The Intergalactic Stellar Population from Mergers of Elliptical Galaxies with Dark Matter halos

[EN]We present simulations of dry-merger encounters between pairs of elliptical galaxies with dark matter halos. The aim of these simulations is to study the intergalactic (IG) stellar populations produced in both parabolic and hyperbolic encounters. We model progenitor galaxies with total-to-lumino...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González-García, A. César, Stanghellini, Letizia, Manchado, Arturo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/75157
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/75157
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD
Galaxies: interactions
Galaxy: stellar content
Planetary nebulae: general
stars: AGB and post-AGB
Incipit
Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio
Institute of Heritage Sciences
Descripción
Sumario:[EN]We present simulations of dry-merger encounters between pairs of elliptical galaxies with dark matter halos. The aim of these simulations is to study the intergalactic (IG) stellar populations produced in both parabolic and hyperbolic encounters. We model progenitor galaxies with total-to-luminous mass ratios MT /M L= 3 and 11. The initial mass of the colliding galaxies are chosen so that M 1/M 2 = 1 and 10. The model galaxies are populated by particles representing stars, as in Stanghellini et al., and dark matter. Merger remnants resulting from these encounters display a population of unbounded particles, both dark and luminous. The number of particles becoming unbounded depends on orbital configuration, with hyperbolic encounters producing a larger luminous intracluster population than parabolic encounters. Furthermore, in simulations with identical orbital parameters, a lower MT /M L of the colliding galaxies produces a larger fraction of unbounded luminous particles. For each modeled collision, the fraction of unbounded to initial stellar mass is the same in all mass bins considered, similarly to what we found previously by modeling encounters of galaxies without dark halos. The fraction of IG to total luminosity resulting from our simulations is ~4% and ~6% for dark-to-bright mass ratios of 10 and 2, respectively. These unbounded-to-total luminous fractions are down from the 17% that we had previously found in the case of no dark halos. Our results are in broad agreement with IG light observed in groups of galaxies, while the results of our previous models without dark halos better encompass observed intracluster populations. We suggest a possible formation scenario of IG stars.