We studied the impact of the revisited values for the LSR circular velocity
of the Milky Way (Reid et al. 2004) on the formation of the Magellanic Stream.
The LSR circular velocity was varied within its observational uncertainties as
a free parameter of the interaction between the Large (LMC) and the Small (SMC)
Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy. We have shown that the large-scale morphology
and kinematics of the Magellanic Stream may be reproduced as tidal features,
assuming the recent values of the proper motions of the Magellanic Clouds
(Kallivayalil et al. 2006). Automated exploration of the entire parameter space
for the interaction was performed to identify all parameter combinations that
allow for modeling the Magellanic Stream. Satisfactory models exist for the
dynamical mass of the Milky Way within a wide range of 0.6*10^12Msun to
3.0*10^12Msun and over the entire 1-sigma errors of the proper motions of the
Clouds. However, the successful models share a common interaction scenario. The
Magellanic Clouds are satellites of the Milky Way, and in all cases two close
LMC-SMC encounters occurred within the last 4Gyr at t<-2.5Gyr and t approx.
-150Myr, triggering the formation of the Stream and of the Magellanic Bridge,
respectively. The latter encounter is encoded in the observed proper motions
and inevitable in any model of the interaction. We conclude that the tidal
origin of the Magellanic Stream implies the previously introduced LMC/SMC
orbital history, unless the parameters of the interaction are revised
substantially.Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ, minor
corrections, 3 figures replace
