Fitting orbits to tidal streams
TL;DR: In this article, an algorithm is presented that reconstructs the missing phase-space coordinates from these data, starting from assumed values of the Galactic potential and a distance to one point on the orbit, but with noise-free data.
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Abstract: Recent years have seen the discovery of many tidal streams through the Galaxy. Relatively straightforward observations of a stream allow one to deduce three phase-space coordinates of an orbit. An algorithm is presented that reconstructs the missing phase-space coordinates from these data. The reconstruction starts from assumed values of the Galactic potential and a distance to one point on the orbit, but with noise-free data the condition that energy be conserved on the orbit enables one to reject incorrect assumptions. The performance of the algorithm is investigated when errors are added to the input data that are comparable to those in published data for the streams of Pal 5. It is found that the algorithm returns distances and proper motions that are accurate to of the order of 1 per cent, and enables one to reject quite resonable but incorrect trial potentials. In practical applications, it will be important to minimize errors in the imput data, and there is considerable scope for doing this.
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Citations
Dynamical modeling of tidal streams
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a new framework for modeling the dynamics of tidal streams, which consists of simple models for the initial action-angle distribution of tidal debris, which can be straightforwardly evolved forward in time.
140
Stream-orbit misalignment - I. The dangers of orbit-fitting
Jason L. Sanders,James Binney +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the expected magnitude of the misalignment and the resulting dangers of using orbit-fitting algorithms to constrain the potential of the Galactic potential, and discuss the formation of tidal streams in angle-action space and explain why streams do not delineate orbits.
119
Dipping our toes in the water: first models of GD-1 as a stream
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model for producing tidal streams from disrupting progenitors in arbitrary potentials, utilizing the idea that the majority of stars escape from the progenitor's two Lagrange points.
106
Stream–orbit misalignment – II. A new algorithm to constrain the Galactic potential
Jason L. Sanders,James Binney +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, an algorithm for constraining the Galactic potential using tidal streams without assuming that streams delineate orbits is presented. But this approach is not valid for all observed tidal streams.
97
On feathers, bifurcations and shells: the dynamics of tidal streams across the mass scale
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an organic description of the regimes of collisionless tidal streams and define the orderings between the physical quantities that shape their morphology, i.e., the speed of the stream's growth, internal coherence, and thickness or opening angles.
90
References
The Field of Streams: Sagittarius and its Siblings
Vasily Belokurov,Daniel B. Zucker,Nick Evans,Gerry Gilmore,S. Vidrih,D. M. Bramich,Heidi Jo Newberg,Rosemary F. G. Wyse,Mike Irwin,Michael Fellhauer,Paul C. Hewett,Nicholas A. Walton,Mark I. Wilkinson,N. Cole,Brian Yanny,C. M. Rockosi,Timothy C. Beers,Eric F. Bell,J. Brinkmann,Željko Ivezić,Robert H. Lupton +20 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple color cut (g - r < 0.4) reveals the tidal stream of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy, as well as a number of other stellar structures in the field.
Detection of massive tidal tails around the globular cluster Palomar 5 with sloan digital sky survey commissioning data
Michael Odenkirchen,Eva K. Grebel,Constance M. Rockosi,Walter Dehnen,Rodrigo A. Ibata,Hans-Walter Rix,Andrea Stolte,Christian Wolf,John E. Anderson,Neta A. Bahcall,Jon Brinkmann,István Csabai,Gregory S. Hennessy,Robert B. Hindsley,Željko Ivezić,Robert H. Lupton,Jeffrey A. Munn,Jeffrey R. Pier,Chris Stoughton,Donald G. York +19 more
- 20 Feb 2001
TL;DR: In this article, the discovery of two well-defined tidal tails emerging from the sparse remote globular cluster Palomar 5 was reported, and the tails were detected in commissioning data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, providing deep five-color photometry.
The extended tails of Palomar 5: A ten degree arc of globular cluster tidal debris
Michael Odenkirchen,Eva K. Grebel,Walter Dehnen,H.-W. Rix,Brian Yanny,Heidi Jo Newberg,C. M. Rockosi,David Martínez-Delgado,J. Brinkmann,Jeffrey R. Pier +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used wide-field photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for a larger field to reveal that the tails of Pal 5 have a much larger spatial extent and can be traced over an arc of 10 deg across the sky.
337
Fossil Signatures of Ancient Accretion Events in the Halo
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used numerical simulations to explore the evolution of debris from a tidally disrupted satellite, with the aim of developing a method that can be used to identify and quantify signatures of accretion in a survey of halo stars.
260
Fossil Signatures of Ancient Accretion Events in the Halo
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used numerical simulations to explore the evolution of debris from a tidally disrupted satellite, with the aim of developing a method that can be used to identify and quantify signatures of accretion in a survey of halo stars.
259