48 research outputs found
Chemical gradients in the Milky Way from the RAVE data: II. Giant stars
Aims. We provide new constraints on the chemo-dynamical models of the Milky Way by measuring the radial and vertical chemical gradients for the elements Mg, Al, Si, Ti, and Fe in the Galactic disc and the gradient variations as a function of the distanc
Spectroscopic signatures of extratidal stars around the globular clusters NGC 6656 (M 22), NGC 3201, and NGC 1851 from RAVE
Context. Stellar population studies of globular clusters have suggested that the brightest clusters in the Galaxy might actually be the remnant nuclei of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. If the present Galactic globular clusters formed within larger stellar systems, they are likely to be surrounded by extratidal halos and/or tails made up of stars that were tidally stripped from their parent systems. Aims. The stellar surroundings around globular clusters are therefore one of the best places to look for the remnants of an ancient dwarf galaxy. Here an attempt is made to search for tidal debris around the supernovae enriched globular clusters M? 22 and NGC 1851, as well as the kinematically unique cluster NGC 3201. Methods. The stellar parameters from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) are used to identify stars with the RAVE metallicities, radial velocities, and elemental abundances that are consistent with the abundance patterns and properties of the stars in M? 22, NGC 1851, and NGC 3201. Results. Discovery of RAVE stars that may be associated with M? 22 and NGC 1851 are reported, some of which are at projected distances ∼10 degrees away from the core of these clusters. Numerous RAVE stars associated with NGC 3201 suggest that either the tidal radius of this cluster is underestimated or that there are some unbound stars extending a few arc minutes from the edge of the cluster's radius. No other extratidal stars associated with NGC 3201 could be identified. The bright magnitudes of the RAVE stars make them easy targets for high-resolution follow-up observations, eventually allowing further chemical tagging to solidify (or exclude) stars outside the tidal radius of the cluster as tidal debris. In both our radial velocity histograms of the regions surrounding NGC 1851 and NGC 3201, a peak of stars at ∼230 km? s-1 is seen, consistent with extended tidal debris from ω Centauri
Constraining the Galaxy's dark halo with RAVE stars
We use the kinematics of giant stars that lie within kpc of the plane to measure the vertical profile of mass density near the
Sun. We find that the dark mass contained within the isodensity surface of the
dark halo that passes through the Sun
(), and the surface density within
kpc of the plane () are almost
independent of the (oblate) halo's axis ratio . If the halo is spherical, 46
per cent of the radial force on the Sun is provided by baryons, and only 4.3
per cent of the Galaxy's mass is baryonic. If the halo is flattened, the
baryons contribute even less strongly to the local radial force and to the
Galaxy's mass. The dark-matter density at the location of the Sun is
.
When combined with other literature results we find hints for a mildly oblate
dark halo with . Our value for the dark mass within the solar
radius is larger than that predicted by cosmological dark-matter-only
simulations but in good agreement with simulations once the effects of baryonic
infall are taken into account. Our mass models consist of three
double-exponential discs, an oblate bulge and a Navarro-Frenk-White dark-matter
halo, and we model the dynamics of the RAVE stars in the corresponding
gravitational fields by finding distribution functions that
depend on three action integrals. Statistical errors are completely swamped by
systematic uncertainties, the most important of which are the distance to the
stars in the photometric and spectroscopic samples and the solar distance to
the Galactic centre. Systematics other than the flattening of the dark halo
yield overall uncertainties per cent.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Chemical gradients in the Milky Way from the RAVE data. II. Giant stars
We provide new constraints on the chemo-dynamical models of the Milky Way by
measuring the radial and vertical chemical gradients for the elements Mg, Al,
Si, Ti, and Fe in the Galactic disc and the gradient variations as a function
of the distance from the Galactic plane (). We selected a sample of giant
stars from the RAVE database using the gravity criterium 1.7log g2.8. We
created a RAVE mock sample with the Galaxia code based on the Besan\c con model
and selected a corresponding mock sample to compare the model with the observed
data. We measured the radial gradients and the vertical gradients as a function
of the distance from the Galactic plane to study their variation across the
Galactic disc. The RAVE sample exhibits a negative radial gradient of
dex kpc close to the Galactic plane ( kpc)
that becomes flatter for larger . Other elements follow the same trend
