arXiv subjects

Mustafa K. Yıldız

Publications and source records attributed to Mustafa K. Yıldız.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Low Surface Brightness structures from annotated deep CFHT images: effects of the host galaxy's properties and environment

Hierarchical galactic evolution models predict that mergers drive galaxy growth, producing low surface brightness (LSB) tidal features that trace galaxies' late assembly. These faint structures encode information about past mergers and are sensitive to the properties and environment of the host galaxy. We investigated the relationships between LSB features and their hosts in a sample of 475 nearby massive galaxies spanning diverse environments (field, groups, Virgo cluster) using deep optical imaging from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (MATLAS, UNIONS/CFIS, VESTIGE, NGVS). Using Jafar, an online annotation tool, we manually annotated tidal features and extended stellar haloes, including 199 tidal tails and 100 streams. Geometric and photometric measurements were extracted to analyse their dependence on galaxy mass, environment, and internal kinematics. At our surface brightness limit of 29 mag$\,$arcsec$^{-2}$, tidal features and stellar haloes contribute 2% and 10% of total galaxy luminosity, respectively. Tidal features are detected in 36% of galaxies, with none fainter than 27.8 mag$\,$arcsec$^{-2}$. The most massive galaxies are twice as likely to host tidal debris, and for early-type galaxies their halos are twice as luminous as those in lower-mass systems, a trend not observed in late-type galaxies. Although small-scale interactions increase the frequency of tidal features, the large-scale environment does not influence it. An anticorrelation between this frequency and rotational support is found, but may reflect the mass-driven effect. We release our database of annotated features for deep learning applications. Our findings confirm that galaxy mass is the dominant factor influencing tidal feature prevalence, consistent with hierarchical formation models.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

NGC 4993, the shell galaxy host of GW170817: constraints on the recent galactic merger

NGC 4993 is the shell galaxy host of the GRB170817A short gamma-ray burst and the GW170817 gravitational-wave event produced during a binary-neutron-star coalescence. The galaxy shows signs, including the stellar shells, that it has recently accreted a smaller, late-type galaxy. The accreted galaxy might be the original host of the binary neutron star. We measured the positions of the stellar shells of NGC 4993 in an HST/ACS archival image and use the shell positions to constrain the time of the galactic merger. According to the analytical model of the evolution of the shell structure in the expected gravitational potential of NGC 4993, the galactic merger happened at least 200 Myr ago, with a probable time roughly around 400 Myr and the estimates higher than 600 Myr being improbable. This constitutes the lower limit on the age of the binary neutron star, because the host galaxy was probably quenched even before the galactic merger, and the merger has likely shut down the star formation in the accreted galaxy. We roughly estimate the probability that the binary neutron star originates in the accreted galaxy to be around 30%.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Deep imaging with Milanković telescope: Linking merger history to kinematics of elliptical galaxies

Kinematical and morphological features observed in early-type galaxies provide valuable insights into the evolution of their hosts. We studied the origin of prolate rotation (i.e., rotation around the long axis) in Illustris large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We found that basically all the simulated massive prolate rotators were created in relatively recent major mergers of galaxies. Such mergers are expected to produce tidal features such as tails, shells, asymmetric stellar halos. We investigated deep optical images of prolate rotators, including newly obtained Milanković data, revealing signs of galaxy interaction in all of them. This correlation proves to be statistically very significant when compared with a general sample of early-type galaxies from the MATLAS deep imaging survey. In an ongoing project, we use Milanković to assemble deep images of the complete sample of all known nearby massive prolate rotators. Additionally, we searched these data for asteroids to improve the accuracy of trajectories and even discover one previously unknown main-belt asteroid. The most frequent tidal features among the prolate rotators happen to be shells. We developed methods to calculate the probable time of the merger from optical images. This will allow us to compare the merger history of the sample with predictions from Illustris. Our plan is to expand these methods to even larger samples of shell galaxies supplied by upcoming large surveys like LSST at Rubin Observatory. This will provide an unprecedented amount of statistically significant data on the recent merger history of our Universe and allow extensive investigation of the impact of mergers to a wide range of other astrophysical phenomena.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Ubiquitous signs of interactions in early-type galaxies with prolate rotation

