The Formation of Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies

dc.creatorFellhauer, M.
dc.creatorKroupa, P.
dc.date2001-10-29
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:28:49Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:28:49Z
dc.descriptionRecent spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the Fornax-Cluster reveal nearly unresolved `star-like' objects with red-shifts appropriate to the Fornax-Cluster. These objects have intrinsic sizes of about 100 pc and absolute B-band magnitudes in the range -14 < M_B < -11.5 mag and lower limits for the central surface brightness mu_B > 23 mag/arcsec^2 (Phillipps et al. 2001), and so appear to constitute a new population of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs). Such compact dwarfs were predicted to form from the amalgamation of stellar super-clusters (Kroupa 1998), which are rich aggregates of young massive star clusters (YMCs) that can form in collisions between gas-rich galaxies. Here we present the evolution of super-clusters in a tidal field. The YMCs merge on a few super-cluster crossing times. Super-clusters that are initially as concentrated and massive as knot~S in the interacting Antennae galaxies (Whitmore et al. 1999) evolve to merger objects that are long-lived and show properties comparable to the newly discovered UCDs. Less massive super-clusters resembling knot 430 in the Antennae may evolve to omega-Cen-type systems. Low-concentration super-clusters are disrupted by the tidal field, dispersing their surviving star clusters while the remaining merger objects rapidly evolve into the mu_B-M_B region populated by low-mass Milky-Way dSph satellites.
dc.descriptionMNRAS, accepted, 10 pages, 10 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0110621
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0110621
dc.identifierMon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.330:642,2002
dc.identifierdoi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05087.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/196517
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe Formation of Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies
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