Strong inflows of gas from the outer disk to the inner kiloparsecs are induced during the interaction of disk galaxies. This inflow of relatively low-metallicity gas dilutes the metallicity of the ...circumnuclear gas. This process is critical for the galaxy evolution. We have investigated several aspects of the process as the timing and duration of the dilution and its correlation with the induced star formation. We analysed major (1:1) gas-rich interactions and mergers, spanning a range of initial orbital characteristics. Star formation and metal enrichment from SNe are included in our model. Our results show that the strongest trend is between the star formation rate and the dilution of the metals in the nuclear region; i.e., the more intense the central burst of star formation, the more the gas is diluted. This trend comes from strong inflows of relatively metal-poor gas from the outer regions of both disks, which fuels the intense star formation and lowers the overall metallicity for a time. The strong inflows happen on timescales of about 108 years or less (i.e., on an internal dynamical time of the disk in the simulations), and the most intense star formation and lowest gas phase metallicities are seen generally after the first pericentre passage. As the star formation proceeds and the merger advances, the dilution reduces and enrichment becomes dominant – ultimately increasing the metallicity of the circumnuclear gas to a level higher than the initial metallicities of the merging galaxies. The “fly-bys” – pairs that interact but do not merge – also cause some dilution. We even see some dilution early in the merger or in the “fly-bys” and thus do not observe a strong trend between the nuclear metallicities and separation in our simulations until the merger is well advanced. We also analyse the O and Fe enrichment of the ISM, and show that the evolution of the α/Fe ratios, as well as the dilution of the central gas metallicity, can be used as a clock for dating the interaction.
We study how radial migration affects the stars of a galaxy with a thin stellar disc and thicker stellar components. The simulated galaxy has a strong bar and lasting spiral arms. We find that the ...amplitude of the churning (change in angular momentum) is similar for thin and thick components, and of limited amplitude, and that stars of all components can be trapped at the corotation of the bar. With the exception of those stars trapped at the corotation, we find that stars far from their initial guiding radius are more likely to be so due to blurring rather than churning effects. We compare the simulation to orbits integration with a fixed gravitational potential rotating at a constant speed. In the latter case, stars trapped at corotation are churned periodically outside and inside the corotation radius, with a zero net average. However, as the bar speed of the simulated galaxy decreases and its corotation radius increases, stars trapped at corotation for several Gyrs can be churned on average outwards. In this work we have studied the location of extreme migrators (stars experimenting the largest churning) and find that extreme migrators come from regions on the leading side of the effective potential local maxima.
By analyzing an N-body simulation of a bulge formed simply via a bar instability mechanism operating on a kinematically cold stellar disk, and by comparing the results of this analysis with the ...structural and kinematic properties of the main stellar populations of the Milky Way bulge, we conclude that the bulge of our Galaxy is not a pure stellar bar formed from a pre-existing thin stellar disk, as some studies have recently suggested. On the basis of several arguments emphasized in this paper, we propose that the bulge population that, in the Milky Way, is observed to not be part of the peanut structure corresponds to the old Galactic thick disk, thus implying that the Milky Way is a pure thin+thick disk galaxy, with only a possible limited contribution by a classical bulge.
Abstract
The role of major mergers in galaxy evolution is investigated through a detailed characterization of the stellar populations, ionized gas properties and star formation rates (SFR) in the ...early-stage merger luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) IC 1623 W and NGC 6090, by analysing optical integral field spectroscopy and high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging. The spectra were processed with the starlight full spectral fitting code, and the emission lines measured in the residual spectra. The results are compared with non-interacting control spiral galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey. Merger-induced star formation is extended and recent, as revealed by the young ages (50–80 Myr) and high contributions to light of young stellar populations (50–90 per cent), in agreement with merger simulations in the literature. These early-stage mergers have positive central gradients of the stellar metallicity, with an average ∼0.6 Z⊙. Compared to non-interacting spirals, they have lower central nebular metallicity, and flatter profiles, in agreement with the gas inflow scenario. We find that they are dominated by star formation, although shock excitation cannot be discarded in some regions, where high velocity dispersion is found (170–200 km s−1). The average SFR in these early-stage mergers (∼23–32 M⊙ yr−1) is enhanced with respect to main-sequence Sbc galaxies by factors of 6–9, slightly above the predictions from classical merger simulations, but still possible in about 15 per cent of major galaxy mergers, where U/LIRGs belong.
