Related papers: Incorporating Streams into Milky Way Models
It is a challenge to reproduce the full 6D space-phase properties of Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy and its Stream simultaneously. Using N-body simulations with a Milky Way mass of 5.2$\times10^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$ and a ``scaling down'' Sgr…
We describe a technique that finds orbits through the Galaxy that are consistent with measurements of a tidal stream, taking into account the extent that tidal streams do not precisely delineate orbits. We show that if accurate…
Mergers and tidal interactions between massive galaxies and their dwarf satellites are a fundamental prediction of the Lambda-Cold Dark Matter cosmology. These events are thought to provide important observational diagnostics of nonlinear…
There is increasing evidence that a substantial fraction of Milky Way satellite galaxies align in a rotationally-supported plane of satellites, a rare configuration in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. It has been suggested that…
Stellar streams are a promising way to probe the gravitational effects of low-mass dark matter (DM) subhalos. In recent years, there has been a remarkable explosion in the number of stellar streams detected in the Milky Way, and hundreds…
We use cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of Milky-Way-mass galaxies from the FIRE project to evaluate various strategies for estimating the mass of a galaxy's stellar halo from deep, integrated-light images. We find good agreement…
We investigate the rotation curve of the Milky Way using a multi-component mass model including a stellar disk, a gaseous disk, a bulge/bar component, and a dark-matter halo. The stellar and gas contributions are calibrated using recent…
Near-field observations may provide tight constraints - i.e. "boundary conditions" - on any model of structure formation in the Universe. Detailed observational data have long been available for the Milky Way (e.g. Freeman $\&$…
Many of the Milky Way's globular clusters are likely accreted from satellite galaxies that have long since merged with the Milky Way. When these globular clusters are susceptible to tidal disruption, this process likely starts already…
In simple models of the Milky Way, tidally disrupting satellites produce long and thin---nearly one-dimensional---stellar streams. Using astrometric data from the Gaia second data release and photometry from the Dark Energy Survey, we…
Tidal debris streams from galaxy satellites can provide insight into the dark matter distribution in halos. This is because we have more information about stars in a debris structure than about a purely random population of stars: we know…
Despite the Milky Way's proximity to us, our knowledge of its dark matter halo is fairly limited, and there is still considerable uncertainty in its halo mass. Many past techniques have been limited by assumptions such as the Galaxy being…
We use Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data for 170 deg^2, recalibrated and transformed to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri photometric system, to study the distribution of near-turnoff main-sequence stars in the Galactic halo…
We study numerical simulations of satellite galaxy disruption in a potential resembling that of the Milky Way. Our goal is to assess whether a merger origin for the stellar halo would leave observable fossil structure in the phase-space…
Tidal streams are highly sensitive to perturbations from passing dark matter (DM) subhalos and thus provide a means of measuring their abundance. In a recent paper, we analyzed the distribution of stars along the GD-1 stream with a…
Stellar haloes encode a fossil record of a galaxy's accretion history, generally in the form of structures of low surface brightness, such as stellar streams. While their low surface brightness makes it challenging to determine their age,…
An all high-latitude sky survey for cool carbon giant stars in the Galactic halo has revealed 75 such stars, of which the majority are new detections. Of these, more than half are clustered on a Great Circle on the sky which intersects the…
The dwarf galaxies orbiting a main galaxy suffer strong tidal forces produced by its dark halo. As a consequence, substructures and tidal tails could appear in the satellites. These structures could give us information about the dark matter…
We study high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of Milky Way type galaxies obtained within the "Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments" (EAGLE) project, and identify the those that best satisfy observational constraints…
The phase space of stellar streams is proposed to detect dark substructure in the Milky Way through the perturbations created by passing subhalos - and thus is a powerful test of the cold dark matter paradigm and its alternatives. Using…