# The UV Upturn in Elliptical Galaxies as an Age Indicator

## 1 Introduction

Various recent studies have suggested that the high ultraviolet (UV) fluxes of nearby giant elliptical galaxies (the so-called “UV upturn”) indicate large ages that are comparable with the age of the Milky Way (e.g., Bressan, Chiosi, & Fagotto 1994; Dorman, O’Connell, & Rood 1995; Park & Lee (1997); Yi, Demarque, & Oemler 1998). According to these popular theories, the dominant UV sources in giant elliptical galaxies are low-mass core-helium burning stars, such as horizontal-branch (HB) and evolved HB stars that are much more populous in older systems. If the UV upturn of old systems is truly sensitive to age, as such population synthesis studies suggest, its value as an independent age indicator is extraordinary because spectral evolution in the longer wavelength regions (i.e. the visible and infrared) is negligible once galaxies are older than a few Gyr.

Precise estimates of the ages of both nearby and distant galaxies are extremely important to our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies and of cosmology. The significance of accurate age estimates of distant galaxies has recently been emphasized by various studies (Dunlop et al. (1996); Spinrad et al. (1997); Heap et al. (1998); Peacock et al. (1998)), and it is our hope to demonstrate the outstanding value of the precise age estimations of nearby galaxies to cosmology.

The UV upturn is sensitive to several input parameters that need to be further constrained, however. While there seems to be a consensus that HB and evolved HB stars are most likely the dominant UV sources in giant ellipticals, it is still debated whether the dominant UV sources are metal-poor (Park & Lee (1997), hereafter, “metal-poor HB hypothesis”) or metal-rich (Bressan et al. (1994); Dorman et al. (1995); Yi et al. (1998), “metal-rich HB hypothesis”). The problem is that these two scenarios predict significantly different ages for the same nearby giant ellipticals.

According to the metal-rich HB hypothesis, giant ellipticals are similar in age to or even younger than old Galactic globular clusters. This picture suggests that the metal-rich stars are the most likely UV sources in giant ellipticals because, as metallicity increases, 1) mass loss increases, 2) stars evolve faster (only when metallicity is markedly higher than the solar), and finally 3) the UV-bright helium-burning phase becomes more effective (Horch, Demarque, Pinsonneault 1992; Dorman, Rood, & O’Connell 1993; Yi, Demarque, & Kim 1997). On the other hand, the metal-poor HB hypothesis suggests that the dominant UV sources are simply much older (and therefore hotter) metal-poor HB stars and their post-HB progeny, and, thus, that giant ellipticals are about 30% older than the old halo populations in the Milky Way. This large age predicted by the metal-poor HB hypothesis is particularly interesting, because it would undermine the effort to reconcile the gap between the mean age of old Galactic globular clusters estimated via stellar evolution theory and the age of the universe derived from the measured values of the Hubble constant ($`H_0`$) and the density parameter ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$), if we would not want to invoke a non-zero cosmological constant ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$) universe.

Although weak spectral features found with Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope seem to suggest a low metallicity ($`0.1`$ $`Z_{}`$, Brown et al. (1997)), it is not yet feasible to determine the metallicity of the UV sources in giant ellipticals spectroscopically, mainly because of the complex nature of the heavy element redistribution in the atmospheres of evolved stars (e.g., Michaud, Vauclair, & Vauclair 1983; Heber et al. (1984)). That is, when stars evolve to become hot HB stars, their atmospheric chemical compositions significantly deviate from their original compositions that dictate their evolution.

Two different schools (Park & Lee for the metal-poor HB hypothesis and Yi, Demarque, & Oemler for the metal-rich HB hypothesis) having such different views have combined forces in this work to minimize the errors both in modeling and in analysis. Our aims are first to attempt to understand the conditions that create the observed UV upturns and second to use the concept of the UV upturn as an age indicator for giant ellipticals. First, we have constructed galaxy population models using consistent assumptions. Then, we predict the evolution of UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratios as a function of redshift. A similar effort has already been made by Chiosi, Vallenari, & Bressan (1997) mainly to find differences between the galaxy models whose dominant UV sources are either HB stars or PAGB stars. However, various studies including their own have already shown that PAGB stars are not believed to live long enough to produce the observed amount of the UV flux in giant ellipticals (see Castellani & Tornambé (1991)). Thus, our work is focused on whether the two hypotheses with different metallicities would lead to different UV spectral evolutionary patterns, and if so, whether we would be able to detect them.

We show that, even if the two hypotheses (metal-poor and metal-rich) are nearly equally capable of reproducing the observed UV-to-visual flux ratios in present-epoch giant ellipticals, their evolutionary predictions are quite different from one another. We hope to be able to select the more likely scenario by comparing various models to future observational data. This will eventually constrain the ages of nearby galaxies and thus the epoch of galaxy formation. We will also show that such fine age estimations enable us to determine some cosmological parameters, such as the cosmological constant, when others are constrained independently.

