Star Formation in Isolated Dwarf Galaxies Hosting Tidal Debris: Extending the Dwarf-Dwarf Merger Sequence

Abstract

Like massive galaxies, dwarf galaxies are expected to undergo major mergers with other dwarfs. However, the end state of these mergers and the role that merging plays in regulating dwarf star formation is uncertain. Using imaging from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic program, we construct a sample of dwarf-dwarf mergers and examine the star formation and host properties of the merging systems. These galaxies are selected via an automated detection algorithm from a sample of 6875 spectroscopically selected isolated dwarf galaxies at $z<0.12$ and $\log (M_{\star }/M_{\odot })<9.6$ from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic campaigns. We find a total tidal feature detection fraction of 3.29% (6.1% when considering only galaxies at $z<0.05$). The tidal feature detection fraction rises strongly as a function of star formation activity; 15%-20% of galaxies with extremely high H$\alpha$ equivalent width (H$\alpha$ EW > 250 Angstrom) show signs of tidal debris. Galaxies that host tidal debris are also systematically bluer than the average galaxy at fixed stellar mass. These findings extend the observed dwarf-dwarf merger sequence with a significant sample of dwarf galaxies, indicating that star formation triggered in mergers between dwarf galaxies continues after coalescence.

arXiv comment18 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (58)

• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
• Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Main Galaxy Sample
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: I. Galaxy Mergers & Quasar Activity
• The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey: Overview and Survey Design
• The Galactic disk mass function: reconciliation of the HST and nearby determinations
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly: Stellar Mass Estimates
• The Merger Rates and Mass Assembly Histories of Dark Matter Haloes in the Two Millennium Simulations
• First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program
• Improved background subtraction for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images
• Second Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program
• The Hyper Suprime-Cam Software Pipeline
• A Stellar Mass Threshold for Quenching of Field Galaxies
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the G02 field, Herschel-ATLAS target selection and Data Release 3
• Unequal-mass galaxy mergers and the creation of cluster S0 galaxies
• Dwarf Galaxy Starburst Statistics in the Local Volume
• Illuminating Low-Surface-Brightness Galaxies with the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey
• Dwarfs Gobbling Dwarfs: A Stellar Tidal Stream Around NGC 4449 and Hierarchical Galaxy Formation on Small Scales
• Dynamics of blue compact galaxies, as revealed by their H$\alpha$ velocity fields II. Mass models and the starburst triggering mechanism
• I Zw 18 revisited with HST/ACS and Cepheids: New Distance and Age
• The bright-star masks for the HSC-SSP survey
• TiNy Titans: The Role of Dwarf-Dwarf Interactions in the Evolution of Low Mass Galaxies
• Formation of blue compact dwarf galaxies from merging and interacting gas-rich dwarfs
• Faint Tidal Features in Galaxies within the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Wide Fields
• Interpreting Debris from Satellite Disruption In External Galaxies
• Satellite Dwarf Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: The Prevalence of Dwarf-Dwarf Major Mergers
• Individual Stellar Halos of Massive Galaxies Measured to 100 kpc at $0.3<z<0.5$ using Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Resonant stripping as the origin of dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• The triggering of starbursts in low-mass galaxies
• Enhanced atomic gas fractions in recently merged galaxies: quenching is not a result of post-merger gas exhaustion
• Characterization and Photometric Performance of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Software Pipeline
• Tidal debris morphology and the orbits of satellite galaxies
• Local Volume TiNy Titans: Gaseous Dwarf-Dwarf Interactions in the Local Universe
• Satellites and Haloes of Dwarf Galaxies
• A tidally distorted dwarf galaxy near NGC 4449
• Environment status of blue compact galaxies and trigger of star formation
• A catalog of merging dwarf galaxies in the local universe
• Massive star formation in Wolf-Rayet galaxies. V: Star formation rates, masses and the importance of galaxy interactions
• Tidal Features at 0.05<z<0.45 in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: Properties and Formation Channels
• The Origin of Faint Tidal Features Around Galaxies in the RESOLVE Survey
• The Star Formation History of the very metal poor BCD IZw18 from HST/ACS data
• The Frequency of Dwarf Galaxy Multiples at Low Redshift in SDSS vs. Cosmological Expectations
• In-spiraling Clumps in Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies
• Simulating the evolution of disc galaxies in a group environment. I. The influence of the global tidal field
• DDO 68: A flea with smaller fleas that on him prey
• Modeling the Baryon Cycle in Low Mass Galaxy Encounters: the Case of NGC 4490 & NGC 4485
• A Widespread, Clumpy Starburst in the Isolated Ongoing Dwarf Galaxy Merger dm1647+21
• THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY. XIV. Shell feature early-type dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster
• The stellar halo of isolated central galaxies in the Hyper Suprime-Cam imaging survey
• Tidal Interaction as the origin of early-type dwarf galaxies in group environment
• The Unique Structural Parameters of the Underlying Host Galaxies in Blue Compact Dwarfs
• Dark influences III. Structural characterization of minor mergers of dwarf galaxies with dark satellites
• Dark influences II: gas and star formation in minor mergers of dwarf galaxies with dark satellites
• Dark influences: imprints of dark satellites on dwarf galaxies
• HST resolves stars in a tiny body falling on the dwarf galaxy DDO 68
• Stellar Populations of Shell Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (28)

