The Signature of Galactic Tides in Local Group Dwarf Spheroidals

Understand

(Abridged) We use N-body simulations to explore the effects of tidal stripping on the structure of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs).

• We model dSphs as King spheres embedded in NFW dark halos that orbit the Galactic potential on eccentric orbits.
• We find that episodes of stellar mass loss remove the initial cutoff of the bound stellar core.
• Once equilibrium has been re-established the outer mass profile approaches a power-law in projection that is well described by a simple Plummer model.