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Register a new userSMHASH: Anatomy of the Orphan Stream using RR Lyrae stars
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Stellar tidal streams provide an opportunity to study the motion and structure of the disrupting galaxy as well as the gravitational potential of its host. Streams around the Milky Way are especially promising as phase space positions of individual stars will be measured by ongoing or upcoming surveys. Nevertheless, it remains a challenge to accurately assess distances to stars farther than 10 kpc from the Sun, where we have the poorest knowledge of the Galaxys mass distribution. To address this we present observations of 32 candidate RR Lyrae stars in the Orphan tidal stream taken as part of the Spitzer Merger History and Shape of the Galactic Halo (SMHASH) program. The extremely tight correlation between the periods, luminosities, and metallicities of RR Lyrae variable stars in the Spitzer IRAC $mathrm{3.6 mu m}$ band allows the determination of precise distances to individual stars; the median statistical distance uncertainty to each RR Lyrae star is $2.5%$. By fitting orbits in an example potential we obtain an upper limit on the mass of the Milky Way interior to 60 kpc of $mathrm{5.6_{-1.1}^{+1.2}times 10^{11} M_odot}$, bringing estimates based on the Orphan Stream in line with those using other tracers. The SMHASH data also resolve the stream in line--of--sight depth, allowing a new perspective on the internal structure of the disrupted dwarf galaxy. Comparing with N--body models we find that the progenitor had an initial dark halo mass of approximately $mathrm{3.2 times 10^{9} M_odot}$, placing the Orphan Streams progenitor amongst the classical dwarf spheroidals.
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We present a chemo-dynamical study of the Orphan stellar stream using a catalog of RR~Lyrae pulsating variable stars for which photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic data are available. Employing low-resolution spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we determined line-of-sight velocities for individual exposures and derived the systemic velocities of the RR~Lyrae stars. In combination with the stars spectroscopic metallicities and textit{Gaia} EDR3 astrometry, we investigated the northern part of the Orphan stream. In our probabilistic approach, we found 20 single mode RR~Lyrae variables likely associated with the Orphan stream based on their positions, proper motions, and distances. The acquired sample permitted us to expand our search to nonvariable stars in the SDSS dataset, utilizing line-of-sight velocities determined by the SDSS. We found 54 additional nonvariable stars linked to the Orphan stream. The metallicity distribution for the identified red giant branch stars and blue horizontal branch stars is, on average, $-2.13pm0.05$ dex and $-1.87pm0.14$ dex, with dispersions of 0.23 and 0.43dex, respectively. The metallicity distribution of the RR~Lyrae variables peaks at $-1.80pm0.06$ dex and a dispersion of 0.25dex. Using the collected stellar sample, we investigated a possible link between the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Grus II and the Orphan stream. Based on their kinematics, we found that both the stream RR~Lyrae and Grus II are on a prograde orbit with similar orbital properties, although the large uncertainties on the dynamical properties render an unambiguous claim of connection difficult. At the same time, the chemical analysis strongly weakens the connection between both. We argue that Grus II in combination with the Orphan stream would have to exhibit a strong inverse metallicity gradient, which to date has not been detected in any Local Group system.
We report positions, velocities and metallicities of 50 ab-type RR Lyrae (RRab) stars observed in the vicinity of the Orphan stellar stream. Using about 30 RRab stars classified as being likely members of the Orphan stream, we study the metallicity and the spatial extent of the stream. We find that RRab stars in the Orphan stream have a wide range of metallicities, from -1.5 dex to -2.7 dex. The average metallicity of the stream is -2.1 dex, identical to the value obtained by Newberg et al. (2010) using blue horizontal branch stars. We find that the most distant parts of the stream (40-50 kpc from the Sun) are about 0.3 dex more metal-poor than the closer parts (within ~30 kpc), suggesting a possible metallicity gradient along the streams length. We have extended the previous studies and have mapped the stream up to 55 kpc from the Sun. Even after a careful search, we did not identify any more distant RRab stars that could plausibly be members of the Orphan stream. If confirmed with other tracers, this result would indicate a detection of the end of the leading arm of the stream. We have compared the distances of Orphan stream RRab stars with the best-fit orbits obtained by Newberg et al. (2010). We find that model 6 of Newberg et al. (2010) cannot explain the distances of the most remote Orphan stream RRab stars, and conclude that the best fit to distances of Orphan stream RRab stars and to the local circular velocity is provided by potentials where the total mass of the Galaxy within 60 kpc is M_{60}~2.7x10^{11} Msun, or about 60% of the mass found by previous studies. More extensive modelling that would consider non-spherical potentials and the possibility of misalignment between the stream and the orbit, is highly encouraged.