• Spatially resolved star formation and fuelling in galaxy interactions
• ELVES I: Structures of Dwarf Satellites of MW-like Galaxies; Morphology, Scaling Relations, and Intrinsic Shapes
• Galaxy Mergers in the Epoch of Reionization I: A JWST Study of Pair Fractions, Merger Rates, and Stellar Mass Accretion Rates at $z=4.5-11.5$
• Chemical and stellar properties of star-forming dwarf galaxies
• The Intrinsic Shapes of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies: a Discriminant of LSBG Formation Mechanisms
• Mapping Dark Matter with Extragalactic Stellar Streams: the Case of Centaurus A
• Clumpy Star Formation and AGN Activity in Dwarf-Dwarf Galaxy Merger Mrk 709
• Two Candidates for Dual AGN in Dwarf-Dwarf Galaxy Mergers
• Subhalo sinking and off-center massive black holes in dwarf galaxies
• Effect of low-mass galaxy interactions on their star formation
• The molecular gas resolved by ALMA in the low-metallicity dwarf merging galaxy Haro 11
• The Disturbed and Globular Cluster-Rich Ultra-diffuse Galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1
• Evidence for globular cluster collapse after a dwarf-dwarf merger: A potential nuclear star cluster in formation
• Investigating the Baryon Cycle in Interacting Dwarfs with the Very Large Array and Pan-STARRS
• The Smallest Scale of Hierarchy Survey (SSH). II. Extended star formation and bar-like features in the dwarf galaxy NGC 3741: recent merger or ongoing gas accretion?
• The Smallest Scale of Hierarchy Survey (SSH) III. Dwarf-dwarf satellite merging phenomena in the low-mass regime
• MaNGA AGN dwarf galaxies (MAD). III. The role of mergers and environment in active galactic nucleus activity in dwarf galaxies
• Rendezvous in CAVITY: Kinematics and gas properties of an isolated dwarf-dwarf merging pair in a cosmic void region
• IllustrisTNG in the HSC-SSP: No Shortage of Thin Disk Galaxies in TNG50
• Dwarf-Dwarf interactions and their influence on star formation : Insights from post-merger galaxies
• AVID: Formation and evolution of a coalesced major merger of late-type dwarf galaxies (VCC 479) on the outskirts of the Virgo cluster
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). XL. The Morphological Classification of Virgo Cluster Galaxies
• The mass and redshift dependence of halo star clustering
• An isolated early-type dwarf galaxy that ran away from the group environment
• Revisiting the Gas Dynamics of Henize 2-10: Possible Drivers of the Starburst
• Stellar streams around dwarf galaxies in the Local Universe
• MCG+07-20-052: Interacting dwarf pair in a group environment
• AVID: A Near-Major Post-Merger of Late-Type Dwarfs beneath a Regularly Rotating HI Disk (VCC 693)