Chromodynamical Analysis of Lenticular Galaxies using Globular Clusters and Planetary Nebulae

TL;DR

This study analyzes the kinematics of globular clusters and planetary nebulae in three lenticular galaxies to understand their formation and evolutionary paths, revealing diverse assembly histories.

Contribution

It introduces a combined kinematic analysis of GCs and PNe in lenticular galaxies, highlighting different evolutionary mechanisms like mergers and secular evolution.

Findings

NGC 2768's red GCs show inner rotation.

A subgroup of GCs in NGC 3115 has unique kinematics.

Most GCs in NGC 7457 are likely part of the disc.

Abstract

Recovering the origins of lenticular galaxies can shed light on the understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, since they present properties that can be found in both elliptical and spiral galaxies. In this work we study the kinematics of the globular cluster (GC) systems of three lenticular galaxies located in low density environments (NGC 2768, NGC 3115 and NGC 7457), and compare them with the kinematics of planetary nebulae (PNe). The PNe and GC data come from the Planetary Nebulae Spectrograph and the SLUGGS Surveys. Through photometric spheroid-disc decomposition and PNe kinematics we find the probability for a given GC to belong to either the spheroid or the disc of its host galaxy or be rejected from the model. We find that there is no correlation between the components that the GCs are likely to belong to and their colours. Particularly, for NGC 2768 we find that its red GCs display rotation preferentially at inner radii (Re<1). In the case of the GC system of NGC 3115 we find a group of GCs with similar kinematics that are not likely to belong to either its spheroid nor disc. For NGC 7457 we find that 70% of its GCs are likely to belong to the disc. Overall, our results suggest that these galaxies assembled into S0s through different evolutionary paths. Mergers seem to have been very important for NGC 2768 and NGC 3115 while NGC 7457 is more likely to have experienced secular evolution.