Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-03-17
Astrophys.J. 623 (2005) L105-L108
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, uses emulateapj.cls (included) ApJ Letters, accepted for publication
Scientific paper
10.1086/430207
Using imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope, we derive surface brightness profiles for ultra-compact dwarfs in the Fornax cluster and for the nuclei of dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Ultra-compact dwarfs are more extended and have higher surface brightnesses than typical dwarf nuclei, while the luminosities, colors, and sizes of the nuclei are closer to those of Galactic globular clusters. This calls into question the production of ultra-compact dwarfs via ``threshing'' whereby the lower surface brightness envelope of a dwarf elliptical is removed by tidal processes, leaving behind a bare nucleus. Threshing may still be a viable model if the relatively bright Fornax ultra compact dwarfs considered here are descended from dwarf ellipticals whose nuclei are at the upper end of their luminosity and size distributions.
Bekki Kenji
de Propris Roberto
Drinkwater Mark
Evstigneeva Ekaterina
Gregg Mark
No associations
LandOfFree
A Comparison of surface brightness profiles for ultra-compact dwarfs and dwarf elliptical nuclei: implications for the `threshing' scenario does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A Comparison of surface brightness profiles for ultra-compact dwarfs and dwarf elliptical nuclei: implications for the `threshing' scenario, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Comparison of surface brightness profiles for ultra-compact dwarfs and dwarf elliptical nuclei: implications for the `threshing' scenario will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-606447