Metallicity Gradients and the Milky Way Disk as Observed by the SEGUE Survey

Details Metallicity Gradients and the Milky Way Disk as Observed by the SEGUE Survey Metallicity Gradients and the Milky Way Disk as Observed by the SEGUE Survey

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21531001c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #310.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.307

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Observations of old stars in the Milky Way's disk are ideal for providing detailed constraints on models of disk formation and evolution. One open question is how the thick disk of the Milky Way was formed, and whether it is truly distinct from the thin disk. Some proposed mechanisms for thick disk formation -- secular processes, mergers, and accretion -- may also have important effects on disk growth. Thus, the observed kinematics, spatial distribution, and compositions of old disk stars in the galaxy can serve as a testbed for models of disk evolution. We study the radial and vertical metallicity distribution of the Milky Way disk using medium resolution spectra of 7712 main sequence turnoff stars from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understand and Exploration (SEGUE). The sample consists of mostly old thin and thick disk stars, with a minimal contribution from the stellar halo. We present the radial metallicity gradient as a function of vertical height above the disk in the region 6 < r < 16 kpc, 0 < |z| < 1.5 kpc. The radial gradient becomes shallower as the distance from the galactic plane increases. We compare these results with previous radial metallicity gradient results which use younger tracers, such as open clusters and cepheids. Because various scenarios predict different metallicity patterns in the thick disk, these data may be used to distinguish between different proposed thick disk formation scenarios.

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