Mentor: Kate Rubin, Ph.D. --> Associate Professor of Astronomy

A Galaxy's Spatially-Resolved Star Formation Rate

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I extracted data for a galaxy of redshift (z) 0.0188 and stellar mass (log of total stellar mass in solar masses) of 9.2098. As the star formation rate (SFR) tends to 0.00 it is closer to an effective radius of about 2.00 which corresponds to outer portion of the galaxy. Conversely, as the SFR tends toward larger numbers, it corresponds to a smaller effective radius leading toward the galaxy center. Hence, a larger SFR thrives in regions of smaller effective radii -- closer to the galaxy's center. 

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Mentor: Kate Rubin, Ph.D. --> Associate Professor of Astronomy

Mapping Cool Interstellar Gas in Early-Type Galaxies via Ca II and Na I

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Current Abstract:

Early-type galaxies are massive, elliptical systems that are commonly found to lack significant star formation activity. The presence of cool gas in some early-type galaxies raises important questions about their evolutionary history and the mechanisms responsible for gas accretion. In this study, we investigate the presence of cool gas by analyzing the Ca II (3934 & 3969 Å) and Na I (5891 & 5897 Å) doublets, both sensitive tracers of cool interstellar gas. We use spectroscopic data from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV)/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), selecting early-type galaxies with redshifts 0.01 to 0.14 and stellar masses between 8.65 < log M*/Msun < 11.58. We have measured the equivalent widths of the Ca II and Na I doublet lines for a subset of 10 early-type galaxies, and our analysis reveals significant absorption in a fraction of our sample. This is consistent with previous findings that about 30% of early-type galaxies contain atomic hydrogen gas. These previous studies have investigated a small sample of a few hundred galaxies, and in this work, the data analysis is ongoing for a much larger sample to further elucidate the implications of cool gas in these systems.​