Testing the Bullet Dwarf Collision Scenario in the NGC 1052 Group Through Morphologies and Stellar Populations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tang, Yimeng, Romanowsky, Aaron J., van Dokkum, Pieter G., Jarrett, T. H., Bundy, Kevin A., Buzzo, Maria Luisa, Danieli, Shany, Gannon, Jonah S., Keim, Michael A., Laine, Seppo, Shen, Zili
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Tang, Yimeng
Romanowsky, Aaron J.
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Jarrett, T. H.
Bundy, Kevin A.
Buzzo, Maria Luisa
Danieli, Shany
Gannon, Jonah S.
Keim, Michael A.
Laine, Seppo
Shen, Zili
author_facet Tang, Yimeng
Romanowsky, Aaron J.
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Jarrett, T. H.
Bundy, Kevin A.
Buzzo, Maria Luisa
Danieli, Shany
Gannon, Jonah S.
Keim, Michael A.
Laine, Seppo
Shen, Zili
contents NGC 1052-DF2 and -DF4 are two ultra-diffuse galaxies that have been reported as deficient in dark matter and associated with the same galaxy group. Recent findings suggest that DF2 and DF4 are part of a large linear substructure of dwarf galaxies that could have been formed from a high-velocity head-on encounter of two gas-rich galaxies, known as a bullet dwarf collision. Based on new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, combined with existing imaging from the u band to mid-infrared, we test the bullet dwarf scenario by studying the morphologies and stellar populations of the trail dwarfs. We find no significant morphological differences between the trail dwarfs and other dwarfs in the group, while for both populations, their photometric major axes unexpectedly align parallel with the trail. We find that the trail dwarfs have significantly older ages and higher metallicities than the comparison sample, supporting the distinctiveness of the trail. These observations provide key constraints for any formation model, and we argue that they are currently best explained by the bullet dwarf collision scenario, with additional strong tests anticipated with future observations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_19331
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Testing the Bullet Dwarf Collision Scenario in the NGC 1052 Group Through Morphologies and Stellar Populations
Tang, Yimeng
Romanowsky, Aaron J.
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Jarrett, T. H.
Bundy, Kevin A.
Buzzo, Maria Luisa
Danieli, Shany
Gannon, Jonah S.
Keim, Michael A.
Laine, Seppo
Shen, Zili
Astrophysics of Galaxies
NGC 1052-DF2 and -DF4 are two ultra-diffuse galaxies that have been reported as deficient in dark matter and associated with the same galaxy group. Recent findings suggest that DF2 and DF4 are part of a large linear substructure of dwarf galaxies that could have been formed from a high-velocity head-on encounter of two gas-rich galaxies, known as a bullet dwarf collision. Based on new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, combined with existing imaging from the u band to mid-infrared, we test the bullet dwarf scenario by studying the morphologies and stellar populations of the trail dwarfs. We find no significant morphological differences between the trail dwarfs and other dwarfs in the group, while for both populations, their photometric major axes unexpectedly align parallel with the trail. We find that the trail dwarfs have significantly older ages and higher metallicities than the comparison sample, supporting the distinctiveness of the trail. These observations provide key constraints for any formation model, and we argue that they are currently best explained by the bullet dwarf collision scenario, with additional strong tests anticipated with future observations.
title Testing the Bullet Dwarf Collision Scenario in the NGC 1052 Group Through Morphologies and Stellar Populations
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.19331