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arXiv 0802.1349astro-ph
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麦哲伦星系中的众多溪流

The many streams of the Magellanic Stream

Snezana Stanimirovic, Samantha Hoffman, Carl Heiles, Kevin A. Douglas, Mary Putman, Joshua E. G. Peek

摘要:

我们目前的结果中性氢(HI)的麦哲伦流(MS)的尖端的观测,获得与阿雷西博望远镜的一部分,正在进行的调查由银河研究联盟与阿雷西博L波段饲料阵列。我们发现四个大规模的,连贯的HI流,连续延伸超过20度的长度,每个流具有不同的形态和速度梯度。新发现的溪流为Connors等人(2006年)提出的MS形成的潮汐模型提供了强有力的支持,该模型提出了MS的空间和运动学分叉。观察到的形态和运动学表明,其中三条溪流可以解释为主MS细丝的三向分裂,而第四条溪流似乎更年轻,可能起源于麦哲伦桥。我们发现在MS的尖端有大量的HI云,三分之二的云的角尺寸在3.5 '-10'的范围内。我们解释这是由于热不稳定性,这将影响一个温暖的尾部气体通过星系晕在一个特征的时间尺度的几个万年到几百万年。我们发现,热碎片可以在热晕中存活很长一段时间,特别是如果被<10^6 K的晕气体包围。如果观察到的团簇结构主要是由于热不稳定性,那么MS的尖端距离约为70 kpc。一个显着的分数HI云在MS的尖端显示多相速度剖面,表明冷,暖气体的共存。

英文摘要:

We present results from neutral hydrogen (HI) observations of the tip of the Magellanic Stream (MS), obtained with the Arecibo telescope as a part of the on-going survey by the Consortium for Galactic studies with the Arecibo L-band Feed Array. We find four large-scale, coherent HI streams, extending continously over a length of 20 degrees, each stream possessing different morphology and velocity gradients. The newly discovered streams provide strong support for the tidal model of the MS formation by Connors et al. (2006), which suggested a spatial and kinematic bifurcation of the MS. The observed morphology and kinematics suggest that three of these streams could be interpreted as a 3-way splitting of the main MS filament, while the fourth stream appears much younger and may have originated from the Magellanic Bridge. We find an extensive population of HI clouds at the tip of the MS. Two thirds of clouds have an angular size in the range 3.5'--10'. We interpret this as being due to thermal instability, which would affect a warm tail of gas trailing through the Galactic halo over a characteristic timescale of a few Myrs to a few hundred Myrs. We show that thermal fragments can survive in the hot halo for a long time, especially if surrounded by a <10^6 K halo gas. If the observed clumpy structure is mainly due to thermal instability, then the tip of the MS is at a distance of ~70 kpc. A significant fraction of HI clouds at the tip of the MS show multi-phase velocity profiles, indicating the co-existence of cooler and warmer gas.

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