Stellar accelerations and the galactic gravitational field

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamish Silverwood ◽  
Richard Easther
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Precision Measurements ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Newtonian Dynamics ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Velocity Changes ◽  
Blind Search ◽  
Stellar Motion

AbstractTypical stars in the Milky Way galaxy have velocities of hundreds of kilometres per second and experience gravitational accelerations of $\sim\!10^{-10}~{\rm m\,s}^{-2}$, resulting in velocity changes of a few centimetres per second over a decade. Measurements of these accelerations would permit direct tests of the applicability of Newtonian dynamics on kiloparsec length scales and could reveal significant small-scale inhomogeneities within the galaxy, as well increasing the sensitivity of measurements of the overall mass distribution of the galaxy. Noting that a reasonable extrapolation of progress in exoplanet hunting spectrographs suggests that centimetre per second level precision will be attainable in the coming decade(s), we explore the possibilities such measurements would create. We consider possible confounding effects, including apparent accelerations induced by stellar motion and reflex velocities from planetary systems, along with possible strategies for their mitigation. If these issues can be satisfactorily addressed, it will be possible to use high-precision measurements of changing stellar velocities to perform a ‘blind search’ for dark matter, make direct tests of theories of non-Newtonian gravitational dynamics, detect local inhomogeneities in the dark matter density, and greatly improve measurements of the overall properties of the galaxy.

scholarly journals Phat ELVIS: The inevitable effect of the Milky Way’s disc on its dark matter subhaloes

2019 ◽  
Vol 487 (3) ◽  
pp. 4409-4423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Kelley ◽  
James S Bullock ◽  
Shea Garrison-Kimmel ◽  
Michael Boylan-Kolchin ◽  
Marcel S Pawlowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Central Galaxy ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Satellite Galaxies ◽  
Atomic Cooling

ABSTRACT We introduce an extension of the ELVIS project to account for the effects of the Milky Way galaxy on its subhalo population. Our simulation suite, Phat ELVIS, consists of 12 high-resolution cosmological dark matter-only (DMO) zoom simulations of Milky Way-size ΛCDM haloes [Mv = (0.7−2) × 1012 M⊙] along with 12 re-runs with embedded galaxy potentials grown to match the observed Milky Way disc and bulge today. The central galaxy potential destroys subhalos on orbits with small pericentres in every halo, regardless of the ratio of galaxy mass to halo mass. This has several important implications. (1) Most of the Disc runs have no subhaloes larger than Vmax = 4.5 km s−1 within 20 kpc and a significant lack of substructure going back ∼8 Gyr, suggesting that local stream-heating signals from dark substructure will be rare. (2) The pericentre distributions of Milky Way satellites derived from Gaia data are remarkably similar to the pericentre distributions of subhaloes in the Disc runs, while the DMO runs drastically overpredict galaxies with pericentres smaller than 20 kpc. (3) The enhanced destruction produces a tension opposite to that of the classic ‘missing satellites’ problem: in order to account for ultra-faint galaxies known within 30 kpc of the Galaxy, we must populate haloes with Vpeak ≃ 7 km s−1 (M ≃ 3 × 107 M⊙ at infall), well below the atomic cooling limit of $V_\mathrm{peak}\simeq 16 \,{\rm km} \, {\rm s}^{-1}$ (M ≃ 5 × 108M⊙ at infall). (4) If such tiny haloes do host ultra-faint dwarfs, this implies the existence of ∼1000 satellite galaxies within 300 kpc of the Milky Way.

The Long View of Planetary Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Population Statistics ◽  
The Past ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Universe

How many planetary systems formed before our’s did, and how many will form after? How old is the average exoplanet in the Galaxy? When did the earliest planets start forming? How different are the ages of terrestrial and giant planets? And, ultimately, what will the fate be of our Solar System, of the Milky Way Galaxy, and of the Universe around us? We cannot know the fate of individual exoplanets with great certainty, but based on population statistics this chapter sketches the past, present, and future of exoworlds and of our Earth in general terms.

scholarly journals A Statistical Estimation of the Occurrence of Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the Milky Way Galaxy

Galaxies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Xiang Cai ◽  
Jonathan H. Jiang ◽  
Kristen A. Fahy ◽  
Yuk L. Yung
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Estimation ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Peak Location ◽  
Intelligent Life

