Issue |
A&A
Volume 413, Number 1, January I 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 37 - 48 | |
Section | Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies) | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20031483 | |
Published online | 17 December 2003 |
Chemically consistent evolution of galaxies
II. Spectrophotometric evolution from zero to high redshift
Universitätssternwarte, Geismarlandstraße 11, 37083 Göttingen, Germany Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany
Corresponding author: J. Bicker, jbicker@uni-sw.gwdg.de
Received:
7
May
2003
Accepted:
15
September
2003
The composite stellar populations of galaxies comprise stars of a
wide range of metallicities. Subsolar metallicities become increasingly
important, both in the local universe when going from early towards later galaxy
types as well as for dwarf galaxies and for all types of galaxies towards higher
redshifts.
We present a new generation of chemically consistent evolutionary synthesis models
for galaxies of various spectral types from E through Sd. The models follow the
chemical enrichment of the ISM and take into account the increasing initial
metallicity of successive stellar generations using recently published metallicity
dependent stellar evolutionary isochrones, spectra and yields.
Our first set of closed-box 1-zone models does not include any spatial resolution or
dynamics. For a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) the star formation rate
(SFR) and its time evolution are shown to successfully parameterise spectral
galaxy types E, ..., Sd. We show how the stellar metallicity distribution in various
galaxy types build up with time to yield after ~12 Gyr agreement with stellar
metallicity distributions observed in our and other local galaxies.
The models give integrated galaxy spectra over a wide wavelength
range (90.9 Å–160 μm), which for ages of ~12 Gyr are in good
agreement not only with observed broad band colours but also with template
spectra for the respective galaxy types.
Using filter functions for Johnson-Cousins , IC, as well as
for HST broad band filters in the optical and Bessel & Brett's NIR J, H, K filter
system, we calculate the luminosity and colour evolution of model galaxies over a
Hubble time.
Including a standard cosmological model (
) and the
attenuation by intergalactic hydrogen we present evolutionary and cosmological
corrections as well as apparent luminosities in various filters over the redshift
range from
to the present for our galaxy types and compare to earlier
models using single (=solar) metallicity input physics only. We also resent a first
comparison of our cc models to HDF data. A more detailed comparison with Hubble
Deep Field (HDF) and other deep field data and an analysis and interpretation of high
redshift galaxies in terms of ages, metallicities, star formation histories and,
galaxy types will be the subject of a forthcoming paper.
Key words: galaxies: evolution / galaxies: stellar content / galaxies: photometry / galaxies: spectra / galaxies: redshifts / cosmology: observations
© ESO, 2004
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