Bibcode
Martínez-Delgado, David; Aparicio, A.; Gomez-Flechoso, Maria A.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomische Gesellschaft Meeting Abstracts, Abstracts of Talks and Posters presented at the International Conference of the Astronomische Gesellschaft at Heidelberg, March 20-24, 2000, poster #64.
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2000
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Description
The formation of the Galactic halo is currently best explained by the
combination of two scenarios which previously were regarded as competing
models. Based on the kinematics of metal-poor halo field stars, Eggen,
Lynden-Bell & Sandage (ELS, 1962) proposed that the halo formed
during a rapid, smooth collapse from a homogeneous primordial medium.
Searle & Zinn (SZ, 1978) argued a halo formation via the gradual
merging of many sub-galactic fragments. The SZ scenario has been
strengthened by the observational evidence accumulated during the past
decade. The discovery of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Ibata, Gilmore
& Irwin 1994), in a process of dissolving into the Galactic halo,
argued in favour that accretion events can take place in the Milky Way.
The possibility that accretion events may leave observable fossil
records in the halo is also supported by theoretical models of tidally
disrupted dSph satellites (Johnston, Spergel & Hernquist 1995; Oh,
Lin & Aarseth 1995; Piatek & Pryor 1995). We present our
preliminary results of a long-term project to investigate the process of
accretion and tidal disruption of dSph satellites in the Galactic halo
and, in particular, to search for new tidal tails in a sample of nearby
dSph satellites of the Milky Way. The presence of a possible tidal
debris in Ursa Minor and Sculptor dSphs and the results of our survey
for a tidal extension along the NW semimajor axis of Saggitarius is
discussed.