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​The Magellanic Corona: The Missing Piece of the Magellanic System

October 13, 2022
4:05 PM - 4:35 PM
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Pupin 1402

Seminar by Scott Lucchini, University of Wisconsin - Madison

While previous models of the formation of the Magellanic Stream have been able to reproduce many of the observations, two puzzles remain - the high ionization fraction in the Magellanic System, and the high mass of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). To solve both these outstanding discrepancies simultaneously, we introduce the Magellanic Corona. This warm, ionized circumgalactic medium should surround the LMC as it interacts with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and the Milky Way. In this talk, I will present simulations of the formation of the Magellanic Stream including the Magellanic Corona in which we are able to account for both the neutral and ionized components of the Stream while also reproducing the present-day positions and velocities of the LMC and the SMC in their motion around the Milky Way. Upon inclusion of the Magellanic Corona, we find a new family of orbital histories for the Clouds that result in the neutral Stream being significantly closer than previous models predicted. This nearby Stream implies lower observational gas masses, explains the turbulent structure in the observed HI, and predicts higher Halpha intensities in agreement with observations.

Host: Greg Bryan