A Census of Compact Elliptical Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sharonova, Aleksandra V., Grishin, Kirill A., Chilingarian, Igor V., Mamon, Gary A., Caldwell, Nelson, Fabricant, Daniel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Sharonova, Aleksandra V.
Grishin, Kirill A.
Chilingarian, Igor V.
Mamon, Gary A.
Caldwell, Nelson
Fabricant, Daniel
author_facet Sharonova, Aleksandra V.
Grishin, Kirill A.
Chilingarian, Igor V.
Mamon, Gary A.
Caldwell, Nelson
Fabricant, Daniel
contents Compact elliptical (cE) galaxies are compact stellar systems with stellar masses of $10^8 \leq M_*/M_\odot \leq 10^{10}$ and radii typically < 0.6 kpc. Here we investigate the properties of 13 cE galaxies in the Coma cluster, six newly identified. Our goal in this paper is to explore whether these cEs form directly in the cluster environment or are pre-processed in small groups before infalling. We find that pre-processing in groups significantly contributes to the cE population in the Coma cluster. We analyze Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) g band Coma images and validate our photometric measurements through comparison with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. We also analyze spectroscopic data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We significantly expand the known cE population in the Coma cluster through joint photometric and spectroscopic selection. We identify a subpopulation of cEs that likely formed in infalling groups, through their association with host galaxies, their positions on the caustic diagram, and their projected phase-space trajectories. We estimate that the central cE population will increase by 30% within the next 0.4 Gyr, highlighting the important role of pre-processing in cE evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_14772
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Census of Compact Elliptical Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
Sharonova, Aleksandra V.
Grishin, Kirill A.
Chilingarian, Igor V.
Mamon, Gary A.
Caldwell, Nelson
Fabricant, Daniel
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Compact elliptical (cE) galaxies are compact stellar systems with stellar masses of $10^8 \leq M_*/M_\odot \leq 10^{10}$ and radii typically < 0.6 kpc. Here we investigate the properties of 13 cE galaxies in the Coma cluster, six newly identified. Our goal in this paper is to explore whether these cEs form directly in the cluster environment or are pre-processed in small groups before infalling. We find that pre-processing in groups significantly contributes to the cE population in the Coma cluster. We analyze Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) g band Coma images and validate our photometric measurements through comparison with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. We also analyze spectroscopic data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We significantly expand the known cE population in the Coma cluster through joint photometric and spectroscopic selection. We identify a subpopulation of cEs that likely formed in infalling groups, through their association with host galaxies, their positions on the caustic diagram, and their projected phase-space trajectories. We estimate that the central cE population will increase by 30% within the next 0.4 Gyr, highlighting the important role of pre-processing in cE evolution.
title A Census of Compact Elliptical Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.14772