Dwarf Galaxies Research Articles

UVIT Study of the MAgellanic Clouds (U-SMAC). II. A Far-UV Catalog of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Morphology and Kinematics of Young Stellar Population

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is an irregular dwarf galaxy that has recently undergone an interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud. The young massive stars in the SMC formed in the disturbed low-metallicity environment are important targets in astrophysics. We present a catalog of ∼76,800 far-ultraviolet (FUV) sources toward the SMC detected using the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope onboard AstroSat. We created an FUV catalog with ∼62,900 probable SMC members which predominantly comprise main-sequence, giant, and subgiant stars. We selected four young populations (Young 1, Young 2, Young 3, and Blue Loop (BL) stars) identified from the Gaia optical color–magnitude diagram to study the morphology and kinematics of the young SMC using this catalog. We detect a clumpy morphology with a broken bar, a shell-like structure, and the inner SMC Wing for the four stellar populations. The eastern region and the northeastern regions are mainly populated by Young 1, 2, and 3 stars. The central region predominantly has the Young 2 and 3 populations, whereas the SW has BL stars, and Young 2 and 3 stars. The 2D kinematic study using proper motion (PM) reveals that Young 2 and 3 populations show two kinematically distinct subpopulations with low and high PM dispersion, whereas the Young 1 and BL stars show two kinematically distinct populations with low dispersion. Our analysis points to a kinematic disturbance along the R.A. direction for stars younger than ∼150 Myr located in the eastern region, with no significant disturbance along the decl.

Oxygen Abundance Throughout the Dwarf Starburst Galaxy IC 10

Measurements of oxygen abundance throughout galaxies provide insight to the formation histories and ongoing processes. Here we present a study of the gas-phase oxygen abundance in the H ii regions and diffuse gas of the nearby starburst dwarf galaxy, IC 10. Using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager at W. M. Keck Observatory, we map the central region of IC 10 from 3500 to 5500 Å. The auroral [O III] 4363 Å line is detected with a high signal-to-noise ratio in 12 of 46 H II regions observed, allowing for direct measurement of the oxygen abundance, yielding a median and standard deviation of 12+log(O/H)=8.37±0.25 . We investigate trends between these directly measured oxygen abundances and other H II region properties, finding weak negative correlations with the radius, velocity dispersion, and luminosity. We also find weak negative correlations between the oxygen abundance and the derived quantities of turbulent pressure and ionized gas mass, and a moderate correlation with the derived dynamical mass. Strong line, R 23 abundance estimates are used in the remainder of the H II regions and on a resolved spaxel-by-spaxel basis. There is a large offset between the abundances measured with R 23 and the auroral line method. We find that the R 23 method is unable to capture the large range of abundances observed via the auroral line measurements. The extent of this variation in the measured abundances further indicates a poorly mixed interstellar medium in IC 10, which is not typical of dwarf galaxies and may be partly due to the ongoing starburst, accretion of pristine gas, or a late stage merger.

Assessing the Association between the Globular Cluster NGC 4147 and the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

The potential association of the globular cluster (GC) NGC 4147 with the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf spheroidal galaxy has been proposed due to their comparable locations and radial velocities. However, there are still debates about this connection. In this study, we use data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Imaging Surveys to assess their association. We redetermine the fundamental parameters of NGC 4147 and find that the cluster is 11.0 Gyr old, has a metallicity of Z = 0.0006, and is located 18.5 kpc from the Sun. We utilize the matched filter algorithm to identify extratidal structures in the surrounding sky of NGC 4147. The multiarmed tidal structures we find align more closely with the result of internal two-body relaxation processes within the cluster itself. The orientations of the dispersed tidal structures, the orbital direction of the cluster, and the mean orbital direction of Sgr do not show any apparent connection to each other. It seems to challenge the hypothesis of a common origin between the cluster and Sgr. To further investigate the association, we study the kinematics of NGC 4147 with the newly determined fundamental parameters. We find that the orbit, orbital energy, and angular momentum of NGC 4147 are not compatible with those of Sgr or its streams. This suggests that the cluster is not dynamically associated with Sgr. The morphology and dynamics of NGC 4147 are more consistent with it being a GC that formed with another origin rather than being accreted from the Sgr dwarf galaxy.