## 2 Evolutionary Population Synthesis

Our independent population synthesis codes generate nearly the same results when the same conditions are provided. The metal-poor and metal-rich HB hypotheses predict such different ages for giant ellipticals mainly because some of their input parameters are different. As we will see later on, the adopted values of Galactic helium enrichment parameter ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$), the mass loss efficiency, and of the chemical evolution model significantly influence the result. Thus, it is very important to provide detailed information on what values of input parameters and which prescriptions have been used in the galaxy modeling (Greggio & Renzini (1990); Yi, Demarque, & Oemler 1997).

We have used the evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) technique to model galaxies. Recent reviews of Yi et al. (1997b) and Park & Lee (1997) describe the details of the technique that has been used in this study. It is not our intention to discuss the EPS technique in this paper in detail, and readers should refer to these papers for details. Keeping it in mind that it is important to understand the details of the modeling process and input assumptions, knowledgeable readers may skip this section to §3 where we present our favorite models of galaxy evolution.

### 2.1 Stellar Libraries

For consistency, we have used the stellar evolutionary tracks constructed using the same input physics, whenever possible. They are mainly the Yale group tracks, consisting of the Yale Isochrones (Demarque et al. 1996) for main sequence (MS) through the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and the post-RGB tracks of Yi, Demarque, & Kim (1997). We have adopted Schönberner group’s post-asymptotic giant branch (PAGB) models (Schönberner (1979); Schönberner (1983); Blöcker & Schönberner (1990)). We have used the Kurucz theoretical spectral library (Kurucz 1992) and additional spectral models for hot stars constructed using the 1995 version Hubeny code (Hubeny 1988), as described in Yi et al. (1997b).

### 2.2 Mass Loss on the Red Giant Branch

The adopted mass loss is extremely important to the integrated UV flux. Park & Lee (1997), a group representative of those using the metal-poor HB hypothesis, adopted a fixed amount of mass loss derived from the globular cluster HB morphology, assuming the mean age of 13 Gyr for old Galactic globular clusters. In order to compensate for the effects of age indirectly, they modified the values of the mass loss according to age. The results from such treatments are meant to be close to those based on a fixed value of $`\eta `$, the empirical fitting factor in Reimers’ mass loss formula (Reimers (1975)). This treatment, however, ignores the potentially important effects of metallicity on the mass loss. Most other studies have been based on a fixed value of $`\eta `$ (Bressan et al. 1994; Yi et al. 1995). More recently, Yi et al. (1998) investigated the effects of the so-called “variable-$`\eta `$ hypothesis” where $`\eta `$ increases with increasing metallicity, considering the recent hydrodynamic simulations of the Iowa State group (Bowen & Willson (1991); Willson, Bowen, & Struck 1996). Yi et al. (1997b) clearly demonstrated the large dependence of the total UV flux on $`\eta `$. However, many EPS studies are still based on values of $`\eta `$ that date back from decades ago, even though many advances have been made in stellar astrophysics since then. For this reason, we try to find the value of $`\eta `$ that best matches the HB morphology of Galactic globular clusters, using the recent stellar evolutionary tracks of the Yale group.

The Galactic globular clusters located in the inner halo (Galactocentric radius $``$ 8 kpc) are often considered the oldest stellar populations in the Milky Way (Lee, Demarque, & Zinn 1994)<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1Some of the inner halo clusters may have different ages from the others. Minniti (1995) suggested that the metal-rich ones with Galactocentric radius $``$ 3 kpc belong to the bulge, and not to the halo, based on their kinematics, metallicities and spatial distributions. However, inclusion or exclusion of these inner-most clusters does not alter our results.. The 45 Galactic globular clusters in the inner halo sampled by Lee et al. (1994) have nearly uniform ages, and their different HB morphology is mostly due to the difference in metallicity. Therefore, if we can estimate the mean absolute age of the old Galactic globular clusters, we would be able to determine the best fitting value of mass loss by comparing synthetic HB models to the observed HB morphology.

The absolute age of the old Galactic globular clusters, however, is not trivial to determine. Until recently, the majority of stellar evolutionists have suggested that they are approximately 15 Gyr old (e.g. Chaboyer, Demarque, & Sarajedini 1996; VandenBerg, Bolte, & Stetson 1996). However, recent Hipparcos observations of Cepheid variables have yielded a new zero-point of the Cepheid period-luminosity relation (Feast & Catchpole (1997); Alcock et al. (1997)). Their re-calibration of RR Lyrae absolute magnitudes using the new Large Magellanic Cloud and M31 Cepheid distances implies that the mean age of the old Galactic globular clusters is approximately 11 Gyr, significantly lower than the previous estimates. Independently, a set of Hipparcos observations of field MS stars have led to similarly small age estimates ($``$ 12 Gyr) for Galactic globular clusters (Reid (1997); Gratton et al. (1997); Salaris & Weiss (1997); Chaboyer et al. (1998)).

