A dynamical study of the vast thin plane of corotating dwarf galaxies orbiting the Andromeda galaxy.
Veronica Arias (University of Sydney)
The origin of the recently discovered бґбґvast thin plane of corotating dwarf galaxiesбґбґ orbiting the Andromeda galaxy remains a puzzle. Such a structure, which is around 400 kiloparsecs (kpc) in diameter and has a perpendicular scatter of less than 14.1kpc, cannot be explained by current galaxy formation models. Some alternative attempts have been made to explain this planar structure, but a validation or rejection of any possible formation scenario requires a rigorous dynamical understanding of the system. In this work, we carry out a numerical study of this plane of dwarf galaxies, to better understand the dynamics and the long term stability of such a structure.
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