Publication Date
1-1-2020
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume
492
Issue
4
DOI
10.1093/MNRAS/STAA180
First Page
487
Last Page
4883
Abstract
Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) reveal extreme properties. Here, we compile the largest study to date of 85 globular cluster (GC) systems around UDGs in the Coma cluster, using new deep ground-based imaging of the known UDGs and existing imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope of their GC systems. We find that the richness of GC systems in UDGs generally exceeds that found in normal dwarf galaxies of the same stellar mass. These GC-rich UDGs imply haloes more massive than expected from the standard stellar mass–halo mass relation. The presence of such overly massive haloes presents a significant challenge to the latest simulations of UDGs in cluster environments. In some exceptional cases, the mass in the GC system is a significant fraction of the stellar content of the host galaxy. We find that rich GC systems tend to be hosted in UDGs of lower luminosity, smaller size, and fainter surface brightness. Similar trends are seen for normal dwarf galaxies in the Coma cluster. A toy model is presented in which the GC-rich UDGs are assumed to be ‘failed’ galaxies within massive haloes that have largely old, metal-poor, alpha-element-enhanced stellar populations. On the other hand, GC-poor UDGs are more akin to normal, low surface brightness dwarfs that occupy less massive dark matter haloes. Additional data on the stellar populations of UDGs with GC systems will help to further refine and test this simplistic model.
Funding Number
AST-1518294
Funding Sponsor
Research Corporation for Science Advancement
Keywords
Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: haloes, Galaxies: star clusters
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Recommended Citation
Duncan A. Forbes, Adebusola Alabi, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Jean P. Brodie, and Nobuo Arimoto. "Globular clusters in Coma cluster ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs): Evidence for two types of UDG?" Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2020): 487-4883. https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STAA180
Comments
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.