- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/802/30
- Title:
- NGVS VI. Ultra-compact dwarfs in M87
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/802/30
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The origin of ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs; r_h_>~10pc) --objects larger and more massive than typical globular clusters (GCs), but more compact than typical dwarf galaxies-- has been hotly debated in the 15yrs since their discovery. Even whether UCDs should be considered galactic in origin, or simply the most extreme star clusters, is not yet settled. We present the dynamical properties of 97 spectroscopically confirmed UCDs and 911 GCs associated with the central cD galaxy of the Virgo cluster, M87. Our UCDs, of which 89% have M_*_>~2x10^6^M_{sun}_ and 92% are as blue as the classic blue GCs, nearly triple the confirmed sample of Virgo UCDs, providing by far the best opportunity for studying global dynamics of a UCD system. We found that (1) UCDs have a surface number density profile that is shallower than that of blue GCs in the inner ~70kpc and as steep as that of red GCs at larger radii; (2) UCDs exhibit a significantly stronger rotation than GCs, and blue GCs seem to have a velocity field that is more consistent with that of the surrounding dwarf ellipticals than with that of UCDs; (3) UCDs have an orbital anisotropy profile that is tangentially biased at radii <~40kpc and radially biased farther out, whereas blue GCs become more tangentially biased at larger radii beyond ~40kpc; (4) GCs with M_*_>~2x10^6^M_{sun}_ have rotational properties indistinguishable from the less massive ones, suggesting that it is the size, instead of mass, that differentiates UCDs from GCs as kinematically distinct populations. We conclude that most UCDs in M87 are not consistent with being merely the most luminous and extended examples of otherwise normal GCs. The radially biased orbital structure of UCDs at large radii is in general agreement with the "tidally threshed dwarf galaxy" scenario.
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- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/890/128
- Title:
- NGVS. XIV. Bona fide Virgo cluster members
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/890/128
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) was designed to provide a deep census of baryonic structures in the Virgo cluster. The survey covers the 104deg^2^ area from the core of Virgo out to one virial radius, in the u*griz bandpasses, to a point-source depth of g~25.9mag (10{sigma}) and a single pixel surface brightness limit of {mu}_g_~29mag/arcsec^2^ (2{sigma} above the sky). Here we present the final catalog of 404 Virgo galaxies located within a 3.71deg^2^ (0.3Mpc^2^) region centered on M87, Virgo's dominant galaxy. Of these, 154 were previously uncataloged and span the range 17.8mag<g<23.7mag (-13.4mag<M_g_{<}-7.4mag at the 16.5Mpc distance of Virgo). Extensive simulations show that the NGVS catalog is complete down to g=18.6mag (M_g_=-12.5mag, corresponding to a stellar mass M~1.6x10^7^M_{sun}_ for an old stellar population), and 50% complete at g=22.0mag (M_g_=-9.1mag, M~6.2x10^5^M_{sun}_). The NGVS 50% completeness limit is 3mag deeper than that of the Virgo Cluster Catalog (VCC), which has served as Virgo's reference standard for over a quarter century, and 2mag deeper than the VCC detection limit. We discuss the procedure adopted for the identification of objects and the criteria used to assess cluster membership. For each of the 404 galaxies in the NGVS Virgo Cluster core catalog, we present photometric and structural parameters based on a nonparametric curve-of-growth and isophotal analysis, as well as parametric (Sersic, double-Sersic, and/or core-Sersic) fits to the one-dimensional surface brightness profiles and two-dimensional light distributions.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/878/18
- Title:
- NGVS. XXIII. Nuclear star clusters
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/878/18
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Using deep, high-resolution optical imaging from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey, we study the properties of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) in a sample of nearly 400 quiescent galaxies in the core of Virgo with stellar masses 10^5^<~M*/M_{sun}_<~10^12^. The nucleation fraction reaches a peak value f_n_~90% for M*~10^9^M_{sun}_ galaxies and declines for both higher and lower masses, but nuclei populate galaxies as small as M*~5x10^5^M_{sun}_. Comparison with literature data for nearby groups and clusters shows that at the low-mass end nucleation is more frequent in denser environments. The NSC mass function peaks at M_NSC_~7x10^5^M_{sun}_, a factor 3-4 times larger than the turnover mass for globular clusters (GCs). We find a nonlinear relation between the stellar masses of NSCs and those of their host galaxies, with a mean nucleus-to-galaxy mass ratio that drops to M_NSC_/M*~3.6x10^-3^ for M*~5x10^9^M_{sun}_ galaxies. Nuclei in both more and less massive galaxies are much more prominent: M_NSC_{propto}M_*_^0.46^ at the low-mass end, where nuclei are nearly 50% as massive as their hosts. We measure an intrinsic scatter in NSC masses at a fixed galaxy stellar mass of 0.4dex, which we interpret as evidence that the process of NSC growth is significantly stochastic. At low galaxy masses we find a close connection between NSCs and GC systems, including very similar occupation distributions and comparable total masses. We discuss these results in the context of current dissipative and dissipationless models of NSC formation.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/227/12
- Title:
- NGVS XXV. Virgo globular clusters photometry
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/227/12
