Hubble Space Telescope Captures UGC~12591: Bulge/Disc Properties, Star Formation and `Missing Baryons' Census in a Very Massive and Fast Spinning Hybrid Galaxy

TL;DR

This study uses HST and multi-wavelength data to analyze the structure, star formation, and baryon content of the massive, fast-spinning galaxy UGC 12591, revealing its quiescent state and significant baryon deficiency.

Contribution

It provides a detailed structural and baryonic census of UGC 12591, highlighting its low star formation efficiency and baryon deficit in a massive, isolated galaxy.

Findings

Bulge dominates over disc with 69% B/D ratio.

Galaxy has extremely low SFR of 0.1-0.2 M_sun/yr.

Baryonic mass is 85% below cosmological expectations.

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the nearby, massive, highly rotating hybrid galaxy UGC~12591, along with observations in UV to FIR bands. HST data in V, I, and H bands is used to disentangle the structural components. Surface photometry shows a dominance of the bulge over the disc with H-band B/D ratio of $69\%$. The spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting reveals an extremely low global star formation rate (SFR) of $\rm\sim0.1-0.2 M_\odot yr^{-1}$, exceptionally low for the galaxy's huge stellar mass of $\rm 1.6\times10^{11}M_\odot$, implying a strong quenching of its SFR with star formation efficiency of $3-5\%$. For at least the past $\rm 10^{8}$ years, the galaxy has remained in a quiescent state as a sterile, `red and dead' galaxy. UGC~12591 hosts a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of $\rm 6.18\times 10^{8} M_\odot$ which is possibly quiescent at present, i.e. neither we see large ($\rm>1 kpc$) radio jets nor is the SMBH contributing significantly to the mid-IR SED, ruling out strong radiative feedback of AGN. We obtained a detailed census of all observable baryons with a total mass of $\rm 6.46\times10^{11} M_\odot$ within the virial radius, amounting to a baryonic deficiency of $\sim$$85\%$ relative to the cosmological mean. Only a small fraction of these baryons resides in a warm/hot circum-galactic X-ray halo, while the majority are still unobservable. We discussed various astrophysical scenarios to explain its unusual properties. Our work is a major step forward in understanding the assembly history of such extremely massive, isolated galaxies.