High-resolution HI mapping of nearby extremely metal-poor blue compact dwarf galaxies

Optical observations of blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) show they typically have high specific star formation rates black (sSFRs) and low metallicites. A subset of these galaxies (those with the lowest gas phase metallicities) display cometary optical morphologies similar to those found at high redshift. Whether this combination of properties predominantly arises from interactions with neighbours or via accretion from the cosmic web, or is indeed due to something else, remains unclear. Our aim is to use high-resolution mapping to gain insights into the processes driving the observed properties of a sample of extremely metal-poor (XMP) BCDs. We present Very Large Array B-- and C--configuration mapping of the four BCDs of our sample. For three of the targeted BCDs, we also detected and mapped the in their nearby companions. In these three cases, there is morphological and kinematic evidence of a recent flyby interaction between the BCD and a nearby companion galaxy. The evidence for recent interactions for these three BCDs is corroborated by our analysis of the tidal forces exerted on the BCDs by companions with available spectroscopic redshifts. In one of these cases, J0204--1009, we obtain sufficient spatial resolution to determine that the BCD is dominated by dark matter black (DM) and estimate its DM halo mass to be in the range of 1.2 times 1011 to 5.2 times 1011 However, it is the most isolated BCD in our small sample, J0301--0052, that shows one of the most asymmetric morphologies . J0301--0052 has a similar cometary morphology to its optical morphology, although the column density maximum is projected at the end of the optical tail. Our observations suggest that J0301--0052 may be undergoing a merger, while the other members of our BCD sample show evidence of a recent tidal interaction with a near neighbour. While our selection criteria favour BCDs with companions, our results are consistent with previous literature showing that most BCDs are associated with either mild tidal interactions or mergers.

Disc distortion revisited

Abstract We revisit the dynamics of razor-thin, stone-cold, self-gravitating discs. By recasting the equations into standard cylindrical coordinates, the linearised vertical dynamics of an exponential disc can be followed for several gigayears on a laptop in a few minutes. An initially warped disc rapidly evolves into a flat inner region and an outward-propagating spiral corrugation wave that rapidly winds up and would quickly thicken a disc with non-zero radial velocity dispersion. The Sgr dwarf galaxy generates a similar warp in the Galactic disc as it passes through pericentre, and the warp generated by the dwarf’s last pericentre ∼35 Myr ago is remarkably similar to the warp traced by the Galaxy’s HI disc. The resemblance to the observed warp is fleeting but its timing is perfect. For the adopted parameters the amplitude of the model warp is a factor 3 too small, but there are several reasons for this being so. The marked flaring of our Galaxy’s low-α disc just outside the solar circle can be explained as a legacy of earlier pericentres.

RIGEL: Simulating dwarf galaxies at solar mass resolution with radiative transfer and feedback from individual massive stars

