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Abstract The ratio of baryonic-to-dark matter in present-day galaxies constrains galaxy formation theories and can be determined empirically via the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (BTFR), which compares a galaxy’s baryonic mass ( M bary ) to its maximum rotation velocity ( V max ). The BTFR is well determined at M bary > 10 8 M ⊙ , but poorly constrained at lower masses due to small samples and the challenges of measuring rotation velocities in this regime. For 25 galaxies with high-quality data and M bary ≲ 10 8 M ⊙ , we estimate M bary from infrared and H i observations and V max from the H i gas rotation. Many of the V max values are lower limits because the velocities are still rising at the edge of the detected H i disks ( R max ); consequently, most of our sample has lower velocities than expected from extrapolations of the BTFR at higher masses. To estimate V max , we map each galaxy to a dark matter halo assuming density profiles with and without cores. In contrast to noncored profiles, we find the cored profile rotation curves are still rising at R max values, similar to the data. When we compare the V max values derived from the cored density profiles to our M bary measurements, we find a turndown of the BTFR at low masses that is consistent with Λ cold dark matter predictions and implies baryon fractions of 1%–10% of the cosmic value. Although we are limited by the sample size and assumptions inherent in mapping measured rotational velocities to theoretical rotation curves, our results suggest that galaxy formation efficiency drops at masses below M bary ∼ 10 8 M ⊙ , corresponding to M 200 ∼ 10 10 M ⊙ . 

We present deep optical imaging and photometry of four objects classified as “Almost-Dark” galaxies in the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) survey because of their gas-rich nature and extremely faint or missing optical emission in existing catalogs. They have Himasses of 10⁷–10⁹M_⊙and distances of ∼9–100 Mpc. Observations with the WIYN 3.5 m telescope and One Degree Imager reveal faint stellar components with central surface brightnesses of ∼24–25$\mathrm{mag}{\mathrm{arcsec}}^{-2}$in thegband. We also present the results of Hisynthesis observations with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. These Almost-Dark galaxies have been identified as possible tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs) based on their proximity to one or more massive galaxies. We demonstrate that AGC 229398 and AGC 333576 likely have the low dark matter content and large effective radii representative of TDGs. They are located much farther from their progenitors than previously studied TDGs, suggesting they are older and more evolved. AGC 219369 is likely dark matter dominated, while AGC 123216 has a dark matter content that is unusually high for a TDG, but low for a normal dwarf galaxy. We consider possible mechanisms for the formation of the TDG candidates such as a traditional major merger scenario and gas ejection from a high-velocity flyby. Blind Hisurveys like ALFALFA enable the detection of gas-rich, optically faint TDGs that can be overlooked in other surveys, thereby providing a more complete census of the low-mass galaxy population and an opportunity to study TDGs at a more advanced stage of their life cycle.

 

Abstract Using Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the resolved stellar population of KK 242 = NGC 6503-d1 =PGC 4689184, we measure the distance to the galaxy to be 6.46 ± 0.32 Mpc and find that KK 242 is a satellite of the low-mass spiral galaxy NGC 6503 located on the edge of the Local Void. Observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array show signs of a very faint H i signal at the position of KK 242 within a velocity range of V hel = −80 ± 10 km s −1 . This velocity range is severely contaminated by H i emission from the Milky Way and from NGC 6503. The dwarf galaxy is classified as the transition type, dIrr/dSph, with a total H i mass of < 10 6 M ⊙ and a star formation rate SFR(H α ) = −4.82 dex ( M ⊙ yr −1 ). Being at a projected separation of 31 kpc with a radial velocity difference of—105 km s −1 relative to NGC 6503, KK 242 gives an estimate of the halo mass of the spiral galaxy to be log ( M / M ⊙ ) = 11.6. Besides NGC 6503, there are eight more detached low-luminosity spiral galaxies in the Local Volume: M33, NGC 2403, NGC 7793, NGC 1313, NGC 4236, NGC 5068, NGC 4656, and NGC 7640, from whose small satellites we have estimated the average total mass of the host galaxies and their average total mass-to- K -band-luminosity 〈 M T / M ⊙ 〉 = (3.46 ± 0.84) × 10 11 and (58 ± 19) M ⊙ / L ⊙ , respectively. 

We analyse strongly lensed images in eight galaxy clusters to measure their dark matter density profiles in the radial region between 10 kpc and 150 kpc, and use this to constrain the self-interaction cross-section of dark matter (DM) particles. We infer the mass profiles of the central DM haloes, bright central galaxies, key member galaxies, and DM subhaloes for the member galaxies for all eight clusters using the qlens code. The inferred DM halo surface densities are fit to a self-interacting dark matter model, which allows us to constrain the self-interaction cross-section over mass σ/m. When our full method is applied to mock data generated from two clusters in the Illustris-TNG simulation, we find results consistent with no dark matter self-interactions as expected. For the eight observed clusters with average relative velocities of $1458_{-81}^{+80}$ km s−1, we infer $\sigma /m = 0.082_{-0.021}^{+0.027} \rm cm^2\, g^{ -1}$ and $\sigma /m \lt 0.13~ \rm cm^2\, g^{ -1}$ at the 95 per cent confidence level.

 

Abstract We use panoramic optical spectroscopy obtained with the Very Large Telescope/MUSE to investigate the nature of five candidate extremely isolated low-mass star-forming regions (Blue Candidates; hereafter, BCs) toward the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Four of the five (BC1, BC3, BC4, and BC5) are found to host several H ii regions and to have radial velocities fully compatible with being part of the Virgo cluster. All the confirmed candidates have mean metallicity significantly in excess of that expected from their stellar mass, indicating that they originated from gas stripped from larger galaxies. In summary, these four candidates share the properties of the prototype system SECCO 1, suggesting the possible emergence of a new class of stellar systems, intimately linked to the complex duty cycle of gas within clusters of galaxies. A thorough discussion of the nature and evolution of these objects is presented in a companion paper, where the results obtained here from the MUSE data are complemented with Hubble Space Telescope (optical) and Very Large Array (H i ) observations. 

We discuss five blue stellar systems in the direction of the Virgo cluster, analogous to the enigmatic object SECCO 1 (AGC 226067). These objects were identified based on their optical and UV morphology and followed up with Hiobservations with the Very Large Array (and Green Bank Telescope), Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (on the Very Large Telescope) optical spectroscopy, and Hubble Space Telescope imaging. These new data indicate that one system is a distant group of galaxies. The remaining four are extremely low mass (M_*∼ 10⁵M_⊙), are dominated by young blue stars, have highly irregular and clumpy morphologies, are only a few kiloparsecs across, yet host an abundance of metal-rich,$12+\log (\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})>8.2$, Hiiregions. These high metallicities indicate that these stellar systems formed from gas stripped from much more massive galaxies. Despite the young age of their stellar populations, only one system is detected in Hi, while the remaining three have minimal (if any) gas reservoirs. Furthermore, two systems are surprisingly isolated and have no plausible parent galaxy within ∼30′ (∼140 kpc). Although tidal stripping cannot be conclusively excluded as the formation mechanism of these objects, ram pressure stripping more naturally explains their properties, in particular their isolation, owing to the higher velocities, relative to the parent system, that can be achieved. Therefore, we posit that most of these systems formed from ram-pressure-stripped gas removed from new infalling cluster members and survived in the intracluster medium long enough to become separated from their parent galaxies by hundreds of kiloparsecs and that they thus represent a new type of stellar system.

 

The two sources AGC 226178 and NGVS 3543, an extremely faint, clumpy, blue stellar system and a low surface brightness dwarf spheroidal, are adjacent systems in the direction of the Virgo cluster. Both have been studied in detail previously, with it being suggested that they are unrelated normal dwarf galaxies or that NGVS 3543 recently lost its gas through ram pressure stripping and AGC 226178 formed from this stripped gas. However, with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging, we demonstrate that the stellar population of NGVS 3543 is inconsistent with being at the distance of the Virgo cluster and that it is likely a foreground object at approximately 10 Mpc, whereas the stellar population of AGC 226178 is consistent with it being a very young (10–100 Myr) object in the Virgo cluster. Through a reanalysis of the original ALFALFA Hidetection, we show that AGC 226178 likely formed from gas stripped from the nearby dwarf galaxy VCC 2034, a hypothesis strengthened by the high metallicity measured with MUSE VLT observations. However, it is unclear whether ram pressure or a tidal interaction is responsible for stripping the gas. Object AGC 226178 is one of at least five similar objects now known toward Virgo. These objects are all young and unlikely to remain visible for over ∼500 Myr, suggesting that they are continually produced in the cluster.