La Silla-QUEST RR Lyrae Star Survey II: The Crater II Tidal Streams

arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024

• Computer Science
• Astrophysics
• Physics

We describe photometry improvements in the La Silla--Quest RR Lyrae star (RRLS) survey that enable it to reach distances from the Sun ($d_{\odot}$) $\sim 140$ kpc. We report the results of surveying $\sim 300~ {\rm deg}^2$ of sky around the large, low-surface-brightness Crater II dwarf spheroidal galaxy. At $d_{\odot}$ $> 80$ kpc, we find a large overdensity of RRLS that extends beyond the traditional isophotal contours used for Crater II. The majority of these RRLS (34) have a linear distribution on the sky, extending over $15^{\circ}$, that runs through Crater II and is oriented along Crater II's proper motion vector. We hypothesize that this unlikely distribution traces extended tidal streams associated with Crater II. To test this, we search for other Crater II stellar populations that should be in the streams. Using Gaia proper motion data, we isolate $\approx$ 17 candidate stars outside of Crater II that are consistent with being luminous stars from the Crater II Red Giant Branch (RGB). Their spatial distribution is consistent with the RRLS one. The inferred streams are long, spanning a distance range $\sim 80 - 135$ kpc from the Galactic Centre. They are oriented at a relatively small angle relative to our line-of-sight ($\sim 25^{\circ}$), which means some stream stars are likely projected onto the main body of the galaxy. Comparing the numbers of RRLS and RGB candidate stars found in the streams to those in the main galaxy, we estimate Crater II has lost $\gtrsim 30\%$ of its stellar mass.

La Silla-QUEST RR Lyrae star survey II: the Crater II tidal streams

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · 2024 · 3 citations

• Physics
• Astrophysics
• Astronomy

ABSTRACT We describe photometry improvements in the La Silla-Quest RR Lyrae star (RRLS) survey that enable it to reach distances from the Sun (d⊙) ∼140 kpc. We report the results of surveying ∼300 deg2 of sky around the large, low-surface-brightness Crater II dwarf spheroidal galaxy. At d⊙ >80 kpc, we find a large overdensity of RRLS that extends beyond the traditional isophotal contours used for Crater II. The majority of these RRLS (34) have a linear distribution on the sky, extending over 15°, that runs through Crater II and is oriented along Crater II’s proper motion vector. We hypothesize that this unlikely distribution traces extended tidal streams associated with Crater II. To test this, we search for other Crater II stellar populations that should be in the streams. Using Gaia proper motion data, we isolate ≈ 17 candidate stars outside of Crater II that are consistent with being luminous stars from the Crater II Red Giant Branch (RGB). Their spatial distribution is consistent with the RRLS one. The inferred streams are long, spanning a distance range ∼80–135 kpc from the Galactic Centre. They are oriented at a relatively small-angle relative to our line of sight (∼25°), which means some stream stars are likely projected onto the main body of the galaxy. Comparing the numbers of RRLS and RGB candidate stars found in the streams to those in the main galaxy, we estimate Crater II has lost $\gtrsim 30~{{\rm per\ cent}}$ of its stellar mass.

Local RR Lyrae stars: native and alien

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · 2019-12-20 · 30 citations

ABSTRACT Measurements of [Fe/H] and radial velocity are presented for 89 RR Lyrae (RRL) candidates within 6 kpc of the Sun. After the removal of two suspected non-RRLs, these stars were added to an existing data base, which yielded 464 RRLs with [Fe/H] on a homogeneous scale. Using data from the Gaia satellite (Data Release 2), we calculated the positions and space velocities for this sample. These data confirm the existence of a thin disc of RRL with [α/Fe] ∼ solar. The majority of the halo RRLs with large total energies have near-zero angular momenta about the Z-axis. Kinematically, these stars closely resemble the Gaia-Sausage/Gaia-Enceladus stars that others have proposed are debris from the merger of a large galaxy with the Milky Way. The metallicity and period distributions of the RRLs and their positions in the period–amplitude diagram suggest that this disrupted galaxy was as massive as the Large Magellanic Cloud and possibly greater.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: RR Lyrae as tracers in the Virgo overdensity region (Vivas+, 2016)

yCat · 2017-02-01

MORE REMOTE GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN THE OUTER HALO OF M31

2016-08-17 · 15 citations

We searched the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for outer halo globular clusters (GCs) around M31. Our search of non-stellar objects, within the limits 0.3 < (g-i)o < 1.5 and 14.0 < ro < 19.0 concentrated in some remote areas of the extended halo, to a maximum projected distance of 240 kpc, for a total of approximately 200 square degrees. Another roughly 50 square degrees, approximately 5-75 kpc from M31, were surveyed as test areas. In these areas, we identified 39 GCs and 2 GC candidates, 84% of the previously known GCs (93% of the "classical GCs" and 40% of the "halo extended clusters", on the cluster classification scheme of Huxor et al.). For the entire survey, we visually inspected 78,516 objects for morphological evidence of cluster status, and we identified 18 new clusters, and 75 candidate clusters. The new clusters include 15 classical globulars and three clusters of lower density. Six of the clusters reside in the remote areas of the outer halo, beyond projected distances of 100 kpc. Previously, only MGC1 was found beyond this limit at 117 kpc. The farthest cluster discovered in this survey lies at a projected radius of 158 kpc from M31, assuming that the M31 distance is 780 kpc.

