Discovery and Characterization of Two Ultrafaint Dwarfs outside the Halo of the Milky Way: Leo M and Leo K

Abstract

We report the discovery of two ultrafaint dwarf galaxies, Leo M and Leo K, that lie outside the halo of the Milky Way (MW). Using Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the resolved stars, we create color–magnitude diagrams reaching the oldest main-sequence turnoff of each system and (i) fit for structural parameters of the galaxies; (ii) measure their distances using the luminosity of the horizontal branch stars; (iii) estimate integrated magnitudes and stellar masses; and (iv) reconstruct the star formation histories. Based on their location in the Local Group, neither galaxy is currently within the halo of the MW although Leo K is located ∼26 kpc from the low-mass galaxy Leo T and these two systems may have had a past interaction. Leo M and Leo K have stellar masses of ${1.8}_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\times {10}^{4}$ M _⊙ and 1.2 ± 0.2 × 10 ^4 M _⊙ , and were quenched ${10.6}_{-1.1}^{+2.2}$ Gyr and ${12.8}_{-4.2}^{+0.1}$ Gyr ago, respectively. Given that the galaxies are at farther distances from the MW, it is unlikely that they were quenched by environmental processing. Instead, given their low stellar masses, their early quenching timescales are consistent with the scenario that a combination of reionization and stellar feedback shut down star formation at early cosmic times.

Keywords

• Local Group
• Dwarf galaxies
• Galaxy quenching
• Reionization
• Stellar populations
• Hertzsprung Russell diagram