The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud

Florian Niederhofer; Maria-Rosa L. Cioni; Stefano Rubele; Thomas Schmidt; Jonathan D. Diaz; Gal Matijevič; Kenji Bekki; Cameron P. M. Bell; Richard de Grijs; Dalal El Youssoufi; Valentin D. Ivanov; Joana M. Oliveira; Vincenzo Ripepi; Smitha Subramanian; Ning-Chen Sun; J. Th van Loon

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab206

The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud

Florian Niederhofer^*, Maria-Rosa L. Cioni, Stefano Rubele, Thomas Schmidt, Jonathan D. Diaz, Gal Matijevič, Kenji Bekki, Cameron P. M. Bell, Richard de Grijs, Dalal El Youssoufi, Valentin D. Ivanov, Joana M. Oliveira, Vincenzo Ripepi, Smitha Subramanian, Ning-Chen Sun, J. Th van Loon

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

We used data from the near-infrared Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) to measure proper motions (PMs) of stars within the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data analysed in this study comprise 26 VMC tiles, covering a total contiguous area on the sky of ∼40 deg². Using multi-epoch observations in the K_s band over time baselines between 13 and 38 months, we calculated absolute PMs with respect to ∼130 000 background galaxies. We selected a sample of ∼2160 000 likely SMC member stars to model the centre-of-mass motion of the galaxy. The results found for three different choices of the SMC centre are in good agreement with recent space-based measurements. Using the systemic motion of the SMC, we constructed spatially resolved residual PM maps and analysed for the first time the internal kinematics of the intermediate-age/old and young stellar populations separately. We found outward motions that point either towards a stretching of the galaxy or stripping of its outer regions. Stellar motions towards the North might be related to the ‘Counter Bridge’ behind the SMC. The young populations show larger PMs in the region of the SMC Wing, towards the young Magellanic Bridge. In the older populations, we further detected a coordinated motion of stars away from the SMC in the direction of the Old Bridge as well as a stream towards the SMC.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2859-2878
Number of pages	20
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	502
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206
Publication status	Published - Apr 2021

Bibliographical note

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 502, Issue 2, April 2021, Pages 2859–2878, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206. Copyright 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Keywords

surveys
stars: kinematics and dynamics
galaxies: individual: SMC
Magellanic Clouds
proper motion

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10.1093/mnras/stab206

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 15.7 MBLicence: Other

Cite this

Niederhofer, F., Cioni, M.-R. L., Rubele, S., Schmidt, T., Diaz, J. D., Matijevič, G., Bekki, K., Bell, C. P. M., de Grijs, R., El Youssoufi, D., Ivanov, V. D., Oliveira, J. M., Ripepi, V., Subramanian, S., Sun, N.-C., & van Loon, J. T. (2021). The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 502(2), 2859-2878. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206

@article{e415e4c0b34b4ffea99cbf5198a78dec,

title = "The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud",

abstract = "We used data from the near-infrared Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) to measure proper motions (PMs) of stars within the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data analysed in this study comprise 26 VMC tiles, covering a total contiguous area on the sky of ∼40 deg2. Using multi-epoch observations in the Ks band over time baselines between 13 and 38 months, we calculated absolute PMs with respect to ∼130 000 background galaxies. We selected a sample of ∼2160 000 likely SMC member stars to model the centre-of-mass motion of the galaxy. The results found for three different choices of the SMC centre are in good agreement with recent space-based measurements. Using the systemic motion of the SMC, we constructed spatially resolved residual PM maps and analysed for the first time the internal kinematics of the intermediate-age/old and young stellar populations separately. We found outward motions that point either towards a stretching of the galaxy or stripping of its outer regions. Stellar motions towards the North might be related to the {\textquoteleft}Counter Bridge{\textquoteright} behind the SMC. The young populations show larger PMs in the region of the SMC Wing, towards the young Magellanic Bridge. In the older populations, we further detected a coordinated motion of stars away from the SMC in the direction of the Old Bridge as well as a stream towards the SMC.",

keywords = "surveys, stars: kinematics and dynamics, galaxies: individual: SMC, Magellanic Clouds, proper motion",

