Origin of lower velocity dispersions of ultra-compact dwarf galaxy populations in clusters of galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to explain the lower velocity dispersions of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies in clusters, suggesting they have smaller pericenter distances compared to other galaxy populations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the lower velocity dispersions of UCDs can be explained by their more radial orbits with smaller pericenter distances, supporting the galaxy threshing scenario.

Findings

UCDs have smaller pericenter distances than other galaxy populations.

Velocity dispersions of UCDs are consistent with their orbital properties.

Results support the origin of UCDs from dwarf galaxy nuclei.

Abstract

Recent observations have revealed that velocity dispersions of ``ultra-compact dwarf'' (UCD) galaxies are significantly smaller than those of other galaxy populations in the Fornax and the Virgo clusters of galaxies. In order to understand the origin of the observed lower velocity dispersions of UCDs, we numerically investigate line-of-sight velocity dispersion (sigma_los) of galaxy populations with variously different orbits in clusters of galaxies with the total masses of M_cl. We particularly investigate radial velocity dispersion profiles (sigma_los(R)) and velocity dispersions within the central 200 kpc of a cluster model (sigma_m) for galaxies with different pericenter distances (r_p) and orbital eccentricities (e) in the model with M_cl = 7.0 x 10^13 M_sun reasonable for the Fornax cluster. We find that sigma_los(R) and sigma_m of galaxies with smaller r_p are steeper and smaller, respectively, for a given initial e distribution of galaxies. For example, we find that sigma_m is ~ 260 km/s for galaxies with r_p <50 kpc and ~ 336 km/s for all galaxies in the model with the mean e of 0.6. These results imply that the observed lower velocity dispersion of UCD population is consistent with the UCDs having significantly smaller r_p than other galaxy populations in the Fornax. We discuss these results in the context of the ``galaxy threshing'' scenario in which UCDs originate from nuclei of nucleated dwarf galaxies. We suggest that the observed differences in kinematical properties between UCDs and other dwarf galaxy populations in clusters of galaxies can be understood in terms of the differences in orbital properties between UCDs and the dwarf populations.