Metallicity Gradients in the Halos of Elliptical Galaxies
Abstract
We discuss the stellar halos of massive elliptical galaxies, as revealed by our ambitious integral-field spectroscopic survey MASSIVE. We show that metallicity drops smoothly as a function of radius out to ~ 2.5 Re , while the [α/Fe] abundance ratios stay flat. The stars in the outskirts likely formed rapidly (to explain the high ratio of alpha to Fe) but in a relatively shallow potential (to explain the low metallicities). This is consistent with expectations for a two-phase growth of massive galaxies, in which the second phase involves accretion of small satellites. We also show some preliminary study of the gas content of these most MASSIVE galaxies.
- Publication:
-
The General Assembly of Galaxy Halos: Structure, Origin and Evolution
- Pub Date:
- August 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921315010479
- Bibcode:
- 2016IAUS..317..182G
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: elliptical and lenticular;
- cD;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: kinematics and dynamics;
- galaxies: stellar content