Dark Star Clusters or Ultra-Faint Dwarf galaxies? Revisiting UMa3/U1

TL;DR

This study investigates whether the faint satellite UMa3/U1 is a dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxy or a self-gravitating star cluster by combining observations and N-body simulations, revealing it is likely a star cluster in a transitional evolutionary phase.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates through simulations that UMa3/U1 can be explained as a self-gravitating star cluster with a black hole subsystem, challenging its classification as a dwarf galaxy.

Findings

UMa3/U1's properties can be reproduced by a self-gravitating star cluster model.

The cluster entered a DSC phase about 4 Gyr ago and will lose luminous stars within 1 Gyr.

DSCs occupy a transitional region between globular clusters and dwarf galaxies in size and mass-to-light ratio.

Abstract

Owing to sparse spectroscopic observations, the classification of faint satellites as either dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies or self-gravitating star clusters remains unresolved. The recently discovered Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1) object, with its measured velocity dispersion, provides a rare observational anchor in this regime. Despite its cluster-like compactness, its inferred dynamical mass-to-light ratio (M_dyn/L) suggests a dark matter-dominated nature, prompting interpretations of UMa3/U1 as a microgalaxy, though current measurements remain inconclusive. Thousand-level M_dyn/L values are not unique to galaxies; self-gravitating dark star clusters (DSCs) can reach comparable levels via energy injection driven by a centrally segregated black hole subsystem (BHSub), which accelerates the evaporation of luminous stars and leads to a super-virial appearance with elevated velocity dispersion. To assess whether UMa3/U1 is a DSC, we conducted direct N-body simulations and identified a model that successfully reproduces both its compact structure and elevated M_dyn/L, supporting a self-gravitating cluster origin. We find the cluster entered the DSC phase around 4 Gyr ago, with its luminous stars expected to be depleted within the next 1 Gyr, followed by the gradual disruption of the central BHSub over the subsequent Gyr. We broaden our analysis by mapping DSC evolutionary tracks in the size versus total luminosity (L) and M_dyn/L-L spaces, showing that DSCs occupy a region overlapping with faint, ambiguous satellites. In the M_dyn/L-L diagram, DSCs trace a transitional channel bridging globular clusters and dwarf galaxies as they rise from M_dyn/L ~ 2 to 10^4 M_sun/L_sun.