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A SINFONI view of circum-nuclear star-forming rings in spiral galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2007

Jesús Falcón-Barroso
Affiliation:
European Space and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands email: [email protected]
Torsten Böker
Affiliation:
European Space and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands email: [email protected]
Eva Schinnerer
Affiliation:
Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Johan H. Knapen
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Via Láctea s/n, E-38200 La Laguna, Spain
Stuart Ryder
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW1710, Australia
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Abstract

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We present near-infrared (H- and K-band) SINFONI integral-field observations of the circumnuclear star formation rings in five nearby spiral galaxies. We made use of the relative intensities of different emission lines (i.e. [FeII], HeI, Brγ) to age date the stellar clusters present along the rings. This qualitative, yet robust, method allows us to discriminate between two distinct scenarios that describe how star formation progresses along the rings. Our findings favour a model where star formation is triggered predominantly at the intersection between the bar major axis and the inner Lindblad resonance and then passively evolves as the clusters rotate around the ring (‘Pearls on a string’ scenario), although models of stochastically distributed star formation (‘Popcorn’ model) cannot be completely ruled out.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

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