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arXiv · 2603.15860

A Third Galaxy Missing Dark Matter along a Trail of Galaxies in the NGC 1052 Field

Michael A. Keim·Pieter van Dokkum·Zili Shen·Shany Danieli·Imad Pasha
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Abstract

While most dwarf galaxies are strongly dark matter dominated, two remarkable objects in the NGC 1052 field, DF2 and DF4, appear to lack dark matter. DF2 and DF4 were recently found to be part of a trail of low luminosity galaxies that follow a linear relation between their position and radial velocity. If the other galaxies on this trail formed together with DF2 and DF4, e.g., from gas that was separated from dark matter through a 'bullet dwarf' collision, they may lack dark matter as well. Here we constrain the mass of DF9, the galaxy on the trail that most closely resembles DF2 and DF4. Using Keck/KCWI we find that DF9's stellar velocity dispersion is $6.5^{+3.9}_{-4.3}$ km s$^{-1}$. This is consistent with the $8.3^{+0.9}_{-1.4}$ km s$^{-1}$ dispersion that is expected from DF9's $1.4\times 10^8$ M$_\odot$ stellar mass alone, and we conclude that - like DF2 and DF4 - dark matter is not required to explain the kinematics of DF9. The dispersion is far below the $24\pm3$ km s$^{-1}$ expected if DF9 had a $1.4\times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$ dark matter halo falling on the stellar mass-halo mass relation. As demonstrated in Appendix B, these results are not sensitive to the assumed distance of the trail. Our results are further evidence that the trail of low mass galaxies in the NGC 1052 field formed together in a unique galaxy formation channel, and are consistent with the prediction of the bullet dwarf scenario that other trail galaxies should show the same lack of dark matter as DF2 and DF4.

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Michael A. Keim, Pieter van Dokkum, Zili Shen, Shany Danieli, Imad Pasha. 2026-03-16. A Third Galaxy Missing Dark Matter along a Trail of Galaxies in the NGC 1052 Field. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15860

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