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# The Evolutionary Status of Isolated Dwarf Irregular Galaxies II. Star Formation Histories and Gas Depletion

## 1 Introduction

The dwarf irregular class contains galaxies with widely disparate physical properties; dwarf irregulars are usually classified as such based on appearance (irregular morphology) and an intrinsic low luminosity, but their luminosities span at least 3 orders of magnitude ($``$ 106 – 109 L), and current star formation rates span at least 4 orders of magnitude ($``$ 0.001 – 1. M yr-1). The wide range of current star formation rates is particularly puzzling: why do some dwarf galaxies appear to have extremely high current star formation rates, relative to their total mass, while others do not? Is a “starburst” phase common to all dwarf galaxies, so that dwarfs which currently have lower star formation rates are in a period of quiescence before (or after) an episode of vigorous star formation? In other words, is the tendency to burst an intrinsic property of the dwarf irregular class, or a phenomenon associated with only a subset of the class? If the former, then the disparate observed properties may be merely an artifact of detecting galaxies at different phases in a common star formation history, while the latter would suggest that the rarer starbursting dwarf galaxies are not representative of the class. In this paper, the results of UBV imaging, H$`\alpha `$ imaging, and neutral hydrogen measurements are used to investigate the star formation histories of a sample of isolated dwarf irregular galaxies which span a range of optical sizes, surface brightnesses, and current star formation rates, in order to address the question of whether the majority of normal dwarf irregular galaxies have similar star formation histories, and to investigate whether these “typical” dwarf galaxies are related to the class of starbursting dwarfs.

The use of global optical colors as a tracer of star formation history is a well developed subject (e.g., Tinsley, 1980). Recent improvements in galaxy evolution models have led to the ability to model composite stellar populations with a variety of star formation histories, stellar metallicities, and initial mass functions (e.g., Leitherer et al., 1996). Despite these advances, the results of galaxy evolution models for dwarf irregular galaxies are not significantly different than those first obtained 30 years ago. Three conceptually different schematic star formation histories are able to reproduce the observed optical colors of dwarf irregular galaxies: (1) constant star formation rates for approximately a Hubble time (e.g., Gallagher, Hunter, & Tutukov, 1984; Hunter & Gallagher, 1986); (2) recent elevated star formation rates superposed on an older stellar population (e.g., Searle et al., 1973; Huchra, 1977) and (3) recent onset of star formation activity (e.g., Searle & Sargent, 1972). The latter is similar to model (2), but has no underlying old stellar component; both (2) and (3) can be summarized as “burst” models, where the current star formation rate is significantly higher than the average past star formation rate. As one would expect for galaxies which are generally the bluest of the normal gas–rich galaxies, all of these models indicate that the dominant stellar populations in dwarf irregular galaxies are “young,” i.e., formed within the last Gyr or so. The underlying difference between these models is whether the current star formation activity is typical of the past star formation activity (constant star formation rate model), or if the current star formation rate is elevated over the past rate (burst model). Thus, to determine which of these models best fits the “typical” dwarf irregular galaxy, it is necessary to have additional information about the evolutionary status, such as the current star formation rate, gas mass fraction, and stellar and gaseous metallicities.

Systematic surveys of the current star formation activity in dwarf irregular galaxies have shown that galaxies selected on the basis of extreme blue colors (i.e., the blue compact dwarf galaxies) have unusually high current star formation rates, and thus are best described by bursting models (e.g., Searle & Sargent, 1972; Marlowe et al., 1997; Almoznino & Brosch, 1998). In contrast, H$`\alpha `$ imaging of large samples of dwarf galaxies indicates most dwarf irregular galaxies have extremely low star formation rates, with only a few HII regions distributed sparsely across the optical disk (e.g., Strobel, Hodge, & Kennicutt, 1991; Hunter et al., 1993; Miller & Hodge, 1994; Miller, 1996; Heller, Almoznino, & Brosch, 1999; Roye & Hunter, 2000). However, the issue of whether these low star formation rates are representative of the typical star formation activity in these galaxies remains, since low star formation rates are also expected during the quiescent phase of an episodic starburst model.

On the theoretical side, early models of star formation activity in dwarf irregular galaxies indicated that small disks would be unstable to star formation activity. In particular, episodic bursts of star formation appeared to arise naturally from stochastic self–propagating star formation (SSPSF) models (Gerola et al., 1980). However, recent work on the gas distribution in normal and low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies indicates that the gas density is well below the threshold for star formation across the entire stellar disk, suggesting that it is difficult to initiate a global burst of star formation, even in intrinsically small galaxies (Hunter & Plummer, 1996; van Zee et al., 1997c; Hunter, Elmegreen & Baker, 1998). Thus, a more accurate representation of the star formation process in dwarf galaxies may be that of random percolation of star formation activity across the stellar disk. This picture is fundamentally different than classic SSPSF since the star formation activity does not propagate from one cell to another; rather, star formation occurs only in a few localized regions where the local gas density is sufficient to permit molecular cloud formation and subsequent star formation. The onset of star formation activity in this type of model is still a stochastic process, but the star formation activity across the galaxy is expected to be more quiescent since it is unlikely that the entire disk will have sufficient gas density to permit a sudden starburst.

One additional key factor is that these two models for star formation activity in dwarf galaxies predict different radial distributions for the composite stellar populations. Not only are the global star formation histories different (i.e., episodic starbursts vs. quasi–continuous star formation activity), but the local star formation histories will be different as well. In a starburst model, a region of the stellar disk “turns on” simultaneously with a very high rate of star formation while the remainder of the disk (usually the outskirts) remains quiescent. This centralized star formation activity will result in a radial color gradient in starbursting systems (as observed by e.g., Papaderos et al., 1996b; Marlowe et al., 1997, 1999; Doublier et al., 1997, 1999). In contrast, a low level of star formation activity which percolates across the disk in a random manner will result in minor local color variations, but no large scale color gradient, provided that there is no favored location within the disk. Thus, one way to distinguish between a starburst model and a percolating star formation model is to investigate the spatial distributions of the composite stellar populations in dwarf galaxies.

Ideally, star formation histories should be derived directly from the distribution of resolved stars on a color–magnitude diagram (CMD), where the number of stars in each evolutionary phase can be used to infer the past star formation history (e.g., Tosi et al., 1991; Greggio et al., 1993; Marconi et al., 1995; Hunter & Thronson, 1995; Tolstoy, 1996; Dohm–Palmer et al., 1997, 1998; Lynds et al., 1998; Gallagher et al., 1998; Tolstoy et al., 1998; Greggio et al., 1998; Schulte–Ladbeck et al., 1999). However, most dwarf galaxies are too distant to make such an analysis feasible, even with the high spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. Thus, the present study relies on the integrated optical (UBV) colors in order to derive the star formation histories of a large sample of dwarf galaxies. The observations and data reduction of the sample are described in van Zee (2000, hereafter Paper I). As described in Paper I, the sample was selected to include isolated galaxies in order to minimize the possible effects of recent interactions on the star formation histories.

This paper is organized as follows. A brief summary of the sample selection and data acquisition and reduction is presented in Section 2 (see Paper I for full details). The observed colors are interpreted in the context of composite stellar populations in Section 3. Correlations between the current star formation rate and global parameters, such as gas mass fraction, are discussed in Section 4. Section 5 contains a brief summary of the conclusions.

## 2 Observations

The observations and data reduction for the UBV and H$`\alpha `$ images were discussed in Paper I. A brief summary of the sample selection and observational procedures are presented in this section.

### 2.1 Sample Selection

The UBV imaging sample was drawn primarily from the Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies (Nilson, 1973, UGC). All of the selected galaxies were classified as late–type spirals or irregular, with absolute magnitudes fainter than –18.0, and with heliocentric velocities less than 3000 km s-1. Galaxies with known neighbors within 30′ and 500 km s-1 were excluded (nearer neighbors have subsequently been identified for some of the objects; see Paper I for more details). Projected distances between the target galaxies and their nearest known neighbor are on the order of 100 – 200 kpc, which translates into a crossing time of approximately 1 Gyr. Furthermore, the nearest known neighbor is not usually an extremely luminous system; most often, the neighboring system is another low luminosity galaxy. Thus, the selection criteria result in a sample which contains low luminosity systems which are unlikely to have had significant interactions within the last several Gyr.

### 2.2 Optical Imaging

Optical images of the isolated dwarf galaxy sample were obtained with the Kitt Peak 0.9m telescope during 1996–1999. Full details of the observations and data reduction are presented in Paper I. Briefly, photometric images were obtained of 48 late–type galaxies in U, B, and V; H$`\alpha `$ images were obtained for 51 galaxies. The optical images were reduced following standard procedures. After sky subtraction and masking of the foreground stars, the apparent magnitudes and optical colors were measured.

