The Gaia-ESO Survey: low-alpha element stars in the Galactic Bulge
A. Recio-Blanco, A. Rojas-Arriagada, P. de Laverny, S. Mikolaitis, V. Hill, M. Zoccali, J. G. Fernandez-Trincado, A. C. Robin, C. Babusiaux, G. Gilmore, S. Rand… 展开作者
A. Recio-Blanco, A. Rojas-Arriagada, P. de Laverny, S. Mikolaitis, V. Hill, M. Zoccali, J. G. Fernandez-Trincado, A. C. Robin, C. Babusiaux, G. Gilmore, S. Randich, E. Alfaro, C. Allende Prieto, A. Bragaglia, G. Carraro, P. Jofre, C. Lardo, L. Monaco, L. Morbidelli, S. Zaggia
We take advantage of the Gaia-ESO Survey iDR4 bulge data to search for abundance anomalies that could shed light on the composite nature of the Milky Way bulge. The alpha-elements (Mg, Si, and whenever available, Ca) abundances, and their trends with Fe abundances have been analysed for a total of 776 bulge stars. In addition, the aluminum abundances and their ratio to Fe and Mg have also been examined. Our analysis reveals the existence of low-alpha element abundance stars with respect to the standard bulge sequence in the [alpha/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] plane. 18 objects present deviations in [alpha/Fe] ranging from 2.1 to 5.3 sigma with respect to the median standard value. Those stars do not show Mg-Al anti-correlation patterns. Incidentally, this sign of the existence of multiple stellar populations is reported firmly for the first time for the bulge globular cluster NGC 6522. The identified low-alpha abundance stars have chemical patterns compatible with those of the thin disc. Their link with massive dwarf galaxies accretion seems unlikely, as larger deviations in alpha abundance and Al would be expected. The vision of a bulge composite nature and a complex formation process is reinforced by our results. The used approach, a multi-method and model-driven analysis of high resolution data seems crucial to reveal this complexity.
The Gaia-ESO Survey is a wide field spectroscopic survey recently started with the FLAMES@VLT in Cerro Paranal, Chile. It will produce radial velocities more accurate than Gaia's for faint stars (down to V~18), and astrophysical parameters and abundances for approximately 100000 stars, belonging to all Galactic populations. 300 nights were assigned in 5 years (with the last year subject to approval after a detailed report). In particular, to connect with other ongoing and planned spectroscopic surveys, a detailed calibration program --- for the astrophysical parameters derivation --- is planne…
The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a large public spectroscopic survey that aims at observing with FLAMES@VLT the main stellar components of our Galaxy. The study of the population of open clusters is one of the main objectives of GES. We present some results from the first 18 months of observations, among them, a preliminary view of the radial metallicity gradient as traced by open cluster data and a comparison of the chemical patterns of clusters located in different parts of the Galactic disk.
Key information to understand the formation and evolution of disk galaxies are imprinted in the stellar populations of their bulges. This paper has the purpose to make available new measurements of the stellar population properties of the bulges of four spiral galaxies. Both the central values and radial profiles of the line strength of some of the most common Lick indices are measured along the major- and minor- axis of the bulge-dominated region of the sample galaxies. The corresponding age, metallicity, and α/Fe ratio are derived by using the simple stellar population synthesis model predic…
We analyse the kinematics of $\sim 2000$ giant stars in the direction of the Galactic bulge, extracted from the Gaia-ESO survey in the region $-10^\circ \lesssim \ell \lesssim 10^\circ$ and $-11^\circ \lesssim b \lesssim -3^\circ$. We find distinct kinematic trends in the metal rich ($\mathrm{[M/H]}>0$) and metal poor ($\mathrm{[M/H]}<0$) stars in the data. The velocity dispersion of the metal-rich stars drops steeply with latitude, compared to a flat profile in the metal-poor stars, as has been seen previously. We argue that the metal-rich stars in this region are mostly on orbits that suppor…
We analyze the kinematics and spatial distribution of 15,599 fundamental-mode RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in the Milky Way bulge by combining OGLE-IV photometric data and Gaia DR2 proper motions. We show that the longitudinal proper motions and the line-of-sight velocities can give similar results for the rotation in the Galactic central regions. The angular velocity of bulge RRLs is found to be around $35$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$, significantly smaller than that for the majority of bulge stars ($50-60$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$); bulge RRLs have larger velocity dispersion (120$-$140 km s$^{-1}$) than yo…
