Ultra diffuse galaxies outside clusters: clues to their formation and evolution

We identify six ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) outside clusters in three nearby isolated groups (z 250 kpc) of our three groups, we identify a population of potential UDG progenitors (two of them confirmed spectroscopically). These progenitors have similar masses, shapes and sizes but are bluer, g-i~0.45, (and for this reason brighter, mu_g(0) 24 mag arcsec -2) UDGs after ~6 Gyr. If confirmed, our observations support a scenario where UDGs are old, extended, low surface brightness dwarfs (M*~10^8 Msun) galaxies born in the field, are later on processed in groups and, ultimately, infall into galaxy clusters by group accretion.