author = "Florian Niederhofer and Cioni, \{Maria-Rosa L.\} and Stefano Rubele and Thomas Schmidt and Diaz, \{Jonathan D.\} and Gal Matijevi{\v c} and Kenji Bekki and Bell, \{Cameron P. M.\} and \{de Grijs\}, Richard and \{El Youssoufi\}, Dalal and Ivanov, \{Valentin D.\} and Oliveira, \{Joana M.\} and Vincenzo Ripepi and Smitha Subramanian and Ning-Chen Sun and \{van Loon\}, \{J. Th\}",

note = "This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 502, Issue 2, April 2021, Pages 2859–2878, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206. Copyright 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stab206",

language = "English",

volume = "502",

pages = "2859--2878",

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

issn = "0035-8711",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "2",

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Niederhofer, F, Cioni, M-RL, Rubele, S, Schmidt, T, Diaz, JD, Matijevič, G, Bekki, K, Bell, CPM, de Grijs, R, El Youssoufi, D, Ivanov, VD, Oliveira, JM, Ripepi, V, Subramanian, S, Sun, N-C & van Loon, JT 2021, 'The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 502, no. 2, pp. 2859-2878. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206

TY - JOUR

T1 - The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud

AU - Niederhofer, Florian

AU - Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.

AU - Rubele, Stefano

AU - Schmidt, Thomas

AU - Diaz, Jonathan D.

AU - Matijevič, Gal

AU - Bekki, Kenji

AU - Bell, Cameron P. M.

AU - de Grijs, Richard

AU - El Youssoufi, Dalal

AU - Ivanov, Valentin D.

AU - Oliveira, Joana M.

AU - Ripepi, Vincenzo

AU - Subramanian, Smitha

AU - Sun, Ning-Chen

AU - van Loon, J. Th

N1 - This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 502, Issue 2, April 2021, Pages 2859–2878, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab206. Copyright 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - We used data from the near-infrared Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) to measure proper motions (PMs) of stars within the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data analysed in this study comprise 26 VMC tiles, covering a total contiguous area on the sky of ∼40 deg2. Using multi-epoch observations in the Ks band over time baselines between 13 and 38 months, we calculated absolute PMs with respect to ∼130 000 background galaxies. We selected a sample of ∼2160 000 likely SMC member stars to model the centre-of-mass motion of the galaxy. The results found for three different choices of the SMC centre are in good agreement with recent space-based measurements. Using the systemic motion of the SMC, we constructed spatially resolved residual PM maps and analysed for the first time the internal kinematics of the intermediate-age/old and young stellar populations separately. We found outward motions that point either towards a stretching of the galaxy or stripping of its outer regions. Stellar motions towards the North might be related to the ‘Counter Bridge’ behind the SMC. The young populations show larger PMs in the region of the SMC Wing, towards the young Magellanic Bridge. In the older populations, we further detected a coordinated motion of stars away from the SMC in the direction of the Old Bridge as well as a stream towards the SMC.

AB - We used data from the near-infrared Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) to measure proper motions (PMs) of stars within the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data analysed in this study comprise 26 VMC tiles, covering a total contiguous area on the sky of ∼40 deg2. Using multi-epoch observations in the Ks band over time baselines between 13 and 38 months, we calculated absolute PMs with respect to ∼130 000 background galaxies. We selected a sample of ∼2160 000 likely SMC member stars to model the centre-of-mass motion of the galaxy. The results found for three different choices of the SMC centre are in good agreement with recent space-based measurements. Using the systemic motion of the SMC, we constructed spatially resolved residual PM maps and analysed for the first time the internal kinematics of the intermediate-age/old and young stellar populations separately. We found outward motions that point either towards a stretching of the galaxy or stripping of its outer regions. Stellar motions towards the North might be related to the ‘Counter Bridge’ behind the SMC. The young populations show larger PMs in the region of the SMC Wing, towards the young Magellanic Bridge. In the older populations, we further detected a coordinated motion of stars away from the SMC in the direction of the Old Bridge as well as a stream towards the SMC.

KW - surveys

KW - stars: kinematics and dynamics

KW - galaxies: individual: SMC

KW - Magellanic Clouds

KW - proper motion

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85107693035

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stab206

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stab206

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 502

SP - 2859

EP - 2878

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 2

ER -

The VMC survey - XLI. Stellar proper motions within the Small Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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