Deconstructing dwarf galaxies: a Suprime-Cam survey of Andromeda II

TL;DR

This study uses deep photometry to reveal two distinct stellar populations in Andromeda II, indicating complex formation history with an extended, ancient, metal-poor component and a younger, metal-rich core.

Contribution

First detection of a red clump in an M31 dwarf spheroidal, revealing two structural components with different ages and metallicities in Andromeda II.

Findings

Identification of a red clump population in And II

Two structural components with distinct stellar populations

Extended component dominates at large radii

Abstract

(Abridged) We present deep, sub-horizontal branch, multi-colour photometry of the Andromeda II dwarf spheroidal (And II dSph) taken with Subaru Suprime-Cam. We identify a red clump population in this galaxy, the first time this feature has been detected in a M31 dSph, which are normally characterized as having no significant intermediate age populations. We construct radial profiles for the various stellar populations and show that the horizontal branch has a nearly constant density spatial distribution out to large radius, whereas the reddest red giant branch stars are centrally concentrated in an exponential profile. We argue that these populations trace two distinct structural components in And II and show that this assumption provides a good match to the overall radial profile of this galaxy. The extended component dominates the stellar populations at large radius, whereas the exponential component dominates the inner few arcminutes. We show that the two components have very different stellar populations; the exponential component has an average age of $\sim 7 - 10$ Gyrs old, is relatively metal-rich ([Fe/H] $\sim -1$) but with a significant tail to low metallicities, and possesses a red clump. The extended component, on the other hand, is ancient ($\sim 13$ Gyrs), metal-poor ([Fe/H] $\sim -1.5$) with a narrower dispersion $\sigma_{\rm [Fe/H]} \simeq 0.28$, and has a well developed blue horizontal branch. The extended component contains approximately three-quarters of the light of And II and its unusual density profile is unique in Local Group dwarf galaxies. This suggests that its formation and/or evolution may have been quite different to other dwarf galaxies.