Detection of satellite remnants in the Galactic halo with Gaia- III. Detection limits for ultrafaint dwarf galaxies

Hidalgo, S.; Velázquez, H.; Brown, A. G. A.; Valenzuela, O.; Aparicio, A.; Antiche, E.; Hernández-Pérez, F.; Aguilar, L.; Figueras, F.; Mateu, C.; Antoja, T.
Referencia bibliográfica

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 453, Issue 1, p.541-560

Fecha de publicación:
10
2015
Número de autores
11
Número de autores del IAC
2
Número de citas
19
Número de citas referidas
17
Descripción
We present a method to identify ultrafaint dwarf galaxies (UFDGs) candidates in the halo of the Milky Way using the future Gaia catalogue and we explore its detection limits and completeness. The method is based on the Wavelet Transform and searches for overdensities in the combined space of sky coordinates and proper motions, using kinematics in the search for the first time. We test the method with a Gaia mock catalogue that has the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot as a background, and use a library of around 30 000 UFDGs simulated as Plummer spheres with a single stellar population. For the UFDGs, we use a wide range of structural and orbital parameters that go beyond the range spanned by real systems, where some UFDGs may remain undetected. We characterize the detection limits as function of the number of observable stars by Gaia in the UFDGs with respect to that of the background and their apparent sizes in the sky and proper motion planes. We find that the addition of proper motions in the search improves considerably the detections compared to a photometric survey at the same magnitude limit. Our experiments suggest that Gaia will be able to detect UFDGs that are similar to some of the known UFDGs even if the limit of Gaia is around 2 mag brighter than that of SDSS, with the advantage of having a full-sky catalogue. We also see that Gaia could even find some UFDGs that have lower surface brightness than the SDSS limit.
Proyectos relacionados
Superposición del modelo de barra larga+brazo de 3 kpc de López-Corredoira et al. (2026, A&A 708, A288) con la representación artística del ‘Road Map to the Milky Way’ de NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech) basado en hallazgos del telescopio espacial Spitzer de la NASA.
Vía Láctea y galaxias cercanas
El objetivo general del proyecto es el estudio de la morfología, poblaciones estelares, cinemática y dinámica (incluyendo formación y evolución) de la Vía Láctea y sus galaxias satélites u otras del Grupo Local. El proyecto puede dividirse en dos líneas principales: I. Estructura de la Vía Láctea y galaxias cercanas. El estudio detallado de la
Martín
López Corredoira