Associations of Dwarf Galaxies

Abstract

The Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys has been used to determine accurate distances for 20 galaxies from measurements of the luminosity of the brightest red giant branch stars. Five associations of dwarf galaxies that had originally been identified based on strong correlations on the plane of the sky and in velocity are shown to be equally well correlated in distance. Two more associations with similar properties have been discovered. Another association is identified that is suggested to be unbound through tidal disruption. The associations have the spatial and kinematic properties expected of bound structures with (1-10)×1011 Msolar. However, these entities have little light, with the consequence that the mass-to-light ratios are in the range 100-1000 Msolar L-1solar. Within a well-surveyed volume extending to a 3 Mpc radius, all but one known galaxy lie within one of the groups or associations that have been identified.