Whether the mean age of old Galactic globular clusters is 12 Gyr or 15 Gyr makes a substantial difference to the value of $`\eta `$ to be adopted. If the age of the oldest Galactic globular clusters is younger, stars must have experienced more efficient mass loss in order to match the observed HB morphology of Galactic globular clusters at smaller ages. It is generally believed that the HB morphology at a given metallicity is a reliable indicator of the mean mass of HB stars. For the construction of synthetic color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), we have assumed a truncated Gaussian mass distribution on the HB with a fixed mass dispersion parameter, $`\sigma `$ = 0.04 $`M_{}`$, for all metallicities (see §2.4 for details). We have used the HB type \[(B-R)/(B+V+R)\] as an HB morphology indicator and followed the synthetic HB construction method of Lee, Demarque, & Zinn (1990).

The best fitting value of mass loss is 0.257 $`M_{}`$for the 12 Gyr assumption and 0.208 $`M_{}`$for the 15 Gyr assumption, as shown in Fig. 1 and listed in Table 1. Since both values are derived from the old clusters, the value of $`\eta `$ should be obtained using a consistent metallicity. If we consider old inner halo clusters as the most metal-poor clusters, we might choose $`Z=0.0001`$. However, when we use the HB morphology fitting method, the clusters whose HB type values are near 0 are the most influential ones during the fitting process. Therefore, $`Z=0.001`$ is more appropriate. Using newly improved mass loss calculations, the best fitting values of $`\eta `$ are approximately 0.5 and 0.7 for the 15 Gyr and 12 Gyr assumptions, respectively<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2The previous mass loss estimates in Tables 1 – 4 of Yi et al. (1997b) were inaccurate because they used only a small number of evolutionary tracks for computations. So, we have recomputed the mass loss using finer mass grids and a more realistic interpolation routine (Hill 1982). Send an email to S.Y. to obtain the tables.. Iben & Renzini (1983) pointed out that $`\eta `$ for Galactic globular cluster stars cannot be larger than a critical value. If $`\eta `$ were larger than that, the red giants in Galactic globular clusters would have lost all the envelope mass throughout their lifetimes in the RGB phase. Then, all red giants would have evolved to become PAGB stars bypassing the HB phase: there would have been no HB stars in Galactic globular clusters, which is certainly not true! Old Galactic globular clusters were believed to be about 15 Gyrs old, and with this adopted age, the critical value of $`\eta `$ was suggested to be 0.6 by Iben & Renzini (1983). The same would still be true in our study as well, if we were to adopt an age of 15 Gyr for old Galactic globular clusters. However, in this paper, we have adopted the new, smaller mean age for globular clusters, 12 Gyr, which results in a larger estimate of $`\eta `$ (0.7). Thus, the logic of Iben & Renzini still holds true as long as relative scales are concerned.

We find the earlier estimation of $`\eta `$ of Yi et al. (1997b) inaccurate, because they assumed that the mass of RR Lyrae stars were similar to the mean mass of HB stars, even though the mean mass of HB stars may be significantly different from the RR Lyrae mass in some circumstances. This was why their RR Lyrae-based estimations of $`\eta `$ were lower ($`\eta =0.3`$ – 0.5, see their Fig. 3) than the ones based on their integrated UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio ($`\eta =0.5`$ – 0.7, see their Fig. 15). Consequently, they argued that their small values of $`\eta `$ for metal-poor stars were consistent with those suggested by the hydrodynamical study of the Iowa State group and suggested the so-called variable-$`\eta `$ hypothesis where $`\eta `$ increases with increasing metallicity. However, if empirical estimates of $`\eta `$ are approximately 0.5 – 0.7, it does not entirely support the variable-$`\eta `$ hypothesis which suggests smaller values ($`\eta =0.25`$ – 0.5) for metal-poor stars, although it does not rule it out, either. In this study, we have assumed that old Galactic globular clusters are about 12 Gyr old on the average and have constructed galaxy models under two assumptions of mass loss, i.e., (1) fixed $`\eta `$ ($`=`$ 0.7) and (2) variable-$`\eta `$, as shown in Table 2.