In this paper we introduce a new method for analysing Milky Way phase-space which allows us to reveal the imprint left by the Milky Way bar and spiral arms on the stars with full phase-space data in
...Gaia
Data Release 2. The unprecedented quality and extended spatial coverage of these data allowed us to discover six prominent stellar density structures in the disc to a distance of 5 kpc from the Sun. Four of these structures correspond to the spiral arms detected previously in the gas and young stars (Scutum-Centaurus, Sagittarius, Local, and Perseus). The remaining two are associated with the main resonances of the Milky Way bar where corotation is placed at around 6.2 kpc and the outer Lindblad resonance beyond the solar radius, at around 9 kpc. For the first time we provide evidence of the imprint left by spiral arms and resonances in the stellar densities not relying on a specific tracer, through enhancing the signatures left by these asymmetries. Our method offers new avenues for studying how the stellar populations in our Galaxy are shaped.
The apparent correlation between the specific star formation rate (sSFR) and total stellar mass (M⋆) of galaxies is a fundamental relationship indicating how they formed their stellar populations. To ...attempt to understand this relation, we hypothesize that the relation and its evolution is regulated by the increase in the stellar and gas mass surface density in galaxies with redshift, which is itself governed by the angular momentum of the accreted gas, the amount of available gas, and by self-regulation of star formation. With our model, we can reproduce the specific SFR − M⋆ relations at z ~ 1–2 by assuming gas fractions and gas mass surface densities similar to those observed for z = 1–2 galaxies. We further argue that it is the increasing angular momentum with cosmic time that causes a decrease in the surface density of accreted gas. The gas mass surface densities in galaxies are controlled by the centrifugal support (i.e., angular momentum), and the sSFR is predicted to increase as, sSFR(z) = (1 + z)3/tH0, as observed (where tH0 is the Hubble time and no free parameters are necessary). In addition, the simple evolution for the star-formation intensity we propose is in agreement with observations of Milky Way-like galaxies selected through abundance matching. At z ≳ 2, we argue that star formation is self-regulated by high pressures generated by the intense star formation itself. The star formation intensity must be high enough to either balance the hydrostatic pressure (a rather extreme assumption) or to generate high turbulent pressure in the molecular medium which maintains galaxies near the line of instability (i.e. Toomre Q ~ 1). We provide simple prescriptions for understanding these self-regulation mechanisms based on solid relationships verified through extensive study. In all cases, the most important factor is the increase in stellar and gas mass surface density with redshift, which allows distant galaxies to maintain high levels of sSFR. Without a strong feedback from massive stars, such galaxies would likely reach very high sSFR levels, have high star formation efficiencies, and because strong feedback drives outflows, ultimately have an excess of stellar baryons.
By means of idealized, dissipationless N-body simulations that follow the formation and subsequent buckling of a stellar bar, we study the characteristics of boxy/peanut-shaped bulges and compare ...them with the properties of the stellar populations in the Milky Way (MW) bulge. The main results of our modeling, valid for the general family of boxy/peanut shaped bulges, are the following: (i) Because of the spatial redistribution in the disk initiated at the epoch of bar formation, stars from the innermost regions to the outer Lindblad resonance (OLR) of the stellar bar are mapped into a boxy bulge. (ii) The contribution of stars to the local bulge density depends on their birth radius: stars born in the innermost disk tend to dominate the innermost regions of the boxy bulge, while stars originating closer to the OLR are preferably found in the outer regions of the boxy/peanut structure. (iii) Stellar birth radii are imprinted in the bulge kinematics: the larger the birth radii of stars ending up in the bulge, the greater their rotational support and the higher their line-of-sight velocity dispersions (but note that this last trend depends on the bar viewing angle). (iv) The higher the classical bulge-over-disk ratio, the larger its fractional contribution of stars at large vertical distance from the galaxy midplane. Comparing these results with the properties of the stellar populations of the MW bulge recently revealed by the ARGOS survey, we conclude that (I) the two most metal-rich populations of the MW bulge, labeled A and B in the ARGOS survey, originate in the disk, with the population of A having formed on average closer to the Galaxy center than the population of component B; (II) a massive (B/D ~ 0.25) classical spheroid can be excluded for the MW, thus confirming previous findings that the MW bulge is composed of populations that mostly have a disk origin. On the basis of their chemical and kinematic characteristics, the results of our modeling suggest that the populations A, B, and C, as defined by the ARGOS survey, can be associated, respectively, with the inner thin disk, to the young thick and to the old thick disk, following the nomenclature that we recently suggested for stars in the solar neighborhood.
