The core of the Canis Major galaxy as traced by Red Clump stars

Abstract

The recently-discovered stellar system in Canis Major is analysed using He-burning Red Clump stars as tracers. Canis Major turns out to be the strongest and most spatially confined overdensity of the whole Galactic Disc, both in terms of number density and of statistical significance. When projected onto the Galactic Plane, it appears as an elongated and compact overdensity extending from l ~ 200 to l ~ 280 with a roundish core toward l ~ 240. We find that the main body of the system has an integrated absolute magnitude M_V=-14.4 +/- 0.8, a central surface brightness \mu_{V,0} = 24.0 +/- 0.6 mag/arcsec^2 and a line-of-sight profile peaked at D_{sun}=7.2 +/- 1.0 kpc with Half Width at Half Maximum ~ 2.0 kpc, in excellent agreement with the results obtained with widely different tracers (M giants and Main Sequence stars) in previous analyses. The mean distance to the main body of Canis Major is observed to increase with increasing Galactic longitude, from D_{sun} ~ 6.3 kpc at l ~ 225, to D_{sun} ~ 9.3 kpc at l ~ 265, in good agreement with the predictions of our more recent N-body simulation that models CMa as a dwarf galaxy being accreted in a planar orbit onto the disc of the Milky Way. We confirm that the Canis Major system has all the characteristics of the relic of a dwarf galaxy seen on top of a large-scale overdensity that we detect all over the third and fourth Galactic quadrants (180<l<360, with a strong maximum around l=290 and b> -5) that is identified as the stellar component of the southern Galactic Warp... (Abridged)....