Stellar Metallicities from DECam $u$-band Photometry: A Study of Milky Way Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies

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Hauptverfasser: Pan, Yue, Chiti, Anirudh, Drlica-Wagner, Alex, Ji, Alexander P., Li, Ting S., Limberg, Guilherme, Tucker, Douglas L., Allam, Sahar
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Pan, Yue
Chiti, Anirudh
Drlica-Wagner, Alex
Ji, Alexander P.
Li, Ting S.
Limberg, Guilherme
Tucker, Douglas L.
Allam, Sahar
author_facet Pan, Yue
Chiti, Anirudh
Drlica-Wagner, Alex
Ji, Alexander P.
Li, Ting S.
Limberg, Guilherme
Tucker, Douglas L.
Allam, Sahar
contents We conducted an in-depth analysis of candidate member stars located in the peripheries of three ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxy satellites of the Milky Way: Boötes I (Boo1), Boötes II (Boo2), and Segue I (Seg1). Studying these peripheral stars has previously been difficult due to contamination from the Milky Way foreground. We used $u$-band photometry from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to derive metallicities to efficiently select UFD candidate member stars. This approach was validated on Boo1, where we identified both previously known and new candidate member stars beyond five half-light radii. We then applied a similar procedure to Boo2 and Seg1. Our findings hinted at evidence for tidal features in Boo1 and Seg1, with Boo1 having an elongation consistent with its proper motion and Seg1 showing some distant candidate stars, a few of which are along its elongation and proper motion. We find two Boo2 stars at large distances consistent with being candidate member stars. Using a foreground contamination rate derived from the \emph{Besançon} Galaxy model, we ascribed purity estimates to each candidate member star. We recommend further spectroscopic studies on the newly identified high-purity members. Our technique offers promise for future endeavors to detect candidate member stars at large radii in other systems, leveraging metallicity-sensitive filters with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the new, narrow-band Ca HK filter on DECam.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_08054
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stellar Metallicities from DECam $u$-band Photometry: A Study of Milky Way Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies
Pan, Yue
Chiti, Anirudh
Drlica-Wagner, Alex
Ji, Alexander P.
Li, Ting S.
Limberg, Guilherme
Tucker, Douglas L.
Allam, Sahar
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We conducted an in-depth analysis of candidate member stars located in the peripheries of three ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxy satellites of the Milky Way: Boötes I (Boo1), Boötes II (Boo2), and Segue I (Seg1). Studying these peripheral stars has previously been difficult due to contamination from the Milky Way foreground. We used $u$-band photometry from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to derive metallicities to efficiently select UFD candidate member stars. This approach was validated on Boo1, where we identified both previously known and new candidate member stars beyond five half-light radii. We then applied a similar procedure to Boo2 and Seg1. Our findings hinted at evidence for tidal features in Boo1 and Seg1, with Boo1 having an elongation consistent with its proper motion and Seg1 showing some distant candidate stars, a few of which are along its elongation and proper motion. We find two Boo2 stars at large distances consistent with being candidate member stars. Using a foreground contamination rate derived from the \emph{Besançon} Galaxy model, we ascribed purity estimates to each candidate member star. We recommend further spectroscopic studies on the newly identified high-purity members. Our technique offers promise for future endeavors to detect candidate member stars at large radii in other systems, leveraging metallicity-sensitive filters with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the new, narrow-band Ca HK filter on DECam.
title Stellar Metallicities from DECam $u$-band Photometry: A Study of Milky Way Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.08054