114 research outputs found
Young stellar populations in early-type dwarf galaxies; occurrence, radial extent and scaling relations
To understand the stellar population content of dwarf early-type galaxies
(dEs) and its environmental dependence, we compare the slopes and intrinsic
scatter of color-magnitude relations (CMRs) for three nearby clusters, Fornax,
Virgo and Coma. Additionally we present and compare internal color profiles of
these galaxies to identify central blue regions with younger stars.
We use the imaging of the HST/ACS Fornax cluster in the magnitude range of
-18.7 <= M_g' <= -16.0, to derive magnitudes, colors and color profiles, which
we compare with literature measurements.
Based on analysis of the color profiles, we report a large number of dEs with
young stellar populations in their center in all three clusters. While for
Virgo and Coma the number of blue-cored dEs is found to be 85 +/- 2% and 53 +/-
3% respectively, for Fornax, we find that all galaxies have a blue core. We
show that bluer cores reside in fainter dEs, similar to the trend seen in
nucleated dEs. We find no correlation between the luminosity of the galaxy and
the size of its blue core. Moreover, a comparison of the CMRs of the three
clusters shows that the scatter in Virgo's CMR is considerably larger than in
the Fornax and Coma clusters. Presenting adaptive smoothing we show that the
galaxies on the blue side of the CMR often show evidence for dust extinction,
which strengthens the interpretation that the bluer colors are due to young
stellar populations. We also find that outliers on the red side of the CMR are
more compact than expected for their luminosity. We find several of these red
outliers in Virgo, often close to more massive galaxies. No red outlying
compact early-types are found in Fornax and Coma in this magnitude range while
we find three in the Virgo cluster. We suggest that the large number of
outliers and larger scatter found for the Virgo cluster CMR is a result of
Virgo's different assembly history.Comment: 24 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
A possible signature of the influence of tidal perturbations in dwarf galaxy scaling relations
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Dwarf galaxies are excellent cosmological probes, because their shallow potential wells make them very sensitive to the key processes that drive galaxy evolution, including baryonic feedback, tidal interactions, and ram pressure stripping. However, some of the key parameters of dwarf galaxies, which help trace the effects of these processes, are still debated, including the relationship between their sizes and masses. We re-examine the Fornax Cluster dwarf population from the point of view of isomass-radius--stellar mass relations (IRSMRs) using the Fornax Deep Survey Dwarf galaxy Catalogue, with the centrally located (among dwarfs) ~pc isodensity radius defining our fiducial relation. This relation is a powerful diagnostic tool for identifying dwarfs with unusual structure, as dwarf galaxies' remarkable monotonicity in light profile shapes, as a function of stellar mass, reduces the relation's scatter tremendously. By examining how different dwarf properties (colour, tenth-nearest-neighbour distance, etc.) correlate with distance from our fiducial relation, we find a significant population of structural outliers with comparatively lower central mass surface density and larger half-light-radii, residing in locally denser regions in the cluster, albeit with similar red colours. We propose that these faint, extended outliers likely formed through tidal disturbances, which make the dwarfs more diffuse, but with little mass loss. Comparing these outliers with ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs), we find that the term UDG lacks discriminatory power; UDGs in the Fornax Cluster lie both on and off of IRSMRs defined at small radii, while IRSMR outliers with masses below are excluded from the UDG classification due to their small effective radii.Peer reviewe
The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. VIII. Connecting the accretion history with the cluster density
This work is based on deep multi-band (g, r, i) data from the Fornax Deep
Survey with VST. We analyse the surface brightness profiles of the 19 bright
ETGs inside the virial radius of the Fornax cluster. The main aim of this work
is to identify signatures of accretion onto galaxies by studying the presence
of outer stellar halos, and understand their nature and occurrence. Our
analysis also provides a new and accurate estimate of the intra-cluster light
