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Nirupam Roy

Publications and source records attributed to Nirupam Roy.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Probing galaxy evolution through HI 21-cm emission and absorption: current status and prospects with the Square Kilometre Array

One of the major science goals of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is to understand the role played by atomic hydrogen (HI) gas in the evolution of galaxies throughout cosmic time. The hyperfine transition line of the hydrogen atom at 21-cm is one of the best tools to detect and study the properties of HI gas associated with galaxies. In this article, we review our current understanding of HI gas and its relationship with galaxies through observations of the 21-cm line both in emission and absorption. In addition, we provide an overview of the HI science that will be possible with SKA and its pre-cursors and pathfinders, i.e. HI 21-cm emission and absorption studies of galaxies from nearby to high redshifts that will trace various processes governing galaxy evolution.

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Towards 21-cm Intensity Mapping at $z=2.28$ with uGMRT using the Tapered Gridded Estimator I: Foreground Avoidance

The post-reionization $(z \le 6)$ neutral hydrogen (HI) 21-cm intensity mapping signal holds the potential to probe the large scale structures, study the expansion history and constrain various cosmological parameters. Here we apply the Tapered Gridded Estimator (TGE) to estimate $P(k_{\perp},k_{\parallel})$ the power spectrum of the $z = 2.28$ $(432.8\, {\rm MHz})$ redshifted 21-cm signal using a $24.4\,{\rm MHz}$ sub-band drawn from uGMRT Band 3 observations of European Large-Area ISO Survey-North 1 (ELAIS-N1). The TGE allows us to taper the sky response which suppresses the foreground contribution from sources in the periphery of the telescope's field of view. We apply the TGE on the measured visibility data to estimate the multi-frequency angular power spectrum (MAPS) $C_{\ell}(Δν)$ from which we determine $P(k_{\perp},k_{\parallel})$ using maximum-likelihood which naturally overcomes the issue of missing frequency channels (55 \% here). The entire methodology is validated using simulations. For the data, using the foreground avoidance technique, we obtain a $2\,σ$ upper limit of $Δ^2(k) \le (133.97)^2 \, {\rm mK}^{2}$ for the 21-cm brightness temperature fluctuation at $k = 0.347 \, \textrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. This corresponds to $[Ω_{\rm HI}b_{\rm HI}] \le 0.23$, where $Ω_{\rm HI}$ and $b_{\rm HI}$ respectively denote the cosmic \HI mass density and the \HI bias parameter. A previous work has analyzed $8 \, {\rm MHz}$ of the same data at $z=2.19$, and reported $Δ^{2}(k) \le (61.49)^{2} \, {\rm mK}^{2}$ and $[Ω_{\rm HI} b_{\rm HI}] \le 0.11$ at $k=1 \, {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$. The upper limits presented here are still orders of magnitude larger than the expected signal corresponding to $Ω_{\rm HI} \sim 10^{-3}$ and $b_{\rm HI} \sim 2 $.

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Magnetic field measurement in TMC-1C using 22.3 GHz CCS Zeeman splitting

Measurement of magnetic fields in dense molecular clouds is essential for understanding the fragmentation process prior to star formation. Radio interferometric observations of CCS 22.3 GHz emission, from the starless core TMC-1C, have been carried out with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to search for Zeeman splitting of the line in order to constrain the magnetic field strength. Toward a region offset from the dust peak, we report a detection of the Zeeman splitting of the CCS 2_1 - 1_0 transition, with an inferred magnetic field of ~2 mG. If we interpret the dust peak to be the core of TMC-1C, and the region where we have made a detection of the magnetic field to be the envelope, then our observed value for the magnetic field is consistent with a subcritical mass-to-flux ratio envelope around a core with supercritical mass-to-flux ratio. The ambipolar diffusion timescale for the formation of the core is consistent with the relevant timescale based on chemical modeling of the TMC-1C core. This work demonstrates the potential of deep CCS observation to carry out future measurements of magnetic field strengths in dense molecular clouds and, in turn, understand the role of the magnetic field in star formation.

