Early-Type Galaxy Archeology: Ages, Abundance Ratios, and Effective Temperatures from Full-Spectrum Fitting

TL;DR

This study models high-quality SDSS spectra of early-type galaxies to measure detailed stellar population parameters, including element abundances and temperature shifts, revealing insights into galaxy formation histories and star formation timescales.

Contribution

First to measure V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni abundances from integrated galaxy spectra using full-spectrum fitting, and to analyze temperature variations with metallicity in early-type galaxies.

Findings

Stellar ages range from 6 to 12 Gyr across velocity dispersions.

[Fe/H] varies less than 0.1 dex, indicating uniform iron abundance.

Elemental abundance ratios suggest longer star formation timescales for massive galaxies.

Abstract

The stellar populations of galaxies hold vital clues to their formation histories. In this paper we present results based on modeling stacked spectra of early-type galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) as a function of velocity dispersion, sigma, from 90 km/s to 300 km/s. The spectra are of extremely high quality, with typical S/N of 1000/A, and a wavelength coverage of 4000A-8800A. Our population synthesis model includes variation in 16 elements from C to Ba, the shift in effective temperature, Delta(Teff), of the stars with respect to a solar metallicity isochrone, amongst other parameters. In our approach we fit the full optical spectra rather than a select number of spectral indices and are able to, for the first time, measure the abundances of the elements V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni from the integrated light of distant galaxies. Our main results are as follows: 1) light-weighted stellar ages range from 6-12 Gyr from low to high sigma; 2) [Fe/H] varies by less than 0.1 dex across the entire sample; 3) Mg closely tracks O, and both increase from ~0.0 at low sigma to ~0.25 at high sigma; Si and Ti show a shallower rise with sigma, and Ca tracks Fe rather than O; 4) the iron peak elements V, Cr, Mn, and Ni track Fe, while Co tracks O, suggesting that Co forms primarily in massive stars; 5) C and N track O over the full sample and [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] exceed 0.2 at high sigma; and 6) the variation in Delta(Teff) with total metallicity follows theoretical predictions based on stellar evolution theory. Our derived [Mg/Fe] and [O/Fe] abundance ratios are 0.05-0.1 dex lower than most previous determinations. Under the conventional interpretation that the variation in these ratios is due to star formation timescale variations, our results suggest longer star formation timescales for massive early-type galaxies than previous studies. (ABRIDGED)