English

Harassment Origin for Kinematic Substructures in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies?

Astrophysics 2009-11-11 v1

Abstract

We have run high resolution N-body models simulating the encounter of a dwarf galaxy with a bright elliptical galaxy. The dwarf absorbs orbital angular momentum and shows counter-rotating features in the external regions of the galaxy. To explain the core-envelope kinematic decoupling observed in some dwarf galaxies in high-density environments requires nearly head-on collisions and very little dark matter bound to the dwarf. These kinematic structures appear under rather restrictive conditions. As a consequence, in a cluster like Virgo ~1% of dwarf galaxies may present counter-rotation formed by harassment.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0508610,
  title  = {Harassment Origin for Kinematic Substructures in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies?},
  author = {A. C. Gonzalez-Garcia and J. A. L. Aguerri and M. Balcells},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0508610},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

10 pages, 7 figures; Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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