inside the virial radius of Fornax. We performed multi-component fits to the
azimuthally averaged surface brightness profiles available for all sample
galaxies. This allows to quantify the relative weight of all components in the
galaxy structure that contribute to the total light. In addition, we derived
the average g-i colours in each component identified by the fit, as well as the
azimuthally averaged g-i colour profiles, to correlate them with the stellar
mass of each galaxy and the location inside the cluster. We find that in the
most massive and reddest ETGs the fraction of light in, probably accreted,
halos is much larger than in the other galaxies. Less-massive galaxies have an
accreted mass fraction lower than 30%, bluer colours and reside in the
low-density regions of the cluster. Inside the virial radius of the cluster,
the total luminosity of the intra-cluster light, compared with the total
luminosity of all cluster members, is about 34%. Inside the Fornax cluster
there is a clear correlation between the amount of accreted material in the
stellar halos of galaxies and the density of the environment in which those
galaxies reside. By comparing this quantity with theoretical predictions and
previous observational estimates, there is a clear indication that the driving
factor for the accretion process is the total stellar mass of the galaxy, in
agreement with the hierarchical accretion scenario.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
Constraining the top-light initial mass function in the extended ultraviolet disk of M83
The universality or non-universality of the initial mass function (IMF) has
significant implications for determining star formation rates and star
formation histories from photometric properties of stellar populations. We
reexamine whether the IMF is deficient in high-mass stars (top-light) in the
low-density environment of the outer disk of M83 and constrain the shape of the
IMF therein. Using archival Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) far ultraviolet
(FUV) and near ultraviolet (NUV) data and new deep OmegaCAM narrowband
H imaging, we constructed a catalog of FUV-selected objects in the
outer disk of M83. We counted H-bright clusters and clusters that are
blue in FUVNUV in the catalog, measured the maximum flux ratio
among the clusters, and
measured the total flux ratio over the catalog. We then compared these measurements to
predictions from stellar population synthesis models made with a standard
Salpeter IMF, truncated IMFs, and steep IMFs. We also investigated the effect
of varying the assumed internal extinction on our results. We are not able to
reproduce our observations with models using the standard Salpeter IMF or the
truncated IMFs. It is only when assuming an average internal extinction of
in the outer disk stellar clusters that models
with steep IMFs () simultaneously reproduce the observed cluster
counts, the maximum observed ,
and the observed .
Our results support a non-universal IMF that is deficient in high-mass stars in
low-density environments.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. I. The extended and diffuse stellar halo of NGC~1399 out to 192 kpc
[Abrigded] We have started a new deep, multi-imaging survey of the Fornax
cluster, dubbed Fornax Deep Survey (FDS), at the VLT Survey Telescope. In this
paper we present the deep photometry inside two square degrees around the
bright galaxy NGC1399 in the core of the cluster. We found a very extended and
diffuse envelope surrounding the luminous galaxy NGC1399: we map the surface
brightness out to 33 arcmin (~ 192 kpc) from the galaxy center and down to
about 31 mag/arcsec^2 in the g band. The deep photometry allows us to detect a
faint stellar bridge in the intracluster region between NGC1399 and NGC1387. By
analyzing the integrated colors of this feature, we argue that it could be due
to the ongoing interaction between the two galaxies, where the outer envelope
of NGC1387 on its east side is stripped away. By fitting the light profile, we
found that it exists a physical break radius in the total light distribution at
R=10 arcmin (~58 kpc) that sets the transition region between the bright
central galaxy and the outer exponential stellar halo. We discuss the main
implications of this work on the build-up of the stellar halo at the center of
the Fornax cluster. By comparing with the numerical simulations of the stellar
halo formation for the most massive BCGs, we find that the observed stellar
halo mass fraction is consistent with a halo formed through the multiple
accretion of progenitors with a stellar mass in the range 10^8 - 10^11 M_sun.
This might suggest that the halo of NGC1399 has also gone through a major
merging event. The absence of a significant number of luminous stellar streams
and tidal tails out to 192 kpc suggests that the epoch of this strong
interaction goes back to an early formation epoch. Therefore, differently from
the Virgo cluster, the extended stellar halo around NGC1399 is characterised by
a more diffuse and well-mixed component, including the ICL.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 25 pages and 14 figures. An higher
resolution file is available at the following link
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fvltppduysdn6pb/NGC1399_fin_2c.pdf?dl=
The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. II. Fornax A: a two-phase assembly caught on act
As part of the Fornax Deep Survey with the ESO VLT Survey Telescope, we
present new and bands mosaics of the SW group of the Fornax cluster. It
covers an area of square degrees around the central galaxy
NGC1316. The deep photometry, the high spatial resolution of OmegaCam and the
large covered area allow us to study the galaxy structure, to trace stellar
halo formation and look at the galaxy environment. We map the surface
brightness profile out to 33arcmin (kpc ) from the galaxy
centre, down to mag arcsec and mag
arcsec. This allow us to estimate the scales of the main components
dominating the light distribution, which are the central spheroid, inside 5.5
arcmin ( kpc), and the outer stellar envelope. Data analysis suggests
that we are catching in act the second phase of the mass assembly in this
galaxy, since the accretion of smaller satellites is going on in both
components. The outer envelope of NGC1316 still hosts the remnants of the
accreted satellite galaxies that are forming the stellar halo. We discuss the
possible formation scenarios for NGC1316, by comparing the observed properties
(morphology, colors, gas content, kinematics and dynamics) with predictions
from cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. We find that {\it i)} the
central spheroid could result from at least one merging event, it could be a
pre-existing early-type disk galaxy with a lower mass companion, and {\it ii)}
the stellar envelope comes from the gradual accretion of small satellites.Comment: Accepeted for publication in Ap
Globular clusters in the Fornax cluster: A report from the FDS survey
The Fornax Deep Survey (FDS) is a multi-band imaging survey of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, executed with the ESO VLT Survey Telescope (VST). The survey is designed to reach unprecedented surface brightness and point-source magnitude depth over one virial radius of the cluster. The scientific objectives of the survey are numerous: the study of the galaxy luminosity function, derivation of galaxy scaling relations, determination of the properties of compact stellar systems, an accurate determination of distances and 3-D geometry of the Fornax cluster, analysis of diffuse stellar light and galaxy interactions, etc
The Fornax Cluster VLT Spectroscopic Survey: IV. Cold kinematical substructures in the Fornax core from COSTA
Context. Substructures in stellar haloes are a strong prediction of galaxy formation models in ΛCDM. Cold streams such as those from small satellite galaxies are extremely difficult to detect and kinematically characterize. The COld STream finder Algorithm (COSTA) is a novel algorithm able to find streams in the phase space of planetary nebulae (PNe) and globular cluster (GC) populations. COSTA isolates groups of (N) particles with small velocity dispersion (between 10 km s−1 and ∼120 km s−1) using an iterative (n) sigma-clipping over a defined number of (k) neighbor particles.
Aims: We applied COSTA to a catalog of PNe and GCs from the Fornax Cluster VLT Spectroscopic Survey (FVSS) within ∼200 kpc from the cluster core in order to detect cold substructures and characterize their kinematics (mean velocity and velocity dispersion).
Methods: We selected more than 2000 PNe and GCs from the FVSS catalogs and adopted a series of optimized setups of the COSTA parameters based on Montecarlo simulations of the PN and GC populations to search for realistic stream candidates. We find 13 cold substructures with velocity dispersion ranging from ∼20 to ∼100 km s−1, which are likely associated either to large galaxies or to ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Fornax core.
