Stellar population and the origin of intra-cluster stars around brightest cluster galaxies: the case of NGC 3311

Coccato, L.; Gerhard, Ortwin; Arnaboldi, M.; Ventimiglia, G.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117546

Cited by 59 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…We find that the NW stream of HCC 026 contributes about ∼15% of the combined surface brightness of the MSM halo and off-centered envelope at the stream position (see also Fig. 10), which is consistent with the estimate obtained independently of the stellar population analysis in Coccato et al (2011a). The luminosity in the southern part of the HCC 026 stream is more difficult to disentangle from the diffuse halo, but is comparable.…”

Section: Luminosities Of the Substructures In The Hydra I Coresupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This is a necessary condition for the stream around HCC 026 being a tidal stream, but could also be consistent with the stream stars being part of a shell that was stripped from a larger galaxy together with HCC 026. However, combining our kinematic results with the result of Coccato et al (2011a) that the stellar population at the NW stream position is more metal poor than in the surrounding outer halo, is consistent with the superposed stream stars having a similar metallicity to the dwarf galaxy HCC 026 itself, strongly implies that the stars in the stream were indeed tidally stripped from HCC 026.…”

Section: Kinematical Signatures Of the Tidal Stream Around Hcc 026supporting

confidence: 79%

“…5), and that it consists of stars with similar metallicities as the stars of HCC 026 (Coccato et al 2011a). These results favor the interpretation that the HCC 026 stream has been tidally dissolved from HCC 026, over one where both the dwarf galaxy and the stream were dissolved from a larger galaxy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is interesting to ask whether most of the stars in the outer halo could have originated from the disruption of small galaxies in the way that seems to be currently ongoing, or whether the majority of the halo stars come through a different channel, namely the tidal disruption of the halos of massive elliptical galaxies prior to merging with the cluster cD (Murante et al 2007;Puchwein et al 2010). We highlight that the analysis of the stellar population properties of dwarf galaxies and the outer halo stars is important for answering this question (Coccato et al 2010b(Coccato et al , 2011a.…”

Section: Tidal Tails and Streams Around Ngc 3311mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tale of two tails and an off-centered envelope: diffuse light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311 in the Hydra I cluster

Arnaboldi¹,

Ventimiglia²,

Iodice³

et al. 2012

A&A

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148

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Context. The formation of intracluster light and extended halos around brightest cluster galaxies is closely related to morphological transformation, tidal stripping, and the disruption of galaxies in clusters. Aims. Here we look for observational evidence to characterize these processes, by studying the morphology and kinematics of the diffuse light in the core of the Hydra I cluster. Methods. With V-band surface photometry, we derive the structural parameters (Sersic index n, effective radius R e , b/a, and major axis position angle PA) of the two giant elliptical galaxies NGC 3311 and NGC 3309 in the cluster core. We construct a two-dimensional photometric model, and investigate the diffuse light structures in the residual image after subtracting the two-dimensional model. We also analyze deep long-slit spectra, and establish a link between the structures in the light distribution, the absorption-line kinematics, and the line-of-sight velocity distributions of nearby galaxies and planetary nebulae (PNs). Results. The central galaxy NGC 3311 is surrounded by an extended, symmetric outer halo with n = 10 and an additional, offcentered envelope whose centroid is shifted by about 50 to the north-east. Its luminosity L V = 1.2 × 10 10 (±6.0 × 10 8 ) L corresponds to ∼50% of the luminosity of the symmetric halo in the same region (∼15% of its entire luminosity). The velocity dispersion of the halo rises to cluster core values, ∼400−500 km s −1 , for R > 20 . On the basis of measured PN velocities, at least part of the offcentered envelope consists of high-velocity accreted stars. We also discover two tidal streams in the cluster center, emerging from the dwarf galaxy HCC 026 and the S0 galaxy HCC 007. The HCC 026 stream is redshifted by ∼1200 km s −1 with respect to NGC 3311 (V N3311 3800 km s −1 ), as for HCC 026 itself, a fraction of PNs in the off-centered envelope, and several other dwarf galaxies nearby. The stars in one of the HCC 026 tails are known to be consistent with the low-metallicity population of HCC 026, and our photometry shows that this galaxy is almost dissolved by the tidal field. The tidal stream around HCC 007 extends over at least ∼110 kpc, is fairly thick, and is brighter on the side of the asymmetric outer halo of NGC 3311, which it may join. Its luminosity is several 10 9 L , similar to the luminosity of the stripped-down galaxy HCC 007. The redshift of the stream is determined from a few PN velocities and is similar to those of both HCC 007 and HCC 026.Conclusions. An entire group of small galaxies is currently falling through the core of the Hydra I cluster; these galaxies have already been partially dissolved by the strong tidal field. Their light is being added to the outer halo and intracluster light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311. The Hydra I cluster provides a vivid example of the morphological transformation and tidal dissolution of galaxies in clusters.

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Section: Luminosities Of the Substructures In The Hydra I Coresupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Kinematical Signatures Of the Tidal Stream Around Hcc 026supporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tidal Tails and Streams Around Ngc 3311mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tale of two tails and an off-centered envelope: diffuse light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311 in the Hydra I cluster

Arnaboldi¹,

Ventimiglia²,

Iodice³

et al. 2012

A&A

Self Cite

148

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite more than thirty years of effort, most observations of stellar population gradients do not extend much beyond the half-light radius (Spinrad & Taylor 1971;Faber et al 1977;Gorgas et al 1990;Fisher et al 1995;Kobayashi & Arimoto 1999;Ogando et al 2005;Brough et al 2007;Baes et al 2007;Annibali et al 2007;Sánchez-Blázquez et al 2007;Rawle et al 2008;Kuntschner et al 2010;Coccato et al 2010Coccato et al , 2011. While integral-field spectrographs have brought a golden age in the study of spatially resolved galaxy properties Sarzi et al 2006;Cappellari et al 2006Cappellari et al , 2012, there are still few observations that extend beyond the half-light radius in integrated light (Carollo et al 1993;Carollo & Danziger 1994;Mehlert et al 2003;Kelson et al 2006;Weijmans et al 2009;Spolaor et al 2010;Pu et al 2010;Pu & Han 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stellar Halos of Massive Elliptical Galaxies. Ii. Detailed Abundance Ratios at Large Radius

Greene

Murphy

Graves

et al. 2013

ApJ

113

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We study the radial dependence in stellar populations of 33 nearby early-type galaxies with central stellar velocity dispersions σ * ∼ > 150 km s −1 . We measure stellar population properties in composite spectra, and use ratios of these composites to highlight the largest spectral changes as a function of radius. Based on stellar population modeling, the typical star at 2R e is old (∼ 10 Gyr), relatively metal poor ([Fe/H]≈ −0.5), and α-enhanced ([Mg/Fe]≈ 0.3). The stars were made rapidly at z ≈ 1.5 − 2 in shallow potential wells. Declining radial gradients in [C/Fe], which follow [Fe/H], also arise from rapid star formation timescales due to declining carbon yields from low-metallicity massive stars. In contrast, [N/Fe] remains high at large radius. Stars at large radius have different abundance ratio patterns from stars in the center of any present-day galaxy, but are similar to Milky Way thick disk stars. Our observations are thus consistent with a picture in which the stellar outskirts are built up through minor mergers with disky galaxies whose star formation is truncated early (z ≈ 1.5 − 2).

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A 3D view of the Hydra I cluster core- II. Stellar populations

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Several observations of the central region of the Hydra I galaxy cluster point to a multi-epoch assembly history. Using our novel FORS2/VLT spectroscopic data set, we were able to map the luminosity-weighted age, [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] distributions for the stellar populations around the cD galaxy NGC 3311. Our results indicate that the stellar populations follow the trends of the photometric substructures, with distinct properties that may aid to constrain the evolutionary scenarios for the formation of the cluster core.

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Stellar population and the origin of intra-cluster stars around brightest cluster galaxies: the case of NGC 3311

Cited by 59 publications

References 52 publications

A tale of two tails and an off-centered envelope: diffuse light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311 in the Hydra I cluster

A tale of two tails and an off-centered envelope: diffuse light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311 in the Hydra I cluster

The Stellar Halos of Massive Elliptical Galaxies. Ii. Detailed Abundance Ratios at Large Radius

A 3D view of the Hydra I cluster core- II. Stellar populations

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