Context. Feedback from stars in the form of radiation, stellar winds, and supernovae is crucial to regulating the star formation activity of galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are especially susceptible to these processes, making them an ideal test bed for studying the effects of stellar feedback in detail. Recent numerical models have aimed to resolve the interstellar medium (ISM) in dwarf galaxies with a very high resolution of several solar masses. However, when it comes to modeling the radiative feedback from stars, many models opt for simplified approaches instead of explicitly solving radiative transfer (RT) because of the computational complexity involved. Aims. We introduce the Realistic ISM modeling in Galaxy Evolution and Lifecycles (RIGEL) model, a novel framework to self-consistently model the effects of stellar feedback in the multiphase ISM of dwarf galaxies with explicit RT on a star-by-star basis. Methods. The RIGEL model integrates detailed implementations of feedback from individual massive stars into the state-of-the-art radiation-hydrodynamics code, AREPO-RT. It forms individual massive stars from the resolved multiphase ISM by sampling the initial mass function and tracks their evolution individually. The lifetimes, photon production rates, mass-loss rates, and wind velocities of these stars are determined by their initial masses and metallicities based on a library that incorporates a variety of stellar models. The RT equations are solved explicitly in seven spectral bins accounting for the infrared to He II ionizing bands, using a moment-base scheme with the M1 closure relation. The thermochemistry model tracks the nonequilibrium H, He chemistry as well as the equilibrium abundance of C I, C II, O I, O II, and CO in the irradiated ISM to capture the thermodynamics of all ISM phases, from cold molecular gas to hot ionized gas. Results. We evaluated the performance of the RIGEL model using 1 M⊙ resolution simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies. We found that the star formation rate (SFR) and interstellar radiation field (ISRF) show strong positive correlations with the metallicity of the galaxy. Photoionization and photoheating can reduce the SFR by an order of magnitude by removing the available cold, dense gas fuel for star formation. The presence of ISRF also significantly changes the thermal structure of the ISM. Radiative feedback occurs immediately after the birth of massive stars and rapidly disperses the molecular clouds within 1 Myr. As a consequence, radiative feedback reduces the age spread of star clusters to less than 2 Myr, prohibits the formation of massive star clusters, and shapes the cluster initial mass function to a steep power-law form with a slope of ∼ − 2. The mass-loading factor (measured at z = 1 kpc) of the fiducial galaxy has a median of ηM ∼ 50, while turning off radiative feedback reduces this factor by an order of magnitude. Conclusions. We demonstrate that RIGEL effectively captures the nonlinear coupling of early radiative feedback and supernova feedback in the multiphase ISM of dwarf galaxies. This novel framework enables the utilization of a comprehensive stellar feedback and ISM model in cosmological simulations of dwarf galaxies and various galactic environments spanning a wide dynamic range in both space and time.

The Potential for Long-lived Intermediate-mass Black Hole Binaries in the Lowest Density Dwarf Galaxies

Intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) mergers with masses 104–106 M ⊙ are expected to produce gravitational waves detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) with high signal-to-noise ratios from the present day to cosmic dawn. IMBH mergers are expected to take place within dwarf galaxies; however, the dynamics, timescales, and effect on their hosts are largely unexplored. In a previous study, we examined how IMBHs would pair and merge within nucleated dwarf galaxies. IMBHs in nucleated hosts evolve very efficiently, forming a binary system and coalescing within a few hundred million years. Although the fraction of dwarf galaxies (107 M ⊙ ≤ M ⋆ ≤ 1010 M ⊙) hosting nuclear star clusters is between 60% and 100%, this fraction drops to 20%–70% for lower-mass dwarfs (M ⋆ ≈ 107 M ⊙), with the largest drop in low-density environments. Here, we extend our previous study by performing direct N-body simulations to explore the dynamics and evolution of IMBHs within nonnucleated dwarf galaxies, under the assumption that IMBHs exist within these dwarfs. To our surprise, none of the IMBHs in our simulation suite merge within a Hubble time, despite many attaining high eccentricities e ∼ 0.7–0.95. We conclude that extremely low stellar density environments in the centers of nonnucleated dwarfs do not provide an ample supply of stars to interact with an IMBH binary, resulting in its stalling, in spite of triaxiality and high eccentricity, common means to drive a binary to coalescence. Our findings underline the importance of considering all detailed host properties to predict IMBH merger rates for LISA.

Has the Palomar 14 Globular Cluster Been Captured by the Milky Way?

