Starbursting Nuclei in Old Dwarf Galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates young, star-forming nuclei in old dwarf elliptical galaxies, suggesting they are formed through off-centered star formation regions that could migrate inward to become the galaxy's nucleus.

Contribution

It provides observational evidence of young, off-centered star-forming regions in dwarf ellipticals and proposes a 'wet migration' scenario for nucleus formation.

Findings

Star-forming blobs are about 1% of galaxy mass.

Some blobs are slightly off-center from galaxy centers.

Formation ages of blobs are a few million years.

Abstract

Nuclei of early-type dwarf galaxies (dEs) are usually younger than the galaxy main body, and such discrepancy in age has been a puzzle. To explore the origin of young nuclei in dEs, we study a sample of dEs having compact star-forming blobs that are visually similar to dEs' nuclei but by far bluer. We find that (1) the compact star-forming blobs have a typical stellar mass of one percent of the host galaxy stellar mass; (2) some of the blobs are positioned slightly off from the center of the galaxies; (3) the H$\alpha$ equivalent width measured from the publicly available Sloan Digital Sky Survey fiber spectroscopy shows their formation ages being an order of few Mega-year; and (4) their emission line metallicities, 12\,+\,log(O/H), are as high as the solar value, while the underlying galaxies have the typical stellar populations of dEs, i.e., log(Z/Z$_{\sun}$)\,$\sim$\,$-0.8$. Based on the results, we argue that the central star-forming blobs can provide a caught-in-the-act view of nuclei formation in dEs, and discussing possible formation mechanisms of young nuclei in old dEs. We particularly propose that these off-centered compact star-forming regions may act as seeds of nuclei as proposed in the `wet migration' scenario of \cite{Guillard16}.