Variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have been invoked to
explain the spectroscopic and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies.
However, no observations have yet been able to disentangle the physical driver.
We analyse here a sample of 24 early-type galaxies drawn from the CALIFA
survey, deriving in a homogeneous way their stellar population and kinematic
properties. We find that the local IMF is tightly related to the local
metallicity, becoming more bottom-heavy towards metal-rich populations. Our
result, combined with the galaxy mass-metallicity relation, naturally explains
previous claims of a galaxy mass-IMF relation, derived from non-IFU spectra. If
we assume that - within the star formation environment of early-type galaxies -
metallicity is the main driver of IMF variations, a significant revision of the
interpretation of galaxy evolution observables is necessary.
Description
[1506.00638] IMF - metallicity: a tight local relation revealed by the CALIFA survey
%0 Generic
%1 martinnavarro2015metallicity
%A Martín-Navarro, Ignacio
%A Vazdekis, Alexandre
%A La Barbera, Francesco
%A Falcón-Barroso, Jesús
%A Lyubenova, Mariya
%A van de Ven, Glenn
%A Ferreras, Ignacio
%A Sánchez, S. F.
%A Trager, S. C.
%A García-Benito, R.
%A Mast, D.
%A Mendoza, M. A.
%A Sánchez-Blázquez, P.
%A Delgado, R. González
%A Walcher, C. J.
%A team, the CALIFA
%D 2015
%K ifu imf metallicity variation
%T IMF - metallicity: a tight local relation revealed by the CALIFA survey
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.00638
%X Variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have been invoked to
explain the spectroscopic and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies.
However, no observations have yet been able to disentangle the physical driver.
We analyse here a sample of 24 early-type galaxies drawn from the CALIFA
survey, deriving in a homogeneous way their stellar population and kinematic
properties. We find that the local IMF is tightly related to the local
metallicity, becoming more bottom-heavy towards metal-rich populations. Our
result, combined with the galaxy mass-metallicity relation, naturally explains
previous claims of a galaxy mass-IMF relation, derived from non-IFU spectra. If
we assume that - within the star formation environment of early-type galaxies -
metallicity is the main driver of IMF variations, a significant revision of the
interpretation of galaxy evolution observables is necessary.
@misc{martinnavarro2015metallicity,
abstract = {Variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF) have been invoked to
explain the spectroscopic and dynamical properties of early-type galaxies.
However, no observations have yet been able to disentangle the physical driver.
We analyse here a sample of 24 early-type galaxies drawn from the CALIFA
survey, deriving in a homogeneous way their stellar population and kinematic
properties. We find that the local IMF is tightly related to the local
metallicity, becoming more bottom-heavy towards metal-rich populations. Our
result, combined with the galaxy mass-metallicity relation, naturally explains
previous claims of a galaxy mass-IMF relation, derived from non-IFU spectra. If
we assume that - within the star formation environment of early-type galaxies -
metallicity is the main driver of IMF variations, a significant revision of the
interpretation of galaxy evolution observables is necessary.},
added-at = {2015-06-03T10:22:15.000+0200},
author = {Martín-Navarro, Ignacio and Vazdekis, Alexandre and La Barbera, Francesco and Falcón-Barroso, Jesús and Lyubenova, Mariya and van de Ven, Glenn and Ferreras, Ignacio and Sánchez, S. F. and Trager, S. C. and García-Benito, R. and Mast, D. and Mendoza, M. A. and Sánchez-Blázquez, P. and Delgado, R. González and Walcher, C. J. and team, the CALIFA},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2bdeac74e5b9f47af795522a5588f13ee/miki},
description = {[1506.00638] IMF - metallicity: a tight local relation revealed by the CALIFA survey},
interhash = {20e7381d89dbad33d06ae34f5c538de7},
intrahash = {bdeac74e5b9f47af795522a5588f13ee},
keywords = {ifu imf metallicity variation},
note = {cite arxiv:1506.00638Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL. 6 pages, 4 figures},
timestamp = {2015-06-03T10:22:15.000+0200},
title = {IMF - metallicity: a tight local relation revealed by the CALIFA survey},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.00638},
year = 2015
}