We examine a new scenario to model the outer halo globular cluster (GC) Palomar 14 (Pal 14) over its lifetime by performing a comprehensive set of direct N-body calculations. We assume Pal 14 was born in a now detached/disrupted dwarf galaxy with a strong tidal field. Pal 14 evolved there until the slope of the stellar mass function (MF) became close to the measured value, which is observed to be significantly shallower than in most GCs. After about 2–3 Gyr, Pal 14 was then captured by the Milky Way (MW). Although the physical size of such a cluster is indistinguishable from a cluster that has lived its entire life in the MW, other parameters like its mass and the MF slope, strongly depend on the time the cluster is taken from the dwarf galaxy. After being captured by the MW on a new orbit, the cluster expands and eventually reaches the appropriate mass and size of Pal 14 after 11.5 Gyr while reproducing the observed MF. These simulations thus suggest that Pal 14 may have formed in a dwarf galaxy with a post-gas expulsion initial half-mass radius and mass of r h = 7 pc and 8 < M/104 < 10 M ⊙, respectively, with a high degree of primordial mass segregation.

Bursty Star Formation in Dwarfs is Sensitive to Numerical Choices in Supernova Feedback Models

Simulations of galaxy formation are mostly unable to resolve the energy-conserving phase of individual supernova events, having to resort to subgrid models to distribute the energy and momentum resulting from stellar feedback. However, the properties of these simulated galaxies, including the morphology, stellar mass formed, and the burstiness of the star formation history, are highly sensitive to the numerical choices adopted in these subgrid models. Using the SMUGGLE stellar feedback model, we carry out idealized simulations of an M vir ∼ 1010 M ⊙ dwarf galaxy, a regime where most simulation codes predict significant burstiness in star formation, resulting in strong gas flows that lead to the formation of dark matter cores. We find that by varying only the directional distribution of momentum imparted from supernovae to the surrounding gas, while holding the total momentum per supernova constant, bursty star formation may be amplified or completely suppressed, and the total stellar mass formed can vary by as much as a factor of ∼3. In particular, when momentum is primarily directed perpendicular to the gas disk, less bursty and lower overall star formation rates result, yielding less gas turbulence, more disky morphologies, and a retention of cuspy dark matter density profiles. An improved understanding of the nonlinear coupling of stellar feedback into inhomogeneous gaseous media is thus needed to make robust predictions for stellar morphologies and dark matter core formation in dwarfs independent of uncertain numerical choices in the baryonic treatment.

The Ancient Star Formation History of the Extremely Low-mass Galaxy Leo P: An Emerging Trend of a Post-reionization Pause in Star Formation

Isolated, low-mass galaxies provide the opportunity to assess the impact of reionization on their star formation histories (SFHs) without the ambiguity of environmental processes associated with massive host galaxies. There are very few isolated, low-mass galaxies that are close enough to determine their SFHs from resolved star photometry reaching below the oldest main-sequence turnoff. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has increased the volume for which this is possible, and here we report on JWST observations of the low-mass, isolated galaxy Leo P. From NIRCam imaging in F090W, F150W, and F277W, we derive an SFH that shows early star formation followed by a pause subsequent to the Epoch of Reionization, which is then later followed by a reignition of star formation. This is very similar to the SFHs from previous studies of other dwarf galaxies in the “transition zone” between quenched very-low-mass galaxies and the more massive galaxies that show no evidence of the impact of reionization on their SFHs; this pattern is rarely produced in simulations of SFHs. The lifetime SFH reveals that Leo P’s stellar mass at the Epoch of Reionization was in the range that is normally associated with being totally quenched. The extended pause in star formation from z ∼ 5 to 1 has important implications for the contribution of low-mass galaxies to the ultraviolet photon budget at intermediate redshifts. We also demonstrate that, due to higher sensitivity and angular resolution, observing in two NIRCam short-wavelength filters is superior to observing in a combination of a short- and a long-wavelength filter.