### 2.3 Minimum Envelope Mass ($`M_{env}^{min}`$)

Early studies of stellar evolution suggested that HB stars cannot have an infinitesimal envelope mass, because the envelopes of RGB stars, their progenitors, require a certain minimum mass to exert gravitational pressure on the stellar core which triggers the helium core flesh at the tip of the RGB (Tomasko (1970); Cole & Deupree (1980); Cole, Demarque, & Deupree 1985). While the true value is not yet clear, we have chosen 0.005 $`M_{}`$as the minimum required envelope mass ($`M_{env}^{min}`$) in this study, following the recent stellar evolutionary calculations of Sweigart (1998). Such a small value of $`M_{env}^{min}`$seems required empirically as well in order to account for the presence of hot HB stars found in several globular clusters (Landsman et al. (1996); Sosin et al. (1997)), assuming that they are all products of simple single stellar evolution.

### 2.4 Mass Dispersion on the HB: $`\sigma `$

Yi et al. (1997b) have pointed out that the mass loss dispersion parameter $`\sigma `$ (approximately 1.5 times greater than the standard deviation $`\sigma _{SD}`$) also has an important impact on the total UV flux. Following Lee (1990), we have adopted $`\sigma `$ = 0.04 $`M_{}`$. This value is smaller than the value, 0.06, which was used by Yi et al.. This smaller value in the mass dispersion causes a reduction of the UV flux at a given age until the majority of HB stars become dominantly hot.

### 2.5 Mass of PAGB stars: $`M(PAGB)`$

The UV light contribution from PAGB stars increases as the assumed masses of PAGB stars decrease because their lifetimes correlate inversely with their masses. The mean mass of PAGB stars in old stellar systems with 1 – 2 $`M_{}`$progenitors is believed to be somewhere between 0.55 and 0.60 $`M_{}`$(Iben & Renzini 1983; Weidemann & Koester 1983; Weidemann 1997). The luminosities of the PAGB stars found in globular clusters are also in agreement with this mass range (between 0.546 and 0.565, de Boer 1987). We have therefore assumed 0.565 $`M_{}`$as the typical value of $`M(PAGB)`$for the progenies of the MS stars of the mass range $`M`$ = 0.8 – 1.0<sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3 On the other hand, Brown et al. (1998) find that the frequencies of PAGB stars in their M31 and M32 samples are in better agreement with a larger mass ($`0.633`$ $`M_{}`$) unless PAGB stars are escaping detection through a significant amount of extinction..

## 3 Galaxy Models with Realistic Metallicity Distributions

For the composite galaxy model construction, we have used the metallicity distribution models of Kodama (Kodama & Arimoto (1997)) which are consistent with ours in terms of the input physics. Firstly, his population synthesis models are based on the same stellar evolutionary tracks as ours. Secondly, Kodama has taken into account the mass dispersion on the HB in a similar manner to ours. Although galactic chemical evolution models are developed generally to reproduce the “color-magnitude relation” of elliptical galaxies (e.g. Kodama & Arimoto (1997)), many such population synthesis models do not take into account a realistic mass dispersion on the HB, one of the most important contributors to the UV upturn. By and large, inclusion of a mass dispersion on the HB causes a higher flux in the short wavelength region ($``$ 4000 Å). Even Kodama’s models have not been tuned to reproduce the UV part of the spectra of giant ellipticals yet. Therefore, the ability and reliability of our composite models in matching the observed spectrum in the entire wavelength range are limited. As a result, we have decided not to pay too much attention to detailed spectral fittings in this study.

Whether “infall” or “simple” (closed box) models for galactic chemical evolution represent the truth better has been studied extensively (e.g. Larson 1972; Audouze & Tinsley 1976; Chiosi 1980; Gibson & Matteucci 1997), but the answer is still uncertain. Since we do not have a preference, we have selected whatever model generates an integrated spectrum that matches the data better. In general, “infall” models predict fewer metal-poor stars and match the near-UV spectrum better when the dominant UV sources are metal-rich (Yi et al. 1998). On the other hand, “simple” models match the observed magnitudes of UV fluxes at relatively smaller ages if the dominant UV sources are metal-poor, as shown below through Models A and B. Consequently, we have adopted the “infall” (or “simple”) model in model galaxies where the dominant UV sources are metal-rich (or metal-poor). As shown below, the mean metallicity of the dominant UV sources varies depending on the adopted metallicity distribution. In Fig. 2, we display the Kodama metallicity distribution models as continuous lines and the integrated distributions used in our population synthesis as histograms.