We have measured radial velocities and metallicities of 16 RR Lyrae stars, from the QUEST survey, in the Sagittarius tidal stream at 50 kpc from the galactic center. The distribution of velocities is quite narrow (std dev=25 km/s) indicating that the structure is coherent also in velocity space. The mean heliocentric velocity in this part of the stream is 32 km/s. The mean metallicity of the RR Lyrae stars is [Fe/H]=-1.7. Both results are consistent with previous studies of red giant stars in this part of the stream. The velocities also agree with a theoretical model of the disruption of the Sagittarius galaxy.
Sixteen RR Lyrae variables from the QUEST survey that lie in the leading arm of the tidal stream from the Sagittarius dSph galaxy have been observed spectroscopically to measure their radial velocities and metal abundances. The systemic velocities of 14 stars, which were determined by fitting a standard velocity curve to the individual measurements, have a sharply peaked distribution with a mean of 33 km/s and a standard deviation of only 25 km/s. The [Fe/H] distribution of these stars has a mean of -1.76 and a standard deviation of 0.22. These measurements are in good agreement with previous ones from smaller samples of stars. The mean metallicity is consistent with the age-metallicity relation that is observed in the main body of the Sgr dSph galaxy. The radial velocities and the distances from the Sun of these stars are compared with recent numerical simulations of the Sgr streams that assume different shapes for the dark matter halo. Models that assume a oblate halo do not fit the data as well as ones that assume a spherical or a prolate distribution. However, none of the fits are completely satisfactory. Every model fails to reproduce the long extent of the stream in right ascension (36 degr) that is seen in the region covered by the QUEST survey. Further modeling is required to see if this and the other mismatches between theory and observation can be removed by judicial choices for the model parameters or instead rule out a class of models.
The Sagittarius stream is one of the best tools that we currently have to estimate the mass and shape of our Galaxy. However, assigning membership and obtaining the phase-space distribution of the stars that form the tails is quite challenging. Our goal is to produce a catalogue of RR Lyrae stars of Sagittarius and obtain an empiric measurement of the trends along the stream in sky position, distance and tangential velocities. We generate two initial samples from the Gaia DR2 RR Lyrae catalogue: one, selecting only the stars within pm20deg of the orbital plane of Sagittarius (Strip) and the other, the result of applying the Pole Count Map (nGC3) algorithm. We then use the model-independent, deterministic method developed in this work to remove most of the contamination by detecting and isolating the stream in distance and proper motions. The output is two empiric catalogues: the Strip sample (higher-completeness, lower-purity) which contains 11 677 stars, and the nGC3 sample (higher-purity, lower-completeness) with 6 608 stars. We characterise the changes along the stream in all the available dimensions, the 5 astrometric ones plus the metallicity, covering more than 2pi rad in the sky and obtain new estimates for the apocentres and the mean [Fe/H] of the RR Lyrae population. Also, we show the first map of the two components of the tangential velocity, thanks to the combination of distances and proper motions. Finally, we detect the bifurcation in the leading arm and report no significant difference between the two branches, either in metallicity, kinematics or distance. We provide the largest sample of RR Lyrae candidates of Sagittarius, which can be used as an input for a spectroscopic follow-up or as a reference for the new generation of models of the stream through the interpolators in distance and velocity that we have constructed.
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