A Census of Compact Elliptical Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

TL;DR

This study expands the known population of compact elliptical galaxies in the Coma cluster, showing that many form in small groups before falling into the cluster, with implications for galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive analysis combining photometric and spectroscopic data to identify and characterize cEs in the Coma cluster, emphasizing the role of pre-processing.

Findings

Pre-processing in groups significantly contributes to the cE population.

Identification of a subpopulation of cEs formed in infalling groups.

Estimated 30% increase in central cE population within 0.4 Gyr.

Abstract

Compact elliptical (cE) galaxies are compact stellar systems with stellar masses of $10^8 \leq M_*/M_\odot \leq 10^{10}$ and radii typically < 0.6 kpc. Here we investigate the properties of 13 cE galaxies in the Coma cluster, six newly identified. Our goal in this paper is to explore whether these cEs form directly in the cluster environment or are pre-processed in small groups before infalling. We find that pre-processing in groups significantly contributes to the cE population in the Coma cluster. We analyze Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) g band Coma images and validate our photometric measurements through comparison with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. We also analyze spectroscopic data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We significantly expand the known cE population in the Coma cluster through joint photometric and spectroscopic selection. We identify a subpopulation of cEs that likely formed in infalling groups, through their association with host galaxies, their positions on the caustic diagram, and their projected phase-space trajectories. We estimate that the central cE population will increase by 30% within the next 0.4 Gyr, highlighting the important role of pre-processing in cE evolution.