In Table 3, we list four models that are almost equally capable of reproducing the observed magnitude of the UV upturn in giant ellipticals (i.e. the ratio between the flux at 1500 Å and that of the Johnson $`V`$ band). The magnitudes have been defined as $`m(\lambda )=2.5`$log $`<f(\lambda )>`$ where $`<f(\lambda )>`$ is the mean flux in the bandpass. The $`<f(1500)>`$ and $`<f(V)>`$ are defined by averaging the flux within the ranges 1,250 – 1,850 Å and 5,055 – 5,945 Å (Allen (1976)), respectively. These magnitudes have been normalized to make Vega’s magnitudes and colors $`V=0.03`$, $`BV=0.01`$, $`VR=0.009`$, and $`VI=0.005`$, following Bessell (1990). The UV magnitude at 1,500 Å, $`m(1500)`$, has been normalized so as to our simplified $`V`$ magnitude becomes identical to the Bessell’s $`V`$ magnitude. As a result, one magnitude difference between $`m(1500)`$ and $`V`$ simply means about a 2.5 times difference in the mean flux in these bandpasses.

Figs. 3 – 6 provide visual descriptions of these models. In each figure, the top panel shows the observed spectrum of one of the UV-strong galaxies, NGC 4552, and a model of a particular age that matches the observed spectrum. NGC 4552 is the only galaxy whose entire spectrum was available at the time of this study. Besides, we have chosen it because we wanted to estimate the age of one of the oldest giant ellipticals in order to discuss cosmological implications, as our models suggest that the stronger the UV flux, the older the galaxy<sup>4</sup><sup>4</sup>4This excludes galaxies with recent star formation.. Sources of the composite spectrum of NGC 4552 are (1) $``$ 1800 Å: Hopkins ultraviolet Telescope spectrum of NGC 4552 (Brown et al. (1995)), (2) 1800 – 3300 Å: mean $`IUE`$ spectrum of UV-strong galaxies (Burstein et al. (1988)), (3) 3300 – 3700 Å: UV-strong galaxy NGC 4649 (Arimoto (1996)), and (4) $``$ 3700 Å: average of Bica’s E1 group galaxies (Bica (1988)). The middle panel shows the light contribution from the stars in various evolutionary stages, and the bottom panel shows the light contribution from different metallicity groups of stars. We summarize the results of our analysis of these models briefly.

Model A: This is the only model in Table 3 whose dominant UV sources are metal-poor HB stars in the central helium burning phase. We define the central helium burning phase as a part of the core helium burning phase that extends from the zero age HB to the point where helium is almost exhausted in the stellar center ($`Y_c=0.01`$), following Yi et al. (1997b, see their Fig. 13 for illustration). Similarly, the shell helium burning phase covers the rest of the core helium burning phase which is more evolved and generally short-lived but much more luminous than the central helium burning phase. Input parameters have been chosen to maximize UV light production from metal-poor stars for the purpose of demonstrating the conditions under which metal-poor stars become the major UV sources. These parameters are all acceptable under current observational constraints. For example, we have used the Kodama-“simple” metallicity distribution model which predicts more than twice as many metal-poor stars as his infall model does. In addition, we have adopted a slightly smaller value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$($`=2.0`$) than generally accepted ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$$`2.5`$, Peimbert ). Under this configuration, nearby UV-strong giant ellipticals, such as NGC 4552, need to be as old as 15.4 Gyr, 28% older than old Galactic globular clusters, in order to match the observed strength of the UV upturn (see also Park & Lee 1997).

Although $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$= 2.5 (Peimbert (1995)) has been popular in various studies (e.g., Bressan et al. (1994)), its true value is still somewhat uncertain: some studies suggest values as high as 3 – 6 (Lequeux et al. (1979); Maeder (1992); Pagel et al. (1992)) while others suggest values as low as 2.0 (Izotov, Thuan, & Lipovetsky 1997)<sup>5</sup><sup>5</sup>5Izotov et al. (1997)’s smaller estimate of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$does not necessarily mean a smaller UV light production of metal-rich stars, however, because it is a result of a larger primordial helium abundance ($`Y_P`$ = 0.245) rather than that of a smaller present epoch helium abundance. In fact, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$= 2 with $`Y_P=0.245`$ suggests $`Y=0.325`$ for $`Z=0.04`$ which is close to the helium abundance ($`Y=0.33`$) of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$= 3 with $`Y_P=0.23`$. Since it is $`Y`$, not $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$, that causes metal-rich populations to be UV bright, their discovery does not change the conclusion from our analysis.. Guenther and Demarque (1997), through their stellar evolution study, recently suggested that the estimated initial chemical composition of the Sun is ($`Y`$, $`Z`$) = (0.2741, 0.020), which would then suggest $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$$``$ 2.2 when the primordial composition is assumed to be ($`Y`$, $`Z`$) = (0.23, 0.00).

