We present the results of a new sensitive survey of neutral hydrogen above and below the Galactic Center with the Green Bank Telescope. The observations extend up to Galactic latitude | b | < 10 deg with an effective angular resolution of 9.5' and an average rms brightness temperature noise of 40 mK in a 1 km/s channel. The survey reveals the existence of a population of anomalous high-velocity clouds extending up to heights of about 1.5 kpc from the Galactic Plane and showing no signature of Galactic rotation. These clouds have local standard of rest velocities | Vlsr | < 360 km/s and, assuming a Galactic Center origin, they have sizes of a few tens of parsecs and neutral hydrogen masses spanning $10-10^5 \, M_\odot$. Accounting for selection effects, the cloud population is symmetric in longitude, latitude, and Vlsr. We model the cloud kinematics in terms of an outflow expanding from the Galactic Center and find the population consistent with being material moving with radial velocity Vw ~ 330 km/s distributed throughout a bi-cone with opening angle $α>140$ deg. This simple model implies an outflow luminosity $Lw > 3 \times 10^{40}$ erg/s over the past 10 Myr, consistent with star formation feedback in the inner region of the Milky Way, with a cold gas mass-loss rate $\lesssim 0.1 \, M_\odot$/yr. These clouds may represent the cold gas component accelerated in the nuclear wind driven by our Galaxy, although some of the derived properties challenge current theoretical models of the entrainment process.
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.
Advancement in astronomical observations and technical instrumentation implies taking into account the general relativistic effects due the gravitational fields encountered by the light while propagating from the star to the observer. Therefore, data exploitation for Gaia-like space astrometric mission (ESA, launch 2013) requires a fully relativistic interpretation of the inverse ray-tracing problem, namely the development of a highly accurate astrometric models in accordance with the geometrical environment affecting light propagation itself and the precepts of the theory of measurement. This…
A major goal in the field of galaxy formation is to understand the formation of the Milky Way's disk. The first step toward doing this is to empirically describe its present state. We use the new high-dimensional dataset of 19 abundances from 27,135 red clump APOGEE stars to examine the distribution of clusters defined using abundances. We explore different dimensionality reduction techniques and implement a non-parametric agglomerate hierarchical clustering method. We see that groups defined using abundances are spatially separated, as a function of age. Furthermore, the abundance groups repr…
RR Lyrae variable stars have long been reliable standard candles used to discern structure in the Local Group. With this in mind, we present a routine to identify groupings containing a statistically significant number of RR Lyrae variables in the Milky Way environment. RR Lyrae variable groupings, or substructures, with potential Galactic archaeology applications are found using a forest of agglomerative, hierarchical clustering trees, whose leaves are Milky Way RR Lyrae variables. Each grouping is validated by ensuring that the internal RR Lyrae variable proper motions are sufficiently corre…
The length and pattern speed of the Milky Way bar are still controversial. Photometric and spectroscopic surveys of the inner Galaxy, as well as gas kinematics, favour a long and slowly rotating bar, with corotation around a Galactocentric radius of 6 kpc. On the other hand, the existence of the Hercules stream in local velocity space favours a short and fast bar with corotation around 4 kpc. This follows from the fact that the Hercules stream looks like a typical signature of the outer Lindblad resonance of the bar. As we showed recently, reconciling this local stream with a slow bar would ne…
We present a new face-on map of dense neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas in the outer Galaxy. Our map has been produced from the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) HI 21-cm line all-sky survey by finding intensity maxima along every line of sight and then by projecting them on the Galactic plane. The resulting face-on map strikingly reveals the complex spiral structure beyond the solar circle, which is characterized by a mixture of distinct long arcs of HI concentrations and numerous 'interarm' features. The comparison with more conventional spiral tracers confirms the nature of those long arc structur…
We study the stellar mass-to-halo mass relation at $z=0$ in 30 Milky Way-like systems down to the ultra-faint ($M_* < 10^5 M_\odot$) regime using the semi-analytic model A-SLOTH. A new model allows us to follow star formation and the stochastic stellar feedback from individually sampled Pop II stars. Our fiducial model produces consistent results with the stellar mass-to-halo mass relation derived from abundance matching and the observed cumulative stellar mass function above the observational completeness. We find a plateau in the stellar mass-to-halo mass relation in the ultra-faint regime. …
