Exploring Halo Substructure with Giant Stars: Substructure in the Local Halo as Seen in the Grid Giant Star Survey Including Extended Tidal Debris from ωCentauri

We present the latitude-normalized radial velocity (v{sub b} ) distribution of 3318 subsolar metallicity, V {approx}< 13.5 stars from the Grid Giant Star Survey (GGSS) in southern hemisphere fields. The sample includes giants mostly within {approx}5 kpc from the Galactic disks and halo. The nearby halo is found to (1) exhibit significant kinematical substructure, and (2) be prominently represented by several velocity coherent structures, including a very retrograde 'cloud' of stars at l {approx} 285 Degree-Sign and extended, retrograde 'streams' visible as relatively tight l-v{sub b} sequences. One sequence in the fourth Galactic quadrant lies within the l-v{sub b} space expected to contain tidal debris from the 'star cluster' {omega}Centauri. Not only does {omega}Cen lie precisely in this l-v{sub b} sequence, but the positions and v{sub b} of member stars match those of N-body simulations of tidally disrupting dwarf galaxies on orbits ending with {omega}Cen's current position and space motion. But the ultimate proof that we have very likely found extended parts of the {omega}Cen tidal stream comes from echelle spectroscopy of a subsample of the stars that reveals a very particular chemical abundance signature known to occur only in {omega}Cen. The newly discovered {omega}Cen debris accounts for almost allmore » fourth Galactic quadrant retrograde stars in the southern GGSS, which suggests {omega}Cen is a dominant contributor of retrograde giant stars in the inner Galaxy.« less