METALLICITY AND AGE OF THE STELLAR STREAM AROUND THE DISK GALAXY NGC 5907
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2016-09-06
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Citation of Original Publication
Seppo Laine et al. METALLICITY AND AGE OF THE STELLAR STREAM AROUND THE DISK GALAXY NGC 5907. The Astrophysical Journal. 152, 72, (2016). https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/72.
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Abstract
Stellar streams have become central to studies of the interaction histories of nearby galaxies. To characterize the most prominent parts of the stellar stream around the well-known nearby (d = 17 Mpc) edge-on disk galaxy NGC 5907, we have obtained and analyzed new, deep gri Subaru/Suprime-Cam and 3.6 μm Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera observations. Combining the near-infrared 3.6 μm data with visible-light images allows us to use a long wavelength baseline to estimate the metallicity and age of the stellar population along an ∼60 kpc long segment of the stream. We have fitted the stellar spectral energy distribution with a single-burst stellar population synthesis model and we use it to distinguish between the proposed satellite accretion and minor/major merger formation models of the stellar stream around this galaxy. We conclude that a massive minor merger (stellar mass ratio of at least 1:8) can best account for the metallicity of −0.3 inferred along the brightest parts of the stream.