THE NATURE OF STARBURSTS. III. THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF STAR FORMATION

Kristen B. W. McQuinn; Evan D. Skillman; Julianne J. Dalcanton; John M. Cannon; Andrew E. Dolphin; Jon Holtzman; Daniel R. Weisz; Benjamin F. Williams

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/77

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THE NATURE OF STARBURSTS. III. THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF STAR FORMATION

Journal article

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THE NATURE OF STARBURSTS. III. THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF STAR FORMATION

Kristen B. W. McQuinn, Evan D. Skillman, Julianne J. Dalcanton, John M. Cannon, Andrew E. Dolphin, Jon Holtzman, Daniel R. Weisz and Benjamin F. Williams

The Astrophysical journal, Vol.759(1), pp.1-17

11/01/2012

DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/77

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Abstract

We map the spatial distribution of recent star formation over a few x 100 Myr timescales in 15 starburst dwarf galaxies using the location of young blue helium burning stars identified from optically resolved stellar populations in archival Hubble Space Telescope observations. By comparing the star formation histories from both the high surface brightness central regions and the diffuse outer regions, we measure the degree to which the star formation has been centrally concentrated during the galaxies' starbursts, using three different metrics for the spatial concentration. We find that the galaxies span a full range in spatial concentration, from highly centralized to broadly distributed star formation. Since most starbursts have historically been identified by relatively short timescale star formation tracers (e.g., H alpha emission), there could be a strong bias toward classifying only those galaxies with recent, centralized star formation as starbursts, while missing starbursts that are spatially distributed.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physical Sciences

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: THE NATURE OF STARBURSTS. III. THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF STAR FORMATION
Creators: Kristen B. W. McQuinn - University of Minnesota
Evan D. Skillman - University of Minnesota
Julianne J. Dalcanton - University of Washington
John M. Cannon - Macalester College
Andrew E. Dolphin - RTX (United States)
Jon Holtzman - New Mexico State University
Daniel R. Weisz - University of Washington
Benjamin F. Williams - University of Washington
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The Astrophysical journal, Vol.759(1), pp.1-17
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/77
ISSN: 0004-637X
eISSN: 1538-4357
Publisher: Iop Publishing Ltd
Number of pages: 17
Grant note: AR-10945; AR-11281 / NASA from the Space Telescope Science Institute NAS 5-26555 / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) NNX10AD57G / ROSES University of Minnesota; University of Minnesota System
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2012
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984627328602771

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