A Complex Luminosity Function for the Anomalous Globular Clusters in NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4

Abstract

NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4 are ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) that were found to have extremely low velocity dispersions, indicating that they have little or no dark matter. Both galaxies host anomalously luminous globular cluster (GC) systems, with a peak magnitude of their GC luminosity function (GCLF) that is $\sim 1.5$ magnitudes brighter than the near-universal value of $M_V\approx -7.5$. Here we present an analysis of the joint GCLF of the two galaxies, making use of new HST photometry and Keck spectroscopy, and a recently improved distance measurement. We apply a homogeneous photometric selection method to the combined GC sample of DF2 and DF4. The new analysis shows that the peak of the combined GC luminosity function remains at $M_V\approx -9$ mag. In addition, we find a subpopulation of less luminous GCs at $M_V\approx -7.5$ mag, where the near-universal GCLF peak is located. The number of GCs in the magnitude range of $-5$ to $-8$ is $7.1_{-4.34}^{+7.33}$ in DF2 and $8.6_{-4.83}^{+7.74}$ in DF4, similar to that expected from other galaxies of the same luminosity. The total GC number between $M_V$ of $-5$ to $-11$ is $18.5_{-4.42}^{+8.99}$ for DF2 and $18.6_{-4.92}^{+9.37}$ for DF4, calculated from the background-subtracted GCLF. The updated total number of GCs in both galaxies is $37_{-6.54}^{+11.08}$. The number of GCs do not scale with the halo mass in either DF2 or DF4, suggesting that $N_{GC}$ is not directly determined by the merging of halos.

arXiv commentSubmitted to ApJ

References in corpus (42)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Binary companions of evolved stars in APOGEE DR14: Search method and catalog of ~5,000 companions
• MILES: A Medium resolution INT Library of Empirical Spectra
• Improving the full spectrum fitting method: accurate convolution with Gauss-Hermite functions
• Young massive star clusters
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• Evolutionary Stellar Population Synthesis with MILES. Part I: The Base Models and a New Line Index System
• Destruction of the Galactic Globular Cluster System
• A galaxy lacking dark matter
• Dynamical Evolution of the Mass Function of Globular Star Clusters
• Globular clusters as the relics of regular star formation in 'normal' high-redshift galaxies
• A Catalog of Globular Cluster Systems: What Determines the Size of a Galaxy's Globular Cluster Population?
• The E-MOSAICS Project: simulating the formation and co-evolution of galaxies and their star cluster populations
• A second galaxy missing dark matter in the NGC1052 group
• A distance of 13 Mpc resolves the claimed anomalies of the galaxy lacking dark matter
• Still Missing Dark Matter: KCWI High-Resolution Stellar Kinematics of NGC1052-DF2
• The Globular Cluster Systems of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
• Formation of Globular Cluster Systems: From Dwarf Galaxies to Giants
• The ultra-diffuse galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 with MUSE: I. Kinematics of the stellar body
• An enigmatic population of luminous globular clusters in a galaxy lacking dark matter
• Globular cluster luminosity function as distance indicator
• The Dragonfly Nearby Galaxies Survey. V. HST/ACS Observations of 23 Low Surface Brightness Objects in the Fields of NGC1052, NGC1084, M96, and NGC4258
• Modeling the dynamical evolution of the M87 globular cluster system
• On the Disruption of Star Clusters in a Hierarchical Interstellar Medium
• The relative and absolute ages of old globular clusters in the LCDM framework
• Star cluster formation in cosmological simulations. III. Dynamical and chemical evolution
• The Globular Cluster - Dark Matter Halo Connection
• The Globular Cluster Mass Function as a Remnant of Violent Birth
• Perfecting the Photometric Calibration of the ACS CCD Cameras
• Origins of scaling relations of globular cluster systems
• The Distance of the Dark Matter Deficient Galaxy NGC1052-DF2
• If it does not kill them, it makes them stronger: collisional evolution of star clusters with tidal shocks
• A Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to the Dark Matter Deficient Galaxy NGC1052-DF4 from Deep Hubble Space Telescope Data
• On the Interpretation of the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function
• An Excess of Globular Clusters in UDGs Formed Through Tidal Heating
• The TRGB distance to the second galaxy "missing dark matter". Evidence for two groups of galaxies at 13.5 and 19 Mpc in the line of sight of NGC1052
• Keck Imaging of the Globular Cluster Systems in the Early--type Galaxies NGC 1052 and NGC 7332
• Globular Cluster Formation from Colliding Substructure
• On the Evolution of the Globular Cluster System in NGC 1052-DF2: Dynamical Friction, Globular-Globular Interactions and Galactic Tides
• A new method to constrain the origins of dark matter-free galaxies and their unusual globular clusters

