Wide-field Survey around Local Group Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy Leo II: Spatial Distribution of Stellar Content

TL;DR

This study presents a detailed wide-field imaging survey of Leo II, revealing its extended stellar distribution, substructures, and population gradients, providing insights into its formation history and stellar content.

Contribution

The paper offers the first deep, wide-field analysis of Leo II's stellar distribution and population gradients beyond its tidal radius, highlighting substructures and age variations.

Findings

Red HB stars are more centrally concentrated than blue HB stars.

Stellar populations are more diverse at the center, with younger stars present.

Surface brightness maps suggest a possible globular cluster beyond the tidal radius.

Abstract

We carried out a wide-field V, I imaging survey of the Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo II using the Subaru Prime Focus Camera on the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope. The survey covered an area of 26.67 x 26.67 arcmin^2, far beyond the tidal radius of Leo II (8.63 arcmin), down to the limiting magnitude of V ~26, which is roughly 1 mag deeper than the turn-off point of the main sequence stars of Leo II. Radial number density profiles of bright and faint red giant branch (RGB) stars were found to change their slopes at around the tidal radius, and extend beyond the tidal radius with shallower slopes. A smoothed surface brightness map of Leo II suggests the existence of a small substructure of globular cluster luminosity beyond the tidal radius. We investigated the properties of the stellar population by means of the color-magnitude diagram. The horizontal branch (HB) morphology index shows a radial gradient in which red HB stars are more concentrated than blue HB stars, which is common to many Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The color distribution of RGB stars around the mean RGB sequence shows a larger dispersion at the center than in the outskirts, indicating a mixture of stellar populations at the center and a more homogeneous population in the outskirts. Based on the age estimation using subgiant branch (SGB) stars, we found that although the major star formation took place ~8 Gyr ago, a considerable stellar population younger than 8 Gyr is found at the center; such a younger population is insignificant in the outskirts.