Publication Date:
2016-12-23
Description:
We present a novel analysis of the internal kinematics of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Our results are based on the largest sample of spectroscopic data for Fornax stars presently available (〉2500 stars), for which we have chemical and kinematic information. We introduce new software, beacon , designed to detect chemo-kinematic patterns among stars of different stellar populations using their metallicity and velocity along the line of sight. Applying beacon to Fornax, we have detected non-negligible rotation signals around main optical axes of the galaxy, characteristic for a triaxial system partially supported by rotation. The dominant rotation pattern is relatively strong (~12 km s –1 ), but the galaxy also shows additional weaker albeit complex rotation patterns. Using the information available from the star formation history of Fornax, we have also derived the average age of the different chemo-kinematic components found by beacon , which has allowed us to obtain its kinematic history. Our results point to a possible major merger suffered by Fornax at redshift z ~ 1, in agreement with the previous works.
Print ISSN:
0035-8711
Electronic ISSN:
1365-2966
Topics:
Physics
Permalink
