Ram Pressure Stripping of the Large Magellanic Cloud's Disk as a Probe of the Milky Way's Circumgalactic Medium

Understand

Recent observations have constrained the orbit and structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), implying a well-constrained pericentric passage about the Milky Way (MW) ~ 50 Myr ago.

• In this scenario, the LMC's gaseous disk has recently experienced maximal ram pressure stripping, suggesting the current extent of its HI disk directly probes the medium in which it is moving.
• From the observed stellar and HI distributions of the system we find evidence of a truncated gas profile along the windward ``leading edge' of the LMC disk, despite a far more extended stellar component.
• We explore the implications of this ram pressure stripping signature, using both analytic prescriptions and full 3-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the LMC.