Investigation of Substructures of the Inner Halo Using the StarGO Algorithm with APOGEE DR17

We applied the Stars’ Galactic Origin algorithm in 7D space (i.e., [Fe/H], [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], L _z ,  J _r ,  J _z ,  E ) to analyze stars in the inner halo with APOGEE DR17. We identified some known substructures, including Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus, Sagittarius stream (Sgr), LMS-1 (Wukong), Thamnos, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhongcheng Li, Cuihua Du, Haoyang Liu, Dashuang Ye
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc809
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Summary:We applied the Stars’ Galactic Origin algorithm in 7D space (i.e., [Fe/H], [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], L _z ,  J _r ,  J _z ,  E ) to analyze stars in the inner halo with APOGEE DR17. We identified some known substructures, including Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus, Sagittarius stream (Sgr), LMS-1 (Wukong), Thamnos, the metal-weak thick disk, and Aleph. Additionally, we identified an undefined metal-poor group (UDG, with [Fe/H] < −0.8 dex) probably linked to a known substructure like Aleph, as well as a high α -abundance substructure (HAS) associated with both the Nyx and Nyx-2 streams. Chemical abundance of the HAS supports the argument that Nyx and Nyx-2 share a common origin. We discovered three substructures, which we refer to as new substructure candidates 1, 2, and 3 (NSTC-1, NSTC-2, NSTC-3). Despite exhibiting disk-like dynamics, these NSTCs demonstrate notably low [Mg/Fe] (<0.2 dex) and [Al/Fe] (<−0.15 dex), similar to the properties of dwarf galaxies. Their high orbital energy and low [ α /Fe] indicate the association with recent accretion events.
ISSN:1538-4357