Fornax 3D project: automated detection of planetary nebulae in the centres of early-type galaxies and first results. (arXiv:2003.10456v1 [astro-ph.GA])

Fornax 3D project: automated detection of planetary nebulae in the centres of early-type galaxies and first results. (arXiv:2003.10456v1 [astro-ph.GA])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Spriggs_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">T. W. Spriggs</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sarzi_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Sarzi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Napiwotzki_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. Napiwotzki</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Anta_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. M. Galan-de Anta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Viaene_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. Viaene</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Nedelchev_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">B. Nedelchev</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Coccato_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">L. Coccato</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Corsini_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">E. M. Corsini</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zeeuw_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. T. de Zeeuw</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Falcon_Barroso_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">J. Falcon-Barroso</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gadotti_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. A. Gadotti</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Iodice_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">E. Iodice</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lyubenova_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Lyubenova</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Martin_Navarro_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">I. Martin-Navarro</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+McDermid_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. M. McDermid</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pinna_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">F. Pinna</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ven_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. van de Ven</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zhu_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">L. Zhu</a>

Extragalactic Planetary Nebulae (PNe) are detectable via relatively strong
nebulous [OIII] emission, acting as direct probes into the local stellar
population. Due to an apparently universal, invariant magnitude cut-off, PNe
are also considered to be a remarkable standard candle for distance estimation.
Through detecting PNe within the galaxies, we aim to connect the relative
abundances of PNe to the properties of their host galaxy stellar population. By
removing the stellar background components from FCC 167 and FCC 219, we aim to
produce PN Luminosity Functions (PNLF) of those galaxies, and therefore also
estimate the distance modulus to those two systems. Finally, we test the
reliability and robustness of our novel detection and analysis method. It
detects the presence of unresolved point sources via their [OIII] 5007{AA}
emission, within regions previously unexplored. We model the [OIII] emissions
in both the spatial and spectral dimensions together, as afforded to us by the
Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and drawing on data gathered as part
of the Fornax3D survey. For each source, we inspect the properties of the
nebular emission lines present to remove other sources, that could hinder the
safe construction of the PNLF, such as supernova remnants and HII regions. As a
further step, we characterise any potential limitations and draw conclusions
about the reliability of our modelling approach via a set of simulations.
Through the application of this novel detection and modelling approach to IFU
observations, we report for both galaxies: distance estimates, luminosity
specific PNe frequency values. Furthermore, we include an overview into source
contamination, galaxy differences and how they may affect the PNe populations
in the dense stellar environments.

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