The observed properties of the galaxies in the UBV imaging sample are tabulated in Table The Evolutionary Status of Isolated Dwarf Irregular Galaxies  II. Star Formation Histories and Gas Depletion. This table contains: (1) UGC number; (2) an alternate name for the system; (3) morphological type from the RC3; (4) inclination angle as derived from the optical axial ratios at the lowest surface brightness level detected in the V–band images, assuming $`q_0`$ = 0.2; (5) observed apparent B magnitude, corrected for Galactic extinction; (6) observed B V color within a 25 mag arcsec-2 aperture, corrected for Galactic extinction; (7) observed U B color within the same aperture, corrected for Galactic extinction; (8) integrated HI flux density; (9) heliocentric velocity; (10) width of the HI line profile, measured at 20% of the peak; (11) derived MH/LB; and (12) source of the tabulated HI data. The Galactic extinction correction was obtained from Schlegel et al. (1998), and is based on the dust distribution of the Milky Way. Since the internal extinction correction is uncertain for low metallicity galaxies, no correction was applied. The HI data were compiled from a variety of sources (Fisher & Tully, 1981; Tifft & Cocke, 1988; Schneider et al., 1990, 1992; Giovanelli & Haynes, 1993; Giovanelli et al., 1997; van Zee et al., 1997d; Haynes et al., 1998); data from recent observations and small telescopes (i.e., large beams) were favored in the final tabulation. In the few cases where $`W_{20}`$ was not included in the published paper, the original HI data were obtained, and the width was remeasured at $`W_{20}`$.

Distances to most of the galaxies in this sample are uncertain. A few of the galaxies are near enough that distances have been measured directly: UGC 685 – Hopp (1999); UGCA 292 – Makarova et al. (1998); UGC 9128 – Aparicio et al. (2000); DDO 210 – Lee et al. (1999); UGC 12613 – Gallagher et al. (1998). For the remainder, the adopted distance was calculated from the HI recessional velocity, assuming a Hubble constant of 75 km s-1 Mpc-1 and using a nonlinear Virgocentric infall model based on the outline of Schechter (1980).

Distance dependent parameters are tabulated in Table The Evolutionary Status of Isolated Dwarf Irregular Galaxies  II. Star Formation Histories and Gas Depletion. This table contains: (1) UGC number or other primary designation; (2) adopted distance; (3) absolute magnitude; (4) extrapolated central surface brightness for an exponential disk, corrected for Galactic extinction and inclination effects; (5) scale length of the exponential disk; (6) gradient in the B V color; (7) gradient in the U B color; (8) logarithm of the total HI mass; (9) current star formation rate; (10) the average past star formation rate; and (11) the gas depletion time scale. The current star formation rate was calculated from the observed H$`\alpha `$ luminosity, using the conversion factor from Kennicutt (1998):

$$SFR=7.9\times 10^{42}L(H\alpha )$$
(1)
where $`SFR`$ is the current star formation rate in solar masses per year and $`L(H\alpha )`$ is the H$`\alpha `$ luminosity in erg s-1. The above conversion factor assumes a Salpeter (1955) initial mass function (IMF) and solar abundances, and is a slight ($``$12%) increase in the SFR relative to the SFR conversion factor of Hunter & Gallagher (1986). The average past star formation rate was derived from the observed luminosity and the assumption that the galaxy has been forming stars for 13 Gyr; a complete description of the calculation of the average past star formation rate is presented in Section 3.4. The gas depletion time scale provides an indication of how long star formation can continue at the present rate before exhausting the fuel supply, and was calculated by taking the total mass of hydrogen and dividing by the current star formation rate.

### 2.3 Optical Spectroscopy of UGC 5205

Low resolution optical spectra of UGC 5205 were obtained at the Palomar 5m telescope222Observations at the Palomar Observatory were made as part of a continuing cooperative agreement between Cornell University and the California Institute of Technology. during the night of 1997 January 10. The observations were undertaken in a manner similar to those described in van Zee et al. (1998). Two 1200 sec exposures were obtained with the long slit centered on UGC 5205 and aligned along the parallactic angle (0°); the slit was 120″ in length, and a 2″ aperture was selected. The spectra were acquired with matched gratings on the blue and red sides of the Double Spectrograph, providing an effective resolution of 9.2 Å (2.19 Å/pix) for the blue camera and 7.8 Å (2.46 Å/pix) for the red camera. The final combined spectra provided complete spectral coverage from 3600–7600 Å. The night was non–photometric, but relative flux calibration was obtained by observations of spectrophotometric standard stars (Massey et al., 1988).

## 3 Star Formation Histories

The results of the UBV and H$`\alpha `$ imaging observations are used in this Section to derive approximate star formation histories. The global colors of the isolated dI sample are presented in Section 3.1. The stellar population models are described in Section 3.2. The global colors of the isolated dI sample and a comparison sample of starbursting dwarf galaxies are used to derive average star formation histories in Section 3.3. Finally, the star formation histories based on the global colors are checked for consistency with current and past star formation rates in Section 3.4.

### 3.1 Global Colors

The analysis presented in the subsequent sections is based primarily on the observed global colors. As mentioned in the Introduction, one of the fundamental differences between the two different models of star formation activity in dwarf galaxies is the possibility that starbursting dwarf galaxies will have substantial color gradients. Since a global color will only measure the luminosity

weighted average of the dominant stellar population, any system with a substantial color gradient will be misrepresented by a global color.

The observed color gradients for the isolated dI galaxies are shown in Figure 3.1. The top panel shows the B V color gradient in terms of exponential scale length (mag $`\alpha ^1`$). Interestingly, if the B V and U B color gradients are shown in terms of a physical linear scale (mag kpc-1; Figure 3.1b,c), a handful of galaxies separate from the general trends. These galaxies are slightly redder in their outskirts, and, as a class, tend to have very short scale lengths for their luminosity. Given their small sizes and color gradients, these “compact dIs” may be related to the starbursting dwarf galaxies. Nonetheless, the net differences between the global colors and the colors for the inner and outer regions are minor since these galaxies are quite small; for example, assuming that the galaxian light has been traced to 1.5 $`\alpha `$ (approximately 26.5 mag arcsec-2 for this sample of galaxies), this corresponds to only $``$ 0.15 mag color difference between the inner to outer regions of the disk for the most extreme cases. Thus, it appears that the radial color gradients are negligible for the majority of galaxies in this sample.

The extinction corrected global colors of the isolated dwarf irregular galaxy sample are shown in Figure 3.1; the median colors for the sample are B V = 0.42 $`\pm _{0.05}^{0.04}`$ and U B = –0.22 $`\pm _{0.07}^{0.04}`$. Also shown on Figure 3.1 are the optical colors for two fiducial galaxies: the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) (Hardy, 1978) and HI 1225+01 (Salzer et al., 1991). The locations of these two galaxies on the UBV color–color diagram illustrate the extreme range of colors found in dwarf irregular galaxies. The LMC is slightly more luminous than the class of object considered here, but, more importantly perhaps, its star formation history has almost certainly been influenced by interactions with

its near neighbor, the Milky Way. Detailed color–magnitude diagrams indicate that the star formation history of the LMC was somewhat “bursty” in nature \[e.g., van den Bergh (1991); Girardi et al. (1995), but see also Holtzman et al. (1999)\]. The slightly redder colors of the LMC are naturally explained if the LMC is in a predominately quiescent phase after a major episode of star formation. At the other extreme, HI 1225+01 has much bluer colors than the typical dwarf irregular galaxy, and may be an example of a galaxy dominated by a young stellar population. While still controversial, it has been suggested that HI 1225+01 may be an example of a galaxy at the present epoch forming stars for the first time (Salzer et al., 1991).

Despite the large differences in colors between these two fiducial dwarf irregular galaxies, one remarkable aspect of the data shown in Figure 3.1 is that the majority of the isolated dwarf irregular galaxies have similar UBV colors. In fact, the entire sample occupies only a small locus in the UBV color–color diagram. Based on this remarkably small range of optical colors, it appears that the majority of isolated dwarf irregular galaxies have had similar star formation histories, with little dependence on total luminosity or surface brightness.

### 3.2 Composite Stellar Population Models

The goal of galaxy evolution modeling is to use the observed properties of the present composite stellar population to infer how the star formation rate varied with time. The models quickly become degenerate since the observed colors provide only a luminosity weighted measure of the integrated light of the composite stellar populations. In particular, old (faint) stellar populations can be over shadowed by young (luminous) stellar populations; in addition, variations in either the initial mass function (IMF) or stellar metallicity can mimic changes in the star formation rate. Thus, in practice, it is necessary to determine not only the star formation history (SFH), but also how both the IMF and metallicity of the stellar population changed with time. Given these degeneracies, a plethora of galaxy evolution models can be found to fit any combination of colors, particularly if only a few bandpasses are observed. However, by restricting the possible star formation histories to simple variations of the star formation rate (an SFR which changes smoothly with time, or one with well defined starbursts, for example), it is possible to derive reasonable SFH models for galaxies with a wide range of colors (e.g., Larson & Tinsley, 1978).

The galaxy evolution code of Bruzual & Charlot (1996) (BC96, hereafter) was used to investigate color evolution tracks for a variety of possible star formation histories and stellar metallicities. The BC96 galaxy evolution code is an improved version of the composite stellar population models originally described in Bruzual & Charlot (1993). As in Bruzual & Charlot (1993), the mono–metallicity composite stellar populations are built through the synthesis of stellar evolutionary tracks (e.g., Lejeune et al., 1997). The version of the galaxy evolution code run here includes options for sub– and super–solar metallicity stellar populations, in addition to allowing the user to vary the star formation history and the initial mass function. However, the derived evolutionary tracks are not fully self–consistent, since neither the stellar metallicity nor the IMF are permitted to vary as a function of time. For simplicity, a Salpeter (1955) IMF was adopted for all of the models considered here; a top– or bottom–heavy IMF will result in minor variations in the evolutionary tracks, but relative conclusions should be robust with regard to the choice of IMF. On the other hand, the lack of a self–consistent treatment of the chemical enrichment of subsequent stellar populations could have a severe impact on the derived star formation histories because of the well known age–metallicity degeneracy. Mono–metallicity models with similar star formation histories were used to explore the possible impact of the age–metallicity degeneracy on the derived stellar population ages (Figure 3.2). Each of the four panels in Figure 3.2 represent possible star formation histories; the first three are for exponentially decreasing star formation rates \[$`\mathrm{\Psi }(t)=\tau ^1\mathrm{exp}(t/\tau )`$; abbreviated as “tau models”, hereafter\] and the last is for a constant star formation rate. In the small $`\tau `$ models ($`\tau `$ = 1 or 5), the age–metallicity degeneracy is clearly evident in the overlapping age and metallicity contours for red systems. However, for blue objects (galaxies with B V$`<`$ 0.5), the age–metallicity degeneracy is not as severe a problem; the metallicity induced variations in the evolutionary tracks primarily effect the U–B colors in these models, and have a small amplitude. Since the observed colors of the isolated dI sample are all quite blue (B V$`<`$ 0.5), the derived composite stellar population models should provide reasonably accurate ages for the dominant stellar populations.

