Discovery and analysis of low-surface-brightness galaxies in the environment of NGC 1052

TL;DR

This study used deep photometric data to discover 42 low-surface-brightness galaxies around NGC 1052, including extremely faint objects, and analyzed their distribution and potential associations with large-scale structures.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive search for LSBGs in the NGC 1052 environment using DECaLS data, identifying new objects and analyzing their spatial and structural properties.

Findings

Detected 42 LSBGs, including 20 new objects.

Identified an extremely faint galaxy, RCP32, with one of the lowest surface brightnesses.

Found evidence of large-scale structure and possible substructure related to NGC 1052.

Abstract

The environment of NGC1052 has recently attracted much attention because of the presence of low-surface-brightness galaxies (LSBGs) with apparently "exotic" properties, making it a region of high interest for the detection of new objects. We used public deep photometric data from DECaLS to carry out a comprehensive search for LSBGs over a wide region of 6x6 degrees, equivalent to 2x2 Mpc at the distance of NGC1052. We detected 42 LSBGs with r_e > 5 arcsec and mu_g(0) > 24 mag/arcsec2, of which 20 are previously undetected objects. RCP32 stands out with extreme properties: r_e = 23.0 arcsec and mu_g_eff = 28.6 mag/arcsec2, making it one of the lowest surface brightness galaxies ever detected through integrated photometry, located at just 10 arcmin from the extensively studied NGC1052-DF2. We explored the presence of GCs in the LSBGs. We marginally detected a GC system in RCP32, and argue that this LSBG is of great interest for follow-up observations given its extremely low baryon density. After analyzing the distribution of galaxies with available spectroscopy, we identified a large-scale structure of approximately 1 Mpc that is well isolated in redshift space and centered on NGC1052. The spatial correlation analysis between the LSBGs and this large-scale structure suggests their association. However, when exploring the distribution of effective radius, we find an overpopulation of large LSBGs (r_e > 15 arcsec) located close to the line of sight of NGC1052. We argue that this is suggestive of a substructure with similar radial velocity in sight projection, but at a closer distance, to which some of these apparently larger LSBGs could be associated. However. possible effects derived from tidal interactions are worthy of further study. Our work expands the catalog of LSBGs with new interesting objects and provides a detailed environmental context for the study of LSBGs in this region.