arXiv subjects

Gerard Gilmore

Publications and source records attributed to Gerard Gilmore.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Leo V: Spectroscopy of a Distant and Disturbed Satellite

We present a spectroscopic study of Leo V, a recently discovered satellite of the Milky Way (MW). From stellar spectra obtained with the MMT/Hectochelle spectrograph we identify seven likely members of Leo V. Five cluster near the Leo V center (R < 3 arcmin) and have velocity dispersion 2.4_{-1.4}^{+2.4} km/s. The other two likely members lie near each other but far from the center (R~13 arcmin ~ 700 pc) and inflate the global velocity dispersion to 3.7_{-1.4}^{+2.3} km/s. Assuming the five central members are bound, we obtain a dynamical mass of M=3.3_{-2.5}^{+9.1} x 10^5M_{sun} (M/L_V=75_{-58}^{+230}[M/L_V]_{sun}). From the stacked spectrum of the five central members we estimate a mean metallicity of [Fe/H]=-2.0\pm 0.2 dex. Thus with respect to dwarf spheroidals of similar luminosity, Leo V is slightly less massive and slightly more metal-rich. Since we resolve the central velocity dispersion only marginally, we do not rule out the possibility that Leo V is a diffuse star cluster devoid of dark matter. The wide separation of its two outer members implies Leo V is losing mass; however, its large distance (D ~ 180 kpc) is difficult to reconcile with MW tidal stripping unless the orbit is very radial.

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arXiv2008

The Science of Galaxy Formation

Our knowledge of the Universe remains discovery-led: in the absence of adequate physics-based theory, interpretation of new results requires a scientific methodology. Commonly, scientific progress in astrophysics is motivated by the empirical success of the "Copernican Principle", that the simplest and most objective analysis of observation leads to progress. A complementary approach tests the prediction of models against observation. In practise, astrophysics has few real theories, and has little control over what we can observe. Compromise is unavoidable. Advances in understanding complex non-linear situations, such as galaxy formation, require that models attempt to isolate key physical properties, rather than trying to reproduce complexity. A specific example is discussed, where substantial progress in fundamental physics could be made with an ambitious approach to modelling: simulating the spectrum of perturbations on small scales.

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arXiv2008

Kinematic sub-populations in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

We present new spectroscopic data for twenty six stars in the recently-discovered Canes Venatici I (CVnI) dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We use these data to investigate the recent claim of the presence of two dynamically inconsistent stellar populations in this system (Ibata et al., 2006). We do not find evidence for kinematically distinct populations in our sample and we are able to obtain a mass estimate for CVnI that is consistent with all available data, including previously published data. We discuss possible differences between our sample and the earlier data set and study the general detectability of sub-populations in small kinematic samples. We conclude that in the absence of supporting observational evidence (for example, metallicity gradients), sub-populations in small kinematic samples (typically fewer than 100 stars) should be treated with extreme caution, as their detection depends on multiple parameters and rarely produces a signal at the 3sigma confidence level. It is therefore essential to determine explicitly the statistical significance of any suggested sub-population.

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arXiv2008

What is a galaxy? How Cold is Cold Dark Matter? Recent progress in Near Field Cosmology

There has been a vast recent improvement in photometric and kinematic data for star clusters, Ultra Compact dwarfs, galactic nuclei, and local dSph galaxies, with Subaru contributing substantially to the photometric studies in particular. These data show that there is a bimodal distribution in half-light radii, with stable star clusters always being smaller than 35pc, while stable galaxies are always larger than 120pc. We extend the previously known observational relationships and interpret them in terms of a more fundamental pair of intrinsic properties of dark matter itself: dark matter forms cored mass distributions, with a core scale length of greater than about 100pc, and always has a maximum central mass density with a narrow range. The dark matter in dSph galaxies appears to be clustered such that there is a mean volume mass density within the stellar distribution which has the very low value of about 0.1$M_{\odot}$ pc$^{-3}$. None of the dSphs displays kinematics which require the presence of an inner cusp, while in two dSphs there is evidence that the density profile is shallow (cored) in the inner regions. The maximum central dark matter density derived is model dependent, but is likely to have a mean value (averaged over a volume of radius 10pc) of about 0.1$M_{\odot}$ pc$^{-3}$, which is 5GeV/c$^2$cm$^{-3}$). Galaxies are embedded in dark matter halos with these properties; smaller systems containing dark matter are not observed.

