Building up the globular cluster system of the Milky Way. The contribution of the Sagittarius galaxy

Details Building up the globular cluster system of the Milky Way. The contribution of the Sagittarius galaxy Building up the globular cluster system of the Milky Way. The contribution of the Sagittarius galaxy

2002-10-28

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0210596v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

13 pages, 5 .ps figures. AAS Latex. emulateapj5.sty macro included. Accepted by The Astronomical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1086/344072

We demonstrate that there is a clear statistical correlation between the (X,Y,Z,V_r) phase-space distribution of the outer halo Galactic globular clusters (having 10 kpc <= R_GC <= 40 kpc) and the orbital path of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph), as derived by Ibata & Lewis. At least 4 of the sample of 35 globular clusters in this distance range were formerly members of the Sgr galaxy (at the 95 % confidence level), and are now distributed along the Sgr Stream, a giant tidal structure that surrounds the Milky Way. This is the first instance that a statistically significant structure associated with the Sgr dSph has been detected in the globular cluster population of the Galactic halo. Together with the four well-known globular clusters that are located near the center of this tidally-disrupting dwarf galaxy, these clusters constitute ~ 20 % of the population of outer halo (R_GC >= 10 kpc) clusters. The Sgr dSph was therefore not only an important contributor to the halo field star population, but it also had a significant role in the building-up of the globular cluster system of the Milky Way.

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