AVID: A Near-Major Post-Merger of Late-Type Dwarfs beneath a Regularly Rotating HI Disk (VCC 693)

TL;DR

This study investigates a dwarf galaxy merger in the Virgo cluster outskirts, revealing that even major dwarf mergers can produce remnants similar to typical dwarfs, influenced by environmental factors.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational and simulation analysis of a near-major dwarf merger, highlighting its effects on galaxy structure and evolution in cluster environments.

Findings

The merger involved a 3:1-4:1 stellar mass ratio with a likely gas-poor progenitor.

Post-merger, the HI gas settled into a regular rotating disk despite complex tidal features.

The remnant shows moderate enhancement in star formation and metallicity, with a high halo concentration.

Abstract

On the periphery of galaxy clusters, moderately high galaxy densities and velocity dispersions favour interactions and mergers that influence galaxy evolution prior to cluster infall. Observational studies of this phase in dwarfs remain rare. We present a high-resolution study of the merger remnant VCC 693 in the outskirts of Virgo cluster, using observations from the Atomic gas in Virgo Interacting Dwarf galaxies (AVID) project. We explore the origin of VCC 693 and the consequences of the merger on its star formation and structure through a joint analysis of VLA and FAST HI emission line observations, together with complementary optical imaging and spectroscopy. We employ hydrodynamical simulations to help interpret the observations. Our analysis favours a near-major merger between two dwarfs with a stellar mass ratio of 3:1-4:1, with one likely gas-poor progenitor (i.e., a damp merger). The optical appearance of VCC 693 is dominated by complex tidal structures throughout the system, whereas the HI gas has settled to a regular rotating disk. Compared with similar-mass dwarfs, the central star formation and gas-phase metallicity are moderately enhanced. The global star formation rate, HI gas content, and HI-to-optical size ratio of VCC 693 are broadly consistent with those of typical dwarfs of similar mass, albeit somewhat lower. Decomposition of the HI rotation curve into baryonic and dark matter indicates a high halo concentration, suggesting post-merger relaxation into a more centrally peaked configuration. Together with two recent studies of AVID post-merger systems, these results support the view that even major dwarf mergers can produce remnants with overall stellar structures indistinguishable from ordinary dwarfs, and that the environmental effects in cluster outskirts can promote damp or mixed mergers, constituting an integral part of galactic pre-processing.