SIMBAD references

2007MNRAS.379...34M - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 379, 34-42 (2007/July-3)

A new method to derive star formation histories of galaxies from their star cluster distributions.

MASCHBERGER T. and KROUPA P.

Abstract (from CDS):

Star formation happens in a clustered way which is why the star cluster population of a particular galaxy is closely related to the star formation history of this galaxy. From the probabilistic nature of a mass function follows that the mass of the most massive cluster of a complete population, Mmax, has a distribution with the total mass of the population as a parameter. The total mass of the population is connected to the star formation rate (SFR) by the length of a formation epoch.

Since due to evolutionary effects only massive star clusters are observable up to high ages, it is convenient to use this Mmax(SFR) relation for the reconstruction of a star formation history. The age distribution of the most massive clusters can therefore be used to constrain the star formation history of a galaxy. The method, including an assessment of the inherent uncertainties, is introduced with this contribution, while following papers will apply this method to a number of galaxies.


Abstract Copyright: 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 RAS

Journal keyword(s): galaxies: evolution - galaxies: formation - galaxies: star clusters - galaxies: stellar content

Simbad objects: 10

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