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Mass to Light Ratio, Initial Mass Function, and Chemical Evolution in Disk Galaxies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2013
Abstract
Cosmological simulations of disk galaxy formation, when compared to the observed Tully–Fisher relation, suggest a low mass to light (M/L) ratio for the stellar component in spirals. We show that a number of 'bottom-light' initial mass functions (IMFs) suggested independently in the literature, do imply M/L ratios as low as required, at least for late type spirals (Sbc–Sc). However the typical M/L ratio, and correspondingly the zero point of the Tully–Fisher relation, is expected to vary considerably with Hubble type.
Bottom-light IMFs tend to have a metal production in excess of what is typically estimated for spiral galaxies. Suitable tuning of the IMF slope and mass limits, post-supernova fallback of metals onto black holes or metal outflows must then be invoked, to reproduce the observed chemical properties of disk galaxies.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 21 , Issue 2: The Fifth Workshop on Galactic Chemodynamics , 2004 , pp. 144 - 147
- Copyright
- Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2004
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