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19 April 2024

» arxiv » 1112.2154

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Dwarfs Gobbling Dwarfs: A Stellar Tidal Stream Around NGC 4449 and Hierarchical Galaxy Formation on Small Scales
David Martinez-Delgado ; Aaron J. Romanowsky ; R. Jay Gabany ; Francesca Annibali ; Jacob A. Arnold ; Juergen Fliri ; Stefano Zibetti ; Roeland P. van der Marel ; Hans-Walter Rix ; Taylor S. Chonis ; Julio A. Carballo-Bello ; Alessandra Aloisi ; Andrea V. Maccio ; J. Gallego-Laborda ; Jean P. Brodie ; Michael R. Merrifield ;
Date:	9 Dec 2011
Abstract:	We map and analyze a stellar stream in the halo of the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449, detecting it in deep integrated-light images using the Black Bird Observatory 0.5-meter telescope, and resolving it into red giant branch stars using Subaru/Suprime-Cam. The properties of the stream imply a massive dwarf spheroidal progenitor, which will continue to disrupt and deposit an amount of stellar mass that is comparable to the existing stellar halo of the main galaxy. The ratio between luminosity or stellar-mass between the two galaxies is ~1:50, while the dynamical mass-ratio when including dark matter may be ~1:10-1:5. This system may thus represent a "stealth" merger, where an infalling satellite galaxy is nearly undetectable by conventional means, yet has a substantial dynamical influence on its host galaxy. This singular discovery also suggests that satellite accretion can play a significant role in building up the stellar halos of low-mass galaxies, and possibly in triggering their starbursts.
Source:	arXiv, 1112.2154
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