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Article
Metallicity and Age of the Stellar Stream Around the Disk Galaxy NGC 5907
The Astronomical Journal (2016)
  • Seppo Laine, California Institute of Technology
  • Carl J. Grillmair, California Institute of Technology
  • Peter Capak, California Institute of Technology
  • Richard G. Arendt, CRESST/UMBC/NASA GSFC
  • Aaron J. Romanowsky, San Jose State University
  • David Martínez-Delgado, Universität Heidelberg
  • Matthew L.N. Ashby, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • James E. Davies, Space Telescope Science Institute
  • Stephen R. Majewski, University of Virginia
  • Jean P. Brodie, University of California Observatories
  • R. Jay GaBany, Black Bird Observatory
  • Jacob A. Arnold, University of California Observatories
Abstract
Stellar streams have become central to studies of the interaction histories of nearby galaxies. To characterize the most prominent parts of the stellar stream around the well-known nearby (d = 17 Mpc) edge-on disk galaxy NGC 5907, we have obtained and analyzed new, deep gri Subaru/Suprime-Cam and 3.6 μm Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera observations. Combining the near-infrared 3.6 μm data with visible-light images allows us to use a long wavelength baseline to estimate the metallicity and age of the stellar population along an ~60 kpc long segment of the stream. We have fitted the stellar spectral energy distribution with a single-burst stellar population synthesis model and we use it to distinguish between the proposed satellite accretion and minor/major merger formation models of the stellar stream around this galaxy. We conclude that a massive minor merger (stellar mass ratio of at least 1:8) can best account for the metallicity of −0.3 inferred along the brightest parts of the stream.
Keywords
  • galaxies: evolution,
  • galaxies: interactions,
  • galaxies: structure
Publication Date
September 6, 2016
DOI
10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/72
Publisher Statement
This article was originally published in The Astronomical Journal, volume 152, issue 3. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

This article is also available online at the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/72
Citation Information
Seppo Laine, Carl J. Grillmair, Peter Capak, Richard G. Arendt, et al.. "Metallicity and Age of the Stellar Stream Around the Disk Galaxy NGC 5907" The Astronomical Journal Vol. 152 Iss. 3 (2016) ISSN: 1538-3881
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/aaron_romanowsky/102/