Issue |
A&A
Volume 673, May 2023
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A147 | |
Number of page(s) | 49 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202245673 | |
Published online | 23 May 2023 |
Resolved stellar population properties of PHANGS-MUSE galaxies
1
Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: ipessa@aip.de
2
Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
3
Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
4
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Florence, Italy
5
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research University of Western Australia 7 Fairway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
6
Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Australian National University, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston Creek, ACT 2611, Australia
7
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
8
Univ. Lyon, Univ. Lyon1, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon UMR5574, 69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France
9
Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3FX, UK
10
Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
11
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
12
Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
13
Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO
14
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, 1000 E University Ave, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
15
Universität Heidelberg, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
16
Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstraße 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
17
Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (IGN), C/Alfonso XII, 3, 28014 Madrid, Spain
18
Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada
19
Sub-department of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
Received:
12
December
2022
Accepted:
21
March
2023
Analyzing resolved stellar populations across the disk of a galaxy can provide unique insights into how that galaxy assembled its stellar mass over its lifetime. Previous work at ∼1 kpc resolution has already revealed common features in the mass buildup (e.g., inside-out growth of galaxies). However, even at approximate kpc scales, the stellar populations are blurred between the different galactic morphological structures such as spiral arms, bars and bulges. Here we present a detailed analysis of the spatially resolved star formation histories (SFHs) of 19 PHANGS-MUSE galaxies, at a spatial resolution of ∼100 pc. We show that our sample of local galaxies exhibits predominantly negative radial gradients of stellar age and metallicity, consistent with previous findings, and a radial structure that is primarily consistent with local star formation, and indicative of inside-out formation. In barred galaxies, we find flatter metallicity gradients along the semi-major axis of the bar than along the semi-minor axis, as is expected from the radial mixing of material along the bar during infall. In general, the derived assembly histories of the galaxies in our sample tell a consistent story of inside-out growth, where low-mass galaxies assembled the majority of their stellar mass later in cosmic history than high-mass galaxies (also known as “downsizing”). We also show how stellar populations of different ages exhibit different kinematics. Specifically, we find that younger stellar populations have lower velocity dispersions than older stellar populations at similar galactocentric distances, which we interpret as an imprint of the progressive dynamical heating of stellar populations as they age. Finally, we explore how the time-averaged star formation rate evolves with time, and how it varies across galactic disks. This analysis reveals a wide variation of the SFHs of galaxy centers and additionally shows that structural features become less pronounced with age.
Key words: galaxies: evolution / galaxies: star formation / galaxies: general
© The Authors 2023
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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