ABSTRACT We present synthetic far- and near-ultraviolet ( FUV and NUV ) maps of M31, both with and without dust reddening. These maps were constructed from spatially resolved star formation histories (SFHs) derived from optical Hubble Space Telescope imaging of resolved stars, taken as part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury program. We use stellar population synthesis modeling to generate synthetic UV maps with a spatial resolution of ∼100 pc (∼24 arcsec), projected. When reddening is included, these maps reproduce all of the main morphological features in the GALEX imaging, including rings and large star-forming complexes. The predicted UV flux also agrees well with the observed flux, with median ratios between the modeled and observed flux of log 10 ( f FUV syn / f FUV obs ) = 0.03 ± 0.24 and log 10 ( f NUV syn / f NUV obs ) = − 0.03 ± 0.16 in the FUV and NUV , respectively. This agreement is particularly impressive given that we used only optical photometry to construct these UV maps. Having verified the synthetic reddened maps, we use the dust-free maps to examine properties of obscured flux and star formation. We compare our dust-free and reddened maps of FUV flux with the observed GALEX FUV flux and FUV + 24 μm flux to examine the fraction of obscured flux. We find that the maps of synthetic flux require that ∼90% of the FUV flux in M31 is obscured by dust, while the GALEX -based methods suggest that ∼70% of the FUV flux is absorbed by dust. This 30% increase in the estimate of the obscured flux is driven by significant differences between the dust-free synthetic FUV flux and that derived when correcting the observed FUV flux for dust absorption with 24 μm emission observations. The difference is further illustrated when we compare the SFRs derived from the FUV + 24 μm flux with the 100 Myr average SFR from the CMD-based SFHs. We find that the 24 μm corrected FUV flux underestimates the SFR by a factor of 2.3–2.5, depending on the chosen calibration. This discrepancy could be reduced by allowing for variability in the weight applied to the 24 μm data, as has been recently suggested in the literature.

The Survey of Hi in Extremely Low-mass Dwarfs is an on-going multi-wavelength program to characterize the gas, star formation, and evolution in gas-rich, very low-mass galaxies that populate the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. The galaxies were selected from the first ∼10% of the Hi Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey based on their low Hi mass and low baryonic mass. Here, we measure the star formation properties from optically resolved stellar populations for 12 galaxies using a color–magnitude diagram fitting technique. We derive lifetime average star formation rates (SFRs), recent SFRs, stellar masses, and gas fractions. Overall, the recent SFRs are comparable to the lifetime SFRs with mean birthrate parameter of 1.4, with a surprisingly narrow standard deviation of 0.7. Two galaxies are classified as dwarf transition galaxies (dTrans). These dTrans systems have star formation and gas properties consistent with the rest of the sample, in agreement with previous results that some dTrans galaxies may simply be low-luminosity dwarf irregulars. We do not find a correlation between the recent star formation activity and the distance to the nearest neighboring galaxy, suggesting that the star formation process is not driven by gravitational interactions, but regulated internally. Further, we find a broadening in the star formation and gas properties (i.e., specific SFRs, stellar masses, and gas fractions) compared to the generally tight correlation found in more massive galaxies. Overall, the star formation and gas properties indicate these very low-mass galaxies host a fluctuating, non-deterministic, and inefficient star formation process.

