Variable stars in the Ant 2 satellite galaxy

We report 350 pulsating variable stars found in four DECam fields (~12deg^2^) covering the Antlia 2 satellite galaxy. The sample of variables includes 318 RR Lyrae stars and eight anomalous Cepheids in the galaxy. Reclassification of several objects designated previously to be RR Lyrae as anomalous Cepheids get rid of the satellite's stars intervening along the line of sight. This in turn removes the need for prolific tidal disruption of the dwarf, in agreement with the recently updated proper motion and pericenter measurements based on Gaia EDR3. There are also several bright foreground RR Lyrae stars in the field, and two distant background variables located ~45kpc behind Antlia 2. We found RR Lyrae stars over the full search area, suggesting that the galaxy is very large and likely extends beyond our observed area. The mean period of the RRab in Antlia 2 is 0.599 days, while the RRc have a mean period of 0.368 days, indicating the galaxy is an Oosterhoff-intermediate system. The distance to Antlia 2 based on the RR Lyrae stars is 124.1kpc ({mu}0=20.47) with a dispersion of 5.4kpc. We measured a clear distance gradient along the semimajor axis of the galaxy, with the southeast side of Antlia 2 being ~13kpc farther away from the northwest side. This elongation along the line of sight is likely due to the ongoing tidal disruption of Ant 2.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/926/78/table3 (Periodic variable stars in the field of Ant 2)

Identifier
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/926/78
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/926/78
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/926/78
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/926/78
Provenance
Creator Vivas A.K.; Martinez-Vazquez C.E.; Walker A.R.; Belokurov V.; Li T.S.,Erkal D.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2023
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Stellar Astronomy