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TOPIC: Pal 5 globular cluster

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Aug 28 21:19 2015

Palomar 5 globular cluster	Permalink

Title: The proper motion of Palomar 5 Author: Tobias K. Fritz, Nitya Kallivayalil Palomar 5 (Pal 5) is a faint halo globular cluster associated with narrow tidal tails. It is a useful system to understand the process of tidal dissolution, as well as to constrain the potential of the Milky Way. A well-determined orbit for Pal 5 would enable detailed study of these open questions. We present here the first CCD-based proper motion measurement of Pal 5 obtained using SDSS as a first epoch and new LBT/LBC images as a second, giving a baseline of 15 years. We perform relative astrometry, using SDSS as a distortion-free reference, and images of the cluster and also of the Pal 5 stream for the derivation of the distortion correction for LBC. The reference frame is made up of background galaxies. We correct for differential chromatic refraction using relations obtained from SDSS colours as well as from flux-calibrated spectra, finding that the correction relations for stars and for galaxies are different. We obtain mu_alpha=-2.296±0.186 mas/yr and mu_delta=-2.257±0.181 mas/yr for the proper motion of Pal 5. We use this motion, and the publicly available code galpy, to model the disruption of Pal 5 in different Milky Way models consisting of a bulge, a disk and a spherical dark matter halo. Our fits to the observed stream properties (streak and radial velocity gradient) result in a preference for a relatively large Pal 5 distance of around 24 kpc. A slightly larger absolute proper motion than what we measure also results in better matches but the best solutions need a change in distance. We find that a spherical Milky Way model, with V_0=220 km/s and V_(20 kpc), i.e., approximately at the apocenter of Pal 5, of 218 km/s, can match the data well, at least for our choice of disk and bulge parametrisation. Read more (2221kb, PDF) __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Feb 8 18:02 2013

Palomar 5	Permalink

Title: Substructures in Pal 5's tidal tails Authors: Alessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti, Paola Di Matteo, Marco Montuori, Misha Haywood In this paper we report a study (see Mastrobuono-Battisti et al., 2012) about the formation and characteristics of the tidal tails around Palomar 5 along its orbit in the Milky Way potential, by means of direct N-body simulations and simplified numerical models. Unlike previous findings, we are able to reproduce the substructures observed in the stellar streams of this cluster, without including any lumpiness in the dark matter halo. We show that overdensities similar to those observed in Palomar 5 can be reproduced by the epicyclic motion of stars along its tails, i.e. a simple local accumulation of orbits of stars that escaped from the cluster with very similar positions and velocities. This process is able to form stellar clumps at distances of several kiloparsecs from the cluster, so it is not a phenomenon confined to the inner part of Palomar 5's tails, as previously suggested. Read more (905kb, PDF) __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Sep 11 16:33 2012

Pal 5 globular cluster	Permalink

Title: The Pal 5 Star Stream Gaps Authors: R. G. Carlberg, C. J. Grillmair, Nathan Hetherington Pal 5 is a low mass, low velocity dispersion, globular cluster with spectacular tidal tails. We use the SDSS DR8 data to extend the density measurements of the trailing star stream to 23 degrees distance from the cluster, at which point the stream runs off the edge of the available sky coverage. The size and the number of gaps in the stream are measured using a filter which approximates the structure of the gaps found in stream simulations. We find 5 gaps that are at least 99% confidence detections with about a dozen gaps at 90% confidence. The statistical significance of a gap is estimated using bootstrap re-sampling of the control regions on either side of the stream. The density minimum closest to the cluster is likely the result of the epicyclic orbits of the tidal outflow and has been discounted. To create the number of 99% confidence gaps per unit length at the mean age of the stream requires a halo population of nearly a thousand dark matter sub-halos with peak circular velocities above 1 km/s within 30kpc of the galactic center. These numbers are a factor of about 3 below cold stream simulation at this sub-halo mass or velocity, but given the uncertainties in both measurement and more realistic warm stream modelling, are in substantial agreement with the LCDM prediction Read more (186kb, PDF) __________________

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