The AIMSS Project I: bridging the star cluster, galaxy divide
By M. Norris, S. Kannappan, D. Forbes, A. Romanowsky, J. Brodie, F. Faifer, A. Huxor, C. Maraston, A. Moffett, S. Penny and 8 more. 2014
145 citations recorded by the source corpus.
We describe the structural and kinematic properties of the first compact stellar systems discovered by the Archive of Intermediate Mass Stellar Systems project. These spectroscopically confirmed objects have sizes (∼6 < Re [pc] < 500) and masses (∼2 × 106 < M*/M⊙ < 6 × 109) spanning the range of massive globular clusters, ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs) and compact elliptical galaxies (cEs), completely filling the gap between star clusters and galaxies. Several objects are close analogues to the prototypical cE, M32. These objects, which are more massive than previously discovered UCDs of the same size, further call into question the existence of a tight mass–size trend for compact stellar systems, while simultaneously strengthening the case for a universal ‘zone of avoidance’ for dynamically hot stellar systems in the mass–size plane. Overall, we argue that there are two classes of compact stellar systems (1) massive star clusters and (2) a population closely related to galaxies. Our data provide indications for a further division of the galaxy-type UCD/cE population into two groups, one population that we associate with objects formed by the stripping of nucleated dwarf galaxies, and a second population that formed through the stripping of bulged galaxies or are lower mass analogues of classical ellipticals. We find compact stellar systems around galaxies in low- to high-density environments, demonstrating that the physical processes responsible for forming them do not only operate in the densest clusters.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6f9697503498a7188d50af5eb422e60df665e571
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Citations in the corpus
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- Formation and Evolution of Compact-object Binaries in AGN Disks (2019, background): “Galactic nuclei are the densest environments of stars and compact objects in the universe (Walcher et al. 2005; Merritt 2010; Norris et al. 2014; Gallego-Cano et al. 2018).”
- Eccentric Black Hole Gravitational-wave Capture Sources in Galactic Nuclei: Distribution of Binary Parameters (2017, methodology): “…1max SMBH 2 where MSMBH is the mass of the SMBH, σ* is the velocity dispersion of the underlying stellar populations in the nucleus near the SMBH, and we use the MSMBH−σ* relationship (Tremaine et al. 2002; Walcher et al. 2005; Misgeld & Hilker 2011; Norris et al. 2014): *s´ - ⎜ ⎟ ⎛ ⎝ ⎞ ⎠ ( )M M1.”
- Structure and Kinematics of Early-Type Galaxies from Integral Field Spectroscopy (2016, background): “It is populated by objects generally called dwarf ellipticals (dE) and ultra compact dwarfs (UCD) (e.g. Misgeld & Hilker 2011; Norris et al. 2014).”
- A MegaCam Survey of Outer Halo Satellites. III. Photometric and Structural Parameters (2018, background): “…structural properties of stellar systems in the Milky Way, M31 and nearby galaxy groups and clusters (e.g., Kormendy 1990; Côté et al. 2002; Willman et al. 2005a; Belokurov et al. 2007a; Dabringhausen et al. 2008; Tollerud et al. 2011; Huxor et al. 2011; Misgeld & Hilker 2011; Norris et al. 2014).”