On the Classification of UGC 1382 as a Giant Low Surface Brightness Galaxy

Abstract

We provide evidence that UGC 1382, long believed to be a passive elliptical galaxy, is actually a giant low surface brightness (GLSB) galaxy that rivals the archetypical GLSB Malin 1 in size. Like other GLSB galaxies, it has two components: a high surface brightness disk galaxy surrounded by an extended low surface brightness (LSB) disk. For UGC 1382, the central component is a lenticular system with an effective radius of 6 kpc. Beyond this, the LSB disk has an effective radius of ~38 kpc and an extrapolated central surface brightness of ~26 mag arcsec^(−2). Both components have a combined stellar mass of ~8 × 10^(10) M_⊙, and are embedded in a massive (10^(10) M_⊙) low-density (<3 M_⊙ pc^(−2)) HI disk with a radius of 110 kpc, making this one of the largest isolated disk galaxies known. The system resides in a massive dark matter halo of at least 2 × 10^(12) M_⊙. Although possibly part of a small group, its low-density environment likely plays a role in the formation and retention of the giant LSB and HI disks. We model the spectral energy distributions and find that the LSB disk is likely older than the lenticular component. UGC 1382 has UV–optical colors typical of galaxies transitioning through the green valley. Within the LSB disk are spiral arms forming stars at extremely low efficiencies. The gas depletion timescale of ~10^(11) years suggests that UGC 1382 may be a very-long-term resident of the green valley. We find that the formation and evolution of the LSB disk in UGC 1382 is best explained by the accretion of gas-rich LSB dwarf galaxies.

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