Radial Star Formation Histories in Fifteen Nearby Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the radial star formation histories of fifteen nearby galaxies using deep multi-wavelength imaging, revealing inside-out disk formation patterns with modest trends and significant variation among galaxies.

Contribution

It provides detailed radial star formation history analysis across a diverse galaxy sample using combined optical, infrared, ultraviolet, and archival data.

Findings

Bluer and younger stars at larger radii up to the optical radius.

Outer disks contain older stellar populations possibly formed through radial migration or mergers.

Trends are modest with substantial variation among individual galaxies.

Abstract

New deep optical and near-infrared imaging is combined with archival ultraviolet and infrared data for fifteen nearby galaxies mapped in the Spitzer Extended Disk Galaxy Exploration Science survey. These images are particularly deep and thus excellent for studying the low surface brightness outskirts of these disk-dominated galaxies with stellar masses ranging between 10^8 and 10^11 Msun. The spectral energy distributions derived from this dataset are modeled to investigate the radial variations in the galaxy colors and star formation histories. Taken as a whole, the sample shows bluer and younger stars for larger radii until reversing near the optical radius, whereafter the trend is for redder and older stars for larger galacto-centric distances. These results are consistent with an inside-out disk formation scenario coupled with an old stellar outer disk population formed through radial migration and/or the cumulative history of minor mergers and accretions of satellite dwarf galaxies. However, these trends are quite modest and the variation from galaxy to galaxy is substantial. Additional data for a larger sample of galaxies are needed to confirm or dismiss these modest sample-wide trends.