The accretion histories of brightest cluster galaxies from their stellar population gradients

dc.contributor.authorOliva-Altamirano, Paola
dc.contributor.authorBrough, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorJimmy, .
dc.contributor.authorTran, Kim-Vy
dc.contributor.authorCouch, Warrick
dc.contributor.authorMcDermid, Richard M
dc.contributor.authorLidman, Christopher
dc.contributor.authorvon der Linden, Anja
dc.contributor.authorSharp, Robert
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T23:36:35Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.date.updated2015-12-10T11:55:21Z
dc.description.abstractWe analyse the spatially resolved stellar populations of nine local (z < 0.1) Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) observed with VIMOS in Integral Field Unit mode. Our sample is composed of seven slow-rotating and two fast-rotating BCGs. We do not find a connection between stellar kinematics and stellar populations in this small sample. The BCGs have shallow metallicity gradients (median Δ[Fe/H]=-0.11 ± 0.1), high central metallicities (median [Fe/H]<inf>[α/Fe] = 0</inf> = 0.13 ± 0.07), and a wide range of central ages (from 5 to 15 Gyr). We propose that the reason for this is diverse evolutionary paths in BCGs. 67 per cent of the sample (6/9) show ~7 Gyr old central ages, which reflects an active accretion history, and 33 per cent of the sample (3/9) have central ages older than 11 Gyr, which suggest no star formation since z = 2. The BCGs show similar central stellar populations and stellar population gradients to early-type galaxies of similar mass (M<inf>dyn</inf> > 1011.3M⊙) from the ATLAS3D survey (median [Z/H] = 0.04 ± 0.07, Δ[Z/H] = -0.19 ± 0.1). However, massive early-type galaxies from ATLAS3D have consistently old ages (median Age = 12.0 ± 3.8 Gyr). We also analyse the close massive companion galaxies of two of the BCGs. These galaxies have similar stellar populations to their respective BCGs.
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/70202
dc.publisherBlackwell Publishing Ltd
dc.rightsAuthor/s retain copyrighten_AU
dc.sourceMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
dc.titleThe accretion histories of brightest cluster galaxies from their stellar population gradients
dc.typeJournal article
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issue4
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage3359
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage3347
local.contributor.affiliationOliva-Altamirano, Paola, Swinburne University of Technology
local.contributor.affiliationBrough, Sarah, Australian Astronomical Observatory
local.contributor.affiliationJimmy, ., Texas A&M University
local.contributor.affiliationTran, Kim-Vy, Texas A&M University
local.contributor.affiliationCouch, Warrick, Swinburne University of Technology
local.contributor.affiliationMcDermid, Richard M, Macquarie University
local.contributor.affiliationLidman, Christopher, Australian Astronomical Observatory
local.contributor.affiliationvon der Linden, Anja, University of Copenhagen
local.contributor.affiliationSharp, Robert, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailu4954956@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidSharp, Robert, u4954956
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor020100 - ASTRONOMICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB2251
local.identifier.citationvolume449
local.identifier.doi10.1093/mnras/stv475
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84930020174
local.identifier.uidSubmittedBya383154
local.type.statusPublished Version

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