Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-11-11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
20 pages, Review talk at the conference "A stellar journey", A symposium in celebration of Bengt Gustafsson's 65th birthday, h
Scientific paper
10.1088/0031-8949/2008/T133/0140
The study of the Milky Way stellar discs in the context of galaxy formation is discussed. In particular we explore the properties of the Milky Way disc using a new sample of about 550 dwarf stars for which we have recently obtained elemental abundances and ages based on high resolution spectroscopy. For all the stars we also have full kinematic information as well as information about their stellar orbits. We confirm results from previous studies that the thin and the thick disc have distinct abundance patterns. But we also explore a larger range of orbital parameters than what has been possible in our previous studies. Several new results are presented. We find that stars that reaches high above the galactic plane and have eccentric orbits show remarkably tight abundance trends. This implies that these stars formed out of well mixed gas that had been homogenized over large volumes. We find some evidence that point to that the event that most likely caused the heating of this stellar population happened a few billion years ago. Through a simple, kinematic exploration of stars with super-solar [Fe/H] we show that the solar neighbourhood contains metal-rich, high velocity stars that very likely are associated with the thick disc. Additionally, the HR1614 moving group and the Hercules and Arcturus stellar streams are discussed and it is concluded that, probably, a large fraction of the so far identified groups and streams in the disc are the result of evolution and interactions within the stellar disc rather than being dissolved stellar clusters or engulfed dwarf galaxies.
Bensby Thomas
Feltzing Sofia
No associations
LandOfFree
The Galactic Stellar Disc does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Galactic Stellar Disc, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Galactic Stellar Disc will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-100191