Strömgren photometric metallicity map of the Magellanic Cloud stars using Gaia DR3--XP spectra

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Omkumar, Abinaya O., Cioni, Maria-Rosa L., Subramanian, Smitha, de Bruijne, Jos, Nair, Aparna, Dias, Bruno
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866911092791312384
author Omkumar, Abinaya O.
Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
Subramanian, Smitha
de Bruijne, Jos
Nair, Aparna
Dias, Bruno
author_facet Omkumar, Abinaya O.
Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
Subramanian, Smitha
de Bruijne, Jos
Nair, Aparna
Dias, Bruno
contents One important key in understanding a galaxy's evolution is to study the consequences of its past dynamical interactions that influenced its shape. By measuring the metallicity distribution of stellar populations with different ages, one can learn about these interactions. The Magellanic Clouds, being the nearest pair of interacting dwarf galaxies with a morphology characterised by different tidal and kinematic sub-structures as well as a vast range of stellar populations, represent an excellent place to study the consequences of dwarf-dwarf galaxy interactions and with their large host, the Milky Way. We aim to determine the metallicities ([Fe/H]) of red giant branch (old) and supergiant (young) stars covering the entire galaxies, estimate their radial metallicity gradients and produce homogeneous metallicity maps. We use the XP spectra from Gaia Data Release 3 to calculate synthetic Strömgren magnitudes from the application of the GaiaXPy tool and adopt calibration relations from the literature to estimate the metallicities. We present photometric metallicity maps for ~90,000 young stars and ~270,000 old stars within ~11 deg of the Small Magellanic Cloud and ~20 deg of the Large Magellanic Cloud from a homogeneous dataset. We find that the overall radial metallicity gradients decrease linearly in agreement with previous studies. We apply piecewise-regression fitting to derive the gradients within different radial regions. The overall metallicity gradients, traced by young and old stars, decrease from the centre to the outskirts of both galaxies. However, they show multiple breakpoints depicting regions following different and sometime opposite trends. These are associated to the structure of the galaxies, their history of star formation and chemical evolution but may be influenced by a low number of sources, especially at the centre (due to crowding) and in the outermost regions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_10749
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strömgren photometric metallicity map of the Magellanic Cloud stars using Gaia DR3--XP spectra
Omkumar, Abinaya O.
Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.
Subramanian, Smitha
de Bruijne, Jos
Nair, Aparna
Dias, Bruno
Astrophysics of Galaxies
One important key in understanding a galaxy's evolution is to study the consequences of its past dynamical interactions that influenced its shape. By measuring the metallicity distribution of stellar populations with different ages, one can learn about these interactions. The Magellanic Clouds, being the nearest pair of interacting dwarf galaxies with a morphology characterised by different tidal and kinematic sub-structures as well as a vast range of stellar populations, represent an excellent place to study the consequences of dwarf-dwarf galaxy interactions and with their large host, the Milky Way. We aim to determine the metallicities ([Fe/H]) of red giant branch (old) and supergiant (young) stars covering the entire galaxies, estimate their radial metallicity gradients and produce homogeneous metallicity maps. We use the XP spectra from Gaia Data Release 3 to calculate synthetic Strömgren magnitudes from the application of the GaiaXPy tool and adopt calibration relations from the literature to estimate the metallicities. We present photometric metallicity maps for ~90,000 young stars and ~270,000 old stars within ~11 deg of the Small Magellanic Cloud and ~20 deg of the Large Magellanic Cloud from a homogeneous dataset. We find that the overall radial metallicity gradients decrease linearly in agreement with previous studies. We apply piecewise-regression fitting to derive the gradients within different radial regions. The overall metallicity gradients, traced by young and old stars, decrease from the centre to the outskirts of both galaxies. However, they show multiple breakpoints depicting regions following different and sometime opposite trends. These are associated to the structure of the galaxies, their history of star formation and chemical evolution but may be influenced by a low number of sources, especially at the centre (due to crowding) and in the outermost regions.
title Strömgren photometric metallicity map of the Magellanic Cloud stars using Gaia DR3--XP spectra
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10749