We computed proper motions of a selected sample of globular clusters projected on the central bulge, employing CCD images gathered along the last 25 years at the ESO-NTT, ESO-Danish and HST telescopes. We presented a method to derive their proper motions, and a set of coordinate transformations to obtain 3D Galactic velocity vectors of the clusters. We analysed 10 globular clusters, namely Terzan 1, Terzan 2, Terzan 4, Terzan 9, NGC 6522, NGC 6558, NGC 6540, AL~3,ESO456--SC38 and Palomar 6. For comparison purposes we also studied the outer bulge cluster NGC 6652. We discuss the general propert…
We performed a detailed study of the ratio of low-α to high-α stars in the Galactic halo as observed by the Gaia-ESO Survey. Using a sample of 381 metal-poor stars from the second internal data release, we found that the value of this ratio did not show evidence of systematic trends as a function of metallicity, surface gravity, Galactic latitude, Galactic longitude, height above the Galactic plane, and Galactocentric radius. We conclude that the α-poor/α-rich value of 0.28 $\pm$ 0.08 suggests that in the inner halo, the larger portion of stars were formed in a high star formation rate environ…
The Blanco DECam Bulge Survey (BDBS) has imaged more than 200 square degrees of the southern Galactic bulge, providing photometry in the ugrizy filters for $\sim 250$ million unique stars. The presence of a strong foreground disk population, along with complex reddening and extreme image crowding, has made it difficult to constrain the presence of young and intermediate age stars in the bulge population. We employed an accurate cross-match of BDBS with the latest data release (EDR3) from the Gaia mission, matching more than 140 million sources with BDBS photometry and Gaia EDR3 photometry and …
We propose a new way to search for hypervelocity stars in the Galactic bulge, by using red clump (RC) giants, that are good distance indicators. The 2nd Gaia Data Release and the near-IR data from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) Survey led to the selection of a volume limited sample of 34 bulge RC stars. A search in this combined data set leads to the discovery of seven candidate hypervelocity red clump stars in the Milky Way bulge. Based on this search we estimate the total production rate of hypervelocity RC stars from the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) to be $N_{HVRC} = …
Multi-object spectrographs have opened a new window on the analyses of the chemo-dynamical properties of old Milky Way stars. These analyses allow us to trace back the internal mechanisms and the external factors that have influenced the evolution of our Galaxy, and therefore understand fundamental aspects of galaxy evolution in general. Here, we present recent results from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) and the Gaia-ESO survey. These surveys explore the Milky Way properties in different ways, in terms of sample size and selection, magnitude range, and spectral resolution. We focus here…
Globular clusters (GCs) are amongst the oldest objects in the Galaxy and play a pivotal role in deciphering its early history. We present the first spectroscopic study of the GC ESO452-SC11 using the AAOmega spectrograph at medium resolution. Given the sparsity of this object and high degree of foreground contamination due to its location toward the bulge, few details are known for this cluster: there is no consensus of its age, metallicity, or its association with the disk or bulge. We identify 5 members based on radial velocity, metallicity, and position within the GC. Using spectral synthes…
The extensive stellar spectroscopic datasets that are available for studies in Galactic Archeaology thanks to, for example, the Gaia-ESO Survey, now benefit from having a significant number of targets that overlap with asteroseismology projects such as Kepler, K2 and CoRoT. Combining the measurements from spectroscopy and asteroseismology allows us to attain greater accuracy with regard to the stellar parameters needed to characterise the stellar populations of the Milky Way. The aim of this Gaia-ESO Survey special project is to produce a catalogue of self-consistent stellar parameters by comb…
According to our current cosmological model, galaxies like the Milky Way are expected to experience many mergers over their lifetimes. The most massive of the merging galaxies will be dragged towards the disc-plane, depositing stars and dark matter into an accreted disc structure. In this work, we utilize the chemo-dynamical template developed in Ruchti et al. to hunt for accreted stars. We apply the template to a sample of 4,675 stars in the third internal data release from the Gaia-ESO Spectroscopic Survey. We find a significant component of accreted halo stars, but find no evidence of an ac…
