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The Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS) is constructing a wide-field map of the resolved stellar populations in the extended halos of these two nearby, prominent galaxies. We present new Magellan/Megacam imaging of a $\sim3$ deg$^2$ area around Centaurus A (Cen A), which filled in much of our coverage to its south, leaving a nearly complete halo map out to a projected radius of $\sim$150 kpc and allowing us to identify two new resolved dwarf galaxies. We have additionally obtained deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical imaging of eleven out of the thirteen candidate dwarf galaxies identified around Cen A and presented in Crnojevi\'c et al. (2016): seven are confirmed to be satellites of Cen A, while four are found to be background galaxies. We derive accurate distances, structural parameters, luminosities and photometric metallicities for the seven candidates confirmed by our HST/ACS imaging. We further study the stellar population along the $\sim$60 kpc long (in projection) stream associated with Dw3, which likely had an initial brightness of $M_{V}$$\sim$$-$15 and shows evidence for a metallicity gradient along its length. Using the total sample of eleven dwarf satellites discovered by the PISCeS survey, as well as thirteen brighter previously known satellites of Cen A, we present a revised galaxy luminosity function for the Cen A group down to a limiting magnitude of $M_V\sim-8$, which has a slope of $-1.14\pm0.17$, comparable to that seen in the Local Group and in other nearby groups of galaxies., Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures; ApJ in press

We aim to investigate the connections existing between the density profiles of the stellar populations used to define a gravitationally bound stellar system and their star formation history: we do this by developing a general framework accounting for both classical stellar population theory and classical stellar dynamics. We extend the work of Pasetto et al. (2012) on a single composite-stellar population (CSP) to multiple CSPs, including also a phase-space description of the CSP concept. In this framework, we use the concept of distribution function to define the CSP in terms of mass, metallicity, and phase-space in a suitable space of existence $\mathbb{E}$ of the CSP. We introduce the concept of foliation of $\mathbb{E}$ to describe formally any CSP as sum of disjointed Simple Stellar Populations (SSP), with the aim to offer a more general formal setting to cast the equations of stellar populations theory and stellar dynamics theory. In doing so, we allow the CSP to be object of dissipation processes thus developing its dynamics in a general non-Hamiltonian framework. Furthermore, we investigate the necessary and sufficient condition to realize a multiple CSP consistent with its mass-metallicity and phase-space distribution function over its temporal evolution, for a collisionless CSP. Finally, analytical and numerical examples show the potential of the result obtained., Comment: Accepted for publication on New Astronomy; 15 pages, 2 figures

We present a new Galaxy population synthesis Model (GalMod). GalMod is a star-count model featuring an asymmetric bar/bulge as well as spiral arms and related extinction. The model, initially introduced in Pasetto et al. (2016b), has been here completed with a central bar, a new bulge description, new disk vertical profiles and several new bolometric corrections. The model can generate synthetic mock catalogs of visible portions of the Milky Way (MW), external galaxies like M31, or N-body simulation initial conditions. At any given time, e.g., a chosen age of the Galaxy, the model contains a sum of discrete stellar populations, namely bulge/bar, disk, halo. These populations are in turn the sum of different components: the disk is the sum of spiral arms, thin disks, a thick disk, and various gas components, while the halo is the sum of a stellar component, a hot coronal gas, and a dark matter component. The Galactic potential is computed from these population density profiles and used to generate detailed kinematics by considering up to the first four moments of the collisionless Boltzmann equation. The same density profiles are then used to define the observed color-magnitude diagrams in a user-defined field of view from an arbitrary solar location. Several photometric systems have been included and made available on-line and no limits on the size of the field of view are imposed thus allowing full sky simulations, too. Finally, we model the extinction adopting a dust model with advanced ray-tracing solutions. The model's web page (and tutorial) can be accessed at www.GalMod.org., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 34 pages, 18 figures

