Journal
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN
Volume 70, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/pasj/psx051
Keywords
galaxies: dwarf; galaxies: general; galaxies: interactions
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship [DGE 1148900]
- NSF [AST-141164]
- FIRST program from Japanese Cabinet Office
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
- Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
- Toray Science Foundation
- NAOJ
- Kavli IPMU
- KEK
- ASIAA
- Princeton University
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NNX08AR22G]
- National Science Foundation [AST-1238877]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [15H03654, 15H05893] Funding Source: KAKEN
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We report the discovery of a diffuse stellar cloud with an angular extent greater than or similar to 30, which we term Sumo Puff, in data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). While we do not have a redshift for this object, it is in close angular proximity to a post-merger galaxy at redshift z = 0.0431 and is projected within a few virial radii (assuming similar redshifts) of two other similar to L-* galaxies, which we use to bracket a potential redshift range of 0.0055 < z < 0.0431. The object's light distribution is flat, as characterized by a low Se ' rsic index (n similar to 0.3). It has a low central g-band surface brightness of similar to 26.4mag arcsec-2, large effective radius of similar to 13(similar to 11 kpc at z = 0.0431 and similar to 1.5 kpc at z = 0.0055), and an elongated morphology (b/a similar to 0.4). Its red color (g - i similar to 1) is consistent with a passively evolving stellar population and similar to the nearby post-merger galaxy, and we may see tidal material connecting Sumo Puff with this galaxy. We offer two possible interpretations for the nature of this object: (1) it is an extreme, galaxy-sized tidal feature associated with a recent merger event, or (2) it is a foreground dwarf galaxy with properties consistent with a quenched, disturbed, ultra-diffuse galaxy. We present a qualitative comparison with simulations that demonstrates the feasibility of forming a structure similar to this object in a merger event. Follow-up spectroscopy and/or deeper imaging to confirm the presence of the bridge of tidalmaterial will be necessary to reveal the true nature of this object.
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