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New Wolf-Rayet Galaxies with Detection of WC Stars

J. H. Huang, Q. S. Gu, L. Ji, W. D. Li, J. Y. Wei, W. Zheng

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/9809188

Abstract

We report the discovery of two new Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxies: Mrk~1039, and F08208+2816. Two broad WR bumps at 5808Å~ and 4650Å~ indicate the presence of WCE and WNL star population in all two sources. We also confirm the presenceof WR features in Mrk~35, previously detected in a different position. The observed equivalent width of the WR bump at 4650Å~ and the derived number ratios of WR/(WR+O) imply that star formation in these sources takes place inshort burst duration. Comparisons with the recent models of WR populations in young starbursts with the observed EW()/EW()/EW(WRbump) and their relative intensitie provide an indication that the stellar initial mass function in some WR galaxies might not be Salpeter-like. It is interesting to find that the luminous IRAS source, F08208+2816, has little dust reddening, probably because of the existence of a powerful superwind. By comparisons with other starbursts observed with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, F08208+2816 as a merging system renders a chance to study the contribution from young starbursts to the UV background radiation in universe.

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