Related papers: A dynamically young and perturbed Milky Way disk
We quantify the inside-out growth of the Milky Way's low-alpha stellar disk, modelling the ages, metallicities and Galactocentric radii of APOGEE red clump stars with 6 < R < 13 kpc. The current stellar distribution differs significantly…
We present new proper motions from the 10 m Keck telescopes for a puzzling population of massive, young stars located within 3.5" (0.14 pc) of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. Our proper motion measurements have…
Modern astrometric and spectroscopic surveys have revealed a wealth of structure in the phase space of stars in the Milky Way, with evidence of resonance features and non-equilibrium processes. Using Gaia's third data release, we present…
Frankel et al (2020) reported that the rate of diffusion in angular momentum by stars in the disk of the Milky Way was about ten times faster than the rate of heating, which places a stringent requirement on the nature of disk star…
Stellar migration is an important dynamical process in Galactic disk. Here we model the radial stellar migration in the Galactic disk with an analytical method, then add it to detailed Galactic chemical evolution model to study the…
Vertically extended, high velocity dispersion stellar distributions appear to be a ubiquitous feature of disc galaxies, and both internal and external mechanisms have been proposed to be the major driver of their formation. However, it is…
Stellar ages are a crucial component to studying the evolution of the Milky Way. Using Gaia DR2 distance estimates, it is now possible to estimate stellar ages for a larger volume of evolved stars through isochrone matching. This work…
The conservation of stellar actions is a fundamental assumption in orbit reconstruction studies in the Milky Way. However, the disc is highly dynamic, with time-dependent, non-axisymmetric features like transient spiral arms and giant…
We live in an age where an enormous amount of astrometric, photometric, asteroseismic, and spectroscopic data of Milky Way stars are being acquired, many orders of magnitude larger than about a decade ago. Thanks to the Gaia astrometric…
During the last $\sim$ 30 Myr the nuclear stellar disk in the Galactic center has been the most prolific star forming region of the Milky Way when averaged by volume. Remarkably, the combined mass of the only three clusters present today in…
The formation of galaxies can be understood in terms of the assembly patterns of each type of galactic component. To perform this kind of analysis, is necessary to define some criteria to separate those components. Decomposition methods…
After their initial formation, disk galaxies are observed to be rotationally stable over periods of >6 Gyr, implying that any large velocity disturbances of stars and gas clouds are damped rapidly on the timescale of their rotation.…
Canonical theory predicts galaxies grow "inside-out", producing their observed negative radial age gradient. This picture is challenged by galaxies' `U-shaped' colour profiles -- indicating reversed age gradient -- explained by either…
Despite their relatively high intrinsic brightness and the fact that they are more numerous than younger OB stars and kinematically colder than older red giants, A-type stars have rarely been used as Galactic tracers. They may, in fact, be…
(Abridged) The present-day spatial and kinematic distribution of stars in the Milky Way provides key constraints on its internal dynamics and evolutionary history. We select stars that are more metal-rich than the interstellar medium (ISM)…
The nuclear region of the Milky Way is believed to host a nuclear stellar disk, co-spatial with the gaseous central molecular zone. Previous kinematical studies detected faster rotation for the stars belonging to the nuclear stellar disk,…
Central bars and spirals are known to strongly impact the evolution of their host galaxies, both in terms of dynamics and star formation. Their typically different pattern speeds cause them to regularly overlap, which induces fluctuations…
In this review, I discuss just three aspects of the stability and evolution of galactic discs. (1) I first review our understanding of the bar instability and how it can be controlled. Disc galaxies in which the orbital speed does not…
Many disc galaxies host galactic bars, which exert time-dependent, non-axisymmetric forces that can alter the orbits of stars. There should be both angle and radius-dependence in the resulting radial rearrangement of stars ('radial mixing')…
Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is a benchmark for understanding disk galaxies. It is the only galaxy whose formation history can be studied using the full distribution of stars from white dwarfs to supergiants. The oldest components provide us…