Results: The luminosities of these streams show a clear correlation with internal velocity dispersion, and their surface brightness correlates with their size and distance from the cluster center, which is compatible with the dissipative processes producing them. However, we cannot exclude that some of these substructures formed by violent relaxation of massive satellites that finally merged into the central galaxy. Among these substructures we have: (1) a stream connecting NGC 1387 to the central galaxy, NGC 1399, previously reported in the literature; (2) a new giant stream produced by the interaction of NGC 1382 with NGC 1380 and (possibly) NGC 1381; (3) a series of streams kinematically connected to nearby UCDs; and (4) clumps of tracers with no clear kinematical association to close cluster members.
Conclusions: We show evidence for a variety of cold substructures predicted in simulations. Most of the streams are kinematically connected to UCDs, supporting the scenario that they can be remnants of disrupted dwarf systems. However, we also show the presence of long coherent substructures connecting cluster members and isolated clumps of tracers possibly left behind by their parent systems before these merged into the central galaxy. Unfortunately, the estimated low-surface brightness of these streams does not allow us to find their signatures in the current imaging data and deeper observations are needed to confirm them
Intracluster Patches of Baryons in the Core of the Fornax Cluster
In the core of the Fornax cluster, on the west side of NGC 1399, we have detected a previously unknown region of intracluster light (ICL). It is made up by several faint ({μ }r≃ 28{--}29 mag arcsec‑2) patches of diffuse light. The bulk of the ICL is located in between the three bright galaxies in the core, NGC 1387, NGC 1379, and NGC 1381, at 10≤slant R≤slant 40 arcmin (∼58–230 kpc) from the central galaxy NGC 1399. We show that the ICL is the counterpart in the diffuse light of the known over-density in the population of blue globular clusters (GCs). The total g-band luminosity of the ICL is {L}g≃ 8.3× {10}9 L ⊙, which is ∼5% of the total luminosity of NGC 1399. This is consistent with the fraction of the blue GCs in the same region of the cluster. The ICL has g-r∼ 0.7 mag, which is similar to the colors in the halo of the bright galaxies in the cluster core. The new findings were compared with theoretical predictions for the ICL formation and they support a scenario in which the intracluster population detected in the core of the Fornax cluster is build up by the tidal stripping of material (stars and GCs) from galaxy outskirts in a close passage with the central brightest galaxy (cD). Moreover, the diffuse form of the ICL and its location close to the core of the cluster is expected in a dynamically evolved cluster like Fornax
A possible signature of the influence of tidal perturbations in dwarf galaxy scaling relations
Dwarf galaxies are excellent cosmological probes, because their shallow potential wells make them very sensitive to the key processes that drive galaxy evolution, including baryonic feedback, tidal interactions, and ram pressure stripping. However, some of the key parameters of dwarf galaxies, which help trace the effects of these processes, are still debated, including the relationship between their sizes and masses. We re-examine the Fornax Cluster dwarf population from the point of view of isomass-radius–stellar mass relations (IRSMRs) using the Fornax Deep Survey Dwarf galaxy Catalogue, with the centrally located (among dwarfs) 3.63M☉ pc-2 isodensity radius defining our fiducial relation. This relation is a powerful diagnostic tool for identifying dwarfs with unusual structure, as dwarf galaxies’ remarkable monotonicity in light profile shapes, as a function of stellar mass, reduces the relation’s scatter tremendously. By examining how different dwarf properties (colour, 10th nearest neighbour distance, etc.) correlate with distance from our fiducial relation, we find a significant population of structural outliers with comparatively lower central mass surface density and larger half-light-radii, residing in locally denser regions in the cluster, albeit with similar red colours. We propose that these faint, extended outliers likely formed through tidal disturbances, which make the dwarfs more diffuse, but with little mass-loss. Comparing these outliers with ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs), we find that the term UDG lacks discriminatory power; UDGs in the Fornax Cluster lie both on and off of IRSMRs defined at small radii, while IRSMR outliers with masses below ∼ 107.5M☉ are excluded from the UDG classification due to their small effective radii
- …