First Results from the Dragonfly Ultrawide Survey: The Largest 11 Quenched Diffuse Dwarf Galaxies in 3100 deg2 with Spectroscopic Confirmation

The Dragonfly Telephoto Array employs a unique design to detect very large and diffuse galaxies that might be missed with conventional telescopes. The Dragonfly Ultrawide Survey (DFUWS) is a new wide-field survey that will cover 10,000 deg2 of the northern sky, and it provides an ideal data set to find these large diffuse galaxies. From 3100 deg2 of DFUWS data, we identified 11 large, low surface brightness galaxies as a pilot sample for spectroscopic follow-up. These are the largest galaxies in the examined area that appear smooth and isolated, with effective radii of 12″–27″. Eight are below 24 magarcsec−2 in central g-band surface brightness. Keck Cosmic Web Imager spectra of the diffuse light show that all 11 galaxies in this sample are quiescent, and seven qualify as ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs). Eight galaxies have distances between 15 and 30 Mpc, while the other three are in the Pegasus cluster at 50 Mpc. Their spectra show evidence of a ∼1 Gyr old stellar population in addition to an even older stellar population. The intermediate-age component is present in group and satellite galaxies but not in the Pegasus cluster UDGs. All galaxies in this sample are detected in both Dragonfly and Legacy imaging, and the sample partially overlaps with existing UDG catalogs. This pilot sample provides an excellent training set for our analysis of the upcoming full 10,000 deg2 DFUWS data, from which we may expect to discover even larger, previously unknown galaxies.

The SAGA Survey. V. Modeling Satellite Systems around Milky Way–Mass Galaxies with Updated UniverseMachine

Abstract Environment plays a critical role in shaping the assembly of low-mass galaxies. Here, we use the UniverseMachine (UM) galaxy–halo connection framework and Data Release 3 of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey to place dwarf galaxy star formation and quenching into a cosmological context. UM is a data-driven forward model that flexibly parameterizes galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) using only halo mass and assembly history. We add a new quenching model to UM, tailored for galaxies with m ⋆ ≲ 109 M ⊙, and constrain the model down to m ⋆ ≳ 107 M ⊙ using new SAGA observations of 101 satellite systems around Milky Way (MW)–mass hosts and a sample of isolated field galaxies in a similar mass range from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The new best-fit model, “UM-SAGA,” reproduces the satellite stellar mass functions, average SFRs, and quenched fractions in SAGA satellites while keeping isolated dwarfs mostly star-forming. The enhanced quenching in satellites relative to isolated field galaxies leads the model to maximally rely on halo assembly to explain the observed environmental quenching. Extrapolating the model down to m ⋆ ∼ 106.5 M ⊙ yields a quenched fraction of ≳30% for isolated field galaxies and ≳80% for satellites of MW-mass hosts at this stellar mass. Spectroscopic surveys can soon test this specific prediction to reveal the relative importance of internal feedback, cessation of mass and gas accretion, satellite-specific gas processes, and reionization for the evolution of faint low-mass galaxies.

