Field/Isolated lenticular galaxies with high $S_N$ values: the case of NGC 4546 and its globular cluster system

Abstract

We present a photometric study of the field lenticular galaxy NGC 4546 using Gemini/GMOS imaging in g'r'i'z'. We perform a 2D image decomposition of the surface brightness distribution of the galaxy using GALFIT, finding that four components adequately describe it. The subtraction of this model from our images and the construction of a colour map allow us to examine in great detail the asymmetric dust structures around the galactic centre. In addition, we perform a detailed analysis of the globular cluster (GC) system of NGC 4546. Using a Gaussian Mixture Model algorithm in the colour-colour plane we detected hints of multiple groups of GC candidates: the classic blue and red subpopulations, a group with intermediate colours that present a concentrated spatial distribution towards the galaxy, and an additional group towards the red end of the colour distribution. We estimate a total GC population for NGC 4546 of $390\pm 60$ members and specific frequency $S_N=3.3\pm 0.7$, which is relatively high compared to the typical value for galaxies of similar masses and environment. We suggest that the unusual GC population substructures were possibly formed during the interaction that led to the formation of the young ultra-compact dwarf (NGC 4546-UCD1) found in this system. Finally, we estimate the distance modulus of NGC 4546 by analyzing its luminosity function, resulting in $(m-M)=30.75\pm 0.12$ mag (14.1 Mpc).

arXiv comment18 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (73)

• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• PARSEC: stellar tracks and isochrones with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• The Atlas3D project -- I. A volume-limited sample of 260 nearby early-type galaxies: science goals and selection criteria
• Extragalactic Globular Clusters and Galaxy Formation
• The Atlas3D project - XV. Benchmark for early-type galaxies scaling relations from 260 dynamical models: mass-to-light ratio, dark matter, Fundamental Plane and Mass Plane
• Cosmicflows-2: The Data
• Star counts in the Galaxy. Simulating from very deep to very shallow photometric surveys with the TRILEGAL code
• The Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S^4G)
• The SAURON project - III. Integral-field absorption-line kinematics of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
• The Atlas3D Project - XXX. Star formation histories and stellar population scaling relations of early-type galaxies
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey IX: The Color Distributions of Globular Cluster Systems in Early-Type Galaxies
• The SAURON project - XVII. Stellar population analysis of the absorption line strength maps of 48 early-type galaxies
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XII. The Luminosity Function of Globular Clusters in Early Type Galaxies
• Globular clusters as the relics of regular star formation in 'normal' high-redshift galaxies
• GaBoDS: The Garching-Bonn Deep Survey; IV. Methods for the Image reduction of multi-chip Cameras
• A Catalog of Globular Cluster Systems: What Determines the Size of a Galaxy's Globular Cluster Population?
• Accreted versus In Situ Milky Way Globular Clusters
• Galaxy number counts - V. Ultra-deep counts: The Herschel and Hubble Deep Fields
• Globular cluster formation in the context of galaxy formation and evolution
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. I. Overview and Atlas of Optical Images
• Globular Cluster Systems in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies: III. Formation Efficiencies of Old Globular Clusters
• Galactic Dark Matter Halos and Globular Cluster Populations. III: Extension to Extreme Environments
• Transformation from spirals into S0s with bulge growth in groups of galaxies
• THELI -- Convenient reduction of any optical, near- and mid-infrared imaging data
• Machine Learning in Astronomy: a practical overview
• Extragalactic Globular Clusters: Old Spectroscopic Ages and New Views on Their Formation
• Globular Cluster Systems in Giant Ellipticals: the Mass/Metallicity Relation
• The SLUGGS Survey: Calcium Triplet-based Spectroscopic Metallicities for Over 900 Globular Clusters
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. III. The Three-Component Structure of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies
• The metallicity bimodality of globular cluster systems: a test of galaxy assembly and of the evolution of the galaxy mass-metallicity relation
• Spectroscopic metallicities for Fornax UCDs, GCs and dE,Ns
• Formation of Globular Cluster Systems: From Dwarf Galaxies to Giants
• HST observations of star clusters in NGC 1023: Evidence for three cluster populations?
• The Ages, Metallicities and Alpha Element Enhancements of Globular Clusters in the Elliptical NGC 5128: A Homogeneous Spectroscopic Study with Gemini/GMOS
• VLT Spectroscopy of Globular Cluster Systems, II. Spectroscopic Ages, Metallicities, and [alpha/Fe] Ratios of Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. II. Isophotal Analysis
• The Ubiquity and Dual Nature of Ultra Compact Dwarfs
• A single population of red globular clusters around the massive compact galaxy NGC 1277
• Gemini/GMOS Imaging of Globular Cluster Systems in Five Early-type Galaxies
• VLT spectroscopy of NGC3115 globular clusters
• VLT Spectroscopy of Globular Cluster Systems, I. The Photometric and Spectroscopic Dataset
• Wide-field imaging of NGC 4365's globular cluster system: The third subpopulation revisited
• Formation of S0 galaxies through mergers. Morphological properties: tidal relics, lenses, ovals, and other inner components
• Gemini/GMOS Spectra of Globular Clusters in the Leo Group Elliptical NGC 3379
• Globular Cluster Metallicity Subpopulations in NGC 4472
• The origin of globular cluster systems from cosmological simulations
• The Globular Cluster Kinematics and Galaxy Dark Matter Content of NGC 4649 (M60)
• The SLUGGS Survey: Wide Field Imaging of the Globular Cluster System of NGC 4278
• Wide-Field Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Globular Cluster System in NGC1399
• The Globular Cluster System of the Virgo Giant Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4636: II. Kinematics of the Globular Cluster System
• Gemini/GMOS Spectra of Globular Clusters in the Virgo Giant Elliptical NGC 4649
• The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. VII. Constraints on the Origin of S0 Galaxies from Their Photometric Structure
• Constraints on the Merger Models of Elliptical Galaxies from their Globular Cluster Systems
• A probabilistic approach to emission-line galaxy classification
• The complex star cluster system of NGC 1316 (Fornax A)
• Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems III. NGC 2271, NGC 2865, NGC 3962, NGC 4240 and IC 4889
• The Two-Dimensional Spatial Distributions of the Globular Clusters and Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries of NGC4649
• The extremely populated globular cluster system of the lenticular galaxy NGC 6861
• The paucity of globular clusters around the field elliptical NGC 7507
• IFU spectroscopy of 10 early-type galactic nuclei - III. Properties of the circumnuclear gas emission
• New Constraints on a complex relation between globular cluster colors and environment
• Young globular clusters in NGC 1316
• Isolated ellipticals and their globular cluster systems I: Washington photometry of NGC 3585 and NGC 5812
• Calibration of photometry from the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini North
• Tracing the Assembly History of NGC 1395 through its Globular Cluster System
• Extended Star Clusters in NGC 1023 from HST/ACS Mosaic Imaging
• Footprints in the sand: What can globular clusters tell us about NGC 4753 past?
• Globular Clusters: DNA of Early-Type galaxies?
• Globular Cluster Populations: First Results from S${}^4$G Early-Type Galaxies
• The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. XII. Diffuse Star Clusters in Early-type Galaxies
• A Supra-galactic Conundrum: The Globular Clusters Colour Pattern in Virgo Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Scaling relations for globular cluster systems in early-type galaxies. II. Is there an environmental dependence?
• The complex globular cluster system of the S0 galaxy NGC 4382 in the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster
• Wide-field study of the peculiar globular cluster system hosted by the field lenticular NGC 1172
• IFU observations of the inner 200 pc of NGC 4546: gas rotation, non-circular motions and ionised outflows
• Nonlinear Color-Metallicity Relations of Globular Clusters. IX. Different Radial Number Density Profiles between Blue and Red Clusters
• Measuring the mass of the supermassive black hole of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4546
• Understanding the origin of early-type dwarfs: The spectrophotometric study of CGCG014-074