Trends in Dwarf Early-Type Kinematics with Cluster-centric Radius Driven By Tidal Stirring

Abstract

We model the dynamics of dwarf early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster when subject to a variety of environmental processes. We focus on how these processes imprint trends in dynamical state (rotational vs. pressure support as measured by the ${\lambda }_{Re/2}^{\ast }$ statistic) with projected distance from the cluster center, and compare these results to observational estimates. We find a large scatter in the gradient of ${\lambda }_{Re/2}^{\ast }$ with projected radius. A statistical analysis shows that models with no environmental effects produce gradients as steep as those observed in none of the 100 cluster realizations we consider, while in a model incorporating tidal stirring by the cluster potential 34% of realizations produce gradients as steep as that observed. Our results suggest that tidal stirring may be the cause of the observed radial dependence of dwarf early-type dynamics in galaxy clusters.

5 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Stellar Kinematics and Structural Properties of Virgo Cluster Dwarf Early-Type Galaxies from the SMAKCED Project III. Rotation versus Pressure Support
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Faint quenched galaxies I- Sample selection and evidence for environmental quenching
• The SAMI -- Fornax Dwarfs Survey I: Sample, observations and the specific stellar angular momentum of dwarf elliptical galaxies
• Implications for the origin of dwarf early-type galaxies: a detailed look at the isolated rotating dwarf early-type galaxy CG 611, with ramifications for the Fundamental Plane's (S_K)^2 kinematic scaling and the spin-ellipticity diagram
• Formation of Blue-cored Dwarf Early-type Galaxies in a Cluster Environment: a Kinematical Perspective
• Witnessing a Transformation to Blue-cored Dwarf Early-type Galaxies in Filaments and the Cluster Outskirts: Gas-phase Abundances and Internal Kinematics Perspectives