We develop a new method StarGO (Stars' Galactic Origin) to identify the galactic origins of halo stars using their kinematics. Our method is based on self-organizing map (SOM), which is one of the most popular unsupervised learning algorithms. StarGO combines SOM with a novel adaptive group identification algorithm with essentially no free parameters. In order to evaluate our model, we build a synthetic stellar halo from mergers of nine satellites in the Milky Way. We construct the mock catalogue by extracting a heliocentric volume of 10 kpc from our simulations and assigning expected observational uncertainties corresponding to bright stars from Gaia DR2 and LAMOST DR5. We compare the results from StarGO against that from a Friends-of-Friends (FoF) based method in the space of orbital energy and angular momentum. We show that StarGO is able to systematically identify more satellites and achieve higher number fraction of identified stars for most of the satellites within the extracted volume. When applied to data from Gaia DR2, StarGO will enable us to reveal the origins of the inner stellar halo in unprecedented detail.
There are expected to be physical relationships between the globular clusters (GCs) and stellar substructures in the Milky Way, not all of which have yet been found. We search for such substructures from a combined halo sample of SDSS blue horizontal-branch and SDSS+LAMOST RR Lyrae stars, cross-matched with astrometric information from $Gaia$ DR2. This is a sample of old stars which are also excellent tracers of structures, ideal for searching for ancient relics in the outer stellar halo. By applying the neural-network-based method StarGO to the full 4D dynamical space of our sample, we redisc…
The rotation of the galactic objects has been seen by asymmetric Doppler shift in the CMB data. Molecular hydrogen clouds at virial temperature may contribute to the galactic halo dark matter and they might be the reason for the observed rotational asymmetry in the galactic halos. We present a method to constrain the parameters of these virial clouds given that they are composed of a single fluid. The method is such that it should be possible to extend it to more than one fluid.
The intermediate age population of the Galactic halo
我们最近了解到，银河系的内晕包含一个运动学相干的组成部分（盖亚-土卫二），来自10个Gyrs前的一次重大合并。相比之下，内晕（定义为排除麦哲伦流）不包含类似的十亿年前的闯入者恒星星族。我们用来设置相应上限的示踪剂是盖亚渐近巨星分支星，而不是盖亚运动学。主要样品是用SkyMapper测光从Gaia DR 2中提取的。这是补充PanSTARRS和2 MASS测光。随着盖亚任务的进行，星系晕中的恒星形成历史应该会出现。
The shape of the Galactic halo with $Gaia$ DR2 RR Lyrae. Anatomy of an ancient major merger
我们使用$Gaia$ DR 2 RR天琴座样本来获得银河系恒星晕的不间断视图。我们在平行于银河系圆盘的切片中解剖了可用的体积，以表明在距离银河系中心千秒差距的$\sim30$内，晕是三轴的，最长轴与银河系$x$轴的$\sim70^{\circ}$错位。这个解剖过程暴露了两个大的弥漫性超密度与晕的半长轴对齐：武仙座-天鹰座云和室女座超密度。我们揭示了整个内晕的运动学映射出的振幅和方向的RR天琴座自行车。然后将这些与具有不同各向异性的简单模型进行比较，以证明内晕由高偏心轨道上的恒星主导。我们解释的密度和运动学的$Gaia$ DR 2 RR天琴座的形状的证据，有利于一个场景中，大部分的晕沉积在一个单一的大规模合并事件。
Based on a large spectroscopic sample of $\sim$ 4,300 RR Lyrae stars with metallicity, systemic radial velocity and distance measurements, we present a detailed analysis of the chemical and kinematic properties of the Galactic halo. Using this sample, the metallicity distribution function (MDF) as a function of $r$ and the velocity anisotropy parameter $β$ profiles (for different metallicity populations) are derived for the stellar halo. Both the chemical and kinematic results suggest that the Galactic halo is composed of two distinct parts, the inner halo and outer halo. The cutoff radius ($\…
We build upon Ordering Points To Identify Clustering Structure (OPTICS), a hierarchical clustering algorithm well-known to be a robust data-miner, in order to produce Halo-OPTICS, an algorithm designed for the automatic detection and extraction of all meaningful clusters between any two arbitrary sizes. We then apply Halo-OPTICS to the 3D spatial positions of halo particles within four separate synthetic Milky Way type galaxies, classifying the stellar and dark matter structural hierarchies. Through visualisation of the Halo-OPTICS output, we compare its structure identification to the state-o…
Formation process(es) of galactic bulges are not yet clarified although several mechanisms have been proposed. In a previous study, we suggested one possibility that galactic bulges have been formed from the cold gas inflowing through surrounding hot halo gas in massive dark matter halos at high redshifts. It was shown that this scenario leads to the bulge-to-total stellar mass ratio increasing with the galaxy mass, in agreement with the well-known observed trend. We here indicate that it also reproduces recent observational results that the mean stellar age of the bulge increases with the gal…
Resonant torques couple stellar bars to dark matter halos. Here we use high-resolution numerical simulations to demonstrate long-term angular momentum transfer between stellar bars and dark matter orbits of varying orientation. We show that bar-driven reversals of dark matter orbit orientations can play a surprisingly large role in the evolution of the bar pattern speed. In predominantly prograde (co-rotating) halos, dark matter orbits become trapped in the stellar bar forming a parallel dark matter bar. This dark matter bar reaches more than double the vertical height of the stellar bar. In h…
A self-consistent model of a one-dimensional cosmic-ray (CR) halo around the Galactic disk is formulated with the restriction to a minimum number of free parameters. It is demonstrated that the turbulent cascade of MHD waves does not necessarily play an essential role in the halo formation. Instead, an increase of the Alfven velocity with distance to the disk leads to an efficient generic mechanism of the turbulent redshift, enhancing CR scattering by the self-generated MHD waves. As a result, the calculated size of the CR halo at lower energies is determined by the halo sheath, an energy-depe…
In this work the space-time geometry of the halo region in spiral galaxies is obtained considering the observed flat galactic rotation curve feature, invoking the Tully-Fisher relation and assuming the presence of cold dark matter in the galaxy. The gravitational lensing analysis is performed treating the so obtained space-time as a gravitational lens. It is found that the aforementioned space-time as the gravitational lens can consistently explain the galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing observations and the lensing observations of the well-known Abell 370 galaxy cluster.
Characterizing the High-Velocity Stars of RAVE: The Discovery of a Metal-Rich Halo Star Born in the Galactic Disk
我们的目标是表征高速（HiVel）恒星在太阳附近的化学和运动学使用的第四次数据发布的RAVE（RAVE）。我们使用了57个银河系静止坐标系速度大于275 km s $^{-1}$的HiVel恒星样本。利用6D位置和速度信息，我们整合了HiVel恒星的轨道，发现它们平均距离银河平面13 kpc，并且具有与星系晕一致的相对偏心轨道。利用RAVE的恒星参数和[ $α$ /Fe]估计值，我们发现HiVel恒星的金属丰度分布在[M/H] = -1.2 dex处达到峰值，并且与内晕的化学性质相一致。有几个值得注意的例外，包括超高速恒星（HVS）候选者，极高速束缚晕星，以及一颗运动学上与晕一致但化学上与盘一致的恒星。高分辨率的光谱获得了富含金属的HiVel恒星候选者和样本中第二高速度的恒星。利用这些高分辨率的数据，我们报告了一个富含金属的晕星的发现，它很可能是从银河系厚盘动态喷射到晕中的。这一发现有助于解释星系晕中最富金属成分的组合。
