Spectroscopy of the Young Stellar Association Price-Whelan 1: Origin in the Magellanic Leading Arm and Constraints on the Milky Way Hot Halo

Abstract

We report spectroscopic measurements of stars in the recently discovered young stellar association Price-Whelan 1 (PW 1), which was found in the vicinity of the Leading Arm (LA) of the Magellanic Stream (MS). We obtained Magellan+MIKE high-resolution spectra of the 28 brightest stars in PW 1  and used The Cannon to determine their stellar parameters. We find that the mean metallicity of PW 1  is [Fe/H] = −1.23 with a small scatter of 0.06 dex and the mean RV is   = 276.7  with a dispersion of . Our results are consistent in , , and [Fe/H] with the young and metal-poor characteristics (116 Myr and [Fe/H] = −1.1) determined for PW 1  from our discovery paper. We find a strong correlation between the spatial pattern of the PW 1  stars and the LA II  gas with an offset of −10.°15 in   and +1.°55 in . The similarity in metallicity, velocity, and spatial patterns indicates that PW 1  likely originated in LA II. We find that the spatial and kinematic separation between LA II  and PW 1  can be explained by ram pressure from Milky Way (MW) gas. Using orbit integrations that account for the LMC and MW halo and outer disk gas, we constrain the halo gas density at the orbital pericenter of PW 1  to be and the disk gas density at the midplane at to be . We, therefore, conclude that PW 1  formed from the LA II  of the MS, making it a powerful constraint on the MW–Magellanic interaction.