Dynamical modelling of stellar streams in a cosmological setting

Stellar streams are created when small groups of stars such as dwarf galaxies and globular clusters are torn apart by tides as they move around a larger galaxy. In the case of the Milky Way, it is believed that the stellar halo is full of such structures.

In this Thesis I analysed the behaviour of stellar streams under the influence of a growing galaxy, as expected in a cosmological context. Since a stream almost delineates an orbit around a galaxy, its properties depend only on the gravitational pull from the Milky Way, and on how this has grown with time. I discovered a particular signature of this evolution in the models developed in the thesis that will help uncover the growth of the Milky Way with upcoming datasets. I also found that the effect of a growing galaxy can bias the determination of the present-day mass distribution of the Milky Way.

Dissertation: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/a210abcb-c4eb-4fec-8659-3b238482f8f1