1. Dwarfs Gobbling Dwarfs: A Stellar Tidal Stream Around Ngc 4449 And Hierarchical Galaxy Formation On Small Scales
- Author
-
J. Gallego-Laborda, Roeland P. van der Marel, Juergen Fliri, Stefano Zibetti, Andrea V. Macciò, Michael R. Merrifield, Jean P. Brodie, David Martínez-Delgado, Jacob A. Arnold, Aaron J. Romanowsky, R. Jay Gabany, Julio A. Carballo-Bello, Alessandra Aloisi, Taylor S. Chonis, Hans-Walter Rix, Francesca Annibali, Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation (GEPI), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique (LERMA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Cergy Pontoise (UCP), Université Paris-Seine-Université Paris-Seine-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)
- Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) ,Stellar mass ,Dark matter ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Luminosity ,0103 physical sciences ,Galaxy formation and evolution ,Satellite galaxy ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,Physics ,[PHYS]Physics [physics] ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Accretion (astrophysics) ,Galaxy ,Red-giant branch ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics - Abstract
A candidate diffuse stellar substructure was previously reported in the halo of the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 by Karachentsev et al. We map and analyze this feature using a unique combination of deep integrated-light images from the Black Bird 0.5-meter telescope, and high-resolution wide-field images from the 8-meter Subaru telescope, which resolve the nebulosity into a stream of red giant branch stars, and confirm its physical association with NGC 4449. The properties of the stream imply a massive dwarf spheroidal progenitor, which after complete disruption will deposit an amount of stellar mass that is comparable to the existing stellar halo of the main galaxy. The ratio between luminosity or stellar-mass between the two galaxies is ~1:50, while the indirectly measured dynamical mass-ratio, when including dark matter, may be ~1:10-1:5. This system may thus represent a "stealth" merger, where an infalling satellite galaxy is nearly undetectable by conventional means, yet has a substantial dynamical influence on its host galaxy. This singular discovery also suggests that satellite accretion can play a significant role in building up the stellar halos of low-mass galaxies, and possibly in triggering their starbursts., Comment: ApJ Letters, in press. Minor changes. 6 pages, 3 figures. A high resolution version of the paper and Subaru image are available at http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ngc4449.html
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF