The Milky Way's external disc constrained by 2MASS star counts

Abstract

Context. Thanks to recent large scale surveys in the near infrared such as 2MASS, the galactic plane that most suffers from extinction is revealed and its overall structure can be studied. Aims. This work aims at constraining the structure of the Milky Way external disc as seen in 2MASS data, and in particular the warp. Methods. We use the Two Micron All Sky Survey (hereafter 2MASS) along with the Stellar Population Synthesis Model of the Galaxy, developed in Besancon, to constrain the external disc parameters such as its scale length, its cutoff radius, and the slope of the warp. In order to properly interpret the observations, the simulated stars are reddened using a three dimensional extinction map. The shape of the stellar warp is then compared with previous results and with similar structures in gas and dust. Results. We find new constraints on the stellar disc, which is shown to be asymmetrical, similar to observations of HI. The positive longitude side is found to be easily modelled with a S shape warp but with a slope significantly smaller than the slope seen in the HI warp. At negative longitudes, the disc presents peculiarities which are not well reproduced by any simple model. Finally, comparing with the warp seen in the dust, it seems to follow a slope intermediate between the gas and the stars.

9 pages. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (17)

• Modelling the Galactic Interstellar Extinction Distribution in Three Dimensions
• A dwarf galaxy remnant in Canis Major: the fossil of an in-plane accretion onto the Milky Way
• Outer structure of the Galactic warp and flare: explaining the Canis Major over-density
• Old stellar Galactic disc in near-plane regions according to 2MASS: scales, cut-off, flare and warp
• Three-Dimensional Distribution of the ISM in the Milky Way Galaxy: I. The HI Disk
• The Vertical Structure of the Outer Milky Way HI Disk
• A Magellanic Origin for the Warp of the Galaxy
• Probing the Canis Major stellar over-density as due to the Galactic warp
• The Closest View of a Dwarf Galaxy: New Evidence on the Nature of the Canis Major over-density
• 3D outer bulge structure from near infrared star counts
• Chemical enrichment and star formation in the Milky Way disk III. Chemodynamical constraints
• Why the Canis Major overdensity is not due to the Warp: analysis of its radial profile and velocities
• A radial velocity survey of low Galactic latitude structures: I. Kinematics of the Canis Major dwarf galaxy
• Evidence for coupling between the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and the Milky Way warp
• Modeling the Stellar Populations in the Canis Major Over-Density: the Relation Between the Old and Young Populations
• A Canis Major over-density imaging survey. I. Stellar content and star-count maps : A distinctly elongated body of main sequence stars
• Galactic Warp in the overdensity of the Canis Major Region

Cited by in corpus (91)

