Using deep images and simulations to trace collisional debris around massive galaxies

Abstract: Deep imaging programs, such as MATLAS which has just been completed at the CFHT, allows us to study with their diffuse light the outer stellar populations around large number of galaxies. We have carried out a systematic census of their fine structures, i.e. the collisional debris from past mergers. We have identified among them stellar streams from minor mergers, tidal tails from gas-rich major mergers, plumes from gas-poor major mergers, and shells from intermediate mass mergers. Having estimated the visibility and life time of each of these structures with numerical simulations, we can reconstruct the past mass assembly of the host galaxy. Preliminary statistical results based on a sample of 360 massive nearby galaxies are presented.