Photometry and kinematics of dwarf galaxies from the Apertif HI survey

Understanding the dwarf galaxy population in low density environments (in the field) is crucial for testing the current Lambda Cold Dark Matter cosmological model. The increase in diversity toward low-mass galaxies is seen as an increase in the scatter of scaling relations, such as the stellar mass--size and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR), and is also demonstrated by recent in-depth studies of an extreme sub-class of dwarf galaxies with low surface brightnesses but large physical sizes called ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs). We aim to select dwarf galaxies independent of their stellar content and to make a detailed study of their gas and stellar properties. We selected galaxies from the APERture Tile In Focus (Apertif) survey and applied a constraint on their $i$-band absolute magnitude in order to exclude high-mass systems. The sample consists of 24 galaxies, 22 of which are resolved in by at least three beams, and they span mass ranges of 8.6 $ lesssim 9.7 and a stellar mass range of 8.0 $ lesssim 9.7 (with only three galaxies having log ( msun)&gt;9). We determined the geometrical parameters of the and stellar disks, built kinematic models from the data using and extracted surface brightness profiles in the g-, r- and i- bands from the Pan-STARRS 1 photometric survey. We used these measurements to place our galaxies on the stellar mass--size relation and the BTFR, and we compared them with other samples from the literature. We find that at a fixed stellar mass, our dwarfs have larger optical effective radii than isolated optically selected dwarfs from the literature, and we found misalignments between the optical and morphologies for some of our sample. For most of our galaxies, we used the morphology to determine their kinematics, and we stress that deep optical observations are needed to trace the underlying stellar disks. Standard dwarfs in our sample follow the same BTFR of high-mass galaxies, whereas UDGs are slightly offset toward lower rotational velocities, in qualitative agreement with results from previous studies. Finally, our sample features a fraction (25&lt;!PCT!&gt;) of dwarf galaxies in pairs that is significantly larger with respect to previous estimates based on optical spectroscopic data.

Hedgehog: An Isolated Quiescent Dwarf Galaxy at 2.4 Mpc

It is well known that almost all isolated dwarf galaxies are actively forming stars. We report the discovery of dw1322m2053 (nicknamed Hedgehog), an isolated quiescent dwarf galaxy at a distance of 2.40 ± 0.15 Mpc with a stellar mass of M ⋆ ≈ 105.8 M ⊙. The distance is measured using surface brightness fluctuations with both Legacy Surveys and deep Magellan/IMACS imaging data. Hedgehog is 1.7 Mpc from the nearest galaxy group, Centaurus A, and has no neighboring galaxies within 1 Mpc, making it one of the most isolated quiescent dwarf galaxies at this stellar mass. It has a red optical color and early-type morphology and shows no UV emission. This indicates that Hedgehog has an old stellar population and no ongoing star formation. Compared with other quiescent dwarfs in the Local Group and Local Volume, Hedgehog appears smaller in size for its luminosity but is consistent with the mass–size relations. Hedgehog might be a backsplash galaxy from the Centaurus A group, but it could also have been quenched in the field by ram pressure stripping in the cosmic web, reionization, or internal processes such as supernova and stellar feedback. Future observations are needed to fully unveil its formation, history, and quenching mechanisms.

The Smallest Scale of Hierarchy Survey (SSH)

We present new deep, wide-field imaging data from the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in g and r bands from the Smallest Scale of Hierarchy Survey (SSH) that reveal previously undetected tidal features and stellar streams in the outskirts of six dwarf irregular galaxies (NGC 5238, UGC 6456, UGC 6541, UGC 7605, UGC 8638, and UGC 8760) with stellar masses in the range 1.2 × 107 M⊙ to 1.4 × 108 M⊙. The six dwarfs are located 1-2 Mpc away from large galaxies, which implies that the observed distortions are unlikely to be due to tidal effects from a nearby, massive companion. At the distances of ~3-4 Mpc at which the dwarfs lie, the identified tidal features are all resolved into individual stars in the LBT images and appear to consist of a population older than 1–2 Gyr. This excludes the possibility that they result from irregular and asymmetric star formation episodes that are common in gas-rich dwarf galaxies. The most plausible explanation is that we witness the hierarchical merging assembly of these dwarfs with their satellite populations. This scenario is also supported by the peculiar morphology and disturbed velocity field of their HI component. From the SSH sample, we estimate that a fraction of ~13% of the late-type dwarfs show signs of merging with satellites. This is in agreement with other recent independent studies and theoretical predictions within the ΛCDM cosmological framework.

Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus star formation history as revealed by detailed elemental abundances. An archival study using SAGA data

The Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger was a major event in the history of the Milky Way. Debris from this merger has been extensively studied with full kinematic data from the Gaia mission. Understanding the star formation history of the progenitor galaxy aids in our understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way and galaxy formation in general. We aimed to constrain the star formation history of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus progenitor galaxy using elemental abundances of member stars. Previous studies on Milky Way satellite dwarf galaxies show that key elemental abundance patterns, which probe different nucleosynthetic channels, reflect the host galaxy's star formation history. We gathered Mg, Fe, Ba, and Eu abundance measurements for Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus stars from the SAGA database. Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus members were selected kinematically. Inspired by previous studies, we used Fe/Mg Ba/Mg Eu/Mg and Eu/Ba as a function of Fe/H to constrain the star formation history of Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. We used the known star formation histories and elemental abundance patterns of the Sculptor and Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxies as a comparison. The elemental abundance ratios of Fe/Mg Ba/Mg Eu/Mg and Eu/Ba all increase with Fe/H in Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. The Eu/Mg begins to increase at Fe/H -2.0$ and continues steadily, contrasting with the trend observed in the Sculptor dSph galaxy. The Eu/Ba increases and remains high across the Fe/H range, unlike the pattern seen in the Sculptor dSph galaxy, and deviates from the Fornax dSph galaxy at high Fe/H . The Ba/Mg is higher than those of the Sculptor dSph galaxy at the lowest Fe/H and gradually increases, similar to the Fornax dSph galaxy. We constrained three main properties of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus star formation history: 1) star formation started gradually, 2) it extended for over 2 Gyr, and 3) it was quenched around Fe/H of $-0.5$, likely when it fell into the Milky Way. We show that the elemental abundance ratios Fe/Mg Ba/Mg Eu/Mg and Eu/Ba can be used to trace the star formation history of a disrupted galaxy when these measurements are available over an Fe/H range that is representative of the progenitor galaxy's stellar population.

X-ray observations of Blueberry galaxies

Context. Compact star-forming galaxies were dominant galaxy types in the early Universe. Blueberry galaxies (BBs) represent their local analogues, being very compact and having intense star formation. Aims. Motivated by high X-ray emission recently found in other analogical dwarf galaxies, called Green Peas, we probed the X-ray properties of BBs to determine if their X-ray emission is consistent with the empirical laws for star-forming galaxies. Methods. We performed the first X-ray observations of a small sample of BBs with the XMM-Newton satellite. Spectral analysis for detected sources and upper limits measured via Bayesian-based analysis for very low-count measurements were used to determine the X-ray properties of our galaxy sample. Results. Clear detection was obtained for only two sources, with one source exhibiting an enhanced X-ray luminosity to the scaling relations. For the remaining five sources, only an upper limit was constrained, suggesting BBs to be rather underluminous as a whole. Our analysis shows that the large scatter cannot be easily explained by the stochasticity effects. While the bright source is above (and inconsistent with) the expected distribution at almost the 99% confidence level, the upper limits of the two sources are below the expected distribution. Conclusions. These results indicate that the empirical relations between the star formation rate, metallicity, and X-ray luminosity might not hold for BBs with uniquely high specific star formation rates. One possible explanation could be that the BBs may not be old enough to have a significant X-ray binary population. The high luminosity of the only bright source can then be caused by an additional X-ray source, such as a hidden active galactic nucleus or more extreme ultraluminous X-ray sources.

Modeling and Subtracting Diffuse Cluster Light in JWST Images: A Relation between the Spatial Distribution of Globular Clusters, Dwarf Galaxies, and Intracluster Light in the Lensing Cluster SMACS 0723

We present a methodology for modeling and removing light from cluster galaxies and intracluster light (ICL) from James Webb Space Telescope images of gravitational lensing clusters. We apply our method to Webb’s First Deep Field the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations and use the ICL-subtracted images to select a sample of globular clusters (GCs) and dwarf galaxies within the cluster. We compare the spatial distributions of these two samples with our models of the galaxy and ICL light, finding significant similarities. In particular, we find that GCs trace the diffuse ICL, while dwarf galaxies are centrally concentrated near the cluster center We quantify the relationship between the surface density of compact sources and total cluster light, demonstrating a significant, tight correlation. We repeat our methodology and compare distributions of GCs with the dark matter surface density and find a comparable result. Our findings suggest a common origin for GCs and diffuse ICL, with stripping from massive galaxies as they merge with the cluster being a plausible scenario.

Lyman Limit System with O vi in the Circumgalactic Environment of a Pair of Galaxies

We report on the analysis of a multiphase Lyman limit system (LLS) at z = 0.39047 identified toward the background quasar FBQS J0209–0438. The O VI doublet lines associated with this absorber have a different profile from the low-ionization metals and H i. Ly α has a very broad H i (b ≈ 150 km s−1) component well-aligned with one of the O VI components. The Doppler b-parameters for the broad H i and O VI indicate gas with T = (0.8 − 2.0) × 106 K and a total hydrogen column density that is an order of magnitude larger than the cooler phase of gas responsible for the LLS. Observations by the Very Large Telescope MUSE show two moderately star-forming galaxies within ρ ≲ 105 kpc and ∣Δv∣ ≲ 130 km s−1 of the absorber, one of them a dwarf galaxy (M * ≈ 106 M ⊙) overlapping with the quasar point-spread function, and the other a larger galaxy (R 1/2 ≈ 4 kpc) with M * ≈ 3 × 1010 M ⊙ and M h ≈ 7 × 1011 M ⊙, and the dwarf galaxy within its virial radius. Although the absorption is aligned with the extended major axis of the larger galaxy, the line-of-sight velocity of the absorbing gas is inconsistent with corotating accretion. The metallicity inferred for the LLS is lower than the gas phase [O/H] of the two galaxies. The mixture of cool and warm/hot gas phases for the absorbing gas and its proximity and orientation to the galaxy pair points to the LLS being a high-velocity gas in the combined halo environment of both galaxies.

The mass profiles of dwarf galaxies from Dark Energy Survey lensing

ABSTRACT We present a novel approach to extracting dwarf galaxies from photometric data to measure their average halo mass profile with weak lensing. We characterize their stellar mass and redshift distributions with a spectroscopic calibration sample. By combining the ${\sim} 5000\,\mathrm{deg}^2$ multiband photometry from the Dark Energy Survey and redshifts from the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs Survey with an unsupervised machine learning method, we select a low-mass galaxy sample spanning redshifts $z\lt 0.3$ and divide it into three mass bins. From low to high median mass, the bins contain [146 420, 330 146, 275 028] galaxies and have median stellar masses of $\log _{10}(M_*/\text{M}_\odot)=\left[8.52\substack{+0.57 -0.76},\, 9.02\substack{+0.50 -0.64},\, 9.49\substack{+0.50 -0.58}\right]$ . We measure the stacked excess surface mass density profiles, $\Delta \Sigma (R)$, of these galaxies using galaxy–galaxy lensing with a signal-to-noise ratio of [14, 23, 28]. Through a simulation-based forward-modelling approach, we fit the measurements to constrain the stellar-to-halo mass relation and find the median halo mass of these samples to be $\log _{10}(M_{\rm halo}/\text{M}_\odot)$ = [$10.67\substack{+0.2 -0.4}$, $11.01\substack{+0.14 -0.27}$, $11.40\substack{+0.08 -0.15}$]. The cold dark matter profiles are consistent with NFW (Navarro, Frenk, and White) profiles over scales ${\lesssim} 0.15 \, {h}^{-1}$ Mpc. We find that ${\sim} 20$ per cent of the dwarf galaxy sample are satellites. This is the first measurement of the halo profiles and masses of such a comprehensive, low-mass galaxy sample. The techniques presented here pave the way for extracting and analysing even lower mass dwarf galaxies and for more finely splitting galaxies by their properties with future photometric and spectroscopic survey data.