Star formation history of stellar systems in an intermediate-age merger remnant

SESTO, LEANDRO A.; ESCUDERO, CARLOS G.; FAIFER, FAVIO R.

Montevideo

Congreso; XVII Reunión Regional Latinoamericana de la UAI; 2023

Unión Astronómica Internacional

Ultra-compact dwarf (UCDs, Hilker et al. 1999) are a type of compact stellar system that lies in the mass-size parameter space between globular clusters (GCs) and compact elliptical galaxies (cEs). Although their physical properties do not have a precise definition, we could say that in a broad sense they are objects with Mv < -9 mag, stellar masses >10^6 Ms (Forbes et al. 2020) and effective radii between 3 and 100 pc (Wittmann et al. 2016). Thus, UCD includes both massive GCs and nuclei of tidally stripped dwarf galaxies; in some cases, differentiating between them is not trivial.