We present a new theoretical population synthesis model (the Galaxy Model) to examine and deal with large amounts of data from surveys of the Milky Way and to decipher the present and past structure and history of our own Galaxy. We assume the Galaxy to consist of a superposition of many composite stellar populations belonging to the thin and thick disks, the stellar halo and the bulge, and to be surrounded by a single dark matter halo component. A global model for the Milky Way's gravitational potential is built up self-consistently with the density profiles from the Poisson equation. In turn, these density profiles are used to generate synthetic probability distribution functions (PDFs) for the distribution of stars in colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Finally, the gravitational potential is used to constrain the stellar kinematics by means of the moment method on a (perturbed)-distribution function. Spiral arms perturb the axisymmetric disk distribution functions in the linear response framework of density-wave theory where we present an analytical formula of the so-called `reduction factor' using Hypergeometric functions. Finally, we consider an analytical non-axisymmetric model of extinction and an algorithm based on the concept of probability distribution function to handle colour magnitude diagrams with a large number of stars. A genetic algorithm is presented to investigate both the photometric and kinematic parameter space. This galaxy model represents the natural framework to reconstruct the structure of the Milky Way from the heterogeneous data set of surveys such as Gaia-ESO, SEGUE, APOGEE2, RAVE and the Gaia mission., Comment: ACCEPTED for pubblication in MNRAS, 30 pages, 15 figures

We present here the first stellar models on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD), in which convection is treated according to the novel scale-free convection theory (SFC theory) by Pasetto et al. (2014). The aim is to compare the results of the new theory with those from the classical, calibrated mixing-length (ML) theory to examine differences and similarities. We integrate the equations describing the structure of the atmosphere from the stellar surface down to a few percent of the stellar mass using both ML theory and SFC theory. The key temperature over pressure gradients, the energy fluxes, and the extension of the convective zones are compared in both theories. The analysis is first made for the Sun and then extended to other stars of different mass and evolutionary stage. The results are adequate: the SFC theory yields convective zones, temperature gradients of the ambient and of the convective element, and energy fluxes that are very similar to those derived from the "calibrated" MT theory for main sequence stars. We conclude that the old scale dependent ML theory can now be replaced with a self-consistent scale-free theory able to predict correct results, one which is simpler and more physically grounded than the ML theory. Fundamentally, the SFC theory offers a deeper insight of the underlying physics than numerical simulations., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 22 pages, 10 figures

We compare the stellar motion around a spiral arm created in two different scenarios, transient/co-rotating spiral arms and density-wave-like spiral arms. We generate Gaia mock data from snapshots of the simulations following these two scenarios using our stellar population code, SNAPDRAGONS, which takes into account dust extinction and the expected Gaia errors. We compare the observed rotation velocity around a spiral arm similar in position to the Perseus arm, and find that there is a clear difference in the velocity features around the spiral arm between the co-rotating spiral arm and the density-wave-like spiral arm. Our result demonstrates that the volume and accuracy of the Gaia data are sufficient to clearly distinguish these two scenarios of the spiral arms., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "The Milky Way Unravelled by Gaia: GREAT Science from the Gaia Data Releases", Barcelona, 1-5 December 2014, eds. N. Walton, F. Figueras, C. Soubiran

We exploit data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) to study the extended structures of M31's dwarf elliptical companions, NGC147 and NGC185. Our wide-field, homogeneous photometry allows to construct deep colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) which reach down to $\sim3$ mag below the red giant branch (RGB) tip. We trace the stellar components of the galaxies to surface brightness of $\mu_g \sim 32$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ and show they have much larger extents ($\sim5$ kpc radii) than previously recognised. While NGC185 retains a regular shape in its peripheral regions, NGC147 exhibits pronounced isophotal twisting due to the emergence of symmetric tidal tails. We fit single Sersic models to composite surface brightness profiles constructed from diffuse light and star counts and find that NGC147 has an effective radius almost 3 times that of NGC185. In both cases, the effective radii that we calculate are larger by a factor of $\sim2$ compared to most literature values. We also calculate revised total magnitudes of $M_g=-15.36\pm0.04$ for NGC185 and $M_g=-16.36\pm0.04$ for NGC147. Using photometric metallicities computed for RGB stars, we find NGC185 to exhibit a metallicity gradient of [Fe/H]$\sim-0.15$ dex/kpc over the radial range 0.125 to 0.5 deg. On the other hand, NGC147 exhibits almost no metallicity gradient, $\sim-0.02$ dex/kpc from 0.2 to 0.6 deg. The differences in the structure and stellar populations in the outskirts of these systems suggest that tidal influences have played an important role in governing the evolution of NGC147., Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures; MNRAS accepted

