Red Clump Stars in the Sagittarius Tidal Streams

Kenneth Carrell, Ronald Wilhelm, Yuqin Chen

Published 2010-02-18, updated 2012-10-09Version 2

We have probed a section (l ~ 150, b ~ -60) of the trailing tidal arm of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy by identifying a sample of Red Clump stream stars. Red Clump stars are not generally found in the halo field, but are found in significant numbers in both the Sagittarius galaxy and its tidal streams, making them excellent probes of stream characteristics. Our target sample was selected using photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 6, which was constrained in color to match the Sagittarius Red Clump stars. Spectroscopic observations of the target stars were conducted at Kitt Peak National Observatory using the WIYN telescope. The resulting spectroscopic sample is magnitude limited and contains both main sequence disk stars and evolved Red Clump stars. We have developed a method to systematically separate these two stellar classes using kinematic information and a Bayesian approach for surface gravity determination. The resulting Red Clump sample allows us to determine an absolute stellar density of {\rho} = 2.7 +/- 0.5 RC stars kpc-3 at this location in the stream. Future measurements of stellar densities for a variety of populations and at various locations along the streams will lead to a much improved understanding of the original nature of the Sagittarius galaxy and the physical processes controlling its disruption and subsequent stream generation.