Misaligned tidal tails in open clusters: a signature of the local spiral arm resonance
Abstract
Tidal tails of open clusters are traditionally expected to align with their orbital motion due to Galactic shear. However, recent observations suggest that a significant population of clusters exhibits misaligned tails, the origin of which remains poorly understood. I investigate the structural properties of tidal tails for a sample of 155 nearby open clusters within 1 kpc of the Sun to characterize the influence of non-axisymmetric Galactic perturbers on stellar stripping geometry.Using high-precision Gaia DR3 astrometry and the probabilistic membership, I trace the primary orientation and physical length of tidal tails. I distinguish between local and global perturbations by analyzing the spatial distribution of misalignment (DeltaPA) relative to the boundaries of the Local Arm and comparing results with recent test-particle simulations of barred and spiral potentials. I identify three distinct dynamical regimes. While the majority of the population is shear-aligned, a significant subset exhibits a spatially indifferent background misalignment (10deg < DeltaPA < 30deg) consistent with global Galactic bar torques. In contrast, a population of nascent tails (< 0.3 kpc) exhibits larger misalignments (DeltaPA > 40deg) with a unique spatial specificity, occurring exclusively within the inter-arm gaps (|d_arm| > 0.2 kpc). These significant misalignments could represent a transient dynamical phase occurring within the corotation resonance's zero-shear zone, where the radial gravitational forcing of the spiral potential dominates stellar exit trajectories by rotating the eigenvectors of the tidal tensor. This could identify nascent tidal tails as uniquely sensitive high-resolution tracers of the non-axisymmetric Galactic potential.
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BibTeX
@misc{piatti2026misaligned,
title = {{Misaligned tidal tails in open clusters: a signature of the local spiral arm resonance}},
author = {Andrés E. Piatti},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.26626},
eprint = {2609.26626},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26626},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Misaligned tidal tails in open clusters: a signature of the local spiral arm resonance
AU - Andrés E. Piatti
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.26626
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26626
AB - Tidal tails of open clusters are traditionally expected to align with their orbital motion due to Galactic shear. However, recent observations suggest that a significant population of clusters exhibits misaligned tails, the origin of which remains poorly understood. I investigate the structural properties of tidal tails for a sample of 155 nearby open clusters within 1 kpc of the Sun to characterize the influence of non-axisymmetric Galactic perturbers on stellar stripping geometry.Using high-precision Gaia DR3 astrometry and the probabilistic membership, I trace the primary orientation and physical length of tidal tails. I distinguish between local and global perturbations by analyzing the spatial distribution of misalignment (DeltaPA) relative to the boundaries of the Local Arm and comparing results with recent test-particle simulations of barred and spiral potentials. I identify three distinct dynamical regimes. While the majority of the population is shear-aligned, a significant subset exhibits a spatially indifferent background misalignment (10deg < DeltaPA < 30deg) consistent with global Galactic bar torques. In contrast, a population of nascent tails (< 0.3 kpc) exhibits larger misalignments (DeltaPA > 40deg) with a unique spatial specificity, occurring exclusively within the inter-arm gaps (|d_arm| > 0.2 kpc). These significant misalignments could represent a transient dynamical phase occurring within the corotation resonance's zero-shear zone, where the radial gravitational forcing of the spiral potential dominates stellar exit trajectories by rotating the eigenvectors of the tidal tensor. This could identify nascent tidal tails as uniquely sensitive high-resolution tracers of the non-axisymmetric Galactic potential.
ER -