A Second Galaxy Missing Dark Matter in the NGC 1052 Group

The ultra-diffuse galaxy NGC1052-DF2 has a very low velocity dispersion, indicating that it has little or no dark matter. Here we report the discovery of a second galaxy in this class, residing in the same group. NGC1052-DF4 closely resembles NGC1052-DF2 in terms of its size, surface brightness, and...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2019-03, Vol.874 (1), p.L5
Hauptverfasser: van Dokkum, Pieter, Danieli, Shany, Abraham, Roberto, Conroy, Charlie, Romanowsky, Aaron J.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext bestellen
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The ultra-diffuse galaxy NGC1052-DF2 has a very low velocity dispersion, indicating that it has little or no dark matter. Here we report the discovery of a second galaxy in this class, residing in the same group. NGC1052-DF4 closely resembles NGC1052-DF2 in terms of its size, surface brightness, and morphology; has a similar distance of ; and also has a population of luminous globular clusters extending out to from the center of the galaxy. Accurate radial velocities of the diffuse galaxy light and seven of the globular clusters were obtained with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. The velocity of the diffuse light is identical to the median velocity of the clusters, , and close to the central velocity of the NGC 1052 group. The rms spread of the globular cluster velocities is very small at . Taking observational uncertainties into account we determine an intrinsic velocity dispersion of , consistent with the expected value from the stars alone ( ) and lower than expected from a standard NFW halo ( ). We conclude that NGC1052-DF2 is not an isolated case but that a class of such objects exists. The origin of these large, faint galaxies with an excess of luminous globular clusters and an apparent lack of dark matter is, at present, not understood.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ab0d92