2025A&A...693A.207N

Context. Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) exhibit morphological similarities with other low-luminosity galaxies, indicating a possible evolutionary connection.
Aims. We investigated for the common dynamical characteristics of isolated, HI-rich UDGs with other low-luminosity field galaxies, namely the low surface brightness galaxies (LSBs) and the dwarf irregulars (dIrrs).
Methods. We considered samples of each of the UDGs, LSBs, and the dIrrs. We first obtained scaling relations involving mass and structural parameters for the LSB and the dIrr samples and superposed the UDGs on them. We then carried out a two-sample Anderson-Darling test to analyse whether the UDGs belong to the population of the LSBs or the dIrrs. Thereafter, we constructed distribution function-based stellar-dynamical models of these galaxies to determine their kinematical parameters. We followed up with the Mann-Whitney U-test to determine if our UDG, LSB, and dIrr samples belong to different parent populations so far as kinematics is concerned. Finally, we conducted principal component analyses involving both structural and kinematical parameters to identify the key properties accounting for the variance in the data for the respective galaxy populations.
Results. From the galaxy scaling relation studies, we note that the UDGs and the LSBs constitute statistically different populations. However, for the UDGs and the dIrrs, the null hypotheses of these statistical tests cannot be rejected for the following scaling relations: (i) stellar mass versus atomic hydrogen mass, (ii) stellar mass versus dynamical mass, and (iii) dark matter core density versus core radius. Interestingly, the dynamical models suggest that the UDGs, LSBs, and the dIrrs constitute different galaxy populations, as reflected by their radial-to-vertical velocity dispersion and the rotational velocity-to-total stellar velocity dispersion. Finally, we observe that the total HI and stellar mass mostly regulate the variance in the structural and kinematical data for both the UDGs and the dIrrs, while the ratio of radial-to-vertical velocity dispersion and the total HI mass dominate the variation in the LSBs.
Conclusions. The UDGs and the LSBs represent statistically different galaxy populations with respect to their mass and structural properties. However, the statistical studies do not negate the fact that the structural parameters of the UDGs and the dIrrs follow the same normal distributions. However, the UDGs, LSBs, and the dIrrs constitute very different populations as far as their kinematical parameters are concerned. Finally, we note that the variation in the structural and kinematical data of both the UDGs and the dIrrs is mostly accounted for by their stellar mass and HI mass, whereas for the LSBs, the variance is explained by the ratio of the radial-to-vertical stellar dispersion followed by the HI mass. Thus, we may conclude that the UDGs and dIrrs share a common dynamical lineage.