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Low surface brightness structures from annotated deep CFHT images: effects of the host galaxy’s properties and environment

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT 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, 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 contribute 2 per cent of total galaxy luminosity. They are detected in 36 per cent of galaxies, with none fainter than 27.8 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. The most massive galaxies are twice as likely to host tidal debris. Although small-scale interactions increase the frequency of tidal features, the large-scale environment (Virgo cluster versus field/group) does not influence it. An anticorrelation between this frequency and rotational support is found, but may reflect the mass-driven effect. We release our data base 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.
DOI: 10.17863/cam.119852
Authors: Sola, Elisabeth, Duc, Pierre-Alain, Urbano, Mathias, Richards, Felix, Paiement, Adeline, Bílek, Michal, Yıldız, Mustafa K, Boselli, Alessandro, Côté, Patrick, Cuillandre, Jean-Charles, Ferrarese, Laura, Gwyn, Stephen, Marchal, Olivier, McConnachie, Alan W, Baumann, Matthieu, Boch, Thomas, Durret, Florence, Fossati, Matteo, Habas, Rebecca, Marleau, Francine R, Müller, Oliver, Poulain, Mélina, Belokurov, Vasily
Language: English
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Leverhulme Trust, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Universität Wien, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Canadian Space Agency
Awards: NEO DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION WITH THE PAN-STARRS PS1 TELESCOPE. WE WILL USE THE PAN-STARRS PS1 TELESCOPE SYSTEM TO RAPIDLY SURVEY LARGE AREAS O, G3428629722, THE POWER OF THE PAN-STARRS1 TELESCOPE TO DISCOVER NEOS HAS BEEN AMPLY DEMONSTRATED WITH THE CURRENT 11% DEDICATED ALLOCATION OF OBSERVING TIME SUPPO, A NEO SEARCH PROGRAM USING THE PAN-STARRS PS1 TELESCOPETHE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO USE T, THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO SIGNIFICANTLY UPGRADE THE PAN-STARRS TELESCOPE SYSTEM ON HALEAKALA, MAUI BY COMPLETING THE INSTRUMENTATION AND C, WE PROPOSE TO CONTINUE OUR SURVEY TO DISCOVER NEAR EARTH OBJECTS (NEOS) WITH THE PAN-STARRS SYSTEM EXPANDED TO INCLUDE THE PAN-STARRS2 OBSERVATORY (PS2) TOGETHER WITH THE PAN-STARRS1 OBSERVATORY (PS1). SINCE THE START OF DEDICATED USE OF PAN- STARRS FOR NEO DISCOVERY IN SPRING OF 2014 PS1 HAS DISCOVERED OVER 40% OF ALL NEOS AND OVER 50% OF THE LARGER NEOS AND POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS ASTEROIDS. PS1 IS ALSO THE LEADING DISCOVERY TELESCOPE FOR NEOS LARGER THAN 1 KM IN DIAMETER. WITH PS2 WE WILL AT LEAST DOUBLE OUR RAW SURVEY POWER. THE PAN-STARRS2 OBSERVATORY IS COMPLETE AND WE EXPECT TO COMPLETE ITS CAMERA (GPC2) SOON AND ADD SCIENCE OPERATIONS WITH PS2 TO THE ONGOING PS1 SURVEY. PS2 WILL BE IN FULL SCIENCE OPERATIONS BY THE START OF THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE OF THIS PROPOSAL. THE PS2 OPTICS ARE SUPERIOR TO THOSE OF PS1 AND WE HAVE ELIMINATED THE CAUSE OF CORRELATED READ NOISE THAT AFFLICTS FAINT OBJECTS IN THE CAMERA ON PS1. THUS WE EXPECT PS2 TO BE SLIGHTLY SUPERIOR TO PS1 IN DISCOVERING NEOS. THE PAN-STARRS SYSTEM WITH BOTH PS1 AND PS2 WILL CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF NEO DISCOVERY. WE CAN DOUBLE THE AREA SURVEYED OR PERFORM SELF FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS WHICH WILL SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASE THE NUMBER OF OBJECTS LOST DUE TO AN ABSENCE OF FOLLOW-UP. MORE SELF-FOLLOW-UP WILL ALSO AVOID BIASES INTRODUCED BY THE DIGEST SCORE AND PROVIDE A MORE SYSTEMATIC SURVEY. WE WILL INVESTIGATE WIDE AREA SURVEY STRATEGIES RANGING BETWEEN THESE TWO EXTREMES TO OPTIMIZE FOR THE MOST COMPLETE NEO SURVEY AND TO REDUCE LOSSES OF RARE OR CAMOUFLAGED NEOS THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER-SAMPLING. IN ADDITION TO BRINGING THE SURVEY POWER OF PS2 ON LINE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED PROMISING AVENUES WHERE WE CAN IMPROVE OUR DISCOVERY RATE BY ADVANCES IN SOFTWARE INCLUDING IMPROVED DE-TRENDING ASTROMETRY OBJECT DETECTION IMAGE SUBTRACTION AND MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES. FINALLY WE HAVE AN EXPERIENCED TEAM WITH A PROVEN RECORD OF SUCCESS.
OpenAlex ID: W6944081730
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