Euclid: Early Release Observations -- Dwarf galaxies in the Perseus galaxy cluster
Abstract
We make use of the unprecedented depth, spatial resolution, and field of view of the Euclid Early Release Observations of the Perseus galaxy cluster to detect and characterise the dwarf galaxy population in this massive system. The Euclid high resolution VIS and combined VIS+NIR colour images were visually inspected and dwarf galaxy candidates were identified. Their morphologies, the presence of nuclei, and their globular cluster (GC) richness were visually assessed, complementing an automatic detection of the GC candidates. Structural and photometric parameters, including Euclid filter colours, were extracted from 2-dimensional fitting. Based on this analysis, a total of 1100 dwarf candidates were found across the image, with 638 appearing to be new identifications. The majority (96%) are classified as dwarf ellipticals, 53% are nucleated, 26% are GC-rich, and 6% show disturbed morphologies. A relatively high fraction of galaxies, 8%, are categorised as ultra-diffuse galaxies. The majority of the dwarfs follow the expected scaling relations. Globally, the GC specific frequency, S_N, of the Perseus dwarfs is intermediate between those measured in the Virgo and Coma clusters. While the dwarfs with the largest GC counts are found throughout the Euclid field of view, those located around the east-west strip, where most of the brightest cluster members are found, exhibit larger S_N values, on average. The spatial distribution of the dwarfs, GCs, and intracluster light show a main iso-density/isophotal centre displaced to the west of the bright galaxy light distribution. The ERO imaging of the Perseus cluster demonstrates the unique capability of Euclid to concurrently detect and characterise large samples of dwarfs, their nuclei, and their GC systems, allowing us to construct a detailed picture of the formation and evolution of galaxies over a wide range of mass scales and environments.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2405.13502,
title = {Euclid: Early Release Observations -- Dwarf galaxies in the Perseus galaxy cluster},
author = {F. R. Marleau and J. -C. Cuillandre and M. Cantiello and D. Carollo and P. -A. Duc and R. Habas and L. K. Hunt and P. Jablonka and M. Mirabile and M. Mondelin and M. Poulain and T. Saifollahi and R. Sánchez-Janssen and E. Sola and M. Urbano and R. Zöller and M. Bolzonella and A. Lançon and R. Laureijs and O. Marchal and M. Schirmer and C. Stone and A. Boselli and A. Ferré-Mateu and N. A. Hatch and M. Kluge and M. Montes and J. G. Sorce and C. Tortora and A. Venhola and J. B. Golden-Marx and N. Aghanim and A. Amara and S. Andreon and N. Auricchio and M. Baldi and A. Balestra and S. Bardelli and P. Battaglia and R. Bender and C. Bodendorf and E. Branchini and M. Brescia and J. Brinchmann and S. Camera and G. P. Candini and V. Capobianco and C. Carbone and J. Carretero and S. Casas and M. Castellano and S. Cavuoti and A. Cimatti and G. Congedo and C. J. Conselice and L. Conversi and Y. Copin and F. Courbin and H. M. Courtois and M. Cropper and A. Da Silva and H. Degaudenzi and A. M. Di Giorgio and J. Dinis and M. Douspis and C. A. J. Duncan and X. Dupac and S. Dusini and A. Ealet and M. Farina and S. Farrens and S. Ferriol and P. Fosalba and S. Fotopoulou and M. Frailis and E. Franceschi and M. Fumana and S. Galeotta and B. Garilli and W. Gillard and B. Gillis and C. Giocoli and P. Gómez-Alvarez and A. Grazian and F. Grupp and L. Guzzo and M. Hailey and S. V. H. Haugan and J. Hoar and H. Hoekstra and W. Holmes and I. Hook and F. Hormuth and A. Hornstrup and D. Hu and P. Hudelot and K. Jahnke and M. Jhabvala and E. Keihänen and S. Kermiche and A. Kiessling and T. Kitching and R. Kohley and B. Kubik and K. Kuijken and M. Kümmel and M. Kunz and H. Kurki-Suonio and O. Lahav and D. Le Mignant and S. Ligori and P. B. Lilje and V. Lindholm and I. Lloro and D. Maino and E. Maiorano and O. Mansutti and O. Marggraf and K. Markovic and N. Martinet and F. Marulli and R. Massey and S. Maurogordato and H. J. McCracken and E. Medinaceli and S. Mei and Y. Mellier and M. Meneghetti and E. Merlin and G. Meylan and M. Moresco and L. Moscardini and E. Munari and R. Nakajima and R. C. Nichol and S. -M. Niemi and C. Padilla and S. Paltani and F. Pasian and K. Pedersen and W. J. Percival and V. Pettorino and S. Pires and G. Polenta and M. Poncet and L. A. Popa and L. Pozzetti and F. Raison and R. Rebolo and A. Refregier and A. Renzi and J. Rhodes and G. Riccio and H. -W. Rix and E. Romelli and M. Roncarelli and E. Rossetti and R. Saglia and D. Sapone and R. Scaramella and P. Schneider and A. Secroun and G. Seidel and M. Seiffert and S. Serrano and C. Sirignano and G. Sirri and L. Stanco and P. Tallada-Crespí and A. N. Taylor and H. I. Teplitz and I. Tereno and R. Toledo-Moreo and A. Tsyganov and I. Tutusaus and E. A. Valentijn and L. Valenziano and T. Vassallo and G. Verdoes Kleijn and A. Veropalumbo and Y. Wang and J. Weller and O. R. Williams and G. Zamorani and E. Zucca and C. Baccigalupi and A. Biviano and C. Burigana and G. De Lucia and K. George and V. Scottez and M. Viel and P. Simon and A. Mora and J. Martín-Fleitas and D. Scott},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.13502},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
44 pages, 24 figures, 5 tables, paper submitted to A&A as part of the A&A special issue `Euclid on Sky', which contains Euclid key reference papers and first results from the Euclid Early Release Observations