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Register a new userNGC 3628-UCD1: A possible $omega$ Cen Analog Embedded in a Stellar Stream
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Using Subaru/Suprime-Cam wide-field imaging and both Keck/ESI and LBT/MODS spectroscopy, we identify and characterize a compact star cluster, which we term NGC 3628-UCD1, embedded in a stellar stream around the spiral galaxy NGC 3628. The size and luminosity of UCD1 are similar to $omega$ Cen, the most luminous Milky Way globular cluster, which has long been suspected to be the stripped remnant of an accreted dwarf galaxy. The object has a magnitude of $i=19.3$ mag (${rm L}_{rm i}=1.4times10^{6}~{rm L}_{odot}$). UCD1 is marginally resolved in our ground-based imaging, with a half-light radius of $sim10$ pc. We measure an integrated brightness for the stellar stream of $i=13.1$ mag, with $(g-i)=1.0$. This would correspond to an accreted dwarf galaxy with an approximate luminosity of ${rm L}_isim4.1times10^{8}~{rm L}_{odot}$. Spectral analysis reveals that UCD1 has an age of $6.6$ Gyr , $[rm{Z}/rm{H}]=-0.75$, an $[{alpha}/rm{Fe}]=-0.10$. We propose that UCD1 is an example of an $omega$ Cen-like star cluster possibly forming from the nucleus of an infalling dwarf galaxy, demonstrating that at least some of the massive star cluster population may be created through tidal stripping.
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We study the globular clusters (GCs) in the spiral galaxy NGC~5907 well-known for its spectacular stellar stream -- to better understand its origin. Using wide-field Subaru/Suprime-Cam $gri$ images and deep Keck/DEIMOS multi-object spectroscopy, we identify and obtain the kinematics of several GCs superimposed on the stellar stream and the galaxy disk. We estimate the total number of globular clusters in NGC 5907 to be $154pm44$, with a specific frequency of $0.73pm0.21$. Our analysis also reveals a significant, new population of young star cluster candidates found mostly along the outskirts of the stellar disk. Using the properties of the stream GCs, we estimate that the disrupted galaxy has a stellar mass similar to the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy accreted by the Milky Way, i.e. $sim10^8~M_odot$.
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We compare the results of a large grid of N-body simulations with the surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles of the globular clusters $omega$ Cen and NGC 6624. Our models include clusters with varying stellar-mass black hole retention fractions and varying masses of a central intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). We find that an $sim 45,000$ M$_odot$ IMBH, whose presence has been suggested based on the measured velocity dispersion profile of $omega$ Cen, predicts the existence of about 20 fast-moving, $m>0.5$ M$_odot$ main-sequence stars with a (1D) velocity $v>60$ km/sec in the central 20 arcsec of $omega$ Cen. However no such star is present in the HST/ACS proper motion catalogue of Bellini et al. (2017), strongly ruling out the presence of a massive IMBH in the core of $omega$ Cen. Instead, we find that all available data can be fitted by a model that contains 4.6% of the mass of $omega$ Cen in a centrally concentrated cluster of stellar-mass black holes. We show that this mass fraction in stellar-mass BHs is compatible with the predictions of stellar evolution models of massive stars. We also compare our grid of $N$-body simulations with NGC 6624, a cluster recently claimed to harbor a 20,000 M$_odot$ black hole based on timing observations of millisecond pulsars. However, we find that models with $M_{IMBH}>1,000$ M$_odot$ IMBHs are incompatible with the observed velocity dispersion and surface brightness profile of NGC 6624,ruling out the presence of a massive IMBH in this cluster. Models without an IMBH provide again an excellent fit to NGC 6624.
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