The Gaia-ESO survey is a large public spectroscopic survey aimed at investigating the origin and formation history of our Galaxy by collecting spectroscopy of representative samples (about 10^5 Milky Way stars) of all Galactic stellar populations, in the field and in clusters. The survey uses globular clusters as intra- and inter-survey calibrators, deriving stellar atmospheric parameters and abundances of a significant number of stars in clusters, along with radial velocity determinations. We used precise radial velocities of a large number of stars in seven globular clusters (NGC 1851, NGC 2…
The Gaia benchmark stars are stars with very precise stellar parameters that cover a wide range in the HR diagram at various metallicities. They are meant to be good representative of typical FGK stars in the Milky Way. Currently, they are used by several spectroscopic surveys to validate and calibrate the methods that analyse the data. I review our recent activities done for these stars. Additionally, by applying our new method to find stellar twins on the Gaia-ESO Survey, I discuss how good representatives of Milky Way stars the benchmark stars are and how they distribute in space.
We analyse the kinematics of the Galactic bar-bulge using proper motions from the ESO public survey Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) and the second Gaia data release. Gaia has provided some of the first absolute proper motions within the bulge and the near-infrared VVV multi-epoch catalogue complements Gaia in highly-extincted low-latitude regions. We discuss the relative-to-absolute calibration of the VVV proper motions using Gaia. Along lines of sight spanning $-10<\ell/\,\mathrm{deg}<10$ and $-10<b/\,\mathrm{deg}<5$, we probabilistically model the density and velocity distributions a…
We revisit the stellar velocity distribution in the Galactic bulge/bar region with APOGEE DR16 and {\it Gaia} DR2, focusing in particular on the possible high-velocity (HV) peaks and their physical origin. We fit the velocity distributions with two different models, namely with Gauss-Hermite polynomial and Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The result of the fit using Gauss-Hermite polynomials reveals a positive correlation between the mean velocity ($\bar{V}$) and the "skewness" ($h_{3}$) of the velocity distribution, possibly caused by the Galactic bar. The $n=2$ GMM fitting reveals a symmetric l…
It has been suggested that the oldest stellar populations in the Milky Way Galaxy are tightly bound and confined to the central regions of the Galaxy. This is one of the reasons why a handful of globular clusters located in the bulge region are thought to be remnants of the primeval formation stages of the Milky Way. The globular cluster, ESO 456-SC38 (Djorgovski~2) is one such cluster; it has a blue horizontal branch, is projected very close to the center of the Galaxy, and has an orbit confining it to the bulge/bar region. The first alpha abundances of seven stars in this heavily reddened cl…
Besides its major objective tuned to the detection of the stellar galactic population the Gaia mission experiment will also observe a large number of galaxies. In this work we intend to evaluate the number and the characteristics of the galaxies that will effectively pass the onboard selection algorithm of Gaia. The detection of objects in Gaia will be performed in a section of the focal plane known as the Sky Mapper. Taking into account the Video Processing Algorithm criterion of detection and considering the known light profiles of discs and bulges galaxies we assess the number and the type …
Abridged: We used the fourth internal data release of the Gaia-ESO survey to characterize the bulge chemistry, spatial distribution, kinematics, and to compare it chemically with the thin and thick disks. The sample consist on ~2500 red clump stars in 11 bulge fields ($-10^\circ\leq l\leq+8^\circ$ and $-10^\circ\leq b\leq-4^\circ$), and a set of ~6300 disk stars selected for comparison. The bulge MDF is confirmed to be bimodal across the whole sampled area, with metal-poor stars dominating at high latitudes. The metal-rich stars exhibit bar-like kinematics and display a bimodality in their mag…
Until the recent advent of $Gaia$ Data Release 2 (DR2) and deep multi-object spectroscopy, it has been difficult to obtain 6-D phase space information for large numbers of stars beyond 4 kpc, in particular towards the Galactic centre, where dust and crowding effects are significant. In this study we combine line-of-sight velocities from the Abundances and Radial velocity Galactic Origins Survey (ARGOS) spectroscopic survey with proper motions from $Gaia$ DR2, to obtain a sample of $\sim$ 7,000 red clump stars with 3-D velocities. We perform a large scale stellar kinematics study of the Milky W…