There is evidence in 21cm HI emission for voids several kpc in size centered approximately on the Galactic centre, both above and below the Galactic plane. These appear to map the boundaries of the Galactic nuclear wind. An analysis of HI at the tangent points, where the distance to the gas can be estimated with reasonable accuracy, shows a sharp transition at Galactic radii $R\lesssim 2.4$ kpc from the extended neutral gas layer characteristic of much of the Galactic disk, to a thin Gaussian layer with FWHM $\sim 125$ pc. An anti-correlation between HI and $γ$-ray emission at latitudes $10^{\…
We have combined observations of Galactic high-velocity HI from two surveys: a very sensitive survey from the Green Bank 140ft Telescope with limited sky coverage, and the less sensitive but complete Galactic All Sky Survey from the 64m Parkes Radio Telescope. The two surveys preferentially detect different forms of neutral gas due to their sensitivity. We adopt a machine learning approach to divide our data into two populations that separate across a range in column density: 1) a narrow line-width population typical of the majority of bright high velocity cloud components, and 2) a fainter, b…
We use 30 high-resolution dark matter halos of the $Caterpillar$ simulation suite to probe the first stars and galaxies of Milky Way-mass systems. We quantify the environment of the high-$z$ progenitors of the Milky Way and connect them to the properties of the host and satellites today. We identify the formation sites of the first generation of Population III (Pop III) stars ($z$ ~ 25) and first galaxies ($z$ ~ 22) with several different models based on a minimum halo mass including a simple model for Lyman-Werner feedback. Through this method we find approximately 23,000 $\pm$ 5,000 Pop III …
Mapping the Galactic spiral structure is a difficult task since the Sun is located in the Galactic plane and because of dust extinction. For these reasons, molecular masers in radio wavelengths have been used with great success to trace the Milky Way spiral arms. Recently, Gaia parallaxes have helped in investigating the spiral structure in the Solar extended neighborhood. In this paper, we propose to determine the location of the spiral arms using Cepheids since they are bright, young supergiants with accurate distances (they are the first ladder of the extragalactic distance scale). They can…
We present the first results of a project aiming to trace the spatial structure of the Milky Way using detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs) as distance indicators. A sample of DEBs from the OGLE-II catalogue was selected and their near infrared photometry was taken from the Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey. The I band OGLE-II light curves are used to create models of the DEBs, which together with the VVV photometry are compared with a set of theoretical isochrones. After correcting for stellar reddening, we find a set of absolute physical parameters of components of a given binary,…
We use Gaia DR2 astrometric and photometric data, published radial velocities and MESA models to infer distances, orbits, surface gravities, and effective temperatures for all ultra metal-poor stars ($\FeH<-4.0$ dex) available in the literature. Assuming that these stars are old ($>11\Gyr$) and that they are expected to belong to the Milky Way halo, we find that these 42 stars (18 dwarf stars and 24 giants or sub-giants) are currently within $\sim20\kpc$ of the Sun and that they map a wide variety of orbits. A large fraction of those stars remains confined to the inner parts of the halo and wa…
A solution is presented for the past motions of the Magellanic Clouds, the Milky Way galaxy, and M31, fitted to the measured velocities of the Clouds and M31, under some simplifying assumptions. The galaxies are modeled as isolated bodies back to redshift about 10, when their velocities relative to the general expansion of the universe were small, consistent with the gravitational instability picture for the growth of structure. Mass outside the Local Group is modeled as a third massive dynamical actor that is responsible for the angular momentum of the Clouds. A plausible solution under these…
We present the kinematics of Blue Straggler (BS) stars identified in the Canada-France-Imaging-Survey (CFIS), covering 4000 deg$^2$ on the sky in the $u$-band. The BS sample, characterised through CFIS and Pan-STARRS photometry, has been kinematically decomposed into putative halo and disc populations after cross-matching with Gaia astrometry and SDSS/SEGUE/LAMOST spectroscopy. This decomposition clearly reveals the strong flaring of the outer Milky Way disc. In particular, we show that we can detect this flaring up to a vertical height of $|Z| \simeq 8$ kpc at a Galactocentric distance of $R\…
(Abridged) The question of how most stars in the Universe form remains open. While star formation predominantly occurs in young massive clusters, the current framework focuses on isolated star formation. One way to access the bulk of protostellar activity within star-forming clusters is to trace signposts of active star formation with emission from molecular outflows. These outflows are bright in water emission, providing a direct observational link between nearby and distant galaxies. We propose to utilize the knowledge of local star formation as seen with molecular tracers to explore the nat…
Tracing the very early disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the distant Milky Way halo
