Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data

From the Λ cold dark matter paradigm, it is expected that galaxies merge and grow in their environments. These processes form various tidal features depending on the merger mass ratio, orbital parameters, and gas richness. We inspected 170 $g^{\prime} $ -band Abell cluster observations from the 2.1...

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Main Authors: Jan-Niklas Pippert, Matthias Kluge, Ralf Bender
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adabda
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author Jan-Niklas Pippert
Matthias Kluge
Ralf Bender
author_facet Jan-Niklas Pippert
Matthias Kluge
Ralf Bender
author_sort Jan-Niklas Pippert
collection DOAJ
description From the Λ cold dark matter paradigm, it is expected that galaxies merge and grow in their environments. These processes form various tidal features depending on the merger mass ratio, orbital parameters, and gas richness. We inspected 170 $g^{\prime} $ -band Abell cluster observations from the 2.1 m Fraunhofer-Teleskop Wendelstein and identify 111 of such features from which we select nine streams and five tails. A fast and innovative technique was developed for determining their photometric properties. The model is a Gaussian, including higher-order moments to describe the light profile in slices perpendicular to the elongation direction. From these models, FWHM apertures are generated. The method was developed, tested, and applied on the selected features and corresponding g - and r -band data from the Legacy Survey DR10. Regarding the novel modeling approach, we can measure surface and total brightnesses with precisions of 4% and 7%, respectively. Mean stream width precision, which also translates to the mean R _e along the feature is on average within 3% uncertainty. The measured streams have on average a surface brightness of $\sim 26.25\,g^{\prime} $ mag arcsec ^−2 and are dimmer than the tails in our sample ( $\sim 25.14\,g^{\prime} $ mag arcsec ^−2 ). We infer that the progenitors of our streams can come from dwarfs, early-type galaxies or disks, based on the streams structural parameters. Furthermore, brightnesses and colors of the streams and tails are consistent with those of galaxies that populate the red sequence in the Coma cluster within 2 σ .
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spelling doaj-art-7772f2b02aa643b0bd305d687789e6d52025-08-20T02:25:44ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01980224410.3847/1538-4357/adabdaModeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging DataJan-Niklas Pippert0https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9461-002XMatthias Kluge1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9618-2552Ralf Bender2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7179-0626Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching, Germany ; jnpippert@mpe.mpg.de; University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munich, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching, Germany ; jnpippert@mpe.mpg.de; University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munich, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching, Germany ; jnpippert@mpe.mpg.de; University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 Munich, GermanyFrom the Λ cold dark matter paradigm, it is expected that galaxies merge and grow in their environments. These processes form various tidal features depending on the merger mass ratio, orbital parameters, and gas richness. We inspected 170 $g^{\prime} $ -band Abell cluster observations from the 2.1 m Fraunhofer-Teleskop Wendelstein and identify 111 of such features from which we select nine streams and five tails. A fast and innovative technique was developed for determining their photometric properties. The model is a Gaussian, including higher-order moments to describe the light profile in slices perpendicular to the elongation direction. From these models, FWHM apertures are generated. The method was developed, tested, and applied on the selected features and corresponding g - and r -band data from the Legacy Survey DR10. Regarding the novel modeling approach, we can measure surface and total brightnesses with precisions of 4% and 7%, respectively. Mean stream width precision, which also translates to the mean R _e along the feature is on average within 3% uncertainty. The measured streams have on average a surface brightness of $\sim 26.25\,g^{\prime} $ mag arcsec ^−2 and are dimmer than the tails in our sample ( $\sim 25.14\,g^{\prime} $ mag arcsec ^−2 ). We infer that the progenitors of our streams can come from dwarfs, early-type galaxies or disks, based on the streams structural parameters. Furthermore, brightnesses and colors of the streams and tails are consistent with those of galaxies that populate the red sequence in the Coma cluster within 2 σ .https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adabdaGalaxy interactionsGalaxy mergersTidal tailsStellar streamsPhotometryGalaxy evolution
spellingShingle Jan-Niklas Pippert
Matthias Kluge
Ralf Bender
Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
The Astrophysical Journal
Galaxy interactions
Galaxy mergers
Tidal tails
Stellar streams
Photometry
Galaxy evolution
title Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
title_full Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
title_fullStr Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
title_full_unstemmed Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
title_short Modeling Tidal Streams and Tidal Tails around Galaxies Using Deep Wendelstein Imaging Data
title_sort modeling tidal streams and tidal tails around galaxies using deep wendelstein imaging data
topic Galaxy interactions
Galaxy mergers
Tidal tails
Stellar streams
Photometry
Galaxy evolution
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adabda
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