1998/09/30 by Bryan W. Miller, B. W. Miller, J. M. Lotz +6 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Brightest cluster galaxy #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dwarf galaxy #Dwarf spheroidal galaxy #Elliptical galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Galaxy group #Globular cluster #Lenticular galaxy #Luminous infrared galaxy #Peculiar galaxy #Physics #Radio galaxy #Virgo Cluster #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/311739
12 pages (uses aaspp4.sty), 2 figures, 1 table, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 1998/09/30 · openalex publication_date 1998/12/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The specific globular cluster frequencies ( S N ) for 24 dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters and the Leo Group that were imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope are presented. Combining all available data, we find that for nucleated dE (dE, N) galaxies, which are spatially distributed like giant elliptical galaxies in galaxy clusters, N (dE, N)=6.5 ± 1.2 and S N increases with M V , while for nonnucleated dE (dE, noN) galaxies, which are distributed like late-type galaxies, N (dE, noN)=3.1 ± 0.5 and there is little or no trend with M V . Thus, the S N values for dE galaxies are, on average, significantly higher than those for late-type galaxies, which have S N ≲ 1. This suggests that dE galaxies are more akin to giant elliptical galaxies than to late-type galaxies. If there are dormant or stripped irregular galaxies hiding among the dE population, they are likely to be among the nonnucleated dE galaxies. Furthermore, the similarities in the properties of the globular clusters (GCs) and in the spatial distributions of dE, N galaxies and giant elliptical galaxies suggest that neither galaxy mass nor galaxy metallicity is responsible for the high values of S N . Instead, most metal-poor GCs may have formed in dwarf-sized fragments that merged into larger galaxies.