Morphology of Dwarf Galaxies in Isolated Satellite Systems

TL;DR

This study investigates how the environment and host galaxy type influence the morphology of dwarf satellite galaxies, revealing that host morphology and distance are key factors, with environmental density playing a lesser role.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the environmental dependence of dwarf galaxy morphology in isolated satellite systems, highlighting the importance of host galaxy type and spatial distribution.

Findings

Dwarf satellite distribution varies with host galaxy type.

Environmental densities are less influential than host morphology.

Blue-cored dwarfs are located farther from early-type hosts.

Abstract

The environmental dependence of the morphology of dwarf galaxies in isolated satellite systems is analyzed to understand the origin of the dwarf galaxy morphology using the visually classified morphological types of 5836 local galaxies with $z \lesssim 0.01$. We consider six sub-types of dwarf galaxies, dS0, dE, dE$_{bc}$, dSph, dE$_{blue}$, and dI, of which the first four sub-types are considered as early-type and the last two as late-type. The environmental parameters we consider are the projected distance from the host galaxy ($r_{p}$), local and global background densities, and the host morphology. The spatial distributions of dwarf satellites of early-type galaxies are much different from those of dwarf satellites of late-type galaxies, suggesting the host morphology combined with $r_{p}$ plays a decisive role on the morphology of the dwarf satellite galaxies. The local and global background densities play no significant role on the morphology of dwarfs in the satellite systems hosted by early-type galaxies. However, in the satellite system hosted by late-type galaxies, the global background densities of dE and dSph satellites are significantly different from those of dE$_{bc}$, dE$_{blue}$, and dI satellites. The blue-cored dwarf satellites (dE$_{bc}$) of early-type galaxies are likely to be located at $r_{p} > 0.3$ Mpc to keep their cold gas from the ram pressure stripping by the hot corona of early-type galaxies. The spatial distribution of dE$_{bc}$ satellites of early-type galaxies and their global background densities suggest that their cold gas is intergalactic material accreted before they fall into the satellite systems.