Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-30-2018
Publication Title
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume
858
Issue Number
1
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/aab498
Keywords
galaxies: clusters: general, galaxies: dwarf, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: photometry, galaxies: stellar content
Disciplines
Astrophysics and Astronomy | External Galaxies | Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy
Abstract
We present observational constraints on the stellar populations of two ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) using optical through near-infrared (NIR) spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. Our analysis is enabled by new Spitzer-IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm imaging, archival optical imaging, and the prospectorfully Bayesian SED fitting framework. Our sample contains one field UDG (DGSAT I), one Virgo cluster UDG (VCC 1287), and one Virgo cluster dwarf elliptical for comparison (VCC 1122). We find that the optical–NIR colors of the three galaxies are significantly different from each other. We infer that VCC 1287 has an old (7.7 Gyr) and surprisingly metal-poor ([Z/Z ⊙] −1.0) stellar population, even after marginalizing over uncertainties on diffuse interstellar dust. In contrast, the field UDG DGSAT I shows evidence of being younger than the Virgo UDG, with an extended star formation history and an age posterior extending down to ~3 Gyr. The stellar metallicity of DGSAT I is sub-solar but higher than that of the Virgo UDG, with in the case of exactly zero diffuse interstellar dust, DGSAT I may even have solar metallicity. With VCC 1287 and several Coma UDGs, a general picture is emerging where cluster UDGs may be "failed" galaxies, but the field UDG DGSAT I seems more consistent with a stellar feedback-induced expansion scenario. In the future, our approach can be applied to a large and diverse sample of UDGs down to faint surface brightness limits, with the goal of constraining their stellar ages, stellar metallicities, and circumstellar and diffuse interstellar dust content.
Recommended Citation
Viraj Pandya, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Seppo Laine, Jean Brodie, Benjamin Johnson, William Glaccum, Alexa Villaume, Jean-Charles Cuillandre, Stephen Gwyn, Jessica Krick, Ronald Lasker, Ignacio Martín-Navarro, David Martinez-Delgado, and Pieter van Dokkum. "The Stellar Populations of Two Ultra-diffuse Galaxies from Optical and Near-infrared Photometry" The Astrophysical Journal (2018). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab498
Comments
This article was originally published in The Astrophysical Journal, volume 858, issue 1. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. This article is also available online at the following link: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab498