TIDAL DWARF GALAXIES AROUND A POST-MERGER GALAXY, NGC 4922

Sheen, Yun-Kyeong; Jeong, Hyunjin; Yi, Sukyoung K.; Ferreras, Ignacio; Lotz, Jennifer M.; Olsen, Knut A. G.; Dickinson, Mark; Barnes, Sydney; Park, Jang-Hyun; Ree, Chang H.; Madore, Barry F.; Barlow, Tom A.; Conrow, Tim; Foster, Karl; Friendman, Peter G.; Lee, Young-Wook; Martin, D. Christopher; Morrissey, Patrick; Neff, Susan G.; Schiminovich, David; Seibert, Mark; Small, Todd; Wyder, Ted K.
2009
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
DOI
10.1088/0004-6256/138/6/1911
One possible channel for the formation of dwarf galaxies involves birth in the tidal tails of interacting galaxies. We report the detection of a bright UV tidal tail and several young tidal dwarf galaxy (TDG) candidates in the post-merger galaxy NGC 4922 in the Coma cluster. Based on a two-component population model ( combining young and old stellar populations), we find that the light of tidal tail predominantly comes from young stars (a few Myr old). The Galaxy Evolution Explorer ultraviolet data played a critical role in the parameter (age and mass) estimation. Our stellar mass estimates of the TDG candidates are similar to 10(6-7) M-circle dot, typical for dwarf galaxies.