Three-dimensional structure of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal core from RR Lyrae

Abstract

ABSTRACT We obtain distances to a sample of RR Lyrae in the central core of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy from OGLE data. We use these distances, along with RR Lyrae from Gaia DR2, to measure the shape of the stellar distribution within the central ∼2 kpc. The best-fitting stellar distribution is triaxial, with axis ratios 1 : 0.76 : 0.43. A prolate-spheroid model is ruled out at high statistical significance relative to the triaxial model. The major axis is aligned nearly parallel to the sky plane as seen by an Earth-based observer and is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the Galactic Centre. This result may be compared to cosmological simulations which generally predict that the major axis of the dark matter distribution of subhalos is aligned with the Galactic Centre. The triaxial structure that we obtain can provide important constraints on the Sagittarius progenitor, as well as the central dark matter distribution under the assumption of dynamical equilibrium.