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Signatures of a Tidally Induced Spiral Arm at the Anticenter of the Milky Way and a Kinematically Extended Anticenter Stream Using DESI DR2

Mika Lambert, Constance M. Rockosi, Sergey E. Koposov, Ting S. Li, Monica Valluri, Leandro Beraldo e Silva, Songting Li, Joaõ A. S. Amarante, Amanda Byström, Gustavo E. Medina, Nathan R. Sandford, Joan Najita, Namitha Kizhuprakkat, Jessica N. Aguilar, Steven Ahlen, Davide Bianchi, David Brooks, Todd Claybaugh, Kyle Dawson, Axel de la MacorraPeter Doel, Jaime E. Forero-Romero, Enrique Gaztañaga, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, Gaston Gutierrez, Dick Joyce, Anthony Kremin, Claire Lamman, Martin Landriau, Laurent Le Guillou, Marc Manera, Aaron Meisner, Ramon Miquel, John Moustakas, Adam Myers, Seshadri Nadathur, Will Percival, Francisco Prada, Ignasi Perez-Rafols, Graziano Rossi, Eusebio Sanchez, David Schlegel, Michael Schubnell, Joseph H. Silber, David Sprayberry, Gregory Tarle, Benjamin A. Weaver, Rongpu Zhou, Hu Zou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Milky Way Survey, we examine the six-dimensional space of the anticenter region of the Milky Way stellar disk (150° < Galactic longitude < 220°) using 61,883 main-sequence turnoff stars. We focus on two well-known stellar overdensities in the anticenter: the Monoceros Ring (MRi) and Anticenter Stream (ACS). We find that the MRi overdensity has kinematic signatures consistent with a tidally induced spiral arm, a type of dynamic spiral arm created by an interaction with a satellite galaxy, most likely the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr). We use the kinematics of the MRi to calculate the two most recent passage times of Sgr, finding 0.25 ± 0.09 Gyr and 1.10 ± 0.23 Gyr from the present day. We validate that the ACS is kinematically decoupled from the MRi because they are moving in opposite radial and vertical directions. We find that the kinematics associated with the ACS extends beyond our defined overdensity. The features we see in the ACS region are likely part of a broader distribution of stars with the same kinematic signature as detected in other places, like the vertical wave in the outer disk and phase spiral.
Original languageEnglish
Article number292
Number of pages19
JournalThe Astronomical Journal
Volume171
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2026

Keywords

  • astro-ph.GA

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