Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie
STEPHEN PHILLIPS hostreviews.co.uk / UNSPLASH

Unraveling the Hidden Substructure in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster

Josefina Michea , ARI

Dwarf elliptical galaxies are commonly presumed to be simple systems: non star-forming and with a smooth spatial distribution of light. In this talk, we present a sample of 6 dwarf galaxies from the Virgo cluster which, at first sight, seem to be stereotypically passive and elliptical. However, through the application of a newly developed method, we are able to reveal spectacular spiral features which lay buried within the much brighter diffuse component of these galaxies. As a result, we find that for our sample of passive dwarf galaxies the spiral arms contribute ~2-14% of the total galaxy light within 2 effective radii. Next, we construct an hypothesis that explains the presence of these hidden features by performing high-resolution simulations of dwarf galaxies being thrown into a cluster potential. It is possible to reproduce the observed spiral features through the tidal-shocking of a thin, cold, and highly rotationally-supported stellar disk that plunges deep into the cluster core. This result implies that some passive dwarf galaxies may have a faint thin disk buried within a more luminous thick disk, the former only revealing its presence by forming spiral features after being subjected to tidal shocks.

ARI Institute Colloquium
30 Jan 2020, 11:15
Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstraße 12-14, Seminarraum 1

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