2001/10/29 by M. Fellhauer, Pavel Kroupa, P. Kroupa · 201 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Dwarf galaxy #Fornax Cluster #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Galaxy group #Galaxy groups and clusters #Physics #Population #Star cluster #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supercluster (genetic) #Surface brightness #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05087.x
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 330(3), 642-650 (Oxford University Press) · MNRAS, accepted, 10 pages, 10 figures
arxiv created 2001/10/29 · openalex publication_date 2002/03/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
Recent spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the Fornax Cluster reveal nearly unresolved ‘star-like’ objects with redshifts appropriate to the Fornax Cluster. These objects have intrinsic sizes of ≈100 pc and absolute B-band magnitudes in the range −14<MB<−11.5 mag and lower limits for the central surface brightness μB≳23 mag arcsec−2, and so appear to constitute a new population of ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs). Such compact dwarfs were predicted to form from the amalgamation of stellar superclusters (by Kroupa), which are rich aggregates of young massive star clusters (YMCs) that can form in collisions between gas-rich galaxies. Here we present the evolution of superclusters in a tidal field. The YMCs merge on a few supercluster crossing times. Superclusters that are initially as concentrated and massive as knot S in the interacting Antennae galaxies evolve to merger objects that are long-lived and show properties comparable to the newly discovered UCDs. Less massive superclusters resembling knot 430 in the Antennae may evolve to ω Cen-type systems. Low-concentration superclusters are disrupted by the tidal field, dispersing their surviving star clusters while the remaining merger objects rapidly evolve into the μB−MB region populated by low-mass Milky Way dSph satellites.