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Constraining the form of the galactic halo with deep star counts Davis, David Sau
Abstract
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey - Deep (CFHTLS-Deep) represents a truly unique data set in terms of angular size and depth. Although the survey is only ~ 40% complete, it is already complete to a magnitude of 25 in u*,g',r',i', and z'. We use this data for an ambitious star-count project. By comparing the observed colourmagnitude diagrams (CMDs) with simulated CMDs, one can place many constraints on the form of the Galaxy. This thesis represent the first stage of this project - the study of the stellar halo of the Galaxy. We find the half-light radius of the de Vaucouleurs profile to be slightly higher than the literature value. We find the slope of the initialmass function of stars with masses between 0.4 MQ < M < 0.8M© is slightly lower than Salpeter. We find that the halo is oblate with a ratio of minor axis to major axis of ~ 0.9. Finally, we find that the best value of the stellar binary fraction is 0.35. The other elements of the CFHTLS (CFHTLS-Wide and CFHTLS-Very Wide) provide an immense number of observations that can be compared with theoretical models. There is plenty of data with which to constrain the form of the other components of the Galaxy - the thick and thin disks. This study, along with the subsequent studies, will give us the most detailed picture of the stars in our home Galaxy ever.
Item Metadata
Title |
Constraining the form of the galactic halo with deep star counts
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2004
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Description |
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey - Deep (CFHTLS-Deep) represents
a truly unique data set in terms of angular size and depth. Although the survey is only
~ 40% complete, it is already complete to a magnitude of 25 in u*,g',r',i', and z'. We
use this data for an ambitious star-count project. By comparing the observed colourmagnitude
diagrams (CMDs) with simulated CMDs, one can place many constraints on
the form of the Galaxy. This thesis represent the first stage of this project - the study
of the stellar halo of the Galaxy. We find the half-light radius of the de Vaucouleurs
profile to be slightly higher than the literature value. We find the slope of the initialmass
function of stars with masses between 0.4 MQ < M < 0.8M© is slightly lower than
Salpeter. We find that the halo is oblate with a ratio of minor axis to major axis of
~ 0.9. Finally, we find that the best value of the stellar binary fraction is 0.35. The
other elements of the CFHTLS (CFHTLS-Wide and CFHTLS-Very Wide) provide an
immense number of observations that can be compared with theoretical models. There
is plenty of data with which to constrain the form of the other components of the Galaxy
- the thick and thin disks. This study, along with the subsequent studies, will give us
the most detailed picture of the stars in our home Galaxy ever.
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Extent |
3817894 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-11-21
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0085694
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2004-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.