uniqueness of cluster ellipticals

From: Greg Aldering (aldering@panisse.lbl.gov)
Date: Tue Jan 24 2006 - 12:16:21 PST

  • Next message: Marc Postman: "Re: uniqueness of cluster ellipticals"

    This is a question for Marc, Mike, Peter, Adam, etc.

    In reading over the current draft of the HST proposal and discussing it
    with Saul, it seemed that we are missing a strong counterargument to a
    possible claim that SNe in field ellipticals are just as useful as
    those found in cluster ellipticals. Right now, the best we are able
    to do is point out that by the end of this Cycle our elliptical galaxy
    sample will match what has been published from the searches of the GOODS
    fields. But, we don't address whether cluster elliptical hosts are any
    better or worse than field elliptical hosts.

    Presumably any such an argument would have to center around differences
    in the dust content or likelihood of star formation in field versus
    cluster ellipticals. The argument might also revolve around testing SN
    evolution more cleanly in clusters since the formation epoch of cluster
    ellipticals might be more secure. Is there a strong argument along
    these lines that can be made for ellipticals at z ~ 1? Are the cluster
    ellipticals going to be older or less dusty?

    I could believe that a deep spectrum of a field elliptical SN host
    would provide the desired constraints on the amount of star formation
    or the age of the stellar population. If this were done for the
    existing GOODS field elliptical hosts, perhaps some SNe would become
    suspect, but perhaps they would not. So, I am worried that there isn't
    a strong claim distinguishing cluster and field ellipticals that can't
    easily be undercut.

    Any ideas?

    Greg



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