Using deep images and simulations to trace collisional debris around massive galaxies

Abstract

Deep imaging programs, such as MATLAS which has just been completed at the CFHT, allows us to study with their diffuse light the outer stellar populations around large number of galaxies. We have carried out a systematic census of their fine structures, i.e. the collisional debris from past mergers. We have identified among them stellar streams from minor mergers, tidal tails from gas-rich major mergers, plumes from gas-poor major mergers, and shells from intermediate mass mergers. Having estimated the visibility and life time of each of these structures with numerical simulations, we can reconstruct the past mass assembly of the host galaxy. Preliminary statistical results based on a sample of 360 massive nearby galaxies are presented.

3 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of IAU Symposium 321, "Formation and evolution of galaxy outskirts"

References in corpus (4)

• The Atlas3D project -- XXIX. The new look of early-type galaxies and surrounding fields disclosed by extremely deep optical images
• Unveiling a Rich System of Faint Dwarf Galaxies in the Next Generation Fornax Survey
• The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. I. The extended and diffuse stellar halo of NGC~1399 out to 192 kpc
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• The Halos and Environments of Nearby Galaxies (HERON) I: Imaging, Sample Characteristics, and Envelope Diameters
• Galaxies with Shells in the Illustris Simulation: Metallicity Signatures
• Connecting traces of galaxy evolution: the missing core mass -- morphological fine structure relation
• Tidal features and disc thicknesses of edge-on galaxies in the SDSS Stripe 82
• Future Prospects: Deep Imaging of Galaxy Outskirts using Telescopes Large and Small