2024/02/29 by Ana Inés Ennis, Ennis, Ana Ines, Juan Pablo Caso +3 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.00065
openalex publication_date 2024/02/29 · openalex created_date 2024/03/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a wide-field study of the globular cluster systems (GCS) of the elliptical galaxy NGC 3640 and its companion NGC 3641, based on observations from Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph/Gemini using the g'r'i' filters. NGC 3640 is a shell galaxy which presents a complex morphology, which previous studies have indicated as the sign of a recent `dry' merger, although whether its nearest neighbour could have had an influence in these substructures remains an open question. In this work, we trace the spatial distribution of the globular clusters (GCs) as well as their colour distribution, finding a potential bridge of red (metal-rich) GCs that connects NGC 3640 to its less massive companion, and signs that the blue (metal-poor) GCs were spatially disturbed by the event that created the shells. While NGC 3640 presents a typical bimodal colour distribution, the GCS attributed to NGC 3641 appears unimodal, with most GCs presenting an intermediate colour in comparison to those closer to its companion.