STREAMFINDER I: A New Algorithm for detecting Stellar Streams

Abstract

We have designed a powerful new algorithm to detect stellar streams in an automated and systematic way. The algorithm, which we call the STREAMFINDER, is well suited for finding dynamically cold and thin stream structures that may lie along any simple or complex orbits in Galactic stellar surveys containing any combination of positional and kinematic information. In the present contribution we introduce the algorithm, lay out the ideas behind it, explain the methodology adopted to detect streams and detail its workings by running it on a suite of simulations of mock Galactic survey data of similar quality to that expected from the ESA/Gaia mission. We show that our algorithm is able to detect even ultra-faint stream features lying well below previous detection limits. Tests show that our algorithm will be able to detect distant halo stream structures $>10^{\circ }$ long containing as few as $\sim 15$ members (${\Sigma }_{\mathrm{G}}\sim 33.6\mathrm{mag}\mathrm{arcse}{\mathrm{c}}^{-2}$) in the Gaia dataset.

16 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• Detection of Strong Epicyclic Density Spikes in the GD-1 Stellar Stream. An Absence of Evidence for the Influence of Dark Matter Subhalos?
• Phlegethon, a nearby $75°$-long retrograde stellar stream
• Identifying Stellar Streams in Gaia DR2 with Data Mining Techniques
• Via Machinae: Searching for Stellar Streams using Unsupervised Machine Learning
• Detection of a 50 degree-long Trailing Tidal Tail for the Globular Cluster M5
• Chasing Accreted Structures within Gaia DR2 using Deep Learning
• The Complexity of the Cetus Stream Unveiled from the Fusion of STREAMFINDER and StarGO
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• Exploring the outskirts of globular clusters: the peculiar kinematics of NGC 3201
• Statistical detection of a tidal stream associated with the globular cluster M68 using Gaia data
• Phase-space correlation in stellar streams of the Milky Way halo: The clash of Kshir and GD-1
• A machine learning-based tool for open cluster membership determination in Gaia DR3
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• The Hough Stream Spotter: A New Method for Detecting Linear Structure in Resolved Stars and Application to the Stellar Halo of M31
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• High Resolution Optical Spectroscopy of Stars in the Sylgr Stellar Stream
• The tidal stream generated by the globular cluster NGC 3201
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• Milky Way archaeology using RR Lyrae and type II Cepheids I. The Orphan stream in 7D using RR Lyrae stars
• The structure of accreted stellar streams
• 1-DREAM: 1D Recovery, Extraction and Analysis of Manifolds in noisy environments
• Uncovering fossils of the distant Milky Way with UNIONS: NGC 5466 and its stellar stream
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• Probability of forming gaps in the GD-1 stream by close encounters of globular clusters
• The Extended Tidal Tails of NGC 7089 (M2)
• Evidence for multiple nucleosynthetic processes from carbon enhanced metal-poor stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• New constraints on the dark matter density profiles of dwarf galaxies from proper motions of globular cluster streams
• The Spectacular Tidal Tails of Globular Cluster M3 (NGC 5272)
• On the Edge: the relation between stellar and dark matter haloes of Milky Way-mass galaxies
• LMC-driven anisotropic boosts in stream--subhalo interactions
• Variation in the Stellar Mass Function Along Stellar Streams
• Prospects for Detecting Gaps in Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in External Galaxies with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
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• Uniform Modelling of the Stellar Density of Thirteen Tidal Streams within the Galactic Halo
• The Multiple Extended Tidal Tails of NGC 288
• RR Lyrae stars as probes of the outer Galactic halo: Chemical and kinematic analysis of a pilot sample
• Revisit NGC 5466 Tidal Stream with $Gaia$, SDSS/SEGUE and LAMOST
• Weakly-Supervised Anomaly Detection in the Milky Way
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• The Sagittarius stellar stream embedded in a fermionic dark matter halo
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• DELVE-ing into the Milky Way's Globular Clusters: Assessing extra-tidal features in NGC 5897, NGC 7492, and testing detectability with deeper photometry
• COSTA: the COld STream finder Algorithm. Searching for kinematical substructures in the phase space of discrete tracers
• Globular Clusters in the Sagittarius stream. Revising members and candidates with Gaia DR2
• From the Fire: A Deeper Look at the Phoenix Stream