Stars observed in the field of an open cluster are ideal for a controlled test of chemical tagging. Using chemical tagging, one should identify the cluster members, i.e., those stars of similar chemical composition, if their composition is indeed different from that of all the non-member stars of the field. Moreover, the abundance-based membership can be checked against membership based on radial velocities and proper motions. Here, I report preliminary results of such an experiment using data from the Gaia-ESO Survey. Although the three membership criteria usually agree, a few interesting exa…
In the era of large high-resolution spectroscopic surveys, high-quality spectra can contribute to our understanding of the Galactic chemical evolution, providing chemical abundances belonging to the different nucleosynthesis channels, and also providing constraints to stellar age. Some abundance ratios have been proven to be excellent indicators of stellar ages. We aim at providing an empirical relationship between stellar ages and [C/N] using, as calibrators, open star clusters observed by both the Gaia-ESO and APOGEE surveys. We use stellar parameters and abundances from the Gaia-ESO and APO…
Large spectroscopic surveys have enabled in the recent years the computation of three-dimensional interstellar extinction maps thanks to accurate stellar atmospheric parameters and line-of-sight distances. Such maps are complementary to 3D maps extracted from photometry, allowing a more thorough study of the dust properties. Our goal is to use the high-resolution spectroscopic survey Gaia-ESO in order to obtain with a good distance resolution the interstellar extinction and its dependency as a function of the environment and the Galactocentric position. We use the stellar atmospheric parameter…
We describe the methodologies that, taking advantage of Gaia-DR1 and the Gaia-ESO Survey data, enable the comparison of observed open star cluster sequences with stellar evolutionary models. The final, long-term goal is the exploitation of open clusters as age calibrators. We perform a homogeneous analysis of eight open clusters using the Gaia-DR1 TGAS catalogue for bright members, and information from the Gaia-ESO Survey for fainter stars. Cluster membership probabilities for the Gaia-ESO Survey targets are derived based on several spectroscopic tracers. The Gaia-ESO Survey also provides the …
The typical methodology for comparing simulated galaxies with observational surveys is usually to apply a spatial selection to the simulation to mimic the region of interest covered by a comparable observational survey sample. In this work we compare this approach with a more sophisticated post-processing in which the observational uncertainties and selection effects (photometric, surface gravity and effective temperature) are taken into account. We compare a `solar neighbourhood analogue' region in a model Milky Way-like galaxy simulated with RAMSES-CH with fourth release Gaia-ESO survey data…
We present the first results of the EMBLA survey (Extremely Metal-poor BuLge stars with AAOmega), aimed at finding metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge, where the oldest stars should now preferentially reside. EMBLA utilises SkyMapper photometry to pre-select metal-poor candidates, which are subsequently confirmed using AAOmega spectroscopy. We describe the discovery and analysis of four bulge giants with -2.72<=[Fe/H]<=-2.48, the lowest metallicity bulge stars studied with high-resolution spectroscopy to date. Using FLAMES/UVES spectra through the Gaia-ESO Survey we have derived abundances…
The object ESO456-SC38 (Djorgovski 2) is one of the globular clusters that is closest to the Galactic center. It is on the blue horizontal branch and has a moderate metallicity of [Fe/H]~-1.0. It is thus similar to the very old inner bulge globular clusters NGC 6522, NGC 6558, and HP 1, and therefore appears to be part of the primeval formation stages of the Milky Way. The aim of this work is to determine an accurate distance and metallicity for ESO456-SC38, as well as orbital parameters, in order to check similarities with other clusters in the inner bulge that have previously been well studi…
We have derived absolute proper motions of the entire Galactic bulge region from VIRAC and Gaia. We present these as both integrated on-sky maps and, after isolating standard candle red clump (RC) stars, as a function of distance using RC magnitude as a proxy. These data provide a new global, 3-dimensional view of the Milky Way barred bulge kinematics. We find a gradient in the mean longitudinal proper motion, $<μ_l^\star>$, between the different sides of the bar, which is sensitive to the bar pattern speed. The split RC has distinct proper motions and is colder than other stars at similar dis…
