We present Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC and WFC3/UVIS imaging for a sample of 50 low-surface brightness (LSB) galaxies in the ~ 10^15 M_odot Perseus cluster, which were originally identified in ground-based imaging. We measure the structural properties of these galaxies and estimate the total number of globular clusters (GCs) they host. Around half of our sample galaxies meet the strict definition of an ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG), while the others are UDG-like but are either somewhat more compact or slightly brighter. A small number of galaxies reveal systems with many tens of GCs, rivalling some of the richest GC systems known around UDGs in the Coma cluster. We find the sizes of rich GC systems, in terms of their half-number radii, extending to ~1.2 times the half-light radii of their host galaxy on average. The mean colours of the GC systems are the same, within the uncertainties, as those of their host galaxy stars. This suggests that GCs and galaxy field stars may have formed at the same epoch from the same enriched gas. It may also indicate a significant contribution from disrupted GCs to the stellar component of the host galaxy as might be expected in the ‘failed galaxy’ formation scenario for UDGs.
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Morphology and Stellar Populations of a Candidate Ultra-diffuse Galaxy in Early Euclid and Rubin Imaging
Abstract We present multi-wavelength imaging and analysis of a low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxy in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), SMDG0333094–280938, with particular emphasis on data from the Euclid space telescope and from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The galaxy is clumpy and blue, and appears to host globular clusters (GCs), suggesting a distance of ∼50–60 Mpc which would make the dwarf an ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG). We carry out spectral energy distribution fitting from the far-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, in order to estimate the galaxy age and metallicity. We infer a recent peak of star formation that may have led to the formation of the UDG through feedback-driven expansion. This early analysis illustrates how Euclid and Rubin are poised to identify and characterize many thousands of UDGs and other LSB galaxies in the near future, including their GCs and stellar populations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2308390
- PAR ID:
- 10699114
- Publisher / Repository:
- The American Astronomical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Research Notes of the AAS
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2515-5172
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 181
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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