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Bimodal star formation - Constraints from galaxy colors at high redshiftThe possibility that at early epochs the light from elliptical galaxies is dominated by stars with an initial mass function (IMF) which is deficient in low-mass stars, relative to the solar neighborhood is investigated. V-R colors for the optical counterparts of 3CR radio sources offer the most severe constraints on the models. Reasonable fits are obtained to both the blue, high-redshift colors and the redder, low-redshift colors with a model galaxy which forms with initially equal star formation rates in each of two IMF modes: one lacking low-mass stars, and one with stars of all masses. The net effect is that the time-integrated IMF has twice as many high-mass stars as the solar neighborhood IMF, relative to low mass stars. A conventional solar neighborhood IMF does not simultaneously account for both the range in colors at high redshift and the redness of nearby ellipticals, with any single star formation epoch. Models with a standard IMF require half the stellar population to be formed in a burst at low redshift z of about 1.
Document ID
19870062605
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Wyse, Rosemary F. G.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Silk, Joseph
(California, University Berkeley, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1987
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters to the Editor
Volume: 319
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
87A49879
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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