Pegasus IV: Discovery and Spectroscopic Confirmation of an Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxy in the Constellation Pegasus
W. Cerny, Joshua D. Simon, Ting S. Li, A. Drlica-Wagner, Andrew B. Pace, C. E. Martínez-Vázquez, A. H. Riley, Burçı̇n Mutlu-Pakdı̇l, S. Mau, P. S. Ferguson, Denis Erkal, Ricardo R. Muñoz, Clécio R. Bom, Jeffrey L. Carlin, D. Carollo, Yumi Choi, Alexander P. Ji, V. Manwadkar, David Martínez‐Delgado, Amy E. Stevens Miller, Noelia E. D. Noël, J. D. Sakowska, David J. Sand, Guy S. Stringfellow, Erik Tollerud, A. K. Vivas, J. A. Carballo-Bello, D. Hernández-Lang, D. J. James, David L. Nidever, J. L. Nilo Castellón, Knut Olsen, A. Zenteno
Abstract
Abstract We report the discovery of Pegasus IV, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy found in archival data from the Dark Energy Camera processed by the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey. Pegasus IV is a compact, ultra-faint stellar system ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>r</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>41</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> pc; M V = −4.25 ± 0.2 mag) located at a heliocentric distance of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>90</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mi>kpc</mml:mi> </mml:math> . Based on spectra of seven nonvariable member stars observed with Magellan/IMACS, we confidently resolve Pegasus IV’s velocity dispersion, measuring <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>v</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3.3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.7</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> km s −1 (after excluding three velocity outliers); this implies a mass-to-light ratio of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>V</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>167</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>99</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>224</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> for the system. From the five stars with the highest signal-to-noise spectra, we also measure a systemic metallicity of [Fe/H] = <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mn>2.63</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.30</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.26</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> dex, making Pegasus IV one of the most metal-poor ultra-faint dwarfs. We tentatively resolve a nonzero metallicity dispersion for the system. These measurements provide strong evidence that Pegasus IV is a dark-matter-dominated dwarf galaxy, rather than a star cluster. We measure Pegasus IV’s proper motion using data from Gaia Early Data Release 3, finding ( μ α * , μ δ ) = (0.33 ± 0.07, −0.21 ± 0.08) mas yr −1 . When combined with our measured systemic velocity, this proper motion suggests that Pegasus IV is on an elliptical, retrograde orbit, and is currently near its orbital apocenter. Lastly, we identify three potential RR Lyrae variable stars within Pegasus IV, including one candidate member located more than 10 half-light radii away from the system’s centroid. The discovery of yet another ultra-faint dwarf galaxy strongly suggests that the census of Milky Way satellites is still incomplete, even within 100 kpc.