dc.contributor.advisor | McIntosh, Daniel H. | eng |
dc.contributor.author | Haines, Tim | eng |
dc.date.issued | 2013 | eng |
dc.date.submitted | 2013 Spring | eng |
dc.description | Title from PDF of title page, viewed on June 25, 2013 | eng |
dc.description | Thesis advisor: Daniel H. McIntosh | eng |
dc.description | Vita | eng |
dc.description | Includes bibliographic references (pages 140 -[146]) | eng |
dc.description | Thesis (M.S.)--Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2013 | eng |
dc.description.abstract | Over cosmic time, galaxy mass assembly has transitioned from low-mass, starforming
disk galaxies to massive, quiescent elliptical galaxies. The merger hypothesis for
the formation of new elliptical galaxies provides one physical explanation to the observed
buildup of this population, a key prediction of which is a brief phase of morphological
transformation from highly-disturbed remnant to blue elliptical. We study 12 plausible
new ellipticals with varying degrees of morphological peculiarities visually selected from
a larger parent sample of nearby (0.01 ≤ z ≤ 0.04), massive (M∗ ≥ 10¹ ⁰ M⊙), concentrated
(Petrosian R90/R50 ≥ 2.6), and optically blue galaxies from the SDSS DR4 catalog. Using
integral field spectroscopy, we construct two-dimensional spectra of the stellar populations
and azimuthally bin them into concentric annuli to determine the relative ages
of the stellar populations as a function of radius. Using this data and conclusions from
simulations, we seek to distinguish post-mergers from galaxies undergoing other modes
of mass assembly. We find that 1/3 of our sample is consistent with having undergone a recent, gas-rich major merger. Another 1/3 of our sample is consistent with having undergone
a 'frosting' of recent star formation. The final 1/3 of our sample is either inconsistent
with or inconclusive of having undergone a recent, gas-rich major merger. | eng |
dc.description.tableofcontents | Introduction -- Sample selection and observations -- Data reduction -- Data preparation -- Spectroscopic analysis -- Qualitative radial star formation histories -- Conclusions -- Appendix A. Thumbnail images -- Appendix B. Variance map fits -- Appendix C. Emission-subtracted spectra -- Appendix D. Radial index measurements -- Appendix E. Star-Formation history model plane | eng |
dc.format.extent | x, 147 pages | eng |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10355/35745 | eng |
dc.subject.lcsh | Elliptical galaxies | eng |
dc.subject.lcsh | Galaxies -- Evolution | eng |
dc.subject.other | Thesis -- University of Missouri--Kansas City -- Physics | eng |
dc.title | Constructing massive blue elliptical galaxies in the local universe | eng |
dc.type | Thesis | eng |
thesis.degree.discipline | Physics (UMKC) | eng |
thesis.degree.grantor | University of Missouri--Kansas City | eng |
thesis.degree.level | Masters | eng |
thesis.degree.name | M.S. | eng |