Browsing by Subject "galaxy: bulge"
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Item The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment: First Detection of High-Velocity Milky Way Bar Stars(2012-08) Nidever, David L.; Zasowski, Gail; Majewski, Steven R.; Bird, Jonathan; Robin, Annie C.; Martinez-Valpuesta, Inma; Beaton, Rachael L.; Schoenrich, Ralph; Schultheis, Mathias; Wilson, John C.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; O'Connell, Robert W.; Shetrone, Matthew; Schiavon, Ricardo P.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Weiner, Benjamin; Gerhard, Ortwin; Schneider, Donald P.; Prieto, Carlos Allende; Sellgren, Kris; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brewington, Howard; Brinkmann, Jon; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Perez, Ana Elia Garcia; Holtzman, Jon; Hearty, Fred R.; Malanushenko, Elena; Malanushenko, Viktor; Muna, Demitri; Oravetz, Daniel; Pan, Kaike; Simmons, Audrey; Snedden, Stephanie; Weaver, Benjamin A.; Shetrone, MatthewCommissioning observations with the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, have produced radial velocities (RVs) for similar to 4700 K/M-giant stars in the Milky Way (MW) bulge. These high-resolution (R similar to 22,500), high-S/N (>100 per resolution element), near-infrared (NIR; 1.51-1.70 mu m) spectra provide accurate RVs (epsilon(V) similar to 0.2 km s(-1)) for the sample of stars in 18 Galactic bulge fields spanning -1 degrees < l < 20 degrees, vertical bar b vertical bar < 20 degrees, and delta > -32 degrees. This represents the largest NIR high-resolution spectroscopic sample of giant stars ever assembled in this region of the Galaxy. A cold (sigma(V) similar to 30 km s(-1)), high-velocity peak (V-GSR approximate to + 200 km s(-1)) is found to comprise a significant fraction (similar to 10%) of stars in many of these fields. These high RVs have not been detected in previous MW surveys and are not expected for a simple, circularly rotating disk. Preliminary distance estimates rule out an origin from the background Sagittarius tidal stream or a new stream in the MW disk. Comparison to various Galactic models suggests that these high RVs are best explained by stars in orbits of the Galactic bar potential, although some observational features remain unexplained.Item Extinction Maps Toward The Milky Way Bulge: Two-Dimensional And Three-Dimensional Tests With APOGEE(2014-07) Schultheis, M.; Zasowski, G.; Prieto, C. A.; Anders, F.; Beaton, R. L.; Beers, T. C.; Bizyaev, D.; Chiappini, C.; Frinchaboy, P. M.; Perez, A. E. G.; Ge, J.; Hearty, F.; Holtzman, J.; Majewski, S. R.; Muna, D.; Nidever, D.; Shetrone, M.; Schneider, D. P.; Shetrone, Matthew D.Galactic interstellar extinction maps are powerful and necessary tools for Milky Way structure and stellar population analyses, particularly toward the heavily reddened bulge and in the midplane. However, due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable extinction measures and distances for a large number of stars that are independent of these maps, tests of their accuracy and systematics have been limited. Our goal is to assess a variety of photometric stellar extinction estimates, including both two-dimensional and three-dimensional extinction maps, using independent extinction measures based on a large spectroscopic sample of stars toward the Milky Way bulge. We employ stellar atmospheric parameters derived from high-resolution H-band Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) spectra, combined with theoretical stellar isochrones, to calculate line-of-sight extinction and distances for a sample of more than 2400 giants toward the Milky Way bulge. We compare these extinction values to those predicted by individual near-IR and near+mid-IR stellar colors, two-dimensional bulge extinction maps, and three-dimensional extinction maps. The long baseline, near+mid-IR stellar colors are, on average, the most accurate predictors of the APOGEE extinction estimates, and the two-dimensional and three-dimensional extinction maps derived from different stellar populations along different sightlines show varying degrees of reliability. We present the results of all of the comparisons and discuss reasons for the observed discrepancies. We also demonstrate how the particular stellar atmospheric models adopted can have a strong impact on this type of analysis, and discuss related caveats.Item Kinematics At the Edge of the Galactic Bulge: Evidence for Cylindrical Rotation(2009-09) Howard, Christian D.; Rich, R. Michael; Clarkson, Will; Mallery, Ryan; Kormendy, John; De Propris, Roberto; Robin, Anne C.; Fux, Roger; Reitzel, David B.; Zhao, HongSheng; Kuijken, Konrad; Koch, Andreas; Kormendy, JohnWe present new results from BRAVA, a large-scale radial velocity survey of the Galactic bulge, using M giant stars selected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey catalog as targets for the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m Hydra multi-object spectrograph. The purpose of this survey is to construct a new generation of self-consistent bar models that conform to these observations. We report the dynamics for fields at the edge of the Galactic bulge at latitudes b = -8 degrees and compare to the dynamics at b = -4 degrees. We find that the rotation curve V (r) is the same at b = -8 degrees as at b = -4 degrees. That is, the Galactic boxy bulge rotates cylindrically, as do boxy bulges of other galaxies. The summed line-of-sight velocity distribution at b = -8 degrees is Gaussian, and the binned longitude-velocity plot shows no evidence for either a (disk) population with cold dynamics or for a (classical bulge) population with hot dynamics. The observed kinematics are well modeled by an edge-on N-body bar, in agreement with published structural evidence. Our kinematic observations indicate that the Galactic bulge is a prototypical product of secular evolution in galaxy disks, in contrast with stellar population results that are most easily understood if major mergers were the dominant Formation process.Item Our Milky Way As A Pure-Disk Galaxy-A Challenge for Galaxy Formation(2010-09) Shen, Juntai T.; Rich, R. Michael; Kormendy, John; Howard, Christian D.; De Propris, Roberto; Kunder, Andrea; Shen, Juntai T.; Kormendy, JohnBulges are commonly believed to form in the dynamical violence of galaxy collisions and mergers. Here, we model the stellar kinematics of the Bulge Radial Velocity Assay ( BRAVA) and find no sign that the Milky Way contains a classical bulge formed by scrambling pre-existing disks of stars in major mergers. Rather, the bulge appears to be a bar seen somewhat end-on, as hinted from its asymmetric boxy shape. We construct a simple but realistic N-body model of the Galaxy that self-consistently develops a bar. The bar immediately buckles and thickens in the vertical direction. As seen from the Sun, the result resembles the boxy bulge of our Galaxy. The model fits the BRAVA stellar kinematic data covering the whole bulge strikingly well with no need for a merger-made classical bulge. The bar in our best-fit model has a half-length of similar to 4 kpc and extends 20 degrees from the Sun-Galactic center line. We use the new kinematic constraints to show that any classical bulge contribution cannot be larger than similar to 8% of the disk mass. Thus, the Galactic bulge is a part of the disk and not a separate component made in a prior merger. Giant, pure-disk galaxies like our own present a major challenge to the standard picture in which galaxy Formation is dominated by hierarchical clustering and galaxy mergers.