Accretion of the Magellanic system onto the Galaxy

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the Magellanic Clouds brought other dwarf galaxies into the Milky Way, using proper motion data and galactic models, and finds some dwarfs' kinematics are consistent with this accretion scenario.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking the Magellanic system's accretion of dwarf galaxies with observed satellite distributions and stellar streams.

Findings

Some Milky Way dwarfs' kinematics align with Magellanic accretion.

The model explains certain stellar streams and satellite planes.

Not all dwarfs, like Carina and Leo I, fit this accretion scenario.

Abstract

Our Galaxy is surrounded by a large family of dwarf galaxies of which the most massive are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC). Recent evidence suggests that systems with the mass of the Local Group accrete galaxies in smaller groups rather than individually. If so, at least some of the Galaxy's dwarfs may have fallen in with the LMC and SMC, and were formed as part of the Magellanic system in the nearby universe. We use the latest measurements of the proper motions of the LMC and SMC and a multicomponent model of the Galactic potential to explore the evolution of these galaxy configurations under the assumption that the Magellanic system may once have contained a number of bound dwarf galaxies. We compare our results to the available kinematic data for the local dwarf galaxies, and examine whether this model can account for recently discovered stellar streams and the planar distribution of Milky Way satellites. We find that in situations where the LMC and SMC are bound to the Milky Way, the kinematics of Draco, Sculptor, Sextans, Ursa Minor and the Sagittarius Stream are consistent with having fallen in along with the Magellanic system. These dwarfs, if so associated, will likely have been close to the tidal radius of the LMC originally and are unlikely to have affected each other throughout the orbit. However there are clear cases, such as Carina and Leo I, that cannot be explained this way