Detect the density profile with LAMOST K giants

Abstract

The density distribution of the Milky Way halo is detected with 5351 LAMOST DR3 metal poor K giants using a nonparametric method. The nonparametric fitting method is a model independent way to estimate the halo density distribution while to a large extent avoiding the influence of the halo substucture. We show that the K giants density profile can be fitted well by single power law. We found no indication of a break in the power law index. The powerlaw index n = 5.0−0.64+0.64. The data show that the stellar ha…