Abundance Ratios in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine abundance ratios and star formation histories (SFH) of dwarf ellipticals in the nearby Virgo cluster. We perform a stellar population analysis of 39 dEs and study them using index-index and scaling relations. We find an unusual behaviour where [Na/Fe] is under-abundant w.r.t. solar while [Ca/Fe] is over-abundant.