Kinematics and Stellar Populations of Low-Luminosity Early-Type Galaxies in the Abell 496 Cluster

TL;DR

This study analyzes the morphology and stellar populations of low-luminosity early-type galaxies in Abell 496, revealing a peculiar population of faint ellipticals with properties similar to massive galaxies, influenced by external environmental mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides high-precision stellar population and kinematic data for faint cluster galaxies, extending understanding of their formation and evolution in a relaxed cluster environment.

Findings

Discovered a peculiar population of faint elliptical galaxies with properties akin to massive early-types.

External mechanisms like ram pressure stripping and harassment likely shaped these galaxies.

Tidal stripping explains the properties of peculiar ellipticals near the cluster core.

Abstract

The morphology and stellar populations of low-luminosity early-type galaxies in clusters have until now been limited to a few relatively nearby clusters such as Virgo or Fornax. Scenarii for the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies in clusters are therefore not well constrained. We investigate here the morphology and stellar populations of low-luminosity galaxies in the relaxed cluster Abell 496 (z=0.0330). Deep multiband imaging obtained with the CFHT Megacam allowed us to select a sample of faint galaxies (-18.8<M_B<-15.1 mag). We observed 118 galaxies spectroscopically with the ESO VLT FLAMES/Giraffe spectrograph (R=6300). We present structural analysis and colour maps for the 48 galaxies belonging to the cluster. We fit the spectra of 46 objects with PEGASE.HR synthetic spectra to estimate the ages, metallicities, and velocity dispersions. We computed values of $\alpha$/Fe abundance ratios from the measurements of Lick indices. High-precision estimates of stellar population properties have been obtained for a large sample of faint galaxies in a cluster, allowing for the extension of relations between stellar populations and internal kinematics to the low-velocity dispersion regime. We have revealed a peculiar population of elliptical galaxies in the core of the cluster, resembling massive early-type galaxies by their stellar population properties and velocity dispersions, but having luminosities of about 2 mag fainter. External mechanisms of gas removal (ram pressure stripping and gravitational harassment) are more likely to have occurred than internal mechanisms such as supernova-driven winds. The violent tidal stripping of intermediate-luminosity, early-type galaxies in the cluster core can explain the properties of the peculiar elliptical galaxies surrounding the cD galaxy.