Cited by in corpus (32)

• A trail of dark matter-free galaxies from a bullet dwarf collision
• Galaxies lacking dark matter produced by close encounters in a cosmological simulation
• NGC5846-UDG1: A galaxy formed mostly by star formation in massive, extremely dense clumps of gas
• Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the Perseus Cluster: Comparing Galaxy Properties with Globular Cluster System Richness
• Dark Matter Deficient Galaxies And Their Member Star Clusters Form Simultaneously During High-velocity Galaxy Collisions In 1.25 pc Resolution Simulations
• Tidal Distortions in NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4: Independent Evidence for a Lack of Dark Matter
• The globular clusters and star formation history of the isolated, quiescent ultra-diffuse galaxy DGSAT I
• Discovery and analysis of low-surface-brightness galaxies in the environment of NGC 1052
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). XXXV. First Kinematical Clues of Overly-Massive Dark Matter Halos in Several Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster
• Constraining the formation of NGC1052-DF2 from its unusual globular cluster population
• Monochromatic globular clusters as a critical test of formation models for the dark matter deficient galaxies NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4
• Euclid: Early Release Observations -- Globular clusters in the Fornax galaxy cluster, from dwarf galaxies to the intracluster field
• A new class of dark matter-free dwarf galaxies? I. Clues from FCC 224, NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4
• Ultra-deep imaging of NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4 to unravel their origins
• All Puffed Up: Exploring Ultra-diffuse Galaxy Origins through Galaxy Interactions
• Dynamical friction in globular cluster-rich ultra-diffuse galaxies: the case of NGC5846-UDG1
• Keck Spectroscopy of NGC 1052-DF9: Stellar Populations in the Context of the NGC 1052 Group
• An Unexplained Origin for the Unusual Globular Cluster System in the Ultra-diffuse Galaxy FCC 224
• The large-scale structure of globular clusters in the NGC 1052 group
• VEGAS-SSS: Tracing Globular Cluster Populations in the Interacting NGC3640 Galaxy Group
• The Disturbed and Globular Cluster-Rich Ultra-diffuse Galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1
• A candidate dark matter deficient dwarf galaxy in the Fornax cluster identified through overluminous star clusters
• Discovery of Two Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies with Unusually Bright Globular Cluster Luminosity Functions via a Mark-Dependently Thinned Point Process (MATHPOP)
• Revisiting the globular clusters of NGC1052-DF2
• A Closer Look at an Unusual Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy
• Looking into the faintEst WIth MUSE (LEWIS): Exploring the nature of ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Hydra-I cluster IV. A study of the Globular Cluster population in four UDGs
• Candidate Dark Galaxy-2: Validation and Analysis of an Almost Dark Galaxy in the Perseus Cluster
• A new way to measure the distance to NGC1052-DF2
• Impact of Dynamical Friction on the Tidal Formation of NGC 1052-DF2
• Poisson Cluster Process Models for Detecting Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies
• A disk and no signatures of tidal distortion in the galaxy "lacking" dark matter NGC 1052-DF2
• On the Tidal Formation of Dark Matter Deficient Galaxies