The low mass end of the neutral gas mass and velocity width functions of galaxies in Λ\LambdaCDM

We use the high-resolution Aquarius cosmological dark matter simulations coupled to the semi-analytic model by Starkenburg et al. (2013) to study the HI content and velocity width properties of field galaxies at the low mass end in the context of $\Lambda$CDM. We compare our predictions to the observed ALFALFA survey HI mass and velocity width functions, and find very good agreement without fine-tuning, when considering central galaxies. Furthermore, the properties of the dark matter halos hosting galaxies, characterised by their peak velocity and circular velocity at 2 radial disk scalelengths overlap perfectly with the inferred values from observations. This suggests that our galaxies are placed in the right dark matter halos, and consequently at face value, we do not find any discrepancy with the predictions from the $\Lambda$CDM model. Our analysis indicates that previous tensions, apparent when using abundance matching models, arise because this technique cannot be straightforwardly applied for objects with masses $M_{vir} < 10^{10} M_{\odot}$.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 9 pages, 8 figure

Constraining the Milky Way potential using the dynamical kinematic substructures

We present a method to constrain the potential of the non-axisymmetric components of the Galaxy using the kinematics of stars in the solar neighborhood. The basic premise is that dynamical substructures in phase-space (i.e. due to the bar and/or spiral arms) are associated with families of periodic or irregular orbits, which may be easily identified in orbital frequency space. We use the "observed" positions and velocities of stars as initial conditions for orbital integrations in a variety of gravitational potentials. We then compute their characteristic frequencies, and study the structure present in the frequency maps. We find that the distribution of dynamical substructures in velocity- and frequency-space is best preserved when the integrations are performed in the "true" gravitational potential.Comment: 2 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (Apr. 17-22, 2011

More pieces of the puzzle: Chemistry and substructures in the Galactic thick disk

We present a study of the chemical abundances of Solar neighbourhood stars associated to dynamical structures in the Milky Way's (thick) disk. These stars were identified as overdensity in the eccentricity range 0.3< ecc < 0.5 in the Copenhagen-Geneva Survey by Helmi et al. (2006). We find that the stars with these dynamical characteristics do not constitute a homogeneous population. A relatively sharp transition in dynamical and chemical properties appears to occur at a metallicity of [Fe/H] ~ -0.4. Stars with [Fe/H] > -0.4 have mostly lower eccentricities, smaller vertical velocity dispersions, are alpha-enhanced and define a rather narrow sequence in [alpha/Fe] vs [Fe/H], clearly distinct from that of the thin disk. Stars with [Fe/H] < -0.4 have a range of eccentricities, are hotter vertically, and depict a larger spread in [alpha/Fe]. We have also found tentative evidence of substructure possibly associated to the disruption of a metal-rich star cluster. The differences between these populations of stars is also present in e.g. [Zn/Fe], [Ni/Fe] and [SmII/Fe], suggesting a real physical distinction.Comment: Astrophysical Journal in press. 5 pages, 4 figure

Jeans Instability in a Tidally Disrupted Halo Satellite Galaxy

We use a hybrid test particle/N-body simulation to integrate 4 million massless test particle trajectories within a fully self-consistent 10^5 particle N-body simulation. The number of massless particles allows us to resolve fine structure in the spatial distribution and phase space of a dwarf galaxy as it is disrupted in the tidal field of a Milky Way type galaxy. The tidal tails exhibit nearly periodic clumping or a smoke-like appearance. By running simulations with different satellite particle mass, halo particle mass, number of massive and massless particles and with and without a galaxy disk, we have determined that the instabilities are not due to numerical noise, amplification of structure in the halo, or shocking as the satellite passes through the disk of the Galaxy. We measure Jeans wavelengths and growth timescales in the tidal tail and show that the Jeans instability is a viable explanation for the clumps. We find that the instability causes velocity perturbations of order 10 km/s. Clumps in tidal tails present in the Milky Way could be seen in stellar radial velocity surveys as well as number counts. We find that the unstable wavelength growth is sensitive to the simulated mass of dark matter halo particles. A simulation with a smoother halo exhibits colder and thinner tidal tails with more closely spaced clumps than a simulation with more massive dark matter halo particles. Heating by the halo particles increases the Jeans wavelength in the tidal tail affecting substructure development, suggesting an intricate connection between tidal tails and dark matter halo substructure.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS, May 25 201

Filtration-enrichment methods for selecting auxotrophs and other mutants in Ascobolus immersus and similar filamentous fungi.