A small fraction of early-type galaxies (ETGs) show prolate rotation, i.e. they rotate around their long photometric axis. In simulations, certain configurations of galaxy mergers are known to produce this type of rotation. We investigate the association of prolate rotation and signs of galaxy interactions among the observed galaxies. We collected a sample of 19 nearby ETGs with distinct prolate rotation from the literature and inspected their ground-based deep optical images for interaction signs - 18 in archival images and one in a new image obtained with the Milanković telescope. Tidal tails, shells, asymmetric/disturbed stellar halos, or on-going interactions are present in all the 19 prolate rotators. Comparing this with the frequency of tidal disturbance among the general sample of ETGs of a roughly similar mass range and surface-brightness limit, we estimate that the chance probability of such an observation is only 0.00087. We also found a significant overabundance of prolate rotators that are hosting multiple stellar shells. The visible tidal features imply a relatively recent galaxy interaction. That agrees with the Illustris large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, where prolate rotators are predominantly formed in major mergers during the last 6 Gyr. In the appendix, we present the properties of an additional galaxy, NGC 7052, a prolate rotator for which no deep images are available, but for which an HST image revealed the presence of a prominent shell, which had not been reported before.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

A tidal tale: detection of multiple stellar streams in the environment of NGC1052

The possible existence of two dark matter free galaxies (NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4) in the field of the early-type galaxy NGC1052 presents a challenge to theories of dwarf galaxy formation according to the current cosmological paradigm. We carried out a search for signatures of past interactions connected to the putative hosts of NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4 using a very deep L-band image obtained with the 0.7m Jeanne Rich telescope that reach a surface brightness limit of 28.5 mag arcsec-2 in the r band. We found several low-surface brightness features, possibly consistent with an ongoing merger history in this group. We find a tidal interaction between NGC1052 and NGC1047, confirming a physical association. Furthermore we find a stellar loop around NGC1052 in the direction of NGC1042 and a stellar stream pointing in the direction of NGC1052-DF2 - but both are not directly connected. We find no evidence for a recent tidal interaction for NGC1052-DF2 and NGC1052-DF4. No low surface brightness features have been uncovered around the spiral galaxy NGC1042, which leaves the association (physical or projected) between NGC1052 and NGC1042 ambiguous, though they have similar radial velocities. Their association will only be established once accurate distances to both objects have been measured.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Star formation associated with neutral hydrogen in the outskirts of early-type galaxies

About 20 percent of all nearby early-type galaxies ($M_{\star} \gtrsim 6 \times 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$) outside the Virgo cluster are surrounded by a disc or ring of low-column-density neutral hydrogen (HI) gas with typical radii of tens of kpc, much larger than the stellar body. In order to understand the impact of these gas reservoirs on the host galaxies, we analyse the distribution of star formation out to large radii as a function of HI properties using GALEX UV and SDSS optical images. Our sample consists of 18 HI-rich galaxies as well as 55 control galaxies where no HI has been detected. In half of the HI-rich galaxies the radial UV profile changes slope at the position of the HI radial profile peak. To study the stellar populations, we calculate the FUV-NUV and UV-optical colours in two apertures, 1-3 and 3-10 R$_{eff}$ . We find that HI -rich galaxies are on average 0.5 and 0.8 mag bluer than the HI-poor ones, respectively. This indicates that a significant fraction of the UV emission traces recent star formation and is associated with the HI gas. Using FUV emission as a proxy for star formation, we estimate the integrated star formation rate in the outer regions (R > 1R$_{eff}$) to be on average $6 \times 10^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ for the HI-rich galaxies. This rate is too low to build a substantial stellar disc and, therefore, change the morphology of the host. We find that the star formation efficiency and the gas depletion time are similar to those at the outskirts of spirals.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Star formation in the outer regions of the early type galaxy NGC 4203

NGC 4203 is a nearby early-type galaxy surrounded by a very large, low-column-density HI disc. In this paper we study the star formation efficiency in the gas disc of NGC 4203 by using the UV, deep optical imaging and infrared data. We confirm that the HI disc consists of two distinct components: an inner star forming ring with radius from $\sim$ 1 to $\sim$ 3 R$_{eff}$, and an outer disc. The outer HI disc is 9 times more massive than the inner HI ring. At the location of the inner HI ring we detect spiral-like structure both in the deep $g'-r'$ image and in the 8 $μ$m $Spitzer$-IRAC image, extending in radius up to $\sim$ 3 R$_{eff}$. These two gas components have a different star formation efficiency likely due to the different metallicity and dust content. The inner component has a star formation efficiency very similar to the inner regions of late-type galaxies. Although the outer component has a very low star formation efficiency, it is similar to that of the outer regions of spiral galaxies and dwarfs. We suggest that these differences can be explained with different gas origins for the two components such as stellar mass loss for the inner HI ring and accretion from the inter galactic medium (IGM) for the outer HI disc. The low level star formation efficiency in the outer HI disc is not enough to change the morphology of NGC 4203, making the depletion time of the HI gas much too long.

astro-ph.GA↗