The derived galaxy evolution models included those for

a single short starburst (10 Myr), a constant star formation rate, and several variations of exponentially decreasing star formation rates. At minimum, all star formation history models were run for both solar and 1/5 of solar metallicity, and many were run for all available metallicities (1/50 to 5 times solar). Examples of the color evolution of several of these models are shown in Figure 3.1; the color evolution tracks are marked every 0.5 dex, and time increases from the upper left hand corner to the lower right hand corner. For clarity, only the 1/5 of solar metallicity evolution tracks are shown (dwarf irregular galaxies typically have gas–phase abundances of 1/50 to 1/5 of solar, Skillman, Kennicutt, & Hodge, 1989). Galaxies with short tau parameters, or galaxies which are dominated by a single burst of star formation, will have evolved into extremely red galaxies by the present epoch. In contrast, galaxies with long tau parameters ($`\tau `$ 10–20 Gyr), or constant star formation rates, will still be blue systems, even after a Hubble time.

In addition to models with well defined star formation histories, several more complicated histories were also investigated. Figure 3.2 shows one such model, where a recent star burst has been superposed on top of a constant star formation rate. This particular model is for a starburst superposed on a galaxy which has had continuous star formation activity for 10 Gyr; the starburst consists of a brief period of time (500 Myr) where the star formation rate is 10 times the average past rate; after the starburst episode, the galaxy returns to its original star formation rate. As expected, the color evolution of the more complicated star

formation histories are a mixture of quiescent tracks and starburst tracks. For the brief period of time while a galaxy is undergoing a substantial starburst, both the B V and U B colors will be significantly affected by the young stellar population, and the observed colors will be bluer in U B than expected for a simple composite stellar population. The extent to which this occurs depends on the burst strength (see, e.g., Huchra, 1977; Larson & Tinsley, 1978; Arimoto & Tarrab, 1990; Krüger et al., 1991; van den Hoek et al., 2000). However, after the starburst fades, all models which combine a starburst superposed on a constant or decreasing star formation rate result in composite stellar populations which evolve through the locus of points between the short starburst (10 Myr, single population), and the exponentially decreasing star formation rate models (as illustrated in Figure 3.2). Thus, the observed U B color is an excellent tracer of previous starburst activity since any galaxy which has undergone a substantial starburst will be redder in U B than expected for a simple composite stellar population. Depending on the burst strength, these color offsets may exist for several Gyr, as the burst population evolves through the Red Giant Branch. In essence, the color offset from a nominal constant star formation rate evolutionary track is the result of the impact of the aging burst population on the luminosity weighted colors. The U B color is particularly sensitive to an aging burst population because is dominated by the flux of the youngest, bluest stars; as these stars evolve, the U B color changes rapidly, while the redder colors (i.e., B V and V R) change more slowly.

In the example shown here, a galaxy with B V = 0.36 and U B = $`0.06`$ corresponds to a post-burst system where the last major episode of star formation occurred within the last 750 Myr. Of course, there are still ambiguities in the derived ages for galaxies in this region of the UBV color–color diagram since it is not immediately obvious if a galaxy is on a post–burst track (and, therefore, has an older underlying stellar population) or if a galaxy has an intrinsically short tau parameter. In other words, it is difficult to distinguish between an evolving post–burst population and a truly young galaxy based on optical colors alone. Nonetheless, these models suggest that galaxies which fill in this region of the UBV color–color diagram are likely to be post–burst systems whose age (time since most recent substantial star formation episode) can be approximated by the age of the corresponding stellar population from a short tau model.

The expected luminosity evolution of a galaxy which undergoes a brief starburst is shown in Figure 3.2b. The luminosity of the galaxy increases smoothly during the first 10 Gyr while the galaxy has a constant star formation rate; the starburst momentarily increases the luminosity by approximately 1.5 magnitudes; the integrated luminosity decreases immediately following the starburst as the dominant stellar population ages. Eventually, the newer stellar generations (formed at the lower rate) will again dominate the global colors (Figure 3.2a) and the integrated luminosity (Figure 3.2b). If the galaxy does not undergo additional starbursts, the net effect will be a slightly enhanced luminosity (relative to a constant star formation rate model) and U B colors which are slightly redder than other galaxies with similar B V colors.

### 3.3 Star Formation Histories from Global Colors

#### 3.3.1 The Isolated Dwarf Irregular Sample

Comparison of the observed colors with the galaxy evolution tracks indicates that the majority of the dwarf irregular galaxies appear to lie slightly above the constant star formation rate track (Figure 3.1). That is, the observed U B color is slightly bluer than predicted by the composite stellar population models. Constant star formation rate models with higher metallicity stellar populations (solar metallicity and above) provide a slightly better fit than the lower metallicity models (see, e.g., Figure 3.2). However, it is unlikely that the stellar metallicities are solar or super-solar, given that the gas phase metallicities of these galaxies are quite low, typically $``$ 1/10 – 1/5 solar (van Zee & Haynes,, in prep.). While this discrepancy is troubling, it is likely an artifact of the models, and in particular, may be due to the poorly understood physics of low metallicity massive stars (e.g., Lejeune et al., 1997). Given these problems, the uncertainties in the absolute stellar population ages are still quite large. Nonetheless, the observed colors for the majority of the isolated dwarf irregular galaxies appear to be most consistent with nearly constant star formation rates for at least 10 Gyr (Figure 3.1). That is, despite their blue colors, dwarf irregular galaxies are not young systems.

The type of analysis presented here is similar to that presented in van Zee et al. (1997b) for LSB dwarf galaxies. The models used in van Zee et al. (1997b) were slightly older versions of the BC96 models, and the same offset existed between the observed and theoretical colors. In that paper, the observed colors were interpreted in the context of an aging stellar population, which indicated that the dominant stellar population in the LSB dwarf galaxies formed at least 1–3 Gyr ago. The optical colors of the LSB dwarf galaxies are actually quite similar to the global colors of the galaxies in the present sample, and thus, in retrospect, it is likely that the LSB dwarf galaxies also have had approximately constant star formation rates for roughly a Hubble time. Since the dominant stellar population in a system with continuous star formation activity will be de facto the most recently formed stars, i.e., those formed within the last few Gyr, this interpretation is consistent with that presented in van Zee et al. (1997b) for the LSB dwarf galaxies, but has additional implications about the age of the underlying stellar population.

Only the simplest star formation histories, systems where the star formation rate varies monotonically with time, are illustrated in Figure 3.1. However, it is also necessary to consider that the possibility that the isolated dwarf irregular galaxies have had a more episodic star formation history \[as has been shown for nearby galaxies like the LMC (van den Bergh, 1991; Girardi et al., 1995) and Carina (Smecker–Hane et al., 1994; Mighell, 1997)\]. An example of one of these more complicated star formation histories is illustrated in Figure 3.2a, where the locus of points for the dI sample are compared with the color evolution of a galaxy which undergoes a brief burst of star formation. From this representative model, it is clear that galaxies which are currently undergoing a starburst have colors which are too blue for the majority of the isolated dwarf galaxies, and post–starburst galaxies would be too red in U B to fit the colors of the typical isolated dwarf irregular galaxy. Given that the current star formation rates of the isolated dwarf galaxies are quite low ($``$ 0.02 M yr-1) it is not too surprising that the starburst and post–starburst models do not apply to the majority of the galaxies in this sample.

There are a handful of galaxies which lie outside the locus shown in Figure 3.2a, however. UGC 9128, UGC 5205, and DDO 210 are all redder in U B than expected for a constant star formation rate model, and all have extremely low or undetectable current star formation rates. Both UGC 9128 and DDO 210 have color gradients from the inner (blue) to the outer (red) regions. These galaxies may be examples of post–burst systems.

Two of these three galaxies have more detailed star formation histories derived from ground–based color–magnitude diagrams. DDO 210 is a nearby galaxy, and subtends a large angular size. Ground–based color-magnitude diagrams for DDO 210 indicate that it has had a recent enhancement of its star formation rate in the central regions within the last several Myrs (Lee et al., 1999), but its current star formation rate is negligible. Similarly, ground-based color-magnitude diagrams for the inner regions of UGC 9128 (DDO 187) indicate that its current star formation rate is $``$3 times smaller than its maximum

star formation rate which occurred a few tens of Myrs ago (Aparicio et al., 2000). Thus, both their global colors and detailed analysis of their stellar populations indicate that these galaxies are post–burst systems, in the sense that their current star formation rates are substantially lower than those of the recent past.

