THE E-ELT DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION - SCIENCE CASE G4

Title

The Resolved Stellar Populations of Elliptical Galaxies

PI

E. Tolstoy

Abstract

Elliptical galaxies represent the majority of luminous mass in the Universe and all the indirect observational indications, from the discovery of Elliptical galaxies in high redshift surveys, to studies of integrated stellar populations, suggest that they are predominantly very old systems. However, the main theory of galaxy formation predicts that they assembled their mass relatively recently, and should therefore be dynamically young. It is important to accurately quantify this apparent contradiction. The only way to uniquely resolve this issue is to make CMDs of the resolved stellar populations in a sample of Elliptical galaxies, using the techniques developed for studies of Local Group galaxies. This means we need to reach the Virgo cluster, 17 Mpc away. The detailed properties of Ellipticals will also be compared to the properties of a range of other large galaxies in the Local Group, and at distances out to and beyond Virgo to understand the effect of environment.

Full proposal

v1

Report

Section 11 of the DRM report

Related presentations

DRM update, J. Liske at SWG meeting, 07 Oct 2008
Science case, E. Tolstoy at DRM workshop, 20-21 May 2008
Simulations, J. Liske at DRM workshop, 20-21 May 2008
Science case, E. Tolstoy at SWG DRM workshop, 29-30 May 2007
Simulations, J. Liske at SWG DRM workshop, 29-30 May 2007
DRM update, J. Liske at SWG meeting, 02-03 Apr 2007
Science case, E. Tolstoy at SWG meeting, 19 Jan 2007
DRM update, J. Liske at SWG meeting, 19 Jan 2007


Overview (#4 in a series of popular science level 'pep talks'), J. Liske at TPO meeting, 08 May 2008


 


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Title

The Chemo-Dynamical Structure of Galaxies

PI

E. Tolstoy

Abstract

We propose a multi-object spectrosopic survey of the resolved stellar populations in a range of nearby galaxies out to the distance of Virgo, sampling the entire galaxy, from inner to outer regions. This will allow us to probe the total mass of all galaxies very accuratly and also to accurately determine the chemical evolution history of all components of nearby galaxies (ie., disk, bulge & halo), including a kinematic deconvolution of all these components and a comparison of their detailed properties over a range of galaxy type and environment. We will obtain a more accurate picture of the dark matter properties of a range of different galaxy types, the effects of tidal perturbation and the ubiquity of metallicity distribution functions.

Full proposal

v1

Report

Section 12 of the DRM report

Related presentations

DRM update, G. Battaglia at SWG meeting, 05 Oct 2009
DRM update, G. Battaglia at SWG meeting, 07 Oct 2008
Science case, E. Tolstoy at DRM workshop, 20-21 May 2008
Science case, E. Tolstoy at SWG DRM workshop, 29-30 May 2007

Overview (#4 in a series of popular science level 'pep talks'), J. Liske at TPO meeting, 08 May 2008


 


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Title

First Stars relics in the Milky-Way and satellites

PI

V. Hill

Abstract

There are two basic ways to probe the very first stellar formation events: look for pop III stars at high redshift, or observe, locally, the nucleosynthetic imprints of these first stars. Searches for the most metal-poor stellar content of the galactic halo are advancing fast and in the coming decade, we expect to have large samples of extremely metal-poor stars identified throughout the Milky-Way halo and the nearby galaxies (Magellanic Clouds and closest dwarf spheroidal galaxies). These stars still display in their atmospheres the imprints of metal-enrichement by pop III stars, and allow to gain insight on the nature and nucleosynthesis of the earliest chemical enrichment processes, provided that the detailed abundance patterns of these stars can be derived (e.g. Cayrel et al. 2004). This DRM reviews what major steps could be taken by a 42m ELT, examining the wavelength domains needed for various applications.

Full proposal

v1

Report

Section 13 of the DRM report