An evolutionary continuum from nucleated dwarf galaxies to star clusters

Kaixiang Wang (), Eric W. Peng (), Chengze Liu (), J. Christopher Mihos, Patrick Côté, Laura Ferrarese, Matthew A. Taylor, John P. Blakeslee, Jean-Charles Cuillandre, Pierre-Alain Duc, Puragra Guhathakurta, Stephen Gwyn, Youkyung Ko, Ariane Lançon, Sungsoon Lim, Lauren A. MacArthur, Thomas Puzia, Joel Roediger, Laura V. Sales, Rubén Sánchez-Janssen, Chelsea Spengler, Elisa Toloba, Hongxin Zhang and Mingcheng Zhu
Additional contact information
Kaixiang Wang: Peking University
Eric W. Peng: NSF’s NOIRLab
Chengze Liu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
J. Christopher Mihos: Case Western Reserve University
Patrick Côté: National Research Council of Canada
Laura Ferrarese: National Research Council of Canada
Matthew A. Taylor: University of Calgary
John P. Blakeslee: NSF’s NOIRLab
Jean-Charles Cuillandre: Université Paris Diderot, Orme des Merisiers
Pierre-Alain Duc: Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550
Puragra Guhathakurta: University of California Santa Cruz
Stephen Gwyn: National Research Council of Canada
Youkyung Ko: Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeok-daero, Yuseong-Gu
Ariane Lançon: Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550
Sungsoon Lim: Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu
Lauren A. MacArthur: Princeton University
Thomas Puzia: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul
Joel Roediger: National Research Council of Canada
Laura V. Sales: University of California
Rubén Sánchez-Janssen: Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill
Chelsea Spengler: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul
Elisa Toloba: University of the Pacific
Hongxin Zhang: University of Science and Technology of China
Mingcheng Zhu: Peking University

Nature, 2023, vol. 623, issue 7986, 296-300

Abstract: Abstract Systematic studies1–4 have revealed hundreds of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs5) in the nearby Universe. With half-light radii rh of approximately 10–100 parsecs and stellar masses M* ≈ 106–108 solar masses, UCDs are among the densest known stellar systems6. Although similar in appearance to massive globular clusters7, the detection of extended stellar envelopes4,8,9, complex star formation histories10, elevated mass-to-light ratio11,12 and supermassive black holes13–16 suggest that some UCDs are remnant nuclear star clusters17 of tidally stripped dwarf galaxies18,19, or even ancient compact galaxies20. However, only a few objects have been found in the transient stage of tidal stripping21,22, and this assumed evolutionary path19 has never been fully traced by observations. Here we show that 106 galaxies in the Virgo cluster have morphologies that are intermediate between normal, nucleated dwarf galaxies and single-component UCDs, revealing a continuum that fully maps this morphological transition and fills the ‘size gap’ between star clusters and galaxies. Their spatial distribution and redder colour are also consistent with stripped satellite galaxies on their first few pericentric passages around massive galaxies23. The ‘ultra-diffuse’ tidal features around several of these galaxies directly show how UCDs are forming through tidal stripping and that this evolutionary path can include an early phase as a nucleated ultra-diffuse galaxy24,25. These UCDs represent substantial visible fossil remnants of ancient dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters, and more low-mass remnants probably remain to be found.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06650-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:623:y:2023:i:7986:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06650-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06650-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().