Hot atmospheres pervading galaxy clusters, groups, and early-type galaxies are rich in metals, produced during epochs and diffused via processes that are still to be determined. While this enrichment has been routinely investigated in clusters, metals in lower mass systems are more challenging to probe with standard X-ray exposures and spectroscopy. In this paper, we focus on very deep XMM-Newton ($\sim$350 ks) observations of NGC 1404, a massive elliptical galaxy experiencing ram-pressure stripping of its hot atmosphere while infalling toward the centre of the Fornax cluster, with the aim to derive abundances through its hot gas extent. Importantly, we report the existence of a new fitting bias - the "double Fe bias" - leading to an underestimate of the Fe abundance when two thermal components cannot realistically model the complex temperature structure present in the outer atmosphere of the galaxy. Contrasting with the ''metal conundrum'' seen in clusters, the Fe and Mg masses of NGC 1404 are measured 1-2 orders of magnitude below what stars and supernovae could have reasonably produced and released. In addition, we note the remarkable Solar abundance ratios of the galaxy's halo, different from its stellar counterpart but similar to the chemical composition of the ICM of rich clusters. Completing the clusters regime, all these findings provide additional support toward a scenario of early enrichment, at play over two orders of magnitude in mass. A few peculiar and intriguing features, such as a possible double metal peak as well as an apparent ring of enhanced Si near the galaxy core, are also discussed.
Using velocity tagging we have detected hydrogen from NGC 5426 falling onto its interacting partner NGC 5427. Our observations, with the GHaFaS Fabry-Perot spectrometer, produced maps of the two galaxies in Halpha surface brightness and radial velocity. We found emission with the range of velocities associated with NGC 5426 along lines of sight apparently emanating from NGC 5427, superposed on the velocity map of the latter. After excluding instrumental effects we assign the anomalous emission to gas pulled from NGC 5426 during its passage close to NGC 5427. Its distribution, more intense betw…
The intracluster medium (ICM), as a magnetized and highly ionized fluid, provides an ideal laboratory to study plasma physics under extreme conditions that cannot yet be achieved on Earth. NGC 1404 is a bright elliptical galaxy that is being gas stripped as it falls through the ICM of the Fornax Cluster. We use the new {\sl Chandra} X-ray observations of NGC 1404 to study ICM microphysics. The interstellar medium (ISM) of NGC 1404 is characterized by a sharp leading edge, 8 kpc from the galaxy center, and a short downstream gaseous tail. Contact discontinuities are resolved on unprecedented sp…
The Fornax Cluster is the nearest galaxy cluster in the southern sky. NGC 1404 is a bright elliptical galaxy falling through the intracluster medium of the Fornax Cluster. The sharp leading edge of NGC 1404 forms a classical "cold front" that separates 0.6 keV dense interstellar medium and 1.5 keV diffuse intracluster medium. We measure the angular pressure variation along the cold front using a very deep (670\,ksec) {\sl Chandra} X-ray observation. We are taking the classical approach -- using stagnation pressure to determine a substructure's speed -- to the next level by not only deriving a …
Galaxies can grow through their mutual gravitational attraction and subsequent union. While orbiting a regular high-surface-brightness galaxy, the body of a low-mass galaxy can be stripped away. However, the stellar heart of the infalling galaxy, if represented by a tightly-bound nuclear star cluster, is more resilient. From archival Hubble Space Telescope images, we have discovered a red, tidally-stretched star cluster positioned ~5 arcseconds (~400 pc in projection) from, and pointing toward the center of, the post-merger spiral galaxy NGC 4424. The star cluster, which we refer to as `Nikhul…
We report on ongoing photometric and spectroscopic work on a sample of isolated elliptical galaxies. We investigate their globular cluster systems, and use the kinematics of globular clusters and the integrated galaxy light to constrain their dark halos, which are not found in the cases of NGC 5812 and NGC 7507
As tracers of star formation, galaxy assembly and mass distribution, globular clusters have provided important clues to our understanding of early-type galaxies. But their study has been mostly constrained to galaxy groups and clusters where early-type galaxies dominate, leaving the properties of the globular cluster systems (GCSs) of isolated ellipticals as a mostly uncharted territory. We present Gemini-South/GMOS $g'i'$ observations of five isolated elliptical galaxies: NGC 3962, NGC 2865, IC 4889, NGC 2271 and NGC 4240. Photometry of their GCSs reveals clear color bimodality in three of th…
