A Deeper Look at the New Milky Way Satellites: Sagittarius II, Reticulum II, Phoenix II, and Tucana III

We present deep Magellan/Megacam stellar photometry of four recently discovered faint Milky Way satellites: Sagittarius II (Sgr II), Reticulum II (Ret II), Phoenix II (Phe II), and Tucana III (Tuc III). Our photometry reaches ~2-3 magnitudes deeper than the discovery data, allowing us to revisit the properties of these new objects (e.g., distance, structural properties, luminosity measurements, and signs of tidal disturbance). The satellite color-magnitude diagrams show that they are all old (~13.5 Gyr) and metal-poor ([Fe/H]$\lesssim-2.2$). Sgr II is particularly interesting as it sits in an intermediate position between the loci of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters in the size-luminosity plane. The ensemble of its structural parameters is more consistent with a globular cluster classification, indicating that Sgr II is the most extended globular cluster in its luminosity range. The other three satellites land directly on the locus defined by Milky Way ultra-faint dwarf galaxies of similar luminosity. Ret II is the most elongated nearby dwarf galaxy currently known for its luminosity range. Our structural parameters for Phe II and Tuc III suggest that they are both dwarf galaxies. Tuc III is known to be associated with a stellar stream, which is clearly visible in our matched-filter stellar density map. The other satellites do not show any clear evidence of tidal stripping in the form of extensions or distortions. Finally, we also use archival HI data to place limits on the gas content of each object.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor updates to match accepted versio

The Quenched Satellite Population Around Milky Way Analogs

We study the relative fractions of quenched and star-forming satellite galaxies in the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) survey and Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) program, two nearby and complementary samples of Milky Way-like galaxies that take different approaches to identify faint satellite galaxy populations. We cross-check and validate sample cuts and selection criteria, as well as explore the effects of different star-formation definitions when determining the quenched satellite fraction of Milky Way analogs. We find the mean ELVES quenched fraction ($\langle QF\rangle$), derived using a specific star formation rate (sSFR) threshold, decreases from $\sim$50% to $\sim$27% after applying a cut in absolute magnitude to match that of the SAGA survey ($\langle QF\rangle_{SAGA}\sim$9%). We show these results are consistent for alternative star-formation definitions. Furthermore, these quenched fractions remain virtually unchanged after applying an additional cut in surface brightness. Using a consistently-derived sSFR and absolute magnitude limit for both samples, we show that the quenched fraction and the cumulative number of satellites in the ELVES and SAGA samples broadly agree. We briefly explore radial trends in the ELVES and SAGA samples, finding general agreement in the number of star-forming satellites per host as a function of radius. Despite the broad agreement between the ELVES and SAGA samples, some tension remains with these quenched fractions in comparison to the Local Group and simulations of Milky Way analogs.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, 1 appendix with 2 additional figures. Main results in Figure 3-6. Submitted to MNRAS and comments welcome

Gas and Star Formation in Satellites of Milky Way Analogs

We have imaged the entirety of eight (plus one partial) Milky Way (MW)–like satellite systems, a total of 42 (45) satellites, from the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs II catalog in both Hα and H i with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and the Jansky Very Large Array. In these eight systems we have identified four cases where a satellite appears to be currently undergoing ram pressure stripping (RPS) as its H i gas collides with the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of its host. We also see a clear suppression of gas fraction (M HI/M *) with decreasing (projected) satellite–host separation—to our knowledge, the first time this has been observed in a sample of MW-like systems. Comparisons to the Auriga, A Project Of Simulating The Local Environment, and TNG50 cosmological zoom-in simulations show consistent global behavior, but they systematically underpredict gas fractions across all satellites by roughly 0.5 dex. Using a simplistic RPS model, we estimate the average peak CGM density that satellites in these systems have encountered to be logρcgm/gcm−3≈−27.3 . Furthermore, we see tentative evidence that these satellites are following a specific star formation rate to gas fraction relation that is distinct from field galaxies. Finally, we detect one new gas-rich satellite in the UGC 903 system with an optical size and surface brightness meeting the standard criteria to be considered an ultra-diffuse galaxy

Signatures of Tidal Disruption in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies: A Combined HST, Gaia, and MMT/Hectochelle Study of Leo V

The ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Leo V has shown both photometric overdensities and kinematic members at large radii, along with a tentative kinematic gradient, suggesting that it may have undergone a close encounter with the Milky Way. We investigate these signs of disruption through a combination of i) high-precision photometry obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), ii) two epochs of stellar spectra obtained with the Hectochelle Spectrograph on the MMT, and iii) measurements from the Gaia mission. Using the HST data, we examine one of the reported stream-like overdensities at large radii, and conclude that it is not a true stellar stream, but instead a clump of foreground stars and background galaxies. Our spectroscopic analysis shows that one known member star is likely a binary, and challenges the membership status of three others, including two distant candidates that had formerly provided evidence for overall stellar mass loss. We also find evidence that the proposed kinematic gradient across Leo V might be due to small number statistics. We update the systemic proper motion of Leo V, finding $(\mu_\alpha \cos\delta, \mu_\delta)= (0.009\pm0.560$, $-0.777\pm0.314)$ mas yr$^{-1}$, which is consistent with its reported orbit that did not put Leo V at risk of being disturbed by the Milky Way. These findings remove most of the observational clues that suggested Leo V was disrupting, however, we also find new plausible member stars, two of which are located >5 half-light radii from the main body. These stars require further investigation. Therefore, the nature of Leo V still remains an open question.Comment: Higher resolution figures are available upon request. Submitted to the Ap

