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The kinematic identification of a thick stellar disc in M31

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posted on 2012-10-24, 09:06 authored by S. C. Chapman, M. J. Irwin, R. A. Ibata, R. M. Rich, A. M. N. Ferguson, G. F. Lewis, N. Tanvir, A. Koch
We present the first characterization of a thick-disc component in the Andromeda galaxy (M31) using kinematic data from the DEIMOS instrument on Keck II. Using 21 fields in the south-west of the galaxy, we measure the lag of this component with respect to the thin disc, as well as the dispersion, metallicity and scalelength of the component. We find an average lag between the two components of 〈Δv〉= 46.0 ± 3.9 km s[Superscript:−1]. The velocity dispersion of the thick disc is σthick= 50.8 ± 1.9 km s[Superscript:−1], greater than the value of dispersion we determine for the thin disc, σthin= 35.7 ± 1.0 km s[Superscript:−1]. The thick disc is more metal poor than the thin disc, with [Fe/H]spec=−1.0 ± 0.1 compared with [Fe/H]spec=−0.7 ± 0.05 for the thin disc. We measure a radial scalelength of the thin and thick discs of hr= 7.3 ± 1.0 and 8.0 ± 1.2 kpc, respectively. From this, we infer scaleheights for both discs of 1.1 ± 0.2 and 2.8 ± 0.6 kpc, both of which are approximately two to three times larger than those observed in the Milky Way. We estimate a mass range for the thick-disc component of 2.4 × 10[Superscript:10] < M[Subscript:*, thick] < 4.1 × 10[Superscript:10] M[Subscript:⊙]. This value provides a useful constraint on possible formation mechanisms, as any proposed method for forming a thick disc must be able to heat (or deposit) at least this amount of material.

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Citation

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 2011, 413 (3), pp. 1548-1568

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  • VoR (Version of Record)

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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

issn

0035-8711

eissn

1365-2966

Copyright date

2011

Available date

2012-10-24

Publisher version

http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/413/3/1548

Language

en

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