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The central region of the Virgo cluster of galaxies contains thousands of globular clusters (GCs), an order of magnitude more than the numbers found in the Local Group. Relics of early star formation epochs in the universe, these GCs also provide ideal targets to test our understanding of the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of old stellar populations. Based on photometric data from the Next Generation Virgo cluster Survey (NGVS) and its near-infrared counterpart NGVS-IR, we select a robust sample of ~2000 GCs with excellent photometry and spanning the full range of colors present in the Virgo core. The selection exploits the well defined locus of GCs in the uiK diagram and the fact that the globular clusters are marginally resolved in the images. We show that the GCs define a narrow sequence in 5-dimensional color space, with limited but real dispersion around the mean sequence. The comparison of these SEDs with the predictions of eleven widely used population synthesis models highlights differences between models, and also shows that no single model adequately matches the data in all colors. We discuss possible causes for some of these discrepancies. Forthcoming papers of this series will examine how best to estimate photometric metallicities in this context, and compare the Virgo globular cluster colors with those in other environments.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/250/17
- Title:
- NGVS. XXXIV. Ultracompact dwarf galaxies in Virgo
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/250/17
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a study of ultracompact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Virgo cluster based mainly on imaging from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). Using ~100deg^2^ of u*giz imaging, we have identified more than 600 candidate UCDs, from the core of Virgo out to its virial radius. Candidates have been selected through a combination of magnitudes, ellipticities, colors, surface brightnesses, half-light radii, and, when available, radial velocities. Candidates were also visually validated from deep NGVS images. Subsamples of varying completeness and purity have been defined to explore the properties of UCDs and compare to those of globular clusters and the nuclei of dwarf galaxies with the aim of delineating the nature and origins of UCDs. From a surface density map, we find the UCDs to be mostly concentrated within Virgo's main subclusters, around its brightest galaxies. We identify several subsamples of UCDs-i.e., the brightest, largest, and those with the most pronounced and/or asymmetric envelopes-that could hold clues to the origin of UCDs and possible evolutionary links with dwarf nuclei. We find some evidence for such a connection from the existence of diffuse envelopes around some UCDs and comparisons of radial distributions of UCDs and nucleated galaxies within the cluster.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/466/254
- Title:
- NIR Imaging of R136 in 30 Dor
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/466/254
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We report 0.15" resolution near-infrared (NIR) imaging of R136, the central region of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our 12.8"x12.8" images were recorded with the MPE camera SHARP II at the 3.6m ESO telescope, using the adaptive optics system COME ON+. The high spatial resolution and sensitivity (20th magnitude in K) of our observations allow our H- and K-band images to be compared and combined with recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 data of R136. We fit theoretical models with variable foreground extinction to the observed magnitudes of ~1000 stars (roughly half of which were detected in HST and NIR bands) and derive the stellar population in this starburst region. We find no red giants or supergiants; however, we detect ~110 extremely red sources which are probably young, pre-main-sequence low- or intermediate-mass stars. We obtained narrow-band images to identify known and new Wolf-Rayet stars by their He II (2.189um) and BrGamma (2.166um) emission lines. The presence of W-R stars and absence of red supergiants narrow the cluster age to 3-5Myr, while the derived ratio of W-R to O stars of 0.05 in the central region favors an age of ~3.5Myr, with a relatively short starburst duration. For the O stars, the core radius is found to be 0.1pc and appears to decrease with increasing stellar mass. The slope of the mass function is Gamma=-1.6 on average, but it steepens with increasing distance from the cluster center from Gamma=-1.3 in the inner 0.4pc to Gamma=-2.2 outside 0.8pc for stars more massive than 12 Msun. The radial variation of the mass function reveals strong mass segregation that is probably due to the cluster's dynamical evolution.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/222/2
- Title:
- NIR sources in the northeastern part of LMC
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/222/2
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a near-infrared band-merged photometric and polarimetric catalog for the 39'x69' fields in the northeastern part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which were observed using SIRPOL, an imaging polarimeter of the InfraRed Survey Facility. This catalog lists 1858 sources brighter than 14mag in the H band with a polarization signal-to-noise ratio greater than three in the J, H, or K_s_ bands. Based on the relationship between the extinction and the polarization degree, we argue that the polarization mostly arises from dichroic extinctions caused by local interstellar dust in the LMC. This catalog allows us to map polarization structures to examine the global geometry of the local magnetic field, and to show a statistical analysis of the polarization of each field to understand its polarization properties. In the selected fields with coherent polarization position angles, we estimate magnetic field strengths in the range of 3-25{mu}G using the Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. This implies the presence of large-scale magnetic fields on a scale of around 100 parsecs. When comparing mid- and far-infrared dust emission maps, we confirmed that the polarization patterns are well aligned with molecular clouds around the star-forming regions.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/143/149
- Title:
- NIR spectroscopy of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars. II.
