Stellar over-densities in the outer halo of the milky way

dc.contributor.authorKeller, Stefan
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T22:58:09Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T08:30:29Z
dc.description.abstractThis study presents a tomographic survey of a subset of the outer halo (1040 kpc) drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6. Halo substructure on spatial scales of >3 degrees is revealed as an excess in the local density of sub-giant stars. With an appropriate assumption of a model stellar isochrone it is possible for us to then derive distances to the sub-giant population. We describe three new candidate halo substructures; the 160- and 180-degree over-densities (at distances of 17 and 19 kpc respectively and radii of 1.3 and 1.5 kpc respectively) and an extended feature at 28 kpc that covers at least 162 deg2, the Virgo Equatorial Stream. In addition, we recover the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr) leading-arm material and the Virgo Over-Density. The derived distances, together with the number of sub-giant stars associated with each substructure, enables us to derive the integrated luminosity for the features. The tenuous, low surface brightness of the features strongly suggests an origin from the tidal disruption of an accreted galaxy or galaxies. Given the dominance of the tidal debris of Sgr in this region of the sky we investigate if our observations can be accommodated by tidal disruption models for Sgr. The clear discordance between observations and model predictions for known Sgr features means it is difficult to tell unambiguously if the new substructures are related to Sgr or not. Radial velocities in the stellar over-densities will be critical in establishing their origins.
dc.identifier.issn1323-3580
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/60723
dc.publisherCSLI Publications
dc.sourcePublications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
dc.subjectKeywords: Galaxy halo; Galaxy structure
dc.titleStellar over-densities in the outer halo of the milky way
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage55
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage45
local.contributor.affiliationKeller, Stefan, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidKeller, Stefan, u9702857
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor020104 - Galactic Astronomy
local.identifier.ariespublicationf2965xPUB559
local.identifier.citationvolume27
local.identifier.doi10.1071/AS09037
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-77949410620
local.identifier.thomsonID000275386900004
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByf2965
local.type.statusPublished Version

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