Institute füR Astronomie Vienna Colloquium

Enrique talks @ Institute für astronomie Vienna Colloquium: 3D mass assembly and metal production in galaxies: the califa’s perspective

19 de marzo de 2012

Enrique Pérez invited to give the Colloquium at the Institut für Astronomie.

The growth of galaxies is one of the key problems in understanding the evolution of the universe. Galaxies can grow in mass by acretion of smaller galaxies or of intergalactic gas clouds, or by merging with similar mass galaxies. The mass available translates into a rate of star formation which controls the generation of metals in the universe. We have engaged on a large 3D spectroscopic survey of galaxies in the local universe (CALIFA), and apply the fossil method of spectral synthesis to recover the 3D star formation history of each galaxy from its spectra. Here we present the results from the analysis of the first 100 galaxies observed, and show that galaxies in the local universe have grown inside-out and how galaxies build with time their spatial gradient of metals. We show how the rate of mass growth depends on the galaxy mass, so that massive galaxies assemble their mass very quickly early on, while lower mass galaxies are still in the process. Further, we show how the rate of build up of the metallicity gradient depends on the parent galaxy mass.