Color-based discrimination between galactic feathers and stellar streams

Determine whether photometric color information alone can reliably distinguish galactic feathers—perturbed stellar disc material produced by interactions with low-mass satellites—from extragalactic stellar tidal streams around galaxies in deep optical imaging surveys.

Background

The paper discusses contaminants in low surface brightness imaging that can mimic tidal streams, including galactic feathers arising from satellite interactions with galaxy discs. Correctly classifying such features is crucial for compiling homogeneous samples of streams and for comparing observed morphologies and frequencies to cosmological predictions.

The authors explicitly note uncertainty about whether color information alone suffices to separate feathers from genuine streams, highlighting a methodological gap that impacts visual inspections and cataloging efforts in surveys like the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys.