Peculiar compact stellar systems in the Fornax cluster
  We search for hints to the origin and nature of compact stellar systems in
the magnitude range of ultracompact dwarf galaxies in deep wide-field imaging
data of the Fornax cluster core. We visually investigate a large sample of 355
spectroscopically confirmed cluster members with V-band equivalent magnitudes
brighter than -10 mag for faint extended structures. Our data reveal peculiar
compact stellar systems, which appear asymmetric or elongated from their outer
light distribution. We characterize the structure of our objects by quantifying
their core concentration, as well as their outer asymmetry and ellipticity. For
the brighter objects of our sample we also investigate their spatial and
phase-space distribution within the cluster. We argue that the distorted outer
structure alone that is seen for some of our objects, is not sufficient to
decide whether these systems have a star cluster or a galaxy origin. However,
we find that objects with low core concentration and high asymmetry (or high
ellipticity) are primarily located at larger cluster-centric distances as
compared to the entire sample. This supports the hypothesis that at least some
of these objects may originate from tidally stripped galaxies.
