Examining the First Ultra-Compact Dwarf with a Resolved Extended Halo
Date
2022-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, University of Tampa
Abstract
Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies are a class of compact galaxies and
are among the densest stellar systems in the Universe (Seth et al.
, 2014). Since these ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs) have only been
discovered in the last two decades, their formation is still unknown
Pfeffer et al. (2014). One hypothesis for their formation, the motive
behind this research, is that UCD originate as Nuclear Star Clusters
(NSCs) in the central regions of low-mass galaxies, and they develop
into these ultra-compact objects after gravitational interaction with
a more massive galaxy (Evstigneeva et al. , 2007). In order to
investigate whether or not this hypothesis is true, the first step is to
determine if these UCDs have any characteristics of a NSC. The UCD
that we focused on throughout this research is CenA-MM-UCD1,
which lies in the halo of its host galaxy Centaurus A. CenA-MM-UCD1
was selected for further study because it is the first ultra-compact
dwarf that has a resolved extended halo. This is a sign that this galaxy
could be in a state of disruption from its host galaxy and, based on our
hypothesis, could be transitioning from a NSC to a UCD. Throughout
this study of CenA-MM-UCD1, we use images from the Hubble Space
Telescope to determine if our hypothesis is true.
Description
Recommended citation: Jones, Allison. "Examining the First Ultra-Compact Dwarf with a Resolved Extended Halo." Acta Spartae, 2022. https://doi.org/10.48497/6797-ZC34
item.page.type
Article
item.page.format
Keywords
Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, UCD, Nuclear Star Clusters (NSCs), CenA-MM-UCD1, Centaurus A
Citation
Jones, Allison. "Examining the First Ultra-Compact Dwarf with a Resolved Extended Halo." Acta Spartae, 2022. https://doi.org/10.48497/6797-ZC34