In the field of Astrobiology, the precise location, prevalence and age of potential extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) have not been explicitly explored. Here, we address these inquiries using an empirical galactic simulation model to analyze the spatial-temporal variations and the prevalence of potential ETI within the Galaxy. This model estimates the occurrence of ETI, providing guidance on where to look for intelligent life in the Search for ETI (SETI) with a set of criteria, including well-established astrophysical properties of the Milky Way. Further, typically overlooked factors such as the process of abiogenesis, different evolutionary timescales and potential self-annihilation are incorporated to explore the growth propensity of ETI. We examine three major parameters: 1) the likelihood rate of abiogenesis (λA); 2) evolutionary timescales (Tevo); and 3) probability of self-annihilation of complex life (Pann). We found Pann to be the most influential parameter determining the quantity and age of galactic intelligent life. Our model simulation also identified a peak location for ETI at an annular region approximately 4 kpc from the Galactic center around 8 billion years (Gyrs), with complex life decreasing temporally and spatially from the peak point, asserting a high likelihood of intelligent life in the galactic inner disk. The simulated age distributions also suggest that most of the intelligent life in our galaxy are young, thus making observation or detection difficult.
Dyson spheres are hypothetical megastructures built by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations to harvest radiation energy from stars. Here, we combine optical data from Gaia DR2 with mid-infrared data from AllWISE to set the strongest upper limits to date on the prevalence of partial Dyson spheres within the Milky Way, based on their expected waste-heat signatures. Conservative upper limits are presented on the fraction of stars at G $\leq$ 21 that may potentially host non-reflective Dyson spheres that absorb 1 - 90$\%$ of the bolometric luminosity of their host stars and emit thermal waste-h…
We have used deep V-band and JHKs-band observations to investigate variability and stellar populations near the Galactic plane in Centaurus, and compared the observations with the Galactic model of Besancon. By applying image subtraction technique to a series of over 580 V-band frames taken with the ESO VLT/VIMOS instrument during two contiguous nights in April 2005, we have detected 333 variables among 84,734 stars in the brightness range 12.7<V<26.0 mag. Infrared data collected in March 2010 with the new ESO VISTA telescope allowed us to construct deep combined optical-IR colour-magnitude an…
We present detailed chemical evolution models for the Milky Way and M31 in presence of radial gas flows. These models follow in detail the evolution of several chemical elements (H, He, CNO, $α$ elements, Fe-peak elements) in space and time. The contribution of supernovae of different type to chemical enrichment is taken into account. We find that an inside-out formation of the disks coupled with radial gas inflows of variable speed can reproduce very well the observed abundance gradients in both galaxies. We also discuss the effects of other parameters, such as a threshold in the gas density …
A number of the massive clusters in the halo, bulge and disc of the Galaxy are not genuine globular clusters (GCs), but instead are different beasts altogether. They are the remnant nuclear star clusters (NSCs) of ancient galaxies since accreted by the Milky Way. While some clusters are readily identifiable as NSCs, and can be readily traced back to their host galaxy (e.g., M54 and the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy) others have proven more elusive. Here we combine a number of independent constraints, focusing on their internal abundances and overall kinematics, to find NSCs accreted by the Galaxy a…
HI shells, which may be formed by the activity of young and massive stars, or connected to energy released by interactions of high-velocity clouds with the galactic disk, may be partly responsible both for the destruction of CO clouds and for the creation of others. It is not known which effect prevails. We study the relation between HI shells and CO in the outer parts of the Milky Way, using HI and CO surveys and a catalogue of previously identified HI shells. For each individual location, the distance to the nearest HI shell is calculated and it is specified whether it lies in the interior o…
The Milky Way Project citizen science initiative recently increased the number of known infrared bubbles in the inner Galactic plane by an order of magnitude compared to previous studies. We present a detailed statistical analysis of this dataset with the Red MSX Source catalog of massive young stellar sources to investigate the association of these bubbles with massive star formation. We particularly address the question of massive triggered star formation near infrared bubbles. We find a strong positional correlation of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and H II regions with Milky Way Pr…
The galactic habitable zone is defined as the region with sufficient abundance of heavy elements to form planetary systems in which Earth-like planets could be born and might be capable of sustaining life, after surviving to close supernova explosion events. Galactic chemical evolution models can be useful for studying the galactic habitable zones in different systems. We apply detailed chemical evolution models including radial gas flows to study the galactic habitable zones in our Galaxy and M31. We compare the results to the relative galactic habitable zones found with "classical" (independ…
