A Deep Study of the Dwarf Satellites Andromeda XXVIII & Andromeda XXIX

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of two distant dwarf spheroidal galaxies, revealing their old, metal-poor populations, complex star formation history, and implications for models of galaxy transformation.

Contribution

It offers new spectroscopic and photometric data confirming metallicity spread and properties of Andromeda XXVIII and XXIX, constraining formation models involving environmental effects.

Findings

Both galaxies are old, metal-poor dSphs with no recent star formation.

And XXVIII shows signs of extended star formation history.

Galaxies follow the luminosity-metallicity relation for dwarf satellites.

Abstract

We present the results of a deep study of the isolated dwarf galaxies Andromeda XXVIII and Andromeda XXIX with Gemini/GMOS and Keck/DEIMOS. Both galaxies are shown to host old, metal-poor stellar populations with no detectable recent star formation, conclusively identifying both of them as dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). And XXVIII exhibits a complex horizontal branch morphology, which is suggestive of metallicity enrichment and thus an extended period of star formation in the past. Decomposing the horizontal branch into blue (metal poor, assumed to be older) and red (relatively more metal rich, assumed to be younger) populations shows that the metal rich are also more spatially concentrated in the center of the galaxy. We use spectroscopic measurements of the Calcium triplet, combined with the improved precision of the Gemini photometry, to measure the metallicity of the galaxies, confirming the metallicity spread and showing that they both lie on the luminosity-metallicity relation for dwarf satellites. Taken together, the galaxies exhibit largely typical properties for dSphs despite their significant distances from M31. These dwarfs thus place particularly significant constraints on models of dSph formation involving environmental processes such as tidal or ram pressure stripping. Such models must be able to completely transform the two galaxies into dSphs in no more than two pericentric passages around M31, while maintaining a significant stellar populations gradient. Reproducing these features is a prime requirement for models of dSph formation to demonstrate not just the plausibility of environmental transformation but the capability of accurately recreating real dSphs.