We develop a simple analytical criterion to investigate the role of the environment on the onset of star formation. We will consider the main external agents that influence the star formation (i.e. ram pressure, tidal interaction, Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities) in a spherical galaxy moving through an external environment. The theoretical framework developed here has direct applications to the cases of dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way system, as well as any primordial gas-rich cluster of stars orbiting within its host galaxy. We develop an analytic formalism to solve the fluid dynamics equations in a non-inertial reference frame mapped with spherical coordinates. The two-fluids instability at the interface between a stellar system and its surrounding hotter and less dense environment is related to the star formation processes through a set of differential equations. The solution presented here is quite general, allowing us to investigate most kinds of orbits allowed in a gravitationally bound system of stars in interaction with a major massive companion. We present an analytical criterion to elucidate the dependence of star formation in a spherical stellar system (as a dwarf galaxy or a globular cluster) on its surrounding environment useful in theoretical interpretations of numerical results as well as observational applications. We show how spherical coordinates naturally enlighten the interpretation of the two-fluids instability in a geometry that directly applies to astrophysical case. This criterion predicts the threshold value for the onset of star formation in a mass vs. size space for any orbit of interest. Moreover, we show for the first time the theoretical dependencies of the different instability phenomena acting on a system in a fully analytical way., Comment: ACCEPTED in A&A the 09/09/2014. Changes from ver 1: the non-inertial linear-response theory for gas instabilities in spherical coordinates is moved to the Appenidx and will be available only on-line

Stellar convection is customarily described by Mixing-Length Theory, which makes use of the mixing-length scale to express the convective flux, velocity, and temperature gradients of the convective elements and stellar medium. The mixing-length scale is taken to be proportional to the local pressure scale height, and the proportionality factor (the mixing-length parameter) must be determined by comparing the stellar models to some calibrator, usually the Sun. No strong arguments exist to suggest that the mixing-length parameter is the same in all stars and at all evolutionary phases. The aim of this study is to present a new theory of stellar convection that does not require the mixing length parameter. We present a self-consistent analytical formulation of stellar convection that determines the properties of stellar convection as a function of the physical behaviour of the convective elements themselves and of the surrounding medium. This new theory is formulated starting from a conventional solution of the Navier-Stokes/Euler equations, i.e. the Bernoulli equation for a perfect fluid, but expressed in a non-inertial reference frame co-moving with the convective elements. In our formalism the motion of stellar convective cells inside convectively-unstable layers is fully determined by a new system of equations for convection in a non-local and time-dependent formalism. We obtain an analytical, non-local, time-dependent sub-sonic solution for the convective energy transport that does not depend on any free parameter. The theory is suitable for the outer convective zones of solar type stars and stars of all mass on the main sequence band. The predictions of the new theory are compared with those from the standard mixing-length paradigm for the most accurate calibrator, the Sun, with very satisfactory results., Comment: Accepted 2014 September 12

Aims. We study the Milky Way thin disk with the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey. We consider the thin and thick disks as different Galactic components and present a technique to statistically disentangle the two populations. Then we focus our attention on the thin disk component. Methods. We disentangle the thin disk component from amixture of the thin and thick disks using a data set providing radial velocities, proper motions, and photometrically determined distances. Results. We present the trend of the velocity dispersions in the thin disk component of the Milky Way (MW) in the radial direction above and below the Galactic plane using data from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE). The selected sample is a limited subsample from the entire RAVE catalogue, roughly mapping up to 500 pc above and below the Galactic plane, a few degrees in azimuthal direction and covering a radial extension of 2.0 kpc around the solar position. The solar motion relative to the local standard of rest is also re-determined with the isolated thin disk component. Major results are the trend of the velocity mean and dispersion in the radial and vertical direction. In addition the azimuthal components of the solar motion relative to the local standard of rest and the velocity dispersion are discussed., Comment: accepted on A&A, please see companion paper "THICK disk kinem..."

