English

Correlation between the two-armed $V_R$ spiral in the $Z$--$V_Z$ plane and moving groups

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-07-25 v1

Abstract

We use a cross-matched sample of 3.7 million stars from Gaia DR3 and LAMOST DR7 to investigate the velocity substructures in the Milky Way disk. The median radial velocity VRV_R as a function of guiding-center radius RgR_g exhibits alternating positive and negative stripes, which are strongly correlated with known moving groups. By examining the VRV_R distribution in the ZZ--VZV_Z phase space, we find that the D1, P2, D2, and P3 VRV_R stripes display clear two-armed spirals. Among the moving groups embedded in these VRV_R stripes, the Coma Berenices moving group in the P3 stripe exhibits the most pronounced two-armed spiral and serves as the primary contributor to the left arm of the overall P3 spiral. The angular momentum, eccentricities, orbital frequencies, and frequency ratios of its stars are consistent with either the corotation resonance of the spiral arms or the m=4m=4 inner Lindblad resonance of the bar. Test-particle simulations confirm that a bar with a varying pattern speed, together with static or transient spiral arms, can produce such two-armed spirals.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.23128,
  title  = {Correlation between the two-armed $V_R$ spiral in the $Z$--$V_Z$ plane and moving groups},
  author = {Yan Xu and Chao Liu and Chengdong Li and Heidi Neiberg and Hao Tian and Hua Jian Wang and Xiao Dian Chen and Li Cai Deng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.23128},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

33 pages, 21 figures