La Silla-QUEST Variability Survey in the Southern Hemisphere

2016-08-17 · 2 citations

Abstract We describe the La Silla-QUEST (LSQ) Variability Survey. LSQ is a dedicated wide-field synoptic survey in the Southern Hemisphere, focussing on the discovery and study of transients ranging from low redshift (z &lt; 0.1) SN Ia, Tidal Disruption events, RR Lyræ variables, CVs, Quasars, TNOs and others. The survey utilizes the 1.0-m Schmidt Telescope of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla, Chile, with the large-area QUEST camera, a mosaic of 112 CCDs with field of view of 9.6 square degrees. The LSQ Survey was commissioned in 2009, and is now regularly covering ~1000 square deg per night with a repeat cadence of hours to days. The data are currently processed on a daily basis. We present here a first look at the photometric capabilities of LSQ and we discuss some of the most interesting recent transient detections.

A SEARCH FOR INTERGALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN THE LOCAL GROUP

The Astronomical Journal · 2015-03-26 · 9 citations

The whole Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, 14,555 deg^2 has been searched for intergalactic globular clusters (IGCs) in the Local Group (LG). Using optical, infrared, and ultraviolet photometric selection criteria and photometric redshifts, the 2.1x10^8 of objects in the SDSS Galaxy Catalogue were reduced to only 183,791 brighter than r_o = 19 that might be GCs. Visual examination of their SDSS images recovered 84 percent of the confirmed GCs in M31 and M33 and yielded 17 new GC candidates, 5 of them of high confidence, which we could confirm as GCs in MegaPrime images from the Canada, France, Hawaii Telescope. These 5 GCs are within M31's halo, but the other 12 candidates are not close to LG galaxies or galaxies within 3 Mpc of the LG. Even though this search covers only one-third of the sky and some GCs could have been missed, it suggests that the LG does not contain a large population of IGCs more luminous than Mv ~ -6. In the direction of the M81 Group, the search yielded five candidate GCs, probable members of that group.

THE QUEST–La SILLA AGN VARIABILITY SURVEY

The Astrophysical Journal · 2015-09-10 · 26 citations

We present the characterization and initial results from the QUEST-La Silla active galactic nucleus (AGN) variability survey. This is an effort to obtain well-sampled optical light curves in extragalactic fields with unique multiwavelength observations. We present photometry obtained from 2010 to 2012 in the XMM-COSMOS field, which was observed over 150 nights using the QUEST camera on the European Southern Observatory (ESO)Schmidt telescope. The survey uses a broadband filter, the Qband, similar to the union of the g and the r filters, achieving an intrinsic photometric dispersion of 0.05 magand a systematic error of 0.05 mag in the zeropoint. Since some detectors of the camera show significant nonlinearity, we use a linear correlation to fit the zeropoints as a function of the instrumental magnitudes, thus obtaining a good correction to the nonlinear behavior of these detectors. We obtain good photometry to an equivalent limiting magnitude of r 20.5

A SEARCH FOR GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN MORE REMOTE AREAS AROUND M31 AND M33 II

The Astronomical Journal · 2014-03-14 · 11 citations

Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), ∼900 deg2 of the sky surrounding M31 and M33 have been searched for globular clusters (GCs) that through galaxy interaction have become unbound from their parent systems and M31 (hence, intergalactic globular clusters, IGCs). This search reached a maximum of ∼500 kpc in projected galactocentric distance (Rgc) from M31. Visual examination of 283,871 SDSS cutout images and of 1143 fits images yielded 320 candidates. This sample was reduced to six GCs and one likely candidate by excluding galaxies on the basis of combinations of their optical, ultraviolet, and infrared colors from the SDSS, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite, as well as their photometric redshifts from the SDSS. Since these seven objects have 14 kpc ⩽ Rgc ⩽ 137 kpc, they are more likely to be GCs in the halo of M31 than IGCs. They are all "classical" as opposed to "extended" GCs, and they provide further evidence that the remote halo of M31 (Rgc ⩾ 50 kpc) contains more GCs of all types and, in particular, far more "classical" ones than the remote halo of the Milky Way.

A comprehensive view of the Virgo stellar stream

Astronomy and Astrophysics · 2014-03-20 · 38 citations

To explore the complex halo substructure that has been reported in the direction of the Virgo constellation, radial velocities and metallicities have been measured for 82 RR Lyrae stars (RRLS) that were identified by the QUEST survey. These stars are distributed over 90 square degrees of the sky, and lie from 4 to 23 kpc from the Sun. Using an algorithm for finding groups in phase space and modeling the smooth halo component in the region, we identified the 5 most significant RRLS groups, some of which were previously known or suspected. We have examined the SEKBO and the Catalina catalog of RRLS (with available spectroscopic measurements), as well as the bright QUEST RRLS sample, the catalog of Red Giant stars from the Spaghetti survey, and three recent catalogs of blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars, for stars that may be related to the QUEST RRLS groups. The most significant group of RRLS is the Virgo stellar stream (VSS) identified here as group A, which is composed of at least 10 RRLS and 3 BHB stars. It has a mean distance of 19.6 kpc and a mean radial velocity Vgsr = 128 km s-1, as estimated from its RRLS members. With the revised velocities reported here, there is no longer an offset in velocity between the RRLS in the VSS and the prominent peak in the velocities of main-sequence turnoff stars reported by other researchers in the same direction and at a similar distance (known as S297+63-20.5). The location in phase space of two other groups (F and H) suggests a possible connection with the VSS, which cannot be discarded at this point, although the turnoff colors of the VSS and group H, as identified from other works, suggest they might be composed of different populations. Two more groups, B and D, are found at mean distances of 19.0 and 5.7 kpc, and mean radial velocities of Vgsr = −94 and 32 km s-1. The latter is the more numerous in terms of total members, as well as the more extended in RA. A comparison with the latest model of the disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf, indicates that none of the above groups is related to it. Rather than being the result of a single accretion event, the excess of stars observed in Virgo appears to be composed of several halo substructures along the same line of sight.