TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence from the H3 survey that the stellar halo is entirely comprised of substructure
AU - Naidu, Rohan P.
AU - Conroy, Charlie
AU - Bonaca, Ana
AU - Johnson, Benjamin D.
AU - Ting, Yuan Sen
AU - Caldwell, Nelson
AU - Zaritsky, Dennis
AU - Cargile, Phillip A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the anonymous referee for a timely report that improved the clarity of this work. It is a pleasure to acknowledge illuminating conversations with Marion Dierickx, Diederik Kruijssen, GyuChul Myeong, Kareem El-Badry, Helmer Koppelman, Peter Senchyna, and Vasily Belokurov. R.P.N. gratefully acknowledges an Ashford Fellowship and Peirce Fellowship granted by Harvard University. C.C. acknowledges funding from the Packard foundation. Y.S.T. is supported by the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51425.001 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute. We thank the Hectochelle operators Chun Ly, ShiAnne Kattner, Perry Berlind, and Mike Calkins, and the CfA and U. Arizona TACs for their continued support of the H3 Survey. This paper uses data products produced by the OIR Telescope Data Center, supported by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The computations in this paper were run on the FASRC Cannon cluster supported by the FAS Division of Science Research Computing Group at Harvard University. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/ gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/ dpac/consortium) (Gaia Collaboration et al. 2016, 2018). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/9/20
Y1 - 2020/9/20
N2 - In the ΛCDM paradigm, the Galactic stellar halo is predicted to harbor the accreted debris of smaller systems. To identify these systems, the H3 Spectroscopic Survey, combined with Gaia, is gathering 6D phase-space and chemical information in the distant Galaxy. Here we present a comprehensive inventory of structure within 50 kpc from the Galactic center using a sample of 5684 giants at b∣ > 40° and Z∣ > 2 kpc. We identify known structures including the high-α disk, the in situ halo (disk stars heated to eccentric orbits), Sagittarius (Sgr), Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE), the Helmi Streams, Sequoia, and Thamnos. Additionally, we identify the following new structures: (i) Aleph ([Fe/H] = −0.5), a low-eccentricity structure that rises a surprising 10 kpc off the plane, (ii) and (iii) Arjuna ([Fe/H] = −1.2) and I'itoi ([Fe/H] < −2), which comprise the high-energy retrograde halo along with Sequoia, and (iv) Wukong ([Fe/H] = −1.6), a prograde phase-space overdensity chemically distinct from GSE. For each structure, we provide [Fe/H], [α/Fe], and orbital parameters. Stars born within the Galaxy are a major component at Z∣ ~ 2 kpc (≈60%), but their relative fraction declines sharply to ≾5% past 15 kpc. Beyond 15 kpc, >80% of the halo is built by two massive (M* ∼ 108-109Me) accreted dwarfs: GSE ([Fe/H] = −1.2) within 25 kpc and Sgr ([Fe/H] = −1.0) beyond 25 kpc. This explains the relatively high overall metallicity of the halo ([Fe/H] ≈ −1.2). We attribute ≿95% of the sample to one of the listed structures, pointing to a halo built entirely from accreted dwarfs and heating of the disk.
AB - In the ΛCDM paradigm, the Galactic stellar halo is predicted to harbor the accreted debris of smaller systems. To identify these systems, the H3 Spectroscopic Survey, combined with Gaia, is gathering 6D phase-space and chemical information in the distant Galaxy. Here we present a comprehensive inventory of structure within 50 kpc from the Galactic center using a sample of 5684 giants at b∣ > 40° and Z∣ > 2 kpc. We identify known structures including the high-α disk, the in situ halo (disk stars heated to eccentric orbits), Sagittarius (Sgr), Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE), the Helmi Streams, Sequoia, and Thamnos. Additionally, we identify the following new structures: (i) Aleph ([Fe/H] = −0.5), a low-eccentricity structure that rises a surprising 10 kpc off the plane, (ii) and (iii) Arjuna ([Fe/H] = −1.2) and I'itoi ([Fe/H] < −2), which comprise the high-energy retrograde halo along with Sequoia, and (iv) Wukong ([Fe/H] = −1.6), a prograde phase-space overdensity chemically distinct from GSE. For each structure, we provide [Fe/H], [α/Fe], and orbital parameters. Stars born within the Galaxy are a major component at Z∣ ~ 2 kpc (≈60%), but their relative fraction declines sharply to ≾5% past 15 kpc. Beyond 15 kpc, >80% of the halo is built by two massive (M* ∼ 108-109Me) accreted dwarfs: GSE ([Fe/H] = −1.2) within 25 kpc and Sgr ([Fe/H] = −1.0) beyond 25 kpc. This explains the relatively high overall metallicity of the halo ([Fe/H] ≈ −1.2). We attribute ≿95% of the sample to one of the listed structures, pointing to a halo built entirely from accreted dwarfs and heating of the disk.
KW - Galaxy evolution (594)
KW - Galaxy formation (595)
KW - Galaxy kinematics (602)
KW - Galaxy stellar halos (598)
KW - Milky Way Galaxy (1054)
KW - Milky Way evolution (1052)
KW - Milky Way formation (1053)
KW - Milky Way stellar halo (1060)
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U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/abaef4
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/abaef4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092630949
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 901
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - 48
ER -