Galaxy collisions as a mechanism of ultra diffuse galaxy (UDG) formation

Abstract

We suggest a possible mechanism of ultra diffuse galaxy formation: the UDGs may occur as a result of a central collision of galaxies. If the galaxies are young and contain a lot of gas, the collision may kick all the gas off the systems and thus strongly suppress any further star formation. As a result, the galaxies now have a very low surface brightness and other properties typical of the ultra diffuse galaxies. We use the Coma cluster (where numerous UDGs were recently discovered) to test the efficiency of the process. The mechanism works very well and can transform a significant fraction of the cluster population into ultra diffuse galaxies. The UDGs formed by the process concentrate towards the center of the cluster, and their globular cluster systems remain undamaged, in accordance with observational results. The projected surface density of UDGs in the cluster may help us to recognize the mechanism of UDG formation, or clarify relative contributions of several possible competitive mechanisms at work.

7 pages, accepted to New Astronomy

References in corpus (10)

• Forty-Seven Milky Way-Sized, Extremely Diffuse Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
• Ultra-diffuse galaxies: the high-spin tail of the abundant dwarf galaxy population
• A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters for the Ultra Diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44
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• Evidence for a change in the dominant satellite galaxy quenching mechanism at z=1
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• The geometry and origin of ultra-diffuse ghost galaxies
• The Radio Luminosity Function and Galaxy Evolution in the Coma Cluster
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Cited by in corpus (13)

• The formation and evolution of low-surface-brightness galaxies
• The globular cluster systems of 54 Coma ultra-diffuse galaxies: statistical constraints from HST data
• The evolution of ultra-diffuse galaxies in nearby galaxy clusters from the Kapteyn IAC WEAVE INT Clusters Survey ($\text{KIWICS}$)
• The origin of low-surface-brightness galaxies in the dwarf regime
• Newly discovered dwarf galaxies in the MATLAS low density fields
• The Nature of Ultra-diffuse Galaxies in Distant Massive Galaxy Clusters: Abell 370 in the Hubble Frontier Fields
• Globular Cluster Formation from Colliding Substructure
• A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).XIII. The role of ram-pressure stripping in transforming the diffuse and ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Virgo cluster
• NIHAO XXIV: Rotation or pressure supported systems? Simulated Ultra Diffuse Galaxies show a broad distribution in their stellar kinematics
• A Dearth of Atomic Hydrogen in NGC1052-DF2
• Edge-on HI-bearing ultra diffuse galaxy candidates in the 40% ALFALFA catalog
• HI observations of the MATLAS dwarf and ultra-diffuse galaxies
• Stellar systems in the direction of Pegasus I - I. Low surface brightness galaxies