• The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)
• The Galaxy in Context: Structural, Kinematic and Integrated Properties
• The Dark Energy Survey: more than dark energy - an overview
• Painting a portrait of the Galactic disc with its stellar clusters
• Gaia Data Release 2: Mapping the Milky Way disc kinematics
• The dark matter density at the Sun's location
• The Dark Matter Halo of the Milky Way, AD 2013
• Footprints of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the $Gaia$ data set
• Galaxy Disks
• The observed spiral structure of the Milky Way
• Stellar populations in the Milky Way bulge region : Towards solving the Galactic bulge and bar shapes using 2MASS data
• Mapping the stellar structure of the Milky Way thick disk and halo using SEGUE photometry
• The stellar population structure of the Galactic disk
• Gaia Universe Model Snapshot : A statistical analysis of the expected contents of the Gaia catalogue
• The age-metallicity structure of the Milky Way disk
• A three-dimensional map of the Milky Way using classical Cepheid variable stars
• The Besancon Galaxy model renewed I. Constraints on the local star formation history from Tycho data
• Response of the Milky Way's disc to the Large Magellanic Cloud in a first infall scenario
• Warp, Waves, and Wrinkles in the Milky Way
• The Galactic warp revealed by Gaia DR2 kinematics
• ExELS: an exoplanet legacy science proposal for the ESA Euclid mission I. Cold exoplanets
• Constraining the structure and formation of the Galactic bulge from a field in its outskirts. FLAMES-GIRAFFE spectra of about 400 red giants around (l,b)=(0°,-10°)
• Evidence of a dynamically evolving Galactic warp
• Evolution over time of the Milky Way's disc shape
• Flare in the Galactic stellar outer disc detected in SDSS-SEGUE data
• Mapping the Milky Way with LAMOST III: Complicated spatial structure in the outer disc
• The Edge of the Milky Way Stellar Disk Revealed Using Clump Giant Stars as Distance Indicators
• Gaia Data Release 3: Chemical cartography of the Milky Way
• The 3D Velocity Structure of the Thick Disk from SPM4 and RAVE DR2
• Bending Waves in the Milky Way's disc from halo substructure
• Stellar mass distribution and star formation history of the Galactic disk revealed by mono-age stellar populations from LAMOST
• Gaia kinematics reveal a complex lopsided and twisted Galactic disc warp
• Distribution and characteristics of Infrared Dark Clouds using genetic forward modelling
• The Information Of The Milky Way From 2MASS Whole Sky Star Count: The Structure Parameters
• Exploring the Galactic Warp Through Asymmetries in the Kinematics of the Galactic Disk
• More than just a wrinkle: A wave-like pattern in radial velocity vs. angular momentum from Gaia Data
• A Gaia early DR3 mock stellar catalog: Galactic prior and selection function
• The Structure of the Outer Galactic Disc as revealed by IPHAS early A Stars
• On Rings and Streams in the Galactic Anti-Center
• Dynamics of Disks and Warps
• Mapping the Monoceros Ring in 3D with Pan-STARRS1
• Mapping the Galactic disk with the LAMOST and Gaia Red clump sample. VI: An evidence for the long lived non-steady warp of non-gravitational scenarios
• Mapping the Galactic disk with the LAMOST and Gaia Red clump sample. II. 3D asymmetrical kinematics of mono-age populations in the disk between 6$-14$ \,kpc
• Gaia-DR2 extended kinematical maps. Part I: Method and application
• Tracing the Milky Way warp and spiral arms with classical Cepheids
• A Galaxy Model from 2MASS Star Counts in the Whole Sky Including the Plane
• Spontaneous generation of bending waves in isolated Milky Way-like discs
• Vertical velocities from proper motions of red clump giants
• The SEGUE K Giant Survey. III. Quantifying Galactic Halo Substructure
• Gaia-DR2 extended kinematical maps. Part II: Dynamics in the Galactic disk explaining radial and vertical velocities
• The Pristine survey XIII: Uncovering the very metal-poor tail of the thin disc
• Milky Way rotation curve from proper motions of red clump giants
• Disk stars in the Milky Way detected beyond 25 kpc from its center
• Constraining the Galactic structure parameters with the XSTPS-GAC and SDSS photometric surveys
• Dynamical model of the Milky Way using APOGEE and Gaia data
• Does the stellar distribution flare? A comparison of stellar scale heights with LAB HI data
• Three-dimensional structure of the milky way dust: modeling of LAMOST data
• Molecular clouds in the extreme outer Galaxy between $l=34.75^{\circ }$ to $45.25^{\circ }$
• A deep view of the Monoceros ring in the Anticenter direction: clues of its extra-Galactic origin
• Microlensing optical depth and event rate in the OGLE-IV Galactic plane fields
• Structure of the outer Galactic disc with Gaia-DR2
• The kinematic signature of the Galactic warp in Gaia DR1 - I. The Hipparcos subsample
• A twisted and precessing Cepheid warp in the outer Milky Way disc
• The Dark Energy Survey: Prospects for Resolved Stellar Populations
• Characterizing the Galactic warp with Gaia: I. The tilted ring model with a twist
• A-type stars in the Canada-France Imaging Survey II. Tracing the height of the disc at large distances with Blue Stragglers
• On the radial extent of the dwarf irregular galaxy IC10
• A Case against a Significant Detection of Precession in the Galactic Warp
• Warp and flare of the old Galactic disc as traced by the red clump stars
• The Great Wave: Evidence of a large-scale vertical corrugation propagating outwards in the Galactic disc
• On the Flaring of Thick Disc of Galaxies: Insights from Simulations
• The Distant Outer Gas Arm Between l=35d and l=45d
• The Relationship Between X-ray Luminosity and Duty Cycle for Dwarf Novae and their Specific Frequency in the Inner Galaxy
• Near-infrared and optical observations of galactic warps: A common, unexplained feature of most discs
• A new dynamically self-consistent version of the Besançon Galaxy Model
• Constraining Galactic Magnetic Field Models with Starlight Polarimetry
• A Holistic Review of a Galactic Interaction
• A Zone of Avoidance catalogue of 2MASS bright galaxies. I. Sample description and analysis
• Evidence for Populations-dependent vertical motions and the Long-lived Non-Steady Lopsided Milky Way Warp
• FEDReD I: 3D extinction and stellar maps by Bayesian deconvolution
• Nonaxisymmetric models of galaxy velocity maps
• Internally-driven warps in disc galaxies
• Prospects for Detecting Gaps in Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in External Galaxies with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
• A radiation transfer model for the Milky Way. II The global properties and large scale structure
• A chemical and kinematical analysis of the intermediate-age open cluster IC 166 from APOGEE and Gaia DR2
• Mapping non-axisymmetric velocity fields of external galaxies
• Comparing the structural parameters of the Milky Way to other spiral galaxies
• Stellar statistics along the ecliptic and the impact on the K2 mission concept
• Outer Regions of the Milky Way
• Mapping the Milky Way with Gaia Bp/Rp spectra-IV: the broken and asymmetric density profile of the stellar disk traced by a large sample of red clumps
• Azimuthal Misalignments in Stellar Warp Structure as Dynamical Tracers of Mergers in Milky Way-like Galaxies