Context. Constraints on the Galactic bulge and bar structures and on their formation history from stellar kinematics and metallicities mainly come from relatively high-latitude fields (|b| > 4°) ...where a complex mix of stellar population is seen. Aims. We aim here to constrain the formation history of the Galactic bar by studying the radial velocity and metallicity distributions of stars in situ (|b| ≤ 1°). Methods. We observed red clump stars in four fields along the bar’s major axis (l = 10°, −6°, 6° and b = 0° plus a field at l = 0°, b = 1°) with low-resolution spectroscopy from FLAMES/GIRAFFE at the VLT, observing around the Ca ii triplet. We developed robust methods for extracting radial velocity and metallicity estimates from these low signal-to-noise spectra. We derived distance probability distributions using Bayesian methods rigorously handling the extinction law. Results. We present radial velocities and metallicity distributions, as well as radial velocity trends with distance. We observe an increase in the radial velocity dispersion near the Galactic plane. We detect the streaming motion of the stars induced by the bar in fields at l = ±6°, the highest velocity components of this bar stream being metal-rich (Fe/H ~ 0.2 dex). Our data is consistent with a bar that is inclined at 26 ± 3° from the Sun-Galactic centre line. We observe a significant fraction of metal-poor stars, in particular in the field at l = 0°, b = 1°. We confirm the flattening of the metallicity gradient along the minor axis when getting closer to the plane, with a hint that it could actually be inverted. Conclusions. Our stellar kinematics corresponds to the expected behaviour of a bar issued from the secular evolution of the Galactic disc. The mix of several populations, seen further away from the plane, is also seen in the bar in situ since our metallicity distributions highlight a different spatial distribution between metal-poor and metal-rich stars, the more metal-poor stars being more centrally concentrated.
Deciphering the assembly history of the Milky Way is a formidable task, which becomes possible only if one can produce high‐resolution chrono‐chemo‐kinematical maps of the Galaxy. Data from ...large‐scale astrometric and spectroscopic surveys will soon provide us with a well‐defined view of the current chemo‐kinematical structure of the Milky Way, but it will only enable a blurred view on the temporal sequence that led to the present‐day Galaxy. As demonstrated by the (ongoing) exploitation of data from the pioneering photometric missions CoRoT, Kepler, and K2, asteroseismology provides the way forward: solar‐like oscillating giants are excellent evolutionary clocks thanks to the availability of seismic constraints on their mass and to the tight age–initial mass relation they adhere to. In this paper we identify five key outstanding questions relating to the formation and evolution of the Milky Way that will need precise and accurate ages for large samples of stars to be addressed, and we identify the requirements in terms of number of targets and the precision on the stellar properties that are needed to tackle such questions. By quantifying the asteroseismic yields expected from PLATO for red giant stars, we demonstrate that these requirements are within the capabilities of the current instrument design, provided that observations are sufficiently long to identify the evolutionary state and allow robust and precise determination of acoustic‐mode frequencies. This will allow us to harvest data of sufficient quality to reach a 10% precision in age. This is a fundamental prerequisite to then reach the more ambitious goal of a similar level of accuracy, which will be possible only if we have at hand a careful appraisal of systematic uncertainties on age deriving from our limited understanding of stellar physics, a goal that conveniently falls within the main aims of PLATO's core science. We therefore strongly endorse PLATO's current design and proposed observational strategy, and conclude that PLATO, as it is, will be a legacy mission for Galactic archaeology.
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