In the field of astrobiology, the precise location, prevalence, and age of potential extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) have not been explicitly explored. Here, we address these inquiries using an empirical galactic simulation model to analyze the spatial–temporal variations and the prevalence of potential ETI within the Galaxy. This model estimates the occurrence of ETI, providing guidance on where to look for intelligent life in the Search for ETI (SETI) with a set of criteria, including well-established astrophysical properties of the Milky Way. Further, typically overlooked factors such as the process of abiogenesis, different evolutionary timescales, and potential self-annihilation are incorporated to explore the growth propensity of ETI. We examine three major parameters: (1) the likelihood rate of abiogenesis (λA); (2) evolutionary timescales (Tevo); and (3) probability of self-annihilation of complex life (Pann). We found Pann to be the most influential parameter determining the quantity and age of galactic intelligent life. Our model simulation also identified a peak location for ETI at an annular region approximately 4 kpc from the galactic center around 8 billion years (Gyrs), with complex life decreasing temporally and spatially from the peak point, asserting a high likelihood of intelligent life in the galactic inner disk. The simulated age distributions also suggest that most of the intelligent life in our galaxy are young, thus making observation or detection difficult.

scholarly journals Kinematical & Chemical Characteristics of the Thin and Thick Disks

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary F. G. Wyse
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Observational Evidence ◽  
Chemical Characteristics ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Thin And Thick Disks ◽  
Thick Disks

AbstractI discuss how the chemical abundance distributions, kinematics and age distributions of stars in the thin and thick disks of the Galaxy can be used to decipher the merger history of the Milky Way, a typical large galaxy. The observational evidence points to a rather quiescent past merging history, unusual in the context of the ‘consensus’ cold-dark-matter cosmology favoured from observations of structure on scales larger than individual galaxies.

scholarly journals Heating of Milky Way disc stars by dark matter fluctuations in cold dark matter and fuzzy dark matter paradigms

2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (2) ◽  
pp. 2861-2876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin V Church ◽  
Philip Mocz ◽  
Jeremiah P Ostriker
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Quantum Interference ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Velocity Dispersion ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Particle Mass ◽  
Small Scale

ABSTRACT Although highly successful on cosmological scales, cold dark matter (CDM) models predict unobserved overdense ‘cusps’ in dwarf galaxies and overestimate their formation rate. We consider an ultralight axion-like scalar boson which promises to reduce these observational discrepancies at galactic scales. The model, known as fuzzy dark matter (FDM), avoids cusps, suppresses small-scale power, and delays galaxy formation via macroscopic quantum pressure. We compare the substructure and density fluctuations of galactic dark matter haloes comprised of ultralight axions to conventional CDM results. Besides self-gravitating subhaloes, FDM includes non-virialized overdense wavelets formed by quantum interference patterns, which are an efficient source of heating to galactic discs. We find that, in the solar neighbourhood, wavelet heating is sufficient to give the oldest disc stars a velocity dispersion of ${\sim } {30}{\, \mathrm{km\, s}^{-1}}$ within a Hubble time if energy is not lost from the disc, the velocity dispersion increasing with stellar age as σD ∝ t0.4 in agreement with observations. Furthermore, we calculate the radius-dependent velocity dispersion and corresponding scaleheight caused by the heating of this dynamical substructure in both CDM and FDM with the determination that these effects will produce a flaring that terminates the Milky Way disc at $15\!-\!20{\, \mathrm{kpc}}$. Although the source of thickened discs is not known, the heating due to perturbations caused by dark substructure cannot exceed the total disc velocity dispersion. Therefore, this work provides a lower bound on the FDM particle mass of ma > 0.6 × 10−22 eV. Furthermore, FDM wavelets with this particle mass should be considered a viable mechanism for producing the observed disc thickening with time.

scholarly journals A High Resolution HI Survey of M31

1983 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
E. Brinks
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Radio Telescope ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
First Results ◽  
Line Survey

The first results of a new high resolution 21-cm HI line survey of M31 made with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope are presented. Five areas were mapped, covering the galaxy except for the extreme northern and southern parts, at a resolution of δα × δδ × δV = 24″ × 36″ × 3.2 km s−1. The spatial resolution corresponds to 30 × 120 pc at the distance of M31. This is of the same order as the resolution at the distance of the center or our own galaxy given by a 25-m dish. Consequently the M31 survey is comparable to surveys of the Milky Way galaxy in wealth of detail as well as in amount of data (∼ 1 Gigabyte).

Galaxy clustering and the dark-matter problem

1986 ◽  
Vol 320 (1556) ◽  
pp. 517-541 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Galactic Halos ◽  
Galaxy Clustering ◽  
Simple Assumption ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Flat Rotation Curves

Recent observational and theoretical results on galaxy clustering are reviewed. A major difficulty in relating observations to theory is that the former refer to luminous material whereas the latter is most directly concerned with the gravitationally dominant but invisible dark matter. The simple assumption that the distribution of galaxies generally follows that of the mass appears to conflict with evidence suggesting that galaxies of different kinds are clustered in different ways. If galaxies are indeed biased tracers of the mass, then dynamical estimates of the mean cosmic density, which give Ω « 0.2 may underestimate the global value of Ω. There are now several specific models for the behaviour of density fluctuations from very early times to the present epoch. The late phases of this evolution need to be followed by N -body techniques; simulations of scale-free universes and of universes dominated by various types of elementary particles are discussed. In the former case, the models evolve in a self-similar way; the resulting correlations have a steeper slope than that oberved for the galaxy distribution unless the primordial power spectral index n « 2. Universes dominated by light neutrinos acquire a large coherence length at early times. As a result, an early filamentary phase develops into a present day distribution that is more strongly clustered than observed galaxies and is dominated by a few clumps with masses larger than those of any known object. If the dark matter consists of ‘cold’ particles such as photinos or axions, then structure builds up from subgalactic scales in a roughly hierarchical way. The observed pattern of galaxy clustering can be reproduced if either Ω « 0.2 and the galaxies are distributed as the mass, or if Ω — 1, H 0 = 50 km s -1 Mpc -1 and the galaxies form only at high peaks of the smoothed linear density field. The open model, however, is marginally ruled out by the observed small-scale isotropy of the microwave background, whereas the flat one is consistent with such observations. With no further free parameters a flat cold dark-matter universe produces the correct abundance of rich galaxy clusters and of galactic halos; the latter have flat rotation curves with amplitudes spanning the observed range. Preliminary calculations indicate that the properties of voids may be consistent with the data, but the correlations of rich clusters appear to be somewhat weaker than those reported for Abell clusters.

scholarly journals 10.2. High proper motions in the vicinity of Sgr A∗: unambiguous evidence for a massive central black hole

1998 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 433-434
Author(s):  
A. M. Ghez ◽  
B. L. Klein ◽  
C. McCabe ◽  
M. Morris ◽  
E. E. Becklin
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Robust Method ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Central Black Hole ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Sgr A

Although the notion that the Milky Way galaxy contains a supermassive central black hole has been around for more than two decades, it has been difficult to prove that one exists. The challenge is to assess the distribution of matter in the few central parsecs of the Galaxy. Assuming that gravity is the dominant force, the motion of the stars and gas in the vicinity of the putative black hole offers a robust method for accomplishing this task, by revealing the mass interior to the radius of the objects studied. Thus objects located closest to the Galactic Center provide the strongest constraints on the black hole hypothesis.

scholarly journals The age of the Milky Way inner stellar spheroid from RR Lyrae population synthesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 641 ◽  
pp. A96 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Savino ◽  
A. Koch ◽  
Z. Prudil ◽  
A. Kunder ◽  
R. Smolec
Keyword(s):  
Stellar Population ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Population Synthesis ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
First Stars ◽  
Rr Lyrae Stars ◽  
Rr Lyrae ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Stellar Halo ◽  
Lyrae Stars

The central kiloparsecs of the Milky Way are known to host an old, spheroidal stellar population, whose spatial and kinematical properties set it apart from the boxy-peanut structure that constitutes most of the central stellar mass. The nature of this spheroidal population, whether it is a small classical bulge, the innermost stellar halo, or a population of disk stars with large initial velocity dispersion, remains unclear. This structure is also a promising candidate to play host to some of the oldest stars in the Galaxy. Here we address the topic of the inner stellar spheroid age, using spectroscopic and photometric metallicities for a sample of 935 RR Lyrae stars that are constituents of this component. By means of stellar population synthesis, we derive an age-metallicity relation for RR Lyrae populations. We infer, for the RR Lyrae stars in the bulge spheroid, an extremely ancient age of 13.41 ± 0.54 Gyr and conclude they were among the first stars to form in what is now the Milky Way galaxy. Our age estimate for the central spheroid shows a remarkable agreement with the age profile that has been inferred for the Milky Way stellar halo, suggesting a connection between the two structures. However, we find mild evidence for a transition in the halo properties at rGC ∼ 5 kpc. We also investigate formation scenarios for metal-rich RR Lyrae stars, such as binarity and helium variations, and consider whether they can provide alternative explanations for the properties of our sample. We conclude that within our framework, the only viable alternative is to have younger, slightly helium-rich, RR Lyrae stars. This is a hypothesis that would open intriguing questions for the formation of the inner stellar spheroid.

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