Geometry of the Milky Way's dark matter from dynamical models of the tilted stellar halo

Abstract

The shape and orientation of the Milky Way's dark matter halo remain poorly constrained. Observations of the accreted stellar halo show that it is triaxial and tilted with respect to the disc. If this configuration is long-lived, it can place constraints on the shape and orientation of the dark matter halo that can support it close to steady state. We use a novel method to fit equilibrium orbit-superposition (Schwarzschild) models to the stellar halo in a realistic Milky Way potential with a tilted dark matter halo. We assume that the long axes of each halo and the disc normal are coplanar. These models are matched to parametric density fits and velocity anisotropy measurements of Gaia Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) stars at radii $r\in[6,60]$ kpc. The observations are consistent with a (near-)prolate dark matter halo whose density has a short-to-long axis ratio of $q_\mathrm{dm}=0.87_{-0.09}^{+0.05}$. The long axis is inclined at an angle of $β_\mathrm{dm}=43_{-8}^{+22}\,^\circ$ to the disc plane, which exceeds the stellar halo tilt by $\approx18^\circ$. Spherical haloes cannot support the observed structure of the GSE in equilibrium. The best-fitting dynamical GSE model has a radius-dependent shape and orientation; between radii of 6 and 60~kpc the tilt increases from $β_*(r)\approx10^\circ$ to $\approx35^\circ$. Our model provides a good fit to the observed triaxial structure and dynamics of the GSE. It is therefore an excellent source of realistic initial conditions for simulations of the halo, such as for investigating perturbations from satellites or the Galactic bar.