Related papers: Distribution function-based modelling of discrete …
We present the results of a large-scale proper motion study of the central ~36'x16' of the Milky Way, based on our high angular resolution GALACTICNUCLEUS survey (epoch 2015) combined with the HST Paschen-alpha survey (epoch 2008). Our…
Context. Current constraints on distributed matter in the innermost Galactic Centre (such as a cluster of faint stars and stellar remnants, Dark Matter or a combination thereof) based on the orbital dynamics of the visible stars closest to…
We derive new constraints on the mass, rotation, orbit structure and statistical parallax of the Galactic old nuclear star cluster (NSC) and the mass of the supermassive black hole. We combine star counts and kinematic data from Fritz et al…
The innermost regions of most galaxies are characterised by the presence of extremely dense nuclear star clusters. Nevertheless, these clusters are not the only stellar component present in galactic nuclei, where larger stellar structures…
The study of how stars distribute themselves around a massive black hole (MBH) in the center of a galaxy is an important prerequisite for the understanding of many galactic-center processes. These include the observed overabundance of point…
We investigate the kinematic parameters of the Milky Way disc using the RAVE and GCS stellar surveys. We do this by fitting a kinematic model to the data taking the selection function of the data into account. For stars in the GCS we use…
The degeneracy between disc and halo contributions in spiral galaxy rotation curves makes it difficult to obtain a full understanding of the distribution of baryons and dark matter in disc galaxies like our own Milky Way. Using mock data,…
Like many other late-type galaxies, the Milky Way contains a nuclear star cluster. In this work we obtain the basic properties of its dominant old stellar population. Firstly, we derive its structural properties by constructing a stellar…
Thanks to instrumental advances, new, very large kinematic datasets for nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are on the horizon. A key aim of these datasets is to help determine the distribution of dark matter in these galaxies. Past…
We construct a large set of dynamical models of the galactic bulge, bar and inner disk using the Made-to-Measure method. Our models are constrained to match the red clump giant density from a combination of the VVV, UKIDSS and 2MASS…
In the past several years high resolution kinematic data sets from Milky Way satellite galaxies have confirmed earlier indications that these systems are dark matter dominated objects. Further understanding of what these galaxies reveal…
Distribution functions (DFs) for dynamically warm thin stellar disks residing in arbitrary axisymmetric potentials are presented which approximately reproduce pre-described surface-density and velocity-dispersion profiles. The functional…
(abridged) In this paper we revisit the problem of inferring the innermost structure of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster via star counts, to clarify whether it displays a core or a cusp around the central black hole. Through image…
An accurate knowledge of the dark matter distribution in the Milky Way is of crucial importance for galaxy formation studies and current searches for particle dark matter. In this paper we set new dynamical constraints on the Galactic dark…
Dynamical evolution of stellar mass distribution in star clusters is analysed by considering simultaneously the effects of dynamical friction, stochastic heating and the gravitational potential due to mass distribution in the clusters. A…
Starting from an axisymmetric equilibrium distribution function (DF) in action space, representing a Milky Way thin disc stellar population, we use the linearized Boltzmann equation to explicitly compute the response to a three-dimensional…
We estimate the enclosed mass profile in the central 10 pc of the Milky Way by analyzing the infrared photometry and the velocity observations of dynamically relaxed stellar population in the Galactic center. HST/NICMOS and Gemini Adaptive…
The Milky Way nuclear star cluster (MW NSC) has been used as a template to understand the origin and evolution of galactic nuclei and the interaction of nuclear star clusters with supermassive black holes. It is the only nuclear star…
We estimate the Milky Way (MW) halo properties using satellite kinematic data including the latest measurements from Gaia DR2. With a simulation-based 6D phase-space distribution function (DF) of satellite kinematics, we can infer halo…
Measurements of the surface brightness distribution and of the velocity dispersion profile have been so far used to infer the inner dynamics of globular clusters. We show that those observations do not trace back the dark matter potentially…