An accurate star formation history of the third galaxy with anomalous U B colors, UGC 5205, has not yet been obtained, but additional insight into the star formation history of this galaxy can be gleaned from an optical spectrum of the inner region (Figure 3.3.1). While UGC 5205 has no detectable H$`\alpha `$ emission in the narrow band image, the optical colors are still relatively blue; in addition, the inner region is knotty and irregular in appearance, suggesting recent star formation activity. The optical spectrum confirms that UGC 5205 is a post–burst galaxy. The strong Balmer absorption lines combined with the lack of Ca H and K and Mg Ib and the presence of a blue underlying continuum indicates that the stellar continuum is dominated by A–stars, exactly as expected for a post–burst system. Based on the integrated optical colors and optical spectrum, UGC 5205 appears to have had its last major star formation episode approximately 1 Gyr ago. UGC 5205 has a near neighbor (despite being included in an “isolated dwarf galaxy sample”), CGCG 007-025; the velocity difference between these two galaxies is 84 km s-1, and the projected separation is approximately 8.3 kpc. Interestingly, the neighboring galaxy has a very high current star formation rate, and extremely blue colors (it has the bluest U B of the entire sample). The dynamics of this pair are currently unconstrained, but the optical images reveal that UGC 5205 has a tidal tail, and thus has been disturbed by the interaction. In addition, the fact that the two galaxies are currently experiencing either an elevated (CGCG 007-025) or a quenched (UGC 5205) star formation rate suggests that their interaction has had a significant impact on the gas distribution and the star formation capability of the two systems.

In addition to UGC 9128, UGC 5205, and DDO 210, one other galaxy, UGC 12613, lies outside of the general locus of points for the isolated dwarf galaxy sample. UGC 12613 is the reddest galaxy in the sample in both U B and B V; the optical colors are too red to be fit by a constant star formation rate model, but can be fit by either a declining star formation rate model (tau model), or by an aging burst population. The current star formation rate in UGC 12613 is extremely low, which supports the idea that UGC 12613 is dominated by an aging stellar population rather than by one which is constantly being replenished. However, there is one fundamental difference between UGC 12613 and the other three galaxies which may be post–burst galaxies: UGC 12613 is gas–poor. UGC 12613 has one of the lowest gas mass fractions (0.17) and one of the lowest values of MHI/LB (0.34) of all the galaxies in the sample. Thus, the current star formation rate may be low as a direct result of the fact that UGC 12613 is in the process of running out of fuel. The evolutionary tracks in Figure 3.2a indicate that if UGC 12613 is a post–burst galaxy, the last major star formation episode was several Gyr ago. This result is consistent with the more detailed stellar population models derived from observations of the resolved stellar population (Gallagher et al., 1998). Due to the small field of view of WFPC2, the HST observations only sampled the southwest quadrant of the galaxy (which includes the regions of current star formation activity). Gallagher et al. (1998) present several possible star formation histories for UGC 12613; their simplest model is that the star formation rate has been relatively constant for several Gyr, but that there was a recent episode of enhanced star formation activity which ended approximately 2 Gyr ago.

As demonstrated by these four unusual galaxies, the UBV color–color diagram can indeed identify systems with “bursty” star formation histories. The power of the star formation history analysis presented here lies in the fact that the majority of dwarf irregular galaxies lie within a small locus on the UBV color–color diagram: the “typical” dwarf irregular galaxy has had an approximately constant star formation rate, and galaxies which undergo a burst of star formation are the exception rather than the rule. This results agrees with the seminal work of Hunter & Gallagher (1985, 1986), based on the integrated colors of a diverse sample of dwarf and giant Irregular galaxies. In addition, the lack of significant color gradients in the “typical” dwarf irregular galaxies (Figure 3.1) implies that the entire stellar disk must have experienced a similar star formation history.

Inspection of the H$`\alpha `$ images presented in Paper I (and those in e.g., Hunter et al., 1993; Miller & Hodge, 1994; Miller, 1996) indicate that the current star formation activity is distributed sparsely across the optical disk of each galaxy. Thus, while the optical colors indicate that the star formation activity is continuous, it is clear that the local star formation rate fluctuates, presumably as dense molecular clouds form and disperse. As first discussed by Hunter & Gallagher (1985), one way to reconcile the local and global star formation histories is to hypothesize that the star formation activity percolates across the entire stellar disk in a quasi–continuous manner. In other words, the global colors indicate a nearly constant star formation rate because they represent a temporal and spatial average of the composite stellar populations. In this model, the ensemble average of the star formation rate for the entire galaxy is approximately constant and every location in the disk has the potential to be a site for future star formation activity. Thus, in contrast to spiral galaxies where the star formation occurs preferentially in the spiral arms and is presumably linked to the gas density enhancements from the spiral density waves, star formation in dwarf irregular galaxies is a purely stochastic process, and has no favored location within the optical disk.

#### 3.3.2 Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies

Only three of the galaxies in the isolated dI sample were classified as starbursting dwarf galaxies: UGCA 439, UGC 11755, and CGCG 007-025 all have moderately high star formation rates, concentrated in the central regions of the galaxy. Of these three, only CGCG 007–025 stands out in the UBV color–color diagram as a galaxy with an unusual U B color; UGC 11755 and UGCA 439 blend into the general trend. However, these three galaxies do stand out from the general sample in that their outer isophotes are significantly redder than their inner regions. Six other galaxies also had unusual color gradients from the inner to outer regions: UGC 685, UGC 1104, UGC 5288, UGC 9240, UGC 10351, and UGC 12713 (Figure 3.1). While these galaxies were not classified as Blue Compact Dwarfs (BCD), they all have unusually short scale lengths for their luminosities, and may be related to the BCD class. As with those galaxies classified as BCDs, the global colors of these 6 “compact dI’s” are not significantly different than those of a typical isolated dI.

This leads to the question of whether the UBV color–color diagram is sufficient to identify galaxies undergoing a current burst of star formation if only global colors are used. As mentioned in Section 3.1, the global color is a luminosity weighted color, and may not be representative of the composite stellar population if there are significant color gradients. The extent to which the optical colors are affected will depend not only on the strength and duration of the burst, but also on the spatial distribution of the young (bursting) stellar population: a centrally concentrated starburst will only affect the colors of the inner regions, and may not be sufficient to substantially change the global colors.

To investigate this further, the UBV colors for blue amorphous dwarf galaxies from Marlowe et al. (1997, 1999) are shown in Figure 3.2a. Like the starbursting dwarf galaxies in the isolated dI sample, all of the blue amorphous dwarf galaxies have a significant color gradient between their inner (starbursting) and outer regions. The location of the inner core region and outer envelopes are labelled as “C” (core) and “E” (envelope) in Figure 3.2a. As expected for galaxies with centrally concentrated starburst, the inner core regions are extremely blue while the outer envelope regions are much redder than the typical isolated dI. Clearly, the inner core regions of these galaxies are consistent with a starburst population superposed on an older (but still blue) stellar population, similar to the burst model shown here (also as discussed in detail by Marlowe et al., 1999). The red outer envelopes are consistent with aging stellar populations, i.e., ones in which the past star formation rate was higher than the present rate. The global colors are also shown in Figure 3.2a (labelled as “A” for average colors). Four of the starbursting dwarf galaxies have globally averaged colors which are typical of dI’s, and thus have similar properties to the three starbursting galaxies found in the isolated dI sample. The fact that these galaxies have global colors which are consistent with quasi–continuous star formation activity indicates that the ensemble average of the inner (young) region and outer (old) region yields an intermediate age for the dominant stellar population, despite the current burst of star formation. Nonetheless, it is important to note that these galaxies are still easily separated from the “typical” dwarf irregular because of their strong color gradients. Of the remaining galaxies in the starbursting dwarf galaxy sample, two others (NGC 3125 and NGC 1705) have average colors which were similar to their inner core regions, indicating that the young stellar population is dominant, and one (NGC 3955) has a global color which is as red as the outer envelopes of the other galaxies, indicating that the central starburst is only a minor fraction of the total stellar population.

Based on this small sample of starbursting dwarf galaxies, it appears that a spatially resolved star formation history is extremely important in distinguishing between starbursting dwarf galaxies and “typical” dIs. Both types of galaxies may have similar global colors (depending on the relative strength of the star burst), but the star formation activity is centrally concentrated in the starbursting dwarf galaxies. Thus, the result of a starburst is to create a significant color gradient between the inner and outer regions of the optical disk.

### 3.4 Other Constraints on the Star Formation History

The next question that needs to be addressed is whether a quasi–continuous star formation history is self–consistent with the observed luminosities and current star formation rates. There are two ways of looking at this question: (1) is the current star formation rate representative? and (2) can the galaxy continue to form stars at such a rate without running out of fuel in the near future? The first question addresses the issue of whether the star formation rate is approximately constant as a function of time while the second question addresses the issue of whether the fuel supply is sufficient to support the current star formation rate.

#### 3.4.1 Average Past Star Formation Rate

The average past star formation rate can be derived by estimating the total mass of stars formed and dividing this quantity by the length of time for which star formation has been taking place:

$$<SFR>_{\mathrm{past}}=\frac{M_{\mathrm{stars}}}{T_{\mathrm{sf}}}.$$
(2)
The latter quantity is relatively unconstrained, but, at maximum, Tsf must be less than the age of the universe. The total mass of stars formed is also uncertain, but can be estimated if one assumes a stellar mass–to–light ratio ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_b`$) and estimates the amount of material that has been recycled during the history of the system ($`R`$):

$$M_{\mathrm{stars}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_bL_B}{(1R)}.$$
(3)
Kennicutt et al. (1994) investigated the average past star formation rates for a large sample of galaxies, spanning a range of Hubble types. They adopted a type–dependent mass–to–light ratio, a uniform recycling fraction of $`R=0.4,`$ and a Tsf of 10 Gyr. They found that, on average, the earlier Hubble types had Scalo (1986) $`b`$ parameters (ratio of current–to–past star formation rates) that were lower than later Hubble types, but that spiral galaxies generally had lower current star formation rates than their average past rate. This result is consistent with the idea that spiral galaxies have decreasing star formation rates, and that the observed color differences between the Hubble types may be a result of different star formation histories (e.g., Tinsley, 1968; Searle et al., 1973).