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/143/149
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We are continuing a J, K and narrowband imaging survey of 300{deg}^2^ of the plane of the Galaxy, searching for new Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. Our survey spans 150{deg} in Galactic longitude and reaches 1{deg} above and below the Galactic plane. The survey has a useful limiting magnitude of K=15 over most of the observed Galactic plane, and K=14 (due to severe crowding) within a few degrees of the Galactic center. Thousands of emission-line candidates have been detected. In spectrographic follow-ups of 146 relatively bright W-R star candidates, we have re-examined 11 previously known WC and WN stars and discovered 71 new W-R stars, 17 of type WN and 54 of type WC. Our latest image analysis pipeline now picks out W-R stars with a 57% success rate. Star subtype assignments have been confirmed with the K-band spectra and distances approximated using the method of spectroscopic parallax. Some of the new W-R stars are among the most distant known in our Galaxy. The distribution of these new W-R stars is beginning to trace the locations of massive stars along the distant spiral arms of the Milky Way.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/452/2858
- Title:
- NIR spectroscopy of Galactic WR stars. III
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/452/2858
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A new method of image subtraction is applied to images from a J, K, and narrow-band imaging survey of 300 deg2 of the plane of the Galaxy, searching for new Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. Our survey spans 150{deg} in Galactic longitude and reaches b=+/-1{deg} with respect to the Galactic plane. The survey has a useful limiting magnitude of K=15 over most of the observed Galactic plane, and K=14 (due to severe crowding) within a few degrees of the Galactic Centre. The new image subtraction method described here (better than aperture or even point-spread-function photometry in very crowded fields) detected several thousand emission-line candidates. In 2011 and 2012 June and July, we spectroscopically followed up on 333 candidates with MDM-TIFKAM and Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF)-SpeX, discovering 89 emission-line sources. These include 49 WR stars, 43 of them previously unidentified, including the most distant known Galactic WR stars, more than doubling the number on the far side of the Milky Way. We also demonstrate our survey's ability to detect very faint planetary nebulae and other NIR emission objects.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/854/117
- Title:
- NIR stellar populations in Sextans A and Leo A
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/854/117
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present JHKs observations of the metal-poor ([Fe/H]{<}-1.40) dwarf-irregular galaxies, Leo A and Sextans A, obtained with the WIYN High-resolution Infrared Camera at Kitt Peak. Their near-IR stellar populations are characterized by using a combination of color-magnitude diagrams and by identifying long-period variable stars. We detected red giant and asymptotic giant branch stars, consistent with membership of the galaxy's intermediate-age populations (2-8Gyr old). Matching our data to broadband optical and mid-IR photometry, we determine luminosities, temperatures, and dust-production rates (DPR) for each star. We identify 32 stars in LeoA and 101 stars in Sextans A with a DPR>10^-11^M_{sun}_/yr, confirming that metal-poor stars can form substantial amounts of dust. We also find tentative evidence for oxygen-rich dust formation at low metallicity, contradicting previous models that suggest oxygen-rich dust production is inhibited in metal-poor environments. The total rates of dust injection into the interstellar medium of Leo A and Sextans A are (8.2+/-1.8)x10^-9^M_{sun}_/yr and (6.2+/-0.2)x10^-7^M_{sun}/yr, respectively. The majority of this dust is produced by a few very dusty evolved stars and does not vary strongly with metallicity.