Model B: This model is a twin of Model A. The only difference is that it is based on the Kodama-“infall” model. Now, the model galaxy has many fewer metal-poor stars than the “simple” model, so at the same age (15.4 Gyr), it does not have enough UV light to match the data. However, it quickly develops additional hot HB stars in its metal-rich populations and finally matches the data at 15.9 Gyr. As one might notice here, the pace of developing hot stars is much faster in metal-rich populations. We will scrutinize this effect in §4.1. In this model, metal-poor stars still account for a substantial 40% of the total UV light. It is interesting that the predicted nature of the UV sources is so sensitive to the adopted metallicity distribution.

Model C: This model has been constructed with the conventional values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$($`=2.5`$) and $`\eta =0.7`$. We have adopted the “infall” model in order to allow a larger fraction of metal-rich stars so that the model matches the data somewhat better in the near UV. The main UV light emitters are highly metal-rich ($`>`$ $`Z_{}`$) evolved HB stars, as the UV-bright core-helium burning phase becomes more significant with increasing $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$. According to this model, nearby giant ellipticals that show prominent UV fluxes are nearly as old as old Galactic globular clusters (10.7 Gyr) but not necessarily older.

This may have a significant implication for the estimation of the true $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$. A larger value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$is one of the two main driving forces that make metal-rich stars the dominant UV sources in these models (the other being the larger mass loss when Reimers’ formula with a fixed $`\eta `$ is used \[Yi et al. 1998\]). If the true value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$for metal-rich ($`>`$ $`Z_{}`$) stars is substantially smaller than 2.5, our EPS models with a choice of the most natural parameters would advocate metal-poor HB stars as the dominant UV sources. Conversely, if studies prove that the dominant UV sources are metal-poor, one may regard it as an indirect evidence for a small $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$ in metal-rich ($`>`$ $`Z_{}`$) stars in giant elliptical galaxies.

Model D: This model is based on the variable-$`\eta `$ hypothesis. As we allow a larger value of $`\eta `$ for a more metal-rich population, it obviously generates a larger UV flux at a given age. For this reason, this model matches the data at a very small age (7.6 Gyr). According to this model, even the oldest giant ellipticals in the present epoch are only 60 – 70% as old as old Galactic globular clusters. This prediction may be in conflict with some recent observations (e.g. Bower, Lucey, & Ellis 1992; Spinrad et al. 1997; Kodama & Arimoto 1997).

All these models have been selected by eye fitting. These models are less than perfect in matching the data, especially in the near UV and in the infrared. However, we should remind ourselves that our models are based on theoretical spectral libraries (mainly, Kurucz 1992) which are known to have some limitations in the UV and in the infrared (e.g. Morossi et al. 1993; Bessell, Castelli, & Plez 1998; Heap et al. 1998). Additional limitations come from our poor understanding of the temperature distribution of HB stars in Galactic globular clusters. For example, such details as the spectral slope in the UV flux are affected by possible additional sources of mass loss that may take place on the HB or during binary evolution, neither of which are taken into account in this study. Such processes would cause a more strongly bimodal temperature distribution of HB stars than our simple, single-Gaussian model predicts, causing the far-UV spectrum to be steeper and the near-UV spectrum to be lower, both of which are desired for a better matching to the observed spectrum.

Keeping all these uncertainties in mind, we conclude that all models in Table 3 are nearly equally capable of matching the spectrum of NGC 4552. Multiple solutions exist to the UV upturn phenomenon, and we cannot determine the mean metallicity of the UV sources in giant ellipticals by matching the present epoch spectrum alone. However, we will show in the next sections that the large difference in the age of ellipticals predicted by different models allows us to answer this question if we use the evolution of UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratios as functions of redshift as a new tool.

## 4 Photometric Evolution of the UV Upturn

### 4.1 The UV Upturn as a Function of Time

Hot HB stars take long to develop, and, for this reason, older galaxies show stronger UV fluxes no matter what the true mean metallicity of the dominant UV sources is. This effect is shown in Fig. 7 where the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratios are shown as functions of age for the models described in §3. Once stars are older than a few Gyr, the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio increases monotonically with time and thus can be used as an age indicator.

All models have qualitatively the same trend in the manner of developing a strong UV flux. At small ages ($``$ 5 Gyr), the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio decreases with time because MS stars, then the dominant UV sources, get cooler with time. Thereafter, the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio steadily increases with time, first as a larger number of MS stars develop into PAGB stars, and next as hot HB stars slowly but gradually develop. This “onset of the UV upturn” has been pointed out earlier (Bressan et al. (1994); Tantalo et al. (1996); Yi et al. (1998)).