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The GMRT archive atomic gas survey -- I. Survey definition, methodology, and initial results from the pilot sample

Interferometric observations of HI in galaxies played a pivotal role in studies of nearby galaxies. Compared to single-dish observation, it provides resolved distribution of gas in galaxies with unprecedented resolution. Several extensive HI surveys of nearby galaxies have been performed in the past; however, most of them consist of less than 100 galaxies due to individual efforts. On the other hand, present-day archives of the radio telescopes include data for at least several hundred galaxies. To utilize these data sets to their full potential, we construct a sample including all galaxies observed by the Giant Meter wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in HI. This results in a total of 515 galaxies, the largest sample to date. We intend to analyze all the data uniformly and carry out different exciting science. As a pilot project, we analyze data from 11 galaxies and present the data products in this paper. We further investigate the neutral ISM in these galaxies and extract cold and warm phases using a multi-Gaussian decomposition method. This pilot project assures the quality of the data, which will enable us to perform critical science investigations using the full sample.

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Possible TeV $γ$-ray binary origin of HESS J1828-099

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) observatory has carried a deep survey of the Galactic plane, in the course of which the existence of a significant number of ($\sim$ 78) TeV $γ$-ray sources was confirmed, many of which remain unidentified. HESS J1828-099 is a point-like (Gaussian stand. dev. $<$ 0.07$^{\circ}$) unidentified source among the 17 confirmed point-like sources in the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (HGPS) catalog. This source is also unique because it does not seem to have any apparent association with any object detected at other wavelengths. We investigate the nature and association of HESS J1828-099 with multi-wavelength observational data. A high mass X-Ray binary (HMXB) - comprising of pulsar XTE J1829-098 and a companion Be star - has been observed earlier in the X-ray and infrared bands, 14$'$ away from HESS J1828-099. With 12 years of $\textit{Fermi}$-LAT $γ$-ray data, we explore the possibility of 4FGL J1830.2-1005 being the GeV counterpart of HESS J1828-099. Within the RXTE confidence region, a steep spectrum ($α_{radio}$ = - 0.746 $\pm$ 0.284), plausible counterpart is detected in data from existing radio frequency surveys. In this letter, we probe for the first time using multi-wavelength data, whether HESS J1828-099, 4FGL J1830.2-1005 and the HMXB system have a common origin. Our study indicates that HESS J1828-099 might be a TeV high mass $γ$-ray binary source.

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Calibration requirements for Epoch of Reionization 21-cm signal observations -- II. Analytical estimation of the bias and variance with time-correlated residual gains

Observation of redshifted 21-cm signals from neutral hydrogen holds the key to understanding the structure formation and its evolution during the reionization and post-reionization era. Apart from the presence of orders of magnitude larger foregrounds in the observed frequency range, the instrumental effects of the interferometers combined with the ionospheric effects present a considerable challenge in the extraction of 21-cm signals from strong foregrounds. The systematic effects of time and frequency correlated residual gain errors originating from the measurement process introduce a bias and enhance the variance of the power spectrum measurements. In this work, we study the effect of time-correlated residual gain errors in the presence of strong foreground. We present a method to produce analytic estimates of the bias and vari ance in the power spectrum. We use simulated observations to confirm the efficacy of this method and then use it to understand various effects of the gain errors. We find that as the standard deviation in the residual gain errors increases, the bias in the estimation supersedes the variance. It is observed that an optimal choice of the time over which the gain solutions are estimated minimizes the risk. We also find that the interferometers with higher baseline densities are preferred instruments for these studies.

