The Shape and Profile of the Milky Way Halo as Seen by the CFHT Legacy Survey

Branimir Sesar; Mario Juric; Zeljko Ivezic

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The Shape and Profile of the Milky Way Halo as Seen by the CFHT Legacy Survey

Branimir Sesar, Mario Juric, Zeljko Ivezic

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 19 Nov 2010

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim We find that the halo stellar number density profile becomes steeper at Galactocentric distances greater than R_{gal}~28 kpc, with the power law index changing from n_{inner}=-2.62+-0.04 to n_{outer}=-3.8+-0.1.

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arXiv ID1011.4487 (version 2)

Pith IDFQM42FOR, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationBranimir Sesar, Mario Juric, Zeljko Ivezic. "The Shape and Profile of the Milky Way Halo as Seen by the CFHT Legacy Survey." arXiv:1011.4487 (2010). https://pith.science/paper/FQM42FOR

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The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.34 · human participants 0.02 · controlled comparison 0.10 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.99 · compares with prior results 0.39 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

We use Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data for 170 deg^2, recalibrated and transformed to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri photometric system, to study the distribution of near-turnoff main-sequence stars in the Galactic halo along four lines of sight to heliocentric distances of ~35 kpc. We find that the halo stellar number density profile becomes steeper at Galactocentric distances greater than R_{gal}~28 kpc, with the power law index changing from n_{inner}=-2.62+-0.04 to n_{outer}=-3.8+-0.1. In particular, we test a series of single power law models and find them to be strongly disfavored by the data. The parameters for the best-fit Einasto profile are n=2.2+-0.2 and R_e=22.2+-0.4 kpc. We measure the oblateness of the halo to be q=c/a=0.70+-0.01 and detect no evidence of it changing across the range of probed distances. The Sagittarius stream is detected in the l=173 and b=-62 direction as an overdensity of [Fe/H] ~ -1.5 dex stars at R_{gal}~32 kpc, providing a new constraint for the Sagittarius stream and dark matter halo models. We also detect the Monoceros stream as an overdensity of [Fe/H] > -1.5 dex stars in the l=232 and b=26 direction at R_{gal}<25 kpc. In the two sightlines where we do not detect significant substructure, the median metallicity is found to be independent of distance within systematic uncertainties ([Fe/H] ~ -1.5+-0.1 dex).

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	We use Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data for 170 deg^2, recalibrated and transformed to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri photometric system, to study the distribution of near-turnoff main-sequence stars in the Galactic halo along four lines of sight to heliocentric distances of ~35 kpc.	method 0.96	0.94	0.03	asserted 0.93
s1	We find that the halo stellar number density profile becomes steeper at Galactocentric distances greater than R_{gal}~28 kpc, with the power law index changing from n_{inner}=-2.62+-0.04 to n_{outer}=-3.8+-0.1.	result 1.00	0.98	0.70	asserted 1.00
s2	In particular, we test a series of single power law models and find them to be strongly disfavored by the data.	result 0.96	0.97	0.14	asserted 1.00
s3	The parameters for the best-fit Einasto profile are n=2.2+-0.2 and R_e=22.2+-0.4 kpc.	result 1.00	0.95	0.12	asserted 1.00
s4	We measure the oblateness of the halo to be q=c/a=0.70+-0.01 and detect no evidence of it changing across the range of probed distances.	result 1.00	0.98	0.12	asserted 1.00
s5	The Sagittarius stream is detected in the l=173 and b=-62 direction as an overdensity of [Fe/H] ~ -1.5 dex stars at R_{gal}~32 kpc, providing a new constraint for the Sagittarius stream and dark matter halo models.	result 0.99	0.96	0.05	asserted 1.00
s6	We also detect the Monoceros stream as an overdensity of [Fe/H] > -1.5 dex stars in the l=232 and b=26 direction at R_{gal}<25 kpc.	result 1.00	0.97	0.03	asserted 1.00
s7	In the two sightlines where we do not detect significant substructure, the median metallicity is found to be independent of distance within systematic uncertainties ([Fe/H] ~ -1.5+-0.1 dex).	result 1.00	0.97	0.04	asserted 0.99

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: empirical study 1.00 · evidence from analysis of existing data 0.94.

