The effect of non-sphericity on mass and anisotropy measurements in dSph galaxies with Schwarzschild method

Understand

In our previous work we confirmed the reliability of the spherically symmetric Schwarzschild orbit-superposition method to recover the mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of spherical dwarf galaxies.

• Here we investigate the effect of its application to intrinsically non-spherical objects.
• For this purpose we use a model of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy formed in a numerical simulation of a major merger of two disky dwarfs.
• The shape of the stellar component of the merger remnant is axisymmetric and prolate which allows us to identify and measure the bias caused by observing the spheroidal galaxy along different directions, especially the longest and shortest principal axis.