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Register a new userA Disk Origin for the Monoceros Ring and A13 Stellar Overdensities
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The Monoceros Ring (also known as the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure) and A13 are stellar overdensities at estimated heliocentric distances of $d sim 11$ kpc and 15 kpc observed at low Galactic latitudes towards the anticenter of our Galaxy. While these overdensities were initially thought to be remnants of a tidally-disrupted satellite galaxy, an alternate scenario is that they are composed of stars from the Milky Way (MW) disk kicked out to their current location due to interactions between a satellite galaxy and the disk. To test this scenario, we study the stellar populations of the Monoceros Ring and A13 by measuring the number of RR Lyrae and M giant stars associated with these overdensities. We obtain low-resolution spectroscopy for RR Lyrae stars in the two structures and measure radial velocities to compare with previously measured velocities for M giant stars in the regions of the Monoceros Ring and A13, to assess the fraction of RR Lyrae to M giant stars ($f_{RR:MG}$) in A13 and Mon/GASS. We perform velocity modeling on 153 RR Lyrae stars (116 in the Monoceros Ring and 37 in A13) and find that both structures have very low $f_{RR:MG}$. The results support a scenario in which stars in A13 and Mon/GASS formed in the MW disk. We discuss a possible association between Mon/GASS, A13, and the Triangulum-Andromeda overdensity based on their similar velocity distributions and $f_{RR:MG}$.
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The Monoceros Ring (MRi) structure is an apparent stellar overdensity that has been postulated to entirely encircle the Galactic plane and has been variously described as being due to line-of-sight effects of the Galactic warp and flare or of extragalactic origin (via accretion). Despite being intensely scrutinised in the literature for more than a decade, no studies to-date have been able to definitively uncover its origins. Here we use $N$-body simulations and a genetic algorithm to explore the parameter space for the initial position, orbital parameters and, for the first time, the final location of a satellite progenitor. We fit our models to the latest Pan-STARRS data to determine whether an accretion scenario is capable of producing an in- Plane ring-like structure matching the known parameters of the MRi. Our simulations produce streams that closely match the location, proper motion and kinematics of the MRi structure. However, we are not able to reproduce the mass estimates from earlier studies based on Pan-STARRS data. Furthermore, in contrast with earlier studies our best-fit models are those for progenitors on retrograde orbits. If the MRi was produced by satellite accretion, we find that its progenitor has an initial mass upper limit of ~$10^{10}$M$_odot$ and the remnant is likely located behind the Galactic bulge, making it diffcult to locate observationally. While our models produce realistic MRi-like structures we cannot definitively conclude that the MRi was produced by the accretion of a satellite galaxy.
We present the results of deep imaging obtained at the CFHT with MegaCam in the Anticenter direction at two different heights above the Galactic disk. We detect the presence of the Monoceros ring in both fields as a conspicuous and narrow Main Sequence feature which dominates star counts over a large portion of the color-magnitude diagram down to g~24. The comparison of the morphology and density of this feature with a large variety of Galactic models excludes the possibility that it can be due to a flare of the Galactic disk, supporting an extra-Galactic origin for this ring-like structure.
Using the Pan-STARRS1 survey, we derive limiting magnitude, spatial completeness and density maps that we use to probe the three dimensional structure and estimate the stellar mass of the so-called Monoceros Ring. The Monoceros Ring is an enormous and complex stellar sub-structure in the outer Milky Way disk. It is most visible across the large Galactic Anticenter region, 120 < l < 240 degrees, -30 < b < +40 degrees. We estimate its stellar mass density profile along every line of sight in 2 X 2 degree pixels over the entire 30,000 square degree Pan-STARRS1 survey using the previously developed MATCH software. By parsing this distribution into a radially smooth component and the Monoceros Ring, we obtain its mass and distance from the Sun along each relevant line of sight. The Monoceros Ring is significantly closer to us in the South (6 kpc) than in the North (9 kpc). We also create 2D cross sections parallel to the Galactic plane that show 135 degrees of the Monoceros Ring in the South and 170 degrees of the Monoceros Ring in the North. We show that the Northern and Southern structures are also roughly concentric circles, suggesting that they may be a wave rippling from a common origin. Excluding the Galactic plane, we observe an excess stellar mass of 4 million solar masses across 120 < l < 240 degrees. If we interpolate across the Galactic plane, we estimate that this region contains 8 million solar masses. If we assume (somewhat boldly) that the Monoceros Ring is a set of two Galactocentric rings, its total stellar mass is 60 million solar masses. Finally, if we assume that it is a set of two circles centered at a point 4 kpc from the Galactic center in the anti-central direction, as our data suggests, we estimate its stellar mass to be 40 million solar masses.
Extended HI structures around galaxies are of prime importance to probe galaxy formation scenarios. The giant HI ring in the Leo group is one of the largest and most intriguing HI structures in the nearby Universe. Whether it consists of primordial gas, as suggested by the apparent absence of any optical counterpart and the absence of an obvious physical connection to nearby galaxies, or of gas expelled from a galaxy in a collision is actively debated. We present deep wide field-of-view optical images of the ring region obtained with MegaCam on the CFHT. They reveal optical counterparts to several HI and UV condensations along the ring, in the g, r, and i bands, which likely correspond to stellar associations formed within the gaseous ring. Analyzing the spectral energy distribution of one of these star-forming regions, we found it to be typical for a star-forming region in pre-enriched tidal debris. We then use simulations to test the hypothesis that the Leo ring results from a head-on collision between Leo group members NGC 3384 and M96. According to our model which is able to explain, at least qualitatively, the main observational properties of the system, the Leo ring is consistent with being a collisional ring. It is thus likely another example of extended intergalactic gas made-up of pre-enriched collisional debris.
It has been recently shown that the halo near the Sun contains several kinematic substructures associated to past accretion events. For the more distant halo, there is evidence of large-scale density variations -- in the form of stellar clouds or overdensities. We study the link between the local halo kinematic groups and three of these stellar clouds: the Hercules-Aquila cloud, the Virgo Overdensity, and the Eridanus-Phoenix overdensity. We perform orbital integrations in a standard Milky Way potential of a local halo sample extracted from Gaia eDR3, with the goal of predicting the location of the merger debris elsewhere in the Galaxy. We specifically focus on the regions occupied by the three stellar clouds and compare their kinematic and distance distributions with those predicted from the orbits of the nearby debris. We find that the local halo substructures have families of orbits that tend to pile up in the regions where the stellar clouds have been found. The distances and velocities of the clouds member stars are in good agreement with those predicted from the orbit integrations, particularly for Gaia-Enceladus stars. This is the dominant contributor of all three overdensities, with a minor part stemming from the Helmi streams and to an even smaller extent from Sequoia. The orbital integrations predict no asymmetries in the sky distribution of halo stars, and they pinpoint where additional debris associated with the local halo substructures may be located.
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