ULTRA-COMPACT DWARFS IN THE COMA CLUSTER
- Gemini Observatory, 670 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96821 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132 (United States)
- Astrophysics Group, H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
- Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
We have undertaken a spectroscopic search for ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) in the dense core of the dynamically evolved, massive Coma cluster as part of the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) Coma Cluster Treasury Survey. UCD candidates were initially chosen based on color, magnitude, degree of resolution within the ACS images, and the known properties of Fornax and Virgo UCDs. Follow-up spectroscopy with Keck/Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer confirmed 27 candidates as members of the Coma cluster, a success rate >60% for targeted objects brighter than M{sub R} = -12. Another 14 candidates may also prove to be Coma members, but low signal-to-noise spectra prevent definitive conclusions. An investigation of the properties and distribution of the Coma UCDs finds these objects to be very similar to UCDs discovered in other environments. The Coma UCDs tend to be clustered around giant galaxies in the cluster core and have colors/metallicity that correlate with the host galaxy. With properties and a distribution similar to that of the Coma cluster globular cluster population, we find strong support for a star cluster origin for the majority of the Coma UCDs. However, a few UCDs appear to have stellar population or structural properties which differentiate them from the old star cluster populations found in the Coma cluster, perhaps indicating that UCDs may form through multiple formation channels.
- OSTI ID:
- 21579929
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 737, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/737/2/86; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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