Identifying compact moving groups based on stellar kinematics data

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of identifying substructures in velocity space in three well-known stellar streams (the Hyades, the Pleiades, and Ursa Major) using a cluster-analysis method (the maximum-density method). Only compact groups in velocity space with radii no greater than 5 km/s and containing at least 10 members were considered. As an example, we analyzed a sample of 5377 stars from the HIPPARCOS catalog with known radial velocities located within 75 pc of the Sun. We identified a total of 24 groups of stars. Monte Carlo simulations show that most (about 80%) of these groups could be the results of Poisson noise and observational errors. Bona fide identification (at a significance level greater than 90%) of compact moving groups based on kinematic data requires higher accuracy of the stellar spatial velocities (with errors no greater than 1–2 km/s in each component).