Constraining the Local Gravitational Potential in the MW by the Motion of Stars

1. Constraining the Local Gravitational Potential in the MW by the Motion of Stars Student Workshop

2. Constraining the Local Gravitational Potential in the MW by the Motion of Stars Methods: • Vertical distribution of Galactic disk stars (Klement, Fuchs) • Stellar streams in the solar vicinity (Klement, Rix) Student Workshop

3. The search for local streams • Simulation of the distribution of nearby stream stars in observable-space, phase space and IoM space • Stream formed by the orbital evolution of stars originating from a single progenitor in a fixed MW potential Student Workshop

4. The search for local streams • Orbit calculations • U0 = -10 km/s • V0 = 70 km/s • W0 = -50 km/s Student Workshop

5. The search for local streams • Distribution of solar neighbourhood stream stars in velocity space... Student Workshop

6. The search for local streams • ...and in IoM space Student Workshop

7. The search for local streams • Stream by Arifyanto & Fuchs (2005) Student Workshop

8. The search for local streams • The RAVE catalog • Field l > 200°, b > 20° • Distance error < 25% • Distance < 500 pc •  7971 stars Student Workshop

9. The search for local streams • The RAVE catalog • Distance error < 25% • Distance < 500 pc •  15716 stars Student Workshop

10. Conclusions • Find streams through their clustering in velocity space • Constrain the potential through their clustering in IoM space and by tracing the stream further out • Bigger datasets like SEGUE will offer much better chances to find local streams Student Workshop