SIMBAD references

2016MNRAS.460.1725D - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 460, 1725-1738 (2016/August-1)

Characterizing stellar halo populations - I. An extended distribution function for halo K giants.

DAS P. and BINNEY J.

Abstract (from CDS):

We fit an extended distribution function (EDF) to K giants in the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration survey. These stars are detected to radii ∼80 kpc and span a wide range in [Fe/H]. Our EDF, which depends on [Fe/H] in addition to actions, encodes the entanglement of metallicity with dynamics within the Galaxy's stellar halo. Our maximum-likelihood fit of the EDF to the data allows us to model the survey's selection function. The density profile of the K giants steepens with radius from a slope ∼-2 to ∼-4 at large radii. The halo's axis ratio increases with radius from 0.7 to almost unity. The metal-rich stars are more tightly confined in action space than the metal-poor stars and form a more flattened structure. A weak metallicity gradient ∼-0.001 dex kpc^-1, a small gradient in the dispersion in [Fe/H] of ∼0.001 dex kpc^-1, and a higher degree of radial anisotropy in metal-richer stars result. Lognormal components with peaks at ∼-1.5 and ∼-2.3 are required to capture the overall metallicity distribution, suggestive of the existence of two populations of K giants. The spherical anisotropy parameter varies between 0.3 in the inner halo to isotropic in the outer halo. If the Sagittarius stream is included, a very similar model is found but with a stronger degree of radial anisotropy throughout.

Abstract Copyright: © 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

Journal keyword(s): methods: data analysis - Galaxy: halo - Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics - Galaxy: stellar content - Galaxy: stellar content

Simbad objects: 1

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