The SLUGGS survey: Using extended stellar kinematics to disentangle the formation histories of low mass S0 galaxies

Abstract

We utilise the DEIMOS instrument on the Keck telescope to measure the wide-field stellar kinematics of early-type galaxies as part of the SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS (SLUGGS) survey. In this paper, we focus on some of the lowest stellar mass lenticular galaxies within this survey, namely NGC 2549, NGC 4474, NGC 4459 and NGC 7457, performing detailed kinematic analyses out to large radial distances of $\sim 2-3$ effective radii. For NGC 2549, we present the first analysis of data taken with the SuperSKiMS (Stellar Kinematics from Multiple Slits) technique. To better probe kinematic variations in the outskirts of the SLUGGS galaxies, we have defined a local measure of stellar spin. We use this parameter and identify a clear separation in the radial behaviour of stellar spin between lenticular and elliptical galaxies, thereby reinforcing the physically meaningful nature of their morphological classifications. We compare the kinematic properties of our galaxies with those from various simulated galaxies to extract plausible formation scenarios. By doing this for multiple simulations, we assess the consistency of the theoretical results. Comparisons to binary merger simulations show that low-mass lenticular galaxies generally resemble the spiral progenitors more than the merger remnants themselves, an indication that these galaxies are not formed through merger events. We find, however, that recent mergers cannot be ruled out for some lenticular galaxies.

20 pages, 15 figures, accepted to MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Revising the Fraction of Slow Rotators in IFS Galaxy Surveys
• The CALIFA view on stellar angular momentum across the Hubble sequence
• Kinematics of Simulated Galaxies II: Probing the Stellar Kinematics of Galaxies out to Large Radii
• 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 S0s in extreme environments I: clues from kinematics and stellar populations
• The SLUGGS survey: combining stars, globular clusters and planetary nebulae to understand the assembly history of early-type galaxies from their large radii kinematics
• A feather on the hat: Tracing the giant stellar stream around the Sombrero galaxy
• The SLUGGS Survey: Trails of SLUGGS galaxies in a modified spin-ellipticity diagram
• The assembly history of the nearest S0 galaxy NGC 3115 from its kinematics out to six half-light radii
• The redshift evolution of the S0 fraction for $z<1$ in COSMOS
• The physical properties of S0 galaxy PGC 26218: the origin of starburst and star formation
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: rules of behaviour for spin-ellipticity radial tracks in galaxies
• NGC 7457: Evidence for merger-driven cylindrical rotation in disc galaxies
• The present-day globular cluster kinematics of lenticular galaxies from the E-MOSAICS simulations and their relation to the galaxy assembly histories