Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data

E. Luque; A. Queiroz; B. Santiago; A. Pieres; E. Balbinot; K. Bechtol; A. Drlica-Wagner; A. Fausti Neto; L. N. da Costa; M. A.G. Maia; B. Yanny; T. Abbott; S. Allam; A. Benoit-Lévy; E. Bertin; D. Brooks; E. Buckley-Geer; D. L. Burke; A. Carnero Rosell; M. Carrasco Kind; J. Carretero; C. E. Cunha; S. Desai; H. T. Diehl; J. P. Dietrich; T. F. Eifler; D. A. Finley; B. Flaugher; P. Fosalba; J. Frieman; D. W. Gerdes; D. Gruen; G. Gutierrez; K. Honscheid; D. J. James; K. Kuehn; N. Kuropatkin; O. Lahav; T. S. Li; M. March; J. L. Marshall; P. Martini; R. Miquel; E. Neilsen; R. C. Nichol; B. Nord; R. Ogando; A. A. Plazas; A. K. Romer; A. Roodman; E. Sanchez; V. Scarpine; M. Schubnell; I. Sevilla-Noarbe; R. C. Smith; M. Soares-Santos; F. Sobreira; E. Suchyta; M. E.C. Swanson; G. Tarle; J. Thaler; D. Tucker; A. R. Walker; Y. Zhang

doi:10.1093/mnras/stw302

Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data

E. Luque, A. Queiroz, B. Santiago, A. Pieres, E. Balbinot, K. Bechtol, A. Drlica-Wagner, A. Fausti Neto, L. N. da Costa, M. A.G. Maia, B. Yanny, T. Abbott, S. Allam, A. Benoit-Lévy, E. Bertin, D. Brooks, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco KindJ. Carretero, C. E. Cunha, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, J. P. Dietrich, T. F. Eifler, D. A. Finley, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, J. Frieman, D. W. Gerdes, D. Gruen, G. Gutierrez, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, K. Kuehn, N. Kuropatkin, O. Lahav, T. S. Li, M. March, J. L. Marshall, P. Martini, R. Miquel, E. Neilsen, R. C. Nichol, B. Nord, R. Ogando, A. A. Plazas, A. K. Romer, A. Roodman, E. Sanchez, V. Scarpine, M. Schubnell, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, R. C. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, M. E.C. Swanson, G. Tarle, J. Thaler, D. Tucker, A. R. Walker, Y. Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

We use the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data down to previously unprobed photometric depths to search for stellar systems in the Galactic halo, therefore complementing the previous analysis of the same data carried out by our group earlier this year. Our search is based on a matched filter algorithm that produces stellar density maps consistent with stellar population models of various ages, metallicities, and distances over the survey area. The most conspicuous density peaks in these maps have been identified automatically and ranked according to their significance and recurrence for different input models. We report the discovery of one additional stellar system besides those previously found by several authors using the same first-year DES data. The object is compact, and consistent with being dominated by an old and metal-poor population. DES 1 is found at high significance and appears in the DES images as a compact concentration of faint blue point sources. Assuming different spatial profile parameterizations, the best-fitting heliocentric distance and total absolute magnitude in the range of 77.6-87.1 kpc and -3.00 ≲ MV ≲ -2.21, respectively. The half-light radius of this object, r_h ~ 10 pc and total luminosity are consistent with it being a low-mass halo cluster. It is also found to have a very elongated shape (eopen ~ 0.57). In addition, our deeper probe of DES first-year data confirms the recently reported satellite galaxy candidate Horologium II as a significant stellar overdensity. We also infer its structural properties and compare them to those reported in the literature.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	603-612
Number of pages	10
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	458
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw302
State	Published - Feb 22 2016
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This paper has gone through internal review by the DES collaboration. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the US Department of Energy, the US National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology FacilitiesCouncil of theUnitedKingdom, theHigher Education Funding Council for England, the NationalCenter for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundaç ão Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovaç ão, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the DES. The DESDM system is supported by the National Science Foundation underGrant Number AST-1138766. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2012- 39559, ESP2013-48274, FPA2013-47986, and Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2012-0234, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Enérgeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universit ät München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, and Texas A&M University. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number AST-1138766. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2012-39559, ESP2013- 48274, FPA2013-47986, and Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2012-0234. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. EB acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC-StG-335936, CLUSTERS).

