A kinematic study of the andromeda dwarf spheroidal system

We present a homogeneous kinematic analysis of red giant branch stars within 18 of the 28 Andromeda dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies, obtained using the Keck I/LRIS and Keck II/DEIMOS spectrographs. Based on their g-i colors (taken with the CFHT/MegaCam imager), physical positions on the sky, and ra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Collins, Michelle L. M., Chapman, Scott C., Rich, R. Michael, Ibata, Rodrigo A., Martin, Nicolas F., Irwin, M.J., Bate, Nicholas F., Lewis, Geraint F., Peñarrubia, Jorge, Arimoto, Nobuo, Casey, Caitlin M., Ferguson, Annette M. N., Koch, Andreas, McConnachie, Alan W., Tanvir, Nial
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/407316
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/407316
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Dark matter
Galaxies: dwarf
Galaxies: fundamental parameters
Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
Local Group
Descripción
Sumario:We present a homogeneous kinematic analysis of red giant branch stars within 18 of the 28 Andromeda dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies, obtained using the Keck I/LRIS and Keck II/DEIMOS spectrographs. Based on their g-i colors (taken with the CFHT/MegaCam imager), physical positions on the sky, and radial velocities, we assign probabilities of dSph membership to each observed star. Using this information, the velocity dispersions, central masses, and central densities of the dark matter halos are calculated for these objects, and compared with the properties of the Milky Way dSph population. We also measure the average metallicity ([Fe/H]) from the co-added spectra of member stars for each M31 dSph and find that they are consistent with the trend of decreasing [Fe/H] with luminosity observed in the Milky Way population. We find that three of our studied M31 dSphs appear as significant outliers in terms of their central velocity dispersion, And XIX, XXI, and XXV, all of which have large half-light radii (≳ 700 pc) and low velocity dispersions (σv < 5 km s-1). In addition, And XXV has a mass-to-light ratio within its half-light radius of just [M/L] half= 10.3+7.0 -6.7, making it consistent with a simple stellar system with no appreciable dark matter component within its 1σ uncertainties. We suggest that the structure of the dark matter halos of these outliers have been significantly altered by tides. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.