Age and Metallicity Estimation of Globular Clusters from Stromgren Photometry
Abstract
We present a new technique for the determination of age and metallicity in composite stellar populations using Stromgren filters. Using principal component (PC) analysis on multi-color models, we isolate the range of values necessary to uniquely determine age and metallicity effects. The technique presented herein can only be applied to old (tau > 3 Gyrs) stellar systems composed of simple stellar populations, such as globular clusters and elliptical galaxies. Calibration using new photometry of 40 globular clusters with spectroscopic [Fe/H] values and main sequence fitted ages links the PC values to the Str\"omgren colors for an accuracy of 0.2 dex in metallicity and 0.5 Gyrs in age.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0412178,
title = {Age and Metallicity Estimation of Globular Clusters from Stromgren Photometry},
author = {K. Rakos and J. Schombert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0412178},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
24 pages AAS LaTeX, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASP