Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-11-19
Astrophys.J.714:663-674,2010
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/714/1/663
We map the stellar structure of the Galactic thick disk and halo by applying color-magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting to photometric data from the SEGUE survey, allowing, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of their structure at both high and low latitudes using uniform SDSS photometry. Incorporating photometry of all relevant stars simultaneously, CMD fitting bypasses the need to choose single tracer populations. Using old stellar populations of differing metallicities as templates we obtain a sparse 3D map of the stellar mass distribution at |Z|>1 kpc. Fitting a smooth Milky Way model comprising exponential thin and thick disks and an axisymmetric power-law halo allows us to constrain the structural parameters of the thick disk and halo. The thick-disk scale height and length are well constrained at 0.75+-0.07 kpc and 4.1+-0.4 kpc, respectively. We find a stellar halo flattening within ~25 kpc of c/a=0.88+-0.03 and a power-law index of 2.75+-0.07 (for 7
Beers Timothy C.
de Jong Jelte T. A.
Dolphin Andrew E.
Martin Nicolas F.
Rix Hans-Walter
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