The combination of precise radial velocities from multi-object spectroscopy and highly accurate proper motions from Gaia DR2 opens up the possibility for detailed 3D kinematic studies of young star forming regions and clusters. Here, we perform such an analysis by combining Gaia-ESO Survey spectroscopy with Gaia astrometry for ~900 members of the Lagoon Nebula cluster, NGC 6530. We measure the 3D velocity dispersion of the region to be $5.35^{+0.39}_{-0.34}$~km~s$^{-1}$, which is large enough to suggest the region is gravitationally unbound. The velocity ellipsoid is anisotropic, implying that…
The recent exquisite Gaia astrometric, photometric, and radial velocity (RV) measurements resulted in a substantial advancement for the determination of the orbits for old star clusters, including the oldest Milky Way globular clusters (MW GCs). The main goal of this paper is to use the Gaia DR3 and the VVVX measurements to obtain the orbits for nearly a dozen new Galactic GC candidates that have been poorly studied or previously unexplored. We use the Gaia DR3 and VVVX databases to identify bonafide members of the Galactic GC candidates: VVV-CL160, Patchick122, Patchick125, Patchick126, Kronb…
The Gaia-ESO Survey was designed to target all major Galactic components (i.e., bulge, thin and thick discs, halo and clusters), with the goal of constraining the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Milky Way. This paper presents the methodology and considerations that drive the selection of the targeted, allocated and successfully observed Milky Way field stars. The detailed understanding of the survey construction, specifically the influence of target selection criteria on observed Milky Way field stars is required in order to analyse and interpret the survey data correctly. We present t…
We aim to prepare the machine-learning ground for the next generation of spectroscopic surveys, such as 4MOST and WEAVE. Our goal is to show that convolutional neural networks can predict accurate stellar labels from relevant spectral features in a physically meaningful way. We built a neural network and trained it on GIRAFFE spectra with associated stellar labels from the sixth internal Gaia-ESO data release. Our neural network predicts the atmospheric parameters Teff and log(g) as well as the chemical abundances [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], and [Fe/H] for 30115 stellar spectra. The scatter of predictio…
Astrometry and photometry from {\it Gaia} and spectroscopic data from the {\it Gaia}-ESO Survey (GES) are used to identify the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) in the young cluster NGC 2232. A specialised spectral line analysis procedure was used to recover the signature of undepleted lithium in very low luminosity cluster members. An age of $38\pm 3$ Myr is inferred by comparing the LDB location in absolute colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) with the predictions of standard models. This is more than twice the age derived from fitting isochrones to low-mass stars in the CMD with the same models.…
This is the first in a series of papers that present sets of different results for 136 compact, known planetary nebulae within a 10 $\times$ 10 degree region of the Galactic bulge. We use a large, previously unpublished sample of our own extensive ESO 8 m VLT deep imaging and spectroscopic data. This is combined with archival deep $\textit{HST}$ imaging where available to provide a detailed morphological classification and study. The influence of angular resolution and sensitivity when assigning a morphology is discussed. A large fraction (68%) of the sample are shown to be bipolars and the im…
Open clusters are key tools to study the spatial distribution of abundances in the disk and their evolution with time. Using the first release of stellar parameters and abundances of the Gaia-ESO Survey, we analyse the chemical properties of stars in three old/intermediate-age open clusters, namely NGC 6705, NGC 4815, and Trumpler 20, all located in the inner part of the Galactic disk at Galactocentric radius R$_{GC}\sim$7 kpc, aiming at proving their homogeneity and at comparing them with the field population. We study the abundance ratios of elements belonging to two different nucleosyntheti…
We attempt to determine the relative fraction of stars that have undergone significant radial migration by studying the orbital properties of metal-rich ([Fe/H]$>0.1$) stars within 2 kpc of the Sun using a sample of more than 3,000 stars selected from iDR4 of the Gaia-ESO Survey. We investigate the kinematic properties, such as velocity dispersion and orbital parameters, of stellar populations near the sun as a function of [Mg/Fe] and [Fe/H], which could show evidence of a major merger in the past history of the Milky Way. This was done using the stellar parameters from the Gaia-ESO Survey alo…
