions in ETGs. Here, we utilize the prototype relic galaxy NGC 1277 and compare the CO absorption features of this galaxy with the ones of a representative sample of massive ETGs. We show that the CO lines in both systems have similar strengths, significantly stronger than the predictions of stellar population synthesis models. We conclude that intermediate-age stellar populations in massive ETGs are not the culprit of the strong CO absorptions.

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Strong CO absorption features in massive ETGs

Cited by 13 publications

References 75 publications

Strong asymptotic giant branch stars’ spectral features in distant quiescent galaxies: Impact on galaxy evolution

Strong asymptotic giant branch stars’ spectral features in distant quiescent galaxies: Impact on galaxy evolution

Empirical 2MASS–WFC3/IR Filter Transformations Across the H-R Diagram from Synthetic Photometry

The relic galaxy NGC~1277 rules out intermediate-age stellar populations origin of CO-strong absorptions in massive early-type galaxies

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