The Pristine Dwarf-Galaxy survey -- VI. A VLT/FLAMES spectroscopic study of the dwarf galaxy Bo\"otes II

Nicolas Longeard; Pascale Jablonka; Giuseppina Battaglia; Khyati Malhan; Nicolas F. Martin; Julio F. Navarro; Federico Sestito

arXiv · 2504.15355

The Pristine Dwarf-Galaxy survey -- VI. A VLT/FLAMES spectroscopic study of the dwarf galaxy Bo\"otes II

Nicolas Longeard·Pascale Jablonka·Giuseppina Battaglia·Khyati Malhan·Nicolas F. Martin·Julio F. Navarro·Federico Sestito

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Abstract

The Milky Way has a large population of dwarf galaxy satellites. Their properties are sensitive to both cosmology and the physical processes underlying galaxy formation, but these properties are still not properly characterized for the entire satellite population. We aim to provide the most accurate systemic dynamical and metallicity properties of the dwarf galaxy Bo\"otes II (Boo II). We use a new spectroscopic sample of 39 stars in the field of Boo II with data from the Fiber Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The target selection is based on a combination of broadband photometry, proper motions from Gaia, and the metallicity-sensitive narrow-band photometry from the Pristine survey that is ideal for removing obvious Milky Way contaminants. We found 9 new members, including 5 also in the recent work of Bruce et al. (2023), and the farthest member to date (5.7 half-light radii from Boo II centroid), extending the spectroscopic spatial coverage of this system. Our metallicity measurements based on the Calcium triplet lines leads to the detection of the two first extremely metal-poor stars (EMPS, [Fe/H] < -3.0) in Boo II. Combining this new dataset with literature data refines Boo II's velocity dispersion (5.6km/s), systemic velocity(-126.8 km/s) and shows that it does not show any sign of a significant velocity gradient. We are thus able to confirm the kinematic and metallicity properties of the satellite as well as identify new members for future high-resolution analyses.

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Nicolas Longeard, Pascale Jablonka, Giuseppina Battaglia, Khyati Malhan, Nicolas F. Martin, Julio F. Navarro, Federico Sestito. 2025-04-21. The Pristine Dwarf-Galaxy survey -- VI. A VLT/FLAMES spectroscopic study of the dwarf galaxy Bo\"otes II. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15355

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