The puzzle of isolated and quenched dwarf galaxies in cosmic voids
arXiv:2501.02910 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202452688
Abstract
We report, for the first time, the detection of a sample of quenched and isolated dwarf galaxies (with 8.9 log(M/M) 9.5) in the least dense regions of the cosmic web, including voids, filaments, and walls. These dwarfs have no neighbouring galaxy within 1.0~Mpc in projected distance. Based on the full spectral fitting of their central spectra using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, these galaxies are gas-deprived, exhibit stellar mass assembly very similar to dwarfs in the central regions of galaxy clusters, and have experienced no significant star formation in the past 2 Gyr. Additionally, analysis of r-band images from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey showed that these dwarf galaxies host a central Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC). Detecting quenched, isolated dwarf galaxies in cosmic voids indicates that environmental factors are not the sole drivers of their quenching. Internal mechanisms, such as feedback from in-situ star formation, also contributing to the NSC formation, black holes, or variations in conditions during their formation, offer potential explanations for star formation suppression in these galaxies. These findings highlight the need for a significant revision in our understanding of baryonic physics, particularly concerning the formation and evolution of low-mass galaxies.
9 pages, 5 figures, accepted as a Letter to the Editor in Astronomy & Astrophysics
References in corpus (20)
- The Importance of Satellite Quenching for the Build-Up of the Red Sequence of Present Day Galaxies
- Evolutionary stellar population synthesis with MILES - II. Scaled-solar and α-enhanced models
- Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
- LoCuSS: The slow quenching of star formation in cluster galaxies and the need for pre-processing
- Virgo cluster early-type dwarf galaxies with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. On the possible disk nature of bright early-type dwarfs
- On the origin of the faint-end of the red sequence in high density environments
- Breathing in Low Mass Galaxies: A Study of Episodic Star Formation
- Catalogues of isolated galaxies, isolated pairs, and isolated triplets in the local Universe
- Simulations of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies
- The AMIGA sample of isolated galaxies. IV. A catalogue of neighbours around isolated galaxies
- MaNGA AGN dwarf galaxies (MAD) -- I. A new sample of AGN in dwarf galaxies with spatially resolved spectroscopy
- The Imprint of Cosmic Web Quenching on Central Galaxies
- DDO 68: A flea with smaller fleas that on him prey
- Isolated compact elliptical galaxies: Stellar systems that ran away
- PetroFit: A Python Package for Computing Petrosian Radii and Fitting Galaxy Light Profiles
- Disentangling the formation mechanisms of nuclear star clusters
- How nucleation and luminosity shape faint dwarf galaxies
- Low-mass compact elliptical galaxies: spatially-resolved stellar populations and kinematics with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager
- Morphological Segregation in the Surroundings of Cosmic Voids
- On the accretion of a new group of galaxies onto Virgo: II. The effect of pre-processing on the stellar population content of dEs