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Session 76 - Star Formation in Galaxies.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,

[76.09] A New Tool for Population-Spectral Synthesis that includes Metallicity.

Enhanced models of starburst regions have been constructed from an evolutionary synthesis routine incorporating, for the first time, a metallicity parameter. This routine generates composite, synthetic, UV flux distributions by integrating appropriate spectra drawn from a UV spectral library. The spectral library consists of Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud data. The data used are archival, low-dispersion, International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) data. The three galaxies selected represent a range of metallicities from solar to 0.1 solar metallicity. The resultant spectral library therefore enables the evolutionary synthesis routine to generate synthetic spectral flux distributions corresponding to this range of metallicities.

We have applied this modified evolutionary synthesis routine to four starburst regions: NGC 1068, NGC 1705, NGC 4214, and NGC 5253. We present preliminary results for these regions, including cluster ages, initial mass functions, and metallicities. Differences from conclusions drawn in previous analyses are highlighted, and the significance of the newly added metallicity parameter is underscored.

Program listing for Friday