Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0908.1122)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (4) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
On the interstellar medium and star formation demographics of galaxies in the local universe
Authors:
Bothwell, Matthew S.; Kennicutt, Robert C.; Lee, Janice C.
Affiliation:
AA(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA), AB(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA), AC(Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena CA 91101, USA)
Publication:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 400, Issue 1, pp. 154-167. (MNRAS Homepage)
Publication Date:
11/2009
Origin:
MNRAS
MNRAS Keywords:
ISM: abundances , ISM: evolution , galaxies: dwarf , galaxies: evolution , galaxies: ISM , stars: formation
Abstract Copyright:
(c) Journal compilation © 2009 RAS
DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15471.x
Bibliographic Code:
2009MNRAS.400..154B

Abstract

We present a demographic analysis of integrated star formation and gas properties for a sample of galaxies representative of the overall population at z ~ 0. This research was undertaken in order to characterize the nature of star formation and interstellar medium (ISM) behaviour in the local Universe, and test the extent to which global star formation rates (SFRs) can be seen as dependent on the interstellar gas content. Archival 21-cm derived HI data are compiled from the literature, and are combined with CO (J = 1 -> 0) derived H2 masses to calculate and characterize the total gas content for a large sample of local galaxies. The distribution in stellar mass-normalized HI content is found to exhibit the noted characteristic transition at stellar masses of ~3 × 1010Msolar, turning off towards low values, but no such transition is observed in the equivalent distribution of molecular gas. Hα based SFRs and specific star formation rates (SSFRs) are also compiled for a large (1110) sample of local galaxies. We confirm two transitions as found in previous work: a turnover towards low SFRs at high luminosities, indicative of the quenching of SF characteristic of the red sequence; and a broadening of the SF distribution in low-luminosity dwarf galaxies, again to extremely low SFRs of <10-3Msolaryr-1. However, a new finding is that while the upper luminosity transition is mirrored by the turnover in HI content, suggesting that the low SFRs of the red sequence result from a lack of available gas supply, the transition towards a large spread of SFRs in the least luminous dwarf galaxies is not matched by a prominent increase in scatter in gas content. Possible mass-dependent quenching mechanisms are discussed, along with speculations that in low-mass galaxies, the Hα luminosity may not faithfully trace the SFR.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints