The multiple classes of ultra-diffuse galaxies: can we tell them apart?
ABSTRACT This study compiles stellar populations and internal properties of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) to highlight correlations with their local environment, globular cluster (GC) richness, and star formation histories. Complementing our sample of 88 UDGs, we include 36 low surface brightness dwarf galaxies with UDG-like properties, referred to as NUDGes (nearly UDGs). All galaxies were studied using the same spectral energy distribution fitting methodology to explore what sets UDGs apart from other galaxies. We show that NUDGes are similar to UDGs in all properties except for being, by definition, smaller and having higher surface brightness. We find that UDGs and NUDGes show similar behaviours in their GC populations, with the most metal-poor galaxies hosting consistently more GCs on average. This suggests that GC content may provide an effective way to distinguish extreme galaxies within the low surface brightness regime alongside traditional parameters like size and surface brightness. We confirm previous results using clustering algorithms that UDGs split into two main classes, which might be associated with the formation pathways of a puffy dwarf and a failed galaxy. The clustering applied to the UDGs + NUDGes data set yields an equivalent result. The difference in mass contained in the GC system suggests that galaxies in different environments have not simply evolved from one another but may have formed through distinct processes.
Authors
- Maria Luísa Buzzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3153-8543)
- Duncan A. Forbes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5590-5518)
- Pierre–Alain Duc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3343-6284)
- Jonah S. Gannon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2936-7805)
- M. Hilker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2363-5522)
- Anna Ferré-Mateu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6411-220X)
- Aaron J. Romanowsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2473-0369)
- Jean P. Brodie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9658-8763)
- Joel Pfeffer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3786-8818)
- T. H. Jarrett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4939-734X)
- Lydia Haacke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2864-1507)
- F. Marleau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1442-2947)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- European Southern Observatory (DE)
- Universidad de La Laguna (ES)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg (FR)
- ASTRO-3D (AU)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (AU)
- Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (US)
- San Jose State University (US)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- Université de Strasbourg (FR)
- University of the Western Cape (ZA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2024-12-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2700
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.64
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- University of California
- California Institute of Technology
- Association Française contre les Myopathies
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Division of Arctic Sciences