We report $Suzaku$ X-ray observations of the dark subhalo associated with the merging group of NGC 4839 in the Coma cluster. The X-ray image exhibits an elongated tail toward the southwest. The X-ray peak shifts approximately $1'$ away from the weak-lensing mass center toward the opposite direction of the Coma cluster center. We investigated the temperature, normalization, pressure, and entropy distributions around the subhalo. Excluding the X-ray tail, the temperature beyond the truncation radius is 8-10$~\rm keV$, which is two times higher than that of the subhalo and the X-ray tail. The pre…
The presence of hot X-ray emitting gas is ubiquitous in massive early-type galaxies. However, much less is known about the content and physical status of the hot X-ray gas in low-mass ellipticals. In the present paper we study the X-ray gas content of four low-mass elliptical galaxies using archival Chandra X-ray observations. The sample galaxies, NGC821, NGC3379, NGC4278, and NGC4697, have approximately identical K-band luminosities, and hence stellar masses, yet their X-ray appearance is strikingly different. We conclude that the unresolved emission in NGC821 and NGC3379 is built up from a m…
Elliptical galaxies with blue optical colours and significant star formation are hypothesised to be major merger remnants of gas-rich spiral galaxies or normal elliptical galaxies with a sudden burst of star formation. We present here a scenario in which blue elliptical galaxies identified in shallow imaging surveys may fail to recover faint features that are indicative of past merger activity using a nearby major merger remnant. Based on deep optical imaging data of the post-merger galaxy, NGC 7252, we demonstrate that the galaxy can appear as an elliptical galaxy if it is observed at higher …
We present a photometric study of the isolated elliptical NGC 6411 and its globular cluster (GC) system, based on Gemini/GMOS g', r', i' photometry. This galaxy has been the host of a SNIa. Spectral studies indicate an intermediate-age and very metal-rich stellar population in its inner region. The extent of the globular cluster system is about 65 kpc. Its population contains $700\pm45$ members, implying a rather poor system, as normally found for isolated ellipticals. The colour bimodality and luminosity distribution are typical of old GC systems. An excess of bright GCs with intermediate col…
We investigate the globular cluster system of the isolated elliptical NGC 7796, present new photometry of the galaxy, and use published kinematical data to constrain the dark matter content. Deep images in B and R, obtained with the VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph (VIMOS) at the VLT, form the data base. We present isotropic and anisotropic Jeans-models and give a morphological description of the companion dwarf galaxy. The globular cluster system has about 2000 members, so it is not as rich as those of giant ellipticals in galaxy clusters with a comparable stellar mass, but richer than many c…
We present the deepest optical photometry for any dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxy based on Hubble Space Telescope ACS observations of the Local Group dE galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185. The resulting F606W and F814W color-magnitude diagrams are the first to reach below the main sequence turnoff in a dE galaxy, allowing us to determine full star formation histories in these systems. The ACS fields are located ~1.5 effective radii from the galaxy center to avoid photometric crowding. While our ACS pointings in both dEs show unambiguous evidence for old and intermediate age stars, the mean age in NGC 1…
Stellar metallicity distribution functions (MDF) have been measured for resolved stellar populations in the outer halos of many galaxies in nearby groups. Among them, the MDF of NGC 5128, the central giant elliptical in the Centaurus group, provides essential constraints for theories of massive galaxy formation and hierarchical assembly. To investigate the formation and chemical evolution history of the outer halo of giant elliptical galaxies, we examine the chemical properties of three zoom-in high resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of an NGC 5128-like giant elliptical galaxy …
We present the results of CO interferometric observations of the southern elliptical galaxy NGC3557 with ALMA. We have detected both the CO(1-0) emission line and a relatively strong continuum at 3mm. The continuum shows a flat-spectrum central unresolved source (at our angular resolution of 0.7arcsec) and two jets, associated with the larger scale emission observed at lower frequencies. The molecular gas in NGC3557 appears to be concentrated within 250 pc of the center, and shows evidence of organized rotation along the same axis as the stellar component and the symmetry axis of the nuclear d…
