The Local Stellar Halo is Not Dominated by a Single Radial Merger Event

Understand

We use halo dwarf stars with photometrically determined metallicities that are located within 2 kpc of the Sun to identify local halo substructure.

• The kinematic properties of these stars do not indicate a single, dominant radial merger event (RME).
• The retrograde Virgo Radial Merger (VRM) component has [Fe/H] = -1.7.
• A second, non-rotating RME component we name Nereus is identified with [Fe/H] = -2.1 and has similar energy as the VRM.