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Register a new userAn HST/ACS investigation of the spatial and chemical structure and sub-structure of NGC 891, a Milky Way analogue
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We present a structural analysis of NGC891, an edge-on galaxy that has long been considered to be an analogue of the Milky Way. Using starcounts derived from deep HST/ACS images, we detect the presence of a thick disk component in this galaxy with vertical scale height 1.44+/-0.03 kpc and radial scale length 4.8+/-0.1 kpc, only slightly longer than that of the thin disk. A stellar spheroid with a de Vaucouleurs-like profile is detected from a radial distance of 0.5 kpc to the edge of the survey at 25 kpc; the structure appears to become more flattened with distance, reaching q = 0.50 in the outermost halo region probed. The halo inside of 15 kpc is moderately metal-rich (median [Fe/H] ~ -1.1) and approximately uniform in median metallicity. Beyond that distance a modest chemical gradient is detected, with the median reaching [Fe/H] ~ -1.3 at 20 kpc. We find evidence for subtle, but very significant, small-scale variations in the median colour and density over the halo survey area. We argue that the colour variations are unlikely to be due to internal extinction or foreground extinction, and reflect instead variations in the stellar metallicity. Their presence suggests a startling conclusion: that the halo of this galaxy is composed of a large number of incompletely-mixed sub-populations, testifying to its origin in a deluge of small accretions.
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We present deep ACS images of 3 fields in the edge-on disk galaxy NGC 891, which extend from the plane of the disk to 12 kpc, and out to 25 kpc along the major axis. The photometry of individual stars reaches 2.5 magnitudes below the tip of the RGB. We use the astrophotometric catalogue to probe the stellar content and metallicity distribution across the thick disk and spheroid of NGC 891. The CMDs of thick disk and spheroid population are dominated by old RGB stars with a wide range of metallicities, from a metal-poor tail at [Fe/H] ~ -2.4 dex, up to about half-solar metallicity. The peak of the MDF of the thick disk is at -0.9 dex. The inner parts of the thick disk, within 14 kpc along the major axis show no vertical colour/metallicity gradient. In the outer parts, a mild vertical gradient of Delta(V-I)/Delta|Z| = 0.1 +/- 0.05 kpc^-1 is detected. This gradient is however accounted for by the mixing with the metal poor halo stars. No metallicity gradient along the major axis is present for thick disk stars, but strong variations of about 0.35 dex around the mean of [Fe/H] = -1.13 dex are found. The properties of the asymmetric MDFs of the thick disk stars show no significant changes in both the radial and the vertical directions. The stellar populations at solar cylinder-like distances show strikingly different properties from those of the Galaxy, suggesting that the accretion histories of both galaxies have been different. The spheroid population shows remarkably uniform stellar population properties. The median metallicity of the halo stellar population shows a shallow gradient from about -1.15 dex in the inner parts to -1.27 dex at 24 kpc distance from the centre. Similar to the thick disk stars, large variations around the mean relation are present.
Recent panoramic observations of the dominant spiral galaxies of the Local Group have revolutionized our view of how these galaxies assemble their mass. However, it remains completely unclear whether the properties of the outer regions of the Local Group large spirals are typical. Here, we present the first panoramic view of a spiral galaxy beyond the Local Group, based on the largest, contiguous, ground-based imaging survey to date resolving the stellar halo of the nearest prime analogue of the Milky Way, NGC 891 (D~10 Mpc). The low surface brightness outskirts of this galaxy are populated by multiple, coherent, and vast substructures over the 90kpc * 90kpc extent of the survey. These include a giant stream, the first to be resolved into stars beyond the Local Group using ground-based facilities, that loops around the parent galaxy up to distances of ~50kpc. The bulge and the disk of the galaxy are found to be surrounded by a previously undetected large, flat and thick cocoon-like stellar structure at vertical and radial distances of up to ~15kpc and ~40kpc respectively.
We consider the possible pattern of the overall spiral structure of the Galaxy, using data on the distribution of neutral (atomic), molecular, and ionized hydrogen, on the base of the hypothesis of the spiral structure being symmetric, i.e. the assumption that spiral arms are translated into each other for a rotation around the galactic center by 180{deg} (a two-arm pattern) or by 90{deg} (a four-arm pattern). We demonstrate that, for the inner region, the observations are best represented with a four-arm scheme of the spiral pattern, associated with all-Galaxy spiral density waves. The basic position is that of the Carina arm, reliably determined from distances to HII regions and from HI and H2 radial velocities. This pattern is continued in the quadrants III and IV with weak outer HI arms; from their morphology, the Galaxy should be considered an asymmetric multi-arm spiral. The kneed shape of the outer arms that consist of straight segments can indicate that these arms are transient formations that appeared due to a gravitational instability in the gas disk. The distances between HI superclouds in the two arms that are the brightest in neutral hydrogen, the Carina arm and the Cygnus (Outer) arm, concentrate to two values, permitting to assume the presence of a regular magnetic field in these arms.
The high cosmological precision offered by the next generation of galaxy surveys hinges on improved corrections for Galactic dust extinction. We explore the possibility of estimating both the dust extinction and large-scale structure from a single photometric galaxy survey, making use of the predictable manner in which Milky Way dust affects the measured brightness and colors of galaxies in a given sky location in several redshift bins. To test our method, we use a synthetic catalog from a cosmological simulation designed to model the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. At high Galactic latitude ($|b|gtrsim20^circ$) and a resolution of $1^circ$ ($7$), we predict the uncertainty in the measurement of dust extinction, $E(B-V)$, to be $0.005 mathrm{mag}$ ($0.015 mathrm{mag}$). This is similar to the uncertainty of existing dust maps, illustrating the feasibility of our method. Simultaneous estimation of large-scale structure is predicted to recover the galaxy overdensity $delta$ with a precision of $sim0.01$ ($sim0.05$) at $1^circ$ ($7$) resolution. We also introduce a Bayesian formalism that combines prior information from existing dust maps with the likelihood of Galactic dust extinction determined from the excursion of observed galaxy properties.
We simulate an isolated, magnetised Milky Way-like disc galaxy using a self-consistent model of unresolved star formation and feedback, evolving the system until it reaches statistical steady state. We show that the quasi-steady-state structure is distinctly layered in galactocentric height $z$, with an innermost region having comparable gas and magnetic pressures (plasma beta $beta sim 1$), an outermost region having dominant gas pressures ($beta gg 1$), and an intermediate region between $300$ pc $lesssim |z| lesssim 3$ kpc that is dynamically dominated by magnetic fields ($beta ll 1$). We find field strengths, gas surface densities, and star formation rates that agree well with those observed both in the Galactic centre and in the Solar neighbourhood. The most significant dynamical effect of magnetic fields on the global properties of the disc is a reduction of the star formation rate by a factor of 1.5-2 with respect to an unmagnetised control simulation. At fixed star formation rate, there is no significant difference in the mass outflow rates or profiles between the magnetised and non-magnetised simulations. Our results for the global structure of the magnetic field have significant implications for models of cosmic ray-driven winds and cosmic-ray propagation in the Galaxy, and can be tested against observations with the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array and other facilities. Finally, we report the discovery of a physical error in the implementation of neutral gas heating and cooling in the popular GIZMO code, which may lead to qualitatively incorrect phase structures if not corrected.
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