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The stellar content of dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Alan Hirshfeld

Open publisher page 21 citations

Abstract

The stellar content of dwarf spheroidal galaxies has been investigated with an emphasis on determining the nature of the anomalous Cepheid variables. Models of extremely metal-poor horizontal branch stars in the mass range 0.70-1.60 solar masses have been constructed. It is found that the models with masses of 1.30-1.60 solar masses spend considerable time within the instability strip and successfully predict the observational characteristics of the anomalous Cepheids. The results support binary mass transfer as the origin of the anomalous Cepheids. If so, Draco is probably younger than the majority of Galactic globular clusters. Age is held to be the second parameter affecting the horizontal branch distribution in the color-magnitude diagrams of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

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What this paper is about

The stellar content of dwarf spheroidal galaxies has been investigated with an emphasis on determining the nature of the anomalous Cepheid variables. Models of extremely metal-poor horizontal branch stars in the mass range 0.70-1.60 solar masses have been constructed. It is found that the models with masses of 1.30-1.60 solar masses spend considerable time within the instability strip and successfully predict the observational characteristics of the anomalous Cepheids. The results support binary mass transfer as the origin of the anomalous Cepheids. If so, Draco is probably younger than the majority of Galactic globular clusters. Age is held to be the second parameter affecting the horizontal branch distribution in the color-magnitude diagrams of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

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Available abstract

The stellar content of dwarf spheroidal galaxies has been investigated with an emphasis on determining the nature of the anomalous Cepheid variables. Models of extremely metal-poor horizontal branch stars in the mass range 0.70-1.60 solar masses have been constructed. It is found that the models with masses of 1.30-1.60 solar masses spend considerable time within the instability strip and successfully predict the observational characteristics of the anomalous Cepheids. The results support binary mass transfer as the origin of the anomalous Cepheids. If so, Draco is probably younger than the majority of Galactic globular clusters. Age is held to be the second parameter affecting the horizontal branch distribution in the color-magnitude diagrams of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Key concepts: Physics, Astrophysics, Cepheid variable, Globular cluster, Astronomy, Dwarf galaxy, Dwarf spheroidal galaxy, Galaxy

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