Bibcode
DOI
de Pablos, Fernando; Cepa, Jordi
Bibliographical reference
The seventh astrophysical conference: Star formation, near and far. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 393, pp. 433-436 (1997).
Advertised on:
2
1997
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Using broad band photometry, a new method is derived to evaluate
relative (arm with respect to the interarm disk) star formation rates
and relative star formation efficiencies together with spiral arm
amplitudes, as a function of the galactocentric radius. The classical
method to obtain star formation rates from Hα photometry is
discussed, and a new method is inferred to diagnose the possible
presence of biassed star formation due to different initial mass
functions in the arms and in the interarm disk. As an example, these
methods are applied to the spiral galaxy NGC 4321. Evidence is obtained
of massive star formation triggered in the spiral arms in a way
consistent with the spiral density wave theory, and star formation
biassed towards a larger fraction of massive stars in the arms than in
the interarm disk, related to and probably caused by the density wave
system.