During the first few Gyr of this rise, PAGB stars dominate the UV spectrum, but the total UV flux is still very low. Hot HB stars gradually take over, however, as a galaxy gets older and develops low-mass HB stars. The exact timing of the transition between these two stages (“the PAGB epoch” and “the HB epoch”) depends on metallicity, as pointed out by Yi et al. (1998). Despite the similarity in the trends of UV flux development, different models infer ages of giant ellipticals that are different by a factor of two (between 8 and 16 Gyr)!

Note that the pace of the UV upturn development is faster in Models C and D which predict relatively smaller ages for giant ellipticals than the others. For example, $`m(1500)V`$ rises from 4.0 to 2.0 (more than 6 times in linear scale) in less than 2 Gyrs in Models C and D, whereas it takes nearly 8 Gyrs (a half of their ages) in older models. This is mainly because the production (or appearance) of an appreciable number of hot HB stars is much more abrupt in metal-rich populations. This effect can be understood more directly by looking at the HB evolutionary tracks, as illustrated in Fig. 8. In the metal-poor case (top panel of Fig. 8), HB stars gradually become hotter as their masses become smaller, while it is much more abrupt in the metal-rich case. Since their masses become smaller monotonically as the population becomes older, HB stars become hotter smoothly as the population ages: the “age-HB temperature relation”. However, the “age-HB temperature relation” is much more abrupt in the metal-rich case (bottom panel), mainly because of the large opacity effects. That is, until HB stars become very light in mass the large opacity effects in metal-rich stars dominate the age effect and prevent them from becoming hot. This difference in the pace of the UV upturn development can be detected if we obtain UV-to-visual colors as functions of redshift, as described in the following section.

### 4.2 The UV Upturn as a Function of Redshift

The importance of the UV spectral evolution in elliptical galaxies to cosmology has been addressed by various authors, but most notably by Guiderdoni & Rocca-Volmerange (1987). In contrast to the longer wavelength regions, the signature and amount of the spectral evolution can be readily found in the UV even at large ages.

Fig. 9 displays the evolution models of the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio as a function of lookback time, another way of viewing Fig. 7. While all four models reproduce the present observed flux ratio successfully, their evolutionary paths are quite different. Note in this diagram that we do not have to look too far in the past to select the most likely model: only a few Gyr of lookback time is enough.

We can construct models in totally observable quantities. Fig. 10 displays the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio as a function of redshift for the models described in §3. The lookback time and luminosity distance have been computed using the expressions shown in Carroll, Press, & Turner (1992). First, we have adopted $`H_0`$$`=64`$ from Riess, Press, & Kirshner (1996), and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.15`$ from (Trimble 1987) in this paper. Then, in order to accommodate the quite old models (Models A & B), we have arbitrarily chosen a large value of the cosmological constant ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ = 0.85). The estimated ages of UV-strong nearby giant ellipticals are listed in Table 3. To present these models all under the same particular set of parameters, different values of the epoch of galaxy formation $`z_{for}`$ have been used for different models, as shown in Fig. 10. We do not intend to advocate any of these adopted cosmological parameters in this paper, as they have been chosen only for illustrative purposes.

The second panel in Fig. 10 shows $`m(1500)`$ as a function of redshift. All models in Fig. 10 are in observed magnitudes, neither redshift-corrected nor evolution-corrected. The Models A and B that predict larger ages for nearby giant ellipticals are brighter than the others by 1 – 2 magnitudes in the range of $`z=0.1`$ – 0.4, because their UV flux has been relatively slowly increasing with time to reach the current level, as shown in Figs. 7 & 9. This effect is much more obvious in the color vs redshift frame (bottom panel in Fig. 10). The older models, A and B, exhibit a nearly steady increase in the flux ratio throughout a wide range of redshift, whereas younger models, C and D, show a recent dramatic increase in the flux ratio. We believe that such a large difference in color (about 1 – 2 magnitudes at $`z`$ = 0.1 – 0.4) between different models should be readily detectable, using present and upcoming UV space probes, such as $`STIS`$ on the Hubble Space Telescope and GALEX (Martin et al. 1998).

Such a large difference in $`m(1500)V`$ between “young” (relative to the Milky Way) and “old” galaxy solutions is not sensitive to the adopted cosmology. For instance, Fig. 11 shows Models A and C as two representative cases. Cosmological parameters have again been chosen for demonstration purpose only. We have chosen $`z_{for}=4.3`$ so that Model A not only represents an “old” solution to the UV upturn problem but also satisfies a solid prediction of the Inflation model ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{total}\mathrm{\Omega }_0+\mathrm{\Lambda }_0=1`$, Guth ). Remember that conventional inflation models predict a flat ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0+\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ = 1) universe. Model A in Fig. 11 is identical to Model A in Fig. 10. However, Model C differs from the Model C in Fig. 10 in terms of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ and of $`z_{for}`$. Despite the change in cosmology, we expect to find the (qualitatively) same difference between Model A and Model C. Thus, the indications of the age of old giant ellipticals can be found through this technique regardless of the details in cosmology.

