Bibcode
Battaglia, G.; Tolstoy, E.; Helmi, A.; Irwin, M.; Parisi, P.; Hill, V.; Jablonka, P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 411, Issue 2, pp. 1013-1034.
Advertised on:
2
2011
Citations
146
Refereed citations
132
Description
We use Very Large Telescope (VLT)/Fibre Large Array Multi Element
Spectrograph (FLAMES) intermediate-resolution (R˜ 6500) spectra of
individual red giant branch stars in the near-infrared Ca II triplet
(CaT) region to investigate the wide-area metallicity properties and
internal kinematics of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph). Our
final sample consists of 174 probable members of Sextans with accurate
line-of-sight velocities (±2 km s-1) and CaT [Fe/H]
measurements (±0.2 dex). We use the Mg I line at 8806.8 Å
as an empirical discriminator for distinguishing between probable
members of the dSph (giant stars) and probable Galactic contaminants
(dwarf stars). Sextans shows a similar chemodynamical behaviour to other
Milky Way dSphs, with its central regions being more metal rich than the
outer parts and with the more metal-rich stars displaying colder
kinematics than the more metal-poor stars. Hints of a velocity gradient
are found along the projected major axis and along an axis at position
angle (PA) = 191°, however, a larger and more spatially extended
sample may be necessary to pin down the amplitude and direction of this
gradient. We detect a cold kinematic substructure at the centre of
Sextans, consistent with being the remnant of a disrupted very metal
poor stellar cluster. We derive the most extended line-of-sight velocity
dispersion profile for Sextans, out to a projected radius of 1?6. From
Jeans modelling of the observed line-of-sight velocity dispersion
profile we find that this is consistent with both a cored dark matter
halo with large core radius and cuspy halo with low concentration. The
mass within the last measured point is in the range 2-4 ×
108 M⊙, giving very large mass-to-light
ratios, from 460 to 920 (M/L)V, ⊙. Based on FLAMES
observations collected at the ESO, proposal 171.B-0588.