scholarly journals The dual origin of the Galactic thick disc and halo from the gas-rich Gaia–Enceladus Sausage merger

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 1603-1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J J Grand ◽  
Daisuke Kawata ◽  
Vasily Belokurov ◽  
Alis J Deason ◽  
Azadeh Fattahi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rotation Velocity ◽  
Orbital Eccentricity ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Thick Disc ◽  
Rapid Formation ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Stellar Halo ◽  
Disc Region ◽  
Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations ◽  
Dual Origin

ABSTRACT We analyse a set of cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the formation of Milky Way-mass galaxies identified to have a prominent radially anisotropic stellar halo component similar to the so-called ‘Gaia Sausage’ found in the Gaia data. We examine the effects of the progenitor of the Sausage (the Gaia–Enceladus Sausage, GES) on the formation of major galactic components analogous to the Galactic thick disc and inner stellar halo. We find that the GES merger is likely to have been gas-rich and contribute 10–50 ${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of gas to a merger-induced centrally concentrated starburst that results in the rapid formation of a compact, rotationally supported thick disc that occupies the typical chemical thick disc region of chemical abundance space. We find evidence that gas-rich mergers heated the proto-disc of the Galaxy, scattering stars on to less-circular orbits such that their rotation velocity and metallicity positively correlate, thus contributing an additional component that connects the Galactic thick disc to the inner stellar halo. We demonstrate that the level of kinematic heating of the proto-galaxy correlates with the kinematic state of the population before the merger, the progenitor mass, and orbital eccentricity of the merger. Furthermore, we show that the mass and time of the merger can be accurately inferred from local stars on counter-rotating orbits.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Redistribution of Mass in Galactic Disks due to Bars

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S277) ◽  
pp. 242-245
Author(s):  
Patricia Sánchez-Blázquez ◽  
Isabel Pérez ◽  
Pierre Ocvirk
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Disk Galaxies ◽  
Galactic Disks ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Barred Galaxies ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Bulge Region ◽  
Disc Region ◽  
Inside Out

AbstractNumerical simulations have shown that strong gravitational torque by non-axisymmetric components induce evolutionary processes such as redistribution of mass and angular momentum in the galactic disks and consequent change of chemical abundance profiles. If we hope to understand chemical evolution gradients and their evolution we must understand the secular processes and re-arrangement of material by non-axisymmetric components and vice-versa. The most obvious of these aforementioned non-axisymmetric components are bars - at least 2/3 of spiral galaxies host a bar, and possibly all disk galaxies have hosted a bar at some point in their evolution. While observationally it has been found that barred galaxies have shallower gas-phase metallicity gradients than non-barred galaxies, a complementary analysis of the stellar abundance profiles has not yet been undertaken. This is unfortunate because the study of both gas and stars is important in providing a complete picture, as the two components undergo (and suffer from) very different evolutionary process. We present here a pilot study of the gas and stellar metallicity and age distributions in a sample of barred and non-barred galaxies using 2D spectroscopic observations. We found that the majority of the stellar mass in our sample is composed of old (~10 Gyr) stars. This is true in the bulge and the disc region, even beyond two disc scalelengths. In the disc region, a larger fraction of young stars is present in the external parts of the disc compared with the inner disc. The disc growth is, therefore, compatible with a moderate inside-out formation scenario, where the luminosity-weighted age changes from ~10 Gyrs in the centre, to ~4 Gyrs at two disc scalelengths, depending upon the galaxy. However, the presence of substructure, like star forming rings, can produce stellar population trends that are not directly related with the growing of the disc but to the bar potential. In the disc region, the metallicity gradient always decrease with the radius. In the bulge region this is not always true and we find inverse metallicity gradients in several galaxies.

scholarly journals Planetary mass–radius relations across the galaxy

2020 ◽  
Vol 639 ◽  
pp. A66 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Michel ◽  
J. Haldemann ◽  
C. Mordasini ◽  
Y. Alibert
Keyword(s):  
Bulk Composition ◽  
Chemical Species ◽  
Stellar Populations ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Thick Disc ◽  
Thin Disc ◽  
Planetary Mass ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Galactic Stellar Populations ◽  
Internal Structure Models

Context. Planet formation theory suggests that planet bulk compositions are likely to reflect the chemical abundance ratios of their host star’s photosphere. Variations in the abundance of particular chemical species in stellar photospheres between different galactic stellar populations demonstrate that there are differences among the expected solid planet bulk compositions. Aims. We aim to present planetary mass-radius relations of solid planets for kinematically differentiated stellar populations, namely, the thin disc, thick disc, and halo. Methods. Using two separate internal structure models, we generated synthetic planets using bulk composition inputs derived from stellar abundances. We explored two scenarios, specifically iron-silicate planets at 0.1 AU and silicate-iron-water planets at 4 AU. Results. We show that there is a persistent statistical difference in the expected mass-radius relations of solid planets among the different galactic stellar populations. At 0.1 AU for silicate-iron planets, there is a 1.51–2.04% mean planetary radius difference between the thick and thin disc stellar populations, whilst for silicate-iron-water planets past the ice line at 4 AU, we calculate a 2.93–3.26% difference depending on the models. Between the halo and thick disc, we retrieve at 0.1 AU a 0.53–0.69% mean planetary radius difference, and at 4 AU we find a 1.24–1.49% difference depending on the model. Conclusions. Future telescopes (such as PLATO) will be able to precisely characterize solid exoplanets and demonstrate the possible existence of planetary mass-radius relationship variability between galactic stellar populations.

scholarly journals A Derivation of Flat Rotation Curve of Spiral Galaxies and Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swagatam Sen
Keyword(s):  
Laplace Equation ◽  
Spiral Galaxy ◽  
Rotation Curve ◽  
Spiral Galaxies ◽  
Rotation Velocity ◽  
Alternative Solution ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Flat Rotation Curve ◽  
Disc Region ◽  
Fisher Relation

Fundamentally for the extended disc region of a spiral galaxy, an alternative solution to Laplace equation has been presented for a potential that is radially symmetric on the disc plane. This potential, unlike newtonian one, is shown to be logarithmic in distance from the centre, which allows for the rotation velocity to be constant along the disc radius.It is also shown that this potential easily manifests into a relationship between inner mass of the galaxy and terminal rotation velocity, which has been empirically observed and known as Baryonic Tully-Fisher relations.

scholarly journals Predicting the LISA white dwarf binary population in the Milky Way with cosmological simulations

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5888-5903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Lamberts ◽  
Sarah Blunt ◽  
Tyson B Littenberg ◽  
Shea Garrison-Kimmel ◽  
Thomas Kupfer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Thick Disc ◽  
Distance Distributions ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Stellar Halo ◽  
Galaxy Model ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Binary Evolution

ABSTRACT White dwarf binaries with orbital periods below 1 h will be the most numerous sources for the space-based gravitational wave detector Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Based on thousands of individually resolved systems, we will be able to constrain binary evolution and provide a new map of the Milky Way and its close surroundings. In this paper we predict the main properties of populations of different types of detached white dwarf binaries detected by LISA over time. For the first time, we combine a high-resolution cosmological simulation of a Milky Way-mass galaxy (taken from the FIRE project) with a binary population synthesis model for low- and intermediate-mass stars. Our Galaxy model therefore provides a cosmologically realistic star formation and metallicity history for the Galaxy and naturally produces its different components such as the thin and thick disc, the bulge, the stellar halo, and satellite galaxies and streams. Thanks to the simulation, we show how different Galactic components contribute differently to the gravitational wave signal, mostly due to their typical age and distance distributions. We find that the dominant LISA sources will be He–He double white dwarfs (DWDs) and He–CO DWDs with important contributions from the thick disc and bulge. The resulting sky map of the sources is different from previous models, with important consequences for the searches for electromagnetic counterparts and data analysis. We also emphasize that much of the science-enabling information regarding white dwarf binaries, such as the chirp mass and the sky localization, becomes increasingly rich with long observations, including an extended mission up to 8 yr.

scholarly journals Is the Dynamical History at Odds with the Chemical History?

1996 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 367-379
Author(s):  
F. Matteucci
Keyword(s):  
High Velocity ◽  
Galactic Plane ◽  
Ultraviolet Excess ◽  
Orbital Eccentricity ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Chemical Enrichment ◽  
Halo Stars ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Chemical History ◽  
Formation And Evolution

The paper of Eggen, Lynden-Bell and Sandage (1962)(hereafter ELS) titled “Evidence from the motion of old stars that the Galaxy collapsed” was the first attempt to understand the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. From a study of a kinematically selected sample of high velocity stars, ELS had found a remarkable correlation between chemical abundance and orbital eccentricity, in the sense that stars with the largest ultraviolet excess (a measure of stellar metallicity, in particular Fe), i.e. the lowest metallicity, are invariably moving in highly elliptical orbits. As the average < [Fe/H] > (in the usual notation [Fe/H] = log(Fe/H)∗ – log(Fe/H)⊙) is expected to increase with time, as a consequence of the progressive chemical enrichment of the gas, stars with the lowest [Fe/H] are, on average, the oldest. ELS also found a correlation between abundance and motion of stars perpendicular to the Galactic plane. This correlation suggests a continuous decrease of the perpendicular velocity with decreasing [Fe/H]. To explain these relations ELS proposed that the Galaxy collapsed from a protocloud to a thin disk on a timescale of a few times 108 years, with progressive chemical enrichment as the collapse proceeded. This model was subsequently criticized mainly because of selection effects in their data, i.e. given the data available to ELS one would not expect the sample to contain low abundance, low orbital eccentricity objects even if they existed. They would be absent from the high velocity catalog they used. In addition, the ELS simple model did not account for the fact that almost half of the halo stars have retrograde orbits. This fact led Larson (1969) to consider models of clumpy and turbulent protogalaxies with collapse times that sometimes exceeded 1 Gyr.

scholarly journals Kinematical & Chemical Characteristics of the Thin and Thick Disks

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary F. G. Wyse
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Observational Evidence ◽  
Chemical Characteristics ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Thin And Thick Disks ◽  
Thick Disks

AbstractI discuss how the chemical abundance distributions, kinematics and age distributions of stars in the thin and thick disks of the Galaxy can be used to decipher the merger history of the Milky Way, a typical large galaxy. The observational evidence points to a rather quiescent past merging history, unusual in the context of the ‘consensus’ cold-dark-matter cosmology favoured from observations of structure on scales larger than individual galaxies.

scholarly journals The chemical fingerprints of the thin and the thick disk

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 197-202
Author(s):  
Sofia Feltzing ◽  
Sally Oey ◽  
Thomas Bensby
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Thick Disk ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Dwarf Stars ◽  
Abundance Patterns ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Thin And Thick Disks ◽  
Thick Disks ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Galactic Stellar Populations

AbstractThe past history and origin of the different Galactic stellar populations are manifested in their different chemical abundance patterns. We obtained new elemental abundances for 553 F and G dwarf stars, to more accurately quantify these patterns for the thin and thick disks. However, the exact definition of disk membership is not straightforward. Stars that have a high likelihood of belonging to the thin disk show different abundance patterns from those for the thick disk. In contrast, we show that stars for the Hercules Stream do not show unique abundance patterns, but rather follow those of the thin and thick disks. This strongly suggests that the Hercules Stream is a feature induced by internal dynamics within the Galaxy rather than the remnant of an accreted satellite.

scholarly journals The age–chemical abundance structure of the Galactic disc – II. α-dichotomy and thick disc formation

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 2371-2384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhui Lian ◽  
Daniel Thomas ◽  
Claudia Maraston ◽  
Timothy C Beers ◽  
Christian Moni Bidin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Cosmic Time ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Bimodal Distribution ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Secular Evolution ◽  
Thick Disc ◽  
Star Formation Activity ◽  
Gas Accretion ◽  
Disc Formation

ABSTRACT We extend our previous work on the age–chemical abundance structure of the Galactic outer disc to the inner disc (4 &lt; r &lt; 8  kpc) based on the SDSS/APOGEE survey. Different from the outer disc, the inner disc stars exhibit a clear bimodal distribution in the [Mg/Fe]–[Fe/H] plane. While a number of scenarios have been proposed in the literature, it remains challenging to recover this bimodal distribution with theoretical models. To this end, we present a chemical evolution model embedding a complex multiphase inner disc formation scenario that matches the observed bimodal [Mg/Fe]–[Fe/H] distribution. In this scenario, the formation of the inner disc is dominated by two main starburst episodes $6\,$Gyr apart with secular, low-level star formation activity in between. In our model, the first starburst occurs at early cosmic times ($t\sim 1\,$ Gyr) and the second one $6\,$ Gyr later at a cosmic time of $t\sim 7\,$ Gyr. Both these starburst episodes are associated with gas accretion events in our model, and are quenched rapidly. The first starburst leads to the formation of the high-α sequence, and the second starburst leads to the formation of the metal-poor low-α sequence. The metal-rich low-α stars, instead, form during the secular evolution phase between the two bursts. Our model shows that the α-dichotomy originates from the rapid suppression of star formation after the first starburst. The two starburst episodes are likely to be responsible for the formation of the geometric thick disc (z &gt;1 kpc), with the old inner thick disc and the young outer thick disc forming during the first and the second starbursts, respectively.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Globular Cluster Systems

1983 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 359-364
Author(s):  
K. C. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Globular Cluster ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Chemical Abundance ◽  
Cluster Systems ◽  
Chemical Enrichment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Galaxy

In the Milky Way, the globular clusters are all very old, and we are accustomed to think of them as the oldest objects in the Galaxy. The clusters cover a wide range of chemical abundance, from near solar down to about [Fe/H] ⋍ −2.3. However there are field stars with abundances significantly lower than −2.3 (eg Bond, 1980); this implies that the clusters formed during the active phase of chemical enrichment, with cluster formation beginning at a time when the enrichment processes were already well under way.

scholarly journals The gravitational force field of the Galaxy measured from the kinematics of RR Lyrae in Gaia

2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (3) ◽  
pp. 3296-3316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wegg ◽  
Ortwin Gerhard ◽  
Marie Bieth
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Dark Matter Halo ◽  
Galactic Centre ◽  
Gravitational Acceleration ◽  
Momentum Exchange ◽  
Acceleration Field ◽  
Rr Lyrae ◽  
Halo Stars ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Stellar Halo

Abstract From a sample of 15651 RR Lyrae with accurate proper motions in Gaia DR2, we measure the azimuthally averaged kinematics of the inner stellar halo between 1.5  and 20  kpc from the Galactic centre. We find that their kinematics are strongly radially anisotropic, and their velocity ellipsoid nearly spherically aligned over this volume. Only in the inner regions ${\lesssim } 5\, {\rm kpc}\,$ does the anisotropy significantly fall (but still with β &gt; 0.25) and the velocity ellipsoid tilt towards cylindrical alignment. In the inner regions, our sample of halo stars rotates at up to $50\, {\rm km}\, {\rm s}^{-1}\,$, which may reflect the early history of the Milky Way, although there is also a significant angular momentum exchange with the Galactic bar at these radii. We subsequently apply the Jeans equations to these kinematic measurements in order to non-parametrically infer the azimuthally averaged gravitational acceleration field over this volume, and by removing the contribution from baryonic matter, measure the contribution from dark matter. We find that the gravitational potential of the dark matter is nearly spherical with average flattening $q_\Phi ={1.01 \pm 0.06\, }$ between 5 and 20 kpc, and by fitting parametric ellipsoidal density profiles to the acceleration field, we measure the flattening of the dark matter halo over these radii to be $q_\rho ={1.00 \pm 0.09\, }\!.$

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