A Study on the Evolution of NGC6822. I. Investigating the Star Formation History through Evolved Stellar Populations
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: NGC6822 is an isolated dwarf irregular galaxy in the Local Group at a distance of $\sim$ 490 kpc . In this paper, we derived the star formation history (SFH) of NGC6822 employing a method based on evolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, known as long-period variable (LPV) stars. We utilized a dataset of 329 LPVs in JHK$_s$ bands to estimate the star formation rate (SFR) over time and reconstructed the SFH of the galaxy. In addition to obtaining the SFH assuming constant metallicity values within the range of 0.0001 $<$ Z $<$ 0.012, we also adopted three distinct age-metallicity relations (AMRs) to account for variations in the chemical content of the galaxy throughout its lifetime. The SFH has been investigated in two regions. The bar region encloses a central area of 189 arcmin$^{2}$, and the outer region encircles a field beyond the bar region, extending to the radial distance of 3 kpc. In the bar region, we identified three episodes of star formation peaking at $t \sim$ 4.7 Gyr (log $t = 9.67$), $t \sim$ 1.6 Gyr (log $t = 9.21$), and $t \sim$ 48 Myr (log $t = 7.63$), where $t$ is the look-back time. In the outer region, we found one episode of star formation occurring at $t \sim$ 4.6 Gyr. The significant peak observed $\sim$ 4-5 Gyr ago further supports the hypothesis suggested by the previous research, indicating that NGC6822 passed through the virial radius of the Milky Way in the past.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G6943664901
OpenAlex ID: W7214804022