Filtration-enrichment is a very successful method for obtaining auxotrophs, but traditional methods cannot be applied directly to many fungi lacking suitable asexual spores, mainly because of a heavy carry-over of parental nutrients into sexual spores. A procedure has been devised to apply filtration-enrichment to such fungi by using hyphal mutagenesis, crossing, germination of sexual spores, fragmentation of germination hyphae into small propagules, and then two cycles of filtration-enrichment in liquid minimal medium (LMM)

Kinematic groups across the MW disc: insights from models and from the RAVE catalogue

With the advent of the Gaia data, the unprecedented kinematic census of great part of the Milky Way disc will allow us to characterise the local kinematic groups and new groups in different disc neighbourhoods. First, we show here that the models predict a stellar kinematic response to the spiral arms and bar strongly dependent on disc position. For example, we find that the kinematic groups induced by the spiral arm models change significantly if one moves only ~ 0.6 kpc in galactocentric radius, but ~ 2 kpc in azimuth. There are more and stronger groups as one approaches the spiral arms. Depending on the spiral pattern speed, the kinematic imprints are more intense in nearby vicinities or far from the Sun. Secondly, we present a preliminary study of the kinematic groups observed by RAVE. This sample will allow us, for the first time, to study the dependence on Galactic position of the (thin and thick) disc moving groups. In the solar neighbourhood, we find the same kinematics groups as detected in previous surveys, but now with better statistics and over a larger spatial volume around the Sun. This indicates that these structures are indeed large scale kinematic features.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (April 17-22, 2011), C. Reyle, A. Robin, M. Schultheis (eds.

Halo Star Streams in the Solar Neighborhood

We have assembled a sample of halo stars in the solar neighborhood to look for halo substructure in velocity and angular momentum space. Our sample includes red giants, RR Lyrae, and red horizontal branch stars within 2.5 kpc of the Sun with [Fe/H] less than -1.0. It was chosen to include stars with accurate distances, space velocities, and metallicities as well as well-quantified errors. We confirm the existence of the streams found by Helmi and coworkers, which we refer to as the H99 streams. These streams have a double-peaked velocity distribution in the z direction. We use the results of modeling of the H99 streams by Helmi and collaborators to test how one might use v_z velocity information and radial velocity information to detect kinematic substructure in the halo. We find that detecting the H99 streams with radial velocities alone would require a large sample. We use the velocity distribution of the H99 streams to estimate their age. From our model of the progenitor of the H99 streams, we determine that it was accreted between 6 and 9 Gyr ago. The H99 streams have [alpha/Fe] abundances similar to other halo stars in the solar neighborhood, suggesting that the gas that formed these stars were enriched mostly by Type II SNe. We have also discovered in angular momentum space two other possible substructures, which we refer to as the retrograde and prograde outliers. The retrograde outliers are likely to be halo substructure, but the prograde outliers are most likely part of the smooth halo. The retrograde outliers have significant structure in the v_phi direction and show a range of [alpha/Fe]. The methods presented in this paper can be used to exploit the kinematic information present in future large databases like RAVE, SDSSII/SEGUE, and Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, and 9 tables. Minor changes to text to match proofed version of the paper. Low resolution figures. High resolution version at http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~kepley/solar_streams.p

Schwarzschild models of the Sculptor dSph galaxy

We have developed a spherically symmetric dynamical model of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy using the Schwarzschild method. This type of modelling yields constraints both on the total mass distribution (e.g. enclosed mass and scale radius) as well as on the orbital structure of the system modelled (e.g. velocity anisotropy). Therefore not only can we derive the dark matter content of these systems, but also explore possible formation scenarios. Here we present preliminary results for the Sculptor dSph. We find that the mass of Sculptor within 1kpc is 8.5\times10^(7\pm0.05) M\odot, its anisotropy profile is tangentially biased and slightly more isotropic near the center. For an NFW profile, the preferred concentration (~15) is compatible with cosmological models. Very cuspy density profiles (steeper than NFW) are strongly disfavoured for Sculptor.Comment: 2 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (Apr. 17-22, 2011

The Kinematic Properties of the Extended Disks of Spiral Galaxies: A Sample of Edge-On Galaxies

We present a kinematic study of the outer regions (R_25<R<2 R_25) of 17 edge-on disk galaxies. Using deep long-slit spectroscopy (flux sensitivity a few 10^-19 erg s^-1 cm^-2 arcsec^-2), we search for H-alpha emission, which must be emitted at these flux levels by any accumulation of hydrogen due to the presence of the extragalactic UV background and any other, local source of UV flux. We present results from the individual galaxy spectra and a stacked composite. We detect H-alpha in many cases well beyond R_25 and sometimes as far as 2 R_25. The combination of sensitivity, spatial resolution, and kinematic resolution of this technique thus provides a powerful complement to 21-cm observations. Kinematics in the outer disk are generally disk-like (flat rotation curves, small velocity dispersions) at all radii, and there is no evidence for a change in the velocity dispersion with radius. We place strong limits, few percent, on the existence of counter-rotating gas out to 1.5 R_25. These results suggest that thin disks extend well beyond R_25; however, we also find a few puzzling anomalies. In ESO 323-G033 we find two emission regions that have velocities close to the systemic velocity rather than the expected rotation velocity. These low relative velocities are unlikely to be simply due to projection effects and so suggest that these regions are not on disk-plane, circular orbits. In MCG-01-31-002 we find emission from gas with a large velocity dispersion that is co-rotating with the inner disk.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap