# The Pristine Dwarf-Galaxy survey - II. In-depth observational study of the faint Milky Way satellite Sagittarius II

## TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of Sagittarius II, a faint Milky Way satellite, revealing its old, metal-poor stellar population, structural properties, and orbit, suggesting it is a dark matter-dominated system possibly tidally stripped from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.

## Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive multi-method observational characterization of Sagittarius II, including photometry, spectroscopy, and orbital analysis, highlighting its stellar populations, metallicity, and dark matter content.

## Key findings

- Sagittarius II is old (~12 Gyr) and metal-poor ([Fe/H] ~ -2.3)
- Velocity dispersion indicates it is slightly dark matter-dominated
- Orbit suggests it is associated with the Sagittarius stream and possibly a tidally stripped satellite

## Abstract

We present an extensive study of the Sagittarius II (Sgr II) stellar system using MegaCam g and i photometry, narrow-band, metallicity-sensitive Calcium H&K doublet photometry, augmented with Keck II/DEIMOS multi-object spectroscopy. We are able to derive and refine the Sgr II structural and stellar properties: the colour-magnitude diagram implies Sgr II is old (12.0 +- 0.5 Gyr) and metal-poor. The CaHK photometry confirms the metal-poor nature of the satellite ([Fe/H]CaHK = -2.32 +- 0.04 dex) and suggests that Sgr II hosts more than one single stellar population ({\sigma} CaHK = 0.11+0.05-0.03 dex). From the deep spectroscopic data, the velocity dispersion of the system is found to be {\sigma}vr = 2.7+1.3-1.0 km s-1 after excluding two potential binary stars. Using the Ca infrared triplet measured from our highest signal-to-noise spectra, we are able to confirm the metallicity and dispersion inferred from the Pristine photometric metallicities: ([Fe/H] = -2.23 +- 0.05 dex, {\sigma}spectro = 0.10+0.06-0.04 dex). Sgr II's metallicity and absolute magnitude (MV = -5.7 +- 0.1 mag) place the system on the luminosity-metallicity relation of the Milky Way dwarf galaxies despite its small size. The low, but resolved metallicity and velocity dispersions paint the picture of a slightly dark matter-dominated satellite. Furthermore, using the Gaia Data Release 2, we constrain the orbit of the satellite and find an apocenter of 118.4+28.4-23.7 kpc and a pericenter of 54.8+3.3-6.1 kpc. The orbit of Sgr II is consistent with the trailing arm of the Sgr stream and indicates that it is possibly a satellite of the Sgr dSph that was tidally stripped from the dwarf's influence.