Low mass galaxy cluster systems and groups play an essential role in upcoming cosmological studies such as those to be carried out with eROSITA. Though the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and merging processes are of special importance to quantify biases like selection effects or deviations from hydrostatic equilibrium, they are poorly understood on the galaxy group scale. We present an analysis of recent deep Chandra and XMM-Newton integrations of NGC741, which provides an excellent example of a group with multiple concurrent phenomena: both an old central radio galaxy and a spectacu…
We present new ALMA CO(2--1) observations of two well studied group-centered elliptical galaxies: NGC~4636 and NGC~5846. In addition, we include a revised analysis of Cycle 0 ALMA observations of the central galaxy in the NGC~5044 group that has been previously published. We find evidence that molecular gas, in the form of off-center orbiting clouds, is a common presence in bright group-centered galaxies (BGG). CO line widths are $\gtrsim 10$ times broader than Galactic molecular clouds, and using the reference Milky Way $X_{CO}$, the total molecular mass ranges from as low as $2.6\times 10^5 …
Previous studies have shown that the kinematics of the field elliptical galaxy NGC 7507 do not necessarily require dark matter. This is troubling because, in the context of LCDM cosmologies, all galaxies should have a large dark matter component. We use penalised pixel fitting software to extract velocities and velocity dispersions from GMOS slit mask spectra. Using Jeans and MONDian modelling we produce best fit models to the velocity dispersion. We find that NGC 7507 has a two component stellar halo, with the outer halo and inner haloes counter rotating. The velocity dispersion profile exhib…
Context. The elliptical galaxy NGC 3923 is known to be surrounded by a number of stellar shells, probable remnants of an accreted galaxy. Despite its uniqueness, the deepest images of its outskirts come from the 1980s. On the basis of the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND), it has recently been predicted that a new shell lies in this region. Aims. We obtain the deepest image ever of the galaxy, map the tidal features in it, and search for the predicted shell. Methods. The image of the galaxy was taken by the MegaCam camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in the g' band. It reached the su…
We investigated the distribution of resolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars over a much larger area than covered by previous near-infrared studies in the nearby dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 205. Using data obtained with the WIRCam near-infrared imager of the CFHT, we selected the AGB stars in the JHKs color-magnitude diagrams, and separated the C stars from M-giant stars in the JHKs color-color diagram. We identified 1,550 C stars in NGC 205 with a mean absolute magnitude of M_Ks = -7.49 \pm 0.54, and colors of (J - Ks) = 1.81 \pm 0.41 and (H - Ks) = 0.76 \pm 0.24. The ratio of C stars to …
We obtained adaptive-optics assisted SINFONI observations of the central regions of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC5419 with a spatial resolution of 0.2 arcsec ($\approx 55$ pc). NGC5419 has a large depleted stellar core with a radius of 1.58 arcsec (430 pc). HST and SINFONI images show a point source located at the galaxy's photocentre, which is likely associated with the low-luminosity AGN previously detected in NGC5419. Both the HST and SINFONI images also show a second nucleus, off-centred by 0.25 arcsec ($\approx 70$ pc). Outside of the central double nucleus, we measure an almost constan…
We present the unexpected discovery of four ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a group environment. We recently identified seven extremely low surface brightness galaxies in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy M101, using data from the Dragonfly Telephoto Array. The galaxies have effective radii of $10"-38"$ and central surface brightnesses of $25.6-27.7$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ in g-band. We subsequently obtained follow-up observations with $HST$ to constrain the distances to these galaxies. Four remain persistently unresolved even with the spatial resolution of $HST$/ACS, which implies distances of $D…
The problem of the spatial motion of a passively gravitating body (PGB) in the gravitational field of a layered inhomogeneous elliptical galaxy (LIEG) is considered on the basis of the previously developed model. It is assumed that a LIEG consists of baryonic mass (BM) and dark matter (DM), which have different laws of density distribution. A star or the center of mass of a globular cluster is taken as the PGB, the motion of which considers the BM and DM attraction. To obtain accurate results, the BM and DM attraction potentials are not expanded in a series, but their exact expressions are tak…
Observations of diffuse starlight in the outskirts of galaxies are thought to be a fundamental source of constraints on the cosmological context of galaxy assembly in the $Λ$CDM model. Such observations are not trivial because of the extreme faintness of such regions. In this work, we investigate the photometric properties of six massive early type galaxies (ETGs) in the VEGAS sample (NGC 1399, NGC 3923, NGC 4365, NGC 4472, NGC 5044, and NGC 5846) out to extremely low surface brightness levels, with the goal of characterizing the global structure of their light profiles for comparison to state…
We present the first photometric study of the globular cluster system (GCS) of the E galaxy NGC 3613 (Mv = -21.5, d = 30.1 Mpc), as well as the surface photometry of the host galaxy, based on Gemini/GMOS images. Being considered the central galaxy of a group, NGC 3613 inhabits a low-density environment although its intrinsic brightness is similar to the expected one for galaxies in the centre of clusters. The following characteristics are obtained for this GCS. The colour distribution is bimodal, with metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) getting slightly bluer with increasing radius. The radial …
Context. Stellar shells, which form axially symmetric systems of arcs in some elliptical galaxies, are most likely remnants of radial minor mergers. They are observed up a radius of $\sim$100 kpc. The stars in them oscillate in radial orbits. The radius of a shell depends on the free-fall time at the position of the shell and on the time since the merger. We previously verified the consistency of shell radii in the elliptical galaxy NGC 3923 with its most probable MOND potential. Our results implied that an as~yet undiscovered shell exists at the outskirts of the galaxy. Aims. We here extend o…
NGC 6946, known as the Fireworks galaxy because of its high supernova rate and high star formation, is embedded in a very extended HI halo. Its northern spiral arm is well detached from the galactic main body. We found that this arm contains a large (~300 pc in size) Red Ellipse, named according to a strong contamination of the H-alpha emission line on its optical images. The ellipse is accompanied by a short parallel arc and a few others still smaller and less regular; a bright star cluster is seen inside these features. The complicated combination of arcs seems to be unique, it is only a bit…
Interacting galaxies surrounded by HI tidal debris are ideal sites for the study of young clusters and tidal galaxy formation. The process that triggers star formation in the low-density environments outside galaxies is still an open question. New clusters and galaxies of tidal origin are expected to have high metallicities for their luminosities. Spectroscopy of such objects is, however, at the limit of what can be done with existing 8-10m class telescopes, which has prevented statistical studies of these objects. NGC2865 is an UV-bright merging elliptical galaxy with shells and extended HI t…
We present a stellar dynamical mass measurement of a newly detected supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the fast-rotating, massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2693 as part of the MASSIVE survey. We combine high signal-to-noise integral field spectroscopy (IFS) from the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) with wide-field data from the Mitchell Spectrograph at McDonald Observatory to extract and model stellar kinematics of NGC 2693 from the central $\sim 150$ pc out to $\sim2.5$ effective radii. Observations from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 are used to determine the stellar light…
The isolated elliptical (IE) NGC 7796 is accompanied by an interesting early-type dwarf galaxy, named NGC7796-DW1. It exhibits a tidal tail, very boxy isophotes, and multiple nuclei or regions (A, B, and C) that are bluer than the bulk population of the galaxy, indicating a younger age. These properties are suggestive of a dwarf-dwarf merger remnant. We use the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) at the VLT to investigate NGC 7796-DW1. We extract characteristic spectra to which we apply the STARLIGHT population synthesis software to obtain ages and metallicities of the various population …
Deep observations of the dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxy NGC 1396 (M$_V = -16.60$, Mass $\sim 4\times10^8$ M$_\odot$), located in the Fornax cluster, have been performed with the VLT/ MUSE spectrograph in the wavelength region from $4750-9350$ Å. In this paper we present a stellar population analysis studying chemical abundances, the star formation history (SFH) and the stellar initial mass function (IMF) as a function of galacto-centric distance. Different, independent ways to analyse the stellar populations result in a luminosity-weighted age of $\sim$ 6 Gyr and a metallicity [Fe/H]$\sim$ $-0.4…