although with some variations from element to element. The mock sample has
radial gradients in fair agreement with the observed data. The variation of the
gradients with shows that the Fe radial gradient of the RAVE sample has
little change in the range kpc and then flattens. The iron
vertical gradient of the RAVE sample is slightly negative close to the Galactic
plane and steepens with . The mock sample exhibits an iron vertical
gradient that is always steeper than the RAVE sample. The mock sample also
shows an excess of metal-poor stars in the [Fe/H] distributions with respect to
the observed data. These discrepancies can be reduced by decreasing the number
of thick disc stars and increasing their average metallicity in the Besan\c con
model.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, A&A accepte
Spectroscopic Signatures of Extra-Tidal Stars Around the Globular Clusters NGC 6656 (M22), NGC 3201 and NGC 1851 from RAVE
Stellar population studies of globular clusters have suggested that the
brightest clusters in the Galaxy might actually be the remnant nuclei of dwarf
spheroidal galaxies. If the present Galactic globular clusters formed within
larger stellar systems, they are likely surrounded by extra-tidal halos and/or
tails made up of stars that were tidally stripped from their parent systems.
The stellar surroundings around globular clusters are therefore one of the best
places to look for the remnants of an ancient dwarf galaxy. Here an attempt is
made to search for tidal debris around the supernovae enriched globular
clusters M22 and NGC 1851 as well as the kinematically unique cluster NGC 3201.
The stellar parameters from the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) are used to
identify stars with RAVE metallicities, radial velocities and
elemental-abundances consistent with the abundance patterns and properties of
the stars in M22, NGC 1851 and NGC 3201. The discovery of RAVE stars that may
be associated with M22 and NGC 1851 are reported, some of which are at
projected distances of ~10 degrees away from the core of these clusters.
Numerous RAVE stars associated with NGC 3201 suggest that either the tidal
radius of this cluster is underestimated, or that there are some unbound stars
extending a few arc minutes from the edge of the cluster's radius. No further
extra-tidal stars associated with NGC 3201 could be identified. The bright
magnitudes of the RAVE stars make them easy targets for high resolution
follow-up observations, allowing an eventual further chemical tagging to
solidify (or exclude) stars outside the tidal radius of the cluster as tidal
debris. In both our radial velocity histograms of the regions surrounding NGC
1851 and NGC 3201, a peak of stars at 230 km/s is seen, consistent with
extended tidal debris from omega Centauri.Comment: accepted to A&
The RAVE survey: the Galactic escape speed and the mass of the Milky Way
We construct new estimates on the Galactic escape speed at various
Galactocentric radii using the latest data release of the Radial Velocity
Experiment (RAVE DR4). Compared to previous studies we have a database larger
by a factor of 10 as well as reliable distance estimates for almost all stars.
Our analysis is based on the statistical analysis of a rigorously selected
sample of 90 high-velocity halo stars from RAVE and a previously published data
set. We calibrate and extensively test our method using a suite of cosmological
simulations of the formation of Milky Way-sized galaxies. Our best estimate of
the local Galactic escape speed, which we define as the minimum speed required
to reach three virial radii , is km/s (90%
confidence) with an additional 5% systematic uncertainty, where is
the Galactocentric radius encompassing a mean over-density of 340 times the
critical density for closure in the Universe. From the escape speed we further
derive estimates of the mass of the Galaxy using a simple mass model with two
options for the mass profile of the dark matter halo: an unaltered and an
adiabatically contracted Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) sphere. If we fix the
local circular velocity the latter profile yields a significantly higher mass
than the un-contracted halo, but if we instead use the statistics on halo
concentration parameters in large cosmological simulations as a constraint we
find very similar masses for both models. Our best estimate for , the
mass interior to (dark matter and baryons), is M (corresponding to M). This estimate is in good agreement with recently published
independent mass estimates based on the kinematics of more distant halo stars
and the satellite galaxy Leo I.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Chemical gradients in the Milky Way from the RAVE data
Aims. We aim at measuring the chemical gradients of the elements Mg, Al, Si, and Fe along the Galactic radius to provide new constraints on the chemical evolution models of the Galaxy and Galaxy models such as the Besancon model. Thanks to the large number of stars of our RAVE sample we can study how the gradients vary as function of the distance from the Galactic plane.