What was examined, and what was not

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arXiv listing abstract v2

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full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
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T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

We use Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data for 170 deg^2, recalibrated and transformed to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ugri photometric system, to study the distribution of near-turnoff main-sequence stars in the Galactic halo along four lines of sight to heliocentric distances of ~35 kpc. We find that the halo stellar number density profile becomes steeper at Galactocentric distances greater than R_{gal}~28 kpc, with the power law index changing from n_{inner}=-2.62+-0.04 to n_{outer}=-3.8+-0.1. In particular, we test a series of single power law models and find them to be strongly disfavored by the data. The parameters for the best-fit Einasto profile are n=2.2+-0.2 and R_e=22.2+-0.4 kpc. We measure the oblateness of the halo to be q=c/a=0.70+-0.01 and detect no evidence of it changing across the range of probed distances. The Sagittarius stream is detected in the l=173 and b=-62 direction as an overdensity of [Fe/H] ~ -1.5 dex stars at R_{gal}~32 kpc, providing a new constraint for the Sagittarius stream and dark matter halo models. We also detect the Monoceros stream as an overdensity of [Fe/H] > -1.5 dex stars in the l=232 and b=26 direction at R_{gal}<25 kpc. In the two sightlines where we do not detect significant substructure, the median metallicity is found to be independent of distance within systematic uncertainties ([Fe/H] ~ -1.5+-0.1 dex).

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References

How later papers used it

45 later papers cite it

Evidence: some. 45 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 17 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

Pith read 8 of the 72 citing sentences, choosing only those whose citation markers point at this paper alone, and wrote the paraphrases from them. The summary, the counts, the evidence level, the links and the quotes come from code; the summary counts the papers listed below. A later paper is listed under a label when Pith's citation classifier gives one of its sentences that label at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), Pith's reading finds that the citing paper itself did it, and a second check confirms the paraphrase against the sentence. This section lists uses only. It does not list criticism or disagreement, so their absence here says nothing about how the paper has been received. Papers that share an author with this one are listed apart, under "By the same authors". A quote is the citing authors' own sentence, shown when their paper's licence is CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0. JSON

2 later papers by other authors are listed below: 1 used its data or values and 1 compared its own results with it.

Uses its data or values 1 of 5 papers with this label

Took the metallicity at 30 kpc of the Milky Way's halo to be the mean between the values reported in this paper and another work, i.e. [Fe/H] = -1.7.

Diverse Stellar Haloes in Nearby Milky Way-Mass Disc Galaxies (2016) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

Compares with it 1 of 10 papers with this label

Found that the median flattening of its simulated stellar bulge plus halo components agrees well with this paper's measured value for the Milky Way stellar halo.

The ARTEMIS simulations: stellar haloes of Milky Way-mass galaxies (2020) · 0.96 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

How the literature uses it

5 arXiv papers cite this in 6 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 4 sentences without a confident label

Contests it 1 paper

However, both [ref] and [ref] improved upon [ref] 's study.

The Peculiar Chemical Inventory of NGC 2419 -- An Extreme Outer Halo "Globular Cluster" · Summary · contest 0.73

Compares with it 1 paper

The metallicities we derive for the four RGB stars are very close to the peak metallicity of the Milky Way halo (e.g., [ref] ; [ref] ).

Tracing the very early disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the distant Milky Way halo · Significance of the four clustered RGB stars · 0.84

What it cites

Cites as background 2 papers

Such studies will be enabled by next generation wide-area surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey [ref] , Pan-STARRS [ref] and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST; [ref] ).

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products · Introduction · 0.88
Such studies will be enabled by next generation wide-area surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey [ref] , Pan-STARRS [ref] and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST; [ref] ).

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0 · Introduction · 0.88

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