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The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey – X. Nuclear star clusters in low-mass early-type galaxies: scaling relations

den Brok, Mark; Peletier, Reynier F.; Seth, Anil; Balcells, Marc; Dominguez, Lilian; Graham, Alister W.; Carter, David; Erwin, Peter; Ferguson, Henry C.; Goudfrooij, Paul; Guzmán, Rafael; Hoyos, Carlos; Jogee, Shardha; Lucey, John; Phillipps, Steven; Puzia, Thomas; Valentijn, Edwin; Kleijn, Gijs Verdoes; Weinzirl, Tim

The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey – X. Nuclear star clusters in low-mass early-type galaxies: scaling relations Thumbnail


Authors

Mark den Brok

Reynier F. Peletier

Anil Seth

Marc Balcells

Lilian Dominguez

Alister W. Graham

David Carter

Peter Erwin

Henry C. Ferguson

Paul Goudfrooij

Rafael Guzmán

Carlos Hoyos

Shardha Jogee

Steven Phillipps

Thomas Puzia

Edwin Valentijn

Gijs Verdoes Kleijn

Tim Weinzirl



Abstract

We present scaling relations between structural properties of nuclear star clusters and their host galaxies for a sample of early-type dwarf galaxies observed as part of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Coma Cluster Survey. We have analysed the light profiles of 200 early-type dwarf galaxies in the magnitude range 16.0 < mF814W < 22.6 mag, corresponding to −19.0 < MF814W < −12.4 mag. Nuclear star clusters are detected in 80 per cent of the galaxies, thus doubling the sample of HST-observed early-type dwarf galaxies with nuclear star clusters. We confirm that the nuclear star cluster detection fraction decreases strongly towards faint magnitudes. The luminosities of nuclear star clusters do not scale linearly with host galaxy luminosity. A linear fit yields Lnuc∼L0.57±0.05galLnuc∼Lgal0.57±0.05. The nuclear star cluster–host galaxy luminosity scaling relation for low-mass early-type dwarf galaxies is consistent with formation by globular cluster (GC) accretion. We find that at similar luminosities, galaxies with higher Sérsic indices have slightly more luminous nuclear star clusters. Rounder galaxies have on average more luminous clusters. Some of the nuclear star clusters are resolved, despite the distance of Coma. We argue that the relation between nuclear star cluster mass and size is consistent with both formation by GC accretion and in situ formation. Our data are consistent with GC inspiralling being the dominant mechanism at low masses, although the observed trend with Sérsic index suggests that in situ star formation is an important second-order effect.

Citation

den Brok, M., Peletier, R. F., Seth, A., Balcells, M., Dominguez, L., Graham, A. W., …Weinzirl, T. (2014). The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey – X. Nuclear star clusters in low-mass early-type galaxies: scaling relations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(3), 2385-2403. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1906

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 11, 2014
Publication Date Dec 11, 2014
Deposit Date Dec 22, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 445
Issue 3
Pages 2385-2403
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1906
Keywords Galaxies: dwarf, Galaxies: nuclei, Galaxies: star clusters: general.
Related Public URLs http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.4766

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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