A Headless Tadpole Galaxy: The High Gas-phase Metallicity of the Ultra-diffuse Galaxy UGC 2162

Sánchez Almeida, J.; Olmo-García, A.; Elmegreen, B. G.; Elmegreen, D. M.; Filho, M.; Muñoz-Tuñón, C.; Pérez-Montero, E.; Román, J.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 869, Issue 1, article id. 40, 7 pp. (2018).

Advertised on:
12
2018
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
4
Citations
4
Refereed citations
4
Description
The cosmological numerical simulations tell us that accretion of external metal-poor gas drives star formation (SF) in galaxy disks. One the best pieces of observational evidence supporting this prediction is the existence of low-metallicity star-forming regions in relatively high-metallicity host galaxies. The SF is thought to be fed by metal-poor gas recently accreted. Since the gas accretion is stochastic, there should be galaxies with all the properties of a host but without the low-metallicity starburst. These galaxies have not been identified yet. The exception may be UGC 2162, a nearby ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) that combines low surface brightness and relatively high metallicity. We confirm the high metallicity of UGC 2162 (12+{log}({{O}}/{{H}})={8.52}-0.24+0.27) using spectra taken with the 10 m GTC telescope. UGC 2162 has the stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rate surface density expected for a host galaxy in between outbursts. This fact suggests a physical connection between some UDGs and metal-poor galaxies, which may be the same type of object in a different phase of the SF cycle. UGC 2162 is a high-metallicity outlier of the mass–metallicity relation, a property shared by the few UDGs with known gas-phase metallicity.
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