Adopting a similar formalism, it is possible to derive the ratio of the current–to–past star formation rates for the isolated dwarf Irregular galaxy sample. One of the difficulties for this type of analysis is that the stellar mass–to–light ratio is highly uncertain. The stellar mass–to–light ratios adopted by Kennicutt et al. (1994) were based on dynamical mass estimates, corrected for the contribution of dark matter; they adopted a V–band mass–to–light ratio of 0.6 for the irregular galaxies in their sample. However, the dynamical mass–to–light ratio is not well constrained for irregular galaxies; most dwarf irregular galaxies have solid body rotation throughout the optical disk (e.g., Skillman et al., 1987; Martimbeau, Carignan, & Roy, 1994; van Zee et al., 1997c), and solid body rotation curves cannot be well fit by maximum disk models. In a similar analysis of the star formation history of dwarf galaxies, Miller & Hodge (1994) adopted a color dependent conversion formula for the mass–to–light ratio based on galaxy evolution models of Larson & Tinsley (1978). In their study, a typical dwarf galaxy (B V = 0.4) has a mass–to–light ratio of 1.0 in the B–band.

While it is somewhat circular reasoning to use a galaxy evolution code to derive a color dependent mass–to–light ratio in order to check the galaxy evolution model, at the very least such a model will provide a self–consistent estimate of the stellar mass. Thus, for consistency with the previous discussion, the mass–to–light ratio was derived using the BC96 code and a quasi–continuous star formation rate model:

$$\mathrm{log}\mathrm{\Gamma }_b=2.84(BV)1.26$$
(4)
where B V is the observed color. This formalism results in a typical $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_b`$ of 0.8 for dwarf irregulars (B V of 0.4), and is valid only for galaxies with B V $`<`$ 0.5.

The second necessary parameter for the derivation of the average past star formation rate is the recycling fraction, which is can be derived from the ratio between the total mass of stars formed over the history of the system and those still luminous at the present epoch. Using the BC96 code, the recycling fraction ($`R`$) for a quasi–continuous star formation rate was found to be $``$ 0.33; that is, the total mass of stars formed is a factor of 1.5 times more than is presently detectable.

The final ingredient for this analysis is the age of the stellar population. Current estimates of the onset of star formation activity in the universe are on the order of $`z510`$ (Steidel et al., 1999; Manning et al., 2000). Whether the galaxies in this sample began forming stars at this time is unknown, but it is not unreasonable to assume that they have been forming stars for approximately a Hubble time; thus, for H0 = 75 km s-1Mpc-1, T$`{}_{\mathrm{sf}}{}^{}`$ 13 Gyr.

The combination of higher mass–to–light ratios, a longer Tsf, and a slightly different current SFR conversion factor results in Scalo $`b`$ parameters which are a factor of $``$0.87 times lower than the formalism for Irregular galaxies in Kennicutt et al. (1994). A histogram of $`b`$ parameters derived from the above equations are shown in Figure 3.4.1a; the median value is 0.7 $`\pm _{0.2}^{0.5}`$. For a quasi–continuous star formation rate, the current star formation rate should be similar to the average past rate. Thus, within the accuracy of this type of calculation, it appears that a quasi–continuous star formation rate is consistent with the observed integrated luminosities. Note that the extreme outliers ($`b>2`$) are the three star bursting galaxies in the sample, which have much higher current star formation rates than their average past rates.

In summary, both the optical colors and the integrated luminosities are well described by a constant star formation rate model. While it is important to remember that neither the luminosities nor the optical colors will be sensitive to a well evolved burst population (Figure 3.2), the fact that the current (low) star formation rates appear to be sufficient to build the observed stellar population over a Hubble time is compelling. If episodic bursts are the dominant mode of star formation, a larger fraction of the galaxies should be in a post–burst state, and there should be no correlation between the current star formation rate and the average past star formation rate. Thus, while it is impossible to completely rule out the possibility of early bursts of star formation, the majority of galaxies in this sample do not need to have had substantial bursts at any epoch to build their present luminosity. These simple arguments suggest that the dominant mode of star formation in dwarf irregular galaxies is one where star formation percolates slowly across the disk, with an nearly constant average star formation rate.

#### 3.4.2 Gas Depletion Timescales

Another important timescale argument concerns whether these galaxies can continue to sustain their current star formation activity for several more Gyr. The gas depletion time scale was calculated from the observed neutral hydrogen mass and current star formation rate:

$$\tau _g=\frac{M_{HI}}{SFR.}$$
(5)
A histogram of the gas depletion time scales are shown in Figure 3.4.1b; the median gas depletion time scale is 19 $`\pm _8^{14}`$ Gyr, This clearly indicates that these galaxies are in no danger of running out of fuel, and can continue to form stars at the current star formation rate for at least another Hubble time.

It is important to note, however, that the quoted gas depletion timescales assume that the galaxy will be able to convert all of the available gas into stars. Spatially resolved maps of the neutral hydrogen distributions of dwarf galaxies indicate that a large fraction of the total hydrogen mass is located beyond the optical radius (e.g., Skillman et al., 1987, 1988; Carignan & Beaulieu, 1989; Lo, Sargent, & Young, 1993; Hoffman et al., 1996; van Zee et al., 1997c). It remains a mystery as to whether this extended gaseous material will be available for future star formation activity in these systems (see, e.g., Gallagher & Hunter, 1984).

The simple lifetime arguments presented here indicate that the observed colors, luminosities, and gas properties are consistent with a quasi–continuous star formation rate. The fact that the isolated dwarf irregular galaxies have sufficient fuel to sustain similar star formation activity for at least another Hubble time provides additional support to the idea that star formation will continue to percolate (at a low rate) across the disks of these galaxies in a quasi–continuous manner for many Gyr to come.

### 3.5 Comparison to Resolved Stellar Population Models

As mentioned in the Introduction, the preferred method of determining the star formation history of a galaxy is to observe the resolved stellar population and count the relative number of stars in various evolutionary phases (main sequence, horizontal branch, blue loop, etc.). Color–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) provide a direct means of converting the number of stars at these evolutionary phases into a detailed star formation history. However, most galaxies are too distant to make such an analysis feasible. There are a few galaxies in the present sample which have been observed with HST, or are near enough that ground–based CMDs have been constructed, but these galaxies happen to be non–representative of the sample as a whole. The results of CMD analysis of UGC 9128, DDO 210, and UGC 12613 were presented in Section 3.3.1, where it was shown that all three of these galaxies are likely to be post–burst systems, in agreement with the observed optical colors. None of the other galaxies in the isolated dI sample have been observed with sufficient spatial resolution to derive detailed star formation histories, but it is nonetheless instructive to compare the results from integrated optical colors with the star formation histories derived from the resolved stellar populations of the nearest dwarf irregular galaxies.

Observations of the resolved stellar populations in starbursting dwarf galaxies indicate that star formation activity is both temporally and spatially confined. For example, the current star formation activity dominates the central regions of VII Zw 403 (UGC 6456), one of the nearest blue compact dwarf galaxies (Lynds et al., 1998). Analysis of the resolved stellar population indicates that the star formation rate peaked a few 100 Myr ago in VII Zw 403, and that the star formation activity is in a more quiescent stage at the present epoch (Lynds et al., 1998; Schulte–Ladbeck et al., 1999). At its peak, the star formation rate was $``$ 30 times higher than the typical star formation rate; this “burst” phase lasted for a few 100 Myr before returning a low level of star formation activity. Schulte–Ladbeck et al. (1999) emphasize that this was not the first episode of star formation in VII Zw 403, since intermediate–age and old metal–poor stars are distributed throughout the galaxy.

In sharp contrast with the starbursting dwarf galaxies, the “normal” dwarf irregular galaxies appear to have a more smoothly varying star formation history. Dohm–Palmer et al. (1998) summarized the results of HST observations of the resolved stellar populations of four Local Group dwarf galaxies: Sextans A, GR 8, UGC 12613 (Peg DIG), and Leo A. Not unexpectedly, each galaxy in this sample has a unique star formation history; however, certain commonalities exist. Of these four, only Sextans A appears to have had significant variations in the star formation activity over the last Gyr; however, unlike VII Zw 403, the current elevated star formation rate in Sextans A is only a factor of 3 higher than the past rate. In other words, none of these four galaxies appear to have undergone a significant starburst episode within the last Gyr. Thus, analysis of the resolved stellar populations provides additional confirmation that the star formation activity in most dwarf irregular galaxies occurs in a quasi–continuous manner, with a slow, but steady, conversion of gas into stars.

