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Recent measurements of the proper motion of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) show it to be moving in a nearly circular orbit around the Milky Way and to be leading the Magellanic Stream which stretches in a well-confined arc 100 ◦ behind it. We present numerical investigations designed to critically test models of the origin of the Magellanic Stream. The most developed model is the tidal model which fails to reproduce several of its characteristic properties: (i) High resolution numerical simulations of tidal stripping show that stripped material from the LMC would retain the internal velocities of the LMC and would define a thick plane surrounding the Milky Way, not the tightly confined wake actually observed. (ii) There is no leading stream as would be expected if it were tidally produced. (iii) The observed radial velocity along the Stream is inconsistent with the observed orbital parameters of the Magellanic Clouds. (iv) The uniform variation in column density along the Stream cannot be reproduced by tidal forces. (v) No stars have been observed within the Stream, but stars should be tidally stripped from the LMC as easily as gas.
Moore et al. (Thu,) studied this question.