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arXiv2007

Observed Properties of Dark Matter on Small Spatial Scales

The nature of dark matter is one of the outstanding questions of astrophysics. The internal motions of member stars reveal that the lowest luminosity galaxies in the Local Group are the most dark-matter dominated. New large datasets allow one to go further, and determine systematic properties of their dark matter haloes. We summarise recent results, emphasising the critical role of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies in understanding both dark matter and baryonic processes that shape galaxy evolution.

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arXiv2007

The outer Galaxy: stellar populations and dark matter

The Galaxy's stellar populations are naturally classified into six `types', of which five have been observed. These are the thin disk (Pop I in the historical scheme), a discrete thick disk (Pop I.5), the metal-rich bulge, which was not named in the Baade sequence, the rare field halo (Pop II), a population currently being accreted into the very outer halo filed (Pop Sgr?)and a hard to discover initial enriching Pop III. Each of these forms a group with astonishly tight correlations between chemical element ratios and other parameters. It is very hard to understand how the observed properties of any one of these populations can be the sum of many discrete histories, except for the minor continuing outer halo accretion. All these stellar populations are embedded in dark-matter, and allow the properties of dark matter to be measured on small scales. Intriguing and unexpected consistencies in the properties of this dark matter are being revealed.

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arXiv2007

Dark Matter on small scales; Telescopes on large scales

This article reviews recent progress in observational determination of the properties of dark matter on small astrophysical scales, and progress towards the European Extremely Large Telescope. Current results suggest some surprises: the central DM density profile is typically cored, not cusped, with scale sizes never less than a few hundred pc; the central densities are typically 10-20GeV/cc; no galaxy is found with a dark mass halo less massive than $\sim5.10^7M_{\odot}$. We are discovering many more dSphs, which we are analysing to test the generality of these results. The European Extremely Large Telescope Design Study is going forward well, supported by an outstanding scientific case, and founded on detailed industrial studies of the technological requirements.

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arXiv2007

The Observed properties of Dark Matter on small spatial scales

We present a synthesis of recent photometric and kinematic data for several of the most dark-matter dominated galaxies. There is a bimodal distribution in half-light radii, with stable star clusters always being smaller than $\sim30$pc, while stable galaxies are always larger than $\sim120$pc. We extend the previously known observational relationships and interpret them in terms of a more fundamental pair of intrinsic properties of dark matter itself: dark matter forms cored mass distributions, with a core scale length of greater than about 100pc, and always has a maximum central massdensity with a narrow range. The dark matter in dSph galaxies appears to be clustered such that there is a mean volume mass density within the stellar distribution which has the very low value of about 0.1$\Msun$ pc$^{-3}$ (about 5GeV/c$^2$ cm$^{-3}$). All dSphs have velocity dispersions equivalent to circular velocities at the edge of their light distributions of $\sim 15$km s$^{-1}$. In two dSphs there is evidence that the density profile is shallow (cored) in the inner regions, and so far none of the dSphs display kinematics which require the presence of an inner cusp. The maximum central dark matter density derived is model dependent, but is likely to have a mean value (averaged over a volume of radius 10pc) of $\sim0.1\Msun$ pc$^{-3}$ (about 5GeV/c$^2$ cm$^{-3}$) for our proposed cored dark mass distributions (where it is similar to the mean value), or $\sim60\Msun$ pc$^{-3}$ (about 2TeV/c$^2$ cm$^{-3}$) if the dark matter density distribution is cusped. Galaxies are embedded in dark matter halos with these properties; smaller systems containing dark matter are not observed.

