P-MaNGA: full spectral fitting and stellar population maps from prototype observations
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MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is a 6-yr SDSS-IV (Sloan
Digital Sky Survey IV) survey that will obtain resolved spectroscopy from 3600 to 10 300Å
for a representative sample of over 10 000 nearby galaxies. In this paper, we derive spatially
resolved stellar population properties and radial gradients by performing full spectral fitting
of observed galaxy spectra from P-MaNGA, a prototype of the MaNGA instrument. These
data include spectra for 18 galaxies, covering a large range of morphological type. We derive
age, metallicity, dust, and stellar mass maps, and their radial gradients, using high spectral resolution
stellar population models, and assess the impact of varying the stellar library input
to the models.We introduce a method to determine dust extinction which is able to give smooth
stellar mass maps even in cases of high and spatially non-uniform dust attenuation. With the
spectral fitting, we produce detailed maps of stellar population properties which allow us to
identify galactic features among this diverse sample such as spiral structure, smooth radial
profiles with little azimuthal structure in spheroidal galaxies, and spatially distinct galaxy
sub-components. In agreement with the literature, we find the gradients for galaxies identified
as early type to be on average flat in age, and negative (−0.15 dex/Re) in metallicity, whereas
the gradients for late-type galaxies are on average negative in age (−0.39 dex/Re) and flat
in metallicity. We demonstrate how different levels of data quality change the precision with
which radial gradients can be measured. We show how this analysis, extended to the large
numbers of MaNGA galaxies, will have the potential to shed light on galaxy structure and
evolution.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 328-360 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 449 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 17 Mar 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 May 2015 |
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Rights statement: This article has been accepted for publication in 'Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Accepted author manuscript (Post-print), 12 MB, PDF document
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