A Critical Review of the Evidence for M32 being a Compact Dwarf Satellite of M31 rather than a More Distant Normal Galaxy

Young, C. K.; Currie, Malcolm J.; Dickens, R. J.; Luo, A-Li; Zhang, Tong-Jie

doi:10.1088/1009-9271/8/4/01

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…So far, few objects match this description (Ziegler & Bender 1998; Mieske et al 2005; Chilingarian et al 2007). The origins of the peculiar structural properties of M32 are still a matter of debate and the proposed models span a wide range of hypotheses: from a true elliptical galaxy at the lower extreme of the mass sequence to a threshed early‐type spiral (Nieto & Prugniel 1987; Bekki et al 2001; Choi, Guhathakurta & Johnston 2002; Graham 2002; Gallagher, Grebel & Smith 2005; Young et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★

Coelho

Oliveira

Fernandes

2009

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We obtained long‐slit spectra of high signal‐to‐noise ratio of the galaxy M32 with the Gemini Multi‐Object Spectrograph at the Gemini‐North telescope. We analysed the integrated spectra by means of full spectral fitting in order to extract the mixture of stellar populations that best represents its composite nature. Three different galactic radii were analysed, from the nuclear region out to 2 arcmin from the centre. This allows us to compare, for the first time, the results of integrated light spectroscopy with those of resolved colour–magnitude diagrams from the literature. As a main result we propose that an ancient and an intermediate‐age population co‐exist in M32, and that the balance between these two populations change between the nucleus and outside one effective radius (1reff) in the sense that the contribution from the intermediate population is larger at the nuclear region. We retrieve a smaller signal of a young population at all radii whose origin is unclear and may be a contamination from horizontal branch stars, such as the ones identified by Brown et al. in the nuclear region. We compare our metallicity distribution function for a region 1 to 2 arcmin from the centre to the one obtained with photometric data by Grillmair et al. Both distributions are broad, but our spectroscopically derived distribution has a significant component with [Z/Z⊙]≤−1, which is not found by Grillmair et al.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★

Coelho

Oliveira

Fernandes

2009

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Section 4 is devoted to understanding the nature of this source. To be consistent with previous work, we adopt a distance of 780 kpc for M32 (1 ′′ corresponds to 3.8 pc; Young et al 2008). Quoted errors are at 1 σ confidence level, unless otherwise stated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Resolving the Nuclear Radio Emission from M32 with Very Large Array

Peng,

Li,

Sjouwerman

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Local Group dwarf elliptical galaxy M32 hosts one of the nearest and most under-luminous super-massive black holes (SMBHs) ever known, offering a rare opportunity to study the physics of accreting SMBHs at the most quiescent state. Recent Very Large Array (VLA) observations have detected a radio source at the nucleus of M32, which is suggested to be the radio counterpart of the SMBH. To further investigate the radio properties of this nuclear source, we have conducted followup, high-resolution VLA observations in four epochs between 2015-2017, each with dual frequencies. At 6 GHz, the nuclear source is resolved under an angular resolution of ∼0. ′′ 4, exhibiting a coreless, slightly lopsided morphology with a detectable extent of ∼2. ′′ 5 (∼10 parsec). No significant variability can be found among the four epochs. At 15 GHz, no significant emission can be detected within the same region, pointing to a steep intrinsic radio spectrum (with a 3 σ upper limit of -1.46 for the spectral index). We discuss possible scenarios for the nature of this nuclear source and conclude that a stellar origin, in particular planetary nebulae, X-ray binaries, supernova remnants or diffuse ionized gas powered by massive stars, can be ruled out. Instead, the observed radio properties can be explained by synchrotron radiation from a hypothetical wind driven by the weakly accreting SMBH.

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“…We also revisit the properties of the X-ray nucleus identified by HTU03, using recently acquired Chandra data XMM-Newton data. We adopt a distance of 780 kpc for M32, effectively placing it at the same distance as M31 (Young et al 2008). Throughout this work we quote 1σ uncertainties unless otherwise stated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of a Compact Nuclear Radio Source in the Local Group Elliptical Galaxy M32

Yang

Sjouwerman

et al. 2015

ApJ

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The Local Group compact elliptical galaxy M32 hosts one of the nearest candidate supermassive black holes (SMBHs), which has a previously suggested X-ray counterpart. Based on sensitive observations taken with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), we detect for the first time a compact radio source coincident with the nucleus of M32, which exhibits an integrated flux density of 47.3 6.1 Jy m  at 6.6 GHz. We discuss several possibilities for the nature of this source, favoring an origin of the long-sought radio emission from the central SMBH, for which we also revisit the X-ray properties based on recently acquired Chandra and XMM-Newton data. Our VLA observations also discover radio emission from three previously known optical planetary nebulae in the inner region of M32.

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A Critical Review of the Evidence for M32 being a Compact Dwarf Satellite of M31 rather than a More Distant Normal Galaxy

Cited by 4 publications

References 79 publications

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★

Resolving the Nuclear Radio Emission from M32 with Very Large Array

Detection of a Compact Nuclear Radio Source in the Local Group Elliptical Galaxy M32

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A Critical Review of the Evidence for M32 being a Compact Dwarf Satellite of M31 rather than a More Distant Normal Galaxy

Cited by 4 publications

References 79 publications

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32★

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32★

Resolving the Nuclear Radio Emission from M32 with Very Large Array

Detection of a Compact Nuclear Radio Source in the Local Group Elliptical Galaxy M32

Contact Info

Product

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An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32^★