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The origin of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2005

E.A. Evstigneeva ,
M.D. Gregg  and
M.J. Drinkwater
E.A. Evstigneeva
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia e-mail: katya@physics.uq.edu.au
M.D. Gregg
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA Also at: Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-413, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
M.J. Drinkwater
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia e-mail: katya@physics.uq.edu.au
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Abstract

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We present the internal velocity dispersions and spectral line indices for six Virgo ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies obtained from spectroscopy with the Keck II 10-m telescope. We use these results: 1) to compare the Virgo UCDS with the Fornax UCD population; 2) to compare UCDs with globular clusters (GCs) to determine if UCDs and the most luminous GCs are the same or distinct systems; 3) to further test the nucleated dwarf elliptical (dE,N) stripping hypothesis for UCD formation.

Keywords

galaxies: dwarfgalaxies: kinematics and dynamicsgalaxies: abundancesgalaxies: clusters: individual (Virgo Cluster)