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arXiv2007

The Origin of the Gaussian Initial Mass Function of Old Globular Cluster Systems

[Abridged] Evidence favouring a Gaussian initial globular cluster mass function has accumulated over recent years. We show that an approximately Gaussian mass function is naturally generated from a power-law mass distribution of protoglobular clouds by expulsion from the protocluster of star forming gas due to supernova activity, provided that the power-law mass distribution shows a lower-mass limit. As a result of gas loss, the gravitational potential of the protocluster gets weaker and only a fraction of the newly formed stars is retained. The mass fraction of bound stars ranges from zero to unity, depending on the local star formation efficiency $ε$. Assuming that $ε$ is independent of the protoglobular cloud mass, we investigate how such variations affect the mapping of a protoglobular cloud mass function to the resulting globular cluster initial mass function. A truncated power-law cloud mass spectrum generates bell-shaped cluster initial mass functions, with a turnover location mostly sensitive to the lower limit of the cloud mass range. We also show that a Gaussian mass function for the protoglobular clouds with a mean ${\rm log}m_G \simeq 6.1-6.2$ and a standard deviation $σ\lesssim 0.4$ provides results very similar to those resulting from a truncated power-law cloud mass spectrum, that is, the distribution function of masses of protoglobular clouds influences only weakly the shape of the resulting globular star cluster initial mass function. The gas removal process and the protoglobular cloud mass-scale dominate the relevant physics. Moreover, gas removal during star formation in massive clouds is likely the prime cause of the predominance of field stars in the Galactic halo.

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arXiv2006

Stellar Populations with ELTs

The star formation, mass assembly and chemical enrichment histories of galaxies, and their present distributions of dark matter, remain encoded in their stellar populations. Distinguishing the actual distribution functions of stellar age, metallicity and kinematics at several locations in a range of galaxies, sampling across Hubble types and representative environments, is the information required for a robust description of galaxy histories. Achieving this requires large aperture, to provide the sensitivity to reach a range of environs and Hubble types beyond the Local Group, to provide high spatial resolution, since the fields are crowded, and preferably with optical performance since age-sensitivity is greatest near the main-sequence turn-off, and metallicity-sensitivity for these warm stars is greatest in the optical.

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arXiv2006

Further Evidence for a Merger Origin for the Thick Disk: Galactic Stars Along Lines-of-sight to Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

The history of the Milky Way Galaxy is written in the properties of its stellar populations. Here we analyse stars observed as part of surveys of local dwarf spheroidal galaxies, but which from their kinematics are highly probable to be non-members. The selection function -- designed to target metal-poor giants in the dwarf galaxies, at distances of ~100kpc -- includes F-M dwarfs in the Milky Way, at distances of up to several kpc. Thestars whose motions are analysed here lie in the cardinal directions of Galactic longitude l ~ 270 and l ~ 90, where the radial velocity is sensitive to the orbital rotational velocity. We demonstrate that the faint F/G stars contain a significant population with V_phi ~ 100km/s, similar to that found by a targeted, but limited in areal coverage, survey of thick-disk/halo stars by Gilmore, Wyse & Norris (2002). This value of mean orbital rotation does not match either the canonical thick disk or the stellar halo. We argue that this population, detected at both l ~ 270 and l ~ 90, has the expected properties of `satellite debris' in the thick-disk/halo interface, which we interpret as remnants of the merger that heated a pre-existing thin disk to form the thick disk.

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arXiv2005

Galactic Stellar Populations

The history of the formation and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy is found in the spatial distribution, kinematics, age and chemical abundance distributions of long-lived stars. From this fossil record one can in principle extract the star formation histories of different components, their chemical evolution, the stellar Initial Mass Function, the merging history -- what merged and when did it merge? -- and compare with theoretical models. Observations are driving models, and we live in exciting times.

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arXiv2005

New Light on the Initial Mass Function of the Galactic Halo Globular Clusters

We present new constraints on the initial mass spectrum of the Galactic Old Halo globular clusters. This has remained poorly-known so far, as both an initial power-law mass spectrum and an initial lognormal mass function could have evolved into the presently observed globular cluster mass distribution, making the initial contribution of now lost low-mass objects ill-determined. Our approach consists in comparing the evolution with time of both the radial mass density profile and the number density profile of the globular cluster system. Using the analytical expression established by Vesperini & Heggie for the temporal evolution of the mass of a globular cluster on a circular orbit in a stable Galactic potential, we evolve the mass and number density profiles of many putative globular cluster systems, each starting with different initial cluster mass spectrum and initial cluster space-density. We then compare the modelled profiles with those of the Old Halo cluster system in order to investigate which system(s) provide(s) the best consistency with the data. (abridged)

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arXiv2004

Photometric Monitoring of Open Clusters I. The Survey

Open clusters, which have age, abundance, and extinction information from studies of main-sequence turn off stars, are the ideal location in which to determine the mass-luminosity-radius relation for low-mass stars. We have undertaken a photometric monitoring survey of open clusters in the Galaxy designed to detect low-mass eclipsing binary systems through variations in their relative light curves. Our aim is to provide an improved calibration of the mass-luminosity-radius relation for low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, to test stellar structure and evolution models, and to help quantify the contribution of low-mass stars to the global mass census in the Galaxy. In this paper we present our survey, describing the data and outlining the analysis techniques. We study six nearby open clusters, with a range of ages from $\sim 0.2$ to 4 Gyr and metallicities from approximately solar to -0.2dex. We monitor a field-of-view of > 1 square degree per target cluster, well beyond the characteristic cluster radius, over timescales of hours, days, and months with a sampling rate optimised for the detection of eclipsing binaries with periods of hours to days. Our survey depth is designed to detect eclipse events in a binary with a primary star of $\lesssim 0.3~M_{\sun}$. Our data have a photometric precision of $\sim 3$ mmag at $I\approx 16$.

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arXiv2003

A Dynamical Fossil in the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

The nearby Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal (UMi dSph) is one of the most dark matter dominated galaxies known, with a central mass to light ratio roughly equal to 70. Somewhat anomalously, it appears to contain morphological substructure in the form of a second peak in the stellar number density. It is often argued that this substructure must be transient because it could not survive for the > 10 Gyr age of the system, given the crossing time implied by UMi's 8.8 km/s internal velocity dispersion. In this paper, however, we present evidence that the substructure has a cold kinematical signature, and argue that UMi's clumpiness could indeed be a primordial artefact. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that substructure is incompatible with the cusped dark matter haloes predicted by the prevailing Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm, but is consistent with an unbound stellar cluster sloshing back and forth within the nearly harmonic potential of a cored dark matter halo. Thus CDM appears to disagree with observation at the least massive, most dark matter dominated end of the galaxy mass spectrum.

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arXiv2002

Future prospects: Merging data with models

Globular clusters are stellar dynamical systems which evolve on stellar evolutionary and both internal and external dynamical timescales. Quantitative comparison of cluster properties with realistic evolutionary dynamical models is becoming feasible, and will underpin the subject in the next few years. A few examples of the types of analysis becoming possible are presented.

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arXiv2002

Deciphering The Last Major Invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy

We present first results from a spectroscopic survey of 2000 F/G stars 0.5--5kpc from the Galactic plane, obtained with the 2dF facility on the AAT. These data show the mean rotation velocity of the thick disk about the Galactic center a few kpc from the plane is very different than expectation, being about 100km/s, rather than the predicted ~180km/s. We propose that our sample is dominated by stars from a disrupted satellite which merged with the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy some 10-12Gyr ago. We do not find evidence for the many substantial mergers expected in hierarchical clustering theories. We find yet more evidence that the stellar halo retains kinematic substructure, indicative of minor mergers

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arXiv2002

Faint Stars in the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy: Implications for the Low-Mass Stellar Initial Mass Function at High Redshift

The stellar initial mass function at high redshift is an important defining property of the first stellar systems to form and may also play a role in various dark matter problems. We here determine the faint stellar luminosity function in an apparently dark-matter-dominated external galaxy in which the stars formed at high redshift. The Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy is a system with a particularly simple stellar population - all of the stars being old and metal-poor - similar to that of a classical halo globular cluster. A direct comparison of the faint luminosity functions of the UMi Sph and of similar metallicity, old globular clusters is equivalent to a comparison of the initial mass functions and is presented here, based on deep HST WFPC2 and STIS imaging data. We find that these luminosity functions are indistinguishable, down to a luminosity corresponding to 0.3 solar masses. Our results show that the low-mass stellar IMF for stars that formed at very high redshift is apparently invariant across environments as diverse as those of an extremely low-surface-brightness, dark-matter-dominated dwarf galaxy and a dark-matter-free, high-density globular cluster within the Milky Way.

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