The accretion history of the Milky Way. I. How it shapes globular clusters and dwarf galaxies

Abstract

Halo inhabitants are individual stars, stellar streams, star and globular clusters, and dwarf galaxies. Here we compare the two last categories that include objects of similar stellar mass, which are often studied as self-dynamical equilibrium systems. We discover that the half-light radius of globular clusters depends on their orbital pericenter and total energy, and that Milky Way (MW) tides may explain the observed correlation. We also suggest that the accretion epoch of stellar systems in the MW halo can be calibrated by the total orbital energy, and that such a relation is due to both the mass growth of the MW and dynamical friction affecting mostly satellites with numerous orbits. This calibration starts from the bulge, to Kraken, Gaia Sausage Enceladus, Sagittarius stellar systems, and finally to the new coming dwarfs, either or not linked to the vast-polar structure. The most eccentric globular clusters and dwarfs have their half-light radius scaling as the inverse of their binding energy, and this over more than two decades. This means that earlier arriving satellites are smaller due to the tidal effects of the MW. Therefore, most halo inhabitants appear to have their structural parameters shaped by MW tides and also by ram-pressure for the most recent arrivals, the dwarf galaxies. The correlations found in this study can be used as tools to further investigate the origin of globular clusters and dwarfs, as well as the assembly history of our Galaxy.

18 pages, 8 Figures, 2 Tables with orbital properties of globular clusters, accepted in MNRAS, December the 12, 2022, version similar to the printed version

References in corpus (33)

• Gaia EDR3 view on Galactic globular clusters
• Accurate distances to Galactic globular clusters through a combination of Gaia EDR3, HST and literature data
• Tango for three: Sagittarius, LMC, and the Milky Way
• On the frequency, intensity and duration of starburst episodes triggered by galaxy interactions and mergers
• Kraken reveals itself -- the merger history of the Milky Way reconstructed with the E-MOSAICS simulations
• The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters: M54 and Young Populations in the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• N-body modeling of globular clusters: Masses, mass-to-light ratios and intermediate-mass black holes
• The Orbital Histories of Magellanic Satellites Using Gaia DR2 Proper Motions
• Co-orbiting satellite galaxy structures are still in conflict with the distribution of primordial dwarf galaxies
• The Global Dynamical Atlas of the Milky Way mergers: Constraints from Gaia EDR3 based orbits of globular clusters, stellar streams and satellite galaxies
• Charting the Galactic acceleration field I. A search for stellar streams with Gaia DR2 and EDR3 with follow-up from ESPaDOnS and UVES
• Proper Motions, Orbits, and Tidal Influences of Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• IMAGES I. Strong evolution of galaxy kinematics since z=1
• Globular cluster number density profiles using Gaia DR2
• The global mass functions of 35 Galactic globular clusters: I. Observational data and correlations with cluster parameters
• Reproducing properties of MW dSphs as descendants of DM-free TDGs
• Chemical abundances in the nucleus of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• A deep view into the nucleus of the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy with MUSE. I. Data and stellar population characterization
• A Milky Way with a massive, centrally concentrated thick disc: new Galactic mass models for orbit computations
• Absolute V-band magnitudes and mass-to-light ratios of Galactic globular clusters
• Introducing EMP-Pathfinder: modelling the simultaneous formation and evolution of stellar clusters in their host galaxies
• The construction of non-spherical models of quasi-relaxed stellar systems
• On stellar mass loss from galaxies in groups and clusters
• The tangential velocity excess of the Milky Way satellites
• Orbital evidences for dark-matter-free Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• Mapping the Tidal Disruption of the Hercules Dwarf: A Wide-Field DECam Imaging Search for RR Lyrae Stars
• Exploding Satellites -- The Tidal Debris of the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Hercules
• Which Milky Way masses are consistent with the slightly declining 5-25 kpc rotation curve?
• A MegaCam Survey of Outer Halo Satellites. VII. A Single Sérsic Index v/s Effective Radius Relation for Milky Way Outer Halo Satellites
• The Dark Matter Tidal Stripping History of the Sagittarius Core with N-body simulations
• On the response of a star cluster to a tidal perturbation
• A New Proper Motion Determination of Leo I
• Reconstructing the whole 6D properties of the Sagittarius stream with N-body simulations

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Detection of the Keplerian decline in the Milky Way rotation curve
• The distribution of globular clusters in kinematic spaces does not trace the accretion history of the host galaxy
• A portrait of the Vast Polar Structure as a young phenomenon: hints from its member satellites
• High-speed stars. II. An unbound star, young stars, bulge metal-poor stars, and Aurora candidates
• Peeking beneath the precision floor -- II. Probing the chemo-dynamical histories of the potential globular cluster siblings, NGC 288 and NGC 362
• The Milky Way accretion history compared to cosmological simulations -- from bulge to dwarf galaxy infall
• Diving into dangerous tides: The impact of galaxy cluster tidal environments on satellite galaxy mass densities
• Survivors and Zombies: The Quenching and Disruption of Satellites around Milky Way Analogs
• Star Formation Histories of Dwarf Spheroidal and Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies in the Local Universe
• An intriguing coincidence between the majority of vast polar structure dwarfs and a recent major merger at the M31 position
• Massive Star Clusters in the Semi-Analytical Galaxy Formation Model L-Galaxies 2020