Finally, based on the spatial distribution of the resolved stellar population, Dohm–Palmer et al. (1998) found that star formation occurs at a low level across the entire stellar disk. In all four dI galaxies, the localized star forming complexes were found to occur on spatial scales similar to those of giant molecular clouds ($``$ 100 pc), and to last $``$ 100 Myr. At this time, only a few gas–rich dwarf galaxies have been observed with sufficient spatial resolution and depth to derive spatially resolved star formation histories. Clearly, further observations of the nearest gas–rich dwarf galaxies are needed to investigate the propagation of star formation activity in small galaxies. Of particular interest is the question of whether subsequent star formation activity is predominately a stochastic process, or if star formation propagates from one site to another in a more organized manner (as predicted by SSPSF).

## 4 Current Star Formation Activity

As discussed in Section 3.4.1, the current star formation rate of the dI sample is approximately the same as the average past star formation rate. This implies that there is a correlation between current star formation rate and luminosity, since more luminous galaxies must have had a higher star formation rate in the past. It is thus necessary to normalize the current star formation rate by a scaling factor to remove obvious scaling correlations (i.e., big

galaxies are big). One way to normalize the current star formation rate is to divide by the surface area of the galaxy (e.g., Hunter & Gallagher, 1986). In the following analysis, “area” has been defined in terms of scale length: $`r`$=1.5$`\alpha `$. The choice of 1.5$`\alpha `$ is arbitrary, but it roughly corresponds to $`R_{26.5}`$ for this sample. The normalized current star formation rate is plotted against a variety of physical parameters in Figure 4; these plots include galaxies from both the present sample, the LSB dwarf galaxies from van Zee et al. (1997b), and the blue amorphous dwarf galaxies from Marlowe et al. (1997). The use of a normalized star formation rate removes the correlation between star formation activity and luminosity (Figure 4b) but introduces a correlation between surface brightness and normalized star formation rate (Figure 4a). However, this is exactly the correlation one would expect for galaxies with quasi–continuous star formation: high surface brightness galaxies must have had high star formation rates per unit area (see also Hunter, 1997). Thus, in the subsequent plots one can consider either surface brightness or normalized star formation rate as the ordinate on the abscissa.

Figure 4(c,d) shows that there is no correlation between normalized star formation rate and the optical colors. That is, the normalized star formation rate (and, consequently, the surface brightness) is independent of the exact star formation history. This lack of correlation between age and surface brightness is also seen in large LSB disk galaxies (e.g., O’Neil et al., 1997; Bell et al., 1999; Knezek, 1999). Thus, the central surface brightness of a galaxy appears to be an intrinsic property, not a result of differing evolutionary stages.

The final two plots in Figure 4 investigate the relationship between current star formation activity and gas properties of dwarf galaxies. The gas properties are particularly relevant because the gas provides fuel for star formation activity. In many ways, the gas–richness of a galaxy is a good indicator of evolutionary status, insofar as a gas–rich galaxy has not converted much of its gas into stars. Note, however, that this does not necessarily imply that a gas–rich galaxy is “young,” since a galaxy with a low star formation rate will take longer to convert gas into stars.

Figure 4e shows a weak trend of normalized star formation rate with gas mass fraction. The gas mass fraction is the ratio of the total gas mass (Mgas) to the total baryonic mass (Mgas \+ Mstars). The stellar mass was computed as described in Section 3.4.1 and the gas mass includes a correction for the neutral helium component \[Mgas = 1.3 $`\times `$ MHI, (Anders & Grevesse, 1989)\]. The molecular gas component is neglected for this computation since it is difficult to detect CO in low mass galaxies (e.g., Elmegreen, Elmegreen, & Morris, 1980; Taylor, Kobulnicky, & Skillman, 1998), and, further, the correction from CO to H2 column density is highly uncertain for low metallicity galaxies (e.g., Verter & Hodge, 1995; Wilson, 1995). For a simple model of galaxy evolution, the gas mass fraction is initially unity (pure gas disk) and then decreases as the gas is converted into stars. The correlation seen in Figure 4e indicates that higher surface brightness galaxies (high normalized star formation rate galaxies) have lower gas mass fractions. This is exactly the trend expected if the average past star formation rate is similar to the present rate: galaxies with high star formation rates will convert a larger fraction of their gas into stars by the present epoch, and therefore have both higher surface brightness and lower gas mass fractions. This trend is also seen in samples of disk galaxies (McGaugh & de Blok, 1997). However, there are a few galaxies which counter this trend, such as UGC 12613. UGC 12613 has both a low normalized star formation rate and a low gas mass fraction. In fact, dwarf transition galaxies (e.g., Knezek, Sembach, & Gallagher, 1999) and gas–poor ellipticals, such as NGC 205 (Young & Lo, 1997), should fill in the lower left region of the diagram. The upper right, however, is likely to be genuinely devoid of galaxies at the present epoch since a high normalized star formation rate will rapidly process the gas, and thus a galaxy should evolve quickly from this region.

A similarly weak trend in seen in the plot of MHI/LB (Figure 4f). The galaxies in this sample span only a small range in MHI/LB, but the gas–rich systems again appear to be the systems with lower normalized star formation rates (again with the exception of UGC 12613). However, it is also important to note that not all low surface brightness galaxies are unusually gas–rich, and, conversely, not all gas–rich galaxies have extremely low surface brightness (e.g., DDO 154, Carignan & Beaulieu, 1989).

The majority of the galaxies in the present sample are gas–rich systems, with gas mass fractions greater than 0.4 (Figure 4e). However, if these galaxies have an abundant supply of gas, why haven’t they converted it into stars in an efficient manner? In fact, one of the puzzling results of studies of the gas distribution in dwarf galaxies is that both extreme LSB and “normal” dwarf irregular galaxies have gas densities which are well below the threshold for star formation activity, despite the fact that these galaxies are considered gas–rich systems (e.g. Hunter & Plummer, 1996; van Zee et al., 1997c; Hunter, Elmegreen & Baker, 1998). This result may hold the key to explaining both why these galaxies are still gas–rich and why the star formation activity is quasi–continuous in normal dwarf irregular galaxies: the gas disk is globally stable against gravitational collapse. If this is correct, star formation can occur only in localized regions of enhanced gas density. Further, since the likelihood is small that any region will increase its density enough to exceed the threshold density, star formation activity will occur at a very low rate across the stellar disk. Combined with the fact that the gas density is almost constant throughout the optical extent, this suggests that star formation activity percolates randomly across the entire stellar disk in an inefficient manner, thereby creating a dominant young stellar population at all locations while retaining a high gas mass fraction.

## 5 Conclusions

Optical colors and global star formation rates for a sample of isolated dwarf irregular galaxies have been interpreted in the context of composite stellar population models. The major results are summarized below.

(1) The majority of dwarf irregular galaxies have minor or non–existent color gradients across their stellar disks, and thus global colors accurately reflect the evolutionary status of the entire stellar component. The few galaxies in this sample which do have significant color gradients have very short scale lengths for their luminosities, and may be related to the class of starbursting dwarf galaxies.

(2) The global colors are blue, with median values of B V = 0.42 $`\pm _{0.05}^{0.04}`$ and U B = –0.22 $`\pm _{0.07}^{0.04}`$. The observed luminosities, optical colors, and current star formation rates are consistent with an approximately constant integrated star formation rate over the age of the universe (see also Hunter & Gallagher, 1985). In addition, typical gas depletion timescales are $``$ 20 Gyr, indicating that these galaxies can continue to form stars at the present rate for at least another Hubble time.

(3) There is no correlation between surface brightness and star formation history. The only significant correlation in physical parameters is that low surface brightness galaxies have low normalized star formation rates (see also Hunter & Gallagher, 1986). Weak trends suggest that most low surface brightness galaxies are also gas–rich, as traced by gas mass fraction and MHI/LB.

At the very minimum, galaxy evolution models must be able to reproduce the global properties of a galaxy such as colors, luminosity, current star formation rate, gas mass fraction, and metallicity. As shown throughout this paper, the observed global properties of the typical dwarf irregular galaxy are well fit by a constant average star formation rate, with a typical age of $``$ 10 Gyr. Combined with the studies of the resolved stellar populations of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group (e.g., Dohm–Palmer et al., 1998), this argues against the possibility that most dwarf irregular galaxies have a significant starburst phase. Rather, star formation percolates throughout the stellar disk at a slow, but approximately constant, rate. Thus, while starburst models are necessary to explain the observed properties of a few dwarf galaxies, these galaxies are the exception, not the rule.

If this interpretation is correct, then the majority of dwarf irregular galaxies in the local universe are unlikely to be the evolutionary remnants of the “faint blue galaxies” found at intermediate redshift (e.g., Cowie, Songaila, & Hu, 1991; Driver, Windhorst, & Griffiths, 1995). Several models have shown that it is possible to reproduce the excess of faint blue galaxies found in deep surveys by including a rapidly evolving population of low luminosity galaxies whose star formation rates peak at $`z1`$ (e.g., Babul & Rees, 1992; Babul & Ferguson, 1996). The basic reasoning of these models is that the luminosity of a starbursting dwarf galaxy may be sufficiently elevated to allow it to be included in a deep survey, but its evolutionary remnant will be too faint to be included in surveys of the local galaxy population. Thus, the difference in the derived local and intermediate-z luminosity functions creates an “excess” of faint blue galaxies at intermediate–z. However, these models require that formation of dwarf galaxies be delayed until $`z1`$ so that the star formation rates peak at the appropriate epoch. This does not appear to be the case for the typical dwarf irregular, and thus the dwarf irregular class probably does not contribute significantly to the excess population of faint blue galaxies. Of course, these models do not rule out the possibility that the faint blue galaxies are related to gas–poor objects at the present epoch, such as dwarf elliptical galaxies.

