Preparing for low surface brightness science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Characterization of tidal features from mock images
- Creators
- Martin, G.
- Bazkiaei, A. E.
- Spavone, M.
- Iodice, E.
- Mihos, J. C.
- Montes, M.
- Benavides, J. A.
- Brough, S.
- Carlin, J. L.
- Collins, C. A.
- Duc, P. A.
- Gómez, F. A.
- Galaz, G.
- Hernández-Toledo, H. M.
- Jackson, R. A.
- Kaviraj, S.
- Knapen, J. H.
- Martínez-Lombilla, C.
- McGee, S.
- O'Ryan, D.
- Prole, D. J.
- Rich, R. M.
- Román, J.
- Shah, E. A.
- Starkenburg, T. K.
- Watkins, A. E.
- Zaritsky, D.
- Pichon, C.
- Armus, L.
- Bianconi, M.
- Buitrago, F.
- Busá, I.
- Davis, F.
- Demarco, R.
- Desmons, A.
- Garcia, P.
- Graham, A. W.
- Holwerda, B.
- Hon, D. S.-H
- Khalid, A.
- Klehammer, J.
- Klutse, D. Y.
- Lazar, I.
- Nair, P.
- Noakes-Kettel, E. A.
- Rutkowski, M.
- Saha, K.
- Sahu, N.
- Sola, E.
- Vázquez-Mata, J. A.
- Vera-Casanova, A.
- Yoon, I.
Abstract
Tidal features in the outskirts of galaxies yield unique information about their past interactions and are a key prediction of the hierarchical structure formation paradigm. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is poised to deliver deep observations for potentially millions of objects with visible tidal features, but the inference of galaxy interaction histories from such features is not straightforward. Utilizing automated techniques and human visual classification in conjunction with realistic mock images produced using the NewHorizon cosmological simulation, we investigate the nature, frequency, and visibility of tidal features and debris across a range of environments and stellar masses. In our simulated sample, around 80 per cent of the flux in the tidal features around Milky Way or greater mass galaxies is detected at the 10-yr depth of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (30–31 mag arcsec⁻²), falling to 60 per cent assuming a shallower final depth of 29.5 mag arcsec⁻². The fraction of total flux found in tidal features increases towards higher masses, rising to 10 per cent for the most massive objects in our sample (M⋆ ∼ 10^(11.5) M_⊙). When observed at sufficient depth, such objects frequently exhibit many distinct tidal features with complex shapes. The interpretation and characterization of such features varies significantly with image depth and object orientation, introducing significant biases in their classification. Assuming the data reduction pipeline is properly optimized, we expect the Rubin Observatory to be capable of recovering much of the flux found in the outskirts of Milky Way mass galaxies, even at intermediate redshifts (z < 0.2).
Additional Information
© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Received: 08 December 2021. Revision received: 01 April 2022. Accepted: 07 April 2022. Published: 11 April 2022. GM thanks Peter Yoachim for sharing theoretical results for LSST surface brightness metrics and Yohan Dubois for fruitful discussion. JAB acknowledge financial support from CONICET through PIP 11220170100527CO grant. JLC acknowledges support from National Science Foundation (NSF) grant AST-1816196. CAC acknowledges support from the Science and Technology Research Council under grant ST/S006095/1 and LJMU. FAG acknowledges financial support from FONDECYT Regular 1211370 and from the Max Planck Society through a Partner Group grant. GG gratefully acknowledges support by the ANID BASAL projects ACE210002 and FB210003. RAJ acknowledges support from the Yonsei University Research Fund (Yonsei Frontier Lab. Young Researcher Supporting Program) of 2021 and from the Korean National Research Foundation (NRF-2020R1A2C3003769). SK acknowledges support from the STFC [ST/S00615X/1] and a Senior Research Fellowship from Worcester College Oxford. JHK acknowledges financial support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721463 to the SUNDIAL ITN network, from the State Research Agency (AEI-MCINN) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the grant 'The structure and evolution of galaxies and their central regions' with reference PID2019-105602GB-I00/10.13039/501100011033, and from IAC project P/300724, financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the State Budget and by the Canary Islands Department of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, through the Regional Budget of the Autonomous Community. DJP acknowledges funding from an Australian Research Council Discovery Program grant DP190102448. JR acknowledges support from the State Research Agency (AEI-MCINN) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the grant 'The structure and evolution of galaxies and their central regions' with reference PID2019-105602GB-I00/10.13039/501100011033. EAS thanks the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program, which is funded by LSSTC, NSF Cybertraining Grant #1829740, the Brinson Foundation, and the Moore Foundation. AEW acknowledges support from the STFC [ST/S00615X/1]. MB acknowledges support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council through grant number ST/N021702/1. FB acknowledges support grants PID2020-116188GA-I00 and PID2019-107427GB-C32 from The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. FD acknowledges support from the STFC [ST/V506709/1]. RD gratefully acknowledges support by the ANID BASAL projects ACE210002 and FB210003. This work has made use of the Horizon cluster on which the simulation was post-processed, hosted by the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. We warmly thank S. Rouberol for running it smoothly. The authors thank the referee, Andrew Cooper, for a detailed and constructive report which helped improve the final paper. DATA AVAILABILITY. The simulation data analysed in this paper were provided by the NEWHORIZON collaboration. The data will be shared on request to the corresponding author, with the permission of the NEWHORIZON collaboration or may be requested from https://new.horizon-simulation.org/data.html.Attached Files
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Accepted Version - 2203.07675.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Preparing for low surface brightness science with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory: characterisation of tidal features from mock images
- Eprint ID
- 116020
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20220802-743092000
- PIP 11220170100527CO
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
- AST-1816196
- NSF
- ST/S006095/1
- Science and Technology Research Council
- Liverpool John Moores University
- 1211370
- Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT)
- Max Planck Society
- ACE210002
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID)
- FB210003
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID)
- Yonsei University
- NRF-2020R1A2C3003769
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- ST/S00615X/1
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Worcester College Oxford
- 721463
- Marie Curie Fellowship
- PID2019-105602GB-I00/10.13039/501100011033
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- P/300724
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
- Canary Islands Department of Economy, Knowledge and Employment
- DP190102448
- Australian Research Council
- Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Corporation
- OAC-1829740
- NSF
- Brinson Foundation
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- ST/N021702/1
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- PID2020-116188GA-I00
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
- PID2019-107427GB-C32
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
- ST/V506709/1
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Created
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2022-08-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2022-08-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field