@article{9d809c5d5f2b4ff69193fd9f40ae296a,
title = "Stellar density profile and mass of the Milky Way bulge from VVV data",
abstract = "We present the first stellar density profile of the MilkyWay bulge that reaches latitude b = 0°. The profile was derived by counting red clump stars within the colour-magnitude diagram that was constructed using the new PSF-fitting photometry from VISTA Variables in the V{\'i}a L{\'a}ctea (VVV) survey data. The new stellar density map covers the area between |l| ≤ 10° and |b| ≤ 4:5° with unprecedented accuracy, allowing the stellar kinematics from the Giraffe Inner Bulge Spectroscopic Survey (GIBS) to be linked to the stellar mass density distribution. In particular, the location of the central velocity-dispersion peak from GIBS matches a high over-density in the VVV star count map. By scaling the total luminosity function (LF) obtained from all VVV fields to the LF from Zoccali et al.(2003), we obtain the first fully empirical estimate of the mass in stars and in remnants of the Galactic bulge. Within (|b| < 9:5°, |l| < 10°), the Milky Way bulge stellar mass is 2:0 ± 0:3 × 1010 M⊙.",
keywords = "Galaxy: bulge, Galaxy: structure",
author = "E. Valenti and M. Zoccali and Gonzalez, {O. A.} and D. Minniti and J. Alonso-Garc{\'i}a and E. Marchetti and M. Hempel and A. Renzini and M. Rejkuba",
note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the use of data from the ESO Public Survey program ID 179.B-2002, taken with the VISTA telescope, and data products from the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. Support for M.Z. and D.M. is provided by the BASAL CATA Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies through grant PFB-06, and the Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism{\textquoteright}s Programa Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio through grant IC120009, awarded to Millenium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). D.M. and M.Z. acknowledge support from FONDECYT regular grant No. 1130196 and 1150345, respectively. J.A.G. acknowledges support by the FIC-R Fund, allocated to Project 30321072. M.H. acknowledges financial support from the Chilean BASAL Centro de Excelencia en Astrofisica y Tecnologias Afines (CATA), grant PFB-06/2007. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} ESO 2016.",
year = "2016",
month = mar,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201527500",
language = "English",
volume = "587",
journal = "Astronomy and Astrophysics",
issn = "0004-6361",
publisher = "EDP Sciences",
}