Finally, the star formation history of the typical dwarf irregular galaxy is substantially different than that of a massive spiral or elliptical galaxy. Standard stellar population models for spiral galaxies indicate that the observed colors are best fit by declining star formation rates (e.g., Larson & Tinsley, 1978) while the colors of elliptical galaxies are best fit by evolving stellar populations (e.g., Worthey, 1994). Schematically, the star formation history of the universe is also in agreement with these stellar population models; the most recent models indicate that the star formation rate of the universe was substantially higher in the past than it is today (e.g., Pei & Fall, 1995; Lilly et al., 1995; Madau et al., 1996). In contrast, dwarf irregular galaxies appear to be forming stars at approximately the same low rate now as they were several Gyr ago. Further, since dwarf galaxies are still extremely gas–rich systems, they can continue to convert gas into stars at the same low rate for many Gyr to come. Thus, at some point in the future, dwarf irregular galaxies may be the only systems which will retain sufficient fuel to continue forming stars; in other words, it is only a matter of time before dwarf galaxies dominate the star formation activity of the universe.

Elizabeth Barton, David Schade, and Bev Oke are gratefully acknowledged for numerous thought–provoking conversations about galaxy formation and evolution. Stéphanie Côté and Vicki Weafer provided helpful comments on early versions of this paper. Martha Haynes kindly provided access to the Palomar 5m telescope for the spectroscopic observations of UGC 5205. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


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# Black Holes with Polyhedral Multi-String Configurations

## 1 Introduction

Although an exact solution for a static black hole pierced by a single straight infinitely thin cosmic string  is easy to find its multi string generalizations have not been constructed. Some particular configurations which could be used to describe a black hole with three strings were discussed in . However, by the symmetry they required string tensions to be of the order of unity111We use the system of units where $`G=c=\mathrm{}=1`$. For a string with the physical tension $`\mu `$ the dimensionless tension is defined as $`G\mu /c^2`$.  which is too large, perhaps, to be interesting for physical applications. In this paper we find exact solutions of the Einstein equations which represent a black hole pierced by more than one cosmic string. The strings enter the black hole along the radii and their positions coincide with the symmetry axes of a regular polyhedron222It is interesting to note that some similar configurations of defects related to the symmetries of a polyhedron were discussed in condensed matter physics .. The symmetry guarantees an equilibrium of this system. Locally the metric outside the strings remains the Schwarzschild one.

The motivation for this work is to find non-trivial solutions of black hole – multi-string configurations where the backreaction effect can be taken into account explicitly. Although such solutions are interesting by themselves they can also have an interesting physical application. Configurations with a large number of strings attached to the black hole can be used for very efficient energy mining from the black hole . It becomes possible because the Hawking energy emitted in the form of string excitations for each of the strings is of the same order of magnitude as the bulk Hawking radiation.

## 2 Polyhedral string configurations

Let us first discuss the conditions which are sufficient for an equilibrium of a multi-string system. Because the black hole metric is spherically symmetric there exists a special case when one can guarantee that forces acting on strings vanish identically due to the symmetry. It happens when there exists a symmetry transformation, rotation, which transforms the system (a black hole with attached strings) into itself. Indeed, a force acting on the string is always orthogonal to the string. Suppose the system is invariant under a rotation at some finite angle around the string axes. Then the force acting on the string must vanish since it should remain invariant under the rotation. Let us consider such configurations in more detail. To describe them we first neglect the string tension, that is consider strings as test objects.

Since strings are directed along the radii, their positions can be identified with points (vertexes) on a unit sphere $`S^2`$. Consider the five Platonic solids. A Platonic solid is a regular polyhedron. Its faces are regular $`p`$-gons, $`q`$ surrounding each vertex. These configurations are denoted as $`\{p,q\}`$. The five Platonic solids are tetrahedron ($`\{3,3\}`$), octahedron ($`\{3,4\}`$), cube ($`\{4,3\}`$), icosahedron ($`\{3,5\}`$), and dodecahedron ($`\{5,3\}`$) (see e.g. ). By projecting the edges of a polyhedron from its center onto a concentric sphere, we obtain a set of arcs of great circles on the sphere which intersect at the vertexes. This gives a spherical tessellation which is also denoted as $`\{p,q\}`$. This spherical tessellation is invariant under rotations around each of its vertexes at the angle $`2k\pi /q`$ where $`k<q`$ are natural numbers. The system with radial strings which cross a sphere at these vertexes is invariant under discrete rotations, and hence must be in an equilibrium.

The number of strings segments $`N_s`$ which coincides with the number of vertexes can be easily found. Denote by $`n_v`$, $`n_e`$, and $`n_f`$ the number of vertexes, edges and faces for a given spherical tessellation. They are connected by Euler’s formula

$$n_vn_e+n_f=2.$$
(2.1)
Since $`n_fp/2=n_e`$ and $`n_vq/2=n_e`$, one has

$$n_e=\frac{1}{p^1+q^12^1}.$$
(2.2)
$$N_sn_v=\frac{2}{q}\frac{1}{p^1+q^12^1}.$$
(2.3)
The number $`N_s`$ of string segments attached to the black hole for the Platonic configurations are 4 (tetrahedron), 6 (octahedron), 8 (cube), 12 (icosahedron), and 20 (dodecahedron).

The number of strings in the equilibrium can be made larger. Additional strings can be attached to the centers of faces and mid-edge points. Together with original axes of $`q`$-fold rotations, new vertexes connected with the center of the sphere are axes of $`p`$-fold and $`2`$-fold rotations, respectively. It can be shown that no further possible axes of rotation can occur . Thus, the symmetry operations of the polyhedron consist of rotations through angles $`2k\pi /q`$, $`\pi `$, and $`2j\pi /p`$, around these axes. It means that there is a discrete symmetry group which transforms the string configuration into itself. Corresponding groups are known to be symmetry groups of regular polyhedra (see, for instance, ). For $`\{p,q\}`$ and $`\{q,p\}`$ the groups are the same. The order of the discrete rotation group is $`2n_e`$, and is equal to 12, 24, and 60 for tetrahedral, octahedral and icosahedral group, respectively. Let $`N_v`$, $`N_e`$, and $`N_f`$ be the number of vertexes, edges, and faces of this new spherical tessellation, then one has

$$N_v=2n_e+2,N_e=6n_e,N_f=4n_e.$$
(2.4)
Thus, the number of strings segments now is $`N_s=N_v`$ is 14, 26, and 62 for tetrahedral, octahedral and icosahedral configuration, respectively. Following to  we call such a configuration polyhedral strings. It is important that for such a spherical tessellation, the faces are isometric spherical triangles, fundamental triangles, formed by arcs of great circles on the sphere. Because we have a triangulation of $`S^2`$ the same results can be derived by another method which will be useful when we discuss the backreaction problem in the next Section.

Suppose that the angles of the fundamental triangle are $`\pi \lambda _k`$, $`k=1,2,3`$. The area $`𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of the triangle on the unit sphere is given by Girard’s formula

$$𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }=\pi (\lambda _1+\lambda _2+\lambda _31).$$
(2.5)
The triangulation possesses planes of the symmetry and, hence, the number of fundamental triangles is even, $`N_f=2N`$. Because the vertices of the triangles coincide with the symmetry axes the angles can take only discrete values, $`\lambda _k=1/l_k`$, where $`l_k`$ are positive integers. For the fundamental triangles which cover the surface of $`S^2`$ one time one gets from (2.5) the relation

$$N\left(\frac{1}{l_1}+\frac{1}{l_2}+\frac{1}{l_3}1\right)=2.$$
(2.6)
Because $`N=2n_e`$ one can see that (2.2) follows from (2.6) when $`l_1=p`$, $`l_2=q`$, $`l_3=2`$. The number of strings is $`N_s=N+2`$, see (2.4).

Before discussing possible solutions of (2.6) let us mention one more instructive derivation of this equation. Suppose that $`N_k`$ is the number of vertexes which join $`2l_k`$ edges. There are $`2l_k`$ fundamental triangles around the vertex of this $`l_k`$-fold type. They make a spherical polygon with the area $`2l_k𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Again, by the symmetry arguments, the sphere is completely covered by $`N_k`$ polygons of this type. It follows then that $`2l_kN_k𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }=4\pi `$ and $`N_k=N/l_k`$. Thus, by taking into account that $`N_1+N_2+N_3=N_s=N+2`$, we get (2.6).

It can be shown that there are only four types of solutions of (2.6) when $`l_k`$ are natural numbers 333If the sphere is covered by the fundamental triangles more than once one obtains eleven more additional configurations of the same four types .. All these solutions correspond to different symmetries. The three solutions are the described Platonic configurations (a tetrahedron ($`l_1=2`$, $`l_2=l_3=3`$, $`N=12`$), a octahedron ($`l_1=2`$, $`l_2=3`$, $`l_3=4`$, $`N=24`$), and a icosahedron ($`l_1=2`$, $`l_2=3`$, $`l_3=5`$, $`N=60`$) ). The fourth solution is a ”double pyramid” where $`l_1=l_2=2`$ and $`l_3=n`$ is arbitrary, $`N=2n`$. The corresponding string configuration for the double pyramid is illustrated by Figure 1.

## 3 Backreaction

Consider now the gravitational backreaction effect for polyhedral strings. For a finite string tension there exists an angular deficit around the string which should be taken into account. Also, if strings have different and arbitrary tensions the symmetry arguments used above may not work.