University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学）；University of Victoria（维多利亚大学）；Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian（哈佛-史密森天体物理中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）；Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学卡弗里宇宙物理学研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利群岛天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉古纳大学）
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 employ the first two years of data from the near-infrared, high-resolution SDSS-III/APOGEE spectroscopic survey to investigate the distribution of metallicity and alpha-element abundances of stars over a large part of the Milky Way disk. Using a sample of ~10,000 kinematically-unbiased red-clump stars with ~5% distance accuracy as tracers, the [alpha/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] distribution of this sample exhibits a bimodality in [alpha/Fe] at intermediate metallicities, -0.9<[Fe/H]<-0.2, but at higher metallicities ([Fe/H]=+0.2) the two sequences smoothly merge. We investigate the effects of the APOGEE…
To understand the formation and evolution of the Milky Way disk, we must connect its current properties to its past. We explore hydrodynamical cosmological simulations to investigate how the chemical abundances of stars might be linked to their origins. Using hierarchical clustering of abundance measurements in two Milky Way-like simulations with distributed and steady star formation histories, we find that abundance clusters of stars comprise different groups in birth place ($R_\text{birth}$) and time (age). Simulating observational abundance errors (0.05 dex), we find that to trace discrete …
MeerKAT radio continuum and XMM-Newton X-ray images have recently revealed a spectacular bipolar channel at the Galactic Center that spans several degrees ($\sim$0.5 kpc). An intermittent jet likely formed this channel and is consistent with earlier evidence of a sustained, Seyfert-level outburst fueled by black-hole accretion onto Sgr A$^*$ several Myr ago. Therefore, to trace a now weak jet that perhaps penetrated, deflected, and percolated along multiple paths through the interstellar medium, relevant interactions are identified and quantified in archival X-ray images, Hubble Space Telescop…
Cold atomic hydrogen clouds are the precursors of molecular clouds. Due to self-absorption, the opacity of cold atomic hydrogen may be high, and this gas may constitute an important mass component of the interstellar medium (ISM). Atomic hydrogen gas can be cooled to temperatures much lower than found in the cold neutral medium (CNM) through collisions with molecular hydrogen. In this paper, we search for HI Narrow Self-Absorption (HINSA) features in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as an indicator of such cold HI clouds, and use the results to quantify atomic masses and atomic-to-molecular ga…
We present results from deep and very spatially extended CTIO/DECam $g$ and $r$ photometry (reaching out to $\sim$ 2 mag below the oldest MSTO and covering $\sim$ 20 deg$^2$) around the Sextans dSph. We use this data-set to study the structural properties of Sextans overall stellar population and its different stellar evolutionary phases, as well as to search for signs of tidal disturbance from the MW, which would indicate departure from dynamical equilibrium. We perform the most accurate structural analysis to-date of Sextans' stellar components by applying Bayesian MCMC methods to the indivi…
We assemble 121 spectroscopically-confirmed halo carbon stars, drawn from the literature, exhibiting measurable variability in the Catalina Surveys. We present their periods and amplitudes, which are used to estimate distances from period-luminosity relationships. The location of the carbon stars - and their velocities when available - allow us to trace the streams of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf spheroidal galaxy. These are compared to a canonical numerical simulation of the accretion of Sgr. We find that the data match this model well for heliocentric distances of 15-50 kpc, except for a virt…
We used archival very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) data of active galactic nuclei (AGN) observed from 1.4 GHz to 86 GHz to measure the angular size of VLBI radio cores in 8959 AGNs. We analysed their sky distributions, frequency dependencies and created the most densely sampled and complete to date distribution map of large-scale scattering properties of the interstellar medium in our Galaxy. Significant angular broadening of the measured AGN core sizes is detected for the sources seen through the Galactic plane, and this effect is especially strong at low frequencies (e.g., at 2 GHz). …
Solid insight into the physics of the inner Milky Way is key to understanding our Galaxy's evolution, but extreme dust obscuration has historically hindered efforts to map the area along the Galactic mid-plane. New comprehensive near-infrared time-series photometry from the VVV Survey has revealed 35 classical Cepheids, tracing a previously unobserved component of the inner Galaxy, namely a ubiquitous inner thin disk of young stars along the Galactic mid-plane, traversing across the bulge. The discovered period (age) spread of these classical Cepheids implies a continuous supply of newly forme…
