Sizes of Stellar Subsystems of Disk Galaxies and the Metallicities of Red Giants

Abstract

Stellar photometry of 53 low-mass spiral and irregular galaxies has been carried out using archival frames obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. Young and old stars (blue supergiants and red giants) are distinguished on the resulting Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams, and the spatial sizes of the subsystems formed by these stars are determined. A correlation is found between the metallicities of red giants and the difference between the linear sizes of stellar systems of different ages. This dependence can be explained if the sizes of stellar subsystems expand over the lifetimes of galaxies, as well as the influence of the relationship between the mass of a galaxy and the metallicity of its stars.