A number of dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are known to contain a more extended, metal-poor population with a flattish velocity dispersion profile, and a more concentrated, metal-rich population ...with a velocity dispersion declining with radius. The two populations can be modelled with Michie-King distribution functions (DFs) in the isothermal and in the sharply truncated limits, respectively. We argue that the truncation of the metal-rich population can be traced back to the spatial distribution of the star-forming gas. Suppose δ is the exponent of the first non-constant term in the Taylor expansion of the total potential at the centre (δ= 1 for Navarro-Frenk-White or NFW haloes, δ= 2 for cored haloes). Then, we show that the ratio of the half-light radii of the populations R
δ/2
h, 2/R
h, 1
δ/2 must be smaller than the ratio of the line-of-sight velocity dispersions σlos, 2(R
h, 2)/σlos, 1(R
h, 1).
Specializing to the case of the Sculptor dSph, we develop a technique to fit simultaneously both populations with Michie-King DFs. This enables us to determine the mass profile of the Sculptor dSph with unprecedented accuracy in the radial range 0.2 < r < 1.2 kpc. We show that cored halo models are preferred over cusped halo models, with a likelihood ratio test rejecting NFW models at any significance level higher than 0.05 per cent. Even more worryingly, the best-fitting NFW models require concentrations with c ≲ 20, which is not in the cosmologically preferred range for dwarf galaxies. We conclude that the kinematics of multiple populations in dSphs provides a substantial new challenge for theories of galaxy formation, with the weight of available evidence strongly against dark matter cusps at the centre.
Abstract
We explore the hypothesis that B-type emission-line stars (Be stars) have their origin in mass-transfer binaries by measuring the fraction of runaway Be stars. We assemble the ...largest-to-date catalogue of 632 Be stars with 6D kinematics, exploiting the precise astrometry of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution from the first Gaia data release. Using binary stellar evolution simulations, we make predictions for the runaway and equatorial rotation velocities of a runaway Be star population. Accounting for observational biases, we calculate that if all classical Be stars originated through mass transfer in binaries, then $17.5\hbox{ per cent}$ of the Be stars in our catalogue should be runaways. The remaining 82.5 per cent should be in binaries with subdwarfs, white dwarfs, or neutron stars, because those systems either remained bound post-supernova or avoided the supernova entirely. Using a Bayesian methodology, we compare the hypothesis that each Be star in our catalogue is a runaway to the null hypothesis that it is a member of the Milky Way disc. We find that $13.1^{+2.6}_{-2.4}\hbox{ per cent}$ of the Be stars in our catalogue are runaways and identify a subset of 40 high-probability runaways. We argue that deficiencies in our understanding of binary stellar evolution, as well as the degeneracy between velocity dispersion and number of runaway stars, can explain the slightly lower runaway fraction. We thus conclude that all Be stars could be explained by an origin in mass-transfer binaries. This conclusion is testable with the second Gaia data release (DR2).
Co-formation of the disc and the stellar halo Belokurov, V; Erkal, D; Evans, N W ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
07/2018, Letnik:
478, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
ABSTRACT
Using a large sample of main sequence stars with 7D measurements supplied by Gaia and SDSS, we study the kinematic properties of the local (within ∼10 kpc from the Sun) stellar halo. We ...demonstrate that the halo’s velocity ellipsoid evolves strongly with metallicity. At the low-Fe/H end, the orbital anisotropy (the amount of motion in the radial direction compared with the tangential one) is mildly radial, with 0.2 <β< 0.4. For stars with Fe/H > −1.7, however, we measure extreme values of β∼ 0.9. Across the metallicity range considered, namely−3 < Fe/H < −1, the stellar halo’s spin is minimal, at the level of $20\lt \bar{v}_{\theta }(\mathrm{kms}^{-1}) \lt 30$. Using a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of halo formation, we deduce that the observed acute anisotropy is inconsistent with the continuous accretion of dwarf satellites. Instead, we argue, the stellar debris in the inner halo was deposited in a major accretion event by a satellite with Mvir > 1010M⊙ around the epoch of the Galactic disc formation, between 8 and 11 Gyr ago. The radical halo anisotropy is the result of the dramatic radialization of the massive progenitor’s orbit, amplified by the action of the growing disc.
We present a model for producing tidal streams from disrupting progenitors in arbitrary potentials, utilizing the idea that the majority of stars escape from the progenitor's two Lagrange points. The ...method involves releasing test particles at the Lagrange points as the satellite orbits the host and dynamically evolving them in the potential of both host and progenitor. The method is sufficiently fast to allow large-dimensional parameter exploration using Monte Carlo methods. We provide the first direct modelling of 6D stream observations – assuming a stream rather than an orbit – by applying our methods to GD-1. This is a kinematically cold stream spanning 60° of the sky and residing in the outer Galaxy ≈15 kpc distant from the centre. We assume the stream moves in a flattened logarithmic potential characterized by an asymptotic circular velocity v
0 and a flattening q. We recover values of normalization v
0 =
$227.2^{+15.6}_{-18.2}$
kms−1 and flattening q =
$0.91^{+0.04}_{-0.1}$
, if the stream is assumed to be leading, and v
0 =
$226.5^{+17.9}_{-17.0}$
kms−1, q =
$0.90^{+0.05}_{-0.09}$
, if it is assumed to be trailing. This can be compared to the values v
0 = 224 ± 13 kms−1 and
$q= 0.87^{+0.07}_{-0.04}$
obtained by Koposov et al. using the simpler technique of orbit fitting. Although there are differences between stream and orbit fitting, we conclude that orbit fitting can provide accurate results given the current quality of the data, at least for this kinematically cold stream in this logarithmic model of the Galaxy.
In a companion paper by Koposov et al., RR Lyrae from Gaia Data Release 2 are used to demonstrate that stars in the Orphan stream have velocity vectors significantly misaligned with the stream track, ...suggesting that it has received a large gravitational perturbation from a satellite of the Milky Way. We argue that such a mismatch cannot arise due to any realistic static Milky Way potential and then explore the perturbative effects of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find that the LMC can produce precisely, the observed motion-track mismatch and we therefore use the Orphan stream to measure the mass of the Cloud. We simultaneously fit the Milky Way and LMC potentials and infer that a total LMC mass of |$1.38^{+0.27}_{-0.24} \times 10^{11}\, \rm {M_\odot}$| is required to bend the Orphan stream, showing for the first time that the LMC has a large and measurable effect on structures orbiting the Milky Way. This has far-reaching consequences for any technique which assumes that tracers are orbiting a static Milky Way. Furthermore, we measure the Milky Way mass within 50 kpc to be |$3.80^{+0.14}_{-0.11}\times 10^{11} \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$|. Finally, we use these results to predict that, due to the reflex motion of the Milky Way in response to the LMC, the outskirts of the Milky Way’s stellar halo should exhibit a bulk, upwards motion.
‘Skinny Milky Way please’, says Sagittarius Gibbons, S. L. J; Belokurov, V; Evans, N. W
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
12/2014, Letnik:
445, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Motivated by recent observations of the Sagittarius stream, we devise a rapid algorithm to generate faithful representations of the centroids of stellar tidal streams formed in a disruption of a ...progenitor of an arbitrary mass in an arbitrary potential. Our method works by releasing swarms of test particles at the Lagrange points around the satellite and subsequently evolving them in a combined potential of the host and the progenitor. We stress that the action of the progenitor's gravity is crucial to making streams that look almost indistinguishable from the N-body realizations, as indeed ours do. The method is tested on mock stream data in three different Milky Way potentials with increasing complexity, and is shown to deliver unbiased inference on the Galactic mass distribution out to large radii. When applied to the observations of the Sagittarius stream, our model gives a natural explanation of the stream's apocentric distances and the differential orbital precession. We, therefore, provide a new independent measurement of the Galactic mass distribution beyond 50 kpc. The Sagittarius stream model favours a light Milky Way with the mass 4.1 ± 0.4 × 1011 M⊙ at 100 kpc, which can be extrapolated to 5.6 ± 1.2 × 1011 M⊙ at 200 kpc. Such a low mass for the Milky Way Galaxy is in good agreement with estimates from the kinematics of halo stars and from the satellite galaxies (once Leo I is removed from the sample). It entirely removes the ‘Too Big To Fail Problem’.
ABSTRACT We introduce a new maximum-likelihood method to model the density profile of blue horizontal branch and blue straggler stars and apply it to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 ...photometric catalogue. There are a large number (20000) of these tracers available over an impressive 14000deg2 in both Northern and Southern Galactic hemispheres, and they provide a robust measurement of the shape of the Milky Way stellar halo. After masking out stars in the vicinity of the Virgo overdensity and the Sagittarius stream, the data are consistent with a smooth, oblate stellar halo with a density that follows a broken power law. The best-fitting model has an inner slope αin 2.3 and an outer slope αout 4.6, together with a break radius occurring at 27kpc and a constant halo flattening (i.e. ratio of minor axis to major axis) of q 0.6. Although a broken power law describes the density fall-off most adequately, it is also well fitted by an Einasto profile. There is no strong evidence for variations in flattening with radius, or for triaxiality of the stellar halo. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
We announce the discovery of a new Galactic companion found in data from the ESO VST ATLAS survey, and followed up with deep imaging on the 4-m William Herschel Telescope. The satellite is located in ...the constellation of Crater (the Cup) at a distance of ∼170 kpc. Its half-light radius is r
h = 30 pc and its luminosity is M
V
= −5.5. The bulk of its stellar population is old and metal poor. We would probably have classified the newly discovered satellite as an extended globular cluster were it not for the presence of a handful of blue loop stars and a sparsely populated red clump. The existence of the core helium burning population implies that star formation occurred in Crater perhaps as recently as 400 Myr ago. No globular cluster has ever accomplished the feat of prolonging its star formation by several Gyr. Therefore, if our hypothesis that the blue bright stars in Crater are blue loop giants is correct, the new satellite should be classified as a dwarf galaxy with unusual properties. Note that only 10°to the north of Crater, two ultrafaint galaxies Leo IV and Leo V orbit the Galaxy at approximately the same distance. This hints that all three satellites may once have been closely associated before falling together into the Milky Way halo.
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