Funders	Funder number
Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa	SEV-2012-0234
Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory
Institut de Ciències de l’Espai
Ministério da Ciencia
Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University
National Science Foundation	AST-1138766
U.S. Department of Energy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Stanford University
Fermilab
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Pennsylvania
Ohio State University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
Texas A and M University
University of Portsmouth
National Centre for Supercomputing Applications
Seventh Framework Programme	1138766, 240672, 306478, 335936, 291329
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Higher Education Funding Council for England
University College London
European Commission
European Research Council
University of Nottingham
University of Sussex
University of Edinburgh
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad	ESP2013- 48274, FPA2013-47986, AYA2012-39559
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
European Regional Development Fund
Institut de Física d'Altes Energies

Keywords

Galaxies: dwarf
Globular clusters: general
Globular clusters: individual (DES 1)

Access to Document

10.1093/mnras/stw302

Cite this

Luque, E., Queiroz, A., Santiago, B., Pieres, A., Balbinot, E., Bechtol, K., Drlica-Wagner, A., Fausti Neto, A., N. da Costa, L., Maia, M. A. G., Yanny, B., Abbott, T., Allam, S., Benoit-Lévy, A., Bertin, E., Brooks, D., Buckley-Geer, E., Burke, D. L., Carnero Rosell, A., ... Zhang, Y. (2016). Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 458(1), 603-612. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw302

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title = "Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data",

abstract = "We use the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data down to previously unprobed photometric depths to search for stellar systems in the Galactic halo, therefore complementing the previous analysis of the same data carried out by our group earlier this year. Our search is based on a matched filter algorithm that produces stellar density maps consistent with stellar population models of various ages, metallicities, and distances over the survey area. The most conspicuous density peaks in these maps have been identified automatically and ranked according to their significance and recurrence for different input models. We report the discovery of one additional stellar system besides those previously found by several authors using the same first-year DES data. The object is compact, and consistent with being dominated by an old and metal-poor population. DES 1 is found at high significance and appears in the DES images as a compact concentration of faint blue point sources. Assuming different spatial profile parameterizations, the best-fitting heliocentric distance and total absolute magnitude in the range of 77.6-87.1 kpc and -3.00 ≲ MV ≲ -2.21, respectively. The half-light radius of this object, rh ~ 10 pc and total luminosity are consistent with it being a low-mass halo cluster. It is also found to have a very elongated shape (eopen ~ 0.57). In addition, our deeper probe of DES first-year data confirms the recently reported satellite galaxy candidate Horologium II as a significant stellar overdensity. We also infer its structural properties and compare them to those reported in the literature.",

keywords = "Galaxies: dwarf, Globular clusters: general, Globular clusters: individual (DES 1)",

author = "E. Luque and A. Queiroz and B. Santiago and A. Pieres and E. Balbinot and K. Bechtol and A. Drlica-Wagner and {Fausti Neto}, A. and {N. da Costa}, L. and Maia, {M. A.G.} and B. Yanny and T. Abbott and S. Allam and A. Benoit-L{\'e}vy and E. Bertin and D. Brooks and E. Buckley-Geer and Burke, {D. L.} and {Carnero Rosell}, A. and {Carrasco Kind}, M. and J. Carretero and Cunha, {C. E.} and S. Desai and Diehl, {H. T.} and Dietrich, {J. P.} and Eifler, {T. F.} and Finley, {D. A.} and B. Flaugher and P. Fosalba and J. Frieman and Gerdes, {D. W.} and D. Gruen and G. Gutierrez and K. Honscheid and James, {D. J.} and K. Kuehn and N. Kuropatkin and O. Lahav and Li, {T. S.} and M. March and Marshall, {J. L.} and P. Martini and R. Miquel and E. Neilsen and Nichol, {R. C.} and B. Nord and R. Ogando and Plazas, {A. A.} and Romer, {A. K.} and A. Roodman and E. Sanchez and V. Scarpine and M. Schubnell and I. Sevilla-Noarbe and Smith, {R. C.} and M. Soares-Santos and F. Sobreira and E. Suchyta and Swanson, {M. E.C.} and G. Tarle and J. Thaler and D. Tucker and Walker, {A. R.} and Y. Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 The Authors.",

year = "2016",

month = feb,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stw302",

language = "English",

volume = "458",

pages = "603--612",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "1",

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Luque, E, Queiroz, A, Santiago, B, Pieres, A, Balbinot, E, Bechtol, K, Drlica-Wagner, A, Fausti Neto, A, N. da Costa, L, Maia, MAG, Yanny, B, Abbott, T, Allam, S, Benoit-Lévy, A, Bertin, E, Brooks, D, Buckley-Geer, E, Burke, DL, Carnero Rosell, A, Carrasco Kind, M, Carretero, J, Cunha, CE, Desai, S, Diehl, HT, Dietrich, JP, Eifler, TF, Finley, DA, Flaugher, B, Fosalba, P, Frieman, J, Gerdes, DW, Gruen, D, Gutierrez, G, Honscheid, K, James, DJ, Kuehn, K, Kuropatkin, N, Lahav, O, Li, TS, March, M, Marshall, JL, Martini, P, Miquel, R, Neilsen, E, Nichol, RC, Nord, B, Ogando, R, Plazas, AA, Romer, AK, Roodman, A, Sanchez, E, Scarpine, V, Schubnell, M, Sevilla-Noarbe, I, Smith, RC, Soares-Santos, M, Sobreira, F, Suchyta, E, Swanson, MEC, Tarle, G, Thaler, J, Tucker, D, Walker, AR & Zhang, Y 2016, 'Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 458, no. 1, pp. 603-612. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw302

TY - JOUR

T1 - Digging deeper into the southern skies

T2 - A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data

AU - Luque, E.

AU - Queiroz, A.

AU - Santiago, B.

AU - Pieres, A.

AU - Balbinot, E.

AU - Bechtol, K.

AU - Drlica-Wagner, A.

AU - Fausti Neto, A.

AU - N. da Costa, L.

AU - Maia, M. A.G.

AU - Yanny, B.

AU - Abbott, T.

AU - Allam, S.

AU - Benoit-Lévy, A.

AU - Bertin, E.

AU - Brooks, D.

AU - Buckley-Geer, E.

AU - Burke, D. L.

AU - Carnero Rosell, A.

AU - Carrasco Kind, M.

AU - Carretero, J.

AU - Cunha, C. E.

AU - Desai, S.

AU - Diehl, H. T.

AU - Dietrich, J. P.

AU - Eifler, T. F.

AU - Finley, D. A.

AU - Flaugher, B.

AU - Fosalba, P.

AU - Frieman, J.

AU - Gerdes, D. W.

AU - Gruen, D.

AU - Gutierrez, G.

AU - Honscheid, K.

AU - James, D. J.

AU - Kuehn, K.

AU - Kuropatkin, N.

AU - Lahav, O.

AU - Li, T. S.

AU - March, M.

AU - Marshall, J. L.

AU - Martini, P.

AU - Miquel, R.

AU - Neilsen, E.

AU - Nichol, R. C.

AU - Nord, B.

AU - Ogando, R.

AU - Plazas, A. A.

AU - Romer, A. K.

AU - Roodman, A.

AU - Sanchez, E.

AU - Scarpine, V.

AU - Schubnell, M.

AU - Sevilla-Noarbe, I.

AU - Smith, R. C.

AU - Soares-Santos, M.

AU - Sobreira, F.

AU - Suchyta, E.

AU - Swanson, M. E.C.

AU - Tarle, G.

AU - Thaler, J.

AU - Tucker, D.

AU - Walker, A. R.

AU - Zhang, Y.

PY - 2016/2/22

Y1 - 2016/2/22

N2 - We use the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data down to previously unprobed photometric depths to search for stellar systems in the Galactic halo, therefore complementing the previous analysis of the same data carried out by our group earlier this year. Our search is based on a matched filter algorithm that produces stellar density maps consistent with stellar population models of various ages, metallicities, and distances over the survey area. The most conspicuous density peaks in these maps have been identified automatically and ranked according to their significance and recurrence for different input models. We report the discovery of one additional stellar system besides those previously found by several authors using the same first-year DES data. The object is compact, and consistent with being dominated by an old and metal-poor population. DES 1 is found at high significance and appears in the DES images as a compact concentration of faint blue point sources. Assuming different spatial profile parameterizations, the best-fitting heliocentric distance and total absolute magnitude in the range of 77.6-87.1 kpc and -3.00 ≲ MV ≲ -2.21, respectively. The half-light radius of this object, rh ~ 10 pc and total luminosity are consistent with it being a low-mass halo cluster. It is also found to have a very elongated shape (eopen ~ 0.57). In addition, our deeper probe of DES first-year data confirms the recently reported satellite galaxy candidate Horologium II as a significant stellar overdensity. We also infer its structural properties and compare them to those reported in the literature.

AB - We use the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data down to previously unprobed photometric depths to search for stellar systems in the Galactic halo, therefore complementing the previous analysis of the same data carried out by our group earlier this year. Our search is based on a matched filter algorithm that produces stellar density maps consistent with stellar population models of various ages, metallicities, and distances over the survey area. The most conspicuous density peaks in these maps have been identified automatically and ranked according to their significance and recurrence for different input models. We report the discovery of one additional stellar system besides those previously found by several authors using the same first-year DES data. The object is compact, and consistent with being dominated by an old and metal-poor population. DES 1 is found at high significance and appears in the DES images as a compact concentration of faint blue point sources. Assuming different spatial profile parameterizations, the best-fitting heliocentric distance and total absolute magnitude in the range of 77.6-87.1 kpc and -3.00 ≲ MV ≲ -2.21, respectively. The half-light radius of this object, rh ~ 10 pc and total luminosity are consistent with it being a low-mass halo cluster. It is also found to have a very elongated shape (eopen ~ 0.57). In addition, our deeper probe of DES first-year data confirms the recently reported satellite galaxy candidate Horologium II as a significant stellar overdensity. We also infer its structural properties and compare them to those reported in the literature.

KW - Galaxies: dwarf

KW - Globular clusters: general

KW - Globular clusters: individual (DES 1)

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962232841&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stw302

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stw302

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84962232841

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 458

SP - 603

EP - 612

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 1

ER -

Digging deeper into the southern skies: A compact milky way companion discovered in first-year dark energy survey data

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