We measure the recent star formation history (SFH) across M31 using optical images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT). We fit the color-magnitude diagrams in similar to 9000 regions that are similar to 100 pc x 100 pc in projected size, covering a 0.5 square degree area (similar to 380 kpc(2), deprojected) in the NE quadrant of M31. We show that the SFHs vary significantly on these small spatial scales but that there are also coherent galaxy-wide fluctuations in the SFH back to similar to 500 Myr, most notably in M31's 10 kpc star-forming ring. We find that the 10 kpc ring is at least 400 Myr old, showing ongoing star formation (SF) over the past similar to 500 Myr. This indicates the presence of molecular gas in the ring over at least 2 dynamical times at this radius. We also find that the ring's position is constant throughout this time, and is stationary at the level of 1 km s(-1), although there is evidence for broadening of the ring due to the diffusion of stars into the disk. Based on existing models of M31's ring features, the lack of evolution in the ring's position makes a purely collisional ring origin highly unlikely. Besides the well-known 10 kpc ring, we observe two other ring-like features. There is an outer ring structure at 15 kpc with concentrated SF starting similar to 80 Myr ago. The inner ring structure at 5 kpc has a much lower star formation rate (SFR) and therefore lower contrast against the underlying stellar disk. It was most clearly defined similar to 200 Myr ago, but is much more diffuse today. We find that the global SFR has been fairly constant over the last similar to 500 Myr, though it does show a small increase at 50 Myr that is 1.3 times the average SFR over the past 100 Myr. During the last similar to 500 Myr, similar to 60% of all SF has occurred in the 10 kpc ring. Finally, we find that in the past 100 Myr, the average SFR over the PHAT survey area is 0.28 +/- 0.03 M-circle dot yr(-1) with an average deprojected intensity of 7.3 x 10(-4) M-circle dot yr(-1) kpc(-2), which yields a total SFR of similar to 0.7 M-circle dot yr(-1) when extrapolated to the entire area of M31's disk. This SFR is consistent with measurements from broadband estimates.

We have used optical observations of resolved stars from the Panchromatic Hubble AndromedaTreasury tomeasure the recent (< 500 Myr) star formation histories (SFHs) of 33 far-UV (FUV)-bright regions in M31. The region areas ranged from similar to 104 to 106 pc2, which allowed us to test the reliability of FUV flux as a tracer of recent star formation on subkiloparsec scales. The star formation rates (SFRs) derived from the extinction-corrected observed FUV fluxes were, on average, consistent with the 100 Myr mean SFRs of the SFHs to within the 1s scatter. Overall, the scatter was larger than the uncertainties in the SFRs and particularly evident among the smallest regions. The scatter was consistent with an even combination of discrete sampling of the initial mass function and high variability in the SFHs. This result demonstrates the importance of satisfying both the full-IMF and the constant-SFR assumptions for obtaining precise SFR estimates from FUV flux. Assuming a robust FUV extinction correction, we estimate that a factor of 2.5 uncertainty can be expected in FUV-based SFRs for regions smaller than 105 pc2 or a few hundred parsecs. We also examined ages and masses derived from UV flux under the common assumption that the regions are simple stellar populations (SSPs). The SFHs showed that most of the regions are not SSPs, and the age and mass estimates were correspondingly discrepant from the SFHs. For those regions with SSP-like SFHs, we found mean discrepancies of 10 Myr in age and a factor of 3-4 in mass. It was not possible to distinguish the SSP-like regions from the others based on integrated FUV flux.

F turnoff stars are important tools for studying Galactic halo substructure because they are plentiful, luminous, and can be easily selected by their photometric colors from large surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We describe the absolute magnitude distribution of color-selected F turnoff stars, as measured from SDSS data, for 11 globular clusters in the MilkyWay halo. We find that the M-g distribution of turnoff stars is intrinsically the same for all clusters studied, and is well fit by two half-Gaussian functions, centered at mu = 4.18, with a bright-side sigma = 0.36, and with a faint-side sigma = 0.76. However, the color errors and detection efficiencies cause the observed s of the faint-side Gaussian to change with magnitude due to contamination from redder main-sequence stars (40% at 21st magnitude). We present a function that will correct for this magnitude- dependent change in selected stellar populations, when calculating stellar density from color-selected turnoff stars. We also present a consistent set of distances, ages, and metallicities for 11 clusters in the SDSS Data Release 7. We calculate a linear correction function to Padova isochrones so that they are consistent with SDSS globular cluster data from previous papers. We show that our cluster population falls along the Milky Way age-metallicity relationship (AMR), and further find that isochrones for stellar populations on the AMR have very similar turnoffs; increasing metallicity and decreasing age conspire to produce similar turnoff magnitudes and colors for all old clusters that lie on the AMR.