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Classical Novae at Radio Wavelengths

We present radio observations (1--40 GHz) for 36 classical novae, representing data from over five decades compiled from the literature, telescope archives, and our own programs. Our targets display a striking diversity in their optical parameters (e.g., spanning optical fading timescales, t_2 = 1--263 days), and we find a similar diversity in the radio light curves. Using a brightness temperature analysis, we find that radio emission from novae is a mixture of thermal and synchrotron emission, with non-thermal emission observed at earlier times. We identify high brightness temperature emission (T_B > 5x10^4 K) as an indication of synchrotron emission in at least 9 (25%) of the novae. We find a class of synchrotron-dominated novae with mildly evolved companions, exemplified by V5589 Sgr and V392 Per, that appear to be a bridge between classical novae with dwarf companions and symbiotic binaries with giant companions. Four of the novae in our sample have two distinct radio maxima (the first dominated by synchrotron and the later by thermal emission), and in four cases the early synchrotron peak is temporally coincident with a dramatic dip in the optical light curve, hinting at a common site for particle acceleration and dust formation. We publish the light curves as tables and encourage use of these data by the broader community in multi-wavelength studies and modeling efforts.

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A global view on star formation: The GLOSTAR Galactic plane survey III. 6.7 GHz methanol maser survey in Cygnus X

The Cygnus X complex is covered by the Global View of Star Formation in the Milky Way (GLOSTAR) survey, an unbiased radio-wavelength Galactic plane survey, in 4--8 GHz continuum radiation and several spectral lines. The GLOSTAR survey observed the 6.7~GHz transition of methanol (CH$_3$OH), an exclusive tracer of high-mass young stellar objects. Using the Very Large Array in both the B and D configurations, we observed an area in Cygnus~X of $7^{\rm o}\times3^{\rm o}$ in size and simultaneously covered the methanol line and the continuum, allowing cross-registration. We detected thirteen sources with Class~II methanol maser emission and one source with methanol absorption. Two methanol maser sources are newly detected; in addition, we found four new velocity components associated with known masers. Five masers are concentrated in the DR21 ridge and W75N. We determined the characteristics of the detected masers and investigated the association with infrared, (sub)millimeter, and radio continuum emission. All maser sources are associated with (sub)millimeter dust continuum emission, which is consistent with the picture of masers tracing regions in an active stage of star formation. On the other hand, only five masers ($38\pm17\%$) have radio continuum counterparts seen with GLOSTAR within $\sim$1$''$, testifying to their youth. Comparing the distributions of the bolometric luminosity and the luminosity-to-mass ratio of cores that host 6.7~GHz methanol masers with those of the full core population, we identified lower limits $L_{\rm Bol}\sim200~L_\odot$ and $L_{\rm Bol}/M_{\rm core}\sim1~L_\odot~M^{-1}_\odot$ for a dust source to host maser emission.

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The auto and cross angular power spectrum of the Cas A supernova remnant in radio and X-ray

The shell type supernova remnant (SNR) Cas A exhibits structures at nearly all angular scales. Previous studies show the angular power spectrum $(C_{\ell})$ of the radio emission to be a broken power law, consistent with MHD turbulence. The break has been identified with the transition from 2D to 3D turbulence at the angular scale corresponding to the shell thickness. Alternatively, this can also be explained as 2D inverse cascade driven by energy injection from knot-shock interactions. Here we present $C_{\ell}$ measured from archival VLA $5$GHz (C band) data, and Chandra X-ray data in the energy ranges ${\rm A}=0.6-1.0 \, \, {\rm keV}$ and ${\rm B} =4.2-6.0 \, \, {\rm keV}$, both of which are continuum dominated. The different emissions all trace fluctuations in the underlying plasma and possibly also the magnetic field, and we expect them to be correlated. We quantify this using the cross $C_{\ell}$ between the different emissions. We find that X-ray B is strongly correlated with both radio and X-ray A, however X-ray A is only very weakly correlated with radio. This supports a picture where X-ray A is predominantly thermal bremsstrahlung whereas X-ray B is a composite of thermal bremsstrahlung and non-thermal synchrotron emission. The various $C_{\ell}$ measured here, all show a broken power law behaviour. However, the slopes are typically shallower than those in radio and the position of the break also corresponds to smaller angular scales. These findings provide observational inputs regarding the nature of turbulence and the emission mechanisms in Cas A.

