Study of the Milky Way's hot coronal gas with its dwarf galaxies

Abstract

AbstractA large amount (5 × 1010 M⊙) of hot gas is thought to exist in an extended (≈ 200 kpc) hot diffuse halo around the Milky Way. We investigate the competitive role of the different dissipative phenomena acting on the onset of star formation of this gravitationally bound systems in this external environment. Ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh- Taylor instabilities, and tidal forces are accounted for separately in an analytical framework and compared in their role in influencing the star forming regions. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system on its surrounding environment, useful in observational applications as well as theoretical interpretations of numerical results. We consider the different signatures of these phenomena in synthetically realized colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of the orbiting system, thus investigating the detectability limits and relevance of these different effects for future observational projects. The theoretical framework developed has direct applications to the cases of our MW system as well as dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters or any primordial gas-rich star cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy.