Issue |
EPJ Web of Conferences
Volume 19, 2012
Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 01002 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Dark Matter Question: Milky Way Meets Lambda-CDM Cosmology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20121901002 | |
Published online | 07 February 2012 |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20121901002
Formation of Milky Way-type stellar haloes in a Λ-CDM cosmology
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow.
b e-mail: afont@ast.cam.ac.uk
Recent observations suggest that the Milky Way stellar halo has a ‘dual nature’, meaning that both dissipational and dissipationless processes play a role in its build-up. The GIMIC suite of cosmological hydro-dynamical simulations show that, for Milky Way-mass haloes, in situ star formation is the dominant factor in the inner < 20 − 30 kpc, while tidal disruption of satellite galaxies contributes primarily to the outer regions. The in situ stars are found to originate in the earlier disc, at redshifts ~ 1– 1.5, and subsequently diffusing out of the disc by dynamical heating associated with mergers. The in situ component has a more flattened shape, a net prograde rotation and more metal-rich populations, in quantitative agreement with the observations. We conclude that the dual nature of the stellar halo is entirely compatible with the currently favoured Λ-CDM model.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2012
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