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The Next Generation Fornax Survey (NGFS). VII. A MUSE view of the nuclear star clusters in Fornax dwarf galaxies

From National Research Council Canada

DOIResolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1261
AuthorSearch for: 1ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2368-6469; Search for: 1ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0350-7061; Search for: 1ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9697-7331; Search for: 1; Search for: 1; Search for: 2; Search for: 1ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4385-0411; Search for: 1; Search for: 1ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2204-6558; Search for: 1; Search for: 2; Search for: 3, 4; Search for: 5; Search for: 6; Search for: 2; Search for: 7; Search for: 8; Search for: 3, 4, 9; Search for: 10, 11
Affiliation
  1. Institute of Astrophysics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile
  2. European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago
  3. National Research Council of Canada. Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics
  4. National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, 5701 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada
  5. Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
  6. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzchild-Str. 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  7. Gemini Observatory, South Operations Center, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
  8. STFC UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
  9. Gemini Observatory, Northern Operations Center, 670 North A’ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720-1906, USA
  10. CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  11. School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
FunderSearch for: Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; Search for: Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico; Search for: National Natural Science Foundation of China
FormatText, Article
Physical description18 p.
Subjectgalaxies: dwarf; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: nuclei; galaxies: star formation
Abstract
Clues to the formation and evolution of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) lie in their stellar populations. However, these structures are often very faint compared to their host galaxy, and spectroscopic analysis of NSCs is hampered by contamination of light from the rest of the system. With the introduction of wide-field integral field unit (IFU) spectrographs, new techniques have been developed to model the light from different components within galaxies, making it possible to cleanly extract the spectra of the NSCs and study their properties with minimal contamination from the light of the rest of the galaxy. This work presents the analysis of the NSCs in a sample of 12 dwarf galaxies in the Fornax Cluster observed with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). Analysis of the stellar populations and star formation histories reveal that all the NSCs show evidence of multiple episodes of star formation, indicating that they have built up their mass further since their initial formation. The NSCs were found to have systematically lower metallicities than their host galaxies, which is consistent with a scenario for mass assembly through mergers with infalling globular clusters, whilst the presence of younger stellar populations and gas emission in the core of two galaxies is indicative of in-situ star formation. We conclude that the NSCs in these dwarf galaxies likely originated as globular clusters that migrated to the core of the galaxy that have built up their mass mainly through mergers with other infalling clusters, with gas-inflow leading to in-situ star formation playing a secondary role.
Publication date
PublisherRoyal Astronomical Society
Oxford
In
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 495, no. 2 (21 June 2020): 2247–2264.
LanguageEnglish
Peer reviewedYes
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Record identifierce31c8f6-259e-464a-a07b-e5e483db2bef
Record created2022-07-19
Record modified2022-07-19
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