Once the age is determined, we can constrain a cosmological parameter, provided that other parameters can be independently constrained, because the age of the oldest population is uniquely determined by only a few parameters ($`H_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$, $`z_{for}`$). As shown in Fig. 11, the data that match Model A (“old” model) would definitely support a substantially large value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ and $`z_{for}`$ (e.g., $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_00.7`$ for $`z_{for}\mathrm{}`$). Otherwise, it would not be possible for a universe of $`H_0`$= 64 and of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ = 0.15 to contain such an old galaxy in the first place. This may appear radical. For instance, through graviational lensing studies, Kochanek (1996) found $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_00.66`$ at 95% confidence in flat cosmologies. It is, however, interesting to note that some of the recent supernova observations have indicated similarly large values of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ (e.g., Riess et al. 1998). Younger models (Models C & D), on the contrary, would not be in conflict with a negligible-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ universe. Such conclusions are obviously subject to uncertainties in the adopted values of $`H_0`$and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$.

## 5 Summary and Conclusions

Two population synthesis groups that have had different views regarding the origin of the UV upturn have here worked together to reduce some sources of uncertainties in modeling and analysis. We believe that our new models in this study are more reliable than our previous ones. Despite such efforts, whether the dominant UV sources are metal-poor or metal-rich, the most outstanding question regarding the origin of the UV upturn, cannot be answered directly using the spectra of present epoch galaxies alone. This is mainly because several input parameters (e.g. $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$, $`\eta `$, and the metallicity distribution inside galaxies) affect the UV flux in degenerate manners, while they need to be constrained better. However, we can choose a more likely model empirically.

Different models predict different evolutionary paces of the UV flux development. When the mass loss is assumed to follow the empirical formula of Reimers (1975) with a fixed efficiency, the models with a relatively larger value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$($`=2.5`$) suggest that the dominant UV source in ellipticals are metal-rich and giant ellipticals are younger than or similar in age to old Galactic globular clusters. They show a steep decline in $`m(1500)V`$ flux ratio with increasing redshift in the range of $`z=`$ 0.0 – 0.2. If a relatively smaller value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`Z`$($`=2.0`$) is used, models predict that metal-poor stars are at least as important as metal-rich stars as UV sources. Giant ellipticals are predicted to be 30% older than the Milky Way in this scenario. When the mass loss efficiency is assumed to correlate positively with metallicity (the variable-$`\eta `$ hypothesis), the UV sources in giant ellipticals are suggested to be dominantly metal-rich. Since metal-rich populations generally develop hot HB stars much more abruptly than metal-poor populations, these models predict a rapid decline in the UV-to-$`V`$ flux ratio with increasing redshift. In this scenario, nearby giant ellipticals are only 60 – 70% as old as the Milky Way.

The difference in $`m(1500)V`$ between these models appear to be large enough for detection using current and upcoming space facilities, such as $`STIS`$ on the $`HST`$ and $`GALEX`$. This empirical fitting will not only help us select a more likely solution over others but also provide an important clue to the mean age of giant elliptical galaxies. This applicability of the UV upturn as an independent age indicator is extraordinary because no other obvious photometrically-selected age indicators exist for “old populations” yet. We have also shown that such model predictions are quite independent of cosmology.

It is important to determine the ages of giant ellipticals because they are often suspected to be the oldest populations in the universe and the ages of the oldest populations constrain cosmology. We have demonstrated that the age-sensitivity of the UV upturn may effectively constrain one of a set of cosmological parameters that predict a unique age for the present epoch galaxies. If we use recent popular measurements of $`H_0`$($`=64`$) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ ($`=0.15`$), the older, metal-poor models unavoidably support a universe with a large value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ ($`0.85`$ for $`z_{for}=4.3`$ or $`0.63`$ for $`z_{for}=\mathrm{}`$), whereas the younger, metal-rich models would have no conflict with a universe with a negligibly small value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$.

A caveat in this proposed observational test is a possible contamination from episodic star formation in giant Es at $`z=0`$ – 1.

We are grateful to Taddy Kodama for providing his metallicity distribution models. We also would like to thank Richard Larson and Sydney Barnes for constructive comments. This work was supported by the Creative Research Initiative Program of the Korean Ministry of Science & Technology (Y.-W.L., S.Y.). Part of this work was performed while S.Y. held a National Research Council-(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) Research Associateship. J.-H.P thanks Korea Science and Engineering Foundation for Postdoctoral Fellowship and Arthur Davidsen for supporting his stay in Center for Astrophysical Science, the Johns Hopkins University.