Stellar Populations of Shell Galaxies
S. Carlsten, G. K. T. Hau, and A. Zenteno

TL;DR
This study investigates the stellar populations of nine shell galaxies, analyzing their metallicity, age, and formation history to understand the role of mergers and interactions in their evolution.
Contribution
It provides new insights into the stellar population parameters, metallicity gradients, and formation scenarios of shell galaxies using spectral analysis methods.
Findings
Shell galaxies tend to have lower central Mg2 indices than non-shell galaxies.
Average metallicity gradient is -0.16 dex per decade in radius.
Evidence of young stellar populations suggests recent or ongoing star formation.
Abstract
We present a study of the inner (out to 1 R) stellar populations of 9 shell galaxies. We derive stellar population parameters from long slit spectra by both analyzing the Lick indices of the galaxies and by fitting Single Stellar Population model spectra to the full galaxy spectra. The results from the two methods agree reasonably well. Many of the shell galaxies in our sample appear to have lower central index values than non-shell galaxies of the same central velocity dispersion, which is likely due to a past interaction event. Our shell galaxy sample shows a relation between central metallicity and velocity dispersion that is consistent with previous samples of non-shell galaxies. Analyzing the metallicity gradients in our sample, we find an average metallicity gradient of -0.160.10 dex per decade in radius. We compare this with formation…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstronomy and Astrophysical Research · Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
