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Title: Stars made in outflows may populate the stellar halo of the Milky Way
ABSTRACT We study stellar-halo formation using six Milky-Way-mass galaxies in FIRE-2 cosmological zoom simulations. We find that $5{-}40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the outer (50–300 kpc) stellar halo in each system consists of in-situ stars that were born in outflows from the main galaxy. Outflow stars originate from gas accelerated by superbubble winds, which can be compressed, cool, and form co-moving stars. The majority of these stars remain bound to the halo and fall back with orbital properties similar to the rest of the stellar halo at z = 0. In the outer halo, outflow stars are more spatially homogeneous, metal-rich, and alpha-element-enhanced than the accreted stellar halo. At the solar location, up to $\sim \!10 {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of our kinematically identified halo stars were born in outflows; the fraction rises to as high as $\sim \!40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for the most metal-rich local halo stars ([Fe/H] >−0.5). Such stars can be retrograde and create features similar to the recently discovered Milky Way ‘Splash’ in phase space. We conclude that the Milky Way stellar halo could contain local counterparts to stars that are observed to form in molecular outflows in distant galaxies. Searches for such a population may provide a new, near-field approach to constraining feedback and outflow physics. A stellar halo contribution from outflows is a phase-reversal of the classic halo formation scenario of Eggen, Lynden-Bell & Sandange, who suggested that halo stars formed in rapidly infalling gas clouds. Stellar outflows may be observable in direct imaging of external galaxies and could provide a source for metal-rich, extreme-velocity stars in the Milky Way.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1752913 1910346 1715216 1715101 1715847 1910965
NSF-PAR ID:
10174822
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
494
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0035-8711
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1539 to 1559
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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