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arXiv 1209.4077astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO
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Milky Way的矮星系系统是否起源于仙女座?

Does the dwarf galaxy system of the Milky Way originate from Andromeda?

Sylvain Fouquet, François Hammer, Yanbin Yang, Mathieu Puech, Hector Flores

摘要:

当地集团通常被视为一个平静的环境,没有重大的合并事件。然而,一个古老的大合并可能发生在最大的星系中。数值模拟表明,在富含气体的主要合并过程中形成的潮汐尾是长寿的,可能是古老恒星流的原因,并可能导致潮汐矮星系(TDG)的形成。使用几个流体动力学模拟,我们研究了最突出的潮汐尾形成的第一次通过,这是丰富的气体,并包含旧的和金属贫星。在将它的位置和运动与银河系(MW)和麦哲伦云(MC)进行比较后,我们发现了几个惊人的巧合。首先,潮汐尾扫过的是MW所在的相对较小的体积。由于合并的几何形状在某种程度上是由巨流(GS)的各向异性特性固定的,我们估计MW与这个巨大的潮汐尾在这样一个renewal-vous的机会是5%。其次,潮汐尾的速度与大麦哲伦星系的自行相匹配,并且很好地再现了MW矮星的几何和角动量特性,即所谓的卫星盘,更好地称为VPOS。第三,潮汐尾的模拟揭示了一个形成的TDG的质量和位置几乎可比的LMC。然而,我们目前的建模是太有限的,研究详细的相互作用的气体丰富的TDGs的潜力的MW,和一个补充的研究是必要的,以测试是否可以占我们的情况下,矮固有的属性。然而,这项研究表明,在M31位置的一个古老的、富含天然气的主要合并与本地群、GS、VPOS和MC的存在之间存在因果关系。

英文摘要:

The Local Group is often seen to be a quiescent environment without significant merger events. However an ancient major merger may have occurred in the most massive galaxy. Numerical simulations have shown that tidal tails formed during gas-rich major mergers are long-lived and could be responsible for old stellar streams and likely induce the formation of tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs). Using several hydrodynamical simulations we have investigated the most prominent tidal tail formed during the first passage, which is gas-rich and contains old and metal poor stars. We discovered several striking coincidences after comparing its location and motion to those of the Milky Way (MW) and of the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). First, the tidal tail is sweeping a relatively small volume in which the MW precisely lies. Because the geometry of the merger is somehow fixed by the anisotropic properties of the Giant Stream (GS), we evaluate the chance of the MW to be at such a rendez-vous with this gigantic tidal tail to be 5 %. Second, the velocity of the tidal tail matches the LMC proper motion, and reproduce quite well the geometrical and angular momentum properties of the MW dwarfs, i.e. the so-called disk of satellites, better called Vast Polar Structure (VPOS). Third, the simulation of the tidal tail reveals one of the formed TDG with mass and location almost comparable to those of the LMC. Our present modeling is however too limited to study the detailed interaction of gas-rich TDGs with the potential of the MW, and a complementary study is required to test whether the dwarf intrinsic properties can be accounted for by our scenario. Nevertheless this study suggests a causal link between an ancient, gas-rich major merger at the M31 location, and several enigma in the Local Group, the GS, the VPOS, and the presence of the MCs.

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