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A Sample of Nearby Isolated Dwarf Galaxies: A First Look at the Mass Function of Field Dwarfs

  • Scott G. Carlsten*
  • , Jiaxuan Li
  • , Jenny E. Greene
  • , Alex Drlica-Wagner
  • , Shany Danieli
  • *Corresponding author for this work
  • Princeton University
  • Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
  • The University of Chicago

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present the results of the Exploration of Local VolumE Survey-Field, a survey of the dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume (LV; D  < 10 Mpc) over roughly 3000 deg2, focusing on the field dwarf population. Candidates are detected using a semiautomated algorithm tailored for low-surface brightness dwarfs. Using tests with injected galaxies, we show the detection is 50% complete to mg ∼ 20 mag and M ∼ 106M. Candidates are confirmed to be true nearby dwarfs through distance measurements including redshift, tip of the red giant branch, and surface brightness fluctuations. We identify isolated field dwarfs using various environmental criteria. Over the survey footprint, we detect and confirm 95 LV dwarfs, 44 of which we consider isolated. Using this sample, we infer the field dwarf mass function and find good agreement at the high-mass end with previous redshift surveys and with the predictions of the Illustris-TNG simulation. This sample of isolated field dwarfs represents a powerful dataset to investigate aspects of small-scale structure and the effect of environment on dwarf galaxy evolution.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume1001
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Apr 2026

Keywords

  • Dwarf galaxies (416)
  • Field galaxies (533)
  • Low surface brightness galaxies (940)

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