Aims. We present here a new theoretical approach to population synthesis. The aim is to predict colour magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for huge numbers of stars. With this method we generate synthetic CMDs for N-body simulations of galaxies. Sophisticated hydrodynamic N-body models of galaxies require equal quality simulations of the photometric properties of their stellar content. The only prerequisite for the method to work is very little information on the star formation and chemical enrichment histories, i.e. the age and metallicity of all star-particles as a function of time. The method takes into account the gap between the mass of real stars and that of the star-particles in N-body simulations, which best correspond to the mass of star clusters with different age and metallicity, i.e. a manifold of single stellar sopulations (SSP). Methods. The theory extends the concept of SSP to include the phase-space (position and velocity) of each star. Furthermore, it accelerates the building up of simulated CMD by using a database of theoretical SSPs that extends to all ages and metallicities of interest. Finally, it uses the concept of distribution functions to build up the CMD. The technique is independent of the mass resolution and the way the N-body simulation has been calculated. This allows us to generate CMDs for simulated stellar systems of any kind: from open clusters to globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, or spiral and elliptical galaxies. Results. The new theory is applied to an N-body simulation of a disc galaxy to test its performance and highlight its flexibility., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

Dissipative phenomena occurring during the orbital evolution of a dwarf satellite galaxy around a host galaxy may leave signatures in the star formation activity and signatures in the colour magnitude diagram of the galaxy stellar content. Our goal is to reach a simple and qualitative description of the these complicated phenomena. We develop an analytical and numerical technique able to study ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Rayleigh-Taylor and tidal forces acting on the star formation processes in molecular clouds. We consider it together with synthetic colour magnitude diagrams techniques. We developed a method to investigate the connections existing between gas consumption processes and star formation processes in the context of the two extended-body interaction with special attention to the dwarf galaxies dynamical regime., Comment: Accepted on A&A

The Asiago Red Clump Spectroscopic Survey (ARCS) is an ongoing survey that provides atmospheric parameters, distances and space velocities of a well selected sample of Red Clump stars distributed along the celestial equator. We used the ARCS catalog for a preliminary investigation of the Galactic disk in the Solar Neighborhood, in particular we focused on detection and characterization of moving groups., Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (April 17-22, 2011), C. Reyle, A. Robin, M. Schultheis (eds.)

We present a new study of the evolution of the Carina dwarf galaxy that includes a simultaneous derivation of its orbit and star formation history. The structure of the galaxy is constrained through orbital parameters derived from the observed distance, proper motions, radial velocity and star formation history. The different orbits admitted by the large proper motion errors are investigated in relation to the tidal force exerted by an external potential representing the Milky Way (MW). Our analysis is performed with the aid of fully consistent N-body simulations that are able to follow the dynamics and the stellar evolution of the dwarf system in order to determine self-consistently the star formation history of Carina. We find a star formation history characterized by several bursts, partially matching the observational expectation. We find also compatible results between dynamical projected quantities and the observational constraints. The possibility of a past interaction between Carina and the Magellanic Clouds is also separately considered and deemed unlikely., Comment: Accepted in A&A

The chemodynamical evolution of spherical multi-component self-gravitating models for isolated dwarf galaxies is studied. We compare their evolution with and without feedback effects from star formation processes. We find that initially cuspy dark matter profiles flatten with time as a result of star formation, without any special tuning conditions. Thus the seemingly flattened profiles found in many dwarfs do not contradict the cuspy profiles predicted by cosmological models. We also calculate the chemical evolution of stars and gas, to permit comparisons with observational data., Comment: Accepted the 28/01/10

GAIA data will create a precise 3-dimensional map of the Galaxy, providing positional information, radial velocities, luminosity, temperature and chemical composition of a representative sample of stars. Here we present a new implementation of the Padova Galaxy Model, where kinematics simulations are included. A few examples of application to GAIA science are discussed, in particular concerning radial velocities determinations of the thin and thick disk., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the conference:"Gaia Spectroscopy: Science and Technology"