Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Unmixing the Galactic Halo with RR Lyrae tagging

Belokurov, V.; Deason, A.J.; Koposov, S.E.; Catelan, M.; Erkal, D.; Drake, A.J.; Evans, N.W.

Unmixing the Galactic Halo with RR Lyrae tagging Thumbnail


Authors

V. Belokurov

S.E. Koposov

M. Catelan

D. Erkal

A.J. Drake

N.W. Evans



Abstract

We show that tagging RR Lyrae stars according to their location in the period-amplitude diagram can be used to shed light on the genesis of the Galactic stellar halo. The mixture of RR Lyrae of ab type, separated into classes along the lines suggested by Oosterhoff, displays a strong and coherent evolution with Galactocentric radius. The change in the RR Lyrae composition appears to coincide with the break in the halo’s radial density profile at ∼25 kpc. Using simple models of the stellar halo, we establish that at least three different types of accretion events are necessary to explain the observed RRab behavior. Given that there exists a correlation between the RRab class fraction and the total stellar content of a dwarf satellite, we hypothesize that the field halo RRab composition is controlled by the mass of the progenitor contributing the bulk of the stellar debris at the given radius. This idea is tested against a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-like stellar halo formation. Finally, we study some of the most prominent stellar streams in the Milky Way halo and demonstrate that their RRab class fractions follow the trends established previously.

Citation

Belokurov, V., Deason, A., Koposov, S., Catelan, M., Erkal, D., Drake, A., & Evans, N. (2018). Unmixing the Galactic Halo with RR Lyrae tagging. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 477(2), 1472-1483. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty615

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 27, 2018
Online Publication Date Mar 8, 2018
Publication Date Jun 21, 2018
Deposit Date Apr 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 477
Issue 2
Pages 1472-1483
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty615

Files

Accepted Journal Article (1.3 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record Belokurov, Belokurov, V., Deason, A. J., Koposov, S. E., Catelan, M., Erkal, D., Drake, A. J. & Evans, N. W. (2018). Unmixing the Galactic Halo with RR Lyrae tagging. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 477(2): 1472-1483 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty615.






You might also like



Downloadable Citations