Nearby merging pairs are unique laboratories in which one can study the gravitational effects on the individual interacting components. In this manuscript, we report the characterization of selected HII regions along the peculiar galaxy NGC 2936, member of the galaxy pair Arp 142, an E+S interaction, known as "The Penguin". Using Gemini South spectroscopy we have derived a high enhancement of the global star formation rate SFR=35.9 Msun/yr probably stimulated by the interaction. Star-forming regions on this galaxy display oxygen abundances that are consistent with solar metallicities. The curr…
While spiral and lenticular galaxies have large-scale disks extending beyond their bulges, and most local early-type galaxies with 10^{10} < M_*/M_Sun < 2x10^{11} contain a disk (e.g., ATLAS^3D), the early-type galaxies do possess a range of disk sizes. The edge-on, `intermediate-scale' disk in the `disky elliptical' galaxy NGC 1271 has led to some uncertainty as to what its spheroidal component is. Walsh et al. reported a directly measured black hole mass of 3x10^9 M_Sun for this galaxy; which they remarked was an order of magnitude greater than what they expected based on their derivation of…
We present archival Spitzer photometry and spectroscopy, and Herschel photometry, of the peculiar "Green Valley" elliptical galaxy NGC~3226. The galaxy, which contains a low-luminosity AGN, forms a pair with NGC~3227, and is shown to lie in a complex web of stellar and HI filaments. Imaging at 8 and 16$μ$m reveals a curved plume structure 3 kpc in extent, embedded within the core of the galaxy, and coincident with the termination of a 30 kpc-long HI tail. In-situ star formation associated with the IR plume is identified from narrow-band HST imaging. The end of the IR-plume coincides with a war…
Most stellar-dynamical determinations of the masses of nearby supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been obtained with the orbit superposition technique under the assumption of axisymmetry. However, few galaxies -- in particular massive early-type galaxies -- obey exact axisymmetry. Here we present a revised orbit superposition code and a new approach for dynamically determining the intrinsic shapes and mass parameters of triaxial galaxies based on spatially-resolved stellar kinematic data. The triaxial TriOS code described here corrects an error in the original van den Bosch et al. (2008) cod…
We perform in-depth dynamical modelling of the luminous and dark matter (DM) content of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1407. Our strategy consists of solving the spherical Jeans equations for three independent dynamical tracers: stars, blue GCs and red GCs in a self-consistent manner. We adopt a maximum-likelihood Markov-Chain Monte Carlo fitting technique in the attempt to constrain the inner slope of the DM density profile (the cusp/core problem), and the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of the galaxy. We find the inner logarithmic slope of the DM density profiles to be $γ= 0.6\pm0.4$, which i…
Data from the Herschel Space Observatory have revealed an unusual elliptical galaxy, NGC 4125, which has strong and extended submillimeter emission from cold dust but only very strict upper limits to its CO and HI emission. Depending on the dust emissivity, the total dust mass is 2-5x10^6 Msun. While the neutral gas-to-dust mass ratio is extremely low (< 12-30), including the ionized gas traced by [CII] emission raises this limit to < 39-100. The dust emission follows a similar r^{1/4} profile to the stellar light and the dust to stellar mass ratio is towards the high end of what is found in n…
We report the discovery of infalling motion with rotation of S235AB the massive cluster-forming clump (~10^3 Mo) in the S235 region. Our C18O observations with the 45m telescope at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory have revealed the elliptical shape of the clump. Position-velocity (PV) diagram taken along its major axis exhibits two well-defined peaks symmetrically located with respect to the clump center, which is similar to that found for a dynamically infalling envelope with rotation around a single protostar modeled by N. Ohashi and his collaborators, indicating that the cluster-forming clump…
We study the thermal formation history of four simulated galaxies that were shown in Naab et al. (2007) to reproduce a number of observed properties of elliptical galaxies. The temperature of the gas in the galaxies is steadily increasing with decreasing redshift, although much of the gas has a cooling time shorter than the Hubble time. The gas is being heated and kept hot by gravitational heating processes through the release of potential energy from infalling stellar clumps. The energy is dissipated in supersonic collisions of infalling gas lumps with the ambient gas and through the dynamica…
