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dc.contributor.authorMasi, Carlo Maria De
dc.contributor.authorMatteucci, Francesca
dc.contributor.authorVincenzo, Fiorenzo
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-06T17:07:41Z
dc.date.available2018-06-06T17:07:41Z
dc.date.issued2018-03-11
dc.identifier.citationMasi , C M D , Matteucci , F & Vincenzo , F 2018 , ' The effects of the IMF on the chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 474 , no. 4 , stx3044 , pp. 5259-5271 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx3044
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 12677755
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 7f593797-3237-488f-9eff-8fe7b7690034
dc.identifier.otherArXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.04439v1
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85046147904
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2299/20138
dc.descriptionThis article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2017 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
dc.description.abstractWe describe the use of our chemical evolution model to reproduce the abundance patterns observed in a catalogue of elliptical galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4. The model assumes ellipticals form by fast gas accretion, and suffer a strong burst of star formation followed by a galactic wind, which quenches star formation. Models with fixed initial mass function (IMF) failed in simultaneously reproducing the observed trends with the galactic mass. So, we tested a varying IMF; contrary to the diffused claim that the IMF should become bottom heavier in more massive galaxies, we find a better agreement with data by assuming an inverse trend, where the IMF goes from being bottom heavy in less massive galaxies to top heavy in more massive ones. This naturally produces a downsizing in star formation, favouring massive stars in largest galaxies. Finally, we tested the use of the integrated Galactic IMF, obtained by averaging the canonical IMF over the mass distribution function of the clusters where star formation is assumed to take place. We combined two prescriptions, valid for different SFR regimes, to obtain the Integrated Initial Mass Function values along the whole evolution of the galaxies in our models. Predicted abundance trends reproduce the observed slopes, but they have an offset relative to the data. We conclude that bottom-heavier IMFs do not reproduce the properties of the most massive ellipticals, at variance with previous suggestions. On the other hand, an IMF varying with galactic mass from bottom heavier to top heavier should be preferred.en
dc.format.extent13
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
dc.subjectCD- galaxies: evolution
dc.subjectGalaxies: abundances
dc.subjectGalaxies: elliptical and lenticular
dc.subjectGalaxies: formation
dc.subjectGalaxies: general
dc.subjectAstronomy and Astrophysics
dc.subjectSpace and Planetary Science
dc.titleThe effects of the IMF on the chemical evolution of elliptical galaxiesen
dc.contributor.institutionSchool of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics
dc.contributor.institutionCentre for Astrophysics Research
dc.description.statusPeer reviewed
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046147904&partnerID=8YFLogxK
rioxxterms.versionVoR
rioxxterms.versionofrecordhttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx3044
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
herts.preservation.rarelyaccessedtrue


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