(Abridged) We analyzed the stellar parameters and radial velocities of ~1200 stars in five bulge fields as determined from the Gaia-ESO survey data (iDR1). We use VISTA Variables in The Via Lactea (VVV) photometry to obtain reddening values by using a semi-empirical T_eff-color calibration. From a Gaussian decomposition of the metallicity distribution functions, we unveil a clear bimodality in all fields, with the relative size of components depending of the specific position on the sky. In agreement with some previous studies, we find a mild gradient along the minor axis (-0.05 dex/deg betwee…
Spectroscopy from the final internal data release of the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) has been combined with Gaia EDR3 to assign membership probabilities to targets observed towards 63 Galactic open clusters and 7 globular clusters. The membership probabilities are based chiefly on maximum likelihood modelling of the 3D kinematics of the targets, separating them into cluster and field populations. From 43211 observed targets, 13985 are identified as highly probable cluster members ($P>0.9$), with an average membership probability of 0.993. The addition of GES radial velocities successfully drives dow…
Pismis 18 is a moderately populated, intermediate-age open cluster located within the solar circle at a Galactocentric distance of about 7 kpc. Few open clusters have been studied in detail in the inner disc region before the Gaia-ESO Survey. New data from the Gaia-ESO Survey allowed us to conduct an extended radial velocity membership study as well as spectroscopic metallicity and detailed chemical abundance measurements for this cluster. Gaia-ESO Survey data for 142 potential members, lying on the upper MS and on the red clump, yielded radial velocity measurements, which, together with prope…
The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) observed many open clusters as part of its programme to spectroscopically characterise the various Milky Way populations. GES spectroscopy and Gaia astrometry from its second data release are used here to assign membership probabilities to targets towards 32 open clusters with ages from 1-3800 Myr, based on maximum likelihood modelling of the 3D kinematics of the cluster and field populations. From a parent catalogue of 14398 individual targets, 5033 stars with uniformly determined 3D velocities, $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log g$ and chemistry are assigned cluster membership wi…
Tracing the early Milky Way thin disc with the Gaia-ESO Survey
Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University（维尔纽斯大学物理学院理论物理与天体物理研究所）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切特里天文台）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学物理与天文学系）
We compare distance resolved, absolute proper motions in the Milky Way bar/bulge region to a grid of made-to-measure dynamical models with well defined pattern speeds. The data are obtained by combining the relative VVV Infrared Astrometric Catalog v1 proper motions with the Gaia DR2 absolute reference frame. We undertake a comprehensive analysis of the various errors in our comparison, from both the data and the models, and allow for additional, unknown, contributions by using an outlier-tolerant likelihood function to evaluate the best fitting model. We quantify systematic effects such as th…
We use Gaia-ESO Survey iDR4 data to explore the Mg-Al anti-correlation in globular clusters, that were observed as calibrators, as a demonstration of the quality of Gaia-ESO Survey data and analysis. The results compare well with the available literature, within 0.1 dex or less, after a small (compared to the internal spreads) offset between the UVES and the GIRAFFE data of 0.10-0.15 dex was taken into account. In particular, we present for the first time data for NGC 5927, one of the most metal-rich globular clusters studied in the literature so far with [Fe/H]=-0.49 dex, that was included to…
Lithium abundance in most of the warm metal-poor main sequence stars shows a constant plateau (A(Li)~2.2 dex) and then the upper envelope of the lithium vs. metallicity distribution increases as we approach solar metallicity. Meteorites, which carry information about the chemical composition of the interstellar medium at the solar system formation time, show a lithium abundance A(Li)~3.26 dex. This pattern reflects the Li enrichment history of the interstellar medium during the Galaxy lifetime. After the initial Li production in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, the sources of the enrichment include A…