We present $\texttt{galkin}$, a novel compilation of kinematic measurements tracing the rotation curve of our Galaxy, together with a tool to treat the data. The compilation is optimised to Galactocentric radii between 3 and 20 kpc and includes the kinematics of gas, stars and masers in a total of 2780 measurements carefully collected from almost four decades of literature. A simple, user-friendly tool is provided to select, treat and retrieve the data of all source references considered. This tool is especially designed to facilitate the use of kinematic data in dynamical studies of the Milky…
Unveiling the Milky Way with a Gaia DR3 census of OB-type stars within 2 kpc. I. Tracing local Galactic structure, massive star-forming regions and core-collapse supernova progenitors
Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université, CNRS（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，CY塞吉-蓬图瓦兹大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino（意大利国家天体物理研究所都灵天文台）；University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；Keele University（基尔大学）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利天体物理学研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉古纳大学）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）
The central super-massive black hole of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, accretes at a very low rate making it a very underluminous galactic nucleus. Despite the tens of Wolf-Rayet stars present within the inner parsec supplying ${\sim}10^{-3}\rm\ M_{\odot}\ yr^{-1}$ in stellar winds, only a negligible fraction of this material ($<10^{-4}$) ends up being accreted onto Sgr A*. The recent discovery of cold gas (${\sim}10^4\rm\ K$) in its vicinity raised questions about how such material could settle in the hostile (${\sim}10^7\rm\ K$) environment near Sgr A*. In this work we show that the system of mass-l…
Recent observations have revealed remarkable insights into the gas reservoir in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxy haloes. In this paper, we characterise the gas in the vicinity of Milky Way and Andromeda analogues in the HESTIA (High resolution Environmental Simulations of The Immediate Area) suite of constrained Local Group (LG) simulations. The HESTIA suite comprise of a set of three high-resolution {\sc arepo}-based simulations of the LG, run using the Auriga galaxy formation model. For this paper, we focus only on the $z = 0$ simulation datasets and generate mock skymaps along with…
Coupling between stellar and HI lopsidedness in Milky Way-type galaxies from the Auriga Superstars cosmological simulations
Universidad de La Serena（拉塞雷纳大学）；Universität Zürich（苏黎世大学）；Durham University（杜伦大学）；Liverpool John Moores University（利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理学研究所）；Cardiff University（卡迪夫大学）
Ams: We study the 12C/13C isotopic ratio in the disk of the central molecular zone and in the halo to trace gas accretion toward the Galactic center region in the Milky Way. Methods: Using the IRAM 30m telescope, we observe the J=1-0 rotational transition of HCO+, HCN, HNC and their 13C isotopic substitutions in order to measure the 12C/13C isotopic ratio. We observe 9 positions selected throughout the Galactic center region, including clouds at high latitude; locations where the X1 and X2 orbits associated with the barred potential are expected to intersect; and typical Galactic center molecu…
The interstellar medium (ISM) is an inseparable part of the Milky Way ecosystem whose evolutionary history remains a challenging question. We trace the evolution of the molecular ISM using a sample of Young Stellar Objects (YSO) association --molecular cloud complex (YSO-MC complex). We derive their three-dimensional (3D) velocities by combining the Gaia astrometric measurements of the YSO associations and the CO observations of the associated molecular clouds. Based on the 3D velocities, we simulate the motions of the YSO-MC complexes in the Galactic potential and forecast the ISM evolution b…
Morphological Statistic of Milky Way-like Galaxies
Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）；Three Gorges University（三峡大学）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) trace warm neutral and weakly-ionized diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). Here we present a dedicated, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic study of two of the strongest DIBs, at 5780 and 5797 Å, in optical spectra of 666 early-type stars in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, along with measurements of the atomic Na\,{\sc i}\,D and Ca\,{\sc ii}\,K lines. The resulting maps show for the first time the distribution of DIB carriers across large swathes of galaxies, as well as the foreground Milky Way ISM. We confirm the association of the 5797 Å DIB with neutral…
Neutron star mergers (NSM) are likely to be the main production sites for the rapid (r-) neutron capture process elements. We study the r-process enrichment of the stellar halo of the Milky Way through NSM, by tracing the typical r-process element Eu in the Munich-Groningen semi-analytic galaxy formation model, applied to three high resolution Aquarius dark matter simulations. In particular, we investigate the effect of the kick velocities that neutron star binaries receive upon their formation, in the building block galaxies (BBs) that partly formed the stellar halo by merging with our Galaxy…
