Dissecting the 3D chemo-dynamical structures of NGC 1381: a galaxy hosting an ancient slow bar with an accreted bulge and thick disc

Abstract

We applied the barred population-orbit superposition method developed in \citet{Jin2025a,Jin2025b} to construct 3D chemo-dynamical models for the barred S0 galaxy NGC~1381 in the Fornax cluster. Based on the stellar orbits in the models, we decomposed NGC~1381 into six components: (1) a dynamically warm nuclear disc with $f_{\mathrm{nucl}}\sim 5\%$; (2) a rigidly rotating, BP/X-shaped bar with $f_{\mathrm{bar}}\sim 30\%$; (3) a dynamically hot, spheroidal bulge with $f_{\mathrm{bulge}}\sim 17\%$; (4) a dynamically cold thin disc with $f_{\mathrm{thin}}\sim 28\%$; (5) a vertically extended thick disc with $f_{\mathrm{thick}}\sim 16\%$; and (6) a dynamically hot, spatially diffuse stellar halo with $f_{\mathrm{halo}}\sim 5\%$. The nuclear disc, bar, and thin disc are metal-rich ($[Z/\mathrm{H}]\gtrsim 0$), $\alpha$-poor ($[Mg/Fe]\lesssim 0.2$), and old ($\sim 13\mathrm{Gyr}$), corresponding to in situ formation in the early Universe. The bulge, thick disc, and stellar halo are metal-poor ($[Z/\mathrm{H}]\lesssim 0$), $\alpha$-rich ($[Mg/Fe]\gtrsim 0.2$), and younger than or comparable in age to the in situ components, suggesting their relations with ex situ formation contributed by minor mergers. The flat metallicity and [Mg/Fe] gradients in the thick disc and stellar halo indicate they are dominated by a similar population of ex situ stars. In contrast, the bulge exhibits a negative metallicity gradient ($\nabla [Z/\mathrm{H}{]}_{\mathrm{bulge}}<0$) pointing to a more complex formation history: the bulge could be either predominantly ex situ or contain a non-negligible mixture of in situ and ex situ stars. Our modelling also reveals the presence of a slow bar ($\mathcal{R}=2.40_{-0.27}^{+0.54}$), with a bar pattern speed of ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\mathrm{p}}=34_{-7}^{+4}\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}\mathrm{kp}{\mathrm{c}}^{-1}$, a bar length of $R_{\mathrm{bar}}=2.24_{-0.22}^{+0.43}\mathrm{kpc}$, and a corotation radius of $R_{\mathrm{CR}}=5.38_{-0.28}^{+1.59}\mathrm{kpc}$, which is consistent with its ancient formation time.

19 pages, 20 figures