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Stringent constraint on the radio signal from dark matter annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies using the TGSS

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are considered to be one of the favoured dark matter candidates. Searching for any detectable signal due to the annihilation and decay of WIMPs over the entire electromagnetic spectrum has become a matter of interest for the last few decades. WIMP annihilation to Standard Model particles gives rise to a possibility of detection of this signal at low radio frequencies via synchrotron radiation. Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies (dSphs) are expected to contain a huge amount of dark matter which makes them promising targets to search for such large scale diffuse radio emission. In this work, we present a stacking analysis of 23 dSph galaxies observed at low frequency (147.5MHz) as part of the TIFR-GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS). The non-detection of any signal from these stacking exercises put very tight constraints on the dark matter parameters. The best limit comes from the novel method of stacking after scaling the radio images of the individual dSph galaxy fields after scaling them by the respective half-light radius. The constraint on the thermally averaged cross-section is below the thermal relic cross-section value over a range of WIMP mass for reasonable choices of relevant astrophysical parameters. Such analysis using future deeper observation of individual targets as well as stacking can potentially reveal more about the WIMP dark matter properties.

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The magnetic field in the dense photodissociation region of DR 21

Measuring interstellar magnetic fields is extremely important for understanding their role in different evolutionary stages of interstellar clouds and of star formation. However, detecting the weak field is observationally challenging. We present measurements of the Zeeman effect in the 1665 and 1667~MHz (18~cm) lines of the hydroxyl radical (OH) lines toward the dense photodissociation region (PDR) associated with the compact H{\sc ii} region DR~21~(Main). From the OH 18~cm absorption, observed with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, we find that the line of sight magnetic field in this region is $\sim 0.13$~mG. The same transitions in maser emission toward the neighboring DR~21(OH) and W~75S-FR1 regions also exhibit the Zeeman splitting. Along with the OH data, we use [C{\sc ii}] 158 $μ$m line and hydrogen radio recombination line data to constrain the physical conditions and the kinematics of the region. We find the OH column density to be $\sim 3.6\times10^{16}(T_{\rm ex}/25~{\rm K})~{\rm cm}^{-2}$, and that the 1665 and 1667 MHz absorption lines are originating from the gas where OH and C$^+$ are co-existing in the PDR. Under reasonable assumptions, we find the measured magnetic field strength for the PDR to be lower than the value expected from the commonly discussed density--magnetic field relation while the field strength values estimated from the maser emission are roughly consistent with the same. Finally, we compare the magnetic field energy density with the overall energetics of DR~21's PDR and find that, in its current evolutionary stage, the magnetic field is not dynamically important.

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First multi-redshift limits on post-Epoch of Reionization (post-EoR) 21 cm signal from z = 1.96 - 3.58 using uGMRT

Measurement of fluctuations in diffuse HI 21 cm background radiation from the post-reionization epoch (z < 6) is a promising avenue to probe the large-scale structure of the Universe and understand the evolution of galaxies. We observe the European Large-Area ISO Survey-North 1 (ELAIS-N1) field at 300-500 MHz using the upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and employ the 'foreground avoidance' technique to estimate the HI 21 cm power spectrum in the redshift range z = 1.96-3.58. Given the possible systematics that may remain in the data, we find the most stringent upper limits on the spherically averaged 21 cm power spectra at k~1.0 Mpc$^{-1}$ are (58.87 mK)$^2$, (61.49 mK)$^2$, (60.89 mK)$^2$, (105.85 mK)$^2$ at z = 1.96,2.19,2.62 and 3.58, respectively. We use this to constrain the product of neutral HI mass density (Omega_HI) and HI bias (b_HI) to the underlying dark matter density field, [Omega_HI*b_HI], as 0.09,0.11,0.12,0.24 at z=1.96,2.19,2.62,3.58, respectively. To the best of our knowledge these are the first limits on the HI 21 cm power spectra at the redshift range z = 1.96 - 3.58 and would play a significant role to constrain the models of galaxy formation and evolution.

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Angular power spectrum of supernova remnants: effects of structure, geometry and diffuse foreground

The study of the intensity fluctuation power spectrum of individual supernova remnants (SNRs) can reveal the structures present at sub-pc scales, and also constrain the physical process that generates those structures. There are various effects, such as the remnant shell thickness, projection of a three-dimensional structure onto a two-dimensional observational plane, and the presence of diffuse "foreground" emission, which causes the observed power spectrum to deviate from the intrinsic power spectrum of the fluctuations. Here, we report results from a systematic study of these effects, using direct numerical simulations, in the measured power spectrum. For an input power-law power spectrum, independent of the power-law index, we see a break in the observed power law at a scale which depends on the shell thickness of a shell-type SNR, and the three-dimensional turbulence changes to two-dimensional turbulence beyond that scale. We also report how the estimated power spectrum is expected to deviate from the intrinsic SNR power spectrum in the presence of additional diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission (DGSE) around the remnant shell. For a reasonable choice of the parameters, if the intrinsic SNR power spectrum is shallower than the DGSE power spectrum, the SNR contribution dominates at small angular scales of the estimated power spectra. On the other hand, if the SNR power spectrum is relatively steeper, the original power spectra is recovered only over a small window of angular scales. This study shows how detailed modeling may be used to infer the true power spectrum from the observed SNR intensity fluctuations power spectrum, which in turn can be used to constrain the nature of the turbulence that gives rise to these small scale structures.

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Hyper-massive Black Holes have Faint Broad and Narrow Emission Lines

The EUV provides most of the ionization that creates the high equivalent width (EW) broad and narrow emission lines (BELs, NELs) of quasars. Spectra of Hypermassive Schwarzschild black holes (HMBHs, $M_{BH} \geq 10^{10} M_{\odot}$) with $α$-discs, decline rapidly in the EUV suggesting much lower EWs. Model spectra for black holes of mass $10^{6}-10^{12} M_{\odot}$ and accretion rates $0.03 \leq L_{bol}/L_{edd} \leq 1.0$ were input to the CLOUDY photoionization code. BELs become $\sim$100 times weaker in EW from $M_{BH} \sim 10^8 M_{\odot}$ to $M_{BH} \sim 10^{10} M_{\odot}$. The high ionization BELs (O VI 1034 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$, C IV 1549 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$, He II 1640 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$) decline in EW from ($M_{BH} \geq 10^6 M_{\odot}$, reproducing the Baldwin effect, but regain EW for $M_{BH} \geq 10^{10} M_{\odot}$). The low ionization lines (MgII 2798 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$, H$β$ 4861 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$ and H$α$ 6563 $\overset{\circ}{\mathrm {A}}$) remain weak. Lines for maximally spinning HMBHs behave similarly. Line ratio diagrams for the BELs show that high OVI/H$β$ and low CIV/H$α$ may pick out HMBH, although OVI is often hard to observe. In NEL BPT diagrams HMBHs lie among star-forming regions, except for highly spinning, high accretion rate HMBHs. In summary, the BELs expected from HMBHs would be hard to detect using the current optical facilities. From 100 to $10^{12} M_{\odot}$, the emission lines used to detect AGN only have high EW in the $10^6 - 10^9 M_{\odot}$ window, where most AGN are found. This selection effect may be distorting reported distributions of $M_{BH}$.

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Calibration Requirements for Epoch of Reionization 21-cm signal observations -- I. Effect of time-correlated gains

The residual gain errors add to the systematics of the radio interferometric observations. In case of the high dynamic range observations, these systematic effects dominates over the thermal noise of the observation. In this work, we investigate the effect of time-correlated residual gain errors in the estimation of the power spectrum of the sky brightness distribution in high dynamic range observations. Particularly, we discuss a methodology to estimate the bias in the power spectrum estimator of the redshifted 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen in the presence of bright extragalactic compact sources. We find, that for the visibility based power spectrum estimators, particularly those use nearby baseline correlations to avoid noise bias, the bias in the power spectrum arises mainly from the time correlation in the residual gain error. The bias also depends on the baseline distribution for a particular observation. Analytical calculations show that the bias is dominant for certain types of baseline pairs used for the visibility correlation. We perform simulated observation of extragalactic compact sources in the presence of residual gain errors with the GMRT like array and estimate the bias in the power spectrum. Our results indicate that in order to estimate the redshifted 21-cm power spectrum, better calibration techniques and estimator development are required.

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Characterizing EoR foregrounds: A study of the Lockman Hole Region at 325 MHz

One of the key science goals for the most sensitive telescopes, both current and upcoming, is the detection of the redshifted 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. The success of detection relies on accurate foreground modeling for their removal from data sets. This paper presents the characterization of astrophysical sources in the Lockman Hole region. Using 325 MHz data obtained from the GMRT, a $6^\circ \times 6^\circ$ mosaiced map is produced with an RMS reaching 50 $μ$Jy $\mathrm{beam}^{-1}$. A source catalog containing 6186 sources is created, and the Euclidean normalized differential source counts have been derived from it, consistent with previous observations as well as simulations. A detailed comparison of the source catalog is also made with previous findings - at both lower and higher frequencies. The angular power spectrum (APS) of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission is determined for three different galactic latitudes using the Tapered Gridded Estimator. The values of the APS lie between $\sim$1 mK$^2$ to $\sim$100 mK$^2$. Fitting a power law of the form $A\ell^{-β}$ gives values of $A$ and $β$ varying across the latitudes considered. This paper demonstrates, for the first time, the variation of the power-law index for diffuse emission at very high galactic locations. It follows the same trend that is seen at locations near the galactic plane, thus emphasizing the need for low-frequency observations for developing better models of the diffuse emission.

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The study of the angular and spatial distribution of radio selected AGNs and star-forming galaxies in the ELAIS N1 field

The cosmic evolution of bias of different source populations with underlying dark matter density field in post reionization era can shed light on large scale structures. Studying the angular and spatial distribution of different compact sources using deep radio catalogue at low-frequency is essential to understand the matter distribution of the present Universe. Here, we investigate the relationship of luminous matter with their host dark matter haloes by measuring the angular and spatial clustering of sources (two-point statistics), using deep radio observation of ELAIS N1 (EN1) field with upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) at 300-500 MHz. We also analyze the 612 MHz GMRT archival data of the same field to understand the cosmic evolution of clustering of different source populations. We classify the sources as star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) based on their radio luminosity. We find that the spatial clustering length and bias to the dark matter density field of SFGs are smaller than AGNs at both frequencies. This proves that AGNs are mainly hosted by massive haloes and hence strongly clustered. However, a small decrease in the bias for both kind of sources at higher frequency indicates that we are most likely tracing the faint objects residing in less massive haloes at higher frequencies. Our results are in excellent agreement with previous findings at radio and multi-frequency surveys. However, comparison with SKADS simulation suggests that the halo mass for different populations used in the simulation is systematically lower. This work quantifies the spatial distribution of extragalactic compact objects in EN1 field and bridges the gap between shallow and deep surveys.

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Milky Way globular cluster dynamics: are they preferentially co-rotating?

The motion of the baryonic components of the Milky Way is governed by both luminous and dark matter content of the Galaxy. Thus, the dynamics of the Milky Way globular clusters can be used as tracers to infer the mass model of the Galaxy up to a large radius. In this work, we use the directly observable line-of-sight velocities to test if the dynamics of the globular cluster population is consistent with an assumed axisymmetric gravitational potential of the Milky Way. For this, we numerically compute the phase space distribution of the globular cluster population where the orbits are either oriented randomly or co-/counter- rotating with respect to the stellar disk. Then we compare the observed position and line-of-sight velocity distribution of $\sim$ 150 globular clusters with that of the models. We found that, for the adopted mass model, the co-rotating scenario is the favored model based on various statistical tests. We do the analysis with and without the GCs associated to the progenitors of early merger events. This analysis can be extended in the near future to include precise and copious data to better constrain the Galactic potential up to a large radius.

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