A Lower Limit on the Mass of Our Galaxy from the H3 Survey

  • Zaritsky D
  • Conroy C
  • Zhang H
  • et al.
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Abstract

The timing argument provides a lower limit on the mass of the Milky Way. Using a sample of 32 stars at R  > 60 kpc drawn from the H3 Spectroscopic Survey and mock catalogs created from published numerical simulations, we find that M 200  > 0.91 × 10 12 M ⊙ with 90% confidence. We recommend using this limit to refine the allowed prior mass range in more complex and sophisticated statistical treatments of Milky Way dynamics. The use of such a prior would have significantly reduced many previously published uncertainty ranges. Our analysis suggests that the most likely value of M 200 is ≈1.5 × 10 12 M ⊙ , but establishing this as the Milky Way mass requires a larger sample of outer halo stars and a more complete analysis of the inner halo stars in H3. The imminent growth in the sample of outer halo stars due to ongoing and planned surveys will make this possible.

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Zaritsky, D., Conroy, C., Zhang, H., Naidu, R. P., Bonaca, A., Caldwell, N., … Johnson, B. D. (2020). A Lower Limit on the Mass of Our Galaxy from the H3 Survey. The Astrophysical Journal, 888(2), 114. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5b93

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