Kinematic modelling of clusters with Gaia: the Death Throes of the Hyades

Abstract

The precision of the Gaia data offers a unique opportunity to study the internal velocity field of star clusters. We develop and validate a forward-modelling method for the internal motions of stars in a cluster. The model allows an anisotropic velocity dispersion matrix and linear velocity gradient describing rotation and shear, combines radial velocities available for a subset of stars, and accounts for contamination from background sources via a mixture model. We apply the method to Gaia DR2 data of the Hyades cluster and its tidal tails, dividing and comparing the kinematics of stars within and beyond 10 pc, which is roughly the tidal radius of the cluster. While the velocity dispersion for the cluster is nearly isotropic, the velocity ellipsoid for the tails is clearly elongated with the major axis pointing towards the Galactic centre. We find positive and negative expansion at $\approx 2\sigma$ significance in Galactic azimuthal and vertical direction for the cluster but no rotation. The tidal tails are stretching in a direction tilted from the Galactic centre while equally contracting as the cluster in Galactic vertical direction. The tails have a shear (A) of $16.90\pm 0.92$ m/s/pc and a vorticity (B) of $-6.48\pm 1.15$ m/s/pc, values distinct from the local Oort constants.

15 pages, 9 figures + appendix

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Asymmetrical tidal tails of open star clusters: stars crossing their cluster's prah challenge Newtonian gravitation
• Mass Segregation in the Hyades Cluster
• Accurate mass-radius ratios for Hyades white dwarfs
• The 800pc long tidal tails of the Hyades star cluster: Possible discovery of candidate epicyclic overdensities from an open star cluster
• The Gaia Ultracool Dwarf Sample -- IV. GTC/OSIRIS optical spectra of Gaia late-M and L dwarfs
• Charting galactic accelerations II: how to 'learn' accelerations in the solar neighbourhood