Several large neutrino telescopes, operating at various sites around the world, have as their main objective the first detection of neutrinos emitted by a gravitational collapse in the Milky Way. The success of these observation programs depends on the rate of supernova core collapse in the Milky Way, $R$. In this work, standard statistical techniques are used to combine several independent results. Their consistency is discussed and the most critical input data are identified. The inference on $R$ is further tested and refined by including direct information on the occurrence rate of gravitat…
Environmental Dependence of Satellite Planarity and Orbital-Pole Coherence around Milky Way Analogues in a Hydrodynamical Cosmological Simulation
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；Department of Physics, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan Normal University（湖南师范大学物理科学与电子学院）；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；Institute of Astronomy, School of physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院天体物理研究所）；Institute of Astronomy and Physics, Inner Mongolia University（内蒙古大学天文与物理学院）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）
Context. The stars in the Milky Way thin and thick disks can be distinguished by several properties such as metallicity and kinematics. It is not clear whether the two populations also differ in the properties of planets orbiting the stars. In order to study this, a careful analysis of both the chemical composition and mass detection limits is required for a sufficiently large sample. Currently, this information is still limited only to large radial-velocity (RV) programs. Based on the recently published archival database of the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograp…
Filamentary structures are common morphological features of the cold, molecular interstellar medium (ISM). Recent studies have discovered massive, hundred-parsec-scale filaments that may be connected to the large-scale, Galactic spiral arm structure. Addressing the nature of these Giant Molecular Filaments (GMFs) requires a census of their occurrence and properties. We perform a systematic search of GMFs in the fourth Galactic quadrant and determine their basic physical properties. We identify GMFs based on their dust extinction signatures in near- and mid-infrared and velocity structure probe…
Blue straggler stars (BSS) have been identified in star clusters and in field populations in our own Milky Way galaxy and in its satellite galaxies. They manifest as stars bluer and more luminous than the dominant old population, and usually have a spatial distribution that follows the old population. Their progenitors are likely to have been close binaries. We investigate trends of the BSS population in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) and in the bulge of the Milky Way and find an anti-correlation between the relative frequency of BSS and the metallicity of the parent population. The rate of …
Exoplanets in ancient stellar populations: occurrence constraints and hot-Jupiter candidates in the Galactic halo
University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；University of British Columbia（不列颠哥伦比亚大学）；Caltech/IPAC-NASA Exoplanet Science Institute（加州理工学院/IPAC-NASA系外行星科学研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)（加那利天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)（拉帕鲁纳大学）；Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Nanjing University（南京大学）
We present a new derivation of the star formation history (SFH) of the dSph galaxy Fornax in two central regions, characterised by unprecedented precision and age resolution. It reveals that star formation has proceeded in sharp bursts separated by periods of low-level or quiescent activity. The SFH was derived through colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting of two extremely deep Hubble Space Telescope CMDs, sampling the centre and one core radius. The attained age resolution allowed us to single out a major star formation episode at early times, a second strong burst $4.6\pm0.4$ Gyr ago and re…
[Abridged] Ensemble studies of red-giant stars with exquisite asteroseismic, spectroscopic, and astrometric constraints offer a novel opportunity to recast and address long-standing questions concerning the evolution of stars and of the Galaxy. Here, we infer masses and ages for nearly 5400 giants with available Kepler light curves and APOGEE spectra, and discuss some of the systematics that may affect the accuracy of the inferred stellar properties. First, we look at age-chemical-abundances relations. We find a dearth of young, metal-rich stars, and the existence of a significant population o…
Modelling the Milky Way's exoplanet population based on cosmological galaxy simulations
Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学）；Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona（巴塞罗那皇家科学与艺术学院）；Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；Observatori Fabra（法布拉天文台）；Observatório Nacional, MCTI（巴西国家天文台）
Life in the Cosmic Neighbourhood: Galactic Habitable Zones in the EAGLE Simulations
Western Sydney University（西悉尼大学）；The University of Sydney（悉尼大学）；Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team（Visa Cash App红牛二队F1车队）；Liverpool John Moores University（利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学）；Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre（Pawsey超级计算研究中心）；University of Durham（杜伦大学）
Characterizing a planet detected by microlensing is hard if the planetary signal is weak or the lens-source relative trajectory is far from caustics. However, statistical analyses of planet demography must include those planets to accurately determine occurrence rates. As part of a systematic modeling effort in the context of a $>10$-year retrospective analysis of MOA's survey observations to build an extended MOA statistical sample, we analyze the light curve of the planetary microlensing event MOA-2014-BLG-472. This event provides weak constraints on the physical parameters of the lens, as a…
