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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Distribution Of Ultra-Diffuse And Ultra-Compact Galaxies In The Frontier Fields, Steven Janssens, Roberto Abraham, Jean Brodie, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky
The Distribution Of Ultra-Diffuse And Ultra-Compact Galaxies In The Frontier Fields, Steven Janssens, Roberto Abraham, Jean Brodie, Duncan Forbes, Aaron Romanowsky
Faculty Publications
Large low-surface-brightness galaxies have recently been found to be abundant in nearby galaxy clusters. In this paper, we investigate these ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in the six Hubble Frontier Fields galaxy clusters: A2744, MACS J0416.1−2403, MACS J0717.5+3745, MACS J1149.5+2223, AS1063, and A370. These are the most massive (1–3 × 1015 M ⊙) and distant (0.308 < z < 0.545) systems in which this class of galaxy has yet been discovered. We estimate that the clusters host of the order of ~200–1400 UDGs inside the virial radius (R 200), consistent with the UDG abundance–halo-mass relation found in the local universe, and suggest that UDGs may be formed in clusters. Within each cluster, however, we find that UDGs are not evenly distributed. Instead their projected spatial distributions are lopsided, and they are deficient in the regions of highest mass density as traced by gravitational lensing. While the deficiency of UDGs in central regions is not surprising, the lopsidedness is puzzling. The UDGs, and their lopsided spatial distributions, may be associated with known substructures late in their infall into the clusters, meaning that we find evidence both for formation of UDGs in clusters and for UDGs falling into clusters. We also investigate the ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs) residing in the clusters, and find that the spatial distributions of UDGs and UCDs appear anticorrelated. Around 15% of UDGs exhibit either compact nuclei or nearby point sources. Taken together, these observations provide additional evidence for a picture in which at least some UDGs are destroyed in dense cluster environments and leave behind a residue of UCDs.
Tidal Destruction In A Low-Mass Galaxy Environment: The Discovery Of Tidal Tails Around Ddo 44, Jeffrey Carlin, Christopher Garling, Annika Peter, Denija Crnojević, Duncan Forbes, Jonathan Hargis, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, Ragadeepika Pucha, Aaron Romanowsky, David Sand, Kristine Spekkens, Jay Strader, Beth Willman
Tidal Destruction In A Low-Mass Galaxy Environment: The Discovery Of Tidal Tails Around Ddo 44, Jeffrey Carlin, Christopher Garling, Annika Peter, Denija Crnojević, Duncan Forbes, Jonathan Hargis, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, Ragadeepika Pucha, Aaron Romanowsky, David Sand, Kristine Spekkens, Jay Strader, Beth Willman
Faculty Publications
We report the discovery of a 1° (~50 kpc) long stellar tidal stream emanating from the dwarf galaxy DDO 44, a likely satellite of Local Volume galaxy NGC 2403 located ~70 kpc in projection from its companion. NGC 2403 is a roughly Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) stellar-mass galaxy 3 Mpc away, residing at the outer limits of the M81 group. We are mapping a large region around NGC 2403 as part of our Magellanic Analogs' Dwarf Companions and Stellar Halos survey, reaching point-source depths (90% completeness) of (g, i) = (26.5, 26.2). Density maps of old, metal-poor RGB stars reveal …