The low-latitude globular clusters Terzan 10 and Djorgovski 1 are vprojected in the Galactic bulge, in a Galactic region highly affected by extinction. A discrepancy of a factor of ~2 exists in the literature in regards to the distance determination of these clusters. We revisit the colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of these two globular clusters with the purpose of disentangling their distance determination ambiguity and, for the first time, of determining their orbits to identify whether or not they are part of the bulge/bar region. We use Hubble Space Telescope CMDs, with the filters F606W f…
We present a family of self-consistent axisymmetric rotating globular cluster models which are fitted to spectroscopic data for NGC 362, NGC 1851, NGC 2808, NGC 4372, NGC 5927 and NGC 6752 to provide constraints on their physical and kinematic properties, including their rotation signals. They are constructed by flattening Modified Plummer profiles, which have the same asymptotic behaviour as classical Plummer models, but can provide better fits to young clusters due to a slower turnover in the density profile. The models are in dynamical equilibrium as they depend solely on the action variabl…
Lithium rich stars in globular clusters are rare. In fact, only 14 have been found so far, in different evolutionary phases from dwarfs to giants. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain this enhancement, but it is still an open problem. Using spectra collected within the Gaia-ESO Survey, obtained with the GIRAFFE spectrograph at the ESO Very Large Telescope, we present the discovery of the first Li-rich star in the cluster NGC 1261, the second star known in the red giant branch bump phase. The star shows an extreme Li overabundance of A(Li)_LTE=3.92\pm0.14, corresponding to A(Li)_N…
Pre-main sequence models with inflated radii are needed to simultaneously reproduce the colour-magnitude diagram and the lithium depletion pattern in young open clusters. We tested a new set of PMS models including radius inflation due to starspots or magnetic inhibition of convection, using five clusters observed by the Gaia-ESO Survey, spanning the age range ~10-100 Myr where such effects could be important. Gaia-ESO radial velocities were combined with Gaia EDR3 astrometry to obtain clean lists of high-probability members for the five clusters. A Bayesian maximum likelihood method was adopt…
The mechanisms of the formation and evolution of the Milky Way are encoded in the orbits, chemistry and ages of its stars. With the 4MOST MIlky way Disk And BuLgE Low-Resolution Survey (4MIDABLE-LR) we aim to study kinematic and chemical substructures in the Milky Way disc and bulge region with samples of unprecedented size out to larger distances and greater precision than conceivable with Gaia alone or any other ongoing or planned survey. Gaia gives us the unique opportunity for target selection based almost entirely on parallax and magnitude range, hence increasing the efficiency in samplin…
We study how diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) measured toward distance-distributed target stars can be used to locate dense interstellar (IS) clouds in the Galaxy and probe a line-of-sight (LOS) kinematical structure, a potential useful tool when gaseous absorption lines are saturated or not available in the spectral range. Cool target stars are numerous enough for this purpose. We have devised automated DIB fitting methods appropriate to cool star spectra and multiple IS components. The data is fitted with a combination of a synthetic stellar spectrum, a synthetic telluric transmission, and …
(Abridged) Recent spectroscopic surveys have begun to explore the Galactic disk system outside the solar neighborhood on the basis of large data samples. In this way, they provide valuable information for testing spatial and temporal variations of disk structure kinematics and chemical evolution. We used a Gaussian mixture model algorithm, as a rigurous mathematical approach, to separate in the [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] plane a clean disk star subsample from the Gaia-ESO survey internal data release 2. We find that the sample is separated into five groups associated with major Galactic components; th…
The Gaia-ESO survey (GES) is now in its fifth and last year of observations, and has already produced tens of thousands of high-quality spectra of stars in all Milky Way components. This paper presents the strategy behind the selection of astrophysical calibration targets, ensuring that all GES results on radial velocities, atmospheric parameters, and chemical abundance ratios will be both internally consistent and easily comparable with other literature results, especially from other large spectroscopic surveys and from Gaia. The calibration of GES is particularly delicate because of: (i) the…