We report on the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) on the abundance of CO in $\rm H_2$ clouds under conditions typical for star-forming galaxies in the Universe. We discover that this most important molecule for tracing H$_2$ gas is very effectively destroyed in ISM environments with CR energy densities $\rm U_{CR}\sim(50-10^{3})\times U_{CR,Gal}$, a range expected in numerous star-forming systems throughout the Universe. This density-dependent effect operates volumetrically rather than only on molecular cloud surfaces (i.e. unlike FUV radiation that also destroys CO), and is facilitated by: a) the…
Using the astrometry from the ESA's Gaia mission, previous works have shown that the Milky Way stellar halo is dominated by metal-rich stars on highly eccentric orbits. To shed light on the nature of this prominent halo component, we have analysed 28 Galaxy analogues in the Auriga suite of cosmological hydrodynamics zoom-in simulations. Some three quarters of the Auriga galaxies contain significant components with high radial velocity anisotropy, beta > 0.6. However, only in one third of the hosts do the high-beta stars contribute significantly to the accreted stellar halo overall, similar to …
We employ abundances from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) to study the alpha-element distribution of the stellar members of the Sagittarius stream. To test the reliability of SDSS/SEGUE abundances for the study of Sagittarius, we select high-likelihood samples tracing the different components of the Milky Way, and recover known literature alpha-element distributions. Using selection criteria based on the spatial position, radial velocity, distance and colours of individual stars, we obtain a robust sample of Sagitta…
Mapping the dark matter distribution across our Galaxy represents a central challenge for the near future as a new generation of space-borne and ground-based astronomical surveys swiftly comes online. Here we present a synopsis of the present status of the field, reviewing briefly the baryonic content and the kinematics of the Milky Way and outlining the methods used to infer the dark matter component. The discussion then proceeds with some of the latest developments based on our own work. In particular, we present a new compilation of kinematic measurements tracing the rotation curve of the G…
We analyze the metal accumulation in dwarf and spiral galaxies by following the history of metal enrichment and outflows in a suite of twenty high-resolution simulated galaxies. These simulations agree with the observed stellar and gas-phase mass-metallicity relation, an agreement that relies on large fractions of the produced metals escaping into the CGM. For instance, in galaxies with Mvir ~ 1e9.5 -- 1e10 solar masses, we find that about ~ 85% of the available metals are outside of the galactic disk at z = 0, although the fraction decreases to a little less than half in Milky Way-mass galaxi…
Using simulations of box/peanut- (B/P-) shaped bulges, we explore the nature of the X-shape of the Milky Way's bulge. An X-shape can be associated with a B/P-shaped bulge driven by a bar. By comparing in detail the simulations and the observations we show that the principal kinematic imprint of the X-shape is a minimum in the difference between the near and far side mean line-of-sight velocity along the minor axis. This minimum occurs at around |b| = 4°, which is close to the lower limit at which the X-shape can be detected. No coherent signature of an X-shape can be found in Galactocentric az…
We analyze the present-day structure and assembly history of a high resolution hydrodynamic simulation of the formation of a Milky Way (MW)-like disk galaxy, from the "Eris" simulation suite, dissecting it into cohorts of stars formed at different epochs of cosmic history. At z=0, stars with t_form < 2 Gyr mainly occupy the stellar spheroid, with the oldest (earliest forming) stars having more centrally concentrated profiles. The younger age cohorts populate disks of progressively longer radial scale length and shorter vertical scale height. At a given radius, the vertical density profiles and…
This paper presents the first results from a model for chemical evolution that can be applied to N-body cosmological simulations and quantitatively compared to measured stellar abundances from large astronomical surveys. This model convolves the chemical yield sets from a range of stellar nucleosynthesis calculations (including AGB stars, Type Ia and II supernovae, and stellar wind models) with a user-specified stellar initial mass function (IMF) and metallicity to calculate the time-dependent chemical evolution model for a "simple stellar population" of uniform metallicity and formation time.…
The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is, together with the nuclear star cluster (NSC) and the central massive black hole, one of the main components in the central parts of our Milky Way. However, until recently, only few studies of the stellar content of the NSD have been obtained due to extreme extinction and stellar crowding. With a dedicated KMOS (VLT, ESO) spectroscopic survey, we study the kinematics and global metallicities of the NSD based on the observations of K/M giant stars. We trace radial velocities and metallicities which were derived based on spectral indices (Na I and CO) along the …
