Bibcode
Nidever, David L.; Zasowski, Gail; Majewski, Steven R.; Bird, Jonathan; Robin, Annie C.; Martinez-Valpuesta, Inma; Beaton, Rachael L.; Schönrich, Ralph; Schultheis, Mathias; Wilson, John C.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; O'Connell, Robert W.; Shetrone, Matthew; Schiavon, Ricardo P.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Weiner, Benjamin; Gerhard, Ortwin; Schneider, Donald P.; Allende-Prieto, C.; Sellgren, Kris; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brewington, Howard; Brinkmann, Jon; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Elia García Pérez, Ana; Holtzman, Jon; Hearty, Fred R.; Malanushenko, Elena; Malanushenko, Viktor; Muna, Demitri; Oravetz, Daniel; Pan, Kaike; Simmons, Audrey; Snedden, Stephanie; Weaver, Benjamin A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 755, Issue 2, article id. L25 (2012).
Advertised on:
8
2012
Citations
61
Refereed citations
56
Description
Commissioning observations with the Apache Point Observatory Galactic
Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III,
have produced radial velocities (RVs) for ~4700 K/M-giant stars in the
Milky Way (MW) bulge. These high-resolution (R ~ 22, 500), high-S/N
(>100 per resolution element), near-infrared (NIR; 1.51-1.70 μm)
spectra provide accurate RVs (epsilonV ~ 0.2 km
s-1) for the sample of stars in 18 Galactic bulge
fields spanning -1° -32°. This represents the largest NIR
high-resolution spectroscopic sample of giant stars ever assembled in
this region of the Galaxy. A cold (σV ~ 30 km
s-1), high-velocity peak (V GSR ≈ +200 km
s-1) is found to comprise a significant fraction (~10%)
of stars in many of these fields. These high RVs have not been detected
in previous MW surveys and are not expected for a simple, circularly
rotating disk. Preliminary distance estimates rule out an origin from
the background Sagittarius tidal stream or a new stream in the MW disk.
Comparison to various Galactic models suggests that these high RVs are
best explained by stars in orbits of the Galactic bar potential,
although some observational features remain unexplained.
Related projects
Chemical Abundances in Stars
Stellar spectroscopy allows us to determine the properties and chemical compositions of stars. From this information for stars of different ages in the Milky Way, it is possible to reconstruct the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, as well as the origin of the elements heavier than boron, created mainly in stellar interiors. It is also possible to
Carlos
Allende Prieto