Final results for mapping the Milky Way's stellar halo with blue horizontal-branch stars selected from the Subaru Hyper Supreme-Cam Survey

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Main Authors: Fukushima, Tetsuya, Chiba, Masashi, Tanaka, Mikito, Hayashi, Kohei, Homma, Daisuke, Okamoto, Sakurako, Komiyama, Yutaka, Tanaka, Masayuki, Arimoto, Nobuo, Matsuno, Tadafumi
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Published: 2024
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author Fukushima, Tetsuya
Chiba, Masashi
Tanaka, Mikito
Hayashi, Kohei
Homma, Daisuke
Okamoto, Sakurako
Komiyama, Yutaka
Tanaka, Masayuki
Arimoto, Nobuo
Matsuno, Tadafumi
author_facet Fukushima, Tetsuya
Chiba, Masashi
Tanaka, Mikito
Hayashi, Kohei
Homma, Daisuke
Okamoto, Sakurako
Komiyama, Yutaka
Tanaka, Masayuki
Arimoto, Nobuo
Matsuno, Tadafumi
contents We select blue-horizontal branch stars (BHBs) from the internal data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program to reveal the global structure of the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo. The data are distributed over $\sim 1,100$~deg$^2$ area in the range of $18.5<g<24.5$~mag, so that candidate BHBs are detectable over a Galactocentric radius of $r \simeq 36-575$~kpc. In order to select most likely BHBs by removing blue straggler stars and other contaminants in a statistically significant manner, we develop and apply an extensive Bayesian method, as described in \citet{Fukushima2019}. Our sample can be fitted to either a single power-law profile with an index of $α=4.11^{+0.18}_{-0.18}$ or a broken power-law profile with an index of $α_{\rm in}=3.90^{+0.24}_{-0.30}$ at $r$ below a broken radius of $r_{\rm b}=184^{+118}_{-66}$ kpc and a very steep slope of $α_{\rm out}=9.1^{+6.8}_{-3.6}$ at $r>r_{\rm b}$; the statistical difference between these fitting profiles is small. Both profiles are found to show prolate shapes having axial ratios of $q=1.47^{+0.30}_{-0.33}$ and $1.56^{+0.34}_{-0.23}$, respectively. We also find a signature of the so-called "splashback radius" for the candidate BHBs, which can reach as large as $r \sim 575$~kpc, although it is still inconclusive owing to rather large distance errors in this faintest end of the sample. Our results suggest that the MW stellar halo consists of the two overlapping components: the {\it in situ} inner halo showing a relatively steep radial density profile and the {\it ex situ} outer halo with a shallower profile, being characteristic of a component formed from accretion of small stellar systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_11923
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Final results for mapping the Milky Way's stellar halo with blue horizontal-branch stars selected from the Subaru Hyper Supreme-Cam Survey
Fukushima, Tetsuya
Chiba, Masashi
Tanaka, Mikito
Hayashi, Kohei
Homma, Daisuke
Okamoto, Sakurako
Komiyama, Yutaka
Tanaka, Masayuki
Arimoto, Nobuo
Matsuno, Tadafumi
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We select blue-horizontal branch stars (BHBs) from the internal data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program to reveal the global structure of the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo. The data are distributed over $\sim 1,100$~deg$^2$ area in the range of $18.5<g<24.5$~mag, so that candidate BHBs are detectable over a Galactocentric radius of $r \simeq 36-575$~kpc. In order to select most likely BHBs by removing blue straggler stars and other contaminants in a statistically significant manner, we develop and apply an extensive Bayesian method, as described in \citet{Fukushima2019}. Our sample can be fitted to either a single power-law profile with an index of $α=4.11^{+0.18}_{-0.18}$ or a broken power-law profile with an index of $α_{\rm in}=3.90^{+0.24}_{-0.30}$ at $r$ below a broken radius of $r_{\rm b}=184^{+118}_{-66}$ kpc and a very steep slope of $α_{\rm out}=9.1^{+6.8}_{-3.6}$ at $r>r_{\rm b}$; the statistical difference between these fitting profiles is small. Both profiles are found to show prolate shapes having axial ratios of $q=1.47^{+0.30}_{-0.33}$ and $1.56^{+0.34}_{-0.23}$, respectively. We also find a signature of the so-called "splashback radius" for the candidate BHBs, which can reach as large as $r \sim 575$~kpc, although it is still inconclusive owing to rather large distance errors in this faintest end of the sample. Our results suggest that the MW stellar halo consists of the two overlapping components: the {\it in situ} inner halo showing a relatively steep radial density profile and the {\it ex situ} outer halo with a shallower profile, being characteristic of a component formed from accretion of small stellar systems.
title Final results for mapping the Milky Way's stellar halo with blue horizontal-branch stars selected from the Subaru Hyper Supreme-Cam Survey
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.11923