Let us begin with the simplest and physically most interesting case when strings have equal tensions which result in a deficit angle $`\alpha `$. We assume that each of the angles of the fundamental triangle changes by the same factor $`1\alpha `$. Girard’s formula gives for the area of the fundamental triangle

$$𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }=\pi \left[(1\alpha )\left(\frac{1}{l_1}+\frac{1}{l_2}+\frac{1}{l_3}\right)1\right].$$
(3.1)
To get our configuration we take a number of these triangles and glue them together along the edges in the same way as one glues the fundamental triangles on the ordinary $`S^2`$. Note that the edges of the triangles are still segments of great circles. This guarantees that the extrinsic curvature on the edges is zero and any two triangles are joined without jumps in the extrinsic curvature.

Suppose that by gluing $`2N`$ fundamental triangles together we obtain the triangulation of $`S^2`$. Such a surface $`S_{\text{cone}}^2[N_s]`$ has $`N_s=N+2`$ cone-like singular points with the angle deficits $`\alpha `$. We demonstrate now that sufficient condition for existence of such a triangulation of $`S_{\text{cone}}^2[N_s]`$ again takes the form (2.6). First, let us find the total area $`𝒜`$ of $`S_{\text{cone}}^2[N_s]`$. This can be done by using the Gauss-Bonet formula. For $`S_{\text{cone}}^2[N_s]`$ with deficit angles $`\alpha _s`$ this formula takes the form (see, e.g., )

$$24\pi =d^2x\sqrt{\gamma }R+4\pi \underset{s}{}\alpha _s=2𝒜+4\pi \underset{s}{}\alpha _s,$$
(3.2)
where $`R=2`$ is the scalar curvature and the integration goes over the smooth domain where the metric coincides with the metric on $`S^2`$. From (3.2) one finds

$$𝒜=2\pi \left(2\underset{s}{}\alpha _s\right).$$
(3.3)
In the considered case $`𝒜=\pi (2N_s\alpha )`$ where $`N_s`$ is the total number of strings. Now, if $`2N`$ triangles cover the surface completely one gets the relation

$$N\pi \left[(1\alpha )\left(\frac{1}{l_1}+\frac{1}{l_2}+\frac{1}{l_3}\right)1\right]=\pi (2\alpha (N+2)).$$
(3.4)
After a simple transformation (when the term $`\pi \alpha N`$ is taken from the left hand side to the right) it reduces to (2.6) and proves that our triangulation is self-consistent.

We can generalize this result to the case when different types of the symmetry axes correspond to strings with different tensions. This will be consistent with the symmetry group. Thus, in general for configuration with three different axes one can have three types of strings with tensions $`\mu _k`$ ($`k=1,2,3`$) including the case when some $`\mu _k`$ can vanish444To avoid the confusion let us emphasize that if the two angles of the fundamental triangle coincide they correspond to strings with the same tension. This is needed to preserve the symmetry of the problem.. Now the triangles have the angles $`\pi (1\alpha _k)/k`$ where $`\alpha _k=4\mu _k`$ are the corresponding angular deficits around the strings. As in the previous case, we take $`2N`$ such triangles and glue them along the edges to get triangulation equivalent to triangulation of $`S^2`$ by the fundamental triangles. Let us show that this triangulation is selfconsistent and agrees with (2.6) for any $`\mu _k`$. As follows from (3.3), the area of the sphere is

$$𝒜=2\pi \left(2N_1\alpha _1N_2\alpha _2N_3\alpha _3\right).$$
(3.5)
The area of the fundamental triangle is

$$𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }=\pi \left[(1\alpha _1)\frac{1}{l_1}+(1\alpha _2)\frac{1}{l_2}+(1\alpha _3)\frac{1}{l_3}1\right].$$
(3.6)
Therefore, because $`2N𝒜_\mathrm{\Delta }=𝒜`$,

$$N\left[(1\alpha _1)\frac{1}{l_1}+(1\alpha _2)\frac{1}{l_2}+(1\alpha _3)\frac{1}{l_3}1\right]=\left(2N_1\alpha _1N_2\alpha _2N_3\alpha _3\right).$$
(3.7)
If we now take into account relation between the number of vertexes and the number of triangles, $`N/l_k=N_k`$, (3.7) will be reduced to (2.6). Thus, the values $`\alpha _k`$ can be chosen arbitrary. In particular, some of them can be zero, which means that there are no strings along the corresponding symmetry axes. When only one parameter $`\mu _k0`$ for some $`l_k2`$ one gets a configuration of strings which go through the vertexes of a Platonic solid $`\{p,q\}`$ with $`p=l_k`$. The double pyramid in this case is reduced to a single straight string.

## 4 Derivation of solutions

Let us discuss now solutions of the Einstein equations for the polyhedral string configurations. The total action of the system is555In this section we restore a normal value $`G`$ for the Newton constant.

$$I=\frac{1}{16\pi G}\left[_{}\sqrt{g}d^4xR+2_{}K\sqrt{h}d^3x\right]\frac{1}{4\pi }\underset{s}{}\mu _s\sqrt{\sigma }_sd^2\zeta _s.$$
(4.1)
The last term in the right hand side of (4.1) is the Nambu-Goto action of string, where $`(\sigma _s)_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the metric induced on the world-sheet of a particular string. We assume in (4.1) that the space-time $``$ has a time-like boundary. We take the metric in the form

$$ds^2=\gamma _{\alpha \beta }dx^\alpha dx^\beta +e^{2\varphi }a^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2.$$
(4.2)
Here $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }`$ is a 2D metric, $`\varphi =\varphi (x)`$ a dilaton field which depends on coordinates $`x^\alpha `$, and $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ is the metric on $`S_{\text{cone}}^2[N_s]`$. For a string located at fixed angles the induced metric on a string world-sheet coincides with $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }`$. The parameter $`a`$ in (4.2) has the dimensionality of the length. Locally near each string the metric $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ can be written as

$$d\mathrm{\Omega }^2=\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2+d\theta ^2,$$
(4.3)
where $`0\theta \pi `$, and $`\phi `$ is periodic with period $`2\pi (1\alpha _s)`$. To proceed we have to take into account in (4.1) the presence of delta-function-like contributions due to the conical singularities

$$_{}\sqrt{g}d^4xR=_{^{}}\sqrt{g}d^4xR+4\pi \underset{s}{}\alpha _s\sqrt{\sigma }_sd^2\zeta _s,$$
(4.4)
where $`^{}`$ is the regular domain of $``$. If we impose the on-shell condition $`\alpha _s=4\mu _sG`$ the contribution of the conical singularities in the curvature in (4.1) will cancel exactly the contribution from the string actions. There will remain only the bulk part of the action. On the metric (4.2) it will reduce to 2D dilaton gravity

$$I=\frac{1}{4G_2}\left[\sqrt{\gamma }d^2x\left(e^{2\varphi }R_2+2e^{2\varphi }(\varphi )^2+\frac{2}{a^2}\right)+2𝑑ye^{2\phi }(kk_0)\right],$$
(4.5)
$$\frac{1}{G_2}=\frac{a^2}{G}C(\mu _s)$$
(4.6)
$$C(\mu _s)=12G(N_1\mu _1+N_2\mu _2+N_3\mu _3).$$
(4.7)
The curvature $`R_2`$ in (4.5) is the 2D curvature determined by $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }`$. As a result of modification of the area of sphere due to conical singularities, see (3.5), the gravitational action (including the boundary term) acquires the overall coefficient which depends on $`\alpha _s`$. We included this coefficient in the definition of effective two dimensional gravitational coupling $`G_2`$, Eq. (4.6). It is important that action (4.5) has precisely the same form as the dilatonic action obtained under spherical reduction of the gravitational action in the absence of cosmic strings. Therefore strings have no effect on the dynamical equations for the metric $`\gamma _{\alpha \beta }`$ and the dilaton $`\varphi `$. For these quantities one has standard solutions. In particular, the Birkhoff theorem can be applied in this case and guarantees that in the absence of the other matter in the bulk, the solution is static and it is a 2D black hole

$$d\gamma ^2=Fdt^2+F^1dr^2,F=1\frac{2M}{r}$$
(4.8)
of the mass $`M`$. The corresponding four-dimensional solution is a Schwarzschild black hole of the same mass. In a similar way, by using (4.5) one can construct non-static solutions in the presence of polyhedral strings. Non-vacuum static spherically symmetric solutions, such as a charged black hole with strings, can be constructed as well by adding a matter in the bulk.

## 5 Discussion

The aim of this work was to find exact static solutions which describe an equilibrium configuration of a black hole with radial infinitely thin cosmic strings attached to it. We found special class of such solutions where the positions of the radial strings are fixed by the symmetry.

Are the obtained polyhedral multi-string solutions unique static solutions for black-hole–multi-string configurations? Certainly not. Let us take two equal spherical triangles and glue them along the coinciding edges. We get a configuration of three cosmic strings of certain tensions which is not related to any symmetry. If the triangles are fundamental one gets a configuration discussed in . It is not clear, however, whether one can generalize this procedure and obtain a closed 2D surface with conical singularities by gluing a certain set of different spherical triangles. To find a general static multi-string configuration attached to a black hole is an interesting open problem.

Another interesting problem is to investigate the possibility of equilibrium configurations of higher-dimensional defects (like domain walls) and the effect of the gravitational backreaction in these systems. Some configurations of domain walls corresponding to spherical tessellations are discussed in .

## Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by the NATO Collaborative Linkage Grant CLG.976417. D.F. was also supported by RFBR grant N99-02-18146. V.F. is grateful to the Tokyo Institute of Technology for the hospitality during the preparation of this paper for publication.