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Halo Wide Binaries and Moving Clusters as Probes of the Dynamical and Merger History of our Galaxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2007

Christine Allen ,
Arcadio Poveda  and
A. Hernández-Alcántara
Christine Allen
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México D.F. email: [email protected]
Arcadio Poveda
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México D.F. email: [email protected]
A. Hernández-Alcántara
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México D.F. email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Wide or fragile pairs are sensitive probes of the galactic potential, and they have been used to provide information about the galactic tidal field, the density of GMC and the masses of dark matter perturbers present in both the disk and the halo. Halo wide binaries and moving clusters, since they are likely to be the remains of past mergers or of dissolved clusters, can provide information on the dynamical and merger history of our Galaxy. Such remnants should continue to show similar motions over times of the order of their ages. We have looked for phase space groupings among the low-metallicity stars of Schuster et al (2006) and have identified a number of candidate moving clusters. In several of the moving clusters we found a wide CPM binary already identified in our catalogue of wide binaries among high-velocity and metal-poor stars (Allen et al 2000a). Spectroscopic follow-up studies of these stars would confirm the physical reality of the groups, as well as allow us to distinguish whether their progenitors are dissolved clusters or accreted extragalactic systems.

Keywords

Galaxy: halo. Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics. Binarieswide
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S240: Binary Stars as Critical Tools & Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics , August 2006 , pp. 405 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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