The Disturbed and Globular-cluster-rich Ultradiffuse Galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1

We investigate the ultradiffuse galaxy (UDG) UGC 9050-Dw1, which was selected because of its disturbed morphology as part of a larger sample of UDGs that display evidence for significant interactions. We use the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to identify globular clusters (GCs) associated with UGC 9050-Dw1, and the Jansky Very Large Array to measure its H i content. UGC 9050-Dw1, a neighbor to the low surface brightness spiral UGC 9050, exhibits a unique UV-bright central “clump” with clearly associated H i gas and an extended stellar tidal plume to the north. We identify 52 ± 12 GCs, implying a specific frequency of S _N = 122 ± 38, one of the highest reported for a UDG of this luminosity ( $\mathrm{log}{L}_{V}/{L}_{\odot }=7.5\pm 0.1$ ). Additionally, ∼20% of the total light of the galaxy is contributed by GCs. Nearly uniform GC colors suggest they were formed during a single intense episode of star formation. We posit that UGC 9050-Dw1 represents the initial definitive observational example of UDG formation resulting from a dwarf merger event, where subsequent clumpy star formation has contributed to its present observed characteristics

Tucana B: A Potentially Isolated and Quenched Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxy at D ≈ 1.4 Mpc

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.We report the discovery of Tucana B, an isolated ultra-faint dwarf galaxy at a distance of D = 1.4 Mpc. Tucana B was found during a search for ultra-faint satellite companions to the known dwarfs in the outskirts of the Local Group, although its sky position and distance indicate the nearest galaxy to be ∼500 kpc distant. Deep ground-based imaging resolves Tucana B into stars, and it displays a sparse red giant branch consistent with an old, metal-poor stellar population analogous to that seen in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way, albeit at fainter apparent magnitudes. Tucana B has a half-light radius of 80 ± 40 pc and an absolute magnitude of ${M}_{V}=-{6.9}_{-0.6}^{+0.5}$ mag (${L}_{V}=({5}_{-2}^{+4})\times {10}^{4}$ L⊙), which is again comparable to the Milky Way's ultra-faint satellites. There is no evidence for a population of young stars, either in the optical color–magnitude diagram or in GALEX archival ultraviolet imaging, with the GALEX data indicating $\mathrm{log}({\mathrm{SFR}}_{\mathrm{NUV}}/{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1})\lt -5.4$ for star formation on ≲100 Myr timescales. Given its isolation and physical properties, Tucana B may be a definitive example of an ultra-faint dwarf that has been quenched by reionization, providing strong confirmation of a key driver of galaxy formation and evolution at the lowest mass scales. It also signals a new era of ultra-faint dwarf galaxy discovery at the extreme edges of the Local Group. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.D.J.S. acknowledges support from NSF grants AST-1821967 and 1813708. B.M.P. is supported by an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-2001663. Research by D.C. is supported by NSF grant AST-1814208. A.K. acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" awarded to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709) and through the grant POSTDOC_21_00845 financed from the budgetary program 54a Scientific Research and Innovation of the Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities Council of the Regional Government of Andalusia. F.W. thanks the support provided by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant #HF2-51448 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. A.C. is supported by a Brinson Prize Fellowship at UChicago/KICP. K.S. acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).Peer reviewe

Searching for intermediate-mass black holes in galaxies with low-luminosity AGN: a multiple-method approach

International audienceAims. This work is the first stage of a campaign to search for intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN) and dwarf galaxies. An additional and equally important aim of this pilot study is to investigate the consistency between the predictions of several popular black hole scaling relations and the fundamental plane (FP) of black-hole activity (FP-BH).Methods. We used well established X-ray and radio luminosity relations in accreting black holes, along with the latest scaling relations between the mass of the central black hole (MBH) and the properties of its host spheroid, to predict MBH in seven LLAGN, that were previously reported to be in the IMBH regime. Namely, we used the recently re-evaluated MBH−Msph (Msph: spheroid absolute magnitude at 3.6 μm) scaling relation for spiral galaxies, the MBH−nsph (nsph: major axis Sérsic index of the spheroid component) relation, the MBH−PA (PA: spiral pitch angle) relation, and a recently re-calibrated version of the FP-BH for weakly accreting BHs, to independently estimate MBH in all seven galaxies.Results. We find that all LLAGN in our list have low-mass central black holes with log MBH/M⊙ ≈ 6.5 on average, but that they are, most likely, not IMBHs. All four methods used predicted consistent BH masses in the 1σ range. Furthermore, we report that, in contrast to previous classification, galaxy NGC 4470 is bulge-less, and we also cast doubts on the AGN classification of NGC 3507.Conclusions. We find that our latest, state-of-the-art techniques for bulge magnitude & Sérsic index computations and the most recent updates of the MBH−Lsph, MBH−nsph, and MBH−PA relations and the FP-BH produce consistent results in the low-mass regime. We thus establish a multiple-method approach for predicting BH masses in the regime where their spheres of gravitational influence cannot be spatially resolved. Our approach mitigates against outliers from any one relation and provides a more robust average prediction. We will use our new method to revisit more IMBH candidates in LLAGN