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Description
We report the discovery of distant RR Lyrae stars, including the most distant known in the Milky Way, using data taken in the g-band with the Dark Energy Camera as part of the High cadence Transient Survey (HiTS; 2014 campaign). We detect a total of 173 RR Lyrae stars over a ~120deg^2^ area, including both known RR Lyrae and new detections. The heliocentric distances dH of the full sample range from 9 to >200kpc, with 18 of them beyond 90kpc. We identify three sub-groups of RR Lyrae as members of known systems: the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy, for which we report 46 new discoveries, and the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Leo IV and Leo V. Following an MCMC methodology, we fit spherical and ellipsoidal profiles of the form {rho}(R)~Rn to the radial density distribution of RR Lyrae in the Galactic halo. The best fit corresponds to the spherical case, for which we obtain a simple power-law index of n=-4.17_-0.20_^+0.18^, consistent with recent studies made with samples covering shorter distances. The pulsational properties of the outermost RR Lyrae in the sample (dH>90kpc) differ from the ones in the halo population at closer distances. The distribution of the stars in a period-amplitude diagram suggest they belong to Oosterhoff-intermediate or Oosterhoff II groups, similar to what is found in the ultra-faint dwarf satellites around the Milky Way. The new distant stars discovered represent an important addition to the few existing tracers of the Milky Way potential in the outer halo.
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