| An extended star formation history for the galactic center from Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS observations (2004) | |||||||||||||||
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| An Extended Star Formation History for the Galactic Center from Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Observations Donald Figer Michael Rich Sungsoo Kim Mark Morris Eugene Serabyn arXiv astro Sep figer stsci edu ABSTRACT present Hubble Space Telescope HST Near Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer NICMOS observations evidence that continuous star formation has created much the central stellar cusp the Galaxy The data are the deepest ever obtained for Galactic Center population being complete for initial stellar masses We use Geneva and Padova stellar evolution models produce synthetic luminosity functions for burst and continuous star formation scenarios finding that the observations are fit best continuous star formation rate that consistent with the recent star formation activity that produced the three massive young clusters the central Further not possible fit the observations with ancient burst models such would appropriate for old population like that Baade Window NGC Subject headings Galaxy bulge Galaxy center stars formation infrared stars Space Telescope Science Institute San Martin Drive Baltimore figer stsci edu Department Physics and Astronomy Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Department Physics and Astronomy University California Los Angeles Division Astronomy Los Angeles Dept Astronomy Space Science Kyung Hee University Yongin shi Korea Caltech Pasadena eserabyn huey jpl nasa gov Based observations with the NASA ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained the Space Tele. We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations as evidence that continuous star formation has created much of the central stellar cusp of the Galaxy. The data are the deepest ever obtained for a Galactic Center (GC) population, being >50% complete for mF205W< 19.3, or initial stellar masses &2 M⊙. We use Geneva and Padova stellar evolution models to produce synthetic luminosity functions for burst and continuous star formation scenarios, finding that the observations are fit best by continuous star formation at a rate that is consistent with the recent star formation activity that produced the three massive young clusters in the central 50 pc. Further, it is not possible to fit the observations with ancient burst models, such as would be appropriate for an old population like that in Baade’s Window or NGC6528. (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas).. Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number GO-07364.01-96A and AR-08751.02-A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Mark Morris is supported by NSF through AST9988397. | |||||||||||||||
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