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arXiv 1503.08780astro-ph.GA
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三角座-仙女座恒星云的重新解释:被踢出银河系盘的晕星群

A re-interpretation of the Triangulum-Andromeda stellar clouds: a population of halo stars kicked out of the Galactic disk

Adrian M. Price-Whelan, Kathryn V. Johnston, Allyson A. Sheffield, Chervin F. P. Laporte, Branimir Sesar

摘要:

三角座-仙女座恒星云(TriAnd 1和TriAnd 2)是一对同心的环状或壳状超密度的大$R$($\approx$ 30 kpc)和$Z$($\approx$ -10 kpc),位于星系晕中,被认为是由卫星星系的吸积和分裂形成的。本文通过比较银河系中与TriAnd云和其他结构相关的RR天琴座和M巨星的数量比,重新审视了这一形成情景。目前的数据表明,这些过密度的恒星星族($f_{\rm RR:MG} < 0.38$,置信度为95%)与银河系任何已知的卫星($f_{\rm RR:MG} \approx 0.5$是最大的卫星,$f_{\rm RR:MG} >>1$是较小的卫星)都很不一样,而更像是在银河系盘($f_{\rm RR:MG} < 0.01$)更深的势能阱中出生的恒星种群。对一个被矮星系撞击扰动的银河系的N体模拟表明,在适当的情况下,从银河系盘向外传播的同心环可以不可避免地产生类似的超密度。这些结果为Xu等人(2015)最近的提议提供了戏剧性的支持,即TriAnd云可能代表从我们自己的磁盘中踢出的恒星,而不是从其他星系吸积的恒星。如果是这样的话,这将是在星系晕中发现的第一批盘状恒星,并且清楚地表明了这第二种形成机制对更普遍的恒星晕的重要性。此外,它们存在于盘的最末端,这对形成它们的相互作用的性质产生了强烈的限制。

英文摘要:

The Triangulum-Andromeda stellar clouds (TriAnd1 and TriAnd2) are a pair of concentric ring- or shell-like over-densities at large $R$ ($\approx$ 30 kpc) and $Z$ ($\approx$ -10 kpc) in the Galactic halo that are thought to have been formed from the accretion and disruption of a satellite galaxy. This paper critically re-examines this formation scenario by comparing the number ratio of RR Lyrae to M giant stars associated with the TriAnd clouds with other structures in the Galaxy. The current data suggest a stellar population for these over-densities ($f_{\rm RR:MG} < 0.38$ at 95% confidence) quite unlike any of the known satellites of the Milky Way ($f_{\rm RR:MG} \approx 0.5$ for the very largest and $f_{\rm RR:MG} >>1$ for the smaller satellites) and more like the population of stars born in the much deeper potential well inhabited by the Galactic disk ($f_{\rm RR:MG} < 0.01$). N-body simulations of a Milky-Way-like galaxy perturbed by the impact of a dwarf galaxy demonstrate that, in the right circumstances, concentric rings propagating outwards from that Galactic disk can plausibly produce similar over-densities. These results provide dramatic support for the recent proposal by Xu et al. (2015) that, rather than stars accreted from other galaxies, the TriAnd clouds could represent stars kicked-out from our own disk. If so, these would be the first populations of disk stars to be found in the Galactic halo and a clear signature of the importance of this second formation mechanism for stellar halos more generally. Moreover, their existence at the very extremities of the disk places strong constraints on the nature of the interaction that formed them.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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