Methods. We analysed three different samples selected from three independent datasets: a sample of 19 962 dwarf stars selected from the RAVE database, a sample of 10 616 dwarf stars selected from the Geneva-Copenhagen Survey (GCS) dataset, and a mock sample (equivalent to the RAVE sample) created by using the GALAXIA code, which is based on the Besancon model. The three samples were analysed by using the very same method for comparison purposes. We integrated the Galactic orbits and obtained the guiding radii (R-g) and the maximum distances from the Galactic plane reached by the stars along their orbits (Z(max)). We measured the chemical gradients as functions of R-g at different Z(max).
Results. We found that the chemical gradients of the RAVE and GCS samples are negative and show consistent trends, although they are not equal: at Z(max) < 0.4 kpc and 4.5 < R-g(kpc) < 9.5, the iron gradient for the RAVE sample is d[Fe/H]/dR(g) = -0.065 dex kpc(-1), whereas for the GCS sample it is d[Fe/H]/dR(g) = -0.043 dex kpc(-1) with internal errors of +/-0.002 and +/-0.004 dex kpc(-1), respectively. The gradients of the RAVE and GCS samples become flatter at larger Z(max). Conversely, the mock sample has a positive iron gradient of d[Fe/H]/dR(g) = +0.053 +/- 0.003 dex kpc(-1) at Z(max) < 0.4 kpc and remains positive at any Z(max). These positive and unrealistic values originate from the lack of correlation between metallicity and tangential velocity in the Besancon model. In addition, the low metallicity and asymmetric drift of the thick disc causes a shift of the stars towards lower R-g and metallicity which, together with the thin-disc stars with a higher metallicity and R-g, generates a fictitious positive gradient of the full sample. The flatter gradient at larger Z(max) found in the RAVE and the GCS samples may therefore be due to the superposition of thin-and thick-disc stars, which mimicks a flatter or positive gradient. This does not exclude the possibility that the thick disc has no chemical gradient. The discrepancies between the observational samples and the mock sample can be reduced by i) decreasing the density; ii) decreasing the vertical velocity; and iii) increasing the metallicity of the thick disc in the Besancon model
Balancing mass and momentum in the Local Group
In the rest frame of the Local Group (LG), the total momentum of the Milky
Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) should balance to zero. We use this fact to
constrain new solutions for the solar motion with respect to the LG
centre-of-mass, the total mass of the LG, and the individual masses of M31 and
the MW. Using the set of remote LG galaxies at kpc from the MW and M31,
we find that the solar motion has amplitude in a direction pointing toward galactic longitude
and galactic latitude
. The velocities of M31 and the MW in
this rest frame give a direct measurement of their mass ratio, for which we
find . We combine these
measurements with the virial theorem to estimate the total mass within the LG
as .
Our value for is consistent with the sum of literature values
for and . This suggests that the mass of the LG is
almost entirely located within the two largest galaxies rather than being
dispersed on larger scales or in a background medium. The outskirts of the LG
are seemingly rather empty. Combining our measurement for and the
mass ratio, we estimate the individual masses of the MW and M31 to be and , respectively. Our analysis favours M31
being more massive than the MW by a factor of 2.3, and the uncertainties
allow only a small probability (9.8%) that the MW is more massive. This is
consistent with other properties such as the maximum rotational velocities,
total stellar content, and numbers of globular clusters and dwarf satellites,
which all suggest that .Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA