Bibcode
Shetrone, Matthew D.; Pinsonneault, Marc; Nidever, David L.; Mészáros, Szabolcs; Majewski, Steven R.; Holtzman, Jon; Hayden, Michael R.; García Perez, A. E.; Cunha, Katia; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Schiavon, Ricardo P.; Zasowski, Gail; Bovy, Jo; Mackereth, J. T.
Referencia bibliográfica
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 471, Issue 3, p.3057-3078
Fecha de publicación:
11
2017
Número de citas
140
Número de citas referidas
129
Descripción
The measurement of the structure of stellar populations in the Milky Way
disc places fundamental constraints on models of galaxy formation and
evolution. Previously, the disc's structure has been studied in terms of
populations defined geometrically and/or chemically, but a decomposition
based on stellar ages provides a more direct connection to the history
of the disc, and stronger constraint on theory. Here, we use positions,
abundances and ages for 31 244 red giant branch stars from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-APOGEE survey, spanning 3 < Rgc
< 15 kpc, to dissect the disc into mono-age and mono-[Fe/H]
populations at low and high [α/Fe]. For each population, with
Δage < 2 Gyr and Δ[Fe/H] < 0.1 dex, we measure the
structure and surface-mass density contribution. We find that low
[α/Fe] mono-age populations are fit well by a broken exponential,
which increases to a peak radius and decreases thereafter. We show that
this profile becomes broader with age, interpreted here as a new signal
of disc heating and radial migration. High [α/Fe] populations are
well fit as single exponentials within the radial range considered, with
an average scalelength of 1.9 ± 0.1 kpc. We find that the
relative contribution of high to low [α/Fe] populations at
R0 is f_Σ = 18 per cent ± 5 per cent; high
[α/Fe] contributes most of the mass at old ages, and low
[α/Fe] at young ages. The low and high [α/Fe] populations
overlap in age at intermediate [Fe/H], although both contribute mass at
R0 across the full range of [Fe/H]. The mass-weighted
scaleheight hZ distribution is a smoothly declining
exponential function. High [α/Fe] populations are thicker than low
[α/Fe], and the average hZ increases steadily with age,
between 200 and 600 pc.
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