Six More Ultra-Faint Milky Way Companions Discovered in the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and characterization of six ultra-faint Milky Way satellites using DECam data, distinguishing between dwarf galaxies and star clusters, and analyzing their properties and potential associations.

Contribution

The study introduces six newly discovered ultra-faint stellar systems and provides detailed morphological, stellar population, and proper motion analyses, advancing classification methods.

Findings

Three systems are consistent with ultra-faint dwarf galaxies.

Three systems are likely ultra-faint star clusters.

Proper motions suggest possible associations with known structures.

Abstract

We report the discovery of six ultra-faint Milky Way satellites discovered through matched-filter searches conducted using Dark Energy Camera (DECam) data processed as part of the second data release of the DECam Local Volume Exploration (DELVE) survey. Leveraging deep Gemini/GMOS-N imaging (for four candidates) as well as follow-up DECam imaging (for two candidates), we characterize the morphologies and stellar populations of these systems. We find that these candidates all share faint absolute magnitudes ($M_{V} \geq -3.2$ mag) and old, metal-poor stellar populations ($\tau > 10$ Gyr, [Fe/H] $< -1.4$ dex). Three of these systems are more extended ($r_{1/2} > 15$ pc), while the other three are compact ($r_{1/2} < 10$ pc). From these properties, we infer that the former three systems (Bo\"{o}tes V, Leo Minor I, and Virgo II) are consistent with ultra-faint dwarf galaxy classifications, whereas the latter three (DELVE 3, DELVE 4, and DELVE 5) are likely ultra-faint star clusters. Using data from the Gaia satellite, we confidently measure the proper motion of Bo\"{o}tes V, Leo Minor I, and DELVE 4, and tentatively detect a proper motion signal from DELVE 3 and DELVE 5; no signal is detected for Virgo II. We use these measurements to explore possible associations between the newly-discovered systems and the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal, the Magellanic Clouds, and the Vast Polar Structure, finding several plausible associations. Our results offer a preview of the numerous ultra-faint stellar systems that will soon be discovered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and highlight the challenges of classifying the faintest stellar systems.